University of Colorado Boulder

About: University of Colorado Boulder is a education organization based out in Boulder, Colorado, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 48794 authors who have published 115151 publications receiving 5387328 citations. The organization is also known as: CU Boulder & UCB.

SAT-based model checking without unrolling

Abstract: A new form of SAT-based symbolic model checking is described. Instead of unrolling the transition relation, it incrementally generates clauses that are inductive relative to (and augment) stepwise approximate reachability information. In this way, the algorithm gradually refines the property, eventually producing either an inductive strengthening of the property or a counterexample trace. Our experimental studies show that induction is a powerful tool for generalizing the unreachability of given error states: it can refine away many states at once, and it is effective at focusing the proof search on aspects of the transition system relevant to the property. Furthermore, the incremental structure of the algorithm lends itself to a parallel implementation.

Sharp increase in central Oklahoma seismicity since 2008 induced by massive wastewater injection

Abstract: Unconventional oil and gas production provides a rapidly growing energy source; however, high-production states in the United States, such as Oklahoma, face sharply rising numbers of earthquakes. Subsurface pressure data required to unequivocally link earthquakes to wastewater injection are rarely accessible. Here we use seismicity and hydrogeological models to show that fluid migration from high-rate disposal wells in Oklahoma is potentially responsible for the largest swarm. Earthquake hypocenters occur within disposal formations and upper basement, between 2- and 5-kilometer depth. The modeled fluid pressure perturbation propagates throughout the same depth range and tracks earthquakes to distances of 35 kilometers, with a triggering threshold of ~0.07 megapascals. Although thousands of disposal wells operate aseismically, four of the highest-rate wells are capable of inducing 20% of 2008 to 2013 central U.S. seismicity.

Spinal Glia and Proinflammatory Cytokines Mediate Mirror-Image Neuropathic Pain in Rats

Abstract: Mirror-image allodynia is a mysterious phenomenon that occurs in association with many clinical pain syndromes. Allodynia refers to pain in response to light touch/pressure stimuli, which normally are perceived as innocuous. Mirror-image allodynia arises from the healthy body region contralateral to the actual site of trauma/inflammation. Virtually nothing is known about the mechanisms underlying such pain. A recently developed animal model of inflammatory neuropathy reliably produces mirror-image allodynia, thus allowing this pain phenomenon to be analyzed. In this sciatic inflammatory neuropathy (SIN) model, decreased response threshold to tactile stimuli (mechanical allodynia) develops in rats after microinjection of immune activators around one healthy sciatic nerve at mid-thigh level. Low level immune activation produces unilateral allodynia ipsilateral to the site of sciatic inflammation; more intense immune activation produces bilateral (ipsilateral + mirror image) allodynia. The present studies demonstrate that both ipsilateral and mirror-image SIN-induced allodynias are (1) reversed by intrathecal (peri-spinal) delivery of fluorocitrate, a glial metabolic inhibitor; (2) prevented and reversed by intrathecal CNI-1493, an inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activated kinases implicated in proinflammatory cytokine production and signaling; and (3) prevented or reversed by intrathecal proinflammatory cytokine antagonists specific for interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor, or interleukin-6. Reversal of ipsilateral and mirror-image allodynias was rapid and complete even when SIN was maintained constantly for 2 weeks before proinflammatory cytokine antagonist administration. These results provide the first evidence that ipsilateral and mirror-image inflammatory neuropathy pain are created both acutely and chronically through glial and proinflammatory cytokine actions.

Gut microbes and the brain: paradigm shift in neuroscience.

Abstract: The discovery of the size and complexity of the human microbiome has resulted in an ongoing reevaluation of many concepts of health and disease, including diseases affecting the CNS. A growing body of preclinical literature has demonstrated bidirectional signaling between the brain and the gut microbiome, involving multiple neurocrine and endocrine signaling mechanisms. While psychological and physical stressors can affect the composition and metabolic activity of the gut microbiota, experimental changes to the gut microbiome can affect emotional behavior and related brain systems. These findings have resulted in speculation that alterations in the gut microbiome may play a pathophysiological role in human brain diseases, including autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. Ongoing large-scale population-based studies of the gut microbiome and brain imaging studies looking at the effect of gut microbiome modulation on brain responses to emotion-related stimuli are seeking to validate these speculations. This article is a summary of emerging topics covered in a symposium and is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the subject.

Ecological Effects of Nitrogen Deposition in the Western United States

Abstract: In the western United States vast acreages of land are exposed to low levels of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition, with interspersed hotspots of elevated N deposition downwind of large, expanding metropolitan centers or large agricultural operations. Biological response studies in western North America demonstrate that some aquatic and terrestrial plant and microbial communities are significantly altered by N deposition. Greater plant productivity is counterbalanced by biotic community changes and deleterious effects on sensitive organisms (lichens and phytoplankton) that respond to low inputs of N (3 to 8 kilograms N per hectare per year). Streamwater nitrate concentrations are elevated in high-elevation catchments in Colorado and are unusually high in southern California and in some chaparral catchments in the southwestern Sierra Nevada. Chronic N deposition in the West is implicated in increased fire frequency in some areas and habitat alteration for threatened species. Between hotspots, N deposition is too low to cause noticeable effects or has not been studied.