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AIDET Review – Different Scenarios
No full textTo review AIDET materials in Spanish by practicing with different scenarioshttps://scholarworks.utep.edu/humanities_tools/1006/thumbnail.jp
Upscaling Sapflow Measurements To Footprint Transpiration Estimations In The Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico, Usa
No full textThis study proposes a new method for computing transpiration across an eddy covariance footprint using field observations of plant sap flow, phytomorphology sampling, uncrewed aerial system (UAS) digital image processing, and eddy covariance micrometeorological measurements. The method is applied to the Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico where we address three key questions: (1) How do daily summer transpiration rates of Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and Creosote (Larrea tridentate) individuals of different ages compare? (2) How can the contributions of plants of varying sizes and ages be integrated for terrain-wide transpiration estimates? (3) What is the contribution of transpiration to total evapotranspiration within the eddy covariance footprint? Data collected from June to October 2022, during the North American Monsoon season, include hourly evapotranspiration and precipitation rates from the Ameriflux eddy covariance system (US Jo-1 Bajadasite) and sap flux rates from heat-balance sensors. We used plant biometric measurements and supervised classification of RGB imagery to upscale from the patch- to footprint-scale estimations. Our results show that Mesquiteâ??s average daily summer (JJAS) transpiration is about 2.9 mm/day, while Creosoteâ??s is 1.7 mm/day. A proportional relationship between the plantâ??s horizontal projected area and the number of water flow conduits was extended to the eddy covariance footprint via UAS data. The summer transpiration to evapotranspiration ratio (T/ET) was 0.52, increasing to 0.83 following significant precipitation in September 2022. Further testing of this method is needed in different regions to validate its applicability. With appropriate adjustments, it could be relevant for other areas with similar ecological conditions
Enhancement Of Zika Virus Infection By West Nile And Dengue Virus Antibody Positive Cord-Blood Samples From Mothers In El Paso-Texas
No full textThe recent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak and its association with microcephaly cases and other neurological syndromes are important public health concerns. A phenomenon known as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) involves preexisting flavivirus antibodies to a specific flavivirus that enhances the severity of a second infection with a different flavivirus. Since ZIKV is related to flaviviruses like West Nile virus (WNV) and dengue virus (DENV), prior exposure to these viruses could elicit cross-reactive antibodies that may enhance a subsequent ZIKV infection. Therefore, this study aimed to determine if WNV and DENV antibodies from cord blood enhanced ZIKV infection in vitro. Initially, a serosurvey was conducted to determine the prevalence rate of DENV, WNV, and other flavivirus antibodies by screening of 910 human umbilical cord blood samples collected between 2016 and 2017 in El Paso, Texas. The samples were tested for IgG antibody with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and for neutralizing antibodies, plaque-reduction neutralization tests (PRNT80) to confirm the virus-specific antibodies. The seroprevalence for DENV, WNV, and SLEV was 1.97% (18/910), 4.39% (40/910), and 0.11 % (1/910) respectively. From this study, flavivirus cord blood seropositive samples for DENV (n= 17), WNV (n=39 and SLEV (n=1), were selected to determine the possibility of neutralization and/or enhancement of ZIKV infection by WNV, DENV and SLEV antibodies using reporter virus particles (RVPs). Also, the same method was used to determine if DENV-1 infection was enhanced and/or neutralized by WNV, DENV, and SLEV antibodies. The results revealed that ZIKV and DENV-1 infections were neutralized by WNV and DENV-1 antibodies at dilutions that reduced 80% of the viral plaque forming units, but on diluting the samples beyond the neutralization endpoint, the WNV and DENV-1 antibodies enhanced at dilution of 1:40 by DENV, WNV and SLEV antibodies.
Moreover, ZIKV and DENV-1 infection was enhanced from 1:40 to 1:640, and from 1:160 to 1:10240 by DENV antibody respectively. Our findings supported previous findings of ongoing transmission of WNV in the El Paso community but did not provide conclusive evidence that DENV was endemic in the El Paso community. Furthermore, our results suggested that if ZIKV was introduced into the El Paso community, infection by this virus would be enhanced by these flavivirus antibodies to produce more severe disease. Further studies are warranted to determine if pre-existing WNV and DENV antibodies diluted at 1:40 enhance ZIKV infection in vivo. Finally, this is the first study that described the possible ADE to ZIKV and DENV infection in blood cord samples from a U.S. border community and contributed to its understanding
Novel Therapuetic Approaches for Chagas Disease
No full textChagas disease (CD) is caused by the hemoflagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. This disease is considered one of the 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTD), and it is estimated that 6 to 8 million people worldwide are diagnosed with CD. In the United States, Chagas infection is not reported in all states; however, most reported CD cases are chronic infections. Chagas infection is characterized by two phases: an acute and a chronic phase. Until this present moment, no prophylactic or therapeutic human vaccine is available. However, in a recent study in a murine model, our group showed that the synthetic 20-merpeptide (DAENPGGEVFNDNKKGLSRV) MASPpep derived from the mucin-associated surface proteins (MASPs) conjugated with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) has 86% prophylactic protection. MASPs are proteins highly expressed on both T. cruzi plasma membrane and extracellular vesicles. To potentiate the therapeutic activity, we used a mixture of these peptides (m-MASPpep) conjugated with the non-virulent diphtheria toxoid (CRM197). We aimed to enhance both the humoral and cellular immune responses by administering Poly (I:C) alongside the m-MASPpep-CRM197 vaccine. The efficacy of this combination was evaluated in a chronic model using male and female C3H/HeNsd mice, organized into six groups (10 mice each): Naïve, Placebo, Poly(I:C) at 20µg, m-MASPpep-CRM197 at 50µg, and a combination group with m-MASPpe-CRM197/Poly (I:C) at 50 µg /20 µg. Vaccination involved an initial priming dose followed by two booster doses spaced 20 days apart. Notably, the m-MASPpep-CRM197 in conjunction with Poly(I:C) elicited elevated levels of total IgG and IgG2a antibodies. These antibodies were found to exert lytic activity against T. cruzi trypomastigotes, and the treated groups exhibited a significant reduction in parasitic load within colon tissue. Additionally, the combination of the m-MASPpep-CRM197/Poly(I:C) vaccine with a full course of benznidazole treatment resulted in areas of sterile colon and heart tissues
Bloc 27
No full textBloc 27 is set in the early 22nd century in a severely overpopulated and competitive world. The society is run by OX, a highly controlled powerhouse government. OX controls the citizens through hierarchy and a vast divide between the rich and the poor. The poor citizens, derogatorily termed roaches, are controlled not through currency but by a highly specialized points system. This system is tracked through body tech called Seed Trackers, implanted at birth and operated through the wrist. All data is tracked through these embedded devices, including their currency mode. Citizens gain points for fulfilling monthly initiatives, and points are deducted to pay for goods and services. The story follows the main character Akbar267-I as a child born and raised in the polluted streets and taken by OX to be raised for their initiatives. His father raises him until he is a young boy, and then he is given to OX to fulfill a contract his mother signed before his birth. He does not know his mother. The only information he has is pieced together from the few stories his father has shared periodically. After being taken, he spends the rest of his childhood and adolescence raised by OX, eventually becoming their employee as an adult. He is brainwashed through pills called mood stabilizers, and his actions are tracked daily along with the other workers. What keeps him motivated is that he genuinely believes he is part of a greater force for stability, but really, he is just another pawn, controlled and monitored just like the roaches
Assessing Sedimentation Impact Through Dem, Point Cloud, And Discharge Analysis
No full textThis study focused on five arroyos flowing into the Rio Grande, in the stretch between Caballo Dam and Las Cruces, New Mexico. Drone imagery was acquired from study areas in each arroyo. Photogrammetry was used to create high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs), point clouds, drone imagery and potential discharges were acquired for each arroyo. Investigation of seven different methods resulted in the selection of the Terrain Ruggedness Map (TRM) as a predictor of surface roughness, along with high-resolution DEMâ??s to illustrate small and low-relief channel features. The five arroyos with varying sediment sizes and characteristics were studied to understand how arroyo morphology is reflected in grain size variation within the channel. The TRM in conjunction with grain size measurements observed in both the field and those detected from photographs using BASEGRAIN software and discharges computed using the Flood Potential Portal (FPP), were used to calculate and interpret these correlations.Measurement of gravel clasts using BASEGRAIN software confirms a correlation between clast diameter and TRM. Riffle zones with coarse materials exhibit the highest TRM values (\u3e0.05), while pools and smoother sections, characterized by finer sediments, display lower TRM values (\u3c0.02). Sandbars show intermediate conditions influenced by flow energy and depositional dynamics, with upstream bars retaining coarser grains and downstream bars accumulating finer materials. Vegetated and eroded bars and surfaces like banks, amplify ruggedness through steep margins and dissected bars, expose coarser substrates and create secondary flow paths. The basin areas and discharge estimates increase in the order Hersey \u3c McCleod \u3c Rincon, while mean TRM and grain size followed an opposite trend: Rincon \u3c McCleod \u3c Hersey, implying an inversely proportional relationship between TRM and flood potential discharge
What Is Optimal Granularity When Estimating Reliability of a Complex Engineering Systems
No full textFor complex engineering systems, the usual way to estimate their reliability is to run simulations. If the resulting estimate does not satisfy the desired reliability level, we must replace some components with more reliable and again run simulations. This can take several iterations, so the required computation time often becomes unrealistically long. It is known that it is possible to speed up computations if components belong to a few types, and components of each type are identical. So, a natural idea to deal with the general case is to use the general granularity idea, i.e., to group components with similar reliability characteristics into a single cluster, and for each component from the cluster, use the same average reliability instead of the original (somewhat different) reliability characteristics. The accuracy of the resulting approximate estimate of the system\u27s reliability depends on how exactly we divide the components into clusters. It is therefore desirable to select the clustering that leads to the most accurate reliability estimate. In this paper, we describe an algorithm for such optimal clustering
The Role of Demographic Change in Explaining Declining Labor Force Participation
No full textThe labor force participation rate has been declining in the United States since the late 1990s. Decomposing the aggregate labor force participation rate by age reveals that this decline is being driven by reduced participation among relatively young individuals, those aged 16 to 24. In fact, participation among older individuals, age 55 and above, has been increasing. In this paper, we develop a model in which individual decisions regarding schooling and retirement, in view of empirically observed changes in mortality, can simultaneously explain these three labor force participation trends. Furthermore, a counterfactual scenario that accounts for the observed demographic trends but does not account for agents\u27 endogenous schooling and retirement response is found to contradict the observed trends
The Institutional Impact of Left-Leaning Populism in Latin America
No full textWe study the institutional impact of 21st-century left-leaning populist regimes in Latin America. Looking at the representative left-leaning populist regimes in Argentina, Bo-livia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, we find that these types of populist regimes impose a significant undermining on the liberal-democracy institutional quality of their countries. The institutional cost is both significant and long-lasting, and our synthetic counterfactual suggests that liberal democratic institutions would have im-proved if not for these populist regimes
Update From Aristotle to Newton, from Sets to Fuzzy Sets, and from Sigmoid to ReLU: What Do All These Transitions Have in Common?
No full textIn this paper, we show that there is a -- somewhat unexpected -- common trend behind several seemingly unrelated historic transitions: from Aristotelian physics to modern (Newton\u27s) approach, from crisp sets (such as intervals) to fuzzy sets, and from traditional neural networks, with close-to-step-function sigmoid activation functions to modern successful deep neural networks that use a completely different ReLU activation function. In all these cases, the main idea of the corresponding transition can be explained, in mathematical terms, as going from the first order to second order differential equations