Setup and application of a structural seismic hybrid simulation system on local area network

To implement structural hybrid simulation independent of the control system of any testing equipment in civil engineering, an external command control approach is put forward. Several setup technologies and the corresponding API approaches are investigated to simultaneously combine numerical simulation with physical testing. Hybrid program technology is put forward and described in detail, using Visual C++ program to effectively and accurately control testing equipment and MATLAB program to implement numerical simulation with easy extension. The control program of testing equipment and numerical simulation program are integrated by calling MATLAB engine in Visual C++. A hybrid simulation about a full-scale six-story masonry structure is carried out. The testing results manifest that the external command control approach has the versatility because of simple hardware connection and control program independent on control software of testing equipment; powerful program function of Visual C++ and flexible program of MATLAB are integrated by hybrid program technology; hybrid simulation system provides a realistic and cost-effective testing platform that enables earthquake engineer researchers to accurately and efficiently capture the seismic performance of large or complex structures without having to carry out physical testing of the entire structure.

mRNA enrichment protocols determine the quantification characteristics of external RNA spike-in controls in RNA-Seq studies

RNA-Seq promises to be used in clinical settings as a gene-expression profiling tool;however,questions about its variability and biases remain and need to be addressed.Thus,RNA controls with known concentrations and sequence identities originally developed by the External RNA Control Consortium(ERCC) for microarray and qPCR platforms have recently been proposed for RNA-Seq platforms,but only with a limited number of samples.In this study,we report our analysis of RNA-Seq data from 92 ERCC controls spiked in a diverse collection of 447 RNA samples from eight ongoing studies involving five species(human,rat,mouse,chicken,and Schistosoma japonicum) and two mRNA enrichment protocols,i.e.,poly(A) and RiboZero.The entire collection of datasets consisted of 15650143175 short sequence reads,131603796(i.e.,0.84%) of which were mapped to the 92 ERCC references.The overall ERCC mapping ratio of 0.84% is close to the expected value of 1.0% when assuming a 2.0% mRNA fraction in total RNA,but showed a difference of 2.8-fold across studies and 4.3-fold among samples from the same study with one tissue type.This level of fluctuation may prevent the ERCC controls from being used for cross-sample normalization in RNA-Seq.Furthermore,we observed striking biases of quantification between poly(A) and RiboZero which are transcript-specific.For example,ERCC-00116 showed a 7.3-fold under-enrichment in poly(A) compared to RiboZero.Extra care is needed in integrative analysis of multiple datasets and technical artifacts of protocol differences should not be taken as true biological findings.

External quality control and training of semen analysis in the Netherlands:starting point for further reduction of outcome variability

Semen analysis is characterized by high levels of intra-and inter-laboratory variability,due to a low level of standardization,high subjectivity of the assessments,and problems with automated procedures.To improve consistency of laboratory results,quality control and training of technicians are important requisites.The goals of this study are to evaluate the results of an external quality control(EQC)program and standardized training by ESHRE Basic Semen Analysis Courses(BSAC)on the variability in manual assessments of semen parameters.We performed retrospective analyses of(1)the interlaboratory variability in the Dutch EQC program and(2)the interobserver variability in BSACs for concentration,motility,and morphology assessments.EQC data showed that the interlaboratory coefficient of variation(CV)for concentration assessment decreased(range from 24.0%–97.5%to 12.7%–20.9%)but not for morphology and motility assessments.Concentration variability was lower if improved Neubauer hemocytometers were used.Morphology assessment showed highest CVs(up to 375.0%),with many outliers in the period of 2007–2014.During BSAC,a significant reduction of interobserver variability could be established for all parameters(P<0.05).The absence of an effect in the EQC program for motility and morphology might be explained by respectively the facts that motility assessment was introduced relatively late in the EQC program(since 2013)and that criteria for morphology assessment changed in time.BSAC results might have been influenced by the pretraining level of participants and the influence of external factors.Both EQC and training show positive effects on reducing variability.Increased willingness by laboratories to change their methods toward standards may lead to further improvements.