Engineering – Page 6 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Engineering

Next Generation Combat Vehicles: Safety and Usability

The U.S. Army has been conducted research on advanced technology for several decades, summarized in about 30 reports and presentations. A major theme has been the use of automation and new technology to support the operation of ground vehicles, both manned, remotely operated, and autonomous. Topics have included partial automation of the driving task, various designs for displays to present information to drivers and commanders (e.g., head-mounted displays), the design of controls used for driving, requirements for training, the effect of degraded visual environments on driving, automatic target recognition, and a range of other topics. The presentation will provide an overview of the research methods and tools used, as well as a summary of the findings.

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Global Electric Vehicle Strategies

Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales have continued to break records in 2020. However, the progress does not seem to translate evenly across all vehicle segments. In this research, two sets of data are collected and analyzed. First, historical and current BEV models are sorted into segments (model data). Second, model specifications such as range, MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price) and battery size are collected for each model across different years (specification data). The analysis focuses on the US, Chinese and European markets, and 2018 is taken as the base year. Based on the model data, the number of existing and new models in each segment is steadily increasing. However, the large and full-size vehicle segments are lagging behind. In the specification data, performance and price display a direct relationship and controlling for price reveals similar per unit performance increases across segments. We conclude with a brief comparison to the internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle segments. As an ICE vehicle becomes larger, fuel economy and price actually changes inversely. Manufacturers benefit from minor functionality and comfort upgrades in larger and more expensive ICE vehicles. In conclusion, a healthier growth in the large and full-size vehicle segments is needed to support the momentum for electric vehicles. This means the industry will probably adjust its production to provide greater price differentiation, especially in the large and full-size segments, as the EV industry matures.

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Progress Towards Developing a Quantitative Definition for Atmospheric Rivers

Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) are channels of water vapor in the atmosphere that result in a large amount of precipitation. They cause over 1.1 billion dollars of damage annually in the United States. As a result, accurately interpreting the presence of an AR has become crucial to ensuring the safety of citizens, especially those who live in regions frequently impacted by ARs. Progress is difficult, however, because the accepted AR definition is largely qualitative, and researchers who have tracked ARs use different identification methods. Therefore, an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of various detection algorithms is of great interest. The Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP) is a multicentered, collaborative effort to quantify the differences among AR detection techniques. This study focuses on eight AR detection algorithms run on ECMWF’s ERA5 reanalysis product. The time intervals among the ERA5 datasets range in hours and the time frame generally covers the years 1980-2019. To facilitate comparison among detection approaches, we compared transects of AR landfall from East Asian countries using the Python Programming language. Assuming that each algorithm identifies the presence of an AR perfectly, the transect plots should be identical among the eight datasets. However, some plots differed significantly from the others. For future studies, one should develop a standardized approach to detecting and interpreting ARs. An accurate interpretation of these weather systems will not only save lives but help countries economically.

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Investigation of South America Atmospheric Rivers

Previous studies have identified that atmospheric features with low-level moisture transport, known as atmospheric rivers (ARs), are connected to extreme precipitation events around the globe. While these ARs provide vital water resources to communities, they are also known to cause fatalities resulting from flooding and landslides. The severity of their impacts is expected to increase with climate change due to increased atmospheric moisture. Our understanding of what drives changes in AR behavior is still incomplete. While there has been a wide breadth of research conducted on ARs in the North Pacific region, much work has yet to be done in order to fill gaps in knowledge about ARs across the globe. The investigation of South America ARs aims to quantify how our understanding of ARs depends on algorithm choice. This specific study focuses on detection algorithms run on JRA-55 reanalysis (55 km resolution). The dataset consists of six different algorithms, namely the ARConnect, GuanWaliser, IDL, Mundhenk, Payne and Reid algorithms. Python is used for intercomparison and visual representation of the differences and strength of various detection algorithms, focusing on the understudied region of southern South America (15°N-60°S, 110°W-16°W). This project aims to identify algorithms that perform poorly and common AR characteristics where there is agreement. In doing so, it is the hope that affected communities across this region will better be able to respond to incoming extreme weather associated with AR events.

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Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Design through Systems Biology

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are a promising solution for treating cancers that are drug resistant, but are currently unsuccessful in solid tumors due to their stronger defense mechanisms that prevent the CAR T cells from recognizing the tumor. This project aims to identify the defense mechanisms in triple negative breast cancer related to infiltrating B cells and plasma cells in order to improve CAR T cell targeting in these tumors. We analyzed publicly available single cell RNA sequencing data from 12 patients with treatment-naive triple negative breast cancer and identified B cell and plasma cell subsets within these tumors. A total of 13 subsets were identified, with different patients displaying distinct subtypes of B and plasma cells. We compared the survival probability associated with the genes identified for each subset of cells. Survival analysis indicated that no single set of genes was associated with increased survival. Interestingly, clusters 1 and 2, denoted by genes IGKV-3, HLA-DRA, and MS4A1, were associated with patients that had increased immune infiltrate, which may indicate that these cells could be used to improve targeting of CAR T cell therapy.

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Analysis of the Human Ovarian Cell Landscape using Histological and Immunofluorescent Staining

Improvements in cancer treatments have led to the increase of cancer survival rates in recent decades. While these treatments are life-saving, they have cytotoxic effects on the ovaries, thus depleting the ovarian follicle supply. The number of follicles in the ovaries is nonrenewable, leading to premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). In vitro follicle culture could serve as a broad fertility preservation option for these patients, but much is still unknown about the mechanisms driving early follicle development. Single cell sequencing of ovarian tissue from deceased donors can be used to characterize the role of stromal cells in follicle development as well as transcriptional differences between follicles at the different stages of development. To verify the cell populations identified using single cell sequencing we will use hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunofluorescent staining to characterize the spatial landscape of follicles and stroma in donor ovarian tissue. I will quantify follicles at different stages of development across donors and use immunofluorescent staining to validate and support the sequencing data. This work will deepen our understanding of follicle development and supporting cell types, leading to development of human follicle culture systems and a broad fertility preservation option for cancer survivors.

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Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Design through Systems Biology

CAR T cell cancer therapy is a new, promising treatment that offers an alternative to the existing methods of fighting cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. However, at present it is primarily useful in counteracting blood cancers like leukemia, and is far less effective on solid tumors. To circumvent this issue, sc-RNAseq data from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients was analyzed using bioinformatic techniques in R to identify adjuvant targets. Cells were clustered into groups using genetic markers, allowing for survival analysis on certain genes to predict which pathways were associated with improved patient recovery. Once identified, these genes will be tested in vitro, using CAR T cells to record cessation of cancer cells with and without these pathways enabled. Such findings have the potential to have a significant impact on the field of cancer therapy, as they offer a treatment to tumors such as TNBC that have previously been difficult, if not impossible, to successfully treat.

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Role of Actin in Health and Disease

Our research culminates to answer the question: what is extracellular actin’s role in health and disease? By examining three different forms of extracellular actin – cell surface bound, free circulating, and those associated with the extracellular matrix – we can understand their application and how they can be used to innovate the tools we currently have to work with diseases.

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Literature Survey and Ontological Modeling of COVID-19 Related Acute Kidney Injury Manifestations

COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus known as the SARS-CoV-2, has many different phenotypic outcomes, or observable characteristics that result from molecular and cellular host-coronavirus interactions. One of these outcomes is Acute Kidney Injury, or AKI. When the virus enters the host cell by binding to the ACE2 receptor, the regulatory Renin-Angiotensin (RAS) hormone system is activated resulting in untoward effects on multiple organs, of which those pertaining to the kidney are of interest. As reported in existing literature, pathophysiological mechanisms associate the novel coronavirus to outcomes related to kidney damage closely following the RAS system as well as signaling pathways like complement activation, yet much of the specific interactions are still under close study.

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Enriched Biological Processes of Human Genes Interacting with SARS-CoV-2

SARS-CoV-2 has imprinted itself on our modern society, bringing lives around the world to a grinding halt. For this study, we focused primarily on the pathways leading to Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) and investigated how we could map this into Ontology. We started with looking at pathways to AKI, and with the use of BioGRID, a database compiling protein and gene information regarding SARS-CoV-2, and DAVID Bioinformatics, and the goal was to map pathways involved in SARS-CoV-2 manifestations. Much of our research involved trying to find an effective way to study the multitude of information presented with the open resources provided by the internet. To do so, we looked at other studies to understand how they used BioGRID and other protein databases for their studies.

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