Energy Performance Analysis and Modelling of LoRa Prototyping Boards

LoRaWAN has gained significant attention for Internet-of-Things (IOT) applications due to its low power consumption and long range potential for data transmission. While there is a significant body of work assessing LoRA coverage and data transmission characteristics, there is a lack of data available about commercially available LoRa prototyping boards and their power consumption, in relation to their features. It is currently difficult to estimate the power consumption of a LoRa module operating under different transmission profiles, due to a lack of manufacturer data available. In this study, power testing has been carried out on physical hardware and significant variation was found in the power consumption of competing boards, all marketed as “extremely low power”. In this paper, testing results are presented alongside an experimentally-derived power model for the lowest power LoRa module, and power requirements are compared to firmware settings. The power analysis adds to existing work showing trends in data-rate and transmission power settings effects on electrical power consumption. The model’s accuracy is experimentally verified and shows acceptable agreement to estimated values. Finally, applications for the model are presented by way of a hypothetical scenario and calculations performed in order to estimate battery life and energy consumption for varying data transmission intervals.

The Politics of Education: a Study of Attitudes Pressures and Relations in the New Zealand Education System

<p>Political science is a discipline which purports to study power as a process, a distinct but inseparable part of the social process. It is the general aim of this study to shed light on the inner workings and operating norms of a democratic system. More specifically, the study hopes to offer an empirical examination of the pressures, attitudes, and relationships which constitute one sector of democratic government in New Zealand, the administration of public education. The philosophic starting point for the study is in part pluralistic, in that education 'politics' is seen to be a 'system' of components which can be described and examined and which is itself a component of a more embracing 'system' called New Zealand politics. Briefly stated, it is believed that by studying one sector of governmental activity - that is, one 'system' - in some detail, one may arrive at conclusions which could be applied to wider settings. An alternative method of approach would have been to look at a particular facet of the governmental process - pressure group activity for example - over a wider area. Both methods have drawbacks, but for a complete picture to emerge eventually, both types of study will be needed.</p>

The Politics of Education: a Study of Attitudes Pressures and Relations in the New Zealand Education System

<p>Political science is a discipline which purports to study power as a process, a distinct but inseparable part of the social process. It is the general aim of this study to shed light on the inner workings and operating norms of a democratic system. More specifically, the study hopes to offer an empirical examination of the pressures, attitudes, and relationships which constitute one sector of democratic government in New Zealand, the administration of public education. The philosophic starting point for the study is in part pluralistic, in that education 'politics' is seen to be a 'system' of components which can be described and examined and which is itself a component of a more embracing 'system' called New Zealand politics. Briefly stated, it is believed that by studying one sector of governmental activity - that is, one 'system' - in some detail, one may arrive at conclusions which could be applied to wider settings. An alternative method of approach would have been to look at a particular facet of the governmental process - pressure group activity for example - over a wider area. Both methods have drawbacks, but for a complete picture to emerge eventually, both types of study will be needed.</p>

Simulation study on power system short circuit fault based on EMTP

Electromagnetic transient simulation program EMTP is a common simulation commercial software in power system. It can effectively analyze and study power system. In this paper, EMTP is used to build the power system simulation model, and a variety of short-circuit faults in the power system are simulated and analyzed. The results show that the results accord with the actual theory, and the waveform can accurately and intuitively investigate the dynamic characteristics of power system faults. In addition, through the simulation comparison and analysis between different faults, it can be seen that the three-phase short-circuit fault is the most serious fault in the power system, which should be avoided in the actual production and life. This shows that EMTP is a powerful tool for power system simulation research, and provides a reference for the actual equipment selection requirements of the project.

Should RECOVERY have used Response Adaptive Randomization? Evidence from a simulation study

Background The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial is aimed at addressing the urgent need to find effective treatments for patients hospitalised with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. The trial has had many successes, including discovering that dexamethasone is effective at reducing COVID-19 mortality, the first treatment to reach this milestone in a randomised controlled trial. Despite this, it continues to use standard or `fixed’ randomization (FR) to allocate patients to treatments. We assessed the impact of implementing response adaptive randomization (RAR) within RECOVERY using an array of performance measures, to learn if it could be beneficial going forward. This design feature has recently been implemented within the REMAP-CAP trial.Methods Trial data was simulated to closely match the data for patients allocated to either standard care or dexamethasone in the RECOVERY trial from March-June 2020, representing two out of five arms tested throughout this period. Two forms of FR and two forms of RAR were tested. Randomization strategies were performed at the whole trial level as well as within three pre-specified patient subgroups defined by patients’ respiratory support level.ResultsRAR strategies led to more patients being given dexamethasone and a lower mortality rate in the trial. Subgroup specific RAR reduced mortality rates even further. RAR did not induce any meaningful bias in treatment effect estimates, but reduced statistical power compared to FR, with subgroup level adaptive randomizations exhibiting the largest power reduction.ConclusionsUsing RAR within RECOVERY could have resulted in fewer deaths in the trial. However, a larger trial would have been needed to attain the same study power. This could potentially have prolonged the time to full approval of the drug, unless RAR itself led to an increased recruitment rate. Deciding how to balance the needs of patients within a trial and future patients who have yet to fall ill is an important ethical question of our time. RAR deserves to be considered as a design feature in future trials of COVID-19 and other diseases.

Quantifying and predicting antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance genes in waterbodies through a holistic approach: a study in Minnesota, United States

The environment plays a key role in the spread and persistence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) are released into the environment from sources such as wastewater treatment plants, and animal farms. This study describes an approach guided by spatial mapping to quantify and predict antimicrobials and ARG in Minnesota’s waterbodies in water and sediment at two spatial scales: macro, throughout the state, and micro, in specific waterbodies. At the macroscale, the highest concentrations across all antimicrobial classes were found near populated areas. Kernel interpolation provided an approximation of antimicrobial concentrations and ARG abundance at unsampled locations. However, there was high uncertainty in these predictions, due in part to low study power and large distances between sites. At the microscale, wastewater treatment plants had an effect on ARG abundance (sul1 and sul2 in water; blaSHV, intl1, mexB, and sul2 in sediment), but not on antimicrobial concentrations. Results from sediment reflected a long-term history, while water reflected a more transient record of antimicrobials and ARG. This study highlights the value of using spatial analyses, different spatial scales, and sampling matrices, to design an environmental monitoring approach to advance our understanding of AMR persistence and dissemination.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients: An Open Label Trial

Objectives: The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic continues to spread globally without an effective treatment. In search of the cure, convalescent plasma (CP) containing protective antibodies from survivors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection has shown potential benefit in a non-intensive care unit setting. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of CP therapy for patients with COVID-19 on mechanical ventilation (MV) and/or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Methods: We conducted an open-label trial in a single center, Royal Hospital, in Oman. The study was conducted from 17 April to 20 June 2020. The trial included 94 participants with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. The primary outcomes included extubation rates, discharges from the hospital and overall mortality, while secondary outcomes were the length of stay and improvement in respiratory and laboratory parameters. Analyses were performed using univariate statistics. Results: The overall mean age of the cohort was 50.0±15.0 years, and 90.4% (n = 85) were males. A total of 77.7% (n = 73) of patients received CP. Those on CP were associated with a higher extubation rate (35.6% vs. 76.2%; p < 0.001), higher extubation/home discharges rate (64.4% vs. 23.8%; p =0.001), and tendency towards lower overall mortality (19.2% vs. 28.6%; p =0.354; study power = 11.0%) when compared to COVID-19 patients that did not receive CP. Conclusions: CP was associated with higher extubation/home discharges and a tendency towards lower overall mortality when compared to those that did not receive CP in COVID-19 patients on MV or in those with ARDS. Further studies are warranted to corroborate our findings.

Discovery Of 42 Genome-Wide Significant Loci Associated With Dyslexia

Reading and writing are crucial for many aspects of modern life but up to 1 in 10 children are affected by dyslexia, which can persist into adulthood. Family studies of dyslexia suggest heritability up to 70%, yet no convincing genetic markers have been found due to limited study power. Here, we present a genome-wide association study representing a 20-fold increase in sample size from prior work, with 51,800 adults self-reporting a dyslexia diagnosis and 1,087,070 controls. We identified 42 independent genome-wide significant loci: 17 are in genes linked to or pleiotropic with cognitive ability/educational attainment; 25 are novel and may be more specifically associated with dyslexia. Twenty-three loci (12 novel) were validated in independent cohorts of Chinese and European ancestry. We confirmed a similar genetic aetiology of dyslexia between sexes, and found genetic covariance with many traits, including ambidexterity, but not neuroanatomical measures of language-related circuitry. Causal analyses revealed a directional effect of dyslexia on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bidirectional effects on socio-educational traits but these relationships require further investigation. Dyslexia polygenic scores explained up to 6% of variance in reading traits in independent cohorts, and might in future enable earlier identification and remediation of dyslexia.

Numerical Analysis and Parameter Optimization of a Portable Two-Body Attenuator Wave Energy Converter

Easily portable, small-sized ocean wave energy converters (WECs) may be used in many situations where large-sized WEC devices are not necessary or practical. Power maximization for small-sized WECs amplifies challenges that are not as difficult with large-sized devices, especially tuning the device’s natural frequency to match the wave frequency and achieve resonance. In this study, power maximization is performed for a small-sized, two-body attenuator WEC with a footprint constraint of about 1m. A thin, submerged tuning plate is added to each body to increase added mass without significantly increasing hydrostatic stiffness in order to reach resonance. Three different body cross-section geometries are analyzed. Device power absorption is determined through time domain simulations using WEC-Sim with a simplified two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) model and a more realistic three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) model. Different drag coefficients are used for each geometry to explore the effect of drag. A mooring stiffness study is performed with the 3DOF model to investigate the mooring impact. Based on the 2DOF and 3DOF power results, there is not a significant difference in power between the shapes if the same drag coefficient is used, but the elliptical shape has the highest power after assigning a different approximate drag coefficient to each shape. The mooring stiffness study shows that mooring stiffness can be increased in order to increase relative motion between the two bodies and consequently increase the power.

Should RECOVERY have used Response Adaptive Randomization? Evidence from a simulation study

Background The Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial is aimed at addressing the urgent need to find effective treatments for patients hospitalised with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. The trial has had many successes, including discovering that dexamethasone is effective at reducing COVID-19 mortality, the first treatment to reach this milestone in a randomised controlled trial. Despite this, it continues to use standard or `fixed’ randomization (FR) to allocate patients to treatments. We assessed the impact of implementing response adaptive randomization (RAR) within RECOVERY using an array of performance measures, to learn if it could be beneficial going forward. This design feature has recently been implemented within the REMAP-CAP trial. Methods Trial data was simulated to closely match the data for patients allocated to either standard care or dexamethasone in the RECOVERY trial from March-June 2020, representing two out of five arms tested throughout this period. Two forms of FR and two forms of RAR were tested. Randomization strategies were performed at the whole trial level as well as within three pre-specified patient subgroups defined by patients’ respiratory support level. Results RAR strategies led to more patients being given dexamethasone and a lower mortality rate in the trial. Subgroup specific RAR reduced mortality rates even further. RAR did not induce any meaningful bias in treatment effect estimates, but reduced statistical power compared to FR, with subgroup level adaptive randomizations exhibiting the largest power reduction. Conclusions Using RAR within RECOVERY could have resulted in fewer deaths in the trial. However, a larger trial would have been needed to attain the same study power. This could potentially have prolonged the time to full approval of the drug, unless RAR itself led to an increased recruitment rate. Deciding how to balance the needs of patients within a trial and future patients who have yet to fall ill is an important ethical question of our time. RAR deserves to be considered as a design feature in future trials of COVID-19 and other diseases.