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Direct numerical simulations were performed to characterize fully developed supersonic turbulent channel flows over isothermal rough walls. The effect of roughness was incorporated using a level-set/volume-of-fluid immersed boundary method. Turbulence statistics of five channel flows are compared, including one reference case with both walls smooth and four cases with smooth top walls and bottom walls with two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) sinusoidal roughnesses. Results reveal a strong dependence of the turbulence on the roughness topography and the associated shock patterns. Specifically, the 2-D geometries generate strong oblique shock waves that propagate across the channel and are reflected back to the rough-wall side. These strong shocks are absent in the smooth-wall channel and are significantly weaker in cases with 3-D roughness geometries, replaced by weak shocklets. At the impingement locations of the shocks on the top wall in the 2-D roughness cases, localized augmentations of turbulence shear production are observed. Such regions of augmented production also exist for the 3-D cases, at a much weaker level. The oblique shock waves are thought to be responsible for a more significant entropy generation for cases with 2-D surfaces than those with 3-D ones, leading to a higher irreversible heat generation and consequently higher temperature values in 2-D roughness cases. In the present supersonic channels, the effects of roughness extend beyond the near-wall layer due to the shocks. This suggests that outer layer similarity may not fully apply to a rough-wall supersonic turbulent flow.
The evaluation of the on-ground casualty risk assessments due to a controlled or uncontrolled re-entry is highly sensitive to the accurate prediction of fragmentation events during an atmospheric re-entry. The main objective of this study is an investigation into the use of peridynamics (PD) to improve the analysis of fragmentation during atmospheric re-entry with respect to currently adopted semi-empirical approaches. The high temperatures characterising such scenarios may substantially impact fragmentation, which requires appropriate modelling of the damage process within the PD method. The damage models in PD require experimentally determined fracture mechanical properties that are unavailable as a function of temperature. This work proposes a numerical methodology to estimate the PD damage parameters changes with temperature to enable the study of fragmentation during atmospheric re-entry. Initially, tensile-testing simulation experiments are performed in peridynamics to calibrate material parameters for steel and aluminium alloys as a function of temperature. Then, a parametric study is carried out to evaluate the temperature-dependent damage model parameters for the same materials. The applicability of the proposed methodology is showcased using a re-entry test case scenario.
Children undergoing cardiac surgery have overall improving survival, though they consume substantial resources. Nationwide inpatient cost estimates and costs at longitudinal follow-up are lacking.
Methods:
Retrospective cohort study of children <19 years of age admitted to Pediatric Health Information System administrative database with an International Classification of Diseases diagnosis code undergoing cardiac surgery. Patients were grouped into neonates (≤30 days of age), infants (31–365 days of age), and children (>1 year) at index procedure. Primary and secondary outcomes included hospital stay and hospital costs at index surgical admission and 1- and 5-year follow-up.
Results:
Of the 99,670 cohort patients, neonates comprised 27% and had the highest total hospital costs, though daily hospital costs were lower. Mortality declined (5.6% in 2004 versus 2.5% in 2015, p < 0.0001) while inpatient costs rose (5% increase/year, p < 0.0001). Neonates had greater index diagnosis complexity, greater inpatient costs, required the greatest ICU resources, pharmacotherapy, and respiratory therapy. We found no relationship between hospital surgical volume, mortality, and hospital costs. Neonates had higher cumulative hospital costs at 1- and 5-year follow-up compared to infants and children.
Conclusions:
Inpatient hospital costs rose during the study period, driven primarily by longer stay. Neonates had greater complexity index diagnosis, required greater hospital resources, and have higher hospital costs at 1 and 5 years compared to older children. Surgical volume and in-hospital mortality were not associated with costs. Further analyses comprising merged clinical and administrative data are necessary to identify longer stay and cost drivers after paediatric cardiac surgery.
Alfvén wave collisions are the primary building blocks of the non-relativistic turbulence that permeates the heliosphere and low- to moderate-energy astrophysical systems. However, many astrophysical systems such as gamma-ray bursts, pulsar and magnetar magnetospheres and active galactic nuclei have relativistic flows or energy densities. To better understand these high-energy systems, we derive reduced relativistic magnetohydrodynamics equations and employ them to examine weak Alfvénic turbulence, dominated by three-wave interactions, in reduced relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, including the force-free, infinitely magnetized limit. We compare both numerical and analytical solutions to demonstrate that many of the findings from non-relativistic weak turbulence are retained in relativistic systems. But, an important distinction in the relativistic limit is the inapplicability of a formally incompressible limit, i.e. there exists finite coupling to the compressible fast mode regardless of the strength of the magnetic field. Since fast modes can propagate across field lines, this mechanism provides a route for energy to escape strongly magnetized systems, e.g. magnetar magnetospheres. However, we find that the fast-Alfvén coupling is diminished in the limit of oblique propagation.
Alfvén waves as excited in black hole accretion disks and neutron star magnetospheres are the building blocks of turbulence in relativistic, magnetized plasmas. A large reservoir of magnetic energy is available in these systems, such that the plasma can be heated significantly even in the weak turbulence regime. We perform high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of counter-propagating Alfvén waves, showing that an $E_{B_{\perp }}(k_{\perp }) \propto k_{\perp }^{-2}$ energy spectrum develops as a result of the weak turbulence cascade in relativistic magnetohydrodynamics and its infinitely magnetized (force-free) limit. The plasma turbulence ubiquitously generates current sheets, which act as locations where magnetic energy dissipates. We show that current sheets form as a natural result of nonlinear interactions between counter-propagating Alfvén waves. These current sheets form owing to the compression of elongated eddies, driven by the shear induced by growing higher-order modes, and undergo a thinning process until they break-up into small-scale turbulent structures. We explore the formation of current sheets both in overlapping waves and in localized wave packet collisions. The relativistic interaction of localized Alfvén waves induces both Alfvén waves and fast waves, and efficiently mediates the conversion and dissipation of electromagnetic energy in astrophysical systems. Plasma energization through reconnection in current sheets emerging during the interaction of Alfvén waves can potentially explain X-ray emission in black hole accretion coronae and neutron star magnetospheres.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been employed to treat drug dependence, reduce drug use and improve cognition. The aim of the study was to analyze the effectiveness of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on cognition in individuals with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD).
Methods
This was a secondary analysis of 40 MUD subjects receiving left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) iTBS or sham iTBS for 20 times over 10 days (twice-daily). Changes in working memory (WM) accuracy, reaction time, and sensitivity index were analyzed before and after active and sham rTMS treatment. Resting-state EEG was also acquired to identify potential biological changes that may relate to any cognitive improvement.
Results
The results showed that iTBS increased WM accuracy and discrimination ability, and improved reaction time relative to sham iTBS. iTBS also reduced resting-state delta power over the left prefrontal region. This reduction in resting-state delta power correlated with the changes in WM.
Conclusions
Prefrontal iTBS may enhance WM performance in MUD subjects. iTBS induced resting EEG changes raising the possibility that such findings may represent a biological target of iTBS treatment response.
The design of a two-dimensional supersonic inlet with large bleed window at low Mach number was developed. Numerical simulation and wind tunnel experiments were carried out to investigate the aerodynamic performance and variable geometric rules of the inlet. The result indicates that the single-degree-of-freedom variable geometry scheme adopted in this paper guarantees the steady work of the inlet over a wide speed range. The large bleed window caused by rotation of the compression ramp appears near the throat at low Mach number. Low-pressure airflow near the bleed window neutralises the original high-pressure airflow behind the shock train, which decreases the overall pressure of the downstream region of the internal contraction section. To match the lower pressure, the structure of the shock train changes from strong $\lambda$-type to weak $\lambda$-type, and finally to a normal shock wave as backpressure increases at Mach number 2.5. Herein, the total pressure recovery coefficient of the inlet near the critical condition improves by 8.5% as the backpressure ratio (Pe/P0) adds from 13 to 14.6 at Mach number 2.5. It proves that the scheme is effective on terminal shock wave control and inlet performance improvement. In addition, due to the background wave and the bleed window, two kinds of shock wave oscillation occur when the backpressure ratio is 13.1.
Bidirectional longitudinal relationships between depression and diabetes have been observed, but the dominant direction of their temporal relationships remains controversial.
Methods
The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model decomposes observed variables into a latent intercept representing the traits, and occasion-specific latent ‘state’ variables. This permits correlations to be assessed between the traits, while longitudinal ‘cross-lagged’ associations and cross-sectional correlations can be assessed between occasion-specific latent variables. We examined dynamic relationships between depressive symptoms and insulin resistance across five visits over 20 years of adulthood in the population-based Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Possible differences based on population group (Black v. White participants), sex and years of education were tested. Depressive symptoms and insulin resistance were quantified using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale and the homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), respectively.
Results
Among 4044 participants (baseline mean age 34.9 ± 3.7 years, 53% women, 51% Black participants), HOMA-IR and CES-D traits were weakly correlated (r = 0.081, p = 0.002). Some occasion-specific correlations, but no cross-lagged associations were observed overall. Longitudinal dynamics of these relationships differed by population groups such that HOMA-IR at age 50 was associated with CES-D score at age 55 (β = 0.076, p = 0.038) in White participants only. Longitudinal dynamics were consistent between sexes and based on education.
Conclusions
The relationship between depressive symptoms and insulin resistance was best characterized by weak correlations between occasion-specific states and enduring traits, with weak evidence that insulin resistance might be temporally associated with subsequent depressive symptoms among White participants later in adulthood.
We present an overview of the Middle Ages Galaxy Properties with Integral Field Spectroscopy (MAGPI) survey, a Large Program on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. MAGPI is designed to study the physical drivers of galaxy transformation at a lookback time of 3–4 Gyr, during which the dynamical, morphological, and chemical properties of galaxies are predicted to evolve significantly. The survey uses new medium-deep adaptive optics aided Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of fields selected from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, providing a wealth of publicly available ancillary multi-wavelength data. With these data, MAGPI will map the kinematic and chemical properties of stars and ionised gas for a sample of 60 massive (
${>}7 \times 10^{10} {\mathrm{M}}_\odot$
) central galaxies at
$0.25 < z <0.35$
in a representative range of environments (isolated, groups and clusters). The spatial resolution delivered by MUSE with Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (
$0.6-0.8$
arcsec FWHM) will facilitate a direct comparison with Integral Field Spectroscopy surveys of the nearby Universe, such as SAMI and MaNGA, and at higher redshifts using adaptive optics, for example, SINS. In addition to the primary (central) galaxy sample, MAGPI will deliver resolved and unresolved spectra for as many as 150 satellite galaxies at
$0.25 < z <0.35$
, as well as hundreds of emission-line sources at
$z < 6$
. This paper outlines the science goals, survey design, and observing strategy of MAGPI. We also present a first look at the MAGPI data, and the theoretical framework to which MAGPI data will be compared using the current generation of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations including EAGLE, Magneticum, HORIZON-AGN, and Illustris-TNG. Our results show that cosmological hydrodynamical simulations make discrepant predictions in the spatially resolved properties of galaxies at
$z\approx 0.3$
. MAGPI observations will place new constraints and allow for tangible improvements in galaxy formation theory.
Semi-supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods often rely on graphs to model data, prompting research on how theoretical properties of operators on graphs are leveraged in learning problems. While most of the existing literature focuses on undirected graphs, directed graphs are very important in practice, giving models for physical, biological or transportation networks, among many other applications. In this paper, we propose a new framework for rigorously studying continuum limits of learning algorithms on directed graphs. We use the new framework to study the PageRank algorithm and show how it can be interpreted as a numerical scheme on a directed graph involving a type of normalised graph Laplacian. We show that the corresponding continuum limit problem, which is taken as the number of webpages grows to infinity, is a second-order, possibly degenerate, elliptic equation that contains reaction, diffusion and advection terms. We prove that the numerical scheme is consistent and stable and compute explicit rates of convergence of the discrete solution to the solution of the continuum limit partial differential equation. We give applications to proving stability and asymptotic regularity of the PageRank vector. Finally, we illustrate our results with numerical experiments and explore an application to data depth.
ABSTRACT IMPACT: This project seeks to identify unique host responses that are biomarkers for specific urethral pathogens, and which can be used in the development of point-of-care (POC) STI diagnostics. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: How Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and other common STIs, e.g. Neisseria gonorrhoeae, evade immunity and elicit pathology in the male urethra is poorly understood. Our objective is to determine how STI-infected urethral epithelial cells, as well as the uninfected ‘bystander’ cells with which infected cells communicate, respond to CT and other STIs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We evaluated how immortalized urethral cell lines - including transduced human urethral epithelial cells (THUECs) - respond to increasing doses of CT infectious particles using in vitro one-step progeny assays performed in the presence or absence of cycloheximide, a drug that inhibits eukaryotic protein synthesis. We will perform concurrent single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and multiplex cytokine analyses to determine how different CT doses impact the transcriptomes of infected and bystander urethral epithelial cells and modulate cytokine production of the overall monolayer. Results of these experiments will inform the feasibility of performing similar analyses in situ using urethral swabs from men with clinically diagnosed urethritis. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Our results demonstrate that immune-competent urethral cell monolayers strongly resist CT infection, unless most of the cells are simultaneously infected. This suggests that uninfected bystander cells sense CT-infected cells and secrete soluble factors that may act to limit CT proliferation in infected cells and to inform remaining uninfected cells that a potential pathogen is present. We anticipate that our scRNA-seq and cytokine analyses will identify both specific effector pathways that protect against CT and intracellular signals that modulate them. We speculate that these pathways and signals may differ during infection with CT and other STIs. Importantly, we anticipate that our in vitro model of CT infection will be highly representative of in situ immune responses observed in urethras of infected men. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: In men, common STIs including CT are usually managed syndromically due to a lack of POC diagnostics. By determining how STIs elicit urethral inflammation and identifying countermeasures that STIs use to evade urethral immunity, we can identify host responses that serve as biomarkers for urethritis, generally, and for specific urethral pathogens.
This paper investigates a long-standing question about the effect of surface roughness on turbulent flow: What is the equivalent roughness sand-grain height for a given roughness topography? Deep neural network (DNN) and Gaussian process regression (GPR) machine learning approaches are used to develop a high-fidelity prediction approach of the Nikuradse equivalent sand-grain height $k_s$ for turbulent flows over a wide variety of different rough surfaces. To this end, 45 surface geometries were generated and the flow over them simulated at ${Re}_\tau =1000$ using direct numerical simulations. These surface geometries differed significantly in moments of surface height fluctuations, effective slope, average inclination, porosity and degree of randomness. Thirty of these surfaces were considered fully rough, and they were supplemented with experimental data for fully rough flows over 15 more surfaces available from previous studies. The DNN and GPR methods predicted $k_s$ with an average error of less than 10 % and a maximum error of less than 30 %, which appears to be significantly more accurate than existing prediction formulae. They also identified the surface porosity and the effective slope of roughness in the spanwise direction as important factors in drag prediction.
An increasing number of unexpectedly diverse benthic communities are being reported from microbially precipitated carbonate facies in shallow-marine platform settings after the end-Permian mass extinction. Ostracoda, which was one of the most diverse and abundant metazoan groups during this interval, recorded its greatest diversity and abundance associated with these facies. Previous studies, however, focused mainly on taxonomic diversity and, therefore, left room for discussion of paleoecological significance. Here, we apply a morphometric method (semilandmarks) to investigate morphological variance through time to better understand the ecological consequences of the end-Permian mass extinction and to examine the hypothesis that microbial mats played a key role in ostracod survival. Our results show that taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity were decoupled during the end-Permian extinction and that morphological disparity declined rapidly at the onset of the end-Permian extinction, even though the high diversity of ostracods initially survived in some places. The decoupled changes in taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity suggest that the latter is a more robust proxy for understanding the ecological impact of the extinction event, and the low morphological disparity of ostracod faunas is a consequence of sustained environmental stress or a delayed post-Permian radiation. Furthermore, the similar morphological disparity of ostracods between microbialite and non-microbialite facies indicates that microbial mats most likely represent a taphonomic window rather than a biological refuge during the end-Permian extinction interval.
Previous studies have revealed associations of meteorological factors with tuberculosis (TB) cases. However, few studies have examined their lag effects on TB cases. This study was aimed to analyse nonlinear lag effects of meteorological factors on the number of TB notifications in Hong Kong. Using a 22-year consecutive surveillance data in Hong Kong, we examined the association of monthly average temperature and relative humidity with temporal dynamics of the monthly number of TB notifications using a distributed lag nonlinear models combined with a Poisson regression. The relative risks (RRs) of TB notifications were >1.15 as monthly average temperatures were between 16.3 and 17.3 °C at lagged 13–15 months, reaching the peak risk of 1.18 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.35) when it was 16.8 °C at lagged 14 months. The RRs of TB notifications were >1.05 as relative humidities of 60.0–63.6% at lagged 9–11 months expanded to 68.0–71.0% at lagged 12–17 months, reaching the highest risk of 1.06 (95% CI 1.01–1.11) when it was 69.0% at lagged 13 months. The nonlinear and delayed effects of average temperature and relative humidity on TB epidemic were identified, which may provide a practical reference for improving the TB warning system.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine as a way to reduce COVID-19 infections was noted and consequently deregulated. However, the degree of telemedicine regulation varies from country to country, which may alter the widespread use of telemedicine. This study aimed to clarify the telepsychiatry regulations for each collaborating country/region before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
We used snowball sampling within a global network of international telepsychiatry experts. Thirty collaborators from 17 different countries/regions responded to a questionnaire on barriers to the use and implementation of telepsychiatric care, including policy factors such as regulations and reimbursement at the end of 2019 and as of May 2020.
Results
Thirteen of 17 regions reported a relaxation of regulations due to the pandemic; consequently, all regions surveyed stated that telepsychiatry was now possible within their public healthcare systems. In some regions, restrictions on prescription medications allowed via telepsychiatry were eased, but in 11 of the 17 regions, there were still restrictions on prescribing medications via telepsychiatry. Lower insurance reimbursement amounts for telepsychiatry consultations v. in-person consultations were reevaluated in four regions, and consequently, in 15 regions telepsychiatry services were reimbursed at the same rate (or higher) than in-person consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions
Our results confirm that, due to COVID-19, the majority of countries surveyed are altering telemedicine regulations that had previously restricted the spread of telemedicine. These findings provide information that could guide future policy and regulatory decisions, which facilitate greater scale and spread of telepsychiatry globally.
Life events (LEs) are a risk factor for first onset and relapse of psychotic disorders. However, the impact of LEs on specific symptoms – namely reality distortion, disorganization, negative symptoms, depression, and mania – remains unclear. Moreover, the differential effects of negative v. positive LEs are poorly understood.
Methods
The present study utilizes an epidemiologic cohort of patients (N = 428) ascertained at first-admission for psychosis and followed for a decade thereafter. Symptoms were assessed at 6-, 24-, 48-, and 120-month follow-ups.
Results
We examined symptom change within-person and found that negative events in the previous 6 months predicted an increase in reality distortion (β = 0.07), disorganized (β = 0.07), manic (β = 0.08), and depressive symptoms (β = 0.06), and a decrease in negative symptoms (β = −0.08). Conversely, positive LEs predicted fewer reality distortion (β = −0.04), disorganized (β = −0.04), and negative (β = −0.13) symptoms, and were unrelated to mood symptoms. A between-person approach to the same hypotheses confirmed that negative LEs predicted change in all symptoms, while positive LEs predicted change only in negative symptoms. In contrast, symptoms rarely predicted future LEs.
Conclusions
These findings confirm that LEs have an effect on symptoms, and thus contribute to the burden of psychotic disorders. That LEs increase positive symptoms and decrease negative symptoms suggest at least two different mechanisms underlying the relationship between LEs and symptoms. Our findings underscore the need for increased symptom monitoring following negative LEs, as symptoms may worsen during that time.