Biological sample collections from minors for genetic research: a systematic review of guidelines and position papers.

PubMed

Hens, Kristien; Nys, Herman; Cassiman, Jean-Jacques; Dierickx, Kris

2009-08-01

Stored tissue samples are an important resource for epidemiological genetic research. Genetic research on biological material from minors can yield valuable information on the development and genesis of early-onset genetic disorders and the early interaction of environmental and genetic factors. The use of such tissue raises some specific ethical and governance questions, which are not completely covered by the discussion on biological materials from adults. We have retrieved 29 guidelines and position papers pertaining to the storage and use of biological tissue samples for genetic research, originating from 27 different organizations. Five documents have an international scope, three have an European scope and 21 have a national scope. We discovered that 11 of these documents did not contain a section on biological materials from minors. The content of the remaining 18 documents was categorized according to four themes: consent, principles of non-therapeutic research on vulnerable populations, ethics committee approval and difference between anonymous and identifiable samples. We found out that these themes are not consistently mentioned by each document, but that documents discussing the same themes were mostly in agreement with their recommendations. However, a systematic reflection on the ethical and policy issues arising from the participation of minors in biobank research is missing.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 398)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 66 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Feb. 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine, life sciences, behavioral sciences, man/system technology and life support, and space biology.

Comparison of Document Data Bases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schipma, Peter B.; And Others

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the content and format of seven machine-readable bibliographic data bases: Chemical Abstracts Service Condensates, Chemical and Biological Activities, and Polymer Science and Technology, Biosciences Information Service's BA Previews including Biological Abstracts and BioResearch Index, Institute for…

Low Budget Biology 3: A Collection of Low Cost Labs and Activities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wartski, Bert; Wartski, Lynn Marie

This document contains biology labs, demonstrations, and activities that use low budget materials. The goal is to get students involved in the learning process by experiencing biology. Each lab has a teacher preparation section which outlines the purpose of the lab, some basic information, a list of materials , and how to prepare the different…

Key Planning Factors for Recovery from a Biological Terrorism Incident

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-30

Goals, this document identifies key technical planning areas that may be used to inform subsequent FEMA response and recovery guidance documents. The...expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of their respective organizations or the US Government. The modeling and analysis provided by...responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would

The York Gospels: a 1000-year biological palimpsest

PubMed Central

Fiddyment, Sarah; Vnouček, Jiří; Mattiangeli, Valeria; Speller, Camilla; Binois, Annelise; Carver, Martin; Dand, Catherine; Newfield, Timothy P.; Webb, Christopher C.; Bradley, Daniel G.; Collins, Matthew J.

2017-01-01

Medieval manuscripts, carefully curated and conserved, represent not only an irreplaceable documentary record but also a remarkable reservoir of biological information. Palaeographic and codicological investigation can often locate and date these documents with remarkable precision. The York Gospels (York Minster Ms. Add. 1) is one such codex, one of only a small collection of pre-conquest Gospel books to have survived the Reformation. By extending the non-invasive triboelectric (eraser-based) sampling technique eZooMS, to include the analysis of DNA, we report a cost-effective and simple-to-use biomolecular sampling technique for parchment. We apply this combined methodology to document for the first time a rich palimpsest of biological information contained within the York Gospels, which has accumulated over the 1000-year lifespan of this cherished object that remains an active participant in the life of York Minster. These biological data provide insights into the decisions made in the selection of materials, the construction of the codex and the use history of the object. PMID:29134095

Information services for comparative analysis of biorhythm research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

References and full text documents are presented in support of continuing research and research planning for the NASA behavioral physiology program. Areas covered include: (1) desynchronosis and performance; (2) effects of alcohol, common colds, drugs, and toxic hazards on performance; (3) effects of stress on rhythm of plasma steroids; (4) data processing of biological rhythms; (5) pharmacology and biological rhythms; (6) mechanisms of biological rhythms; and (7) development of biological rhythms.

Agriculture and Biology Teaching. Science and Technology Education Document Series 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rao, A. N.; Pritchard, Alan J.

The six-chapter document is part of Unesco's Science and Technology Education Programme to encourage an international exchange of ideas and information on science and technology education. Chapters discuss: (1) development of agriculture (beginning and modern); (2) agroecosystems (land utilization, soils, food production, irrigation, and…

Mapping annotations with textual evidence using an scLDA model.

PubMed

Jin, Bo; Chen, Vicky; Chen, Lujia; Lu, Xinghua

2011-01-01

Most of the knowledge regarding genes and proteins is stored in biomedical literature as free text. Extracting information from complex biomedical texts demands techniques capable of inferring biological concepts from local text regions and mapping them to controlled vocabularies. To this end, we present a sentence-based correspondence latent Dirichlet allocation (scLDA) model which, when trained with a corpus of PubMed documents with known GO annotations, performs the following tasks: 1) learning major biological concepts from the corpus, 2) inferring the biological concepts existing within text regions (sentences), and 3) identifying the text regions in a document that provides evidence for the observed annotations. When applied to new gene-related documents, a trained scLDA model is capable of predicting GO annotations and identifying text regions as textual evidence supporting the predicted annotations. This study uses GO annotation data as a testbed; the approach can be generalized to other annotated data, such as MeSH and MEDLINE documents.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Neitzel, D.A.; McKenzie, D.H.

To minimize adverse impact on aquatic ecosystems resulting from the operation of water intake structures, design engineers must have relevant information on the behavior, physiology and ecology of local fish and shellfish. Identification of stimulus/response relationships and the environmental factors that influence them is the first step in incorporating biological information in the design, location or modification of water intake structures. A procedure is presented in this document for providing biological input to engineers who are designing, locating or modifying a water intake structure. The authors discuss sources of stimuli at water intakes, historical approaches in assessing potential/actual impact andmore » review biological information needed for intake design.« less

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 377)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 223 reports, articles, and other documents recently introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 385)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 536 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System Database. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 389)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 234 reports, articles, and other documents recently introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 388)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 132 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

The History, Biology and Medical Aspects of Leprosy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eichman, Phillip

1999-01-01

Presents information about the history, biology, and medical aspects of leprosy, including its description in historical documents, its cause and effects, statistics on its prevalence, and various attempts at treatment. Notes that leprosy is one of the few infectious diseases that, although treatable with medication, remains incurable. Contains 30…

Clustering document fragments using background color and texture information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chanda, Sukalpa; Franke, Katrin; Pal, Umapada

2012-01-01

Forensic analysis of questioned documents sometimes can be extensively data intensive. A forensic expert might need to analyze a heap of document fragments and in such cases to ensure reliability he/she should focus only on relevant evidences hidden in those document fragments. Relevant document retrieval needs finding of similar document fragments. One notion of obtaining such similar documents could be by using document fragment's physical characteristics like color, texture, etc. In this article we propose an automatic scheme to retrieve similar document fragments based on visual appearance of document paper and texture. Multispectral color characteristics using biologically inspired color differentiation techniques are implemented here. This is done by projecting document color characteristics to Lab color space. Gabor filter-based texture analysis is used to identify document texture. It is desired that document fragments from same source will have similar color and texture. For clustering similar document fragments of our test dataset we use a Self Organizing Map (SOM) of dimension 5×5, where the document color and texture information are used as features. We obtained an encouraging accuracy of 97.17% from 1063 test images.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 374)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 227 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Apr. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 408)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 84 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Dec. 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 376)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 265 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jun. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 359)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 164 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 383)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 100 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1992. Subject coverage includes the following topics: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 391)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 75 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Aug. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 370)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 219 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Dec. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 362)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 357 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 392)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 81 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Sep. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 369)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 209 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 361)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 141 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Mar. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 407)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 289 reports, articles and other documents announced in the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 363)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 164 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1992. Subject coverage includes aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 386)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 117 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Mar. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 378)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 185 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Aug. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 387)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 60 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Apr. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 405)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 225 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Sep. 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 372)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 208 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 379)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 305 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Sep. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 367)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 205 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Aug. 1992. Subject coverage includes the following: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 406)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 346 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Oct. 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 382)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 119 reports, articles, and other documents recently introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System. Subject coverage includes the following: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 381)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 89 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 402)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 244 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 380)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 192 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Oct. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 357)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 186 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Dec. 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 403)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 217 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during July 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 400)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 397 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during April 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 397)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

This bibliography lists 122 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1995. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 375)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 212 reports, articles, and other documents recently introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System database. Subject coverage includes the following: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Creating FGDC and NBII metadata with Metavist 2005.

Treesearch

David J. Rugg

2004-01-01

This report documents a computer program for creating metadata compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) 1998 metadata standard or the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) 1999 Biological Data Profile for the FGDC standard. The software runs under the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP operating systems, and requires the presence of...

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 260)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

A bibliography containing 225 reports, articles, and other documents which were introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information system in June 1984 is presented. All articles are indexed and abstracted. General topics include: life sciences, aerospace medicine, behavioral sciences, man/system technology and life support, and planetary biology.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 393)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 29 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Oct. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 394)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 71 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1994. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 364)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 188 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during June 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 360)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 217 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during February 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 365)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 211 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during July 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Environmental Information Document - Volume 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

BAYLISS, LINDA S.; GUERRERO, JOSEPH V.; JOHNS, WILLIAM H.

This Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Environmental Information Document (EID) compiles information on the existing environment, or environmental baseline, for SNUNM. Much of the information is drawn from existing reports and databases supplemented by new research and data. The SNL/NM EID, together with the Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico Facilities and Safety Information Document, provide a basis for assessing the environment, safety, and health aspects of operating selected facilities at SNL/NM. The environmental baseline provides a record of the existing physical, biological, and socioeconomic environment at SNL/NLM prior to being altered (beneficially or adversely) by proposed programs or projects. More specifically, themore » EID provides information on the following topics: Geology; Land Use; Hydrology and Water Resources; Air Quality and Meteorology; Ecology; Noise and Vibration; Cultural Resources; Visual Resources; Socioeconomic and Community Services; Transportation; Material Management; Waste Management; and Regulatory Requirements.« less

Survey of techniques used to preserve biological materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feinler, E. J.; Hubbard, R. W.

1972-01-01

The techniques used to preserve biological materials are documented and summarized. The report is presented in a handbook format that categorizes the most important preservation techniques available, and includes a representative sampling of the thousands of applications of these techniques to biological materials and organisms. Details of the information coverage and method of approach are outlined. Data are given in tabular form, and an index and extensive bibliography are included.

CellBase, a comprehensive collection of RESTful web services for retrieving relevant biological information from heterogeneous sources.

PubMed

Bleda, Marta; Tarraga, Joaquin; de Maria, Alejandro; Salavert, Francisco; Garcia-Alonso, Luz; Celma, Matilde; Martin, Ainoha; Dopazo, Joaquin; Medina, Ignacio

2012-07-01

During the past years, the advances in high-throughput technologies have produced an unprecedented growth in the number and size of repositories and databases storing relevant biological data. Today, there is more biological information than ever but, unfortunately, the current status of many of these repositories is far from being optimal. Some of the most common problems are that the information is spread out in many small databases; frequently there are different standards among repositories and some databases are no longer supported or they contain too specific and unconnected information. In addition, data size is increasingly becoming an obstacle when accessing or storing biological data. All these issues make very difficult to extract and integrate information from different sources, to analyze experiments or to access and query this information in a programmatic way. CellBase provides a solution to the growing necessity of integration by easing the access to biological data. CellBase implements a set of RESTful web services that query a centralized database containing the most relevant biological data sources. The database is hosted in our servers and is regularly updated. CellBase documentation can be found at http://docs.bioinfo.cipf.es/projects/cellbase.

Proceedings of the workshop "Development of biological decision support systems for resource managers": Denver, Colorado, October 27-29, 1998

USGS Publications Warehouse

Getter, James; D'Erchia, Terry D.; Root, Ralph; Getter, James; D'Erchia, Terry D.; Root, Ralph

1999-01-01

The format for this 3-day workshop (27-29 October 1998) included plenary presentations by USGS Biological Resources Division (BRD) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service per onnel who u e and develop decision support systems (DSS); breakout ses ions addressing DSS technical information aspect , outreach/ customer requirements, and future perspectives; and a DSS Steering Committee meeting to evaluate work hop goals and to provide guidance for fu ture efforts. Steering committee action item developed from workshop inputs were to ( I) develop a "DSS framework" document for u e in biological research. (2) develop a "proof of concept" DSS based upon the framework document, and (3) integrate decision support ystem into BRD program elements.

Physical and Life Scientists. Bulletin 2205-5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bureau of Labor Statistics (DOL), Washington, DC.

This document provides information about careers in the agricultural sciences, the biological sciences, chemistry, forestry and conservation, geology and geophysics, meteorology, and physics. The information, presented in separate sections for each of these disciplines, includes: (1) nature of the work performed by scientists in the discipline(s);…

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 373)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This bibliography lists 206 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Feb. 1993. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, pharmacology, toxicology, environmental effect, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods

MedlinePlus

... Vaccines, Blood & Biologics Animal & Veterinary Cosmetics Tobacco Products Food Home Food Guidance & Regulation Guidance Documents & Regulatory Information by Topic Allergens Gluten-Free Labeling of Foods Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More sharing options ...

Improving the forecast for biodiversity under climate change.

PubMed

Urban, M C; Bocedi, G; Hendry, A P; Mihoub, J-B; Pe'er, G; Singer, A; Bridle, J R; Crozier, L G; De Meester, L; Godsoe, W; Gonzalez, A; Hellmann, J J; Holt, R D; Huth, A; Johst, K; Krug, C B; Leadley, P W; Palmer, S C F; Pantel, J H; Schmitz, A; Zollner, P A; Travis, J M J

2016-09-09

New biological models are incorporating the realistic processes underlying biological responses to climate change and other human-caused disturbances. However, these more realistic models require detailed information, which is lacking for most species on Earth. Current monitoring efforts mainly document changes in biodiversity, rather than collecting the mechanistic data needed to predict future changes. We describe and prioritize the biological information needed to inform more realistic projections of species' responses to climate change. We also highlight how trait-based approaches and adaptive modeling can leverage sparse data to make broader predictions. We outline a global effort to collect the data necessary to better understand, anticipate, and reduce the damaging effects of climate change on biodiversity. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Freshwater Biological Traits Database (Traits)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The traits database was compiled for a project on climate change effects on river and stream ecosystems. The traits data, gathered from multiple sources, focused on information published or otherwise well-documented by trustworthy sources.

South African Helichrysum species: a review of the traditional uses, biological activity and phytochemistry.

PubMed

Lourens, A C U; Viljoen, A M; van Heerden, F R

2008-10-28

In South Africa, the genus Helichrysum is widely used in traditional medicine. The uses are well documented although renaming of species and the resulting confusing taxonomic nomenclature may cause uncertainty as to which specific species was referred to in some reports. The aim of this paper is to present a collated and coherent overview of the documented traditional uses of Helichrysum species and to update the botanical identity of previously studied species. Databases (Scifinder, ISI Web of Knowledge) and several books were used to collect in information on South African Helichrysum species. The traditional uses, chemistry and biological activity of Helichrysum species have been summarized. It was attempted to give clarity as to exactly which species is refer to in the ethnobotanical literature. Although a large number of ethnopharmacological uses have been documented and the chemistry of the genus has been studied extensively, only a few South African species have been investigated for their biological activity.

Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) Version 2.0.0.

PubMed

Bartley, Bryan; Beal, Jacob; Clancy, Kevin; Misirli, Goksel; Roehner, Nicholas; Oberortner, Ernst; Pocock, Matthew; Bissell, Michael; Madsen, Curtis; Nguyen, Tramy; Zhang, Zhen; Gennari, John H; Myers, Chris; Wipat, Anil; Sauro, Herbert

2015-09-04

Synthetic biology builds upon the techniques and successes of genetics, molecular biology, and metabolic engineering by applying engineering principles to the design of biological systems. The field still faces substantial challenges, including long development times, high rates of failure, and poor reproducibility. One method to ameliorate these problems would be to improve the exchange of information about designed systems between laboratories. The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) has been developed as a standard to support the specification and exchange of biological design information in synthetic biology, filling a need not satisfied by other pre-existing standards. This document details version 2.0 of SBOL, introducing a standardized format for the electronic exchange of information on the structural and functional aspects of biological designs. The standard has been designed to support the explicit and unambiguous description of biological designs by means of a well defined data model. The standard also includes rules and best practices on how to use this data model and populate it with relevant design details. The publication of this specification is intended to make these capabilities more widely accessible to potential developers and users in the synthetic biology community and beyond.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 212

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

A bibliography listing 146 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system is presented. The subject coverage concentrates on the biological, psychological, and environmental factors involved in atmospheric and interplanetary flight. Related topics such as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, and exobiology are also given attention.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 395)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This bibliography lists 82 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Nov. 1992. Subject coverage includes: general life sciences; aerospace medicine (including physiological factors, biological effects of radiation, and effects of weightlessness on man and animals); behavioral sciences (including psychological factors, individual and group behavior, crew training and evaluation, and psychic research); man/system technology and life support (including human engineering, biotechnology, and space suits and protective clothing) and space biology (including exobiology, planetary biology, and extraterrestrial life).

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes. Supplement 485

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

This supplemental issue of Aerospace Medicine and Biology, A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (NASA/SP-1999-7011) lists reports, articles, and other documents recently announced in the NASA STI Database. In its subject coverage, Aerospace Medicine and Biology concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth's atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied, in most cases, by an abstract. The NASA CASI price code table, addresses of organizations, and document availability information are included before the abstract section. Two indexes-subject and author are included after the abstract section.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography With Indexes. Supplement 506

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

This supplemental issue of Aerospace Medicine and Biology, A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (NASA/SP#2000-7011) lists reports, articles, and other documents recently announced in the NASA STI Database. In its subject coverage, Aerospace Medicine and Biology concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth's atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied, in most cases, by an abstract. The NASA CASI price code table, addresses of organizations, and document availability information are included before the abstract section. Two indexes- subject and author are included after the abstract section.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes. Supplement 494

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

This supplemental issue of Aerospace Medicine and Biology, A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes lists reports, articles, and other documents recently announced in the NASA STI Database. In its subject coverage, Aerospace Medicine and Biology concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth's atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied, in most cases, by an abstract. The NASA CASI price code table, addresses of organizations, and document availability information are included before the abstract section. Two indexes--subject and author are included after the abstract section.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes. Supplement 496

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

This supplemental issue of Aerospace Medicine and Biology, A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (NASA/SP#2000-7011) lists reports, articles, and other documents recently announced in the NASA STI Database. In its subject coverage, Aerospace Medicine and Biology concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth#s atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied, in most cases, by an abstract. The NASA CASI price code table, addresses of organizations, and document availability information are included before the abstract section. Two indexes#subject and author are included after the abstract section.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography With Indexes. Supplement 499

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

This supplemental issue of Aerospace Medicine and Biology, A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (NASA/SP#1999-7011) lists reports, articles, and other documents recently announced in the NASA STI Database. In its subject coverage, Aerospace Medicine and Biology concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth#s atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion. Each entry in the publication consists of a standard bibliographic citation accompanied, in most cases, by an abstract. The NASA CASI price code table, addresses of organizations, and document availability information are included before the abstract section. Two indexes-subject and author are included after the abstract section.

Biological Information Document, Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biggs, J.

1995-12-31

This document is intended to act as a baseline source material for risk assessments which can be used in Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements. The current Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (RLWTF) does not meet current General Design Criteria for Non-reactor Nuclear Facilities and could be shut down affecting several DOE programs. This Biological Information Document summarizes various biological studies that have been conducted in the vicinity of new Proposed RLWTF site and an Alternative site. The Proposed site is located on Mesita del Buey, a mess top, and the Alternative site is located in Mortandad Canyon. The Proposedmore » Site is devoid of overstory species due to previous disturbance and is dominated by a mixture of grasses, forbs, and scattered low-growing shrubs. Vegetation immediately adjacent to the site is a pinyon-juniper woodland. The Mortandad canyon bottom overstory is dominated by ponderosa pine, willow, and rush. The south-facing slope was dominated by ponderosa pine, mountain mahogany, oak, and muhly. The north-facing slope is dominated by Douglas fir, ponderosa pine, and oak. Studies on wildlife species are limited in the vicinity of the proposed project and further studies will be necessary to accurately identify wildlife populations and to what extent they utilize the project area. Some information is provided on invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles, and small mammals. Additional species information from other nearby locations is discussed in detail. Habitat requirements exist in the project area for one federally threatened wildlife species, the peregrine falcon, and one federal candidate species, the spotted bat. However, based on surveys outside of the project area but in similar habitats, these species are not expected to occur in either the Proposed or Alternative RLWTF sites. Habitat Evaluation Procedures were used to evaluate ecological functioning in the project area.« less

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 259)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

A bibliography containing 476 documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in May 1984 is presented. The primary subject categories included are: life sciences, aerospace medicine, behavioral sciences, man/system technology, life support, and planetary biology. Topics extensively represented were space flight stress, man machine systems, weightlessness, human performance, mental performance, and spacecraft environments. Abstracts for each citation are given.

Learning about Marine Biology. Superific Science Book VI. A Good Apple Science Activity Book for Grades 5-8+.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conway, Lorraine

Based on the assumption that most students have a natural curiosity about the plant and animal life residing in the oceans, this document provides students in grades five through eight with activities in marine biology. The book provides illustrated information and learning activities dealing with: (1) diatoms; (2) the life cycle of the jellyfish;…

Test Results of Air-Permeable Charcoal Impregnated Suits to Challenge by Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents and Simulants. Executive Summary and Summary Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-05-01

authorizing documents. REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE F ~ormApprove I OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of Information Is...Health, San Antonio, TX e Dr. Annetta P. Watson, Life Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Oak Ridge, TN 9 Leo F . Saubier, Battelle Memorial...37 F - Giat NBC SWAT Suit ........................................................... 43 G - Giat

Extracting biomedical events from pairs of text entities

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Huge amounts of electronic biomedical documents, such as molecular biology reports or genomic papers are generated daily. Nowadays, these documents are mainly available in the form of unstructured free texts, which require heavy processing for their registration into organized databases. This organization is instrumental for information retrieval, enabling to answer the advanced queries of researchers and practitioners in biology, medicine, and related fields. Hence, the massive data flow calls for efficient automatic methods of text-mining that extract high-level information, such as biomedical events, from biomedical text. The usual computational tools of Natural Language Processing cannot be readily applied to extract these biomedical events, due to the peculiarities of the domain. Indeed, biomedical documents contain highly domain-specific jargon and syntax. These documents also describe distinctive dependencies, making text-mining in molecular biology a specific discipline. Results We address biomedical event extraction as the classification of pairs of text entities into the classes corresponding to event types. The candidate pairs of text entities are recursively provided to a multiclass classifier relying on Support Vector Machines. This recursive process extracts events involving other events as arguments. Compared to joint models based on Markov Random Fields, our model simplifies inference and hence requires shorter training and prediction times along with lower memory capacity. Compared to usual pipeline approaches, our model passes over a complex intermediate problem, while making a more extensive usage of sophisticated joint features between text entities. Our method focuses on the core event extraction of the Genia task of BioNLP challenges yielding the best result reported so far on the 2013 edition. PMID:26201478

PIML: the Pathogen Information Markup Language.

PubMed

He, Yongqun; Vines, Richard R; Wattam, Alice R; Abramochkin, Georgiy V; Dickerman, Allan W; Eckart, J Dana; Sobral, Bruno W S

2005-01-01

A vast amount of information about human, animal and plant pathogens has been acquired, stored and displayed in varied formats through different resources, both electronically and otherwise. However, there is no community standard format for organizing this information or agreement on machine-readable format(s) for data exchange, thereby hampering interoperation efforts across information systems harboring such infectious disease data. The Pathogen Information Markup Language (PIML) is a free, open, XML-based format for representing pathogen information. XSLT-based visual presentations of valid PIML documents were developed and can be accessed through the PathInfo website or as part of the interoperable web services federation known as ToolBus/PathPort. Currently, detailed PIML documents are available for 21 pathogens deemed of high priority with regard to public health and national biological defense. A dynamic query system allows simple queries as well as comparisons among these pathogens. Continuing efforts are being taken to include other groups' supporting PIML and to develop more PIML documents. All the PIML-related information is accessible from http://www.vbi.vt.edu/pathport/pathinfo/

The Annotated Bibliography and Citation Behavior: Enhancing Student Scholarship in an Undergraduate Biology Course

PubMed Central

Rux, Erika M.; Flaspohler, John A.

2007-01-01

Contemporary undergraduates in the biological sciences have unprecedented access to scientific information. Although many of these students may be savvy technologists, studies from the field of library and information science consistently show that undergraduates often struggle to locate, evaluate, and use high-quality, reputable sources of information. This study demonstrates the efficacy and pedagogical value of a collaborative teaching approach designed to enhance information literacy competencies among undergraduate biology majors who must write a formal scientific research paper. We rely on the triangulation of assessment data to determine the effectiveness of a substantial research paper project completed by students enrolled in an upper-level biology course. After enhancing library-based instruction, adding an annotated bibliography requirement, and using multiple assessment techniques, we show fundamental improvements in students' library research abilities. Ultimately, these improvements make it possible for students to more independently and effectively complete this challenging science-based writing assignment. We document critical information literacy advances in several key areas: student source-type use, annotated bibliography enhancement, plagiarism reduction, as well as student and faculty/librarian satisfaction. PMID:18056306

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography, supplement 216

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

One hundred twenty reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in January 1981 are listed. Topics include: sanitary problems; pharmacology; toxicology; safety and survival; life support systems; exobiology; and personnel factors.

A metadata template for ocean acidification data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, L.

2014-12-01

Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, and locates an information resource (e.g., data). It is often coarsely described as data about data, and documents information such as what was measured, by whom, when, where, and how it was sampled, analyzed, with what instruments. Metadata is inherent to ensure the survivability and accessibility of the data into the future. With the rapid expansion of biological response ocean acidification (OA) studies, the lack of a common metadata template to document such type of data has become a significant gap for ocean acidification data management efforts. In this paper, we present a metadata template that can be applied to a broad spectrum of OA studies, including those studying the biological responses of organisms on ocean acidification. The "variable metadata section", which includes the variable name, observation type, whether the variable is a manipulation condition or response variable, and the biological subject on which the variable is studied, forms the core of this metadata template. Additional metadata elements, such as principal investigators, temporal and spatial coverage, platforms for the sampling, data citation are essential components to complete the template. We explain the structure of the template, and define many metadata elements that may be unfamiliar to researchers. For that reason, this paper can serve as a user's manual for the template.

Deep Ultraviolet Laser Imaging for Biology

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-15

AFRL-SR-AR-TR-09-0013 REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per...and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information...should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of

Impaired visual recognition of biological motion in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Kim, Jejoong; Doop, Mikisha L; Blake, Randolph; Park, Sohee

2005-09-15

Motion perception deficits have been suggested to be an important feature of schizophrenia but the behavioral consequences of such deficits are unknown. Biological motion refers to the movements generated by living beings. The human visual system rapidly and effortlessly detects and extracts socially relevant information from biological motion. A deficit in biological motion perception may have significant consequences for detecting and interpreting social information. Schizophrenia patients and matched healthy controls were tested on two visual tasks: recognition of human activity portrayed in point-light animations (biological motion task) and a perceptual control task involving detection of a grouped figure against the background noise (global-form task). Both tasks required detection of a global form against background noise but only the biological motion task required the extraction of motion-related information. Schizophrenia patients performed as well as the controls in the global-form task, but were significantly impaired on the biological motion task. In addition, deficits in biological motion perception correlated with impaired social functioning as measured by the Zigler social competence scale [Zigler, E., Levine, J. (1981). Premorbid competence in schizophrenia: what is being measured? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 96-105.]. The deficit in biological motion processing, which may be related to the previously documented deficit in global motion processing, could contribute to abnormal social functioning in schizophrenia.

75 FR 13766 - Guidance for Industry on the Content and Format of the Dosage and Administration Section of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-23

...The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled ``Dosage and Administration Section of Labeling for Human Prescription Drug and Biological Products--Content and Format.'' This guidance is one of a series of guidance documents intended to assist applicants in drafting prescription drug labeling in which prescribing information is clear and accessible and in complying with the requirements in the final rule on the content and format of labeling for prescription drug and biological products. This guidance is intended to help applicants select information for inclusion in the ``Dosage and Administration'' section of labeling and to help them organize that information.

Biological Diversity in the Patent System

PubMed Central

Oldham, Paul; Hall, Stephen; Forero, Oscar

2013-01-01

Biological diversity in the patent system is an enduring focus of controversy but empirical analysis of the presence of biodiversity in the patent system has been limited. To address this problem we text mined 11 million patent documents for 6 million Latin species names from the Global Names Index (GNI) established by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). We identified 76,274 full Latin species names from 23,882 genera in 767,955 patent documents. 25,595 species appeared in the claims section of 136,880 patent documents. This reveals that human innovative activity involving biodiversity in the patent system focuses on approximately 4% of taxonomically described species and between 0.8–1% of predicted global species. In this article we identify the major features of the patent landscape for biological diversity by focusing on key areas including pharmaceuticals, neglected diseases, traditional medicines, genetic engineering, foods, biocides, marine genetic resources and Antarctica. We conclude that the narrow focus of human innovative activity and ownership of genetic resources is unlikely to be in the long term interest of humanity. We argue that a broader spectrum of biodiversity needs to be opened up to research and development based on the principles of equitable benefit-sharing, respect for the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, human rights and ethics. Finally, we argue that alternative models of innovation, such as open source and commons models, are required to open up biodiversity for research that addresses actual and neglected areas of human need. The research aims to inform the implementation of the 2010 Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization and international debates directed to the governance of genetic resources. Our research also aims to inform debates under the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore at the World Intellectual Property Organization. PMID:24265714

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A Continuing Bibliography. Supplement 474

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

This bibliography lists reports, articles and other documents recently introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information database. Subject coverage includes: Aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life and flightcrew behavior and performance.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology. A continuing bibliography with indexes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

This bibliography lists 244 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981. Aerospace medicine and aerobiology topics are included. Listings for physiological factors, astronaut performance, control theory, artificial intelligence, and cybernetics are included.

Aerospace medicine and biology. A continuing bibliography with indexes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1982-03-01

This bibliography lists 244 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981. Aerospace medicine and aerobiology topics are included. Listings for physiological factors, astronaut performance, control theory, artificial intelligence, and cybernetics are included.

Acceptance Criteria Framework for Autonomous Biological Detectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dzenitis, J M

2006-12-12

The purpose of this study was to examine a set of user acceptance criteria for autonomous biological detection systems for application in high-traffic, public facilities. The test case for the acceptance criteria was the Autonomous Pathogen Detection System (APDS) operating in high-traffic facilities in New York City (NYC). However, the acceptance criteria were designed to be generally applicable to other biological detection systems in other locations. For such detection systems, ''users'' will include local authorities (e.g., facility operators, public health officials, and law enforcement personnel) and national authorities [including personnel from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the BioWatch Program,more » the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)]. The panel members brought expertise from a broad range of backgrounds to complete this picture. The goals of this document are: (1) To serve as informal guidance for users in considering the benefits and costs of these systems. (2) To serve as informal guidance for developers in understanding the needs of users. In follow-up work, this framework will be used to systematically document the APDS for appropriateness and readiness for use in NYC.« less

Ethics and law in research with human biological samples: a new approach.

PubMed

Petrini, Carlo

2014-01-01

During the last century a large number of documents (regulations, ethical codes, treatises, declarations, conventions) were published on the subject of ethics and clinical trials, many of them focusing on the protection of research participants. More recently various proposals have been put forward to relax some of the constraints imposed on research by these documents and regulations. It is important to distinguish between risks deriving from direct interventions on human subjects and other types of risk. In Italy the Data Protection Authority has acted in the question of research using previously collected health data and biological samples to simplify the procedures regarding informed consent. The new approach may be of help to other researchers working outside Italy.

Nutrition and skin.

PubMed

Pappas, Apostolos; Liakou, Aikaterini; Zouboulis, Christos C

2016-09-01

Nutrition has long been associated with skin health, including all of its possible aspects from beauty to its integrity and even the aging process. Multiple pathways within skin biology are associated with the onset and clinical course of various common skin diseases, such as acne, atopic dermatitis, aging, or even photoprotection. These conditions have been shown to be critically affected by nutritional patterns and dietary interventions where well-documented studies have demonstrated beneficial effects of essential nutrients on impaired skin structural and functional integrity and have restored skin appearance and health. Although the subject could be vast, the intention of this review is to provide the most relevant and the most well-documented information on the role of nutrition in common skin conditions and its impact on skin biology.

Producing Seed Crops to Naturally Regenerate Southern Pines

Treesearch

James P. Barnett; Ronald O. Haugen

1995-01-01

The biological processes that affect seed production in natural southern pine are documented, and information that will allow foresters to manipulate stands in a manner to improve and predict seed production is provided. As a result, natural regeneration should become a more reliable technique.

Using Adverse Outcome Pathways to Build Chemical Groups: A Case Study for Hepatic Steatosis

EPA Science Inventory

The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework systematically documents the mechanisms underlying effects of chemicals. Ideally, the AOP traces the mechanism to the initial interaction of chemicals with the biological system. Thus, AOPs should help inform chemical grouping by identi...

Scientific and Technical Libraries in Kentucky.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, Russell H.; Gleim, David E.

Based on initial questionnaires, plus followup contacts and interviews, this survey documents for the first time the holdings, rates of growth, and information resources available at 72 of Kentucky's scientific and technical libraries. Included are library book collections that emphasize the business, economic, biological, physical, medical, and…

Investigation of Chemical Reactivity, Mass Recovery and Biological Activity During Thermal Treatment of DNAPL Source Zones

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response...penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. 1 . REPORT DATE OCT 2009 2...xvi E. 1 . Research Approach .........................................................................................................xvi E.2

Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) Version 2.2.0.

PubMed

Cox, Robert Sidney; Madsen, Curtis; McLaughlin, James Alastair; Nguyen, Tramy; Roehner, Nicholas; Bartley, Bryan; Beal, Jacob; Bissell, Michael; Choi, Kiri; Clancy, Kevin; Grünberg, Raik; Macklin, Chris; Misirli, Goksel; Oberortner, Ernst; Pocock, Matthew; Samineni, Meher; Zhang, Michael; Zhang, Zhen; Zundel, Zach; Gennari, John H; Myers, Chris; Sauro, Herbert; Wipat, Anil

2018-04-02

Synthetic biology builds upon the techniques and successes of genetics, molecular biology, and metabolic engineering by applying engineering principles to the design of biological systems. The field still faces substantial challenges, including long development times, high rates of failure, and poor reproducibility. One method to ameliorate these problems would be to improve the exchange of information about designed systems between laboratories. The synthetic biology open language (SBOL) has been developed as a standard to support the specification and exchange of biological design information in synthetic biology, filling a need not satisfied by other pre-existing standards. This document details version 2.2.0 of SBOL that builds upon version 2.1.0 published in last year's JIB special issue. In particular, SBOL 2.2.0 includes improved description and validation rules for genetic design provenance, an extension to support combinatorial genetic designs, a new class to add non-SBOL data as attachments, a new class for genetic design implementations, and a description of a methodology to describe the entire design-build-test-learn cycle within the SBOL data model.

A Syllabus for Biol 242--Human Anatomy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacob, Willis H.

This document is the fall and spring semester course syllabus of Biology 242--Human Anatomy at Southern University (Louisiana). Sections include: (1) Descriptive Information; (2) Specification of Course Goals and Objectives; (3) Readings; (4) Description of Instructional Procedures; (5) Course Requirements; (6) Course Schedule; (7) Evaluation of…

21 CFR 814.104 - Original applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... information to the Document Control Center (HFM-99), Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and... Control Room, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 5901-B Ammendale Rd... or diagnose the disease or condition. The application also shall contain a discussion of the risks...

21 CFR 814.104 - Original applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... information to the Document Control Center (HFM-99), Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and... Control Room, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 5901-B Ammendale Rd... or diagnose the disease or condition. The application also shall contain a discussion of the risks...

21 CFR 814.104 - Original applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... information to the Document Control Center (HFM-99), Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and... Control Room, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 5901-B Ammendale Rd... or diagnose the disease or condition. The application also shall contain a discussion of the risks...

WHO Expert Committee on Biological Standardization.

PubMed

2002-01-01

This report presents the recommendations of a WHO Expert Committee commissioned to coordinate activities leading to the adoption of international recommendations for the production and quality control of vaccines and other biologicals and the establishment of international biological reference materials. The report starts with a discussion of general issues brought to the attention of the Committee and provides information on issues relevant to international guidelines, recommendations and other matters related to the manufacture and quality control of biologicals. This is followed by information on the status and development of reference materials for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, various antigens, blood products, cytokines, growth factors and endocrinological substances. The second part of the report, of particular interest to manufacturers and national control authorities, contains sets of recommendations for the production and control of poliomyelitis vaccine (oral) and poliomyelitis vaccine (inactivated) and guidelines for the production and control of live attenuated Japanese encephalitis vaccine. Also included are lists of recommendations and guidelines for biological substances used in medicine, and other relevant documents.

Interim Consequence Management Guidance for a Wide-Area Biological Attack

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Raber, Ellen; Kirvel, Robert; MacQueen, Don

2011-05-17

The Interagency Biological Restoration Demonstration (IBRD) program is a collaborative, interagency effort co-chaired by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense aimed at improving the nation‘s ability to respond to and recover from a large-scale, wide-area, domestic attack involving the release of an environmentally persistent biological warfare agent. The program is focused on understanding interactions between the civilian and military sectors, and in building mutual support to carry out such remediations. This Interim Consequence Management Guidance document provides guidance for decisionmakers in executing activities required to respond to and recover from a biological incident affecting a wide urbanmore » area insofar as information is currently available. The spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis is discussed as the biological agent of primary concern because it is the most difficult of known bioterrorism agents to inactivate and is considered to be one of the key threat agents. Most other biological threat agents are much easier to remediate, and in many cases, inactivation would occur naturally within days as a result of environmental exposure; however, the framework and operational questions that need to be addressed are expected to remain the same. The guidance in this document is applicable to (1) enclosed facilities, such as commercial, residential, and continental U.S. military facilities; (2) semi-enclosed facilities, such as subways and public transit facilities; (3) outdoor areas (both localized and wide area), such as building exteriors, streets, parks, and other open spaces; (4) drinking water facilities; and (5) drinking water sources. This document follows an interagency framework [Planning Guidance for Recovery Following Biological Incidents (DHS and EPA 2009)]—which considered Raber et al. (2002) in its development—but takes the framework to a more operational level and provides guidance at key action and decision points.« less

SIMBIOS Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fargion, Giulietta S.; McClain, Charles R.; Busalacchi, Antonio J. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The purpose of this technical report is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, NASA Research Announcement (NRAI) research status, satellite data processing, data product validation, and field calibration. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of validating and combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 355)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 147 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during October, 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Population and Human Development: A Course Curriculum Including Lesson Plans, Activities, and Bibliography. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Elaine M.; Long, Alison T.

This course outline suggests materials and learning activities on the interrelated causes and consequences of population growth and other population matters. The document describes 15 class sessions which integrate information for sociology, anthropology, psychology, biology, animal behavior, and education. Topics include the history of human…

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 324)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 200 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 342)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 208 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during October 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 325)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 192 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during June, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 339)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 105 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during July 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 336)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 111 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during April 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 341)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 133 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during September 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 323)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during April, 1989. Subject coverage includes; aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 333)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 122 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Michigan Early Adolescent Survey: Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keith, Joanne; And Others

This document contains the final report from the Michigan Early Adolescent Survey, a study undertaken to: (1) develop a profile of Michigan early adolescents that focused on out-of-school time and included biological, psychological, and sociological information; (2) develop a profile of families which included early adolescents; (3) assess the…

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 326)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 108 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during July, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 347)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 166 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Feb. 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 351)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 255 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jun. 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: a Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (supplement 330)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 156 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during November 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support system and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology. Suppl-329; A Continuing Bibliography with Indexes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 184 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during October 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: a Continuing Bibliography with Indexes (Supplement 328)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 104 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during September, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 344)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 343)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 331)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 129 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during December, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 356)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 192 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during November 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 338)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 139 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during June 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 337)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This bibliography lists 400 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 327)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 127 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during August, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 354)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 225 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during September, 1991. Subject coverage includes aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 334)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 254 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during February, 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Reproductive behaviors of Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in the laboratory

Treesearch

Melody A. Keena; Vicente Sanchez

2007-01-01

There is a critical need for information on the reproductive behavior of Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky) to provide the biological basis for predicting population dynamics, especially as the population size declines due to eradication efforts. To document the reproductive behaviors (both mating and oviposition) five males each from the Chicago...

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 346)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 134 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 349)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 149 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during April, 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 352)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 147 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during July 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

40 CFR 265.402 - Waste analysis and trial tests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... waste analysis and trial test, or the documented information, in the operating record of the facility.] ... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Waste analysis and trial tests. 265... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Chemical, Physical, and Biological Treatment § 265.402 Waste analysis and trial tests...

40 CFR 265.402 - Waste analysis and trial tests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... waste analysis and trial test, or the documented information, in the operating record of the facility.] ... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Waste analysis and trial tests. 265... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Chemical, Physical, and Biological Treatment § 265.402 Waste analysis and trial tests...

40 CFR 265.402 - Waste analysis and trial tests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... waste analysis and trial test, or the documented information, in the operating record of the facility.] ... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Waste analysis and trial tests. 265... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Chemical, Physical, and Biological Treatment § 265.402 Waste analysis and trial tests...

40 CFR 265.402 - Waste analysis and trial tests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... waste analysis and trial test, or the documented information, in the operating record of the facility.] ... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Waste analysis and trial tests. 265... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Chemical, Physical, and Biological Treatment § 265.402 Waste analysis and trial tests...

40 CFR 265.402 - Waste analysis and trial tests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... waste analysis and trial test, or the documented information, in the operating record of the facility.] ... 40 Protection of Environment 26 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Waste analysis and trial tests. 265... DISPOSAL FACILITIES Chemical, Physical, and Biological Treatment § 265.402 Waste analysis and trial tests...

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 340)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 157 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during August 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Only One Science: Twelfth Annual Report of the National Science Board.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. National Science Board.

Departing markedly from previous reports to Congress by the National Science Board, this document presents in an informal, narrative style six stories depicting scientific discoveries and their effects on society. Drawn from the physical, biological, medical, and social sciences, topics discussed include: (1) computers and semiconductors; (2)…

Arctic Science, Engineering and Education. Awards: Fiscal Years 1987 and 1988.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.

This document summarizes the dispersal of funds on Arctic research by the National Science Foundation during fiscal years 1987 and 1988. Major areas considered were: atmospheric sciences; oceanography; biological sciences; earth sciences; science and engineering education; small business research; engineering and permafrost; Arctic information and…

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 350)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 152 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during May 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 320)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during January, 1989. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 335)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 143 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during March, 1990. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 348)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This bibliography lists 154 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Mar. 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Our living resources: A report to the nation on the distribution, abundance, and health of U.S. plants, animals, and ecosystems

USGS Publications Warehouse

LaRoe, Edward T.; Farris, Gaye S.; Puckett, Catherine E.; Doran, Peter D.; Mac, Michael J.

1995-01-01

This report on the distribution, abundance, and health of our nation's biological resources is the first product of the National Biological Service’s Status and Trends Program. This information has many potential uses: it can document successful management efforts so resource managers will know what has worked well; it can identify problems so managers can take early action to restore the resource in the most cost-efficient manner; and it can be used to highlight areas where additional research is needed, such as to determine why certain ecological changes are occurring. This report will also be useful to teachers, students, journalists, and citizens in general who are interested in national resource issues.Another purpose of this report is to help identify gaps in existing resource inventory and monitoring programs. It contains information collected by a variety of existing research and monitoring efforts by scientists in the National Biological Service, other federal and state agencies, academia, and the private sector. The programs that produced the information in this document were not developed in a coordinated fashion to produce an integrated, comprehensive picture of the status and trends of our nation’s resources; rather, each was developed for its own particular purpose, usually to help manage a specific resource. Thus, even though articles vary greatly in scope, design, and purpose, this report has identified and attempted to combine many of the existing information sources into a broad picture of the condition of our resources. In the future, these sources will be complemented by additional information from other sources - such as state agencies and other inventory and monitoring studies - to fill in the gaps of knowledge and to provide a more complete understanding of the status of our living resources.

The Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL) provides a community standard for communicating designs in synthetic biology.

PubMed

Galdzicki, Michal; Clancy, Kevin P; Oberortner, Ernst; Pocock, Matthew; Quinn, Jacqueline Y; Rodriguez, Cesar A; Roehner, Nicholas; Wilson, Mandy L; Adam, Laura; Anderson, J Christopher; Bartley, Bryan A; Beal, Jacob; Chandran, Deepak; Chen, Joanna; Densmore, Douglas; Endy, Drew; Grünberg, Raik; Hallinan, Jennifer; Hillson, Nathan J; Johnson, Jeffrey D; Kuchinsky, Allan; Lux, Matthew; Misirli, Goksel; Peccoud, Jean; Plahar, Hector A; Sirin, Evren; Stan, Guy-Bart; Villalobos, Alan; Wipat, Anil; Gennari, John H; Myers, Chris J; Sauro, Herbert M

2014-06-01

The re-use of previously validated designs is critical to the evolution of synthetic biology from a research discipline to an engineering practice. Here we describe the Synthetic Biology Open Language (SBOL), a proposed data standard for exchanging designs within the synthetic biology community. SBOL represents synthetic biology designs in a community-driven, formalized format for exchange between software tools, research groups and commercial service providers. The SBOL Developers Group has implemented SBOL as an XML/RDF serialization and provides software libraries and specification documentation to help developers implement SBOL in their own software. We describe early successes, including a demonstration of the utility of SBOL for information exchange between several different software tools and repositories from both academic and industrial partners. As a community-driven standard, SBOL will be updated as synthetic biology evolves to provide specific capabilities for different aspects of the synthetic biology workflow.

ProtocolNavigator: emulation-based software for the design, documentation and reproduction biological experiments.

PubMed

Khan, Imtiaz A; Fraser, Adam; Bray, Mark-Anthony; Smith, Paul J; White, Nick S; Carpenter, Anne E; Errington, Rachel J

2014-12-01

Experimental reproducibility is fundamental to the progress of science. Irreproducible research decreases the efficiency of basic biological research and drug discovery and impedes experimental data reuse. A major contributing factor to irreproducibility is difficulty in interpreting complex experimental methodologies and designs from written text and in assessing variations among different experiments. Current bioinformatics initiatives either are focused on computational research reproducibility (i.e. data analysis) or laboratory information management systems. Here, we present a software tool, ProtocolNavigator, which addresses the largely overlooked challenges of interpretation and assessment. It provides a biologist-friendly open-source emulation-based tool for designing, documenting and reproducing biological experiments. ProtocolNavigator was implemented in Python 2.7, using the wx module to build the graphical user interface. It is a platform-independent software and freely available from http://protocolnavigator.org/index.html under the GPL v2 license. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Sources of Variability in Chlorophyll Analysis by Fluorometry and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography in a SIMBIOS Inter-Calibration Exercise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

VanHeukelem, Laurie; Thomas, Crystal S.; Gilbert, Patricia M.; Fargion, Giulietta S. (Editor); McClain, Charles R. (Editor)

2002-01-01

The purpose of this technical report is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, NASA Research Announcement (NRA) research status, satellite data processing, data product validation, and field calibration. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of validating and combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project. This particular document focus on the variability in chlorophyll pigment measurements resulting from differences in methodologies and laboratories conducting the pigment analysis.

Examination of the regulatory frameworks applicable to biologic drugs (including stem cells and their progeny) in Europe, the U.S., and Australia: part I--a method of manual documentary analysis.

PubMed

Ilic, Nina; Savic, Snezana; Siegel, Evan; Atkinson, Kerry; Tasic, Ljiljana

2012-12-01

Recent development of a wide range of regulatory standards applicable to production and use of tissues, cells, and other biologics (or biologicals), as advanced therapies, indicates considerable interest in the regulation of these products. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare high-tier documents within the Australian, European, and U.S. biologic drug regulatory environments using qualitative methodology. Cohort 1 of the selected 18 high-tier regulatory documents from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulatory frameworks were subject to a manual documentary analysis. These documents were consistent with the legal requirements for manufacturing and use of biologic drugs in humans and fall into six different categories. Manual analysis included a terminology search. The occurrence, frequency, and interchangeable use of different terms and phrases were recorded in the manual documentary analysis. Despite obvious differences, manual documentary analysis revealed certain consistency in use of terminology across analyzed frameworks. Phrase search frequencies have shown less uniformity than the search of terms. Overall, the EMA framework's documents referred to "medicinal products" and "marketing authorization(s)," the FDA documents discussed "drug(s)" or "biologic(s)," and the TGA documents referred to "biological(s)." Although high-tier documents often use different terminology they share concepts and themes. Documents originating from the same source have more conjunction in their terminology although they belong to different frameworks (i.e., Good Clinical Practice requirements based on the Declaration of Helsinki, 1964). Automated (software-based) documentary analysis should be obtained for the conceptual and relational analysis.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 366)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 248 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Aug. 1992. Subject coverage concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth's atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion.

The Latin American Biological Dosimetry Network (LBDNet).

PubMed

García, O; Di Giorgio, M; Radl, A; Taja, M R; Sapienza, C E; Deminge, M M; Fernández Rearte, J; Stuck Oliveira, M; Valdivia, P; Lamadrid, A I; González, J E; Romero, I; Mandina, T; Guerrero-Carbajal, C; ArceoMaldonado, C; Cortina Ramírez, G E; Espinoza, M; Martínez-López, W; Di Tomasso, M

2016-09-01

Biological Dosimetry is a necessary support for national radiation protection programmes and emergency response schemes. The Latin American Biological Dosimetry Network (LBDNet) was formally founded in 2007 to provide early biological dosimetry assistance in case of radiation emergencies in the Latin American Region. Here are presented the main topics considered in the foundational document of the network, which comprise: mission, partners, concept of operation, including the mechanism to request support for biological dosimetry assistance in the region, and the network capabilities. The process for network activation and the role of the coordinating laboratory during biological dosimetry emergency response is also presented. This information is preceded by historical remarks on biological dosimetry cooperation in Latin America. A summary of the main experimental and practical results already obtained by the LBDNet is also included. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 353)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This bibliography lists 238 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System in August 1991. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, biotechnology, human factors engineering, and flight crew behavior and performance.

Assessment of native species and ungulate grazing in the Southwest: Terrestrial wildlife

Treesearch

Patrick W. Zwartjes; Jean-Luc E. Cartron; Pamela L. L. Stoleson; Walter C. Haussamen; Tiffany E Crane

2005-01-01

Range managers in the Southwestern States are increasingly being required to develop management strategies that take into consideration the conservation of wildlife populations. However, information on many aspects of the fundamental biology and impacts of grazing on individual species is still lacking in the scientific and government literature. This report documents...

78 FR 32668 - Draft Guidance for Industry: Changes to an Approved Application: Biological Products: Human Blood...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-31

..., including Source Plasma, with recommendations intended to assist with determining which reporting mechanism... final version of the guidance, submit either electronic or written comments on the draft guidance by... INFORMATION section for electronic access to the draft guidance document. Submit electronic comments on the...

Insights into the ecology, genetics and distribution of Lucanus elaphus Fabricius (Coleoptera: Lucanidae), North America's giant stag beetle

Treesearch

Michael D. Ulyshen; Louis G. Zachos; John O. Stireman; Thomas N. Sheehan; Ryan C. Garrick

2017-01-01

1. Little is known about the biology or conservation status of Lucanus elaphus Fabricius in North America despite well-documented declines of a related species, Lucanus cervus (L.), in Europe. This study provides information critical to developing conservation plans for L. elaphus...

A Biosocial View of Population: Fertility Behavior in Animal Groups and Early Human Societies. A Review.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Elaine M.

The paper discusses the relationship between social structure and fertility behavior in man. Focusing upon human fertility within the context of varying social groups, the document reviews recent interdisciplinary population studies. Information and interpretations from biology, ethnology, anthropology, history, and sociology are presented in four…

76 FR 41503 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for Office of Management and Budget Review...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-14

... and biological products, animal drugs, and medical devices to demonstrate the safety and utility of..., calibration, and testing records; (4) documentation of feed and water analyses, and animal treatments; (5... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0075...

Making metabolism accessible and meaningful: is the definition of a central metabolic dogma within reach?

PubMed

LaRossa, Robert A

2015-04-01

Intermediary metabolism, a dominant research area before the emergence of molecular biology, is attracting renewed interest for fundamental and applied reasons as documented here. Nonetheless, the field may appear to be a thicket precluding entry to all but the most determined. Here we present a metabolic overview that makes this important and fascinating area accessible to a broad range of the molecular biological and biotechnological communities that are being attracted to biological problems crying out for metabolic solutions. This is accomplished by identifying seven key concepts, a so-called metabolic central dogma, that provide a core understanding analogous to the "Central Dogma of Molecular Biology" which focused upon maintenance and flow of genetic information.

SIMBIOS Project 1999 Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClain, Charles R.; Fargion, Giulietta S.

1999-01-01

The purpose of this technical memorandum is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, NASA Research Announcement (NRA) research status, satellite data processing, data product validation, and field calibration. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project.

SIMBIOS Project 1998 Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClain, Charles R.; Fargion, Giulietta, S.

1999-01-01

The purpose of this series of technical reports is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Ocean Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, NASA Research Announcement (NRA) research status, satellite data processing, data product validation and field calibration. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant to substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issues by an operational project.

NSF-Sponsored Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, M. D.; Chandler, C. L.; Copley, N.; Galvarino, C.; Gegg, S. R.; Glover, D. M.; Groman, R. C.; Wiebe, P. H.; Work, T. T.; Biological; Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office

2010-12-01

Ocean biogeochemistry and marine ecosystem research projects are inherently interdisciplinary and benefit from improved access to well-documented data. Improved data sharing practices are important to the continued exploration of research themes that are a central focus of the ocean science community and are essential to interdisciplinary and international collaborations that address complex, global research themes. In 2006, the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) funded the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) to serve the data management requirements of scientific investigators funded by the National Science Foundation’s Biological and Chemical Oceanography Sections. BCO-DMO staff members work with investigators to manage marine biogeochemical, ecological, and oceanographic data and information developed in the course of scientific research. These valuable data sets are documented, stored, disseminated, and protected over short and intermediate time frames. One of the goals of the BCO-DMO is to facilitate regional, national, and international data and information exchange through improved data discovery, access, display, downloading, and interoperability. In May 2010, NSF released a statement to the effect that in October 2010, it is planning to require that all proposals include a data management plan in the form of a two-page supplementary document. The data management plan would be an element of the merit review process. NSF has long been committed to making data from NSF-funded research publicly available and the new policy will strengthen this commitment. BCO-DMO is poised to assist in creating the data management plans and in ultimately serving the data and information resulting from NSF OCE funded research. We will present an overview of the data management system capabilities including: geospatial and text-based data discovery and access systems; recent enhancements to data search tools; data export and download utilities; and strategic use of controlled vocabularies to facilitate data integration and improve interoperability.

The prehistory of biology preprints: A forgotten experiment from the 1960s.

PubMed

Cobb, Matthew

2017-11-01

In 1961, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began to circulate biological preprints in a forgotten experiment called the Information Exchange Groups (IEGs). This system eventually attracted over 3,600 participants and saw the production of over 2,500 different documents, but by 1967, it was effectively shut down following the refusal of journals to accept articles that had been circulated as preprints. This article charts the rise and fall of the IEGs and explores the parallels with the 1990s and the biomedical preprint movement of today.

Initial Northwest Power Act Power Sales Contracts : Final Environmental Impact Statement. Volume 2, Appendices A--L.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

1992-01-01

This report consists of appendices A-L of the final environmental impact statement for the Bonneville Power Administration. The appendices provide information on the following: Ninth circuit Court opinion in Forelaws on Board v. Johnson; guide to Northwest Power act contracts; guide to hydro operations; glossary; affected environment supporting documentation; environmental impacts of generic resource types; information on models used; technical information on analysis; public involvement activities; bibliography; Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act; and biological assessment. (CBS)

Biosecurity reference : CFR-listed agent and toxin summaries.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnett, Natalie Beth

This reference document provides summary information on the animal, plant, zoonotic, and human pathogens and toxins regulated and categorized by 9 CFR 331 and 7 CFR 121, 'Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Possession, Use and Transfer of Biological Agents and Toxins,' and 42 CFR 73, 'Possession, Use, and Transfer of Select Agents and Toxins.' Summary information includes, at a minimum, a description of the agent and its associated symptoms; often additional information is provided on the diagnosis, treatment, geographic distribution, transmission, control and eradication, and impacts on public health.

BioTextQuest(+): a knowledge integration platform for literature mining and concept discovery.

PubMed

Papanikolaou, Nikolas; Pavlopoulos, Georgios A; Pafilis, Evangelos; Theodosiou, Theodosios; Schneider, Reinhard; Satagopam, Venkata P; Ouzounis, Christos A; Eliopoulos, Aristides G; Promponas, Vasilis J; Iliopoulos, Ioannis

2014-11-15

The iterative process of finding relevant information in biomedical literature and performing bioinformatics analyses might result in an endless loop for an inexperienced user, considering the exponential growth of scientific corpora and the plethora of tools designed to mine PubMed(®) and related biological databases. Herein, we describe BioTextQuest(+), a web-based interactive knowledge exploration platform with significant advances to its predecessor (BioTextQuest), aiming to bridge processes such as bioentity recognition, functional annotation, document clustering and data integration towards literature mining and concept discovery. BioTextQuest(+) enables PubMed and OMIM querying, retrieval of abstracts related to a targeted request and optimal detection of genes, proteins, molecular functions, pathways and biological processes within the retrieved documents. The front-end interface facilitates the browsing of document clustering per subject, the analysis of term co-occurrence, the generation of tag clouds containing highly represented terms per cluster and at-a-glance popup windows with information about relevant genes and proteins. Moreover, to support experimental research, BioTextQuest(+) addresses integration of its primary functionality with biological repositories and software tools able to deliver further bioinformatics services. The Google-like interface extends beyond simple use by offering a range of advanced parameterization for expert users. We demonstrate the functionality of BioTextQuest(+) through several exemplary research scenarios including author disambiguation, functional term enrichment, knowledge acquisition and concept discovery linking major human diseases, such as obesity and ageing. The service is accessible at http://bioinformatics.med.uoc.gr/biotextquest. g.pavlopoulos@gmail.com or georgios.pavlopoulos@esat.kuleuven.be Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Information Related to the Biology and Management of Species of Special Concern at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cohen, Jonathan B.; Erwin, R. Michael; French, John B.; Marion, Jeffrey L.; Meyers, J. Michael

2009-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) conducted a study for the National Park Service (NPS) Southeast Region, Atlanta, GA, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA) in North Carolina to review, evaluate, and summarize the available scientific information for selected species of concern at CAHA (piping plovers, sea turtles, seabeach amaranth, American oystercatchers, and colonial waterbirds). This work consisted of reviewing the scientific literature and evaluating the results of studies that examined critical life history stages of each species, and focused on the scientific findings reported that are relevant to the management of these species and their habitats at CAHA. The chapters that follow provide the results of that review separately for each species and present scientifically based options for resource management at CAHA. Although no new original research or experimental work was conducted, this synthesis of the existing information was peer reviewed by over 15 experts with familiarity with these species. This report does not establish NPS management protocols but does highlight scientific information on the biology of these species to be considered by NPS managers who make resource management decisions at CAHA. To ensure that the best available information is considered when assessing each species of interest at CAHA, this review included published research as well as practical experience of scientists and wildlife managers who were consulted in 2005. PWRC scientists evaluated the literature, consulted wildlife managers, and produced an initial draft that was sent to experts for scientific review. Revisions based on those comments were incorporated into the document. The final draft of the document was reviewed by NPS personnel to ensure that the description of the recent status and management of these species at CAHA was accurately represented and that the report was consistent with our work agreement. The following section summarizes the biological information relevant to resource management for the species of concern at CAHA.

New tools and methods for direct programmatic access to the dbSNP relational database.

PubMed

Saccone, Scott F; Quan, Jiaxi; Mehta, Gaurang; Bolze, Raphael; Thomas, Prasanth; Deelman, Ewa; Tischfield, Jay A; Rice, John P

2011-01-01

Genome-wide association studies often incorporate information from public biological databases in order to provide a biological reference for interpreting the results. The dbSNP database is an extensive source of information on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for many different organisms, including humans. We have developed free software that will download and install a local MySQL implementation of the dbSNP relational database for a specified organism. We have also designed a system for classifying dbSNP tables in terms of common tasks we wish to accomplish using the database. For each task we have designed a small set of custom tables that facilitate task-related queries and provide entity-relationship diagrams for each task composed from the relevant dbSNP tables. In order to expose these concepts and methods to a wider audience we have developed web tools for querying the database and browsing documentation on the tables and columns to clarify the relevant relational structure. All web tools and software are freely available to the public at http://cgsmd.isi.edu/dbsnpq. Resources such as these for programmatically querying biological databases are essential for viably integrating biological information into genetic association experiments on a genome-wide scale.

76 FR 16612 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Perceptions About the Biological and Socio...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-24

... Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at dHynek... such as marine reserve designations, seasonal closures and gear bans, (2) document the social and economic changes brought about by these regulations, and (3) evaluate the likely socio- economic impacts of...

Biology and Control of Insect and Related Pests of Livestock in Wyoming. MP-23.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lloyd, John E.

This document provides information that a potential insecticide applicator can utilize to safely and effectively control insects and related pests of livestock. The first section of the manual discusses the general methods of preparation and application of insecticides. The second section concerns itself with the recognition of insect problems,…

Towards the ophthalmology patentome: a comprehensive patent database of ocular drugs and biomarkers.

PubMed

Mucke, Hermann A M; Mucke, Eva; Mucke, Peter M

2013-01-01

We are currently building a database of all patent documents that contain substantial information related to pharmacology, drug delivery, tissue technology, and molecular diagnostics in ophthalmology. The goal is to establish a 'patentome', a body of cleaned and annotated data where all text-based, chemistry and pharmacology information can be accessed and mined in its context. We provide metrics on patent convention treaty documents, which demonstrate that ocular-related patenting has shown stronger growth than general patent cooperation treaty patenting during the past 25 years, and, while the majority of applications of this type have always provided substantial biological data, both data support and objections by patent examiners have been increasing since 2006-2007. Separately, we present a case study of chemistry information extraction from patents published during the 1950s and 1970s, which reveal compounds with corneal anesthesia potential that were never published in the peer-reviewed literature.

Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) system administration guide. Version 1.3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burford, M.J.; Burnett, R.A.; Downing, T.R.

The Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) is an emergency management planning and analysis tool that was developed by the (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) (PNNL) under the direction of the U.S. Army Chemical Biological Defense Command. The FEMIS System Administration Guide defines FEMIS hardware and software requirements and gives instructions for installing the FEMIS software package. 91 This document also contains information on the following: software installation for the FEMIS data servers, communication server, mail server, and the emergency management workstations; distribution media loading and FEMIS installation validation and troubleshooting; and system management of FEMIS users, login, privileges, and usage.more » The system administration utilities (tools), available in the FEMIS client software, are described for user accounts and site profile. This document also describes the installation and use of system and database administration utilities that will assist in keeping the FEMIS system running in an operational environment.« less

How to implement security controls for an information security program at CBRN facilities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lenaeus, Joseph D.; O'Neil, Lori Ross; Leitch, Rosalyn M.

This document was prepared by PNNL within the framework of Project 19 of the European Union Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative entitled, ''Development of procedures and guidelines to create and improve secure information management systems and data exchange mechanisms for CBRN materials under regulatory control.'' It provides management and workers at CBRN facilities, parent organization managers responsible for those facilities, and regulatory agencies (governmental and nongovernmental) with guidance on the best practices for protecting information security. The security mitigation approaches presented in this document were chosen because they present generally accepted guidance in anmore » easy-to-understand manner, making it easier for facility personnel to grasp key concepts and envision how security controls could be implemented by the facility. This guidance is presented from a risk management perspective.« less

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 368)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

This bibliography lists 305 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Sep. 1992. The subject coverage concentrates on the biological, physiological, psychological, and environmental effects to which humans are subjected during and following simulated or actual flight in the Earth's atmosphere or in interplanetary space. References describing similar effects on biological organisms of lower order are also included. Such related topics as sanitary problems, pharmacology, toxicology, safety and survival, life support systems, exobiology, and personnel factors receive appropriate attention. Applied research receives the most emphasis, but references to fundamental studies and theoretical principles related to experimental development also qualify for inclusion.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Prather, J. C.; Smith, S. K.; Watson, C. R.

The National Radiobiology Archives is a comprehensive effort to gather, organize, and catalog original data, representative specimens, and supporting materials related to significant radiobiology studies. This provides researchers with information for analyses which compare or combine results of these and other studies and with materials for analysis by advanced molecular biology techniques. This Programmer's Guide document describes the database access software, NRADEMO, and the subset loading script NRADEMO/MAINT/MAINTAIN, which comprise the National Laboratory Archives Distributed Access Package. The guide is intended for use by an experienced database management specialist. It contains information about the physical and logical organization of themore » software and data files. It also contains printouts of all the scripts and associated batch processing files. It is part of a suite of documents published by the National Radiobiology Archives.« less

Examination of the regulatory frameworks applicable to biologic drugs (including stem cells and their progeny) in Europe, the U.S., and Australia: part II--a method of software documentary analysis.

PubMed

Ilic, Nina; Savic, Snezana; Siegel, Evan; Atkinson, Kerry; Tasic, Ljiljana

2012-12-01

A wide range of regulatory standards applicable to production and use of tissues, cells, and other biologics (or biologicals), as advanced therapies, indicates considerable interest in the regulation of these products. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare high-tier documents within the Australian, European, and U.S. biologic drug regulatory environments using qualitative methodology. Eighteen high-tier documents from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulatory frameworks were subject to automated text analysis. Selected documents were consistent with the legal requirements for manufacturing and use of biologic drugs in humans and fall into six different categories. Concepts, themes, and their co-occurrence were identified and compared. The most frequent concepts in TGA, FDA, and EMA frameworks were "biological," "product," and "medicinal," respectively. This was consistent with the previous manual terminology search. Good Manufacturing Practice documents, across frameworks, identified "quality" and "appropriate" as main concepts, whereas in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) documents it was "clinical," followed by "trial," "subjects," "sponsor," and "data." GCP documents displayed considerably higher concordance between different regulatory frameworks, as demonstrated by a smaller number of concepts, similar size, and similar distance between them. Although high-tier documents often use different terminology, they share concepts and themes. This paper may be a modest contribution to the recognition of similarities and differences between analyzed regulatory documents. It may also fill the literature gap and provide some foundation for future comparative research of biologic drug regulations on a global level.

Examination of the Regulatory Frameworks Applicable to Biologic Drugs (Including Stem Cells and Their Progeny) in Europe, the U.S., and Australia: Part I—A Method of Manual Documentary Analysis

PubMed Central

Savic, Snezana; Siegel, Evan; Atkinson, Kerry; Tasic, Ljiljana

2012-01-01

Recent development of a wide range of regulatory standards applicable to production and use of tissues, cells, and other biologics (or biologicals), as advanced therapies, indicates considerable interest in the regulation of these products. The objective of this study was to analyze and compare high-tier documents within the Australian, European, and U.S. biologic drug regulatory environments using qualitative methodology. Cohort 1 of the selected 18 high-tier regulatory documents from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulatory frameworks were subject to a manual documentary analysis. These documents were consistent with the legal requirements for manufacturing and use of biologic drugs in humans and fall into six different categories. Manual analysis included a terminology search. The occurrence, frequency, and interchangeable use of different terms and phrases were recorded in the manual documentary analysis. Despite obvious differences, manual documentary analysis revealed certain consistency in use of terminology across analyzed frameworks. Phrase search frequencies have shown less uniformity than the search of terms. Overall, the EMA framework's documents referred to “medicinal products” and “marketing authorization(s),” the FDA documents discussed “drug(s)” or “biologic(s),” and the TGA documents referred to “biological(s).” Although high-tier documents often use different terminology they share concepts and themes. Documents originating from the same source have more conjunction in their terminology although they belong to different frameworks (i.e., Good Clinical Practice requirements based on the Declaration of Helsinki, 1964). Automated (software-based) documentary analysis should be obtained for the conceptual and relational analysis. PMID:23283551

Biological Water Quality Criteria

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Page contains links to Technical Documents pertaining to Biological Water Quality Criteria, including, technical assistance documents for states, tribes and territories, program overviews, and case studies.

A Balanced Marine Aquarium [and] The Biology of Marine Aquarium Fishes Collected in Monroe County, Florida. A Two-Paper NOAA Technical Memorandum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palko, Barbara Jayne; And Others

This document consists of two separate papers. The first paper, "A Balanced Marine Aquarium" (Barbara Jayne Palko), discusses various aspects of a balanced marine aquarium. Information provided includes the basic and optional equipment needed to construct a balanced aquarium, preparations for setting up the aquarium, preparing the…

How Good Is Our School? Using ICT in Learning and Teaching: Curriculum Area and Subject Appendix. Self-Evaluation Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, 2004

2004-01-01

This document contains curriculum areas where information and communications technology (ICT) can be an effective tool in learning and teaching when used by pupils and/or teachers. These include: (1) Art and design; (2) Business education subjects; (3) Biology and science; (4) Chemistry and science; (5) English, English as an additional language…

Implementing an Information Security Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Glantz, Clifford S.; Lenaeus, Joseph D.; Landine, Guy P.

The threats to information security have dramatically increased with the proliferation of information systems and the internet. Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNe) facilities need to address these threats in order to protect themselves from the loss of intellectual property, theft of valuable or hazardous materials, and sabotage. Project 19 of the European Union CBRN Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative is designed to help CBRN security managers, information technology/cybersecurity managers, and other decision-makers deal with these threats through the application of cost-effective information security programs. Project 19 has developed three guidance documents that are publically available to covermore » information security best practices, planning for an information security management system, and implementing security controls for information security.« less

Options for Online Undergraduate Courses in Biology at American Colleges and Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varty, Alison K.

2016-01-01

I aimed to document the online undergraduate course supply in biology to evaluate how well biology educators are serving the diverse and growing population of online students. I documented online biology course offerings in the 2015-2016 academic year at 96 American colleges and universities. I quantified differences in variety, extent, and…

A synthesis of two decades of research documenting the effects of noise on wildlife.

PubMed

Shannon, Graeme; McKenna, Megan F; Angeloni, Lisa M; Crooks, Kevin R; Fristrup, Kurt M; Brown, Emma; Warner, Katy A; Nelson, Misty D; White, Cecilia; Briggs, Jessica; McFarland, Scott; Wittemyer, George

2016-11-01

Global increases in environmental noise levels - arising from expansion of human populations, transportation networks, and resource extraction - have catalysed a recent surge of research into the effects of noise on wildlife. Synthesising a coherent understanding of the biological consequences of noise from this literature is challenging. Taxonomic groups vary in auditory capabilities. A wide range of noise sources and exposure levels occur, and many kinds of biological responses have been observed, ranging from individual behaviours to changes in ecological communities. Also, noise is one of several environmental effects generated by human activities, so researchers must contend with potentially confounding explanations for biological responses. Nonetheless, it is clear that noise presents diverse threats to species and ecosystems and salient patterns are emerging to help inform future natural resource-management decisions. We conducted a systematic and standardised review of the scientific literature published from 1990 to 2013 on the effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife, including both terrestrial and aquatic studies. Research to date has concentrated predominantly on European and North American species that rely on vocal communication, with approximately two-thirds of the data set focussing on songbirds and marine mammals. The majority of studies documented effects from noise, including altered vocal behaviour to mitigate masking, reduced abundance in noisy habitats, changes in vigilance and foraging behaviour, and impacts on individual fitness and the structure of ecological communities. This literature survey shows that terrestrial wildlife responses begin at noise levels of approximately 40 dBA, and 20% of papers documented impacts below 50 dBA. Our analysis highlights the utility of existing scientific information concerning the effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife for predicting potential outcomes of noise exposure and implementing meaningful mitigation measures. Future research directions that would support more comprehensive predictions regarding the magnitude and severity of noise impacts include: broadening taxonomic and geographical scope, exploring interacting stressors, conducting larger-scale studies, testing mitigation approaches, standardising reporting of acoustic metrics, and assessing the biological response to noise-source removal or mitigation. The broad volume of existing information concerning the effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife offers a valuable resource to assist scientists, industry, and natural-resource managers in predicting potential outcomes of noise exposure. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Developing a Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS): measuring undergraduates' evaluation of scientific information and arguments.

PubMed

Gormally, Cara; Brickman, Peggy; Lutz, Mary

2012-01-01

Life sciences faculty agree that developing scientific literacy is an integral part of undergraduate education and report that they teach these skills. However, few measures of scientific literacy are available to assess students' proficiency in using scientific literacy skills to solve scenarios in and beyond the undergraduate biology classroom. In this paper, we describe the development, validation, and testing of the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS) in five general education biology classes at three undergraduate institutions. The test measures skills related to major aspects of scientific literacy: recognizing and analyzing the use of methods of inquiry that lead to scientific knowledge and the ability to organize, analyze, and interpret quantitative data and scientific information. Measures of validity included correspondence between items and scientific literacy goals of the National Research Council and Project 2061, findings from a survey of biology faculty, expert biology educator reviews, student interviews, and statistical analyses. Classroom testing contexts varied both in terms of student demographics and pedagogical approaches. We propose that biology instructors can use the TOSLS to evaluate their students' proficiencies in using scientific literacy skills and to document the impacts of curricular reform on students' scientific literacy.

Developing a Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS): Measuring Undergraduates’ Evaluation of Scientific Information and Arguments

PubMed Central

Gormally, Cara; Brickman, Peggy; Lutz, Mary

2012-01-01

Life sciences faculty agree that developing scientific literacy is an integral part of undergraduate education and report that they teach these skills. However, few measures of scientific literacy are available to assess students’ proficiency in using scientific literacy skills to solve scenarios in and beyond the undergraduate biology classroom. In this paper, we describe the development, validation, and testing of the Test of Scientific Literacy Skills (TOSLS) in five general education biology classes at three undergraduate institutions. The test measures skills related to major aspects of scientific literacy: recognizing and analyzing the use of methods of inquiry that lead to scientific knowledge and the ability to organize, analyze, and interpret quantitative data and scientific information. Measures of validity included correspondence between items and scientific literacy goals of the National Research Council and Project 2061, findings from a survey of biology faculty, expert biology educator reviews, student interviews, and statistical analyses. Classroom testing contexts varied both in terms of student demographics and pedagogical approaches. We propose that biology instructors can use the TOSLS to evaluate their students’ proficiencies in using scientific literacy skills and to document the impacts of curricular reform on students’ scientific literacy. PMID:23222832

21 CFR 312.140 - Address for correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... biological products regulated by CBER. Send the IND submission to the Document Control Center (HFM-99... North VII, 7620 Standish Pl., Rockville, MD 20855. (2) For biological products regulated by CDER. Send the IND submission to the CDER Therapeutic Biological Products Document Room, Center for Drug...

21 CFR 312.140 - Address for correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... biological products regulated by CBER. Send the IND submission to the Document Control Center (HFM-99... North VII, 7620 Standish Pl., Rockville, MD 20855. (2) For biological products regulated by CDER. Send the IND submission to the CDER Therapeutic Biological Products Document Room, Center for Drug...

cPath: open source software for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathways.

PubMed

Cerami, Ethan G; Bader, Gary D; Gross, Benjamin E; Sander, Chris

2006-11-13

Biological pathways, including metabolic pathways, protein interaction networks, signal transduction pathways, and gene regulatory networks, are currently represented in over 220 diverse databases. These data are crucial for the study of specific biological processes, including human diseases. Standard exchange formats for pathway information, such as BioPAX, CellML, SBML and PSI-MI, enable convenient collection of this data for biological research, but mechanisms for common storage and communication are required. We have developed cPath, an open source database and web application for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathway data. cPath makes it easy to aggregate custom pathway data sets available in standard exchange formats from multiple databases, present pathway data to biologists via a customizable web interface, and export pathway data via a web service to third-party software, such as Cytoscape, for visualization and analysis. cPath is software only, and does not include new pathway information. Key features include: a built-in identifier mapping service for linking identical interactors and linking to external resources; built-in support for PSI-MI and BioPAX standard pathway exchange formats; a web service interface for searching and retrieving pathway data sets; and thorough documentation. The cPath software is freely available under the LGPL open source license for academic and commercial use. cPath is a robust, scalable, modular, professional-grade software platform for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathways. It can serve as the core data handling component in information systems for pathway visualization, analysis and modeling.

The IND application.

PubMed

Ferkany, John W; Williams, Michael

2008-09-01

Translational biomedical research is often directed to the introduction of a new drug or biologic intended to treat unmet medical need in humans. This unit describes the timing and content of the investigational new drug (IND) application, the primary document required by the U.S. FDA for the initiation of clinical trials in humans with any new chemical entity (NCE) or biologic. The IND application contains all the information necessary for the FDA to make an assessment of the risks and benefits of the proposed clinical trials for the NCE/biologic, containing a detailed but succinct description of the biology, safety, toxicology, chemistry and manufacturing process, and the proposed clinical plan. This unit is geared for those with little or no experience with the IND process and is intended as a global introduction to this, the initial stage of the drug development process for drugs used in humans.

Chesapeake Bay Program Water Quality Database

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Chesapeake Information Management System (CIMS), designed in 1996, is an integrated, accessible information management system for the Chesapeake Bay Region. CIMS is an organized, distributed library of information and software tools designed to increase basin-wide public access to Chesapeake Bay information. The information delivered by CIMS includes technical and public information, educational material, environmental indicators, policy documents, and scientific data. Through the use of relational databases, web-based programming, and web-based GIS a large number of Internet resources have been established. These resources include multiple distributed on-line databases, on-demand graphing and mapping of environmental data, and geographic searching tools for environmental information. Baseline monitoring data, summarized data and environmental indicators that document ecosystem status and trends, confirm linkages between water quality, habitat quality and abundance, and the distribution and integrity of biological populations are also available. One of the major features of the CIMS network is the Chesapeake Bay Program's Data Hub, providing users access to a suite of long- term water quality and living resources databases. Chesapeake Bay mainstem and tidal tributary water quality, benthic macroinvertebrates, toxics, plankton, and fluorescence data can be obtained for a network of over 800 monitoring stations.

New tools and methods for direct programmatic access to the dbSNP relational database

PubMed Central

Saccone, Scott F.; Quan, Jiaxi; Mehta, Gaurang; Bolze, Raphael; Thomas, Prasanth; Deelman, Ewa; Tischfield, Jay A.; Rice, John P.

2011-01-01

Genome-wide association studies often incorporate information from public biological databases in order to provide a biological reference for interpreting the results. The dbSNP database is an extensive source of information on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for many different organisms, including humans. We have developed free software that will download and install a local MySQL implementation of the dbSNP relational database for a specified organism. We have also designed a system for classifying dbSNP tables in terms of common tasks we wish to accomplish using the database. For each task we have designed a small set of custom tables that facilitate task-related queries and provide entity-relationship diagrams for each task composed from the relevant dbSNP tables. In order to expose these concepts and methods to a wider audience we have developed web tools for querying the database and browsing documentation on the tables and columns to clarify the relevant relational structure. All web tools and software are freely available to the public at http://cgsmd.isi.edu/dbsnpq. Resources such as these for programmatically querying biological databases are essential for viably integrating biological information into genetic association experiments on a genome-wide scale. PMID:21037260

In Situ Aerosol Optical Thickness Collected by the SIMBIOS Program (1997-2000): Protocols, and and Data QC and Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fargion, Giulietta S.; Barnes, Robert; McClain, Charles

2001-01-01

The purpose of this technical report is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project Office activities on in situ aerosol optical thickness (i.e., protocols, and data QC and analysis). This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of validating and combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project.

Structuring and extracting knowledge for the support of hypothesis generation in molecular biology

PubMed Central

Roos, Marco; Marshall, M Scott; Gibson, Andrew P; Schuemie, Martijn; Meij, Edgar; Katrenko, Sophia; van Hage, Willem Robert; Krommydas, Konstantinos; Adriaans, Pieter W

2009-01-01

Background Hypothesis generation in molecular and cellular biology is an empirical process in which knowledge derived from prior experiments is distilled into a comprehensible model. The requirement of automated support is exemplified by the difficulty of considering all relevant facts that are contained in the millions of documents available from PubMed. Semantic Web provides tools for sharing prior knowledge, while information retrieval and information extraction techniques enable its extraction from literature. Their combination makes prior knowledge available for computational analysis and inference. While some tools provide complete solutions that limit the control over the modeling and extraction processes, we seek a methodology that supports control by the experimenter over these critical processes. Results We describe progress towards automated support for the generation of biomolecular hypotheses. Semantic Web technologies are used to structure and store knowledge, while a workflow extracts knowledge from text. We designed minimal proto-ontologies in OWL for capturing different aspects of a text mining experiment: the biological hypothesis, text and documents, text mining, and workflow provenance. The models fit a methodology that allows focus on the requirements of a single experiment while supporting reuse and posterior analysis of extracted knowledge from multiple experiments. Our workflow is composed of services from the 'Adaptive Information Disclosure Application' (AIDA) toolkit as well as a few others. The output is a semantic model with putative biological relations, with each relation linked to the corresponding evidence. Conclusion We demonstrated a 'do-it-yourself' approach for structuring and extracting knowledge in the context of experimental research on biomolecular mechanisms. The methodology can be used to bootstrap the construction of semantically rich biological models using the results of knowledge extraction processes. Models specific to particular experiments can be constructed that, in turn, link with other semantic models, creating a web of knowledge that spans experiments. Mapping mechanisms can link to other knowledge resources such as OBO ontologies or SKOS vocabularies. AIDA Web Services can be used to design personalized knowledge extraction procedures. In our example experiment, we found three proteins (NF-Kappa B, p21, and Bax) potentially playing a role in the interplay between nutrients and epigenetic gene regulation. PMID:19796406

Quality-assurance and data-management plan for water-quality activities in the Kansas Water Science Center, 2014

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rasmussen, Teresa J.; Bennett, Trudy J.; Foster, Guy M.; Graham, Jennifer L.; Putnam, James E.

2014-01-01

As the Nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey is relied on to collect high-quality data, and produce factual and impartial interpretive reports. This quality-assurance and data-management plan provides guidance for water-quality activities conducted by the Kansas Water Science Center. Policies and procedures are documented for activities related to planning, collecting, storing, documenting, tracking, verifying, approving, archiving, and disseminating water-quality data. The policies and procedures described in this plan complement quality-assurance plans for continuous water-quality monitoring, surface-water, and groundwater activities in Kansas.

Assessing biological effects from highway-runoff constituents

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buckler, Denny R.; Granato, Gregory E.

1999-01-01

Increased emphasis on evaluation of nonpoint-source pollution has intensified the need for techniques that can be used to discern the toxicological effects of complex chemical mixtures. In response, the use of biological assessment techniques is receiving increased regulatory emphasis. When applied with documented habitat assessment and chemical analysis, these techniques can increase our understanding of the influence of environmental contaminants on the biological integrity and ecological function of aquatic communities.The contaminants of greatest potential concern in highway runoff are those that arise from highway construction, maintenance, and use. The major contaminants of interest are deicers; nutrients; metals; petroleum-related organic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX), and methyl tert -butyl ether (MTBE); sediment washed off the road surface; and agricultural chemicals used in highway maintenance. Hundreds, if not thousands, of biological endpoints (measurable responses of living organisms) may be either directly or associatively affected by contaminant exposure. Measurable effects can occur throughout ecosystem processes across the wide range of biological complexity, ranging from responses at the biochemical level to the community level. The challenge to the environmental scientist is to develop an understanding of the relationship of effects at various levels of biological organization in order to determine whether a causal relationship exists between chemical exposure and substantial ecological impairment. This report provides a brief history of the evolution of biological assessment techniques, a description of the major classes of contaminants that are of particular interest in highway runoff, an overview of representative biological assessment techniques, and a discussion of data-quality considerations. Published reports with a focus on the effects of highway runoff on the local ecosystem were reviewed to provide information on (1) the suitability of the existing data for a quantitative national synthesis, (2) the methods available to study the effects of highway runoff on local ecosystems, and (3) the potential for adverse effects on the roadside environment and receiving waters. Although many biological studies have been done, the use of different methods and a general lack of sufficient documentation precludes a quantitative national synthesis on the basis of the existing data. The Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Intergovernmental Task Force on Monitoring Water Quality, and the National Resources Conservation Service all have developed and documented methods for assessing the effects of contaminants on ecosystems in receiving waters. These published methods can be used to formulate a set of protocols to provide consistent information from highway-runoff studies. Review of the literature indicates (qualitatively) that highway runoff (even from highways with high traffic volume) may not usually be acutely toxic. Tissue analysis and community assessments, however, indicate effects from highway- runoff sediments near discharge points (even from sites near highways with relatively low traffic volumes). At many sites, elevated concentrations of highway-runoff constituents were measured in tissues of species associated with aquatic sediments. Community assessments also indicate decreases in the diversity and productivity of aquatic ecosystems at some sites receiving highway runoff. These results are not definitive, however, and depend on many site-specific criteria that were not sufficiently documented in most of the studies reviewed.

A framework for ecological decision support systems: Building the right systems and building the systems right

USGS Publications Warehouse

D'Erchia, Frank; Korschgen, Carl E.; Nyquist, M.; Root, Ralph; Sojda, Richard S.; Stine, Peter

2001-01-01

Workshops in the late 1990's launched the commitment of the U.S. Geological Survey's Biological Resources Division (BRD) to develop and implement decision support systems (DSS) applications. One of the primary goals of this framework document is to provide sufficient background and information for Department of the Interior (DOI) bureau stakeholders and other clients to determine the potential for DSS development. Such an understanding can assist them in carrying out effective land planning and management practices. This document provides a definition of DSS and its characteristics and capabilities. It proceeds to describe issues related to meeting resource managers needs, such as the needs for specific applications, customer requirements, information and technology transfer, user support, and institutionalization. Using the decision process as a means to guide DSS development and determine users needs is also discussed. We conclude with information on method to evaluate DSS development efforts and recommended procedures for verification and validation. 

NBII-SAIN Data Management Toolkit

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burley, Thomas E.; Peine, John D.

2009-01-01

The Strategic Plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Biological Informatics Program (2005-2009) recognizes the need for effective data management: Though the Federal government invests more than $600 million per year in biological data collection, it is difficult to address these issues because of limited accessibility and lack of standards for data and information...variable quality, sources, methods, and formats (for example observations in the field, museum specimens, and satellite images) present additional challenges. This is further complicated by the fast-moving target of emerging and changing technologies such as GPS and GIS. Even though these technologies offer new solutions, they also create new informatics challenges (Ruggiero and others, 2005). The USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure program, hereafter referred to as NBII, is charged with the mission to improve the way data and information are gathered, documented, stored, and accessed. The central objective of this project is a direct reflection of the purpose of NBII as described by John Mosesso, Program Manager of the U.S. Geological Survey-Biological Informatics Program-GAP Analysis: At the outset, the reason for bringing about NBII was that there were significant amounts of data and information scattered all over the U.S., not accessible, in incompatible formats, and that NBII was tasked with addressing this problem...NBII's focus is to pull data together that truly matters to someone or communities. Essentially, the core questions are: 1) what are the issues, 2) where is the data, and 3) how can we make it usable and accessible (John Mosesso, U.S. Geological Survey, oral commun., 2006). Redundancy in data collection can be a major issue when multiple stakeholders are involved with a common effort. In 2001 the U.S. General Accounting Office (USGAO) estimated that about 50 percent of the Federal government's geospatial data at the time was redundant. In addition, approximately 80 percent of the cost of a spatial information system is associated with spatial data collection and management (U.S. General Accounting Office, 2003). These figures indicate that the resources (time, personnel, money) of many agencies and organizations could be used more efficiently and effectively. Dedicated and conscientious data management coordination and documentation is critical for reducing such redundancy. Substantial cost savings and increased efficiency are direct results of a pro-active data management approach. In addition, details of projects as well as data and information are frequently lost as a result of real-world occurrences such as the passing of time, job turnover, and equipment changes and failure. A standardized, well documented database allows resource managers to identify issues, analyze options, and ultimately make better decisions in the context of adaptive management (National Land and Water Resources Audit and the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council on behalf of the Australian National Government, 2003). Many environmentally focused, scientific, or natural resource management organizations collect and create both spatial and non-spatial data in some form. Data management appropriate for those data will be contingent upon the project goal(s) and objectives and thus will vary on a case-by-case basis. This project and the resulting Data Management Toolkit, hereafter referred to as the Toolkit, is therefore not intended to be comprehensive in terms of addressing all of the data management needs of all projects that contain biological, geospatial, and other types of data. The Toolkit emphasizes the idea of connecting a project's data and the related management needs to the defined project goals and objectives from the outset. In that context, the Toolkit presents and describes the fundamental components of sound data and information management that are common to projects involving biological, geospatial, and other related data

A contemporary Colombian skeletal reference collection: A resource for the development of population specific standards.

PubMed

Sanabria-Medina, Cesar; González-Colmenares, Gretel; Restrepo, Hadaluz Osorio; Rodríguez, Juan Manuel Guerrero

2016-09-01

Several authors who have discussed human variability and its impact on the forensic identification of bodies pose the need for regional studies documenting the global variation of the attributes analyzed osteological characteristics that aid in establishing biological profile (sex, ancestry, biological age and height). This is primarily accomplished by studying documented human skeletal collections in order to investigate secular trends in skeletal development and aging, among others in the Colombian population. The purpose of this paper is to disclose the details of the new "Contemporary Colombian Skeletal Reference Collection" that currently comprises 600 identified skeletons of both sexes, who died between 2005 and 2008; and which contain information about their cause of death. This collection has infinite potential for research, open to the national and international community, and still has pending opportunities to address a variety of topics such as studies on osteopathology, bone trauma and taphonomic studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) for Support of Ecological and Biological Assessments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Telis, Pamela A.

2006-01-01

The Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN) is an integrated network of real-time water-level monitoring, ground-elevation modeling, and water-surface modeling that provides scientists and managers with current (1999-present), online water-depth information for the entire freshwater portion of the Greater Everglades. Presented on a 400-square-meter grid spacing, EDEN offers a consistent and documented dataset that can be used by scientists and managers to (1) guide large-scale field operations, (2) integrate hydrologic and ecological responses, and (3) support biological and ecological assessments that measure ecosystem responses to the implementation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.

BioRAT: extracting biological information from full-length papers.

PubMed

Corney, David P A; Buxton, Bernard F; Langdon, William B; Jones, David T

2004-11-22

Converting the vast quantity of free-format text found in journals into a concise, structured format makes the researcher's quest for information easier. Recently, several information extraction systems have been developed that attempt to simplify the retrieval and analysis of biological and medical data. Most of this work has used the abstract alone, owing to the convenience of access and the quality of data. Abstracts are generally available through central collections with easy direct access (e.g. PubMed). The full-text papers contain more information, but are distributed across many locations (e.g. publishers' web sites, journal web sites and local repositories), making access more difficult. In this paper, we present BioRAT, a new information extraction (IE) tool, specifically designed to perform biomedical IE, and which is able to locate and analyse both abstracts and full-length papers. BioRAT is a Biological Research Assistant for Text mining, and incorporates a document search ability with domain-specific IE. We show first, that BioRAT performs as well as existing systems, when applied to abstracts; and second, that significantly more information is available to BioRAT through the full-length papers than via the abstracts alone. Typically, less than half of the available information is extracted from the abstract, with the majority coming from the body of each paper. Overall, BioRAT recalled 20.31% of the target facts from the abstracts with 55.07% precision, and achieved 43.6% recall with 51.25% precision on full-length papers.

Automatic document classification of biological literature

PubMed Central

Chen, David; Müller, Hans-Michael; Sternberg, Paul W

2006-01-01

Background Document classification is a wide-spread problem with many applications, from organizing search engine snippets to spam filtering. We previously described Textpresso, a text-mining system for biological literature, which marks up full text according to a shallow ontology that includes terms of biological interest. This project investigates document classification in the context of biological literature, making use of the Textpresso markup of a corpus of Caenorhabditis elegans literature. Results We present a two-step text categorization algorithm to classify a corpus of C. elegans papers. Our classification method first uses a support vector machine-trained classifier, followed by a novel, phrase-based clustering algorithm. This clustering step autonomously creates cluster labels that are descriptive and understandable by humans. This clustering engine performed better on a standard test-set (Reuters 21578) compared to previously published results (F-value of 0.55 vs. 0.49), while producing cluster descriptions that appear more useful. A web interface allows researchers to quickly navigate through the hierarchy and look for documents that belong to a specific concept. Conclusion We have demonstrated a simple method to classify biological documents that embodies an improvement over current methods. While the classification results are currently optimized for Caenorhabditis elegans papers by human-created rules, the classification engine can be adapted to different types of documents. We have demonstrated this by presenting a web interface that allows researchers to quickly navigate through the hierarchy and look for documents that belong to a specific concept. PMID:16893465

cPath: open source software for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathways

PubMed Central

Cerami, Ethan G; Bader, Gary D; Gross, Benjamin E; Sander, Chris

2006-01-01

Background Biological pathways, including metabolic pathways, protein interaction networks, signal transduction pathways, and gene regulatory networks, are currently represented in over 220 diverse databases. These data are crucial for the study of specific biological processes, including human diseases. Standard exchange formats for pathway information, such as BioPAX, CellML, SBML and PSI-MI, enable convenient collection of this data for biological research, but mechanisms for common storage and communication are required. Results We have developed cPath, an open source database and web application for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathway data. cPath makes it easy to aggregate custom pathway data sets available in standard exchange formats from multiple databases, present pathway data to biologists via a customizable web interface, and export pathway data via a web service to third-party software, such as Cytoscape, for visualization and analysis. cPath is software only, and does not include new pathway information. Key features include: a built-in identifier mapping service for linking identical interactors and linking to external resources; built-in support for PSI-MI and BioPAX standard pathway exchange formats; a web service interface for searching and retrieving pathway data sets; and thorough documentation. The cPath software is freely available under the LGPL open source license for academic and commercial use. Conclusion cPath is a robust, scalable, modular, professional-grade software platform for collecting, storing, and querying biological pathways. It can serve as the core data handling component in information systems for pathway visualization, analysis and modeling. PMID:17101041

MODIS Validation, Data Merger and Other Activities Accomplished by the SIMBIOS Project: 2002-2003

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fargion, Giulietta S.; McClain, Charles R.

2003-01-01

The purpose of this technical report is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, satellite data processing, and data product validation. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of validating and combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report focuses on the SIMBIOS Project s efforts in support of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra platform (similar evaluations of MODIS/Aqua are underway). This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project.

Specifications of Standards in Systems and Synthetic Biology.

PubMed

Schreiber, Falk; Bader, Gary D; Golebiewski, Martin; Hucka, Michael; Kormeier, Benjamin; Le Novère, Nicolas; Myers, Chris; Nickerson, David; Sommer, Björn; Waltemath, Dagmar; Weise, Stephan

2015-09-04

Standards shape our everyday life. From nuts and bolts to electronic devices and technological processes, standardised products and processes are all around us. Standards have technological and economic benefits, such as making information exchange, production, and services more efficient. However, novel, innovative areas often either lack proper standards, or documents about standards in these areas are not available from a centralised platform or formal body (such as the International Standardisation Organisation). Systems and synthetic biology is a relatively novel area, and it is only in the last decade that the standardisation of data, information, and models related to systems and synthetic biology has become a community-wide effort. Several open standards have been established and are under continuous development as a community initiative. COMBINE, the ‘COmputational Modeling in BIology’ NEtwork has been established as an umbrella initiative to coordinate and promote the development of the various community standards and formats for computational models. There are yearly two meeting, HARMONY (Hackathons on Resources for Modeling in Biology), Hackathon-type meetings with a focus on development of the support for standards, and COMBINE forums, workshop-style events with oral presentations, discussion, poster, and breakout sessions for further developing the standards. For more information see http://co.mbine.org/. So far the different standards were published and made accessible through the standards’ web- pages or preprint services. The aim of this special issue is to provide a single, easily accessible and citable platform for the publication of standards in systems and synthetic biology. This special issue is intended to serve as a central access point to standards and related initiatives in systems and synthetic biology, it will be published annually to provide an opportunity for standard development groups to communicate updated specifications.

The acquisition of dangerous biological materials: Technical facts sheets to assist risk assessments of 46 potential BW agents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aceto, Donato Gonzalo; Astuto-Gribble, Lisa M.; Gaudioso, Jennifer M.

Numerous terrorist organizations have openly expressed interest in producing and deploying biological weapons. However, a limiting factor for many terrorists has been the acquisition of dangerous biological agents, as evidenced by the very few successful instances of biological weapons use compared to the number of documented hoaxes. Biological agents vary greatly in their ability to cause loss of life and economic damage. Some agents, if released properly, can kill many people and cause an extensive number of secondary infections; other agents will sicken only a small number of people for a short period of time. Consequently, several biological agents canmore » potentially be used to perpetrate a bioterrorism attack but few are likely capable of causing a high consequence event. It is crucial, from a US national security perspective, to more deeply understand the likelihood that terrorist organizations can acquire the range of these agents. Few studies have attempted to comprehensively compile the technical information directly relevant to the acquisition of dangerous bacteria, viruses and toxins. In this report, technical fact sheets were assembled for 46 potentially dangerous biological agents. Much of the information was taken from various research sources which could ultimately and significantly expedite and improve bioterrorism threat assessments. By systematically examining a number of specific agent characteristics included in these fact sheets, it may be possible to detect, target, and implement measures to thwart future terrorist acquisition attempts. In addition, the information in these fact sheets may be used as a tool to help laboratories gain a rudimentary understanding of how attractive a method laboratory theft is relative to other potential acquisition modes.« less

International Society for Analytical Cytology biosafety standard for sorting of unfixed cells.

PubMed

Schmid, Ingrid; Lambert, Claude; Ambrozak, David; Marti, Gerald E; Moss, Delynn M; Perfetto, Stephen P

2007-06-01

Cell sorting of viable biological specimens has become very prevalent in laboratories involved in basic and clinical research. As these samples can contain infectious agents, precautions to protect instrument operators and the environment from hazards arising from the use of sorters are paramount. To this end the International Society of Analytical Cytology (ISAC) took a lead in establishing biosafety guidelines for sorting of unfixed cells (Schmid et al., Cytometry 1997;28:99-117). During the time period these recommendations have been available, they have become recognized worldwide as the standard practices and safety precautions for laboratories performing viable cell sorting experiments. However, the field of cytometry has progressed since 1997, and the document requires an update. Initially, suggestions about the document format and content were discussed among members of the ISAC Biosafety Committee and were incorporated into a draft version that was sent to all committee members for review. Comments were collected, carefully considered, and incorporated as appropriate into a draft document that was posted on the ISAC web site to invite comments from the flow cytometry community at large. The revised document was then submitted to ISAC Council for review. Simultaneously, further comments were sought from newly-appointed ISAC Biosafety committee members. This safety standard for performing viable cell sorting experiments was recently generated. The document contains background information on the biohazard potential of sorting and the hazard classification of infectious agents as well as recommendations on (1) sample handling, (2) operator training and personal protection, (3) laboratory design, (4) cell sorter set-up, maintenance, and decontamination, and (5) testing the instrument for the efficiency of aerosol containment. This standard constitutes an updated and expanded revision of the 1997 biosafety guideline document. It is intended to provide laboratories involved in cell sorting with safety practices that take into account the enhanced hazard potential of high-speed sorting. Most importantly, it states that droplet-based sorting of infectious or hazardous biological material requires a higher level of containment than the one recommended for the risk group classification of the pathogen. The document also provides information on safety features of novel instrumentation, new options for personal protective equipment, and recently developed methods for testing the efficiency of aerosol containment.

Extra dimensions: 3D in PDF documentation

DOE PAGES

Graf, Norman A.

2011-01-11

Experimental science is replete with multi-dimensional information which is often poorly represented by the two dimensions of presentation slides and print media. Past efforts to disseminate such information to a wider audience have failed for a number of reasons, including a lack of standards which are easy to implement and have broad support. Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) has in recent years become the de facto standard for secure, dependable electronic information exchange. It has done so by creating an open format, providing support for multiple platforms and being reliable and extensible. By providing support for the ECMA standard Universalmore » 3D (U3D) file format in its free Adobe Reader software, Adobe has made it easy to distribute and interact with 3D content. By providing support for scripting and animation, temporal data can also be easily distributed to a wide, non-technical audience. We discuss how the field of radiation imaging could benefit from incorporating full 3D information about not only the detectors, but also the results of the experimental analyses, in its electronic publications. In this article, we present examples drawn from high-energy physics, mathematics and molecular biology which take advantage of this functionality. Furthermore, we demonstrate how 3D detector elements can be documented, using either CAD drawings or other sources such as GEANT visualizations as input.« less

Extra dimensions: 3D and time in PDF documentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graf, N. A.

2011-01-01

Experimental science is replete with multi-dimensional information which is often poorly represented by the two dimensions of presentation slides and print media. Past efforts to disseminate such information to a wider audience have failed for a number of reasons, including a lack of standards which are easy to implement and have broad support. Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) has in recent years become the de facto standard for secure, dependable electronic information exchange. It has done so by creating an open format, providing support for multiple platforms and being reliable and extensible. By providing support for the ECMA standard Universal 3D (U3D) file format in its free Adobe Reader software, Adobe has made it easy to distribute and interact with 3D content. By providing support for scripting and animation, temporal data can also be easily distributed to a wide, non-technical audience. We discuss how the field of radiation imaging could benefit from incorporating full 3D information about not only the detectors, but also the results of the experimental analyses, in its electronic publications. In this article, we present examples drawn from high-energy physics, mathematics and molecular biology which take advantage of this functionality. We demonstrate how 3D detector elements can be documented, using either CAD drawings or other sources such as GEANT visualizations as input.

Extra Dimensions: 3D and Time in PDF Documentation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Graf, N.A.; /SLAC

2012-04-11

Experimental science is replete with multi-dimensional information which is often poorly represented by the two dimensions of presentation slides and print media. Past efforts to disseminate such information to a wider audience have failed for a number of reasons, including a lack of standards which are easy to implement and have broad support. Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) has in recent years become the de facto standard for secure, dependable electronic information exchange. It has done so by creating an open format, providing support for multiple platforms and being reliable and extensible. By providing support for the ECMA standard Universalmore » 3D (U3D) file format in its free Adobe Reader software, Adobe has made it easy to distribute and interact with 3D content. By providing support for scripting and animation, temporal data can also be easily distributed to a wide, non-technical audience. We discuss how the field of radiation imaging could benefit from incorporating full 3D information about not only the detectors, but also the results of the experimental analyses, in its electronic publications. In this article, we present examples drawn from high-energy physics, mathematics and molecular biology which take advantage of this functionality. We demonstrate how 3D detector elements can be documented, using either CAD drawings or other sources such as GEANT visualizations as input.« less

NASA-STD-7009 Guidance Document for Human Health and Performance Models and Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walton, Marlei; Mulugeta, Lealem; Nelson, Emily S.; Myers, Jerry G.

2014-01-01

Rigorous verification, validation, and credibility (VVC) processes are imperative to ensure that models and simulations (MS) are sufficiently reliable to address issues within their intended scope. The NASA standard for MS, NASA-STD-7009 (7009) [1] was a resultant outcome of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) to ensure MS are developed, applied, and interpreted appropriately for making decisions that may impact crew or mission safety. Because the 7009 focus is engineering systems, a NASA-STD-7009 Guidance Document is being developed to augment the 7009 and provide information, tools, and techniques applicable to the probabilistic and deterministic biological MS more prevalent in human health and performance (HHP) and space biomedical research and operations.

DOE contractor's meeting on chemical toxicity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1987-01-01

The Office of Health and Environmental Research (OHER) is required to determine the potential health and environmental effects associated with energy production and use. To ensure appropriate communication among investigators and scientific disciplines that these research studies represent, OHER has sponsored workshops. This document provides a compilation of activities at the Third Annual DOE/OHER Workshop. This year's workshop was broadened to include all OHER activities identified as within the chemical effects area. The workshop consisted of eight sessions entitled Isolation and Detection of Toxic chemicals; Adduct Formation and Repair; Chemical Toxicity (Posters); Metabolism and Genotoxicity; Inhalation Toxicology; Gene Regulation; Metalsmore » Toxicity; and Biological Mechanisms. This document contains abstracts of the information presented by session.« less

The BioPrompt-box: an ontology-based clustering tool for searching in biological databases.

PubMed

Corsi, Claudio; Ferragina, Paolo; Marangoni, Roberto

2007-03-08

High-throughput molecular biology provides new data at an incredible rate, so that the increase in the size of biological databanks is enormous and very rapid. This scenario generates severe problems not only at indexing time, where suitable algorithmic techniques for data indexing and retrieval are required, but also at query time, since a user query may produce such a large set of results that their browsing and "understanding" becomes humanly impractical. This problem is well known to the Web community, where a new generation of Web search engines is being developed, like Vivisimo. These tools organize on-the-fly the results of a user query in a hierarchy of labeled folders that ease their browsing and knowledge extraction. We investigate this approach on biological data, and propose the so called The BioPrompt-boxsoftware system which deploys ontology-driven clustering strategies for making the searching process of biologists more efficient and effective. The BioPrompt-box (Bpb) defines a document as a biological sequence plus its associated meta-data taken from the underneath databank--like references to ontologies or to external databanks, and plain texts as comments of researchers and (title, abstracts or even body of) papers. Bpboffers several tools to customize the search and the clustering process over its indexed documents. The user can search a set of keywords within a specific field of the document schema, or can execute Blastto find documents relative to homologue sequences. In both cases the search task returns a set of documents (hits) which constitute the answer to the user query. Since the number of hits may be large, Bpbclusters them into groups of homogenous content, organized as a hierarchy of labeled clusters. The user can actually choose among several ontology-based hierarchical clustering strategies, each offering a different "view" of the returned hits. Bpbcomputes these views by exploiting the meta-data present within the retrieved documents such as the references to Gene Ontology, the taxonomy lineage, the organism and the keywords. Of course, the approach is flexible enough to leave room for future additions of other meta-information. The ultimate goal of the clustering process is to provide the user with several different readings of the (maybe numerous) query results and show possible hidden correlations among them, thus improving their browsing and understanding. Bpb is a powerful search engine that makes it very easy to perform complex queries over the indexed databanks (currently only UNIPROT is considered). The ontology-based clustering approach is efficient and effective, and could thus be applied successfully to larger databanks, like GenBank or EMBL.

The BioPrompt-box: an ontology-based clustering tool for searching in biological databases

PubMed Central

Corsi, Claudio; Ferragina, Paolo; Marangoni, Roberto

2007-01-01

Background High-throughput molecular biology provides new data at an incredible rate, so that the increase in the size of biological databanks is enormous and very rapid. This scenario generates severe problems not only at indexing time, where suitable algorithmic techniques for data indexing and retrieval are required, but also at query time, since a user query may produce such a large set of results that their browsing and "understanding" becomes humanly impractical. This problem is well known to the Web community, where a new generation of Web search engines is being developed, like Vivisimo. These tools organize on-the-fly the results of a user query in a hierarchy of labeled folders that ease their browsing and knowledge extraction. We investigate this approach on biological data, and propose the so called The BioPrompt-boxsoftware system which deploys ontology-driven clustering strategies for making the searching process of biologists more efficient and effective. Results The BioPrompt-box (Bpb) defines a document as a biological sequence plus its associated meta-data taken from the underneath databank – like references to ontologies or to external databanks, and plain texts as comments of researchers and (title, abstracts or even body of) papers. Bpboffers several tools to customize the search and the clustering process over its indexed documents. The user can search a set of keywords within a specific field of the document schema, or can execute Blastto find documents relative to homologue sequences. In both cases the search task returns a set of documents (hits) which constitute the answer to the user query. Since the number of hits may be large, Bpbclusters them into groups of homogenous content, organized as a hierarchy of labeled clusters. The user can actually choose among several ontology-based hierarchical clustering strategies, each offering a different "view" of the returned hits. Bpbcomputes these views by exploiting the meta-data present within the retrieved documents such as the references to Gene Ontology, the taxonomy lineage, the organism and the keywords. Of course, the approach is flexible enough to leave room for future additions of other meta-information. The ultimate goal of the clustering process is to provide the user with several different readings of the (maybe numerous) query results and show possible hidden correlations among them, thus improving their browsing and understanding. Conclusion Bpb is a powerful search engine that makes it very easy to perform complex queries over the indexed databanks (currently only UNIPROT is considered). The ontology-based clustering approach is efficient and effective, and could thus be applied successfully to larger databanks, like GenBank or EMBL. PMID:17430575

Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) system administration guide. Version 1.2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burford, M.J.; Burnett, R.A.; Curtis, L.M.

The Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) is an emergency management planning and analysis tool that is being developed under the direction of the US Army Chemical biological Defense Command. The FEMIS System Administration Guide defines FEMIS hardware and software requirements and gives instructions for installing the FEMIS system package. System administrators, database administrators, and general users can use this guide to install, configure, and maintain the FEMIS client software package. This document provides a description of the FEMIS environment; distribution media; data, communications, and electronic mail servers; user workstations; and system management.

FALCON: a toolbox for the fast contextualization of logical networks

PubMed Central

De Landtsheer, Sébastien; Trairatphisan, Panuwat; Lucarelli, Philippe; Sauter, Thomas

2017-01-01

Abstract Motivation Mathematical modelling of regulatory networks allows for the discovery of knowledge at the system level. However, existing modelling tools are often computation-heavy and do not offer intuitive ways to explore the model, to test hypotheses or to interpret the results biologically. Results We have developed a computational approach to contextualize logical models of regulatory networks with biological measurements based on a probabilistic description of rule-based interactions between the different molecules. Here, we propose a Matlab toolbox, FALCON, to automatically and efficiently build and contextualize networks, which includes a pipeline for conducting parameter analysis, knockouts and easy and fast model investigation. The contextualized models could then provide qualitative and quantitative information about the network and suggest hypotheses about biological processes. Availability and implementation FALCON is freely available for non-commercial users on GitHub under the GPLv3 licence. The toolbox, installation instructions, full documentation and test datasets are available at https://github.com/sysbiolux/FALCON. FALCON runs under Matlab (MathWorks) and requires the Optimization Toolbox. Contact thomas.sauter@uni.lu Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:28673016

Research on B Cell Algorithm for Learning to Rank Method Based on Parallel Strategy.

PubMed

Tian, Yuling; Zhang, Hongxian

2016-01-01

For the purposes of information retrieval, users must find highly relevant documents from within a system (and often a quite large one comprised of many individual documents) based on input query. Ranking the documents according to their relevance within the system to meet user needs is a challenging endeavor, and a hot research topic-there already exist several rank-learning methods based on machine learning techniques which can generate ranking functions automatically. This paper proposes a parallel B cell algorithm, RankBCA, for rank learning which utilizes a clonal selection mechanism based on biological immunity. The novel algorithm is compared with traditional rank-learning algorithms through experimentation and shown to outperform the others in respect to accuracy, learning time, and convergence rate; taken together, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm indeed effectively and rapidly identifies optimal ranking functions.

Research on B Cell Algorithm for Learning to Rank Method Based on Parallel Strategy

PubMed Central

Tian, Yuling; Zhang, Hongxian

2016-01-01

For the purposes of information retrieval, users must find highly relevant documents from within a system (and often a quite large one comprised of many individual documents) based on input query. Ranking the documents according to their relevance within the system to meet user needs is a challenging endeavor, and a hot research topic–there already exist several rank-learning methods based on machine learning techniques which can generate ranking functions automatically. This paper proposes a parallel B cell algorithm, RankBCA, for rank learning which utilizes a clonal selection mechanism based on biological immunity. The novel algorithm is compared with traditional rank-learning algorithms through experimentation and shown to outperform the others in respect to accuracy, learning time, and convergence rate; taken together, the experimental results show that the proposed algorithm indeed effectively and rapidly identifies optimal ranking functions. PMID:27487242

Alternative treatment technology information center computer database system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sullivan, D.

1995-10-01

The Alternative Treatment Technology Information Center (ATTIC) computer database system was developed pursuant to the 1986 Superfund law amendments. It provides up-to-date information on innovative treatment technologies to clean up hazardous waste sites. ATTIC v2.0 provides access to several independent databases as well as a mechanism for retrieving full-text documents of key literature. It can be accessed with a personal computer and modem 24 hours a day, and there are no user fees. ATTIC provides {open_quotes}one-stop shopping{close_quotes} for information on alternative treatment options by accessing several databases: (1) treatment technology database; this contains abstracts from the literature on all typesmore » of treatment technologies, including biological, chemical, physical, and thermal methods. The best literature as viewed by experts is highlighted. (2) treatability study database; this provides performance information on technologies to remove contaminants from wastewaters and soils. It is derived from treatability studies. This database is available through ATTIC or separately as a disk that can be mailed to you. (3) underground storage tank database; this presents information on underground storage tank corrective actions, surface spills, emergency response, and remedial actions. (4) oil/chemical spill database; this provides abstracts on treatment and disposal of spilled oil and chemicals. In addition to these separate databases, ATTIC allows immediate access to other disk-based systems such as the Vendor Information System for Innovative Treatment Technologies (VISITT) and the Bioremediation in the Field Search System (BFSS). The user may download these programs to their own PC via a high-speed modem. Also via modem, users are able to download entire documents through the ATTIC system. Currently, about fifty publications are available, including Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program documents.« less

Ethnobotanical Knowledge Is Vastly Under-Documented in Northwestern South America

PubMed Central

Cámara-Leret, Rodrigo; Paniagua-Zambrana, Narel; Balslev, Henrik; Macía, Manuel J.

2014-01-01

A main objective of ethnobotany is to document traditional knowledge about plants before it disappears. However, little is known about the coverage of past ethnobotanical studies and thus about how well the existing literature covers the overall traditional knowledge of different human groups. To bridge this gap, we investigated ethnobotanical data-collecting efforts across four countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), three ecoregions (Amazon, Andes, Chocó), and several human groups (including Amerindians, mestizos, and Afro-Americans). We used palms (Arecaceae) as our model group because of their usefulness and pervasiveness in the ethnobotanical literature. We carried out a large number of field interviews (n = 2201) to determine the coverage and quality of palm ethnobotanical data in the existing ethnobotanical literature (n = 255) published over the past 60 years. In our fieldwork in 68 communities, we collected 87,886 use reports and documented 2262 different palm uses and 140 useful palm species. We demonstrate that traditional knowledge on palm uses is vastly under-documented across ecoregions, countries, and human groups. We suggest that the use of standardized data-collecting protocols in wide-ranging ethnobotanical fieldwork is a promising approach for filling critical information gaps. Our work contributes to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and emphasizes the need for signatory nations to the Convention on Biological Diversity to respond to these information gaps. Given our findings, we hope to stimulate the formulation of clear plans to systematically document ethnobotanical knowledge in northwestern South America and elsewhere before it vanishes. PMID:24416449

2012 Review on the Extension of the AMedP-8(C) Methodology to New Agents, Materials, and Conditions

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-01

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to estimate casualties from chemical, biological , radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons . The final draft...chemical, biological , radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons . The final draft documenting this methodology was published by IDA in 2009 and was...from Battlefield Exposure to Chemical, Biological and Radiological Agents and Nuclear Weapon Effects. IDA Document D- 4465. Alexandria, VA: IDA

The past as prelude to the future for understanding 21st-century climate effects on Rocky Mountain Trout

USGS Publications Warehouse

Isaak, Daniel J.; Muhlfeld, Clint C.; Todd, Andrew S.; Al-chokhachy, Robert; Roberts, James; Kershner, Jeffrey L.; Fausch, Kurt D.; Hostetler, Steven W.

2012-01-01

Bioclimatic models predict large reductions in native trout across the Rocky Mountains in the 21st century but lack details about how changes will occur. Through five case histories across the region, we explore how a changing climate has been affecting streams and the potential consequences for trout. Monitoring records show trends in temperature and hydrographs consistent with a warming climate in recent decades. Biological implications include upstream shifts in thermal habitats, risk of egg scour, increased wildfire disturbances, and declining summer habitat volumes. The importance of these factors depends on the context, but temperature increases are most relevant where population boundaries are mediated by thermal constraints. Summer flow declines and wildfires will be important where trout populations are fragmented and constrained to small refugia. A critical information gap is evidence documenting how populations are adjusting to long-term habitat trends, so biological monitoring is a priority. Biological, temperature, and discharge data from monitoring networks could be used to develop accurate vulnerability assessments that provide information regarding where conservation actions would best improve population resilience. Even with better information, future uncertainties will remain large due to unknowns regarding Earth's ultimate warming trajectory and how effects translate across scales. Maintaining or increasing the size of habitats could provide a buffer against these uncertainties.

Is the U.S. Navy Prepared to Counter Biological Warfare Threats?

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-12-01

Chikungunya Fever High? None 2-6 days Very low (-1%) None Dengue fever High None 2-5 days Very low (-1%) None Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE...Equine Encephalitis (or VEE) is characterized by inflammation of the meninges of the brain and of the brain itself. This disease is of short...i REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1

Biological Treatment of Solvent-Based Paint

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

NO .. NO .. NO .. NO .. NO .. 1 2-Dibromo-3- chloropropane NO .. NO .. ND .. NO .. NO .. NO .. NO .. 1 2 4·Trichlorobenzene NO .. NO .. NO .. NO .. NO...DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per...valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1 . REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 30-03-2010 2. REPORT TYPE Final 3. DATES

A review of the use of health examination data from the Health Survey for England in government policy development and implementation.

PubMed

Oyebode, Oyinlola; Mindell, Jennifer S

2014-01-01

Information is needed at all stages of the policy making process. The Health Survey for England (HSE) is an annual cross-sectional health examination survey of the non-institutionalised general population in England. It was originally set up to inform national policy making and monitoring by the Department of Health. This paper examines how the nurse collected physical and biological measurement data from the HSE have been essential or useful for identification of a health issue amenable to policy intervention; initiation, development or implementation of a strategy; choice and monitoring of targets; or assessment and evaluation of policies. Specific examples of use of HSE data were identified through interviews with senior members of staff at the Department of Health and the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Policy documents mentioned by interviewees were retrieved for review, and reference lists of associated policy documents checked. Systematic searches of Chief Medical Officer Reports, Government 'Command Papers', and clinical guidance documents were also undertaken. HSE examination data have been used at all stages of the policy making process. Data have been used to identify an issue amenable to policy-intervention (e.g. quantifying prevalence of undiagnosed chronic kidney disease), in strategy development (in models to inform chronic respiratory disease policy), for target setting and monitoring (the 1992 blood pressure target) and in evaluation of health policy (the effect of the smoking ban on second hand smoke exposure). A health examination survey is a useful part of a national health information system.

A review of the use of health examination data from the Health Survey for England in government policy development and implementation

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Information is needed at all stages of the policy making process. The Health Survey for England (HSE) is an annual cross-sectional health examination survey of the non-institutionalised general population in England. It was originally set up to inform national policy making and monitoring by the Department of Health. This paper examines how the nurse collected physical and biological measurement data from the HSE have been essential or useful for identification of a health issue amenable to policy intervention; initiation, development or implementation of a strategy; choice and monitoring of targets; or assessment and evaluation of policies. Methods Specific examples of use of HSE data were identified through interviews with senior members of staff at the Department of Health and the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Policy documents mentioned by interviewees were retrieved for review, and reference lists of associated policy documents checked. Systematic searches of Chief Medical Officer Reports, Government ‘Command Papers’, and clinical guidance documents were also undertaken. Results HSE examination data have been used at all stages of the policy making process. Data have been used to identify an issue amenable to policy-intervention (e.g. quantifying prevalence of undiagnosed chronic kidney disease), in strategy development (in models to inform chronic respiratory disease policy), for target setting and monitoring (the 1992 blood pressure target) and in evaluation of health policy (the effect of the smoking ban on second hand smoke exposure). Conclusions A health examination survey is a useful part of a national health information system. PMID:25114791

Integrating text mining into the MGI biocuration workflow

PubMed Central

Dowell, K.G.; McAndrews-Hill, M.S.; Hill, D.P.; Drabkin, H.J.; Blake, J.A.

2009-01-01

A major challenge for functional and comparative genomics resource development is the extraction of data from the biomedical literature. Although text mining for biological data is an active research field, few applications have been integrated into production literature curation systems such as those of the model organism databases (MODs). Not only are most available biological natural language (bioNLP) and information retrieval and extraction solutions difficult to adapt to existing MOD curation workflows, but many also have high error rates or are unable to process documents available in those formats preferred by scientific journals. In September 2008, Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) at The Jackson Laboratory initiated a search for dictionary-based text mining tools that we could integrate into our biocuration workflow. MGI has rigorous document triage and annotation procedures designed to identify appropriate articles about mouse genetics and genome biology. We currently screen ∼1000 journal articles a month for Gene Ontology terms, gene mapping, gene expression, phenotype data and other key biological information. Although we do not foresee that curation tasks will ever be fully automated, we are eager to implement named entity recognition (NER) tools for gene tagging that can help streamline our curation workflow and simplify gene indexing tasks within the MGI system. Gene indexing is an MGI-specific curation function that involves identifying which mouse genes are being studied in an article, then associating the appropriate gene symbols with the article reference number in the MGI database. Here, we discuss our search process, performance metrics and success criteria, and how we identified a short list of potential text mining tools for further evaluation. We provide an overview of our pilot projects with NCBO's Open Biomedical Annotator and Fraunhofer SCAI's ProMiner. In doing so, we prove the potential for the further incorporation of semi-automated processes into the curation of the biomedical literature. PMID:20157492

Integrating text mining into the MGI biocuration workflow.

PubMed

Dowell, K G; McAndrews-Hill, M S; Hill, D P; Drabkin, H J; Blake, J A

2009-01-01

A major challenge for functional and comparative genomics resource development is the extraction of data from the biomedical literature. Although text mining for biological data is an active research field, few applications have been integrated into production literature curation systems such as those of the model organism databases (MODs). Not only are most available biological natural language (bioNLP) and information retrieval and extraction solutions difficult to adapt to existing MOD curation workflows, but many also have high error rates or are unable to process documents available in those formats preferred by scientific journals.In September 2008, Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI) at The Jackson Laboratory initiated a search for dictionary-based text mining tools that we could integrate into our biocuration workflow. MGI has rigorous document triage and annotation procedures designed to identify appropriate articles about mouse genetics and genome biology. We currently screen approximately 1000 journal articles a month for Gene Ontology terms, gene mapping, gene expression, phenotype data and other key biological information. Although we do not foresee that curation tasks will ever be fully automated, we are eager to implement named entity recognition (NER) tools for gene tagging that can help streamline our curation workflow and simplify gene indexing tasks within the MGI system. Gene indexing is an MGI-specific curation function that involves identifying which mouse genes are being studied in an article, then associating the appropriate gene symbols with the article reference number in the MGI database.Here, we discuss our search process, performance metrics and success criteria, and how we identified a short list of potential text mining tools for further evaluation. We provide an overview of our pilot projects with NCBO's Open Biomedical Annotator and Fraunhofer SCAI's ProMiner. In doing so, we prove the potential for the further incorporation of semi-automated processes into the curation of the biomedical literature.

21 CFR 812.19 - Address for IDE correspondence.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... and Radiological Health, Document Mail Center, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Bldg. 66, rm. G609, Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002. (2) For devices regulated by the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, send it to the Document Control Center (HFM-99), Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and...

Identifying biological concepts from a protein-related corpus with a probabilistic topic model

PubMed Central

Zheng, Bin; McLean, David C; Lu, Xinghua

2006-01-01

Background Biomedical literature, e.g., MEDLINE, contains a wealth of knowledge regarding functions of proteins. Major recurring biological concepts within such text corpora represent the domains of this body of knowledge. The goal of this research is to identify the major biological topics/concepts from a corpus of protein-related MEDLINE© titles and abstracts by applying a probabilistic topic model. Results The latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model was applied to the corpus. Based on the Bayesian model selection, 300 major topics were extracted from the corpus. The majority of identified topics/concepts was found to be semantically coherent and most represented biological objects or concepts. The identified topics/concepts were further mapped to the controlled vocabulary of the Gene Ontology (GO) terms based on mutual information. Conclusion The major and recurring biological concepts within a collection of MEDLINE documents can be extracted by the LDA model. The identified topics/concepts provide parsimonious and semantically-enriched representation of the texts in a semantic space with reduced dimensionality and can be used to index text. PMID:16466569

Relations between Intuitive Biological Thinking and Biological Misconceptions in Biology Majors and Nonmajors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coley, John D.; Tanner, Kimberly

2015-01-01

Research and theory development in cognitive psychology and science education research remain largely isolated. Biology education researchers have documented persistent scientifically inaccurate ideas, often termed "misconceptions," among biology students across biological domains. In parallel, cognitive and developmental psychologists…

Text mining for the biocuration workflow

PubMed Central

Hirschman, Lynette; Burns, Gully A. P. C; Krallinger, Martin; Arighi, Cecilia; Cohen, K. Bretonnel; Valencia, Alfonso; Wu, Cathy H.; Chatr-Aryamontri, Andrew; Dowell, Karen G.; Huala, Eva; Lourenço, Anália; Nash, Robert; Veuthey, Anne-Lise; Wiegers, Thomas; Winter, Andrew G.

2012-01-01

Molecular biology has become heavily dependent on biological knowledge encoded in expert curated biological databases. As the volume of biological literature increases, biocurators need help in keeping up with the literature; (semi-) automated aids for biocuration would seem to be an ideal application for natural language processing and text mining. However, to date, there have been few documented successes for improving biocuration throughput using text mining. Our initial investigations took place for the workshop on ‘Text Mining for the BioCuration Workflow’ at the third International Biocuration Conference (Berlin, 2009). We interviewed biocurators to obtain workflows from eight biological databases. This initial study revealed high-level commonalities, including (i) selection of documents for curation; (ii) indexing of documents with biologically relevant entities (e.g. genes); and (iii) detailed curation of specific relations (e.g. interactions); however, the detailed workflows also showed many variabilities. Following the workshop, we conducted a survey of biocurators. The survey identified biocurator priorities, including the handling of full text indexed with biological entities and support for the identification and prioritization of documents for curation. It also indicated that two-thirds of the biocuration teams had experimented with text mining and almost half were using text mining at that time. Analysis of our interviews and survey provide a set of requirements for the integration of text mining into the biocuration workflow. These can guide the identification of common needs across curated databases and encourage joint experimentation involving biocurators, text mining developers and the larger biomedical research community. PMID:22513129

Text mining for the biocuration workflow.

PubMed

Hirschman, Lynette; Burns, Gully A P C; Krallinger, Martin; Arighi, Cecilia; Cohen, K Bretonnel; Valencia, Alfonso; Wu, Cathy H; Chatr-Aryamontri, Andrew; Dowell, Karen G; Huala, Eva; Lourenço, Anália; Nash, Robert; Veuthey, Anne-Lise; Wiegers, Thomas; Winter, Andrew G

2012-01-01

Molecular biology has become heavily dependent on biological knowledge encoded in expert curated biological databases. As the volume of biological literature increases, biocurators need help in keeping up with the literature; (semi-) automated aids for biocuration would seem to be an ideal application for natural language processing and text mining. However, to date, there have been few documented successes for improving biocuration throughput using text mining. Our initial investigations took place for the workshop on 'Text Mining for the BioCuration Workflow' at the third International Biocuration Conference (Berlin, 2009). We interviewed biocurators to obtain workflows from eight biological databases. This initial study revealed high-level commonalities, including (i) selection of documents for curation; (ii) indexing of documents with biologically relevant entities (e.g. genes); and (iii) detailed curation of specific relations (e.g. interactions); however, the detailed workflows also showed many variabilities. Following the workshop, we conducted a survey of biocurators. The survey identified biocurator priorities, including the handling of full text indexed with biological entities and support for the identification and prioritization of documents for curation. It also indicated that two-thirds of the biocuration teams had experimented with text mining and almost half were using text mining at that time. Analysis of our interviews and survey provide a set of requirements for the integration of text mining into the biocuration workflow. These can guide the identification of common needs across curated databases and encourage joint experimentation involving biocurators, text mining developers and the larger biomedical research community.

An Overview of Biomolecular Event Extraction from Scientific Documents

PubMed Central

Vanegas, Jorge A.; Matos, Sérgio; González, Fabio; Oliveira, José L.

2015-01-01

This paper presents a review of state-of-the-art approaches to automatic extraction of biomolecular events from scientific texts. Events involving biomolecules such as genes, transcription factors, or enzymes, for example, have a central role in biological processes and functions and provide valuable information for describing physiological and pathogenesis mechanisms. Event extraction from biomedical literature has a broad range of applications, including support for information retrieval, knowledge summarization, and information extraction and discovery. However, automatic event extraction is a challenging task due to the ambiguity and diversity of natural language and higher-level linguistic phenomena, such as speculations and negations, which occur in biological texts and can lead to misunderstanding or incorrect interpretation. Many strategies have been proposed in the last decade, originating from different research areas such as natural language processing, machine learning, and statistics. This review summarizes the most representative approaches in biomolecular event extraction and presents an analysis of the current state of the art and of commonly used methods, features, and tools. Finally, current research trends and future perspectives are also discussed. PMID:26587051

SIMBIOS Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fargion, Giulietta S.; McClain, Charles R.

2002-01-01

The purpose of this technical report is to provide current documentation of the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, NASA Research Announcement (NRA) research status, satellite data processing, data product validation, and field calibration. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of validating and combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project. The SIMBIOS Science Team Principal Investigators' (PIs) original contributions to this report are in chapters four and above. The purpose of these contributions is to describe the current research status of the SIMBIOS-NRA-96 funded research. The contributions are published as submitted, with the exception of minor edits to correct obvious grammatical or clerical errors.

Exploring molecular networks using MONET ontology.

PubMed

Silva, João Paulo Müller da; Lemke, Ney; Mombach, José Carlos; Souza, José Guilherme Camargo de; Sinigaglia, Marialva; Vieira, Renata

2006-03-31

The description of the complex molecular network responsible for cell behavior requires new tools to integrate large quantities of experimental data in the design of biological information systems. These tools could be used in the characterization of these networks and in the formulation of relevant biological hypotheses. The building of an ontology is a crucial step because it integrates in a coherent framework the concepts necessary to accomplish such a task. We present MONET (molecular network), an extensible ontology and an architecture designed to facilitate the integration of data originating from different public databases in a single- and well-documented relational database, that is compatible with MONET formal definition. We also present an example of an application that can easily be implemented using these tools.

National Wind Technology Center sitewide, Golden, CO: Environmental assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1996-11-01

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the nation`s primary solar and renewable energy research laboratory, proposes to expand its wind technology research and development program activities at its National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) near Golden, Colorado. NWTC is an existing wind energy research facility operated by NREL for the US Department of Energy (DOE). Proposed activities include the construction and reuse of buildings and facilities, installation of up to 20 wind turbine test sites, improvements in infrastructure, and subsequent research activities, technology testing, and site operations. In addition to wind turbine test activities, NWTC may be used to support othermore » NREL program activities and small-scale demonstration projects. This document assesses potential consequences to resources within the physical, biological, and human environment, including potential impacts to: air quality, geology and soils, water resources, biological resources, cultural and historic resources, socioeconomic resources, land use, visual resources, noise environment, hazardous materials and waste management, and health and safety conditions. Comment letters were received from several agencies in response to the scoping and predecisional draft reviews. The comments have been incorporated as appropriate into the document with full text of the letters contained in the Appendices. Additionally, information from the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site on going sitewide assessment of potential environmental impacts has been reviewed and discussed by representatives of both parties and incorporated into the document as appropriate.« less

WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations.

PubMed

2011-01-01

The Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations works towards clear, independent and practical standards and guidelines for the quality assurance of medicines. Standards are developed by the Committee through worldwide consultation and an international consensus-building process. The following new guidelines were adopted and recommended for use: procedure for adoption of International Chemical Reference Substances; WHO good practices for pharmaceutical microbiology laboratories; good manufacturing practices: main principles for pharmaceutical products; good manufacturing practices for blood establishments (jointly with the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization); guidelines on good manufacturing practices for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems for non-sterile pharmaceutical dosage forms; good manufacturing practices for sterile pharmaceutical products; guidelines on transfer of technology in pharmaceutical manufacturing; good pharmacy practice: standards for quality of pharmacy services (joint FIP/WHO); model guidance for the storage and transport of time- and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products (jointly with the Expert Committee on Biological Standardization); procedure for prequalification of pharmaceutical products; guide on submission of documentation for prequalification of innovator finished pharmaceutical products approved by stringent regulatory authorities; prequalification of quality control laboratories: procedure for assessing the acceptability, in principle, of quality control laboratories for use by United Nations agencies; guidelines for preparing a laboratory information file; guidelines for drafting a site master file; guidelines on submission of documentation for a multisource (generic) finished product: general format: preparation of product dossiers in common technical document format.

Integrating paleobiology, archeology, and history to inform biological conservation.

PubMed

Rick, Torben C; Lockwood, Rowan

2013-02-01

The search for novel approaches to establishing ecological baselines (reference conditions) is constrained by the fact that most ecological studies span the past few decades, at most, and investigate ecosystems that have been substantially altered by human activities for decades, centuries, or more. Paleobiology, archeology, and history provide historical ecological context for biological conservation, remediation, and restoration. We argue that linking historical ecology explicitly with conservation can help unify related disciplines of conservation paleobiology, conservation archeobiology, and environmental history. Differences in the spatial and temporal resolution and extent (scale) of prehistoric, historic, and modern ecological data remain obstacles to integrating historical ecology and conservation biology, but the prolonged temporal extents of historical ecological data can help establish more complete baselines for restoration, document a historical range of ecological variability, and assist in determining desired future conditions. We used the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) fishery of the Chesapeake Bay (U.S.A.) to demonstrate the utility of historical ecological data for elucidating oyster conservation and the need for an approach to conservation that transcends disciplinary boundaries. Historical ecological studies from the Chesapeake have documented dramatic declines (as much as 99%) in oyster abundance since the early to mid-1800 s, changes in oyster size in response to different nutrient levels from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, and substantial reductions in oyster accretion rates (from 10 mm/year to effectively 0 mm/year) from the Late Holocene to modern times. Better integration of different historical ecological data sets and increased collaboration between paleobiologists, geologists, archeologists, environmental historians, and ecologists to create standardized research designs and methodologies will help unify prehistoric, historic, and modern time perspectives on biological conservation. ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

Prediction of Metabolic Flux Distribution from Gene Expression Data Based on the Flux Minimization Principle

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-14

problem. Modification of the PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org 1 November 2014 | Volume 9 | Issue 11 | e112524 Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704... Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 FBA algorithm to incorporate additional biological information from gene expression profiles is...We set the maximization of biomass production as the objective of FBA and implemented it in two different forms : without flux minimization (or

Characterization of an Optically Integrated Mach-Zehnder Interferometer for the Detection of Biological Agents

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-04-01

nnf::1r+ •rer Model Ch ~~v"vristics Laser diode Seastar Optic Inc. a PMSEI0830LT015MD-G SM, OI and TS >.. = 830nm Photo diode Seastar Optic Inc. a...Ontario KIAOK2 Tel.: (613) 995-2971 Fax: (613) 996-0392 Toute demande de document doit etre adressee a: DIRECTEUR- GESTION DEL ’INFORMATION DE ... DE RECHERCHES POUR LA DEFENSE VALCARTIER, QUEBEC DREV - TM-9621 Unlimited distribution/Diffusion illimitee CHARACTERIZATION OF AN OPTICALLY

Systems Biology and Biomarkers of Early Effects for Occupational Exposure Limit Setting

PubMed Central

DeBord, D. Gayle; Burgoon, Lyle; Edwards, Stephen W.; Haber, Lynne T.; Kanitz, M. Helen; Kuempel, Eileen; Thomas, Russell S.; Yucesoy, Berran

2015-01-01

In a recent National Research Council document, new strategies for risk assessment were described to enable more accurate and quicker assessments.( 1 ) This report suggested that evaluating individual responses through increased use of bio-monitoring could improve dose-response estimations. Identi-fication of specific biomarkers may be useful for diagnostics or risk prediction as they have the potential to improve exposure assessments. This paper discusses systems biology, biomarkers of effect, and computational toxicology approaches and their relevance to the occupational exposure limit setting process. The systems biology approach evaluates the integration of biological processes and how disruption of these processes by chemicals or other hazards affects disease outcomes. This type of approach could provide information used in delineating the mode of action of the response or toxicity, and may be useful to define the low adverse and no adverse effect levels. Biomarkers of effect are changes measured in biological systems and are considered to be preclinical in nature. Advances in computational methods and experimental -omics methods that allow the simultaneous measurement of families of macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins in a single analysis have made these systems approaches feasible for broad application. The utility of the information for risk assessments from -omics approaches has shown promise and can provide information on mode of action and dose-response relationships. As these techniques evolve, estimation of internal dose and response biomarkers will be a critical test of these new technologies for application in risk assessment strategies. While proof of concept studies have been conducted that provide evidence of their value, challenges with standardization and harmonization still need to be overcome before these methods are used routinely. PMID:26132979

Systems Biology and Biomarkers of Early Effects for Occupational Exposure Limit Setting.

PubMed

DeBord, D Gayle; Burgoon, Lyle; Edwards, Stephen W; Haber, Lynne T; Kanitz, M Helen; Kuempel, Eileen; Thomas, Russell S; Yucesoy, Berran

2015-01-01

In a recent National Research Council document, new strategies for risk assessment were described to enable more accurate and quicker assessments. This report suggested that evaluating individual responses through increased use of bio-monitoring could improve dose-response estimations. Identification of specific biomarkers may be useful for diagnostics or risk prediction as they have the potential to improve exposure assessments. This paper discusses systems biology, biomarkers of effect, and computational toxicology approaches and their relevance to the occupational exposure limit setting process. The systems biology approach evaluates the integration of biological processes and how disruption of these processes by chemicals or other hazards affects disease outcomes. This type of approach could provide information used in delineating the mode of action of the response or toxicity, and may be useful to define the low adverse and no adverse effect levels. Biomarkers of effect are changes measured in biological systems and are considered to be preclinical in nature. Advances in computational methods and experimental -omics methods that allow the simultaneous measurement of families of macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins in a single analysis have made these systems approaches feasible for broad application. The utility of the information for risk assessments from -omics approaches has shown promise and can provide information on mode of action and dose-response relationships. As these techniques evolve, estimation of internal dose and response biomarkers will be a critical test of these new technologies for application in risk assessment strategies. While proof of concept studies have been conducted that provide evidence of their value, challenges with standardization and harmonization still need to be overcome before these methods are used routinely.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Olsen, C.R.; Larsen, I.L.; Lowry, P.D.

Radionuclides released into the Susquehanna--Chesapeake System from the Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom, and Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plants are partitioned among dissolved, particulate, and biological phases and may thus exist in a number of physical and chemical forms. In this project, we have measured the dissolved and particulate distributions of fallout /sup 137/Cs; reactor-released /sup 137/Cs, /sup 134/Cs, /sup 65/Zn, /sup 60/Co, and /sup 58/Co; and naturally occurring /sup 7/Be and /sup 210/Pb in the lower Susquehanna River and Upper Chesapeake Bay. In addition, we chemically leached suspended particles and bottom sediments in the laboratory to determine radionuclide partitioningmore » among different particulate-sorbing phases to complement the site-specific field data. This information has been used to document the important geochemical processes that affect the transport, sorption, distribution, and fate of reactor-released radionuclides (and by analogy, other trace contaminants) in this river-estuarine system. Knowledge of the mechanisms, kinetic factors, and processes that affect radionuclide distributions is crucial for predicting their biological availability, toxicity, chemical behavior, physical transport, and accumulation in aquatic systems. The results from this project provide the information necessary for developing accurate radionuclide-transport and biological-uptake models. 76 refs., 12 figs.« less

Publications of the space biology program for 1975-1977: A special bibliography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Felt, J. C. (Compiler); Halstead, T. W. (Compiler)

1978-01-01

Documents cited represent research encompassing several disciplines of space biology: botany and plant pathology, physiology and biophysics, agricultural and environmental sciences, anatomy and embryology, cellular and comparative biology, horticulture and aerospace biology.

Incorporating ToxCast and Tox21 datasets to rank biological activity of chemicals at Superfund sites in North Carolina.

PubMed

Tilley, Sloane K; Reif, David M; Fry, Rebecca C

2017-04-01

The Superfund program of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1980 to address public health concerns posed by toxic substances released into the environment in the United States. Forty-two of the 1328 hazardous waste sites that remain on the Superfund National Priority List are located in the state of North Carolina. We set out to develop a database that contained information on both the prevalence and biological activity of chemicals present at Superfund sites in North Carolina. A chemical characterization tool, the Toxicological Priority Index (ToxPi), was used to rank the biological activity of these chemicals based on their predicted bioavailability, documented associations with biological pathways, and activity in in vitro assays of the ToxCast and Tox21 programs. The ten most prevalent chemicals found at North Carolina Superfund sites were chromium, trichloroethene, lead, tetrachloroethene, arsenic, benzene, manganese, 1,2-dichloroethane, nickel, and barium. For all chemicals found at North Carolina Superfund sites, ToxPi analysis was used to rank their biological activity. Through this data integration, residual pesticides and organic solvents were identified to be some of the most highly-ranking predicted bioactive chemicals. This study provides a novel methodology for creating state or regional databases of biological activity of contaminants at Superfund sites. These data represent a novel integrated profile of the most prevalent chemicals at North Carolina Superfund sites. This information, and the associated methodology, is useful to toxicologists, risk assessors, and the communities living in close proximity to these sites. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Chemicals identified in human biological media: a data base. Third annual report, October 1981

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cone, M.V.; Baldauf, M.F.; Martin, F.M.

1981-12-01

Part 2 contains the data base in tabular format. There are two sections, the first with records on nondrug substances, and the second with records on drugs. Chemicals in each section are arranged alphabetically by CAS preferred name, CAS registry number, formula, atomic weight, melting point, boiling point, and vapor pressure. Tissues are listed alphabetically with exposure route, analytical method, number of cases, range, and mean - when available in the source document. A variety of information may also be included that is pertinent to the range and mean as well as experimental design, demography, health effects, pathology, morphology, andmore » toxicity. Review articles are included in the data base; however, no data have been extracted from such documents because the original research articles are included.« less

Improved Access to NSF Funded Ocean Research Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chandler, C. L.; Groman, R. C.; Kinkade, D.; Shepherd, A.; Rauch, S.; Allison, M. D.; Gegg, S. R.; Wiebe, P. H.; Glover, D. M.

2015-12-01

Data from NSF-funded, hypothesis-driven research comprise an essential part of the research results upon which we base our knowledge and improved understanding of the impacts of climate change. Initially funded in 2006, the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) works with marine scientists to ensure that data from NSF-funded ocean research programs are fully documented and freely available for future use. BCO-DMO works in partnership with information technology professionals, other marine data repositories and national data archive centers to ensure long-term preservation of these valuable environmental research data. Data contributed to BCO-DMO by the original investigators are enhanced with sufficient discipline-specific documentation and published in a variety of standards-compliant forms designed to enable discovery and support accurate re-use.

Space life sciences strategic plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicogossian, Arnauld E.

1992-05-01

Over the last three decades the Life Sciences Program has significantly contributed to NASA's manned and unmanned exploration of space, while acquiring new knowledge in the fields of space biology and medicine. The national and international events which have led to the development and revision of NASA strategy will significantly affect the future of life sciences programs both in scope and pace. This document serves as the basis for synthesizing the options to be pursued during the next decade, based on the decisions, evolution, and guiding principles of the National Space Policy. The strategies detailed in this document are fully supportive of the Life Sciences Advisory Subcommittee's 'A Rationale for the Life Sciences,' and the recent Aerospace Medicine Advisory Committee report entitled 'Strategic Considerations for Support of Humans in Space and Moon/Mars Exploration Missions.' Information contained within this document is intended for internal NASA planning and is subject to policy decisions and direction, and to budgets allocated to NASA's Life Sciences Program.

Space life sciences strategic plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nicogossian, Arnauld E.

1992-01-01

Over the last three decades the Life Sciences Program has significantly contributed to NASA's manned and unmanned exploration of space, while acquiring new knowledge in the fields of space biology and medicine. The national and international events which have led to the development and revision of NASA strategy will significantly affect the future of life sciences programs both in scope and pace. This document serves as the basis for synthesizing the options to be pursued during the next decade, based on the decisions, evolution, and guiding principles of the National Space Policy. The strategies detailed in this document are fully supportive of the Life Sciences Advisory Subcommittee's 'A Rationale for the Life Sciences,' and the recent Aerospace Medicine Advisory Committee report entitled 'Strategic Considerations for Support of Humans in Space and Moon/Mars Exploration Missions.' Information contained within this document is intended for internal NASA planning and is subject to policy decisions and direction, and to budgets allocated to NASA's Life Sciences Program.

Improving Classification of Protein Interaction Articles Using Context Similarity-Based Feature Selection.

PubMed

Chen, Yifei; Sun, Yuxing; Han, Bing-Qing

2015-01-01

Protein interaction article classification is a text classification task in the biological domain to determine which articles describe protein-protein interactions. Since the feature space in text classification is high-dimensional, feature selection is widely used for reducing the dimensionality of features to speed up computation without sacrificing classification performance. Many existing feature selection methods are based on the statistical measure of document frequency and term frequency. One potential drawback of these methods is that they treat features separately. Hence, first we design a similarity measure between the context information to take word cooccurrences and phrase chunks around the features into account. Then we introduce the similarity of context information to the importance measure of the features to substitute the document and term frequency. Hence we propose new context similarity-based feature selection methods. Their performance is evaluated on two protein interaction article collections and compared against the frequency-based methods. The experimental results reveal that the context similarity-based methods perform better in terms of the F1 measure and the dimension reduction rate. Benefiting from the context information surrounding the features, the proposed methods can select distinctive features effectively for protein interaction article classification.

NCBI Bookshelf: books and documents in life sciences and health care

PubMed Central

Hoeppner, Marilu A.

2013-01-01

Bookshelf (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/) is a full-text electronic literature resource of books and documents in life sciences and health care at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Created in 1999 with a single book as an encyclopedic reference for resources such as PubMed and GenBank, it has grown to its current size of >1300 titles. Unlike other NCBI databases, such as GenBank and Gene, which have a strict data structure, books come in all forms; they are diverse in publication types, formats, sizes and authoring models. The Bookshelf data format is XML tagged in the NCBI Book DTD (Document Type Definition), modeled after the National Library of Medicine journal article DTDs. The book DTD has been used for systematically tagging the diverse data formats of books, a move that has set the foundation for the growth of this resource. Books at NCBI followed the route of journal articles in the PubMed Central project, using the PubMed Central architectural framework, workflows and processes. Through integration with other NCBI molecular databases, books at NCBI can be used to provide reference information for biological data and facilitate its discovery. This article describes Bookshelf at NCBI: its growth, data handling and retrieval and integration with molecular databases. PMID:23203889

NCBI Bookshelf: books and documents in life sciences and health care.

PubMed

Hoeppner, Marilu A

2013-01-01

Bookshelf (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/) is a full-text electronic literature resource of books and documents in life sciences and health care at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Created in 1999 with a single book as an encyclopedic reference for resources such as PubMed and GenBank, it has grown to its current size of >1300 titles. Unlike other NCBI databases, such as GenBank and Gene, which have a strict data structure, books come in all forms; they are diverse in publication types, formats, sizes and authoring models. The Bookshelf data format is XML tagged in the NCBI Book DTD (Document Type Definition), modeled after the National Library of Medicine journal article DTDs. The book DTD has been used for systematically tagging the diverse data formats of books, a move that has set the foundation for the growth of this resource. Books at NCBI followed the route of journal articles in the PubMed Central project, using the PubMed Central architectural framework, workflows and processes. Through integration with other NCBI molecular databases, books at NCBI can be used to provide reference information for biological data and facilitate its discovery. This article describes Bookshelf at NCBI: its growth, data handling and retrieval and integration with molecular databases.

36 CFR 1193.33 - Information, documentation, and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Information, documentation... Accessibility and Usability § 1193.33 Information, documentation, and training. (a) Manufacturers shall ensure access to information and documentation it provides to its customers. Such information and documentation...

Pistagremic acid as a broad spectrum natural inhibitor from Pistacia integerrima Stewart.

PubMed

Rauf, Abdur; Patel, Seema

2017-02-01

Pistagremic acid (PA) is a bioactive tri-terpene isolated in bulk quantity from the galls of Pistacia integerrima. PA has been documented for a broad range of in vitro and in vivo biological properties. This letter documented the bioloigical potential of PA, which directed the researcher to re-isolate this compound and enhanced their biological potential.

BioTextQuest: a web-based biomedical text mining suite for concept discovery.

PubMed

Papanikolaou, Nikolas; Pafilis, Evangelos; Nikolaou, Stavros; Ouzounis, Christos A; Iliopoulos, Ioannis; Promponas, Vasilis J

2011-12-01

BioTextQuest combines automated discovery of significant terms in article clusters with structured knowledge annotation, via Named Entity Recognition services, offering interactive user-friendly visualization. A tag-cloud-based illustration of terms labeling each document cluster are semantically annotated according to the biological entity, and a list of document titles enable users to simultaneously compare terms and documents of each cluster, facilitating concept association and hypothesis generation. BioTextQuest allows customization of analysis parameters, e.g. clustering/stemming algorithms, exclusion of documents/significant terms, to better match the biological question addressed. http://biotextquest.biol.ucy.ac.cy vprobon@ucy.ac.cy; iliopj@med.uoc.gr Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Physical, chemical, and biological data for two sites on the upper Kenai River, Alaska, 1998

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dorava, Joseph M.; Ness, Lee

1999-01-01

Water-quality data were collected and stream characteristics were documented from two sites along the upper Kenai River in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. These data were collected to describe the current status of the sites and to provide baseline information from which changes in the future could be evaluated. Physical characteristics included channel geometry surveys, and measurements of channel widths and water discharge at each site. Chemical data included stream water temperature, dissolved-oxygen concentration, pH, specific conductance, E. coli and fecal coliform counts, and nutrient concentration. Data on concentrations of trace elements and various organic compounds in bed sediments and the tissue of slimy sculpin were also collected. Biological characteristics were evaluated using measurements of the bacteria, benthic macroinvertebrate, and fish communities.

EDITORIAL: Nanotechnology at the interface of cell biology, materials science and medicine Nanotechnology at the interface of cell biology, materials science and medicine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engel, Andreas; Miles, Mervyn

2008-09-01

The atomic force microscope (AFM) and related scanning probe microscopes have become resourceful tools to study cells, supramolecular assemblies and single biomolecules, because they allow investigations of such structures in native environments. Quantitative information has been gathered about the surface structure of membrane proteins to lateral and vertical resolutions of 0.5 nm and 0.1 nm, respectively, about the forces that keep protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid assemblies together as well as single proteins in their native conformation, and about the nanomechanical properties of cells in health and disease. Such progress has been achieved mainly because of constant development of AFM instrumentation and sample preparation methods. This special issue of Nanotechnology presents papers from leading laboratories in the field of nanobiology, covering a wide range of topics in the form of original and novel scientific contributions. It addresses achievements in instrumentation, sample preparation, automation and in biological applications. These papers document the creativity and persistence of researchers pursuing the goal to unravel the structure and dynamics of cells, supramolecuar structures and single biomolecules at work. Improved cantilever sensors, novel optical probes, and quantitative data on supports for electrochemical experiments open new avenues for characterizing biological nanomachines down to the single molecule. Comparative measurements of healthy and metastatic cells promise new methods for early detection of tumors, and possible assessments of drug efficacy. High-speed AFMs document possibilities to monitor crystal growth and to observe large structures at video rate. A wealth of information on amyloid-type fibers as well as on membrane proteins has been gathered by single molecule force spectroscopy—a technology now being automated for large-scale data collection. With the progress of basic research and a strong industry supporting instrumentation development by improving robustness and reliability and making new instruments available to the community, nanobiology has the potential to develop into a field with great impact on our understanding of the complexity of life, and to provide a major contribution to human health. This special issue of Nanotechnology on nanobiology would not have been possible without the highly professional support from Nina Couzin, Amy Harvey and the Nanotechnology team at IOP Publishing. We are thankful for their most constructive and effective help in pushing the project forward. We are also thankful to all the authors who have contributed with excellent original articles, as well as to the referees who have helped to make this special issue such an insightful document of a rapidly moving field.

The diversification of developmental biology.

PubMed

Crowe, Nathan; Dietrich, Michael R; Alomepe, Beverly S; Antrim, Amelia F; ByrneSim, Bay Lauris; He, Yi

2015-10-01

In the 1960s, "developmental biology" became the dominant term to describe some of the research that had previously been included under the rubrics of embryology, growth, morphology, and physiology. As scientific societies formed under this new label, a new discipline took shape. Historians, however, have a number of different perspectives on what changes led to this new field of developmental biology and how the field itself was constituted during this period. Using the General Embryological Information Service, a global index of post-World War II development-related research, we have documented and visualized significant changes in the kinds of research that occurred as this new field formed. In particular, our analysis supports the claim that the transition toward developmental biology was marked by a growth in new topics and forms of research. Although many historians privilege the role of molecular biology and/or the molecularization of biology in general during this formative period, we have found that the influence of molecular biology is not sufficient to account for the wide range of new research that constituted developmental biology at the time. Overall, our work creates a robust characterization of the changes that occurred with regard to research on growth and development in the decades following World War II and provides a context for future work on the specific drivers of those changes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites.

PubMed

Hoffman, Kelly M; Trawalter, Sophie; Axt, Jordan R; Oliver, M Norman

2016-04-19

Black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain relative to white Americans. We examine whether this racial bias is related to false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites (e.g., "black people's skin is thicker than white people's skin"). Study 1 documented these beliefs among white laypersons and revealed that participants who more strongly endorsed false beliefs about biological differences reported lower pain ratings for a black (vs. white) target. Study 2 extended these findings to the medical context and found that half of a sample of white medical students and residents endorsed these beliefs. Moreover, participants who endorsed these beliefs rated the black (vs. white) patient's pain as lower and made less accurate treatment recommendations. Participants who did not endorse these beliefs rated the black (vs. white) patient's pain as higher, but showed no bias in treatment recommendations. These findings suggest that individuals with at least some medical training hold and may use false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites to inform medical judgments, which may contribute to racial disparities in pain assessment and treatment.

Moringa Genus: A Review of Phytochemistry and Pharmacology

PubMed Central

Abd Rani, Nur Zahirah; Husain, Khairana; Kumolosasi, Endang

2018-01-01

Moringa is a genus of medicinal plants that has been used traditionally to cure wounds and various diseases such as colds and diabetes. In addition, the genus is also consumed as a source of nutrients and widely used for purifying water. The genus consists of 13 species that have been widely cultivated throughout Asia and Africa for their multiple uses. The purpose of this review is to provide updated and categorized information on the traditional uses, phytochemistry, biological activities, and toxicological research of Moringa species in order to explore their therapeutic potential and evaluate future research opportunities. The literature reviewed for this paper was obtained from PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar journal papers published from 1983 to March 2017. Moringa species are well-known for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antihyperglycemic activities. Most of their biological activity is caused by their high content of flavonoids, glucosides, and glucosinolates. By documenting the traditional uses and biological activities of Moringa species, we hope to support new research on these plants, especially on those species whose biological properties have not been studied to date. PMID:29503616

Public versus internal conceptions of addiction: An analysis of internal Philip Morris documents.

PubMed

Elias, Jesse; Hendlin, Yogi Hale; Ling, Pamela M

2018-05-01

Tobacco addiction is a complex, multicomponent phenomenon stemming from nicotine's pharmacology and the user's biology, psychology, sociology, and environment. After decades of public denial, the tobacco industry now agrees with public health authorities that nicotine is addictive. In 2000, Philip Morris became the first major tobacco company to admit nicotine's addictiveness. Evolving definitions of addiction have historically affected subsequent policymaking. This article examines how Philip Morris internally conceptualized addiction immediately before and after this announcement. We analyzed previously secret, internal Philip Morris documents made available as a result of litigation against the tobacco industry. We compared these documents to public company statements and found that Philip Morris's move from public denial to public affirmation of nicotine's addictiveness coincided with pressure on the industry from poor public approval ratings, the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the United States government's filing of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit, and the Institute of Medicine's (IoM's) endorsement of potentially reduced risk products. Philip Morris continued to research the causes of addiction through the 2000s in order to create successful potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs). While Philip Morris's public statements reinforce the idea that nicotine's pharmacology principally drives smoking addiction, company scientists framed addiction as the result of interconnected biological, social, psychological, and environmental determinants, with nicotine as but one component. Due to the fragmentary nature of the industry document database, we may have missed relevant information that could have affected our analysis. Philip Morris's research suggests that tobacco industry activity influences addiction treatment outcomes. Beyond nicotine's pharmacology, the industry's continued aggressive advertising, lobbying, and litigation against effective tobacco control policies promotes various nonpharmacological determinants of addiction. To help tobacco users quit, policy makers should increase attention on the social and environmental dimensions of addiction alongside traditional cessation efforts.

The Tedeschi collection: A collection of documented and undocumented human skeletal remains at the Museum of Anthropology, Padua University (Italy).

PubMed

Carrara, Nicola; Scaggion, Cinzia; Holland, Emily

2018-04-01

Documented and undocumented skeletal collections offer unique windows into life in the past and are integral for research in biological anthropology. The objective of this article is to describe the documented and undocumented collections curated by the Museum of Anthropology at Padua University (Italy) to demonstrate their potential for research and encourage researchers to consider them for future projects. The collection was established by Prof. Enrico Tedeschi at the beginning of 20th century, and dates to the late 19th and early 20th century. The collection consists primarily of individuals excavated from cemeteries, ossarios, or unclaimed individuals donated by hospitals or other institutions. Both documented and undocumented human skeletal remains are included in the collection, totalling 1,580 individuals. Associated documented information including age at death, date of death, sex, occupation, and cause of death is available in different combinations for 293 individuals of varying completeness (188 crania only, 93 crania and postcranial, 12 postcranial only). Origin and chronological period are known for the remaining 1,287 individuals. Overall, this little studied collection could be particularly useful for researchers interested in craniometrics, dentition, and 19th and 20th century health and demography in Italy. The documented skeletons will be especially useful for forensic anthropological research. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Preening behavior of adult gyrfalcons tagged with backpack transmitters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Booms, T.L.; Schempf, P.F.; Fuller, M.R.

2011-01-01

Radio transmitters provide data that enhance understanding of raptor biology (Walls and Kenward 2007) and are now used to answer a multitude of research questions (Meyburg and Fuller 2007). However, transmitters affect the birds that carry them (Barron et al. 2010), and it is important to document and evaluate such effects (Casper 2009). For example, decreased survival has been documented in Prairie Falcons (Falco mexicanus; Steenhof et al. 2006), Northern Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis; Reynolds et al. 2004), and Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis; Paton et al. 1991) tagged with radio transmitters. However, no such effects were reported for Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus; Fuller et al. 1998, McGrady et al. 2002) and a number of other species (Kenward 2001). White and Garrott (1990) noted that in general, animals tagged with radio transmitters often altered their behaviors for 1–14 d after release during an adjustment period that included increased preening and grooming frequencies. Although more than 90 Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) have been tagged with radio transmitters (e.g., Burnham 2007, McIntyre et al. 2009, T. Booms unpubl. data), the effects of transmitters on this species are not well documented. Anecdotal information suggests some Gyrfalcons might be negatively affected by radio-tagging (Booms et al. 2008). As part of a study investigating Gyrfalcon breeding biology, we conducted opportunistic, focused observations on two radio-tagged adult female Gyrfalcons and their unmarked mates. We here describe and quantify preening behavior of Gyrfalcons shortly after radio-tagging.

Effect of nutrient pollution on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

We analyzed surface sediments from 23 northeast USA estuaries, from Maine to Delaware, and nine estuaries from Prince Edward Island (PEI, Canada), to determine how dinoflagellate cyst assemblages varied with nutrient loading. Overall the abundance of cysts of heterotrophic dinoflagellates correlates with modeled nitrogen loading, but there were also regional signals. On PEI cysts of Gymnodinium microreticulatum characterized estuaries with high nitrogen loading while the sediments of eutrophic Boston Harbor were characterized by high abundances of Spiniferites spp. In Delaware Bay and the Delaware Inland Bays Polysphaeridium zoharyi correlated with higher temperatures and nutrient loading. This is the first study to document the dinoflagellate cyst eutrophication signal at such a large geographic scale in estuaries, thus confirming their value as indicators of water quality change and anthropogenic impact. Estuarine and coastal waters are important resources for US and Canadian citizens. This paper summarizes the use of biological indicators that provide information on the eutrophication status and impacts for estuaries along the NW Atlantic coast. These relatively new biological indicators, dinoflagellate cysts, have the potential to provide environmental managers information on recent and historical environmental conditions in estuaries. Together with information on drivers and pressures, dinoflagellate cysts can be used to develop driver-pressure-state-imp

Using argument notation to engineer biological simulations with increased confidence

PubMed Central

Alden, Kieran; Andrews, Paul S.; Polack, Fiona A. C.; Veiga-Fernandes, Henrique; Coles, Mark C.; Timmis, Jon

2015-01-01

The application of computational and mathematical modelling to explore the mechanics of biological systems is becoming prevalent. To significantly impact biological research, notably in developing novel therapeutics, it is critical that the model adequately represents the captured system. Confidence in adopting in silico approaches can be improved by applying a structured argumentation approach, alongside model development and results analysis. We propose an approach based on argumentation from safety-critical systems engineering, where a system is subjected to a stringent analysis of compliance against identified criteria. We show its use in examining the biological information upon which a model is based, identifying model strengths, highlighting areas requiring additional biological experimentation and providing documentation to support model publication. We demonstrate our use of structured argumentation in the development of a model of lymphoid tissue formation, specifically Peyer's Patches. The argumentation structure is captured using Artoo (www.york.ac.uk/ycil/software/artoo), our Web-based tool for constructing fitness-for-purpose arguments, using a notation based on the safety-critical goal structuring notation. We show how argumentation helps in making the design and structured analysis of a model transparent, capturing the reasoning behind the inclusion or exclusion of each biological feature and recording assumptions, as well as pointing to evidence supporting model-derived conclusions. PMID:25589574

Using argument notation to engineer biological simulations with increased confidence.

PubMed

Alden, Kieran; Andrews, Paul S; Polack, Fiona A C; Veiga-Fernandes, Henrique; Coles, Mark C; Timmis, Jon

2015-03-06

The application of computational and mathematical modelling to explore the mechanics of biological systems is becoming prevalent. To significantly impact biological research, notably in developing novel therapeutics, it is critical that the model adequately represents the captured system. Confidence in adopting in silico approaches can be improved by applying a structured argumentation approach, alongside model development and results analysis. We propose an approach based on argumentation from safety-critical systems engineering, where a system is subjected to a stringent analysis of compliance against identified criteria. We show its use in examining the biological information upon which a model is based, identifying model strengths, highlighting areas requiring additional biological experimentation and providing documentation to support model publication. We demonstrate our use of structured argumentation in the development of a model of lymphoid tissue formation, specifically Peyer's Patches. The argumentation structure is captured using Artoo (www.york.ac.uk/ycil/software/artoo), our Web-based tool for constructing fitness-for-purpose arguments, using a notation based on the safety-critical goal structuring notation. We show how argumentation helps in making the design and structured analysis of a model transparent, capturing the reasoning behind the inclusion or exclusion of each biological feature and recording assumptions, as well as pointing to evidence supporting model-derived conclusions.

Structural biology data archiving - where we are and what lies ahead.

PubMed

Kleywegt, Gerard J; Velankar, Sameer; Patwardhan, Ardan

2018-05-10

For almost 50 years, structural biology has endeavoured to conserve and share its experimental data and their interpretations (usually, atomistic models) through global public archives such as the Protein Data Bank, Electron Microscopy Data Bank and Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BMRB). These archives are treasure troves of freely accessible data that document our quest for molecular or atomic understanding of biological function and processes in health and disease. They have prepared the field to tackle new archiving challenges as more and more (combinations of) techniques are being utilized to elucidate structure at ever increasing length scales. Furthermore, the field has made substantial efforts to develop validation methods that help users to assess the reliability of structures and to identify the most appropriate data for their needs. In this Review, we present an overview of public data archives in structural biology and discuss the importance of validation for users and producers of structural data. Finally, we sketch our efforts to integrate structural data with bioimaging data and with other sources of biological data. This will make relevant structural information available and more easily discoverable for a wide range of scientists. © 2018 The Authors. FEBS Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Federation of European Biochemical Societies.

Deep Question Answering for protein annotation

PubMed Central

Gobeill, Julien; Gaudinat, Arnaud; Pasche, Emilie; Vishnyakova, Dina; Gaudet, Pascale; Bairoch, Amos; Ruch, Patrick

2015-01-01

Biomedical professionals have access to a huge amount of literature, but when they use a search engine, they often have to deal with too many documents to efficiently find the appropriate information in a reasonable time. In this perspective, question-answering (QA) engines are designed to display answers, which were automatically extracted from the retrieved documents. Standard QA engines in literature process a user question, then retrieve relevant documents and finally extract some possible answers out of these documents using various named-entity recognition processes. In our study, we try to answer complex genomics questions, which can be adequately answered only using Gene Ontology (GO) concepts. Such complex answers cannot be found using state-of-the-art dictionary- and redundancy-based QA engines. We compare the effectiveness of two dictionary-based classifiers for extracting correct GO answers from a large set of 100 retrieved abstracts per question. In the same way, we also investigate the power of GOCat, a GO supervised classifier. GOCat exploits the GOA database to propose GO concepts that were annotated by curators for similar abstracts. This approach is called deep QA, as it adds an original classification step, and exploits curated biological data to infer answers, which are not explicitly mentioned in the retrieved documents. We show that for complex answers such as protein functional descriptions, the redundancy phenomenon has a limited effect. Similarly usual dictionary-based approaches are relatively ineffective. In contrast, we demonstrate how existing curated data, beyond information extraction, can be exploited by a supervised classifier, such as GOCat, to massively improve both the quantity and the quality of the answers with a +100% improvement for both recall and precision. Database URL: http://eagl.unige.ch/DeepQA4PA/ PMID:26384372

Deep Question Answering for protein annotation.

PubMed

Gobeill, Julien; Gaudinat, Arnaud; Pasche, Emilie; Vishnyakova, Dina; Gaudet, Pascale; Bairoch, Amos; Ruch, Patrick

2015-01-01

Biomedical professionals have access to a huge amount of literature, but when they use a search engine, they often have to deal with too many documents to efficiently find the appropriate information in a reasonable time. In this perspective, question-answering (QA) engines are designed to display answers, which were automatically extracted from the retrieved documents. Standard QA engines in literature process a user question, then retrieve relevant documents and finally extract some possible answers out of these documents using various named-entity recognition processes. In our study, we try to answer complex genomics questions, which can be adequately answered only using Gene Ontology (GO) concepts. Such complex answers cannot be found using state-of-the-art dictionary- and redundancy-based QA engines. We compare the effectiveness of two dictionary-based classifiers for extracting correct GO answers from a large set of 100 retrieved abstracts per question. In the same way, we also investigate the power of GOCat, a GO supervised classifier. GOCat exploits the GOA database to propose GO concepts that were annotated by curators for similar abstracts. This approach is called deep QA, as it adds an original classification step, and exploits curated biological data to infer answers, which are not explicitly mentioned in the retrieved documents. We show that for complex answers such as protein functional descriptions, the redundancy phenomenon has a limited effect. Similarly usual dictionary-based approaches are relatively ineffective. In contrast, we demonstrate how existing curated data, beyond information extraction, can be exploited by a supervised classifier, such as GOCat, to massively improve both the quantity and the quality of the answers with a +100% improvement for both recall and precision. Database URL: http://eagl.unige.ch/DeepQA4PA/. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES FOR THE ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This document is intended to assist users in establishing or refining protocols, including the specific methods related to field sampling, laboratory sample processing, taxonomy, data entry, management and analysis, and final assessment and reporting. It also reviews and provides information on development of monitoring designs to address certain types of environmental questions and approaches for documenting and reporting data quality and performance characteristics for large river biological monitoring. The approaches presented are not intended to replace existing program components but may in some cases be useful for refining them. The goal of this research is to develop methods and indicators that are useful for evaluating the condition of aquatic communities, for assessing the restoration of aquatic communities in response to mitigation and best management practices, and for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (i.e., pesticides, sedimentation, habitat alteration).

Nowcasting recreational water quality

USGS Publications Warehouse

Boehm, Alexandria B.; Whitman, Richard L.; Nevers, Meredith; Hou, Deyi; Weisberg, Stephen B.

2007-01-01

Advances in molecular techniques may soon provide new opportunities to provide more timely information on whether recreational beaches are free from fecal contamination. However, an alternative approach is the use of predictive models. This chapter presents a summary of these developing efforts. First, we describe documented physical, chemical, and biological factors that have been demonstrated by researchers to affect bacterial concentrations at beaches and thus represent logical parameters for inclusion in a model. Then, we illustrate how various types of models can be applied to predict water quality at freshwater and marine beaches.

A Continued Study of Polymeric Materials for Protection Against Chemical and Biological Contaminants and Halogen Oxidants for Immobilization in Protective Materials and Coatings

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

household bleach in water at a pH controlled at 7–10, or in a dilute solution of bromine. The loading of the halogen on the coatings was determined using ...or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process...disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8/98) REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Prescribed

SIMBIOS Project; 2003 Annual Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McClain, Charles R.; Fargion, Giulietta S.

2003-01-01

The purpose of this technical report is to provide current documentation of the the Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) Project activities, NASA Research Announcement (NRA) research status, satellite data processing, data product validation, and field calibration. This documentation is necessary to ensure that critical information is related to the scientific community and NASA management. This critical information includes the technical difficulties and challenges of validating and combining ocean color data from an array of independent satellite systems to form consistent and accurate global bio-optical time series products. This technical report is not meant as a substitute for scientific literature. Instead, it will provide a ready and responsive vehicle for the multitude of technical reports issued by an operational project. The SIMBIOS Science Team Principal Investigators (PIs) original contributions to this report are in chapters four and above. The purpose of these contributions is to describe the current research status of the SIMBIOS-NRA-99 funded research. The contributions are published as submitted, with the exception of minor edits to correct obvious grammatical or clerical errors.

Kansas Water Science Center bookmark

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2017-03-27

The U.S. Geological Survey Kansas Water Science Center has collected and interpreted hydrologic information in Kansas since 1895. Data collected include streamflow and gage height, reservoir content, water quality and water quantity, suspended sediment, and groundwater levels. Interpretative hydrologic studies are completed on national, regional, statewide, and local levels and cooperatively funded through more than 40 partnerships with these agencies. The U.S. Geological Survey provides impartial scientific information to describe and understand the health of our ecosystems and environment; minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life. These collected data are in the National Water Information System https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ks/nwis/rt, and all results are documented in reports that also are online at https://ks.water.usgs.gov/. Follow the USGS Kansas Water Science Center on Twitter for the most recent updates and other information: https://twitter.com/USGS_KS.

Minimum information about a marker gene sequence (MIMARKS) and minimum information about any (x) sequence (MIxS) specifications

PubMed Central

Yilmaz, Pelin; Kottmann, Renzo; Field, Dawn; Knight, Rob; Cole, James R; Amaral-Zettler, Linda; Gilbert, Jack A; Karsch-Mizrachi, Ilene; Johnston, Anjanette; Cochrane, Guy; Vaughan, Robert; Hunter, Christopher; Park, Joonhong; Morrison, Norman; Rocca-Serra, Philippe; Sterk, Peter; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Bailey, Mark; Baumgartner, Laura; Birren, Bruce W; Blaser, Martin J; Bonazzi, Vivien; Booth, Tim; Bork, Peer; Bushman, Frederic D; Buttigieg, Pier Luigi; Chain, Patrick S G; Charlson, Emily; Costello, Elizabeth K; Huot-Creasy, Heather; Dawyndt, Peter; DeSantis, Todd; Fierer, Noah; Fuhrman, Jed A; Gallery, Rachel E; Gevers, Dirk; Gibbs, Richard A; Gil, Inigo San; Gonzalez, Antonio; Gordon, Jeffrey I; Guralnick, Robert; Hankeln, Wolfgang; Highlander, Sarah; Hugenholtz, Philip; Jansson, Janet; Kau, Andrew L; Kelley, Scott T; Kennedy, Jerry; Knights, Dan; Koren, Omry; Kuczynski, Justin; Kyrpides, Nikos; Larsen, Robert; Lauber, Christian L; Legg, Teresa; Ley, Ruth E; Lozupone, Catherine A; Ludwig, Wolfgang; Lyons, Donna; Maguire, Eamonn; Methé, Barbara A; Meyer, Folker; Muegge, Brian; Nakielny, Sara; Nelson, Karen E; Nemergut, Diana; Neufeld, Josh D; Newbold, Lindsay K; Oliver, Anna E; Pace, Norman R; Palanisamy, Giriprakash; Peplies, Jörg; Petrosino, Joseph; Proctor, Lita; Pruesse, Elmar; Quast, Christian; Raes, Jeroen; Ratnasingham, Sujeevan; Ravel, Jacques; Relman, David A; Assunta-Sansone, Susanna; Schloss, Patrick D; Schriml, Lynn; Sinha, Rohini; Smith, Michelle I; Sodergren, Erica; Spor, Aymé; Stombaugh, Jesse; Tiedje, James M; Ward, Doyle V; Weinstock, George M; Wendel, Doug; White, Owen; Whiteley, Andrew; Wilke, Andreas; Wortman, Jennifer R; Yatsunenko, Tanya; Glöckner, Frank Oliver

2012-01-01

Here we present a standard developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) for reporting marker gene sequences—the minimum information about a marker gene sequence (MIMARKS). We also introduce a system for describing the environment from which a biological sample originates. The ‘environmental packages’ apply to any genome sequence of known origin and can be used in combination with MIMARKS and other GSC checklists. Finally, to establish a unified standard for describing sequence data and to provide a single point of entry for the scientific community to access and learn about GSC checklists, we present the minimum information about any (x) sequence (MIxS). Adoption of MIxS will enhance our ability to analyze natural genetic diversity documented by massive DNA sequencing efforts from myriad ecosystems in our ever-changing biosphere. PMID:21552244

36 CFR 1194.41 - Information, documentation, and support.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS COMPLIANCE BOARD ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS Information, Documentation, and Support § 1194.41 Information, documentation, and support. (a) Product support... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Information, documentation...

Incorporating ToxCast and Tox21 Datasets to Rank Biological Activity of Chemicals at Superfund Sites in North Carolina

PubMed Central

Tilley, Sloane K.; Reif, David M.; Fry, Rebecca C.

2017-01-01

Background The Superfund program of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established in 1980 to address public health concerns posed by toxic substances released into the environment in the United States. Forty-two of the 1328 hazardous waste sites that remain on the Superfund National Priority List are located in the state of North Carolina. Methods We set out to develop a database that contained information on both the prevalence and biological activity of chemicals present at Superfund sites in North Carolina. A chemical characterization tool, the Toxicological Priority Index (ToxPi), was used to rank the biological activity of these chemicals based on their predicted bioavailability, documented associations with biological pathways, and activity in in vitro assays of the ToxCast and Tox21 programs. Results The ten most prevalent chemicals found at North Carolina Superfund sites were chromium, trichloroethene, lead, tetrachloroethene, arsenic, benzene, manganese, 1,2-dichloroethane, nickel, and barium. For all chemicals found at North Carolina Superfund sites, ToxPi analysis was used to rank their biological activity. Through this data integration, residual pesticides and organic solvents were identified to be some of the most highly-ranking predicted bioactive chemicals. This study provides a novel methodology for creating state or regional databases of Superfund sites. Conclusions These data represent a novel integrated profile of the most prevalent chemicals at North Carolina Superfund sites. This information, and the associated methodology, is useful to toxicologists, risk assessors, and the communities living in close proximity to these sites. PMID:28153528

We're not in it for the money-lay people's moral intuitions on commercial use of 'their' biobank.

PubMed

Steinsbekk, Kristin Solum; Ursin, Lars Oystein; Skolbekken, John-Arne; Solberg, Berge

2013-05-01

Great hope has been placed on biobank research as a strategy to improve diagnostics, therapeutics and prevention. It seems to be a common opinion that these goals cannot be reached without the participation of commercial actors. However, commercial use of biobanks is considered morally problematic and the commercialisation of human biological materials is regulated internationally by policy documents, conventions and laws. For instance, the Council of Europe recommends that: "Biological materials should not, as such, give rise to financial gain". Similarly, Norwegian legislation reads: "Commercial exploitation of research participants, human biological material and personal health data in general is prohibited". Both articles represent kinds of common moral intuitions. A problem, however, is that legislative documents are too vague and provide room for ample speculation. Through the use of focus group interviews with Norwegian biobank donors, we have tried to identify lay intuitions and morals regarding the commercial use of biobanks. Our findings indicate that the act of donation and the subsequent uses of the samples belong to two different spheres. While concerns around dignity and commodification were present in the first, injustice and unfairness were our informants' major moral concerns in the latter. Although some opposition towards commercial actors was voiced, these intuitions show that it is possible to render commercial use of biobanks ethically acceptable based on frameworks and regulations which hinder commodification of the human body and promote communal benefit sharing.

Surficial geologic map of the Amboy 30' x 60' quadrangle, San Bernardino County, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bedford, David R.; Miller, David M.; Phelps, Geoffrey A.

2010-01-01

The surficial geologic map of the Amboy 30' x 60' quadrangle presents characteristics of surficial materials for an area of approximately 5,000 km2 in the eastern Mojave Desert of southern California. This map consists of new surficial mapping conducted between 2000 and 2007, as well as compilations from previous surficial mapping. Surficial geologic units are mapped and described based on depositional process and age categories that reflect the mode of deposition, pedogenic effects following deposition, and, where appropriate, the lithologic nature of the material. Many physical properties were noted and measured during the geologic mapping. This information was used to classify surficial deposits and to understand their ecological importance. We focus on physical properties that drive hydrologic, biologic, and physical processes such as particle-size distribution (PSD) and bulk density. The database contains point data representing locations of samples for both laboratory determined physical properties and semiquantitative field-based information in the database. We include the locations of all field observations and note the type of information collected in the field to help assist in assessing the quality of the mapping. The publication is separated into three parts: documentation, spatial data, and printable map graphics of the database. Documentation includes this pamphlet, which provides a discussion of the surficial geology and units and the map. Spatial data are distributed as ArcGIS Geodatabase in Microsoft Access format and are accompanied by a readme file, which describes the database contents, and FGDC metadata for the spatial map information. Map graphics files are distributed as Postscript and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files that provide a view of the spatial database at the mapped scale.

Practical applications of sulfate-reducing bacteria to control acid mine drainage at the Lilly/Orphan Boy Mine near Elliston, Montana

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Canty, M.

The overall purpose of this document is to provide a detailed technical description of a technology, biological sulfate reduction, which is being demonstrated under the Mine Waste Technology Pilot Program, and provide the technology evaluation process undertaken to select this technology for demonstration. In addition, this document will link the use of the selected technology to an application at a specific site. The purpose of this project is to develop technical information on the ability of biological sulfate reduction to slow the process of acid generation and, thus, improve water quality at a remote mine site. Several technologies are screenedmore » for their potential to treat acid mine water and to function as a source control for a specific acid-generating situation: a mine shaft and associated underground workings flooded with acid mine water and discharging a small flow from a mine opening. The preferred technology is the use of biological sulfate reduction. Sulfate-reducing bacteria are capable of reducing sulfate to sulfide, as well as increasing the pH and alkalinity of water affected by acid generation. Soluble sulfide reacts with the soluble metals in solution to form insoluble metal sulfides. The environment needed for efficient sulfate-reducing bacteria growth decreases acid production by reducing the dissolved oxygen in water and increasing pH. A detailed technical description of the sulfate-reducing bacteria technology, based on an extensive review of the technical literature, is presented. The field demonstration of this technology to be performed at the Lilly/Orphan Boy Mine is also described. Finally, additional in situ applications of biological sulfate reduction are presented.« less

Ecology, Ecosystem Management and Biology Teaching. Biology and Human Welfare.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spellerberg, Ian F.; Pritchard, Alan J.

This six-chapter document (part of a series on biology and human welfare) focuses on ecology, ecosystem management, and biology teaching. Chapter 1 discusses the basic elements of ecology (considering organisms and their environment, populations, and communities and ecosystems). Chapter 2 describes several aspects of human ecology and resources…

Challenges and Opportunities for Learning Biology in Distance-Based Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallyburton, Chad L.; Lunsford, Eddie

2013-01-01

The history of learning biology through distance education is documented. A review of terminology and unique problems associated with biology instruction is presented. Using published research and their own teaching experience, the authors present recommendations and best practices for managing biology in distance-based formats. They offer ideas…

Biological Systems, Energy Sources, and Biology Teaching. Biology and Human Welfare.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tribe, Michael; Pritchard, Alan J.

This five-chapter document (part of a series on biology and human welfare) focuses on biological systems as energy sources and on the teaching of this subject area. Chapter 1 discusses various topics related to energy and ecology, including biomass, photosynthesis and world energy balances, energy flow through ecosystems, and others. Chapter 2…

Information system life-cycle and documentation standards, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callender, E. David; Steinbacher, Jody

1989-01-01

The Software Management and Assurance Program (SMAP) Information System Life-Cycle and Documentation Standards Document describes the Version 4 standard information system life-cycle in terms of processes, products, and reviews. The description of the products includes detailed documentation standards. The standards in this document set can be applied to the life-cycle, i.e., to each phase in the system's development, and to the documentation of all NASA information systems. This provides consistency across the agency as well as visibility into the completeness of the information recorded. An information system is software-intensive, but consists of any combination of software, hardware, and operational procedures required to process, store, or transmit data. This document defines a standard life-cycle model and content for associated documentation.

Recommendations for and Documentation of Biological Values for Use in Risk Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

The document was prepared by the Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Cincinnati, OH for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. The document consists of an extensive compliation of values gleaned from published li...

Plastid: nucleotide-resolution analysis of next-generation sequencing and genomics data.

PubMed

Dunn, Joshua G; Weissman, Jonathan S

2016-11-22

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) informs many biological questions with unprecedented depth and nucleotide resolution. These assays have created a need for analytical tools that enable users to manipulate data nucleotide-by-nucleotide robustly and easily. Furthermore, because many NGS assays encode information jointly within multiple properties of read alignments - for example, in ribosome profiling, the locations of ribosomes are jointly encoded in alignment coordinates and length - analytical tools are often required to extract the biological meaning from the alignments before analysis. Many assay-specific pipelines exist for this purpose, but there remains a need for user-friendly, generalized, nucleotide-resolution tools that are not limited to specific experimental regimes or analytical workflows. Plastid is a Python library designed specifically for nucleotide-resolution analysis of genomics and NGS data. As such, Plastid is designed to extract assay-specific information from read alignments while retaining generality and extensibility to novel NGS assays. Plastid represents NGS and other biological data as arrays of values associated with genomic or transcriptomic positions, and contains configurable tools to convert data from a variety of sources to such arrays. Plastid also includes numerous tools to manipulate even discontinuous genomic features, such as spliced transcripts, with nucleotide precision. Plastid automatically handles conversion between genomic and feature-centric coordinates, accounting for splicing and strand, freeing users of burdensome accounting. Finally, Plastid's data models use consistent and familiar biological idioms, enabling even beginners to develop sophisticated analytical workflows with minimal effort. Plastid is a versatile toolkit that has been used to analyze data from multiple NGS assays, including RNA-seq, ribosome profiling, and DMS-seq. It forms the genomic engine of our ORF annotation tool, ORF-RATER, and is readily adapted to novel NGS assays. Examples, tutorials, and extensive documentation can be found at https://plastid.readthedocs.io .

Preliminary assessment of the aquatic impacts of a proposed defense waste processing facility at the Savannah River Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mackey, H.E. Jr.

1979-01-01

A review of the literature indicates that a significant body of descriptive information exists concerning the aquatic ecology of Upper Three Runs Creek and Four Mile Creek of the Savannah River Plant south of Aiken, South Carolina. This information is adequate for preparation of an environmental document evaluating these streams. These streams will be impacted by construction and operation of a proposed Defense Waste Processing Facility for solidification of high level defense waste. Potential impacts include (1) construction runoff, erosion, and siltation, (2) effluents from a chemical and industrial waste treatment facility, and (3) radionuclide releases. In order to bettermore » evaluate potential impacts, recommend mitigation methods, and comply with NEPA requirements, additional quantitative biological information should be obtained through implementation of an aquatic baseline program.« less

Compliance of the Savannah River Site D-Area cooling system with environmental regulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Specht, W.L.; Mackey, H.E.; Paller, M.H.

1990-08-01

This document presents information relating to a demonstration under Section 316(a) of the Clean Water Act for the 400-D Area cooling system at the Savannah River Site (SRS) near Aiken, South Carolina. The demonstration was mandated because the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for SRS (SC0000175), granted on January 1, 1984, specified in-stream temperature limits in SRS streams of 32.2{degree}C and a {Delta}T limit of 2.8{degree}C above ambient. To achieve compliance with in-stream temperature limits, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) entered into a Consent Order (84-4-W) whichmore » temporarily superseded the temperature requirements and identified a process for attaining compliance. The preferred option for achieving thermal compliance in Beaver Dam Creek consisted of increased flow, with mixing of the raw water basin overflow with the cooling water discharge during the summer months. Although this action can achieve instream temperatures of less than 32.2{degree}C, {Delta}T's still exceed 2.8{degree}C. Therefore, a 316 (a) Demonstration was initiated to determine whether a balanced indigenous biological community can be supported in the receiving stream with {Delta}T's in excess of 2.8{degree}C. A Biological Monitoring Program for Beaver Dam Creek was approved by SCDHEC in June 1988 and implemented in September 1988. The program monitored the water quality, habitat formers, zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, fish, other vertebrate wildlife and threatened and endangered species in Beaver Dam Creek for an 18-month period (September 1988-February 1990). This document summarizes information collected during the monitoring program and evaluates the data to determine whether Beaver Dam Creek presently supports a balanced indigenous biological community. 97 refs., 32 figs., 51 tabs.« less

Forensic science: the truth is out there

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herold, Lynne D.

2002-06-01

Criminalistics, one of the many sub-divisions of forensic science, is an applied science in which items of evidence are analyzed to provide investigative information and scientific evidence to be used in courts of law. Laboratories associated with governmental public agencies are typically involved in criminal cases as opposed to civil cases, and those types of cases that fall within the jurisdiction of the particular agency. Common analytical divisions within criminalistics laboratories include blood alcohol testing, toxicology, narcotics, questioned documents, biology, firearms, latent fingerprints, physical and trace evidence sections. Specialized field investigative services may be provided in the areas of clandestine drug laboratories and major crimes (firearms, biology, trace, arson/explosives). Forensic science best practice requires the use of non-destructive testing whenever reasonably possible. Several technically difficult situations (bodies and evidence encased in cement and metal) are presented as a challenge to audience.

Non-redundant patent sequence databases with value-added annotations at two levels

PubMed Central

Li, Weizhong; McWilliam, Hamish; de la Torre, Ana Richart; Grodowski, Adam; Benediktovich, Irina; Goujon, Mickael; Nauche, Stephane; Lopez, Rodrigo

2010-01-01

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) provides public access to patent data, including abstracts, chemical compounds and sequences. Sequences can appear multiple times due to the filing of the same invention with multiple patent offices, or the use of the same sequence by different inventors in different contexts. Information relating to the source invention may be incomplete, and biological information available in patent documents elsewhere may not be reflected in the annotation of the sequence. Search and analysis of these data have become increasingly challenging for both the scientific and intellectual-property communities. Here, we report a collection of non-redundant patent sequence databases, which cover the EMBL-Bank nucleotides patent class and the patent protein databases and contain value-added annotations from patent documents. The databases were created at two levels by the use of sequence MD5 checksums. Sequences within a level-1 cluster are 100% identical over their whole length. Level-2 clusters were defined by sub-grouping level-1 clusters based on patent family information. Value-added annotations, such as publication number corrections, earliest publication dates and feature collations, significantly enhance the quality of the data, allowing for better tracking and cross-referencing. The databases are available format: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/patentdata/nr/. PMID:19884134

Non-redundant patent sequence databases with value-added annotations at two levels.

PubMed

Li, Weizhong; McWilliam, Hamish; de la Torre, Ana Richart; Grodowski, Adam; Benediktovich, Irina; Goujon, Mickael; Nauche, Stephane; Lopez, Rodrigo

2010-01-01

The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) provides public access to patent data, including abstracts, chemical compounds and sequences. Sequences can appear multiple times due to the filing of the same invention with multiple patent offices, or the use of the same sequence by different inventors in different contexts. Information relating to the source invention may be incomplete, and biological information available in patent documents elsewhere may not be reflected in the annotation of the sequence. Search and analysis of these data have become increasingly challenging for both the scientific and intellectual-property communities. Here, we report a collection of non-redundant patent sequence databases, which cover the EMBL-Bank nucleotides patent class and the patent protein databases and contain value-added annotations from patent documents. The databases were created at two levels by the use of sequence MD5 checksums. Sequences within a level-1 cluster are 100% identical over their whole length. Level-2 clusters were defined by sub-grouping level-1 clusters based on patent family information. Value-added annotations, such as publication number corrections, earliest publication dates and feature collations, significantly enhance the quality of the data, allowing for better tracking and cross-referencing. The databases are available format: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/patentdata/nr/.

Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) system administration guide. Version 1.4

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arp, J.A.; Burnett, R.A.; Downing, T.R.

The Federal Emergency Management Information System (FEMIS) is an emergency management planning and analysis tool that was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) under the direction of the US Army Chemical Biological Defense Command. The FEMIS System Administration Guide defines FEMIS hardware and software requirements and gives instructions for installing the FEMIS software package. This document also contains information on the following: software installation for the FEMIS data servers, communication server, mail server, and the emergency management workstations; distribution media loading and FEMIS installation validation and troubleshooting; and system management of FEMIS users, login privileges, and usage. Themore » system administration utilities (tools), available in the FEMIS client software, are described for user accounts and site profile. This document also describes the installation and use of system and database administration utilities that will assist in keeping the FEMIS system running in an operational environment. The FEMIS system is designed for a single Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) site that has multiple Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). Each EOC has personal computers (PCs) that emergency planners and operations personnel use to do their jobs. These PCs are connected via a local area network (LAN) to servers that provide EOC-wide services. Each EOC is interconnected to other EOCs via telecommunications links.« less

Tools and data services registry: a community effort to document bioinformatics resources

PubMed Central

Ison, Jon; Rapacki, Kristoffer; Ménager, Hervé; Kalaš, Matúš; Rydza, Emil; Chmura, Piotr; Anthon, Christian; Beard, Niall; Berka, Karel; Bolser, Dan; Booth, Tim; Bretaudeau, Anthony; Brezovsky, Jan; Casadio, Rita; Cesareni, Gianni; Coppens, Frederik; Cornell, Michael; Cuccuru, Gianmauro; Davidsen, Kristian; Vedova, Gianluca Della; Dogan, Tunca; Doppelt-Azeroual, Olivia; Emery, Laura; Gasteiger, Elisabeth; Gatter, Thomas; Goldberg, Tatyana; Grosjean, Marie; Grüning, Björn; Helmer-Citterich, Manuela; Ienasescu, Hans; Ioannidis, Vassilios; Jespersen, Martin Closter; Jimenez, Rafael; Juty, Nick; Juvan, Peter; Koch, Maximilian; Laibe, Camille; Li, Jing-Woei; Licata, Luana; Mareuil, Fabien; Mičetić, Ivan; Friborg, Rune Møllegaard; Moretti, Sebastien; Morris, Chris; Möller, Steffen; Nenadic, Aleksandra; Peterson, Hedi; Profiti, Giuseppe; Rice, Peter; Romano, Paolo; Roncaglia, Paola; Saidi, Rabie; Schafferhans, Andrea; Schwämmle, Veit; Smith, Callum; Sperotto, Maria Maddalena; Stockinger, Heinz; Vařeková, Radka Svobodová; Tosatto, Silvio C.E.; de la Torre, Victor; Uva, Paolo; Via, Allegra; Yachdav, Guy; Zambelli, Federico; Vriend, Gert; Rost, Burkhard; Parkinson, Helen; Løngreen, Peter; Brunak, Søren

2016-01-01

Life sciences are yielding huge data sets that underpin scientific discoveries fundamental to improvement in human health, agriculture and the environment. In support of these discoveries, a plethora of databases and tools are deployed, in technically complex and diverse implementations, across a spectrum of scientific disciplines. The corpus of documentation of these resources is fragmented across the Web, with much redundancy, and has lacked a common standard of information. The outcome is that scientists must often struggle to find, understand, compare and use the best resources for the task at hand. Here we present a community-driven curation effort, supported by ELIXIR—the European infrastructure for biological information—that aspires to a comprehensive and consistent registry of information about bioinformatics resources. The sustainable upkeep of this Tools and Data Services Registry is assured by a curation effort driven by and tailored to local needs, and shared amongst a network of engaged partners. As of November 2015, the registry includes 1785 resources, with depositions from 126 individual registrations including 52 institutional providers and 74 individuals. With community support, the registry can become a standard for dissemination of information about bioinformatics resources: we welcome everyone to join us in this common endeavour. The registry is freely available at https://bio.tools. PMID:26538599

Information Scanning and Processing at the Nuclear Safety Information Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parks, Celia; Julian, Carol

This report is a detailed manual of the information specialist's duties at the Nuclear Safety Information Center. Information specialists scan the literature for documents to be reviewed, procure the documents (books, journal articles, reports, etc.), keep the document location records, and return the documents to the plant library or other…

Options for Online Undergraduate Courses in Biology at American Colleges and Universities

PubMed Central

Varty, Alison K.

2016-01-01

I aimed to document the online undergraduate course supply in biology to evaluate how well biology educators are serving the diverse and growing population of online students. I documented online biology course offerings in the 2015–2016 academic year at 96 American colleges and universities. I quantified differences in variety, extent, and availability of courses offered by different kinds of academic institutions and characterized 149 online biology courses offered. Although there was no relationship between an institution’s enrollment size and any measure of its online biology offerings, I found significantly more online biology course options at 2-year public compared with 4-year public and 4-year private schools. Courses offered for nonmajors, including students pursuing healthcare-related degrees, were three times as common as those intended for biology majors, who were more likely to be offered hybrid courses with face-to-face laboratories. These data indicate some deficiencies in online biology course options; options for students majoring in biology are limited at all types of institutions examined with a minority of 4-year institutions having any online options in biology. Significant investment of institutional resources in faculty training and technological support are necessary to develop online biology courses that will benefit a larger student population. PMID:27856546

21 CFR 600.2 - Mailing addresses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS: GENERAL General Provisions § 600.2 Mailing addresses. (a) Licensed biological products... referenced in parts 600 through 680 of this chapter, as applicable, must be sent to: Document Control Center... applications (BLAs) and their amendments and supplements, adverse experience reports, biological product...

21 CFR 600.2 - Mailing addresses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS: GENERAL General Provisions § 600.2 Mailing addresses. (a) Licensed biological products... referenced in parts 600 through 680 of this chapter, as applicable, must be sent to: Document Control Center... applications (BLAs) and their amendments and supplements, adverse experience reports, biological product...

21 CFR 600.2 - Mailing addresses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS: GENERAL General Provisions § 600.2 Mailing addresses. (a) Licensed biological products... referenced in parts 600 through 680 of this chapter, as applicable, must be sent to: Document Control Center... applications (BLAs) and their amendments and supplements, adverse experience reports, biological product...

For support of USAMRMC Biological Weapons Convention, treaty and statement implementation activities. Final report, 1 March 1996-28 February 1997

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fox, J.

Program of work to provide support to the Biological Arms Control Treaty Office (BACTO) of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRMC), in the development of Army and U.S. Government negotiation, implementation and compliance policies and preparations regarding potential verification and confidence measures for the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and related biological weapons agreements. Support services provided included the preparation of Army installations and commands for implementation of visits pursuant to the U.S./UK/Russian Trilateral Statement on BW. Support included site assistance visit, development of required facility documentation and briefings, identification of additional facilities potentially subject to access,more » and support to DOD development of guidelines, procedures, documentation, and other materials for the conduct of visits. Specific tasks under this contract included: identification and delineation of `Military Biological Facilities` and related activities at Army installations; development of visit implementation documentation for the Army; assessment of potentially at-risk equities and sensitivities at relevant facilities; facility staff training and preparation; and review and modification of facility inputs to annual BWC Confidence Building Measure Declarations. Also supported the provision of timely and critical technical support to the Joint Staff and OSD in the development of DoD negotiation biological arms control positions.« less

[Bibliometry of biological systematics in Latin America during the twentieth century in three global databases].

PubMed

Michán, Layla; Llorente-Bousquets, Jorge

2010-06-01

We present a review of the biological systematic research in Latin America during the twentieth century, applying a bibliometric analysis to the information contained in international databases with the largest number of biological records: Biosis (since 1969), CAB (since 1910) and Science Citation Index (since 1900), to recognize certain patterns and trends regarding the document production. We obtained 19079 documents and 1387 journals for Biosis, 14326 and 2537 for CAB, 3257 and 1636 for SCI. Of the documents, 54.6% related to new species, 15.3% dealt with morphology, 14.9% keys, 12.5% descriptions, 10.6% cases of synonymies, 6% new genera, 4.9% new geographical records, 23.6% geographical distribution, 4.2% redescriptions, and 3.6% with new nomenclatural combinations. The regions mentioned were South America with 11.9%, Central America with 4% and America (all) with 2.56%. Nineteen Latin American countries appear, whereas outside this region we found the United States of America with 12.6% of representation and Canada with 3%. Animals (65.6%) were the most studied taxa, which was 1.7 times higher than what was published for plants (37%), 11 times higher than fungi (6%) and nearly 30 times higher than microorganisms (2.3%). Out of the 155 journals that produced 66% of the papers, 76.5% were better represented in Biosis, 21.4% in CAB and 2% in SCI. Twenty-nine journals published 33% of the articles, the maximum number of records obtained was 69% for Biosis, CAB 24% and 6.9% for SCI, three (10.3%) are in biology, 11 (37.9%) in botany, 13 (44.8%) zoology, and two (6.9%) paleontology; eight of these journals (27.5%) were published in Latin America and twenty were indexed in the Science Citation Index. In the last two years more journals of the region that publish on taxonomy have been indexed, but their impact factor is still low. However, the impact factor of a number of Latin American journals that published biodiversity increased with time. Countries that are more interested in studying the Latin American biota from the taxonomic point of view are Brazil, the United States, Argentina and Mexico. The most active institutions in this discipline were the Universidade de São Paulo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; together they produced 24% of the documents.

Method for gathering and summarizing internet information

DOEpatents

Potok, Thomas E.; Elmore, Mark Thomas; Reed, Joel Wesley; Treadwell, Jim N.; Samatova, Nagiza Faridovna

2010-04-06

A computer method of gathering and summarizing large amounts of information comprises collecting information from a plurality of information sources (14, 51) according to respective maps (52) of the information sources (14), converting the collected information from a storage format to XML-language documents (26, 53) and storing the XML-language documents in a storage medium, searching for documents (55) according to a search query (13) having at least one term and identifying the documents (26) found in the search, and displaying the documents as nodes (33) of a tree structure (32) having links (34) and nodes (33) so as to indicate similarity of the documents to each other.

System for gathering and summarizing internet information

DOEpatents

Potok, Thomas E.; Elmore, Mark Thomas; Reed, Joel Wesley; Treadwell, Jim N.; Samatova, Nagiza Faridovna

2006-07-04

A computer method of gathering and summarizing large amounts of information comprises collecting information from a plurality of information sources (14, 51) according to respective maps (52) of the information sources (14), converting the collected information from a storage format to XML-language documents (26, 53) and storing the XML-language documents in a storage medium, searching for documents (55) according to a search query (13) having at least one term and identifying the documents (26) found in the search, and displaying the documents as nodes (33) of a tree structure (32) having links (34) and nodes (33) so as to indicate similarity of the documents to each other.

Method for gathering and summarizing internet information

DOEpatents

Potok, Thomas E [Oak Ridge, TN; Elmore, Mark Thomas [Oak Ridge, TN; Reed, Joel Wesley [Knoxville, TN; Treadwell, Jim N [Louisville, TN; Samatova, Nagiza Faridovna [Oak Ridge, TN

2008-01-01

A computer method of gathering and summarizing large amounts of information comprises collecting information from a plurality of information sources (14, 51) according to respective maps (52) of the information sources (14), converting the collected information from a storage format to XML-language documents (26, 53) and storing the XML-language documents in a storage medium, searching for documents (55) according to a search query (13) having at least one term and identifying the documents (26) found in the search, and displaying the documents as nodes (33) of a tree structure (32) having links (34) and nodes (33) so as to indicate similarity of the documents to each other.

Women in cell biology: a seat at the table and a place at the podium

PubMed Central

Masur, Sandra Kazahn

2013-01-01

The Women in Cell Biology (WICB) committee of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) was started in the 1970s in response to the documented underrepresentation of women in academia in general and cell biology in particular. By coincidence or causal relationship, I am happy to say that since WICB became a standing ASCB committee, women have been well represented in ASCB's leadership and as symposium speakers at the annual meeting. However, the need to provide opportunities and information useful to women in developing their careers in cell biology is still vital, given the continuing bias women face in the larger scientific arena. With its emphasis on mentoring, many of WICB's activities benefit the development of both men and women cell biologists. The WICB “Career Column” in the monthly ASCB Newsletter is a source of accessible wisdom. At the annual ASCB meeting, WICB organizes the career discussion and mentoring roundtables, childcare awards, Mentoring Theater, career-related panel and workshop, and career recognition awards. Finally, the WICB Speaker Referral Service provides a list of outstanding women whom organizers of scientific meetings, scientific review panels, and university symposia/lecture series can reach out to when facing the proverbial dilemma, “I just don't know any women who are experts.” PMID:23307103

Personal information documents for people with dementia: Healthcare staff 's perceptions and experiences.

PubMed

Baillie, Lesley; Thomas, Nicola

2018-01-01

Person-centred care is internationally recognised as best practice for the care of people with dementia. Personal information documents for people with dementia are proposed as a way to support person-centred care in healthcare settings. However, there is little research about how they are used in practice. The aim of this study was to analyse healthcare staff 's perceptions and experiences of using personal information documents, mainly Alzheimer's Society's 'This is me', for people with dementia in healthcare settings. The method comprised a secondary thematic analysis of data from a qualitative study, of how a dementia awareness initiative affected care for people with dementia in one healthcare organisation. The data were collected through 12 focus groups (n = 58 participants) and 1 individual interview, conducted with a range of healthcare staff, both clinical and non-clinical. There are four themes presented: understanding the rationale for personal information documents; completing personal information documents; location for personal information documents and transfer between settings; impact of personal information documents in practice. The findings illuminated how healthcare staff use personal information documents in practice in ways that support person-centred care. Practical issues about the use of personal information documents were revealed and these may affect the optimal use of the documents in practice. The study indicated the need to complete personal information documents at an early stage following diagnosis of dementia, and the importance of embedding their use across care settings, to support communication and integrated care.

Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites

PubMed Central

Hoffman, Kelly M.; Trawalter, Sophie; Axt, Jordan R.; Oliver, M. Norman

2016-01-01

Black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain relative to white Americans. We examine whether this racial bias is related to false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites (e.g., “black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s skin”). Study 1 documented these beliefs among white laypersons and revealed that participants who more strongly endorsed false beliefs about biological differences reported lower pain ratings for a black (vs. white) target. Study 2 extended these findings to the medical context and found that half of a sample of white medical students and residents endorsed these beliefs. Moreover, participants who endorsed these beliefs rated the black (vs. white) patient’s pain as lower and made less accurate treatment recommendations. Participants who did not endorse these beliefs rated the black (vs. white) patient’s pain as higher, but showed no bias in treatment recommendations. These findings suggest that individuals with at least some medical training hold and may use false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites to inform medical judgments, which may contribute to racial disparities in pain assessment and treatment. PMID:27044069

Discovery informatics in biological and biomedical sciences: research challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Honavar, Vasant

2015-01-01

New discoveries in biological, biomedical and health sciences are increasingly being driven by our ability to acquire, share, integrate and analyze, and construct and simulate predictive models of biological systems. While much attention has focused on automating routine aspects of management and analysis of "big data", realizing the full potential of "big data" to accelerate discovery calls for automating many other aspects of the scientific process that have so far largely resisted automation: identifying gaps in the current state of knowledge; generating and prioritizing questions; designing studies; designing, prioritizing, planning, and executing experiments; interpreting results; forming hypotheses; drawing conclusions; replicating studies; validating claims; documenting studies; communicating results; reviewing results; and integrating results into the larger body of knowledge in a discipline. Against this background, the PSB workshop on Discovery Informatics in Biological and Biomedical Sciences explores the opportunities and challenges of automating discovery or assisting humans in discovery through advances (i) Understanding, formalization, and information processing accounts of, the entire scientific process; (ii) Design, development, and evaluation of the computational artifacts (representations, processes) that embody such understanding; and (iii) Application of the resulting artifacts and systems to advance science (by augmenting individual or collective human efforts, or by fully automating science).

American Institute of Biological Sciences

MedlinePlus

... Documents Webstore Contact Us Staff and Offices AIBS Leadership Overview Board Committees Council AIBS Membership How to ... History What We Do Corporate Documents Webstore AIBS Leadership Overview Board Committees Council AIBS Membership How to ...

42 CFR 493.1411 - Standard; Technical consultant qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...) Hold an earned doctoral or master's degree in a chemical, physical, biological or clinical laboratory... degree in a chemical, physical or biological science or medical technology from an accredited institution... biology and additionally has documentation of 2 years of work experience performing tests of moderate...

42 CFR 493.1411 - Standard; Technical consultant qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

...) Hold an earned doctoral or master's degree in a chemical, physical, biological or clinical laboratory... degree in a chemical, physical or biological science or medical technology from an accredited institution... biology and additionally has documentation of 2 years of work experience performing tests of moderate...

42 CFR 493.1411 - Standard; Technical consultant qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

...) Hold an earned doctoral or master's degree in a chemical, physical, biological or clinical laboratory... degree in a chemical, physical or biological science or medical technology from an accredited institution... biology and additionally has documentation of 2 years of work experience performing tests of moderate...

42 CFR 493.1411 - Standard; Technical consultant qualifications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

...) Hold an earned doctoral or master's degree in a chemical, physical, biological or clinical laboratory... degree in a chemical, physical or biological science or medical technology from an accredited institution... biology and additionally has documentation of 2 years of work experience performing tests of moderate...

An overview of topic modeling and its current applications in bioinformatics.

PubMed

Liu, Lin; Tang, Lin; Dong, Wen; Yao, Shaowen; Zhou, Wei

2016-01-01

With the rapid accumulation of biological datasets, machine learning methods designed to automate data analysis are urgently needed. In recent years, so-called topic models that originated from the field of natural language processing have been receiving much attention in bioinformatics because of their interpretability. Our aim was to review the application and development of topic models for bioinformatics. This paper starts with the description of a topic model, with a focus on the understanding of topic modeling. A general outline is provided on how to build an application in a topic model and how to develop a topic model. Meanwhile, the literature on application of topic models to biological data was searched and analyzed in depth. According to the types of models and the analogy between the concept of document-topic-word and a biological object (as well as the tasks of a topic model), we categorized the related studies and provided an outlook on the use of topic models for the development of bioinformatics applications. Topic modeling is a useful method (in contrast to the traditional means of data reduction in bioinformatics) and enhances researchers' ability to interpret biological information. Nevertheless, due to the lack of topic models optimized for specific biological data, the studies on topic modeling in biological data still have a long and challenging road ahead. We believe that topic models are a promising method for various applications in bioinformatics research.

Resolution of the Korean War biological warfare allegations.

PubMed

Leitenberg, M

1998-01-01

Recently acquired documents from the former Soviet Union prove that the accusations of United States use of biological weapons during the Korean conflict were fraudulent. The article discusses the history of the allegations of biological weapons use by the United States during the Korean conflict. It also considers the basis for making false allegations of biological weapons utilization.

American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Survey of Radiation Biology Educators in U.S. and Canadian Radiation Oncology Residency Programs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rosenstein, Barry S., E-mail: barry.rosenstein@mssm.ed; Department of Radiation Oncology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY; Held, Kathryn D.

2009-11-01

Purpose: To obtain, in a survey-based study, detailed information on the faculty currently responsible for teaching radiation biology courses to radiation oncology residents in the United States and Canada. Methods and Materials: In March-December 2007 a survey questionnaire was sent to faculty having primary responsibility for teaching radiation biology to residents in 93 radiation oncology residency programs in the United States and Canada. Results: The responses to this survey document the aging of the faculty who have primary responsibility for teaching radiation biology to radiation oncology residents. The survey found a dramatic decline with time in the percentage of educatorsmore » whose graduate training was in radiation biology. A significant number of the educators responsible for teaching radiation biology were not fully acquainted with the radiation sciences, either through training or practical application. In addition, many were unfamiliar with some of the organizations setting policies and requirements for resident education. Freely available tools, such as the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Radiation and Cancer Biology Practice Examination and Study Guides, were widely used by residents and educators. Consolidation of resident courses or use of a national radiation biology review course was viewed as unlikely by most programs. Conclusions: A high priority should be given to the development of comprehensive teaching tools to assist those individuals who have responsibility for teaching radiation biology courses but who do not have an extensive background in critical areas of radiobiology related to radiation oncology. These findings also suggest a need for new graduate programs in radiobiology.« less

The Changing Limits and Incidence of Malaria in Africa: 1939–2009

PubMed Central

Snow, Robert W.; Amratia, Punam; Kabaria, Caroline W.; Noor, Abdisalan M.; Marsh, Kevin

2012-01-01

Understanding the historical, temporal changes of malaria risk following control efforts in Africa provides a unique insight into what has been and might be archived towards a long-term ambition of elimination on the continent. Here, we use archived published and unpublished material combined with biological constraints on transmission accompanied by a narrative on malaria control to document the changing incidence of malaria in Africa since earliest reports pre-second World War. One result is a more informed mapped definition of the changing margins of transmission in 1939, 1959, 1979, 1999 and 2009. PMID:22520443

Coast of Isla Cerralvo, Baja, California as seen from STS-62

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-03-05

STS062-153-226 (4-18 March 1994) --- Though it did not reproduce well, this photo gives scientific information to aid in studying all types of earth's processes. It documents ocean features in the sunglint in the Gulf of California, off the Isla Cerralvo, souther Baja, California. Biological oils collect on the surface and shows current patterns, eddies and ship wakes. The small bright spot on the edge of the eddy is a ship dumping oily water from its bilges. The line in the brighter area is a light wind gust roughening the surface.

Parallel workflow manager for non-parallel bioinformatic applications to solve large-scale biological problems on a supercomputer.

PubMed

Suplatov, Dmitry; Popova, Nina; Zhumatiy, Sergey; Voevodin, Vladimir; Švedas, Vytas

2016-04-01

Rapid expansion of online resources providing access to genomic, structural, and functional information associated with biological macromolecules opens an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of biological processes due to systematic analysis of large datasets. This, however, requires novel strategies to optimally utilize computer processing power. Some methods in bioinformatics and molecular modeling require extensive computational resources. Other algorithms have fast implementations which take at most several hours to analyze a common input on a modern desktop station, however, due to multiple invocations for a large number of subtasks the full task requires a significant computing power. Therefore, an efficient computational solution to large-scale biological problems requires both a wise parallel implementation of resource-hungry methods as well as a smart workflow to manage multiple invocations of relatively fast algorithms. In this work, a new computer software mpiWrapper has been developed to accommodate non-parallel implementations of scientific algorithms within the parallel supercomputing environment. The Message Passing Interface has been implemented to exchange information between nodes. Two specialized threads - one for task management and communication, and another for subtask execution - are invoked on each processing unit to avoid deadlock while using blocking calls to MPI. The mpiWrapper can be used to launch all conventional Linux applications without the need to modify their original source codes and supports resubmission of subtasks on node failure. We show that this approach can be used to process huge amounts of biological data efficiently by running non-parallel programs in parallel mode on a supercomputer. The C++ source code and documentation are available from http://biokinet.belozersky.msu.ru/mpiWrapper .

Bioeffects of microwave--a brief review.

PubMed

Banik, S; Bandyopadhyay, S; Ganguly, S

2003-04-01

Since the 18th century scientists have been intrigued by the interaction of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and various life processes. Attention has been focussed on EMFs in different frequency ranges, of which microwave frequency range forms an important part. Microwaves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum and are considered to be that radiation ranging in frequency from 300 million cycles per second (300 MHz) to 300 billion cycles per second (300 GHz), which correspond to a wavelength range of 1 m down to 1 mm. This nonionising electromagnetic radiation is absorbed at molecular level and manifests as changes in vibrational energy of the molecules or heat (Microwaves irradiating the community, Hidden hazards, Bantan Books publisher, Australia, 1991). Identifying and evaluating the biological effects of microwaves have been complex and controversial. Because of the paucity of information on the mechanism of interaction between microwave and biological systems, there has been a persistent view in physical and engineering sciences, that microwave fields are incapable of inducing bioeffects other than by heating (Health Physics 61 (1991) 3). Of late, the nonthermal effects of microwaves on tissue responses are being documented (Physiol. Rev. 61 (1981) 435; Annals of New York Acad. Sci. 247 (1975) 232; J. Microwave Power 14 (1979) 351; Bioelectromagnetics 7 (1986a) 45; Bioelectromagnetics 7 (1986b) 315; Biologic Effects and Health Hazards of Microwave Radiation, Warsaw, Polish Medical Publication (1974) 289; Biologic Effects and Health hazards of the microwave Radiation, Warsaw, Polish Medical Publication (1974) 22; Multidisciplinory perspectives in event-related brain potential research, Washington DC, US Environmental Protection Agency, (1978) 444). The present article is an attempt to familiarise the reader with pertinent information regarding the effects, mainly athermal, of microwave irradiation on biologic systems, especially microorganisms.

Folklore and traditional ecological knowledge of geckos in Southern Portugal: implications for conservation and science.

PubMed

Ceríaco, Luis M P; Marques, Mariana P; Madeira, Natália C; Vila-Viçosa, Carlos M; Mendes, Paula

2011-09-05

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and folklore are repositories of large amounts of information about the natural world. Ideas, perceptions and empirical data held by human communities regarding local species are important sources which enable new scientific discoveries to be made, as well as offering the potential to solve a number of conservation problems. We documented the gecko-related folklore and TEK of the people of southern Portugal, with the particular aim of understanding the main ideas relating to gecko biology and ecology. Our results suggest that local knowledge of gecko ecology and biology is both accurate and relevant. As a result of information provided by local inhabitants, knowledge of the current geographic distribution of Hemidactylus turcicus was expanded, with its presence reported in nine new locations. It was also discovered that locals still have some misconceptions of geckos as poisonous and carriers of dermatological diseases. The presence of these ideas has led the population to a fear of and aversion to geckos, resulting in direct persecution being one of the major conservation problems facing these animals. It is essential, from both a scientific and conservationist perspective, to understand the knowledge and perceptions that people have towards the animals, since, only then, may hitherto unrecognized pertinent information and conservation problems be detected and resolved.

Folklore and traditional ecological knowledge of geckos in Southern Portugal: implications for conservation and science

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and folklore are repositories of large amounts of information about the natural world. Ideas, perceptions and empirical data held by human communities regarding local species are important sources which enable new scientific discoveries to be made, as well as offering the potential to solve a number of conservation problems. We documented the gecko-related folklore and TEK of the people of southern Portugal, with the particular aim of understanding the main ideas relating to gecko biology and ecology. Our results suggest that local knowledge of gecko ecology and biology is both accurate and relevant. As a result of information provided by local inhabitants, knowledge of the current geographic distribution of Hemidactylus turcicus was expanded, with its presence reported in nine new locations. It was also discovered that locals still have some misconceptions of geckos as poisonous and carriers of dermatological diseases. The presence of these ideas has led the population to a fear of and aversion to geckos, resulting in direct persecution being one of the major conservation problems facing these animals. It is essential, from both a scientific and conservationist perspective, to understand the knowledge and perceptions that people have towards the animals, since, only then, may hitherto unrecognized pertinent information and conservation problems be detected and resolved. PMID:21892925

Application of Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) in Human ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework was developed to help organize and disseminate existing knowledge concerning the means through which specific perturbations of biological pathways can lead to adverse outcomes considered relevant to risk-based regulatory decision-making. Because many fundamental molecular and cellular pathways are conserved across taxa, data from assays that screen chemicals for their ability to interact with specific biomolecular targets can often be credibly applied to a broad range of species, even if the apical outcomes of those perturbations may differ. Information concerning the different trajectories of adversity that molecular initiating events may take in different taxa, life stages, and sexes of organisms can be captured in the form of an AOP network. As an example, AOPs documenting divergent consequences of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and deiodinase (DIO) inhibition in mammals, amphibians, and fish have been developed. These AOPs provide the foundation for using data from common in vitro assays for TPO or DIO activity to inform both human health and ecological risk assessments. They also provide the foundation for an integrated approach to testing and assessment, where available information and biological understanding can be integrated in order to formulate plausible and testable hypotheses which can be used to target in vivo testing on the endpoints of greatest concern. Application of this AOP knowledge in several different r

Application of adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) in human ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework was developed to help organize and disseminate existing knowledge concerning the means through which specific perturbations of biological pathways can lead to adverse outcomes considered relevant to risk-based regulatory decision-making. Because many fundamental molecular and cellular pathways are conserved across taxa, data from assays that screen chemicals for their ability to interact with specific biomolecular targets can often be credibly applied to a broad range of species, even if the apical outcomes of those perturbations may differ. Information concerning the different trajectories of adversity that molecular initiating events may take in different taxa, life stages, and sexes of organisms can be captured in the form of an AOP network. As an example, AOPs documenting divergent consequences of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and deiodinase (DIO) inhibition in mammals, amphibians, and fish have been developed. These AOPs provide the foundation for using data from common in vitro assays for TPO or DIO activity to inform both human health and ecological risk assessments. They also provide the foundation for an integrated approach to testing and assessment, where available information and biological understanding can be integrated in order to formulate plausible and testable hypotheses which can be used to target in vivo testing on the endpoints of greatest concern. Application of this AOP knowledge in several different r

Extrafloral nectar in an apple ecosystem to enhance biological control

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A common goal of conservation biological control is to enhance biodiversity to increase abundance and effectiveness of predators and parasitoids. Although many studies report an increase in abundance of natural enemies, it has been difficult to document increases in rates of biological control. To...

Ways to Bring a "Far Out" Subject SPACE BIOLOGY Into the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Janice

This document describes a grade 10-12 biology course designed to increase student interest by introducing topics in space biology including: the book "Andromeda Strain"; weightlessness; centrifuge; cosmic radiation; space research; origins of life; extraterrestrial life; and the Mars Viking Mission. (SL)

An integrative approach for measuring semantic similarities using gene ontology.

PubMed

Peng, Jiajie; Li, Hongxiang; Jiang, Qinghua; Wang, Yadong; Chen, Jin

2014-01-01

Gene Ontology (GO) provides rich information and a convenient way to study gene functional similarity, which has been successfully used in various applications. However, the existing GO based similarity measurements have limited functions for only a subset of GO information is considered in each measure. An appropriate integration of the existing measures to take into account more information in GO is demanding. We propose a novel integrative measure called InteGO2 to automatically select appropriate seed measures and then to integrate them using a metaheuristic search method. The experiment results show that InteGO2 significantly improves the performance of gene similarity in human, Arabidopsis and yeast on both molecular function and biological process GO categories. InteGO2 computes gene-to-gene similarities more accurately than tested existing measures and has high robustness. The supplementary document and software are available at http://mlg.hit.edu.cn:8082/.

Salvage logging, ecosystem processes, and biodiversity conservation.

PubMed

Lindenmayer, D B; Noss, R F

2006-08-01

We summarize the documented and potential impacts of salvage logging--a form of logging that removes trees and other biological material from sites after natural disturbance. Such operations may reduce or eliminate biological legacies, modify rare postdisturbance habitats, influence populations, alter community composition, impair natural vegetation recovery, facilitate the colonization of invasive species, alter soil properties and nutrient levels, increase erosion, modify hydrological regimes and aquatic ecosystems, and alter patterns of landscape heterogeneity These impacts can be assigned to three broad and interrelated effects: (1) altered stand structural complexity; (2) altered ecosystem processes and functions; and (3) altered populations of species and community composition. Some impacts may be different from or additional to the effects of traditional logging that is not preceded by a large natural disturbance because the conditions before, during, and after salvage logging may differ from those that characterize traditional timber harvesting. The potential impacts of salvage logging often have been overlooked, partly because the processes of ecosystem recovery after natural disturbance are still poorly understood and partly because potential cumulative effects of natural and human disturbance have not been well documented. Ecologically informed policies regarding salvage logging are needed prior to major natural disturbances so that when they occur ad hoc and crisis-mode decision making can be avoided. These policies should lead to salvage-exemption zones and limits on the amounts of disturbance-derived biological legacies (e.g., burned trees, logs) that are removed where salvage logging takes place. Finally, we believe new terminology is needed. The word salvage implies that something is being saved or recovered, whereas from an ecological perspective this is rarely the case.

An integrated network visualization framework towards metabolic engineering applications.

PubMed

Noronha, Alberto; Vilaça, Paulo; Rocha, Miguel

2014-12-30

Over the last years, several methods for the phenotype simulation of microorganisms, under specified genetic and environmental conditions have been proposed, in the context of Metabolic Engineering (ME). These methods provided insight on the functioning of microbial metabolism and played a key role in the design of genetic modifications that can lead to strains of industrial interest. On the other hand, in the context of Systems Biology research, biological network visualization has reinforced its role as a core tool in understanding biological processes. However, it has been scarcely used to foster ME related methods, in spite of the acknowledged potential. In this work, an open-source software that aims to fill the gap between ME and metabolic network visualization is proposed, in the form of a plugin to the OptFlux ME platform. The framework is based on an abstract layer, where the network is represented as a bipartite graph containing minimal information about the underlying entities and their desired relative placement. The framework provides input/output support for networks specified in standard formats, such as XGMML, SBGN or SBML, providing a connection to genome-scale metabolic models. An user-interface makes it possible to edit, manipulate and query nodes in the network, providing tools to visualize diverse effects, including visual filters and aspect changing (e.g. colors, shapes and sizes). These tools are particularly interesting for ME, since they allow overlaying phenotype simulation results or elementary flux modes over the networks. The framework and its source code are freely available, together with documentation and other resources, being illustrated with well documented case studies.

Oil spills and their impacts on sand beach invertebrate communities: A literature review.

PubMed

Bejarano, Adriana C; Michel, Jacqueline

2016-11-01

Sand beaches are highly dynamic habitats that can experience considerable impacts from oil spills. This review provides a synthesis of the scientific literature on major oil spills and their impacts on sand beaches, with emphasis on studies documenting effects and recoveries of intertidal invertebrate communities. One of the key observations arising from this review is that more attention has generally been given to studying the impacts of oil spills on invertebrates (mostly macrobenthos), and not to documenting their biological recovery. Biological recovery of sand beach invertebrates is highly dynamic, depending on several factors including site-specific physical properties and processes (e.g., sand grain size, beach exposure), the degree of oiling, depth of oil burial, and biological factors (e.g., species-specific life-history traits). Recovery of affected communities ranges from several weeks to several years, with longer recoveries generally associated with physical factors that facilitate oil persistence, or when cleanup activities are absent on heavily oiled beaches. There are considerable challenges in quantifying impacts from spills on sand beach invertebrates because of insufficient baseline information (e.g., distribution, abundance and composition), knowledge gaps in their natural variability (spatial and temporal), and inadequate sampling and replication during and after oil spills. Thus, environment assessments of impacts and recovery require a rigorous experimental design that controls for confounding sources of variability. General recommendations on sampling strategies and toxicity testing, and a preliminary framework for incorporating species-specific life history traits into future assessments are also provided. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quagga and zebra mussels: biology, impacts, and control

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nalepa, Thomas F.; Schloesser, Don W.; Nalepa, Thomas F.; Schloesser, Don W.

2013-01-01

Quagga and Zebra Mussels: Biology, Impacts, and Control, Second Edition provides a broad view of the zebra/quagga mussel issue, offering a historic perspective and up-to-date information on mussel research. Comprising 48 chapters, this second edition includes reviews of mussel morphology, physiology, and behavior. It details mussel distribution and spread in Europe and across North America, and examines policy and regulatory responses, management strategies, and mitigation efforts. In addition, this book provides extensive coverage of the impact of invasive mussel species on freshwater ecosystems, including effects on water clarity, phytoplankton, water quality, food web changes, and consequences to other aquatic fauna. It also reviews and offers new insights on how zebra and quagga mussels respond and adapt to varying environmental conditions. This new edition includes seven video clips that complement chapter text and, through visual documentation, provide a greater understanding of mussel behavior and distribution.

The Coreidae of Honduras (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

PubMed Central

Linares, Carlos A

2017-01-01

Abstract Background Coreidae bugs are mostly sap-sucking insects feeding on a variety of plants. Despite their abundance and economic importance in Honduras there is little information on the species, their distribution and affected crops. Since knowledge of pest species allows for better management of crops, we aimed to document the diversity of this economically important group. Specimens from four entomological collections in Honduras were studied and an exhaustive search of all available literature was conducted. New information A total of 2,036 insects were examined. The fauna of Honduran coreids is now composed of 68 species. Nineteen species are recorded for the country for the first time and 17 species were found only in literature. Little is known about the biology and economic importance of most of the species. PMID:28781567

76 FR 38187 - International Conference on Harmonisation; Draft Guidance on Q11 Development and Manufacture of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-29

...The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance entitled ``Q11 Development and Manufacture of Drug Substances.'' The draft guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The draft guidance describes approaches to developing process and drug substance understanding and provides guidance on what information should be provided in certain sections of the Common Technical Document (CTD). The draft guidance is intended to harmonize the scientific and technical principles relating to the description and justification of the development and manufacturing process of drug substances (both chemical entities and biotechnological/biological entities) to enable a consistent approach for providing and evaluating this information across the three regions.

[Establishment and Management of Multiple Myeloma Specimen Bank Applied for Molecular Biological Researches].

PubMed

Li, Han-Qing; Mei, Jian-Gang; Cao, Hong-Qin; Shao, Liang-Jing; Zhai, Yong-Ping

2017-12-01

To establish a multiple myeloma specimen bank applied for molecular biological researches and to explore the methods of specimen collection, transportation, storage, quality control and the management of specimen bank. Bone marrow and blood samples were collected from multiple myeloma patients, plasma cell sorting were operated after the separation of mononuclear cells from bone marrow specimens. The plasma cells were divided into 2 parts, one was added with proper amount of TRIzol and then kept in -80 °C refrigerator for subsequent RNA extraction, the other was added with proper amount of calf serum cell frozen liquid and then kept in -80 °C refrigerator for subsequent cryopreservation of DNA extraction after numbered respectively. Serum and plasma were separated from peripheral blood, specimens of serum and plasma were then stored at -80 °C refrigerator after registration. Meantime, the myeloma specimen information management system was established, managed and maintained by specially-assigned persons and continuous modification and improvement in the process of use as to facilitate the rapid collection, management, query of the effective samples and clinical data. A total of 244 portions plasma cells, 564 portions of serum, and 1005 portions of plasma were collected, clinical characters were documented. A multiple myeloma specimen bank have been established initially, which can provide quality samples and related clinical information for molecular biological research on multiple myeloma.

Action Biology. Advanced Placement for the Second Year. First Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Mary Pitt

This document provides biology experiments designed for students who have completed a first year biology course. This self contained laboratory booklet contains four sections. In section 1, "Instrumentation in the Study of Cells," discussion sections and suggestions for teacher demonstrations are provided. It also includes some basic materials…

Biology Modules for the Visually Handicapped.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allan, Douglas M.

The instructional materials presented and described in this document were prepared as part of a project to develop enrichment materials for visually impaired biology students. A wide range of biology topics are presented, including most subjects covered in a one-semester course for nonmajors. Typewritten handouts, duplicating the content of…

32 CFR 813.1 - Purpose of the visual information documentation (VIDOC) program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Purpose of the visual information documentation (VIDOC) program. 813.1 Section 813.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE SALES AND SERVICES VISUAL INFORMATION DOCUMENTATION PROGRAM § 813.1 Purpose of the visual information documentation (VIDOC) program....

Product specification documentation standard and Data Item Descriptions (DID). Volume of the information system life-cycle and documentation standards, volume 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callender, E. David; Steinbacher, Jody

1989-01-01

This is the third of five volumes on Information System Life-Cycle and Documentation Standards which present a well organized, easily used standard for providing technical information needed for developing information systems, components, and related processes. This volume states the Software Management and Assurance Program documentation standard for a product specification document and for data item descriptions. The framework can be applied to any NASA information system, software, hardware, operational procedures components, and related processes.

FALCON: a toolbox for the fast contextualization of logical networks.

PubMed

De Landtsheer, Sébastien; Trairatphisan, Panuwat; Lucarelli, Philippe; Sauter, Thomas

2017-11-01

Mathematical modelling of regulatory networks allows for the discovery of knowledge at the system level. However, existing modelling tools are often computation-heavy and do not offer intuitive ways to explore the model, to test hypotheses or to interpret the results biologically. We have developed a computational approach to contextualize logical models of regulatory networks with biological measurements based on a probabilistic description of rule-based interactions between the different molecules. Here, we propose a Matlab toolbox, FALCON, to automatically and efficiently build and contextualize networks, which includes a pipeline for conducting parameter analysis, knockouts and easy and fast model investigation. The contextualized models could then provide qualitative and quantitative information about the network and suggest hypotheses about biological processes. FALCON is freely available for non-commercial users on GitHub under the GPLv3 licence. The toolbox, installation instructions, full documentation and test datasets are available at https://github.com/sysbiolux/FALCON. FALCON runs under Matlab (MathWorks) and requires the Optimization Toolbox. thomas.sauter@uni.lu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

[Biological weapons--an old menace in new circumstances].

PubMed

Bartůnĕk, P

2001-12-06

Biological weapons were conceived for years by the world community only as a potential evil. A fundamental change of opinions regarding their real menace occurred only after the premeditated criminal attack on the USA on September 11, 2001. It was logical that publicists for mall types of media demanded from representatives of the state administration of the Czech Republic information how out country is prepared for this type of danger. Their reactions were hesitant and in a way reflect a certain chaos associated with the reorganization of the army and at the same time unpreparedness of civil defence. To a certain extent all this can be conceived as the consequence of the fundamental transformation of our society and thus it may be excused to a certain extent. Nevertheless it is obvious that not even the most advanced countries are quite clear as regards defence against the horror of biological weapons. Evidence to this effect is the following document, devoted to the problem in the USA, major parts of which we reproduce from the prestigious periodical The England Journal of Medicine.

A knowledge base of the chemical compounds of intermediary metabolism.

PubMed

Karp, P D

1992-08-01

This paper describes a publicly available knowledge base of the chemical compounds involved in intermediary metabolism. We consider the motivations for constructing a knowledge base of metabolic compounds, the methodology by which it was constructed, and the information that it currently contains. Currently the knowledge base describes 981 compounds, listing for each: synonyms for its name, a systematic name, CAS registry number, chemical formula, molecular weight, chemical structure and two-dimensional display coordinates for the structure. The Compound Knowledge Base (CompoundKB) illustrates several methodological principles that should guide the development of biological knowledge bases. I argue that biological datasets should be made available in multiple representations to increase their accessibility to end users, and I present multiple representations of the CompoundKB (knowledge base, relational data base and ASN. 1 representations). I also analyze the general characteristics of these representations to provide an understanding of their relative advantages and disadvantages. Another principle is that the error rate of biological data bases should be estimated and documented-this analysis is performed for the CompoundKB.

Does flavor impact function? Potential consequences of polyphenol-protein interactions in delivery and bioactivity of flavan-3-ols from foods.

PubMed

Ferruzzi, Mario G; Bordenave, Nicolas; Hamaker, Bruce R

2012-11-05

Astringency is a component of the overall flavor experienced when consuming polyphenol rich foods and beverages such as tea, wine, cocoa and select fruits. Following consumption, the astringent sensation results from the well documented ability of polyphenols to bind to salivary proline rich proteins (PRP) and facilitate their precipitation in the oral cavity. In a similar fashion, polyphenols are also known to non-specifically bind food and other biological proteins. While much is known regarding the polyphenol-protein interactions leading to astringency, significantly less information is available regarding the impact of these polyphenol-protein interactions with food or other biological proteins on relevant physiological outcomes. This paper focuses on the interactions between flavan-3-ols, one of the most abundant dietary polyphenol forms, with proteins in food, salivary PRP and other physiological proteins. The physiological implications of these interactions in food and through the gut will be discussed in relation to manipulation of flavan-3-ol bioavailability, metabolism and biological activities including inhibition of digestive enzymes in the gut. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Microgravity Experiments Safety and Integration Requirements Document Tree

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hogan, Jean M.

1995-01-01

This report is a document tree of the safety and integration documents required to develop a space experiment. Pertinent document information for each of the top level (tier one) safety and integration documents, and their applicable and reference (tier two) documents has been identified. This information includes: document title, revision level, configuration management, electronic availability, listed applicable and reference documents, source for obtaining the document, and document owner. One of the main conclusions of this report is that no single document tree exists for all safety and integration documents, regardless of the Shuttle carrier. This document also identifies the need for a single point of contact for customers wishing to access documents. The data in this report serves as a valuable information source for the NASA Lewis Research Center Project Documentation Center, as well as for all developers of space experiments.

Chemical and biological nonproliferation program. FY99 annual report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

2000-03-01

This document is the first of what will become an annual report documenting the progress made by the Chemical and Biological Nonproliferation Program (CBNP). It is intended to be a summary of the program's activities that will be of interest to both policy and technical audiences. This report and the annual CBNP Summer Review Meeting are important vehicles for communication with the broader chemical and biological defense and nonproliferation communities. The Chemical and Biological Nonproliferation Program Strategic Plan is also available and provides additional detail on the program's context and goals. The body of the report consists of an overviewmore » of the program's philosophy, goals and recent progress in the major program areas. In addition, an appendix is provided with more detailed project summaries that will be of interest to the technical community.« less

Invisibly Sanitizable Digital Signature Scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyazaki, Kunihiko; Hanaoka, Goichiro; Imai, Hideki

A digital signature does not allow any alteration of the document to which it is attached. Appropriate alteration of some signed documents, however, should be allowed because there are security requirements other than the integrity of the document. In the disclosure of official information, for example, sensitive information such as personal information or national secrets is masked when an official document is sanitized so that its nonsensitive information can be disclosed when it is requested by a citizen. If this disclosure is done digitally by using the current digital signature schemes, the citizen cannot verify the disclosed information because it has been altered to prevent the leakage of sensitive information. The confidentiality of official information is thus incompatible with the integrity of that information, and this is called the digital document sanitizing problem. Conventional solutions such as content extraction signatures and digitally signed document sanitizing schemes with disclosure condition control can either let the sanitizer assign disclosure conditions or hide the number of sanitized portions. The digitally signed document sanitizing scheme we propose here is based on the aggregate signature derived from bilinear maps and can do both. Moreover, the proposed scheme can sanitize a signed document invisibly, that is, no one can distinguish whether the signed document has been sanitized or not.

Public versus internal conceptions of addiction: An analysis of internal Philip Morris documents

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background Tobacco addiction is a complex, multicomponent phenomenon stemming from nicotine’s pharmacology and the user’s biology, psychology, sociology, and environment. After decades of public denial, the tobacco industry now agrees with public health authorities that nicotine is addictive. In 2000, Philip Morris became the first major tobacco company to admit nicotine’s addictiveness. Evolving definitions of addiction have historically affected subsequent policymaking. This article examines how Philip Morris internally conceptualized addiction immediately before and after this announcement. Methods and findings We analyzed previously secret, internal Philip Morris documents made available as a result of litigation against the tobacco industry. We compared these documents to public company statements and found that Philip Morris’s move from public denial to public affirmation of nicotine’s addictiveness coincided with pressure on the industry from poor public approval ratings, the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), the United States government’s filing of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit, and the Institute of Medicine’s (IoM’s) endorsement of potentially reduced risk products. Philip Morris continued to research the causes of addiction through the 2000s in order to create successful potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs). While Philip Morris’s public statements reinforce the idea that nicotine’s pharmacology principally drives smoking addiction, company scientists framed addiction as the result of interconnected biological, social, psychological, and environmental determinants, with nicotine as but one component. Due to the fragmentary nature of the industry document database, we may have missed relevant information that could have affected our analysis. Conclusions Philip Morris’s research suggests that tobacco industry activity influences addiction treatment outcomes. Beyond nicotine’s pharmacology, the industry’s continued aggressive advertising, lobbying, and litigation against effective tobacco control policies promotes various nonpharmacological determinants of addiction. To help tobacco users quit, policy makers should increase attention on the social and environmental dimensions of addiction alongside traditional cessation efforts. PMID:29715300

Variation in adverse drug reactions listed in product information for antidepressants and anticonvulsants, between the USA and Europe: a comparison review of paired regulatory documents

PubMed Central

Cornelius, Victoria R; Liu, Kun; Peacock, Janet; Sauzet, Odile

2016-01-01

Objective To compare consistency of adverse drug reaction (ADR) data in publicly available product information documents for brand drugs, between the USA and Europe. To assess the usefulness of information for prescribers and patients. Design A comparison review of product information documents for antidepressants and anticonvulsants concurrently marketed by the same pharmaceutical company in the USA and Europe. Setting For each drug, data were extracted from the US Product Inserts and the European Summary of Product Characteristics documents between 09/2013 and 01/2015. Participants Individuals contributing ADR information to product information documents. Main outcomes measures All ADRs reported in product information sections 5 and 6 (USA), and 4·4 and 4·8 (Europe). Results Twelve brand drugs—24 paired documents—were included. On average, there were 77 more ADRs reported in the USA compared with in the European product information document, with a median number of 201 ADRs (range: 65–425) and 114 (range: 56–265), respectively. More product information documents in the USA reported information on the source of evidence (10 vs 5) and risk (9 vs 5) for greater than 80% of ADRs included in the document. There was negligible information included regarding duration, severity, reversibility or recurrence of ADRs. On average, only 29% of ADR terms were reported in both paired documents. Conclusions Product information documents contained a large number of ADRs, but lacked contextual data and information important to patients and prescribers, such as duration, severity and reversibility. The ADR profile was found to be inconsistently reported between the USA and Europe, for the same drug. Identifying, selecting, summarising and presenting multidimensional harm data should be underpinned by practical evidence-based guidelines. In order for prescribers to provide considered risk-benefit advice across competing drug therapies to patients, they need access to comprehensible and reliable ADR information. PMID:26996819

The changes in caregivers' perceptions about the quality of information and benefits of nursing documentation associated with the introduction of an electronic documentation system in a nursing home.

PubMed

Munyisia, Esther N; Yu, Ping; Hailey, David

2011-02-01

To date few studies have compared nursing home caregivers' perceptions about the quality of information and benefits of nursing documentation in paper and electronic formats. With the increased interest in the use of information technology in nursing homes, it is important to obtain information on the benefits of newer approaches to nursing documentation so as to inform investment, organisational and care service decisions in the aged care sector. This study aims to investigate caregivers' perceptions about the quality of information and benefits of nursing documentation before and after the introduction of an electronic documentation system in a nursing home. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted three months before, and then six, 18 and 31 months after the introduction of an electronic documentation system. Further evidence was obtained through informal discussions with caregivers. Scores for questionnaire responses showed that the benefits of the electronic documentation system were perceived by the caregivers as provision of more accurate, legible and complete information, and reduction of repetition in data entry, with consequential managerial benefits. However, caregivers' perceptions of relevance and reliability of information, and of their communication and decision-making abilities were perceived to be similar either using an electronic or a paper-based documentation system. Improvement in some perceptions about the quality of information and benefits of nursing documentation was evident in the measurement conducted six months after the introduction of the electronic system, but were not maintained 18 or 31 months later. The electronic documentation system was perceived to perform better than the paper-based system in some aspects, with subsequent benefits to management of aged care services. In other areas, perceptions of additional benefits from the electronic documentation system were not maintained. In a number of attributes, there were similar perceptions on the two types of systems. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A method for integrating and ranking the evidence for biochemical pathways by mining reactions from text

PubMed Central

Miwa, Makoto; Ohta, Tomoko; Rak, Rafal; Rowley, Andrew; Kell, Douglas B.; Pyysalo, Sampo; Ananiadou, Sophia

2013-01-01

Motivation: To create, verify and maintain pathway models, curators must discover and assess knowledge distributed over the vast body of biological literature. Methods supporting these tasks must understand both the pathway model representations and the natural language in the literature. These methods should identify and order documents by relevance to any given pathway reaction. No existing system has addressed all aspects of this challenge. Method: We present novel methods for associating pathway model reactions with relevant publications. Our approach extracts the reactions directly from the models and then turns them into queries for three text mining-based MEDLINE literature search systems. These queries are executed, and the resulting documents are combined and ranked according to their relevance to the reactions of interest. We manually annotate document-reaction pairs with the relevance of the document to the reaction and use this annotation to study several ranking methods, using various heuristic and machine-learning approaches. Results: Our evaluation shows that the annotated document-reaction pairs can be used to create a rule-based document ranking system, and that machine learning can be used to rank documents by their relevance to pathway reactions. We find that a Support Vector Machine-based system outperforms several baselines and matches the performance of the rule-based system. The success of the query extraction and ranking methods are used to update our existing pathway search system, PathText. Availability: An online demonstration of PathText 2 and the annotated corpus are available for research purposes at http://www.nactem.ac.uk/pathtext2/. Contact: makoto.miwa@manchester.ac.uk Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:23813008

Informacion Bibliografica Educativa, N. 1 (Educational Bibliographic Information, N. 1).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ministerio de Educacion Nacional, Bogota (Colombia). Instituto Colombiano de Pedagogia.

This document discusses some considerations in the development of a system for educational documentation and information in Colombia. There is a need for a national policy of educational documentation to insure cooperation among various institutions involved in the task. The three main objectives are documentation and information for teacher…

Information Types in Nonmimetic Documents: A Review of Biddle's Wipe-Clean Slate (Understanding Documents).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosenthal, Peter B.; Kirsch, Irwin S.

1991-01-01

Describes how the 16 permanent lists used by a first grade reading teacher (and mother of 6) to manage the household represents the whole range of documents covered in the 3 major types of documents: matrix documents, graphic documents, and locative documents. Suggests class activities to clarify students' understanding of the information in…

The Environmental Data Initiative: A broad-use data repository for environmental and ecological data that strives to balance data quality and ease of submission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Servilla, M. S.; Brunt, J.; Costa, D.; Gries, C.; Grossman-Clarke, S.; Hanson, P. C.; O'Brien, M.; Smith, C.; Vanderbilt, K.; Waide, R.

2017-12-01

In the world of data repositories, there seems to be a never ending struggle between the generation of high-quality data documentation and the ease of archiving a data product in a repository - the higher the documentation standards, the greater effort required by the scientist, and the less likely the data will be archived. The Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) attempts to balance the rigor of data documentation to the amount of effort required by a scientist to upload and archive data. As an outgrowth of the LTER Network Information System, the EDI is funded by the US NSF Division of Environmental Biology, to support the LTER, LTREB, OBFS, and MSB programs, in addition to providing an open data archive for environmental scientists without a viable archive. EDI uses the PASTA repository software, developed originally by the LTER. PASTA is metadata driven and documents data with the Ecological Metadata Language (EML), a high-fidelity standard that can describe all types of data in great detail. PASTA incorporates a series of data quality tests to ensure that data are correctly documented with EML in a process that is termed "metadata and data congruence", and incongruent data packages are forbidden in the repository. EDI reduces the burden of data documentation on scientists in two ways: first, EDI provides hands-on assistance in data documentation best practices using R and being developed in Python, for generating EML. These tools obscure the details of EML generation and syntax by providing a more natural and contextual setting for describing data. Second, EDI works closely with community information managers in defining rules used in PASTA quality tests. Rules deemed too strict can be turned off completely or just issue a warning, while the community learns to best handle the situation and improve their documentation practices. Rules can also be added or refined over time to improve overall quality of archived data. The outcome of quality tests are stored as part of the data archive in PASTA and are accessible to all users of the EDI data repository. In summary, EDI's metadata support to scientists and the comprehensive set of data quality tests for metadata and data congruency provide an ideal archive for environmental and ecological data.

Variation in adverse drug reactions listed in product information for antidepressants and anticonvulsants, between the USA and Europe: a comparison review of paired regulatory documents.

PubMed

Cornelius, Victoria R; Liu, Kun; Peacock, Janet; Sauzet, Odile

2016-03-20

To compare consistency of adverse drug reaction (ADR) data in publicly available product information documents for brand drugs, between the USA and Europe. To assess the usefulness of information for prescribers and patients. A comparison review of product information documents for antidepressants and anticonvulsants concurrently marketed by the same pharmaceutical company in the USA and Europe. For each drug, data were extracted from the US Product Inserts and the European Summary of Product Characteristics documents between 09/2013 and 01/2015. Individuals contributing ADR information to product information documents. All ADRs reported in product information sections 5 and 6 (USA), and 4·4 and 4·8 (Europe). Twelve brand drugs--24 paired documents--were included. On average, there were 77 more ADRs reported in the USA compared with in the European product information document, with a median number of 201 ADRs (range: 65-425) and 114 (range: 56-265), respectively. More product information documents in the USA reported information on the source of evidence (10 vs 5) and risk (9 vs 5) for greater than 80% of ADRs included in the document. There was negligible information included regarding duration, severity, reversibility or recurrence of ADRs. On average, only 29% of ADR terms were reported in both paired documents. Product information documents contained a large number of ADRs, but lacked contextual data and information important to patients and prescribers, such as duration, severity and reversibility. The ADR profile was found to be inconsistently reported between the USA and Europe, for the same drug. Identifying, selecting, summarising and presenting multidimensional harm data should be underpinned by practical evidence-based guidelines. In order for prescribers to provide considered risk-benefit advice across competing drug therapies to patients, they need access to comprehensible and reliable ADR information. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Implementing the EuroFIR Document and Data Repositories as accessible resources of food composition information.

PubMed

Unwin, Ian; Jansen-van der Vliet, Martine; Westenbrink, Susanne; Presser, Karl; Infanger, Esther; Porubska, Janka; Roe, Mark; Finglas, Paul

2016-02-15

The EuroFIR Document and Data Repositories are being developed as accessible collections of source documents, including grey literature, and the food composition data reported in them. These Repositories will contain source information available to food composition database compilers when selecting their nutritional data. The Document Repository was implemented as searchable bibliographic records in the Europe PubMed Central database, which links to the documents online. The Data Repository will contain original data from source documents in the Document Repository. Testing confirmed the FoodCASE food database management system as a suitable tool for the input, documentation and quality assessment of Data Repository information. Data management requirements for the input and documentation of reported analytical results were established, including record identification and method documentation specifications. Document access and data preparation using the Repositories will provide information resources for compilers, eliminating duplicated work and supporting unambiguous referencing of data contributing to their compiled data. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Australian Biology Test Item Bank, Years 11 and 12. Volume II: Year 12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David W., Ed.; Sewell, Jeffrey J., Ed.

This document consists of test items which are applicable to biology courses throughout Australia (irrespective of course materials used); assess key concepts within course statement (for both core and optional studies); assess a wide range of cognitive processes; and are relevant to current biological concepts. These items are arranged under…

Agriculture and Biology Teaching. Biology and Human Welfare.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rao, A. N.; Pritchard, Alan J.

This six-chapter document (part of a series on biology and human welfare) focuses on agriculture and the teaching of this subject area. Major topic areas considered in the first five chapters are: (1) the development of agriculture; (2) agricosystems (considering agriculture as an ecosystem, land utilization and soils, soils and food production,…

Australian Biology Test Item Bank, Years 11 and 12. Volume I: Year 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David W., Ed.; Sewell, Jeffrey J., Ed.

This document consists of test items which are applicable to biology courses throughout Australia (irrespective of course materials used); assess key concepts within course statement (for both core and optional studies); assess a wide range of cognitive processes; and are relevant to current biological concepts. These items are arranged under…

Biological conditions in streams of Johnson County, Kansas, and nearby Missouri, 2003 and 2004

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poulton, Barry C.; Rasmussen, Teresa J.; Lee, Casey J.

2007-01-01

Johnson County is one of the fastest growing and most populated counties in Kansas. Urban development affects streams by altering stream hydrology, geomorphology, water chemistry, and habitat, which then can lead to adverse effects on fish and macroinvertebrate communities. In addition, increasing sources of contaminants in urbanizing streams results in public-health concerns associated with exposure to and consumption of contaminated water. Biological assessments, or surveys of organisms living in aquatic environments, are crucial components of water-quality programs because they provide an indication of how well water bodies support aquatic life. This fact sheet describes current biological conditions of Johnson County streams and characterizes stream biology relative to urban development. Biological conditions were evaluated by collecting macroinvertebrate samples from 15 stream sites in Johnson County, Kansas, in 2003 and 2004 (fig. 1). Data from seven additional sites, collected as part of a separate study with similar objectives in Kansas and Missouri (Wilkison and others, 2005), were evaluated to provide a more comprehensive assessment of watersheds that cross State boundaries. Land-use and water- and streambed-sediment-quality data also were used to evaluate factors that may affect macroinvertebrate communities. Metrics are indices used to measure, or evaluate, macroinvertebrate response to various factors such as human disturbance. Multimetric scores, which integrated 10 different metrics that measure various aspects of macroinvertebrate communities, including organism diversity, composition, tolerance, and feeding characteristics, were used to evaluate and compare biological health of Johnson County streams. This information is useful to city and county officials for defining current biological conditions, evaluating conditions relative to State biological criteria, evaluating effects of urbanization, developing effective water-quality management plans, and documenting changes in biological conditions and water quality.

Discriminative graph embedding for label propagation.

PubMed

Nguyen, Canh Hao; Mamitsuka, Hiroshi

2011-09-01

In many applications, the available information is encoded in graph structures. This is a common problem in biological networks, social networks, web communities and document citations. We investigate the problem of classifying nodes' labels on a similarity graph given only a graph structure on the nodes. Conventional machine learning methods usually require data to reside in some Euclidean spaces or to have a kernel representation. Applying these methods to nodes on graphs would require embedding the graphs into these spaces. By embedding and then learning the nodes on graphs, most methods are either flexible with different learning objectives or efficient enough for large scale applications. We propose a method to embed a graph into a feature space for a discriminative purpose. Our idea is to include label information into the embedding process, making the space representation tailored to the task. We design embedding objective functions that the following learning formulations become spectral transforms. We then reformulate these spectral transforms into multiple kernel learning problems. Our method, while being tailored to the discriminative tasks, is efficient and can scale to massive data sets. We show the need of discriminative embedding on some simulations. Applying to biological network problems, our method is shown to outperform baselines.

28 CFR 513.65 - Review of documents for Freedom of Information Act requests.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Review of documents for Freedom of... JUSTICE GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION ACCESS TO RECORDS Release of Information Freedom of Information Act Requests for Information § 513.65 Review of documents for Freedom of Information Act requests...

Inventory of Amphibians and Reptiles at Mojave National Preserve: Final Report

USGS Publications Warehouse

Persons, Trevor B.; Nowak, Erika M.

2007-01-01

As part of the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program in the Mojave Network, we conducted an inventory of amphibians and reptiles at Mojave National Preserve in 2004-2005. Objectives for this inventory were to use fieldwork, museum collections, and literature review to document the occurrence of reptile and amphibian species occurring at MOJA. Our goals were to document at least 90% of the species present, provide one voucher specimen for each species identified, provide GIS-referenced distribution information for sensitive species, and provide all deliverables, including NPSpecies entries, as outlined in the Mojave Network Biological Inventory Study Plan. Methods included daytime and nighttime visual encounter surveys and nighttime road driving. Survey effort was concentrated in predetermined priority sampling areas, as well as in areas with a high potential for detecting undocumented species. We recorded 31 species during our surveys. During literature review and museum specimen database searches, we found records for seven additional species from MOJA, elevating the documented species list to 38 (two amphibians and 36 reptiles). Based on our surveys, as well as literature and museum specimen review, we estimate an overall inventory completeness of 95% for Mojave National Preserve herpetofauna; 67% for amphibians and 97% for reptiles.

Mexico: Centro de Documentacion e Informacion Educativa. Seminario de Documentacion e Informacion Pedagogica en America Latina (The Mexican Center for Educational Documentation and Information. Working Paper for the Seminar on Educational Documentation and Information in Latin America).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Secretaria de Educacion Publica, Mexico City (Mexico). Centro de Documentacion e Informacion Educativa.

This document describes the Center for Documentation and Educational Information in Mexico City. Background information on similar services in Mexico is provided and a detailed description of the Center is presented, covering organization, objectives, administration, users, activities, services, and publications. (VM)

Failures in communication through documents and documentation across the perioperative pathway.

PubMed

Braaf, Sandra; Riley, Robin; Manias, Elizabeth

2015-07-01

To explore how communication failures occur in documents and documentations across the perioperative pathway in nurses' interactions with other nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists. Documents and documentation are used to communicate vital patient and procedural information among nurses, and in nurses' interactions with surgeons and anaesthetists, across the perioperative pathway. Previous research indicates that communication failure regularly occurs in the perioperative setting. A qualitative study was undertaken. The study was conducted over three hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. One hundred and twenty-five healthcare professionals from the disciplines of surgery, anaesthesia and nursing participated in the study. Data collection commenced in January 2010 and concluded in October 2010. Data were generated through 350 hours of observation, two focus groups and 20 semi-structured interviews. A detailed thematic analysis was undertaken. Communication failure occurred owing to a reliance on documents and documentation to transfer information at patient transition points, poor quality documents and documentation, and problematic access to information. Institutional ruling practices of professional practice, efficiency and productivity, and fiscal constraint dominated the coordination of nurses', surgeons' and anaesthetists' communication through documents and documentation. These governing practices configured communication to be incongruous with reliably meeting safety and quality objectives. Communication failure occurred because important information was sometimes buried in documents, insufficient, inaccurate, out-of-date or not verbally reinforced. Furthermore, busy nurses were not always able to access information they required in a timely manner. Patient safety was affected, which led to delays in treatment and at times inadequate care. Organisational support needs to be provided to nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists so they have sufficient time to complete, locate, and read documents and documentation. Infrastructure supporting communication technologies should be implemented to enable the rapid retrieval, entry, and dispersion of information. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Directrices para la Creacion del Centro Nacional de Informacion y Documentacion (Guidelines for the Creation of a National Information and Documentation Center).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menda Behrens, Eduardo

This document discusses background information and guidelines for the creation of a national information and documentation center for the dissemination of scientific and technological information. The study first reports on information services in several other countries and the need for an information center in Venezuela; included are…

Traveler information services in rural tourism areas : appendix A, tourist intercept surveys

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-06-30

This document presents documentation regarding tourist intercept surveys for traveler information services in rural areas. It documents data collection functions and information dissemination functions, and provides an interpretive description of tra...

A framework for biomedical figure segmentation towards image-based document retrieval

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The figures included in many of the biomedical publications play an important role in understanding the biological experiments and facts described within. Recent studies have shown that it is possible to integrate the information that is extracted from figures in classical document classification and retrieval tasks in order to improve their accuracy. One important observation about the figures included in biomedical publications is that they are often composed of multiple subfigures or panels, each describing different methodologies or results. The use of these multimodal figures is a common practice in bioscience, as experimental results are graphically validated via multiple methodologies or procedures. Thus, for a better use of multimodal figures in document classification or retrieval tasks, as well as for providing the evidence source for derived assertions, it is important to automatically segment multimodal figures into subfigures and panels. This is a challenging task, however, as different panels can contain similar objects (i.e., barcharts and linecharts) with multiple layouts. Also, certain types of biomedical figures are text-heavy (e.g., DNA sequences and protein sequences images) and they differ from traditional images. As a result, classical image segmentation techniques based on low-level image features, such as edges or color, are not directly applicable to robustly partition multimodal figures into single modal panels. In this paper, we describe a robust solution for automatically identifying and segmenting unimodal panels from a multimodal figure. Our framework starts by robustly harvesting figure-caption pairs from biomedical articles. We base our approach on the observation that the document layout can be used to identify encoded figures and figure boundaries within PDF files. Taking into consideration the document layout allows us to correctly extract figures from the PDF document and associate their corresponding caption. We combine pixel-level representations of the extracted images with information gathered from their corresponding captions to estimate the number of panels in the figure. Thus, our approach simultaneously identifies the number of panels and the layout of figures. In order to evaluate the approach described here, we applied our system on documents containing protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and compared the results against a gold standard that was annotated by biologists. Experimental results showed that our automatic figure segmentation approach surpasses pure caption-based and image-based approaches, achieving a 96.64% accuracy. To allow for efficient retrieval of information, as well as to provide the basis for integration into document classification and retrieval systems among other, we further developed a web-based interface that lets users easily retrieve panels containing the terms specified in the user queries. PMID:24565394

78 FR 63470 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Information Collection; Submission for OMB Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-24

... information collection titled, ``Annual Stress Test Reporting Template and Documentation for Covered Banks.... Email: [email protected] . Include ``Annual Stress Test Reporting Template and Documentation'' on the... information collection: Annual Stress Test Reporting Template and Documentation for Covered Banks With Total...

Virtual dissection and lifestyle of a 165 -million-year-old female polychelidan lobster.

PubMed

Jauvion, Clément; Audo, Denis; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Vannier, Jean

2016-03-01

Polychelidan lobsters are fascinating crustaceans that were known as fossils before being discovered in the deep-sea. They differ from other crustaceans by having four to five pairs of claws. Although recent palaeontological studies have clarified the systematics and phylogeny of the group, the biology of extant polychelidans and--first of all--their anatomy are poorly documented. Numerous aspects of the evolutionary history of the group remain obscure, in particular, how and when polychelidans colonized the deep-sea and became restricted to it. Surprisingly, the biology of extant polychelidans and the anatomy of all species, fossil and recent, are poorly documented. Here, X-ray microtomography (XTM), applied to an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the La Voulte Lagerstätte, reveals for the first time vital aspects of the external and internal morphology of Voulteryon parvulus (Eryonidae), a 165-million-year-old polychelidan: 1) its mouthparts (maxillae and maxillipeds), 2) its digestive tract and 3) its reproductive organs. Comparisons with dissected specimens clearly identify this specimen as a female with mature ovaries. This set of new information offers new insights into the feeding and reproductive habits of Mesozoic polychelidans. Contrasting with other Jurassic polychelidans that lived in shallow-water environments, V. parvulus spawned in, and probably inhabited, relatively deep-water environments, as do the survivors of the group. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Climate change and marine ecosystems (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chavez, F.

2013-12-01

Impacts of climate variability on marine ecosystems are pervasive. Those associated with the interannual El Ni~no phenomena are the most studied and better understood. Longer term variations associated with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO) have become more evident as the present-day instrumental record has increased in length. The biological (chlorophyll to fish) and chemical (nutrients, oxygen, carbon) consequences of these climate-driven variations are discussed with an emphasis on the eastern and equatorial Pacific. During warmer periods biological productivity in the eastern Pacific is reduced and larger mobile organisms dramatically change their abundance and/or geographic distributions. At the same time biological productivity in the western Pacific increases highlighting that present (and future) climate-driven changes in biological productivity and chemical distributions are not (and will not) be uniform. The presentation documents present day variations using global scale information from satellites and in situ databases, model simulations and data collected by intensive local time series. Paradoxically longer term changes associated with phenomena like the Little Ice Age (LIA), captured in the sedimentary record, do not seem to follow the same warm (poor), cold (productive) patterns in the eastern Pacific, in fact these are reversed. The presentation ends with speculation regarding long term changes associated with a warmer world.

Adverse Outcome Pathways – Organizing Toxicological ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The number of chemicals for which environmental regulatory decisions are required far exceeds the current capacity for toxicity testing. High throughput screening (HTS) commonly used for drug discovery has the potential to increase this capacity. The adverse outcome pathway (AOP) concept has emerged as a natural framework for connecting high throughput toxicity testing (HTT) results to potential impacts on humans and wildlife populations. An AOP consists of two main components that describe the biological mechanisms driving toxicity. Key events represent biological processes essential for causing the adverse outcome that are also measurable experimentally. Key event relationships capture the biological processes connecting the key events. Evidence documented for each KER based on measurements of the KEs can provide the confidence needed for extrapolating HTT from early key events to overt toxicity represented by later key events based on the AOP. The IPCS mode of action (MOA) framework incorporates information required for making a chemical-specific toxicity determination. Given the close relationship between the AOP and MOA frameworks, it is possible to assemble an MOA by incorporating HTT results, chemical properties including absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME), and an AOP describing the biological basis of toxicity thereby streamlining the process. While current applications focus on the assessment of risk for environmental chemicals,

Options for Online Undergraduate Courses in Biology at American Colleges and Universities.

PubMed

Varty, Alison K

I aimed to document the online undergraduate course supply in biology to evaluate how well biology educators are serving the diverse and growing population of online students. I documented online biology course offerings in the 2015-2016 academic year at 96 American colleges and universities. I quantified differences in variety, extent, and availability of courses offered by different kinds of academic institutions and characterized 149 online biology courses offered. Although there was no relationship between an institution's enrollment size and any measure of its online biology offerings, I found significantly more online biology course options at 2-year public compared with 4-year public and 4-year private schools. Courses offered for nonmajors, including students pursuing healthcare-related degrees, were three times as common as those intended for biology majors, who were more likely to be offered hybrid courses with face-to-face laboratories. These data indicate some deficiencies in online biology course options; options for students majoring in biology are limited at all types of institutions examined with a minority of 4-year institutions having any online options in biology. Significant investment of institutional resources in faculty training and technological support are necessary to develop online biology courses that will benefit a larger student population. © 2016 A. K. Varty. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Use of Symbols in Labeling. Final rule.

PubMed

2016-06-15

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or the Agency) is issuing this final rule revising its medical device and certain biological product labeling regulations to explicitly allow for the optional inclusion of graphical representations of information, or symbols, in labeling (including labels) without adjacent explanatory text (referred to in this document as "stand-alone symbols") if certain requirements are met. The final rule also specifies that the use of symbols, accompanied by adjacent explanatory text continues to be permitted. FDA is also revising its prescription device labeling regulations to allow the use of the symbol statement "Rx only" or "[rx] only" in the labeling for prescription devices.

Coast of Isla Cerralvo, Baja, California as seen from STS-62

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

Though it did not reproduce well, this photo gives scientific information to aid in studying all types of Earth's processes. It documents ocean features in the sunglint in the Gulf of California, off the Isla Cerralvo, southern Baja, California. Biological oils collect on the surface of the water and take the form of the currents. The sun reflects off the oily surface and shows current patterns, eddies and ship wakes. The small bright spot on the edge of the eddy is a ship dumping oily water from its bilges. The line in the brighter area is a light wind gust roughening the surface.

The remarkable vision of Robert Hooke (1635-1703): first observer of the microbial world.

PubMed

Gest, Howard

2005-01-01

Robert Hooke played important roles in the early development of the Royal Society of London. As Curator of Experiments of the Society, he became a pioneering microscopist, prolific inventor, astronomer, geologist, architect, and an effective surveyor of the City of London following the Great Fire of 1666. Hooke's Micrographia (1665) revealed the microscopic structures of numerous biological and inorganic objects and became an important source of information for later studies. Aside from the body of detailed observations reported and depicted in Micrographia, the Preface is in itself an extraordinary document that exhibits Hooke's fertile mind, philosophical insights, and rare ability to look into the future.

Exploratory Research and Development Fund, FY 1990

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-05-01

The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Exploratory R D Fund FY 1990 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the projects supported and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of an Exploratory R D Fund (ERF) planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, projection selection, implementation, and review. The research areas covered in this report are: Accelerator and fusion research; applied science; cell and molecular biology; chemical biodynamics; chemical sciences; earth sciences; engineering; information and computing sciences; materials sciences; nuclear science; physics and research medicinemore » and radiation biophysics.« less

Executive overview and introduction to the SMAP information system life-cycle and documentation standards

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

An overview of the five volume set of Information System Life-Cycle and Documentation Standards is provided with information on its use. The overview covers description, objectives, key definitions, structure and application of the standards, and document structure decisions. These standards were created to provide consistent NASA-wide structures for coordinating, controlling, and documenting the engineering of an information system (hardware, software, and operational procedures components) phase by phase.

78 FR 79708 - Notice of Receipt of Complaint; Solicitation of Comments Relating to the Public Interest

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-31

... accessed on the Commission's Electronic Document Information System (EDIS) at EDIS,\\1\\ and will be...-2000. \\1\\ Electronic Document Information System (EDIS): http://edis.usitc.gov . General information... the Commission's Electronic Document Information System (EDIS) at EDIS.\\3\\ Hearing-impaired persons...

NEONATAL VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING IN COCAINE-EXPOSED AND NON-EXPOSED INFANTS

PubMed Central

Singer, Lynn T.; Arendt, Robert; Fagan, Joseph; Minnes, Sonia; Salvator, Ann; Bolek, Tina; Becker, Michael

2014-01-01

This study investigated early neonatal visual preferences in 267 poly drug exposed neonates (131 cocaine-exposed and 136 non-cocaine exposed) whose drug exposure was documented through interviews and urine and meconium drug screens. Infants were given four visual recognition memory tasks comparing looking time to familiarized stimuli of lattices and rectangular shapes to novel stimuli of a schematic face and curved hourglass and bull’s eye forms. Cocaine-exposed infants performed more poorly, after consideration of confounding factors, with a relationship of severity of cocaine exposure to lower novelty score found for both self-report and biologic measures of exposure, Findings support theories which link prenatal cocaine exposure to deficits in information processing entailing attentional and arousal organizational systems. Neonatal visual discrimination and attention tasks should be further explored as potentially sensitive behavioral indicators of teratologic effects. PMID:25717215

openBIS ELN-LIMS: an open-source database for academic laboratories.

PubMed

Barillari, Caterina; Ottoz, Diana S M; Fuentes-Serna, Juan Mariano; Ramakrishnan, Chandrasekhar; Rinn, Bernd; Rudolf, Fabian

2016-02-15

The open-source platform openBIS (open Biology Information System) offers an Electronic Laboratory Notebook and a Laboratory Information Management System (ELN-LIMS) solution suitable for the academic life science laboratories. openBIS ELN-LIMS allows researchers to efficiently document their work, to describe materials and methods and to collect raw and analyzed data. The system comes with a user-friendly web interface where data can be added, edited, browsed and searched. The openBIS software, a user guide and a demo instance are available at https://openbis-eln-lims.ethz.ch. The demo instance contains some data from our laboratory as an example to demonstrate the possibilities of the ELN-LIMS (Ottoz et al., 2014). For rapid local testing, a VirtualBox image of the ELN-LIMS is also available. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Can the vector space model be used to identify biological entity activities?

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Biological systems are commonly described as networks of entity interactions. Some interactions are already known and integrate the current knowledge in life sciences. Others remain unknown for long periods of time and are frequently discovered by chance. In this work we present a model to predict these unknown interactions from a textual collection using the vector space model (VSM), a well known and established information retrieval model. We have extended the VSM ability to retrieve information using a transitive closure approach. Our objective is to use the VSM to identify the known interactions from the literature and construct a network. Based on interactions established in the network our model applies the transitive closure in order to predict and rank new interactions. Results We have tested and validated our model using a collection of patent claims issued from 1976 to 2005. From 266,528 possible interactions in our network, the model identified 1,027 known interactions and predicted 3,195 new interactions. Iterating the model according to patent issue dates, interactions found in a given past year were often confirmed by patent claims not in the collection and issued in more recent years. Most confirmation patent claims were found at the top 100 new interactions obtained from each subnetwork. We have also found papers on the Web which confirm new inferred interactions. For instance, the best new interaction inferred by our model relates the interaction between the adrenaline neurotransmitter and the androgen receptor gene. We have found a paper that reports the partial dependence of the antiapoptotic effect of adrenaline on androgen receptor. Conclusions The VSM extended with a transitive closure approach provides a good way to identify biological interactions from textual collections. Specifically for the context of literature-based discovery, the extended VSM contributes to identify and rank relevant new interactions even if these interactions occcur in only a few documents in the collection. Consequently, we have developed an efficient method for extracting and restricting the best potential results to consider as new advances in life sciences, even when indications of these results are not easily observed from a mass of documents. PMID:22369514

An overview of selected information storage and retrieval issues in computerized document processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dominick, Wayne D. (Editor); Ihebuzor, Valentine U.

1984-01-01

The rapid development of computerized information storage and retrieval techniques has introduced the possibility of extending the word processing concept to document processing. A major advantage of computerized document processing is the relief of the tedious task of manual editing and composition usually encountered by traditional publishers through the immense speed and storage capacity of computers. Furthermore, computerized document processing provides an author with centralized control, the lack of which is a handicap of the traditional publishing operation. A survey of some computerized document processing techniques is presented with emphasis on related information storage and retrieval issues. String matching algorithms are considered central to document information storage and retrieval and are also discussed.

Digital Accessible Knowledge and well-inventoried sites for birds in Mexico: baseline sites for measuring faunistic change.

PubMed

Peterson, A Townsend; Navarro-Sigüenza, Adolfo G; Martínez-Meyer, Enrique

2016-01-01

Faunal change is a basic and fundamental element in ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology, yet vanishingly few detailed studies have documented such changes rigorously over decadal time scales. This study responds to that gap in knowledge, providing a detailed analysis of Digital Accessible Knowledge of the birds of Mexico, designed to marshal DAK to identify sites that were sampled and inventoried rigorously prior to the beginning of major global climate change (1980). We accumulated DAK records for Mexican birds from all relevant online biodiversity data portals. After extensive cleaning steps, we calculated completeness indices for each 0.05° pixel across the country; we also detected 'hotspots' of sampling, and calculated completeness indices for these broader areas as well. Sites were designated as well-sampled if they had completeness indices above 80% and >200 associated DAK records. We identified 100 individual pixels and 20 broader 'hotspots' of sampling that were demonstrably well-inventoried prior to 1980. These sites are catalogued and documented to promote and enable resurvey efforts that can document events of avifaunal change (and non-change) across the country on decadal time scales. Development of repeated surveys for many sites across Mexico, and particularly for sites for which historical surveys document their avifaunas prior to major climate change processes, would pay rich rewards in information about distributional dynamics of Mexican birds.

Effects of increased nurses' workload on quality documentation of patient information at selected Primary Health Care facilities in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province.

PubMed

Shihundla, Rhulani C; Lebese, Rachel T; Maputle, Maria S

2016-05-13

Recording of information on multiple documents increases professional nurses' responsibilities and workload during working hours. There are multiple registers and books at Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in which a patient's information is to be recorded for different services during a visit to a health professional. Antenatal patients coming for the first visit must be recorded in the following documents: tick register; Prevention of Mother-ToChild Transmission (PMTCT) register; consent form for HIV and AIDS testing; HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) register (if tested positive for HIV and AIDS then this must be recorded in the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) wellness register); ART file with an accompanying single file, completion of which is time-consuming; tuberculosis (TB) suspects register; blood specimen register; maternity case record book and Basic Antenatal Care (BANC) checklist. Nurses forget to record information in some documents which leads to the omission of important data. Omitting information might lead to mismanagement of patients. Some of the documents have incomplete and inaccurate information. As PHC facilities in Vhembe District render twenty four hour services through a call system, the same nurses are expected to resume duty at 07:00 the following morning. They are expected to work effectively and when tired a nurse may record illegible information which may cause problems when the document is retrieved by the next person for continuity of care. The objective of this study was to investigate and describe the effects of increased nurses' workload on quality documentation of patient information at PHC facilities in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The study was conducted in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, where the effects of increased nurses' workload on quality documentation of information is currently experienced. The research design was explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature. The population consisted of all nurses who work at PHC facilities in Vhembe District. Purposive sampling was used to select nurses and three professional nurses were sampled from each PHC facility. An in-depth face-to-face interview was used to collect data using an interview guide. PHC facilities encountered several effects due to increased nurses' workload where incomplete patient information is documented. Unavailability of patient information was observed, whilst some documented information was found to be illegible, inaccurate and incomplete. Documentation of information at PHC facilities is an evidence of effective communication amongst professional nurses. There should always be active follow-up and mentoring of the nurses' documentation to ensure that information is accurately and fully documented in their respective facilities. Nurses find it difficult to cope with the increased workload associated with documenting patient information on the multiple records that are utilized at PHC facilities, leading to incomplete information. The number of nurses at facilities should be increased to reduce the increased workload.

Reconciling disparate information in continuity of care documents: Piloting a system to consolidate structured clinical documents.

PubMed

Hosseini, Masoud; Jones, Josette; Faiola, Anthony; Vreeman, Daniel J; Wu, Huanmei; Dixon, Brian E

2017-10-01

Due to the nature of information generation in health care, clinical documents contain duplicate and sometimes conflicting information. Recent implementation of Health Information Exchange (HIE) mechanisms in which clinical summary documents are exchanged among disparate health care organizations can proliferate duplicate and conflicting information. To reduce information overload, a system to automatically consolidate information across multiple clinical summary documents was developed for an HIE network. The system receives any number of Continuity of Care Documents (CCDs) and outputs a single, consolidated record. To test the system, a randomly sampled corpus of 522 CCDs representing 50 unique patients was extracted from a large HIE network. The automated methods were compared to manual consolidation of information for three key sections of the CCD: problems, allergies, and medications. Manual consolidation of 11,631 entries was completed in approximately 150h. The same data were automatically consolidated in 3.3min. The system successfully consolidated 99.1% of problems, 87.0% of allergies, and 91.7% of medications. Almost all of the inaccuracies were caused by issues involving the use of standardized terminologies within the documents to represent individual information entries. This study represents a novel, tested tool for de-duplication and consolidation of CDA documents, which is a major step toward improving information access and the interoperability among information systems. While more work is necessary, automated systems like the one evaluated in this study will be necessary to meet the informatics needs of providers and health systems in the future. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unveiling combinatorial regulation through the combination of ChIP information and in silico cis-regulatory module detection

PubMed Central

Sun, Hong; Guns, Tias; Fierro, Ana Carolina; Thorrez, Lieven; Nijssen, Siegfried; Marchal, Kathleen

2012-01-01

Computationally retrieving biologically relevant cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) is not straightforward. Because of the large number of candidates and the imperfection of the screening methods, many spurious CRMs are detected that are as high scoring as the biologically true ones. Using ChIP-information allows not only to reduce the regions in which the binding sites of the assayed transcription factor (TF) should be located, but also allows restricting the valid CRMs to those that contain the assayed TF (here referred to as applying CRM detection in a query-based mode). In this study, we show that exploiting ChIP-information in a query-based way makes in silico CRM detection a much more feasible endeavor. To be able to handle the large datasets, the query-based setting and other specificities proper to CRM detection on ChIP-Seq based data, we developed a novel powerful CRM detection method ‘CPModule’. By applying it on a well-studied ChIP-Seq data set involved in self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells, we demonstrate how our tool can recover combinatorial regulation of five known TFs that are key in the self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells. Additionally, we make a number of new predictions on combinatorial regulation of these five key TFs with other TFs documented in TRANSFAC. PMID:22422841

EMSL Outlook Review 2005

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Campbell, Allison A.

2005-04-01

The William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is a national user facility that contains state-of-the-art instrumentation and expert resources available for use by researchers from academia, industry, and the national laboratory system. The facility is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research Program, but the research conducted within the facility benefits many funding agencies, including other branches of DOE, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense. EMSL requires the continued funding and support of its stakeholders and clients to continue to grow its mission, build itsmore » reputation as a sought-after national user facility with cutting-edge capabilities, and attract high-profile users who will work to solve the most critical scientific challenges that affect DOE and the nation. In this vein, this document has been compiled to provide these stakeholders and clients with a review document that provides an abundance of information on EMSL’s history, current research activities, and proposed future direction.« less

76 FR 52669 - Report on the Performance of Drug and Biologics Firms in Conducting Postmarketing Requirements...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-23

...\\ Number of open PMRs 526 149. On-schedule open PMRs (see 477 (91%) 131 (88%). table 2 of this document). Off-schedule open PMRs (see 49 (9%) 18 (12%). table 3 of this document). Number of open PMCs \\2\\........ 473 307. On-schedule open PMCs (see 399 (84%) 236 (77%). table 4 of this document). Off-schedule open...

Informed consent document improvement does not increase patients' comprehension in biomedical research

PubMed Central

Paris, Adeline; Brandt, Christian; Cornu, Catherine; Maison, Patrick; Thalamas, Claire; Cracowski, Jean-Luc

2010-01-01

AIMS International guidelines on ethics in biomedical research require that the informed consent of all enrolled participants is obtained. A written document describing the research, the informed consent (IC) document, must be given to all participants by the investigator. Most IC documents are long, containing much information. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the modification of the IC document by a working group or systematic improvement in its lexicosyntactic readability can improve comprehension of the written information given to patients participating in biomedical research. METHODS One hundred and fifty-nine patients were randomized to read one of the three versions of the IC document: unchanged document, document modified using systematic improvement of lexicosyntactic readability and document modified by a working group. RESULTS Neither the improvement in the lexicosyntactic readability, nor the intervention of the working group significantly improved the score of objective comprehension for the subjects included in this study: it was 66.6 (95% confidence interval 64.0, 69.2) for the control group, 68.8 (66.2, 71.4) for the group with the document improved for lexicosyntactic readability and 69.2 (66.0, 72.4) for the group who read the document improved by the working group (P= 0.38). CONCLUSIONS We failed to show that improving IC document comprehension through a lexicosyntactic approach or by a working group leads to better comprehension. PMID:20233193

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of study-related patient information sheets in randomised neuro-oncology phase III-trials.

PubMed

Reinert, Christiane; Kremmler, Lukas; Burock, Susen; Bogdahn, Ulrich; Wick, Wolfgang; Gleiter, Christoph H; Koller, Michael; Hau, Peter

2014-01-01

In randomised controlled trials (RCTs), patient informed consent documents are an essential cornerstone of the study flow. However, these documents are often oversized in format and content. Clinical experience suggests that study information sheets are often not used as an aid to decision-making due to their complexity. We analysed nine patient informed consent documents from clinical neuro-oncological phase III-studies running at a German Brain Tumour Centre with the objective to investigate the quality of these documents. Text length, formal layout, readability, application of ethical and legal requirements, scientific evidence and social aspects were used as rating categories. Results were assessed quantitatively by two independents investigators and were depicted using net diagrams. All patient informed consent documents were of insufficient quality in all categories except that ethical and legal requirements were fulfilled. Notably, graduate levels were required to read and understand five of nine consent documents. Quality deficits were consistent between the individual study information texts. Irrespective of formal aspects, a document that is intended to inform and motivate patients to participate in a study needs to be well-structured and understandable. We therefore strongly mandate to re-design patient informed consent documents in a patient-friendly way. Specifically, standardised components with a scientific foundation should be provided that could be retrieved at various times, adapted to the mode of treatment and the patient's knowledge, and could weigh information dependent of the stage of treatment decision. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CaSPIAN: A Causal Compressive Sensing Algorithm for Discovering Directed Interactions in Gene Networks

PubMed Central

Emad, Amin; Milenkovic, Olgica

2014-01-01

We introduce a novel algorithm for inference of causal gene interactions, termed CaSPIAN (Causal Subspace Pursuit for Inference and Analysis of Networks), which is based on coupling compressive sensing and Granger causality techniques. The core of the approach is to discover sparse linear dependencies between shifted time series of gene expressions using a sequential list-version of the subspace pursuit reconstruction algorithm and to estimate the direction of gene interactions via Granger-type elimination. The method is conceptually simple and computationally efficient, and it allows for dealing with noisy measurements. Its performance as a stand-alone platform without biological side-information was tested on simulated networks, on the synthetic IRMA network in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and on data pertaining to the human HeLa cell network and the SOS network in E. coli. The results produced by CaSPIAN are compared to the results of several related algorithms, demonstrating significant improvements in inference accuracy of documented interactions. These findings highlight the importance of Granger causality techniques for reducing the number of false-positives, as well as the influence of noise and sampling period on the accuracy of the estimates. In addition, the performance of the method was tested in conjunction with biological side information of the form of sparse “scaffold networks”, to which new edges were added using available RNA-seq or microarray data. These biological priors aid in increasing the sensitivity and precision of the algorithm in the small sample regime. PMID:24622336

An Audit of Nursing Documentation at Three Public Hospitals in Jamaica.

PubMed

Lindo, Jascinth; Stennett, Rosain; Stephenson-Wilson, Kayon; Barrett, Kerry Ann; Bunnaman, Donna; Anderson-Johnson, Pauline; Waugh-Brown, Veronica; Wint, Yvonne

2016-09-01

Nursing documentation provides an important indicator of the quality of care provided for hospitalized patients. This study assessed the quality of nursing documentation on medical wards at three hospitals in Jamaica. This cross-sectional study audited a multilevel stratified sample of 245 patient records from three type B hospitals. An audit instrument which assessed nursing documentation of client history, biological data, client assessment, nursing standards, discharge planning, and teaching facilitated data collection. Descriptive statistics were conducted using IBM SPSS, Version 19 (IBM Inc., Armonk, NY, USA). Records from three hospitals (Hospital 1, n = 119, 48.6%; Hospital 2, n = 56, 22.9%; Hospital 3, n = 70, 28.6%) were audited. Documented evidence of the patient's chief complaint (81.6%), history of present illness (78.8%), past health (79.2%), and family health (11.0%) were noted; however, less than a third of the dockets audited recorded adequate assessment data (e.g., occupation or living accommodations of patients). The audit noted 90% of records had a physical assessment completed within 24 hr of admission and entries timed, dated, and signed by a nurse. Less than 5% of dockets had evidence of patient teaching, and 13.5% had documented evidence of discharge planning conducted within 72 hr of admission. This study highlights the weakness in nursing documentation and the need for increased training and continued monitoring of nursing documentation at the hospitals studied. Additional research regarding the factors that affect nursing documentation practice could prove useful. The study provides valuable information for the development of strategic risk management programs geared at improving the quality of care delivered to clients and presents an opportunity for nurse leaders to implement structured interventions geared at improving nursing documentation in Jamaica. In light of Jamaica's epidemiologic transition of chronic diseases, gaps in nurses' documentation of client assessment, patient teaching, and discharge planning should be addressed with urgency. Patient teaching and discharge planning enable the clients to participate more effectively in their health maintenance process. © 2016 Sigma Theta Tau International.

21 CFR 870.3450 - Vascular graft prosthesis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... terephthalate and polytetrafluoroethylene, and it may be coated with a biological coating, such as albumin or... animal origin, including human umbilical cords. (b) Classification. Class II (special controls). The special control for this device is the FDA guidance document entitled “Guidance Document for Vascular...

21 CFR 870.3450 - Vascular graft prosthesis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... terephthalate and polytetrafluoroethylene, and it may be coated with a biological coating, such as albumin or... animal origin, including human umbilical cords. (b) Classification. Class II (special controls). The special control for this device is the FDA guidance document entitled “Guidance Document for Vascular...

21 CFR 870.3450 - Vascular graft prosthesis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... terephthalate and polytetrafluoroethylene, and it may be coated with a biological coating, such as albumin or... animal origin, including human umbilical cords. (b) Classification. Class II (special controls). The special control for this device is the FDA guidance document entitled “Guidance Document for Vascular...

THE STRESSOR IDENTIFICATION GUIDANCE DOCUMENT

EPA Science Inventory

THE STRESSOR IDENTIFICATION GUIDANCE DOCUMENT

Susan M. Cormier, ORD/NRMRL, Susan B. Norton, ORD/NCEA, Glenn W. Suter, II ORD/NCEA, William Swietlik, OW lOST

Science Question(s):

MYP Science Question: How can multiple and possibly related causes of biological ...

21 CFR 870.3450 - Vascular graft prosthesis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... terephthalate and polytetrafluoroethylene, and it may be coated with a biological coating, such as albumin or... animal origin, including human umbilical cords. (b) Classification. Class II (special controls). The special control for this device is the FDA guidance document entitled “Guidance Document for Vascular...

Satisfying the needs of Japanese cancer patients: a comparative study of detailed and standard informed consent documents.

PubMed

Sato, Keiko; Watanabe, Toru; Katsumata, Noriyuki; Sato, Tosiya; Ohashi, Yasuo

2014-02-01

Simplified informed consent forms have been successful in improving patient satisfaction and decreasing patient anxiety. However, unsolved problems remain about whether these documents improve comprehension and satisfaction of patients with standard literacy skills. s To investigate whether a detailed consent form explaining the key elements of informed consent, in comparison to a standard consent form, would increase the comprehension and satisfaction of adult cancer patients. Patients who were eligible for the National Surgical Adjuvant Study of Breast Cancer (protocol 01(N-SAS/BC-01)) were randomly selected to receive one of the following four versions: detailed document with graphics, detailed document without graphics, standard document with graphics, and standard document without graphics. The forms were written in plain language from the patients' point of view. A total of 85 patients were administered questionnaires via interview to assess levels of comprehension, satisfaction, and anxiety. Patients demonstrated a strong understanding of information regarding treatment and research. Patient comprehension did not differ significantly between the detailed document arms and the standard document arms. Patient satisfaction level increased according to the amount of information presented in the consent form; most patients preferred the detailed document with graphics. Anxiety and accrual rates in the parent study were not affected by informed consent procedures. Findings were limited to adults who had standard literacy skills and may not be generalizable to a population with lower literacy. Informed consent can be a significant experience for a population with standard literacy skills, as long as the document is easily comprehensible. Such information should be provided in a format that corresponds with patient needs, education levels, and preferences.

77 FR 65706 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for the Return of Original Documents, Form...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-30

...-0100] Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for the Return of Original Documents, Form... Collection. (2) Title of the Form/Collection: Request for the Return of Original Documents. (3) Agency form... obtain original document(s) contained in an alien file. (5) An estimate of the total number of...

77 FR 47426 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for the Return of Original Documents, Form...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-08

...-0100] Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for the Return of Original Documents, Form.... (2) Title of the Form/Collection: Request for the Return of Original Documents. (3) Agency form... obtain original document(s) contained in an alien file. (5) An estimate of the total number of...

An updated look at document security: from initiation to storage or shredder.

PubMed

McConnell, Charles R

2014-01-01

In these days of close attention to security of information handled electronically, there is often a tendency to overlook the security of hard-copy documents. Document security can involve many areas of business, but the health care department manager's concerns are primarily for patient records and employee documentation. Document security is closely related to growing concerns for individual privacy; guidelines are furnished for protecting employee privacy by separating retention practices for business information from personal information. Sensitive documentation requires rules and procedures for processing, retaining, accessing, storing, and eventually destroying. Also, documents that are missing or incomplete at times present unique problems for the organization. The department manager is provided with some simple rules for safeguarding employee and patient documentation.

7 CFR 1423.6 - Financial information documentation requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... CORPORATION APPROVED WAREHOUSES § 1423.6 Financial information documentation requirements. To be approved under this part, a warehouse operator shall submit a current financial statement at the time of... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Financial information documentation requirements...

47 CFR 6.11 - Information, documentation, and training.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Information, documentation, and training. 6.11 Section 6.11 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION GENERAL ACCESS TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS... Obligations-What Must Covered Entities Do? § 6.11 Information, documentation, and training. (a) Manufacturers...

Critical Infrastructure References: Documented Literature Search

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

the literature search document can be a resource for DRDC and external partners. Future plans: At present, the electronic copies of the reference...Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C. 2000, c. 5) Title: Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (S.C...2011 Overview: • "An Act to support and promote electronic commerce by protecting personal information that is collected, used or disclosed in

Adverse outcome pathway (AOP) development and evaluation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Adverse Outcome Pathway provides a construct for assembling mechanistic information at different levels of biological organization in a form designed to support regulatory decision making. In particular, it frames the link between molecular and cellular events that can be measured in high throughput toxicity testing and the organism or population-level events that are commonly relevant in defining risk. Recognizing the importance of this emerging framework, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched a program to support the development, documentation and consideration of AOPs by the international community in 2012 (http://www.oecd.org/chemicalsafety/testing/adverse-outcome-pathways-molecular-screening-and-toxicogenomics.htm). In 2014, a handbook (https://aopkb.org/common/AOP_Handbook.pdf) was developed to guide users in the documentation and evaluation of AOPs and their entry into an official knowledgebase. The handbook draws on longstanding experience in consideration of mechanistic data (e.g., mode of action analysis) to inform risk assessment. To further assist users, a training program was developed by members of the OECD Extended Advisory Group to teach users the basic principles of AOP development and the best practices as outlined in the OECD AOP handbook. Training sessions began in early 2015, and this course will provide training for interested SOT scientists. Following this course, all participants will be familiar w

Forensic science information needs of patrol officers: The perceptions of the patrol officers, their supervisors and administrators, detectives, and crime scene technicians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aydogdu, Eyup

Thanks to the rapid developments in science and technology in recent decades, especially in the past two decades, forensic sciences have been making invaluable contributions to criminal justice systems. With scientific evaluation of physical evidence, policing has become more effective in fighting crime and criminals. On the other hand, law enforcement personnel have made mistakes during the detection, protection, collection, and evaluation of physical evidence. Law enforcement personnel, especially patrol officers, have been criticized for ignoring or overlooking physical evidence at crime scenes. This study, conducted in a large American police department, was aimed to determine the perceptions of patrol officers, their supervisors and administrators, detectives, and crime scene technicians about the forensic science needs of patrol officers. The results showed no statistically significant difference among the perceptions of the said groups. More than half of the respondents perceived that 14 out of 16 areas of knowledge were important for patrol officers to have: crime scene documentation, evidence collection, interviewing techniques, firearm evidence, latent and fingerprint evidence, blood evidence, death investigation information, DNA evidence, document evidence, electronically recorded evidence, trace evidence, biological fluid evidence, arson and explosive evidence, and impression evidence. Less than half of the respondents perceived forensic entomology and plant evidence as important for patrol officers.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wike, L; Doug Martin, D; Eric Nelson, E

The SRS Ecology Environmental Information Document (EEID) provides a source of information on the ecology of Savannah River Site (SRS). The SRS is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)--owned property on the upper Atlantic Coastal Plain of South Carolina, centered approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The entire site was designated a National Environmental Research Park in 1972 by the Atomic Energy Commission, the predecessor of DOE. This document summarizes and synthesizes ecological research and monitoring conducted on the three main types of ecosystems found at SRS: terrestrial, wetland and aquatic. It also summarizes the available informationmore » on the threatened and endangered species found on the Savannah River Site. SRS is located along the Savannah River and encompasses an area of 80,267 hectares (310 square miles) in three South Carolina counties. It contains diverse habitats, flora, and fauna. Habitats include upland terrestrial areas, wetlands, streams, reservoirs, and the adjacent Savannah River. These diverse habitats support a variety of plants and animals, including many commercially or recreationally valuable species and several rare, threatened, or endangered species. Soils are the basic terrestrial resource, influencing the development of terrestrial biological communities. Many different soils exist on the SRS, from hydric to well-drained, and from sand to clay. In general, SRS soils are predominantly well-drained loamy sands.« less

10 CFR 1703.111 - Requests for privileged treatment of documents submitted to the board.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... competitive position of the owner of the information, taking into account the value of the information to the... INFORMATION AND REQUESTS § 1703.111 Requests for privileged treatment of documents submitted to the board. (a... some or all of the information contained in the document is exempt from the mandatory public disclosure...

Chemical weapons: documented use and compounds on the horizon.

PubMed

Bismuth, Chantal; Borron, Stephen W; Baud, Frederic J; Barriot, Patrick

2004-04-01

Man's inhumanity to man is expressed through a plethora of tools of modern warfare and terror. The use of chemical and biological weapons with the goals of assault, demoralisation and lethality has been documented in recent history, both on the battlefield and in urban terror against civilians. A general review of a few of the currently employed chemical weapons and biological toxins, along with a look at potential chemical weapons and tools of counter-terrorism, follows. While these weapons are fearsome elements, the dangers should be viewed in the context of the widespread availability and efficacy of conventional weapons.

Biology Curriculum Support Document.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction, Raleigh.

This biology curriculum supplement includes the North Carolina Standard Course of Study Goals, helpful resources, and suggested activities supported by inquiry-based laboratory activities. Contents include a detailed description of content which provides the goals and standards being sough), a materials list for inquiry support labs and…

National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) | Information Center

Science.gov Websites

National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Contact Information Website: http://www.nbii.gov/ The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) is a broad, collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation's biological resources. The NBII links diverse, high

A-MADMAN: Annotation-based microarray data meta-analysis tool

PubMed Central

Bisognin, Andrea; Coppe, Alessandro; Ferrari, Francesco; Risso, Davide; Romualdi, Chiara; Bicciato, Silvio; Bortoluzzi, Stefania

2009-01-01

Background Publicly available datasets of microarray gene expression signals represent an unprecedented opportunity for extracting genomic relevant information and validating biological hypotheses. However, the exploitation of this exceptionally rich mine of information is still hampered by the lack of appropriate computational tools, able to overcome the critical issues raised by meta-analysis. Results This work presents A-MADMAN, an open source web application which allows the retrieval, annotation, organization and meta-analysis of gene expression datasets obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus. A-MADMAN addresses and resolves several open issues in the meta-analysis of gene expression data. Conclusion A-MADMAN allows i) the batch retrieval from Gene Expression Omnibus and the local organization of raw data files and of any related meta-information, ii) the re-annotation of samples to fix incomplete, or otherwise inadequate, metadata and to create user-defined batches of data, iii) the integrative analysis of data obtained from different Affymetrix platforms through custom chip definition files and meta-normalization. Software and documentation are available on-line at . PMID:19563634

Review of wildlife resources of Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Breininger, David R.

1989-01-01

Wildlife resources are reviewed for purposes of developing a Base Biological Monitoring Program (BMP) for Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in Santa Barbara County, California. The review and recommendations were prepared by review of applicable scientific literature and environmental documents for VAFB, discussing information needs with natural resource management professionals at VAFB, and observations of base field conditions. This process found that there are 29 federally listed vertebrates (endangered, threatened, or Category 2) that occur or may occur in the vicinity of VAFB. There are also 63 other state listed or regionally declining species that may occur in the vicinity of VAFB. Habitats of VAFB represent a very valuable environmental resource for rare and declining wildlife in California. However, little information is available on VAFB wildlife resources other than lists of species that occur or are expected to occur. Recommendations are presented to initiate a long-term wildlife monitoring program at VAFB to provide information for environmental impact assessment and wise land use planning.

GlycoRDF: an ontology to standardize glycomics data in RDF

PubMed Central

Ranzinger, Rene; Aoki-Kinoshita, Kiyoko F.; Campbell, Matthew P.; Kawano, Shin; Lütteke, Thomas; Okuda, Shujiro; Shinmachi, Daisuke; Shikanai, Toshihide; Sawaki, Hiromichi; Toukach, Philip; Matsubara, Masaaki; Yamada, Issaku; Narimatsu, Hisashi

2015-01-01

Motivation: Over the last decades several glycomics-based bioinformatics resources and databases have been created and released to the public. Unfortunately, there is no common standard in the representation of the stored information or a common machine-readable interface allowing bioinformatics groups to easily extract and cross-reference the stored information. Results: An international group of bioinformatics experts in the field of glycomics have worked together to create a standard Resource Description Framework (RDF) representation for glycomics data, focused on glycan sequences and related biological source, publications and experimental data. This RDF standard is defined by the GlycoRDF ontology and will be used by database providers to generate common machine-readable exports of the data stored in their databases. Availability and implementation: The ontology, supporting documentation and source code used by database providers to generate standardized RDF are available online (http://www.glycoinfo.org/GlycoRDF/). Contact: rene@ccrc.uga.edu or kkiyoko@soka.ac.jp Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:25388145

Information retrieval for a document writing assistance program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Corral, M.L.; Simon, A.; Julien, C.

This paper presents an Information Retrieval mechanism to facilitate the writing of technical documents in the space domain. To address the need for document exchange between partners in a given project, documents are standardized. The writing of a new document requires the re-use of existing documents or parts thereof. These parts can be identified by {open_quotes}tagging{close_quotes} the logical structure of documents and restored by means of a purpose-built Information Retrieval System (I.R.S.). The I.R.S. implemented in our writing assistance tool uses natural language queries and is based on a statistical linguistic approach which is enhanced by the use of documentmore » structure module.« less

Country Information Available in Government Documents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richey, Debora J., Comp.

This annotated bibliography lists federal and international documents at the library of California State University at Fullerton which provide information on foreign countries. Documents are organized under the following subject headings: (1) general information; (2) aging; (3) agriculture/food supply and consumption; (4) children; (5) civil…

76 FR 39416 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Documentation Requirements for Articles Entered Under...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-06

... Activities: Documentation Requirements for Articles Entered Under Various Special Tariff Treatment Provisions... accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act: Documentation Requirements for Articles Entered Under Various... techniques or other forms of information. Title: Documentation Requirements for Articles Entered Under...

Vascular Plants of the Hanford Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sackschewsky, Michael R.; Downs, Janelle L.

This report provides an updated listing of the vascular plants present on and near the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site. This document is an update of a listing of plants prepared by Sackschewdky et al. in 1992. Since that time there has been a significant increase in the botanical knowledge of the Hanford Site. The present listing is based on an examination of herbarium collections held at PNNL, at WSU-Tri Cities, WSU-Pullman, Bringham Young University, and The University of Washington, and on examination of ecological literature derived from the Hanford and Benton county areas over the last 100 years.more » Based on the most recent analysis, there are approximately 725 different plant species that have been documented on or around the Hanford Site. This represents an approximate 20% increase in the number of species reported within Sackschewsky et al. (1992). This listing directly supports DOE and contractor efforts to assess the potential impacts of Hanford Site operations on the biological environment, including impacts to rare habitats and to species listed as endangered or\\ threatened. This document includes a listing of plants currently listed as endangered, threatened, or otherwise of concern to the Washington Natural Heritage Program or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as those that are currently listed as noxious weeds by the State of Washington. Also provided is an overview of how plants on the Hanford Site can be used by people. This information may be useful in developing risk assessment models, and as supporting information for clean-up level and remediation decisions.« less

42 CFR 416.52 - Conditions for coverage-Patient admission, assessment and discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... completion of the most recently documented medical history and physical assessment, including documentation of any allergies to drugs and biologicals. (3) The patient's medical history and physical assessment... have a comprehensive medical history and physical assessment completed by a physician (as defined in...

42 CFR 416.52 - Conditions for coverage-Patient admission, assessment and discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... completion of the most recently documented medical history and physical assessment, including documentation of any allergies to drugs and biologicals. (3) The patient's medical history and physical assessment... have a comprehensive medical history and physical assessment completed by a physician (as defined in...

42 CFR 416.52 - Conditions for coverage-Patient admission, assessment and discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... completion of the most recently documented medical history and physical assessment, including documentation of any allergies to drugs and biologicals. (3) The patient's medical history and physical assessment... have a comprehensive medical history and physical assessment completed by a physician (as defined in...

Primary restoration : guidance document for natural resource damage assessment under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-08-01

The purpose of the [document] is to review the state of the art for restoration of certain habitats and biological natural resources and evaluate potential restoration actions following injury to natural resources resulting from the discharge of oil.

77 FR 72829 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16305

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-06

... Toxicology, Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health, University of Southern Maine, 478 Science... turtle biological samples for scientific research purposes. ADDRESSES: The permit and related documents... consistent with the purposes and policies set forth in section 2 of the ESA. Documents may be reviewed in the...

A proposal for a computer-based framework of support for public health in the management of biological incidents: the Czech Republic experience.

PubMed

Bures, Vladimír; Otcenásková, Tereza; Cech, Pavel; Antos, Karel

2012-11-01

Biological incidents jeopardising public health require decision-making that consists of one dominant feature: complexity. Therefore, public health decision-makers necessitate appropriate support. Based on the analogy with business intelligence (BI) principles, the contextual analysis of the environment and available data resources, and conceptual modelling within systems and knowledge engineering, this paper proposes a general framework for computer-based decision support in the case of a biological incident. At the outset, the analysis of potential inputs to the framework is conducted and several resources such as demographic information, strategic documents, environmental characteristics, agent descriptors and surveillance systems are considered. Consequently, three prototypes were developed, tested and evaluated by a group of experts. Their selection was based on the overall framework scheme. Subsequently, an ontology prototype linked with an inference engine, multi-agent-based model focusing on the simulation of an environment, and expert-system prototypes were created. All prototypes proved to be utilisable support tools for decision-making in the field of public health. Nevertheless, the research revealed further issues and challenges that might be investigated by both public health focused researchers and practitioners.

Sucrose metabolism gene families and their biological functions

PubMed Central

Jiang, Shu-Ye; Chi, Yun-Hua; Wang, Ji-Zhou; Zhou, Jun-Xia; Cheng, Yan-Song; Zhang, Bao-Lan; Ma, Ali; Vanitha, Jeevanandam; Ramachandran, Srinivasan

2015-01-01

Sucrose, as the main product of photosynthesis, plays crucial roles in plant development. Although studies on general metabolism pathway were well documented, less information is available on the genome-wide identification of these genes, their expansion and evolutionary history as well as their biological functions. We focused on four sucrose metabolism related gene families including sucrose synthase, sucrose phosphate synthase, sucrose phosphate phosphatase and UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase. These gene families exhibited different expansion and evolutionary history as their host genomes experienced differentiated rates of the whole genome duplication, tandem and segmental duplication, or mobile element mediated gene gain and loss. They were evolutionarily conserved under purifying selection among species and expression divergence played important roles for gene survival after expansion. However, we have detected recent positive selection during intra-species divergence. Overexpression of 15 sorghum genes in Arabidopsis revealed their roles in biomass accumulation, flowering time control, seed germination and response to high salinity and sugar stresses. Our studies uncovered the molecular mechanisms of gene expansion and evolution and also provided new insight into the role of positive selection in intra-species divergence. Overexpression data revealed novel biological functions of these genes in flowering time control and seed germination under normal and stress conditions. PMID:26616172

A comprehensive review and update on the biologic treatment of adult noninfectious uveitis: part II.

PubMed

Lee, Kyungmin; Bajwa, Asima; Freitas-Neto, Clovis A; Metzinger, Jamie Lynne; Wentworth, Bailey A; Foster, C Stephen

2014-11-01

Treatment of adult, noninfectious uveitis remains a major challenge for ophthalmologists around the world, especially in regard to recalcitrant cases. It is reported to comprise approximately 10% of preventable blindness in the USA. The cause of uveitis can be idiopathic or associated with infectious and systemic disorders. The era of biologic medical therapies provides new options for patients with otherwise treatment-resistant inflammatory eye disease. This two-part review gives a comprehensive overview of the existing medical treatment options for patients with adult, noninfectious uveitis, as well as important advances for the treatment ocular inflammation. Part I covers classic immunomodulation and latest information on corticosteroid therapy. In part II, emerging therapies are discussed, including biologic response modifiers, experimental treatments and ongoing clinical studies for uveitis. The hazard of chronic corticosteroid use in the treatment of adult, noninfectious uveitis is well documented. Corticosteroid-sparing therapies, which offer a very favorable risk-benefit profile when administered properly, should be substituted. Although nothing is currently approved for on-label use in this indication, many therapies, through either translation or novel basic science research, have the potential to fill the currently exposed gaps.

Systematics and biology of Xylocopa subgenus Schonnherria (Hymenoptera, Apidae) in Argentina

PubMed Central

Lucia, Mariano; Gonzalez, Victor H.; Abrahamovich, Alberto H.

2015-01-01

Abstract Biological information on the species of the large carpenter bee Xylocopa subgenus Schonnherria occurring in Argentina is revised. Based on the appraisal of museum specimens, the study of type material, and field surveys conducted across 15 provinces between 2007 and 2011, the following seven species are recognized for the country: Xylocopa bambusae Schrottky, Xylocopa chrysopoda Schrottky, Xylocopa macrops Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, Xylocopa simillima Smith Xylocopa splendidula Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, Xylocopa pulchra Smith, and Xylocopa viridis Smith. Previous literature records of Xylocopa dimidiata Latreille, Xylocopa subcyanea Pérez, and Xylocopa varians Smith for the province of Misiones appear to have been misidentified specimens, although the presence of these species in Argentina cannot be entirely ruled out given the proximity of this province to Brazil and Paraguay where they occur; Xylocopa boops Maidl was described from a male specimen with unusually enlarged eyes and is newly synonymized under Xylocopa macrops. Males and females of all species are diagnosed, described, and figured, including details of the male genitalia. Taxonomic comments, data on the geographical distribution and nesting substrates, and identification keys to all Argentinean species of Schonnherria are provided. The nesting biologies of Xylocopa splendidula and Xylocopa viridis are documented. PMID:26798288

Development and Validation of a Rubric for Diagnosing Students’ Experimental Design Knowledge and Difficulties

PubMed Central

Dasgupta, Annwesa P.; Anderson, Trevor R.

2014-01-01

It is essential to teach students about experimental design, as this facilitates their deeper understanding of how most biological knowledge was generated and gives them tools to perform their own investigations. Despite the importance of this area, surprisingly little is known about what students actually learn from designing biological experiments. In this paper, we describe a rubric for experimental design (RED) that can be used to measure knowledge of and diagnose difficulties with experimental design. The development and validation of the RED was informed by a literature review and empirical analysis of undergraduate biology students’ responses to three published assessments. Five areas of difficulty with experimental design were identified: the variable properties of an experimental subject; the manipulated variables; measurement of outcomes; accounting for variability; and the scope of inference appropriate for experimental findings. Our findings revealed that some difficulties, documented some 50 yr ago, still exist among our undergraduate students, while others remain poorly investigated. The RED shows great promise for diagnosing students’ experimental design knowledge in lecture settings, laboratory courses, research internships, and course-based undergraduate research experiences. It also shows potential for guiding the development and selection of assessment and instructional activities that foster experimental design. PMID:26086658

Directory of Unesco Information Services: Library, Archives, and Documentation Centres = Repertoire des Services d'information de l'Unesco: bibliotheque, archives et centres de documentation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). Div. of Unesco Information Services.

Although primarily a directory of Unesco documentation centers and information units, this guide also provides information on the Main Library and the Unesco Archives. The listing for each of the nine centers includes information on any subdivisions of the center: (1) Bureau for Co-ordination of Operational Activities (BAO); (2) Culture and…

MATLAB Algorithms for Rapid Detection and Embedding of Palindrome and Emordnilap Electronic Watermarks in Simulated Chemical and Biological Image Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-11-16

MATLAB Algorithms for Rapid Detection and Embedding of Palindrome and Emordnilap Electronic Watermarks in Simulated Chemical and Biological Image ...and Emordnilap Electronic Watermarks in Simulated Chemical and Biological Image Data 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT...Conference on Chemical and Biological Defense Research. Held in Hunt Valley, Maryland on 15-17 November 2004., The original document contains color images

32 CFR 219.117 - Documentation of informed consent.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Documentation of informed consent. 219.117 Section 219.117 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (CONTINUED) MISCELLANEOUS PROTECTION OF HUMAN SUBJECTS § 219.117 Documentation of informed consent. (a...

39 CFR 3007.2 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... information, documents, and things in its possession or control, or any information, documents, and things... under title 39 of the U.S. Code. Information, documents, and things the Postal Service may be required to provide, include, but are not limited to, paper hard copy and electronically stored data and...

Assurance specification documentation standard and Data Item Descriptions (DID). Volume of the information system life-cycle and documentation standards, volume 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callender, E. David; Steinbacher, Jody

1989-01-01

This is the fourth of five volumes on Information System Life-Cycle and Documentation Standards. This volume provides a well organized, easily used standard for assurance documentation for information systems and software, hardware, and operational procedures components, and related processes. The specifications are developed in conjunction with the corresponding management plans specifying the assurance activities to be performed.

Assessment of Beddown Alternatives for the F-35

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

For More Information Visit RAND at www.rand.org Explore the RAND Corporation View document details Support RAND Purchase this document Browse Reports...copyright law. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information ...HOMELAND SECURITY Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to

Herpetofauna of the Beni Biological Station Biosphere Reserve, Amazonian Bolivia: Additional information, and current knowledge in context

USGS Publications Warehouse

Middendorf, G.; Reynolds, R.; Herrera-MacBryde, Olga; Dallmeier, Francisco; MacBryde, Bruce; Cominskey, James A.; Miranda, Carmen

2000-01-01

Previous collections in the Departamento del Beni in tropical Bolivia only hinted at high levels of herpetological biodiversity (Fugler 1986, 1988; de la Riva 1990a; Fugler and de la Riva 1990). Fieldwork (totaling 48 days) in July-August 1988 and September 1987 (dry seasons) and November-December 1990 (wet season) has resulted in collection and identification of 401 amphibian and reptilian specimens from the general area of the Beni Biological Station's (EBB) headquarters at El Porvenir. These collections represent 33 amphibian and 17 reptilian species in 29 genera (14 amphibian, 15 reptilian). The inventory of herpetofauna scientifically documented to occur in the Departamento del Beni is considered to have been increased by 6 amphibian and 10 reptilian species. Specimens that could not be definitively identified (reflecting taxonomic uncertainty and/or probably species new to science) include 3 amphibian species (anurans) and 2 reptilian species (snakes). The EBB harbors the richest savanna for anuran species known in South America.

Considerations for the use of human participants in vector biology research: a tool for investigators and regulators.

PubMed

Achee, Nicole L; Youngblood, Laura; Bangs, Michael J; Lavery, James V; James, Stephanie

2015-02-01

A thorough search of the existing literature has revealed that there are currently no published recommendations or guidelines for the interpretation of US regulations on the use of human participants in vector biology research (VBR). An informal survey of vector biologists has indicated that issues related to human participation in vector research have been largely debated by academic, national, and local Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the countries where the research is being conducted, and that interpretations and subsequent requirements made by these IRBs have varied widely. This document is intended to provide investigators and corresponding scientific and ethical review committee members an introduction to VBR methods involving human participation and the legal and ethical framework in which such studies are conducted with a focus on US Federal Regulations. It is also intended to provide a common perspective for guiding researchers, IRB members, and other interested parties (i.e., public health officials conducting routine entomological surveillance) in the interpretation of human subjects regulations pertaining to VBR.

Biological Correlates of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

PubMed Central

Pinto, Lavinia A.; Sullivan, Eric L.; Rosenbaum, Alan; Wyngarden, Nicole; Umhau, John C.; Miller, Mark W.; Taft, Casey T.

2013-01-01

An extensive literature documents biological correlates of general aggression, but there has been less focus on biological correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV). The purpose of this review is to summarize the research literature to date that has reported on biological factors in IPV perpetration. We review the existing literature on four domains of biological processes that have been examined with respect to IPV perpetration, including: head injury and neuropsychology; psychophysiology; neurochemistry, metabolism and endocrinology; and genetics. We critique the literature, discuss the clinical relevance of research findings, and provide some recommendations for future biologically-oriented IPV research. PMID:23393423

Sample Collection Information Document for Pathogens and ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report This Sample Collection Information Document (SCID) provides general information for use by EPA and its contractors when collecting samples during environmental remediation following a homeland security event. The document is intended to be used with SAM, and to provide information needed for collection of samples to be analyzed using the specific methods and procedures listed in SAM Revision 5.0.*

Sample Collection Information Document for Chemical & ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report This Sample Collection Information Document (SCID) provides general information for use by EPA and its contractors when collecting samples during environmental remediation following a contamination incident. The document is intended to be used with SAM, and to provide information needed for collection of samples to be analyzed using the specific methods and procedures listed in SAM 2012 (EPA/600/R-12/555).

7 CFR 1484.71 - Are Cooperator documents subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... the Freedom of Information Act? 1484.71 Section 1484.71 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of... Compliance § 1484.71 Are Cooperator documents subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act? (a) Documents submitted to FAS by Cooperators are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act...

Cocaine Use among the College Age Group: Biological and Psychological Effects--Clinical and Laboratory Research Findings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholi, Armand M., Jr.

1984-01-01

Knowledge about cocaine's effect on the human mind and body is limited and not clearly documented. This article discusses various biological and psychological effects of the drug based on clinical and laboratory studies of man. (Author/DF)

Mobilizing the rhizosphere microbiome to enhance orchard system resilience

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Soils possess a wealth of biological resources that can be harnessed for use in the optimization of plant performance in agroecosystems. Functional biological control outcomes, beyond those realized based upon introduction of synthetic microbiomes, have been documented in a variety of instances, an...

Brown spot needle disease--biology and control in Scotch pine plantations.

Treesearch

Darroll D. Skilling; Thomas H. Nicholls

1975-01-01

An application section briefly describes and illustrates the symptoms, hosts, life history of the brown spot needlecast fungus (Scirrhia acicola), and recommends chemical and cultural control methods. A documentation section details the research on the biology and control of the fungus.

APPLICATION, PERFORMANCE, AND COSTS OF BIOTREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR CONTAMINATED SOILS

EPA Science Inventory

A critical review of biological treatment processes for remediation of contaminated soils is presented. The focus of the review is on documented cost and performance of biological treatment technologies demonstrated at full- or
field-scale. Some of the data were generated b...

Use of the white amur for aquatic plant management. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, A.C.; Decell, J.L.

1984-08-01

The manual presents practical guidelines for the use of the white amur to manage aquatic vegetation in lakes and ponds. This document will introduce the reader to the white amur as a biological control agent for submersed aquatic plants, and present information necessary for successful use of the fish. Included are methods for calculating the number of fish required to effect a desired level of plant control, as well as information on obtaining, shipping, and releasing white amur. Data on feeding, growth rates, food preferences, reproduction, and tolerances to various aquatic conditions are also presented. Case studies on the usemore » of the fish are discussed to illustrate possible impacts of white amur on water chemistry and native biota. While the majority of the information for this report originated in Lake Conway, Florida, the fish is a viable control agent in other parts of the country. This manual should have utility in all parts of the United States in providing background data on the white amur and concise information on the proper use of fish to control submersed aquatic plants. 122 references.« less

Long-term pavement performance ancillary information management system (AIMS) reference guide.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-11-01

This document provides information on the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program ancillary information. : Ancillary information includes data, images, reference materials, resource documents, and other information that : support and extend the...

Identifying living and sentient kinds from dynamic information: the case of goal-directed versus aimless autonomous movement in conceptual change.

PubMed

Opfer, John E

2002-12-01

To reason competently about novel entities, people must discover whether the entity is alive and/or sentient. Exactly how people make this discovery is unknown, although past researchers have proposed that young children--unlike adults--rely chiefly on whether the object can move itself. This study examined the effect of goal-directed versus aimless autonomous movement on children's and adults' attributions of biological and psychological capacities in an effort to test whether goal-directedness affects inferences across documented periods of change in biological reasoning. Half of the participants (adults, and 4-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year-olds; Ns=32) were shown videos of unfamiliar blobs moving independently and aimlessly, and the other half were shown videos of identical blobs moving identically but toward a goal. No age group was likely to attribute biological or psychological capacities to the aimless self-moving blobs. However, for 5-year-olds through adults, goal-directed movement reliably elicited life judgments, and it elicited more biological and psychological attributions overall. Adults differed from children in that goal-directed movement affected their attributions of biological properties more than their attributions of psychological properties. The results suggest that both young children and adults consider the capacity for goal-directed movement to be a decisive factor in determining whether something unfamiliar is alive, though other factors may be important in deciding whether the thing is sentient.

3 CFR - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Weapons of Mass Destruction

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... to Weapons of Mass Destruction Presidential Documents Other Presidential Documents Notice of November 9, 2011 Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Weapons of Mass Destruction On... United States posed by the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons (weapons of mass...

3 CFR - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Weapons of Mass Destruction

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... to Weapons of Mass Destruction Presidential Documents Other Presidential Documents Notice of November 1, 2012 Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Weapons of Mass Destruction On... United States posed by the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons (weapons of mass...

42 CFR 416.52 - Conditions for coverage-Patient admission, assessment and discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... recently documented medical history and physical assessment, including documentation of any allergies to drugs and biologicals. (3) The patient's medical history and physical assessment must be placed in the... comprehensive medical history and physical assessment completed by a physician (as defined in section 1861(r) of...

Shell Games. VORTEX: Virginia's Oyster Reef Teaching EXperience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harding, Juliana M.; Mann, Roger; Clark, Vicki P.

This document introduces Virginia's Oyster Reef Teaching EXperience (VORTEX), which is an interdisciplinary program focusing on the importance of oyster reef communities in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. The VORTEX program uses field and laboratory experiences supported by multimedia instruction. This document presents an overview on the biology of…

42 CFR 416.52 - Conditions for coverage-Patient admission, assessment and discharge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... recently documented medical history and physical assessment, including documentation of any allergies to drugs and biologicals. (3) The patient's medical history and physical assessment must be placed in the... comprehensive medical history and physical assessment completed by a physician (as defined in section 1861(r) of...

21 CFR 601.29 - Guidance documents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 7 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Guidance documents. 601.29 Section 601.29 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) BIOLOGICS... Register. You may request a copy of the CBER list from the Office of Communication, Training, and...

76 FR 56483 - Applications and Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses Involving Proposed No Significant...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-13

... Information is necessary to respond to this notice must request document access by September 23, 2011... instructions on submitting comments and instructions on accessing documents related to this action, see ``Submitting Comments and Accessing Information'' in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document...

A Case Study Documenting the Process by Which Biology Instructors Transition from Teacher-Centered to Learner-Centered Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marbach-Ad, Gili; Rietschel, Carly Hunt

2016-01-01

In this study, we used a case study approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of the change process of two university instructors who were involved with redesigning a biology course. Given the hesitancy of many biology instructors to adopt evidence-based, learner-centered teaching methods, there is a critical need to understand how biology…

NASA Software Documentation Standard

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The NASA Software Documentation Standard (hereinafter referred to as "Standard") is designed to support the documentation of all software developed for NASA; its goal is to provide a framework and model for recording the essential information needed throughout the development life cycle and maintenance of a software system. The NASA Software Documentation Standard can be applied to the documentation of all NASA software. The Standard is limited to documentation format and content requirements. It does not mandate specific management, engineering, or assurance standards or techniques. This Standard defines the format and content of documentation for software acquisition, development, and sustaining engineering. Format requirements address where information shall be recorded and content requirements address what information shall be recorded. This Standard provides a framework to allow consistency of documentation across NASA and visibility into the completeness of project documentation. The basic framework consists of four major sections (or volumes). The Management Plan contains all planning and business aspects of a software project, including engineering and assurance planning. The Product Specification contains all technical engineering information, including software requirements and design. The Assurance and Test Procedures contains all technical assurance information, including Test, Quality Assurance (QA), and Verification and Validation (V&V). The Management, Engineering, and Assurance Reports is the library and/or listing of all project reports.

Towards a better understanding of the nomenclature used in information-packaging efforts to support evidence-informed policymaking in low- and middle-income countries

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The growing recognition of the importance of concisely communicating research evidence and other policy-relevant information to policymakers has underpinned the development of several information-packaging efforts over the past decade. This has led to a wide variability in the types of documents produced, which is at best confusing and at worst discouraging for those they intend to reach. This paper has two main objectives: to develop a better understanding of the range of documents and document names used by the organizations preparing them; and to assess whether there are any consistencies in the characteristics of sampled documents across the names employed to label (in the title) or describe (in the document or website) them. Methods We undertook a documentary analysis of web-published document series that are prepared by a variety of organizations with the primary intention of providing information to health systems policymakers and stakeholders, and addressing questions related to health policy and health systems with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. No time limit was set. Results In total, 109 individual documents from 24 series produced by 16 different organizations were included. The name ‘policy brief/briefing’ was the most frequently used (39%) to label or describe a document, and was used in all eight broad content areas that we identified, even though they did not have obviously common traits among them. In terms of document characteristics, most documents (90%) used skimmable formats that are easy to read, with understandable, jargon-free, language (80%). Availability of information on the methods (47%) or the quality of the presented evidence (27%) was less common. One-third (32%) chose the topic based on an explicit process to assess the demand for information from policy makers and even fewer (19%) engaged with policymakers to discuss the content of these documents such as through merit review. Conclusions This study highlights the need for organizations embarking on future information-packaging efforts to be more thoughtful when deciding how to name these documents and the need for greater transparency in describing their content, purpose and intended audience. PMID:24889015

[Medycyna Pracy: the scopus-based analysis of citations].

PubMed

Przyłuska, Jolanta

2006-01-01

Medycyna Pracy, a Polish bimonthly published since 1950, forms a long-standing documentation of studies carried out in the area of workers' health protection. The journal is primarily addressed to occupational health physicians and work hygiene specialists in Poland. It is indexed by numerous foreign information services (e.g., MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS PREVIEWS, BIOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS, SCOPUS) and thus promotes Polish research in occupational medicine throughout the world. The quantitative analysis for the years 1996-2005, grounded on the SCOPUS database, presents an average number of citations concerning a given volume, frequency of citations, articles most frequently cited, and countries, in which articles published in Medycyna Pracy have been referred to. A growing number of citations observed in the recent years signify the importance of issues investigated and discussed in the journal as well as its role in the world-wide circulation of scientific information.

A standard MIGS/MIMS compliant XML Schema: toward the development of the Genomic Contextual Data Markup Language (GCDML).

PubMed

Kottmann, Renzo; Gray, Tanya; Murphy, Sean; Kagan, Leonid; Kravitz, Saul; Lombardot, Thierry; Field, Dawn; Glöckner, Frank Oliver

2008-06-01

The Genomic Contextual Data Markup Language (GCDML) is a core project of the Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) that implements the "Minimum Information about a Genome Sequence" (MIGS) specification and its extension, the "Minimum Information about a Metagenome Sequence" (MIMS). GCDML is an XML Schema for generating MIGS/MIMS compliant reports for data entry, exchange, and storage. When mature, this sample-centric, strongly-typed schema will provide a diverse set of descriptors for describing the exact origin and processing of a biological sample, from sampling to sequencing, and subsequent analysis. Here we describe the need for such a project, outline design principles required to support the project, and make an open call for participation in defining the future content of GCDML. GCDML is freely available, and can be downloaded, along with documentation, from the GSC Web site (http://gensc.org).

Utilizing the Structure and Content Information for XML Document Clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tran, Tien; Kutty, Sangeetha; Nayak, Richi

This paper reports on the experiments and results of a clustering approach used in the INEX 2008 document mining challenge. The clustering approach utilizes both the structure and content information of the Wikipedia XML document collection. A latent semantic kernel (LSK) is used to measure the semantic similarity between XML documents based on their content features. The construction of a latent semantic kernel involves the computing of singular vector decomposition (SVD). On a large feature space matrix, the computation of SVD is very expensive in terms of time and memory requirements. Thus in this clustering approach, the dimension of the document space of a term-document matrix is reduced before performing SVD. The document space reduction is based on the common structural information of the Wikipedia XML document collection. The proposed clustering approach has shown to be effective on the Wikipedia collection in the INEX 2008 document mining challenge.

A Compositional Relevance Model for Adaptive Information Retrieval

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathe, Nathalie; Chen, James; Lu, Henry, Jr. (Technical Monitor)

1994-01-01

There is a growing need for rapid and effective access to information in large electronic documentation systems. Access can be facilitated if information relevant in the current problem solving context can be automatically supplied to the user. This includes information relevant to particular user profiles, tasks being performed, and problems being solved. However most of this knowledge on contextual relevance is not found within the contents of documents, and current hypermedia tools do not provide any easy mechanism to let users add this knowledge to their documents. We propose a compositional relevance network to automatically acquire the context in which previous information was found relevant. The model records information on the relevance of references based on user feedback for specific queries and contexts. It also generalizes such information to derive relevant references for similar queries and contexts. This model lets users filter information by context of relevance, build personalized views of documents over time, and share their views with other users. It also applies to any type of multimedia information. Compared to other approaches, it is less costly and doesn't require any a priori statistical computation, nor an extended training period. It is currently being implemented into the Computer Integrated Documentation system which enables integration of various technical documents in a hypertext framework.

Computer-Assisted Search Of Large Textual Data Bases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Driscoll, James R.

1995-01-01

"QA" denotes high-speed computer system for searching diverse collections of documents including (but not limited to) technical reference manuals, legal documents, medical documents, news releases, and patents. Incorporates previously available and emerging information-retrieval technology to help user intelligently and rapidly locate information found in large textual data bases. Technology includes provision for inquiries in natural language; statistical ranking of retrieved information; artificial-intelligence implementation of semantics, in which "surface level" knowledge found in text used to improve ranking of retrieved information; and relevance feedback, in which user's judgements of relevance of some retrieved documents used automatically to modify search for further information.

Analysis of Informed Consent Document Utilization in a Minimal-Risk Genetic Study

PubMed Central

Desch, Karl; Li, Jun; Kim, Scott; Laventhal, Naomi; Metzger, Kristen; Siemieniak, David; Ginsburg, David

2012-01-01

Background The signed informed consent document certifies that the process of informed consent has taken place and provides research participants with comprehensive information about their role in the study. Despite efforts to optimize the informed consent document, only limited data are available about the actual use of consent documents by participants in biomedical research. Objective To examine the use of online consent documents in a minimal-risk genetic study. Design Prospective sibling cohort enrolled as part of a genetic study of hematologic and common human traits. Setting University of Michigan Campus, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Participants Volunteer sample of healthy persons with 1 or more eligible siblings aged 14 to 35 years. Enrollment was through targeted e-mail to student lists. A total of 1209 persons completed the study. Measurements Time taken by participants to review a 2833-word online consent document before indicating consent and identification of a masked hyperlink near the end of the document. Results The minimum predicted reading time was 566 seconds. The median time to consent was 53 seconds. A total of 23% of participants consented within 10 seconds, and 93% of participants consented in less than the minimum predicted reading time. A total of 2.5% of participants identified the masked hyperlink. Limitation The online consent process was not observed directly by study investigators, and some participants may have viewed the consent document more than once. Conclusion Few research participants thoroughly read the consent document before agreeing to participate in this genetic study. These data suggest that current informed consent documents, particularly for low-risk studies, may no longer serve the intended purpose of protecting human participants, and the role of these documents should be reassessed. Primary Funding Source National Institutes of Health. PMID:21893624

Embedding Term Similarity and Inverse Document Frequency into a Logical Model of Information Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Losada, David E.; Barreiro, Alvaro

2003-01-01

Proposes an approach to incorporate term similarity and inverse document frequency into a logical model of information retrieval. Highlights include document representation and matching; incorporating term similarity into the measure of distance; new algorithms for implementation; inverse document frequency; and logical versus classical models of…

Imaged document information location and extraction using an optical correlator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stalcup, Bruce W.; Dennis, Phillip W.; Dydyk, Robert B.

1999-12-01

Today, the paper document is fast becoming a thing of the past. With the rapid development of fast, inexpensive computing and storage devices, many government and private organizations are archiving their documents in electronic form (e.g., personnel records, medical records, patents, etc.). Many of these organizations are converting their paper archives to electronic images, which are then stored in a computer database. Because of this, there is a need to efficiently organize this data into comprehensive and accessible information resources and provide for rapid access to the information contained within these imaged documents. To meet this need, Litton PRC and Litton Data Systems Division are developing a system, the Imaged Document Optical Correlation and Conversion System (IDOCCS), to provide a total solution to the problem of managing and retrieving textual and graphic information from imaged document archives. At the heart of IDOCCS, optical correlation technology provide a means for the search and retrieval of information from imaged documents. IDOCCS can be used to rapidly search for key words or phrases within the imaged document archives and has the potential to determine the types of languages contained within a document. In addition, IDOCCS can automatically compare an input document with the archived database to determine if it is a duplicate, thereby reducing the overall resources required to maintain and access the document database. Embedded graphics on imaged pages can also be exploited, e.g., imaged documents containing an agency's seal or logo can be singled out. In this paper, we present a description of IDOCCS as well as preliminary performance results and theoretical projections.

Ferruginous hawk

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hall, R.S.; Glinski, R.L.; Ellis, D.H.; Ramakka, J.M.; Base, D.L.; Glinski, Richard L.; Pendleton, Beth Giron; Moss, Mary Beth; LeFranc, Maurice N.=; Millsap, Brian A.; Hoffman, Stephen W.

1988-01-01

In the Southwest, the ferruginous hawk is a local and isolated breeder and an uncommon but consistent winter visitor. Apparently, the breeding range of this species in the Southwest was historically much greater than today. The ferruginous hawk is being considered for listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service but remains unclassified by the individual states comprising the Southwest region. Habitat and diet information is summarized. Nest location and structure, breeding, and wintering biology are also discussed. Long-term and seasonal monitoring is conducted annually at several nest locations in New Mexico, while documented reproductive efforts in Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma are extremely rare and isolated. Research and management recommendations include population and habitat surveys, dietary and reproductive investigations, and habitat protection.

Additional records and descriptions of the ant-mimetic plant bug genus Pilophorus from Thailand (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae: Pilophorini).

PubMed

Yasunaga, Tomohide; Yamada, Kazutaka; Artchawakom, Taksin

2014-05-09

Eleven species of the ant-mimetic plant bug genus Pilophorus Hahn from Thailand are documented, with photographic images of live individuals. Four new species with conventional, moderate antlike shape, Pilophorus meteorus, P. saovapruki, P. subparallelus and P. suwimonae, are described. Two known Thai species, P. alstoni Schuh and P. typicus (Distant), are further reported and diagnosed. Biological information including host association is provided for P. alstoni, P. meteorus, P. saovapruki and P. typicus. A checklist of all currently known species of Pilophorus in Thailand and a key to known Thai species are included. Pilophorus typicus is reported from Singapore for the first time.

Acid precipitation; an annotated bibliography

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wiltshire, Denise A.; Evans, Margaret L.

1984-01-01

This collection of 1660 bibliographies references on the causes and environmental effects of acidic atmospheric deposition was compiled from computerized literature searches of earth-science and chemistry data bases. Categories of information are (1) atmospheric chemistry (gases and aerosols), (2) precipitation chemistry, (3) transport and deposition (wet and dry), (4) aquatic environments (biological and hydrological), (5) terrestrial environments, (6) effects on materials and structures, (7) air and precipitation monitoring and data collection, and (8) modeling studies. References date from the late 1800 's through December 1981. The bibliography includes short summaries of most documents. Omitted are unpublished manuscripts, publications in press, master 's theses and doctoral dissertations, newspaper articles, and book reviews. Coauthors and subject indexes are included. (USGS)

Exploratory Research and Development Fund, FY 1990. Report on Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-05-01

The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Exploratory R&D Fund FY 1990 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the projects supported and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of an Exploratory R&D Fund (ERF) planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, projection selection, implementation, and review. The research areas covered in this report are: Accelerator and fusion research; applied science; cell and molecular biology; chemical biodynamics; chemical sciences; earth sciences; engineering; information and computing sciences; materials sciences; nuclear science; physics and research medicine and radiationmore » biophysics.« less

Evolution Acceptance and Epistemological Beliefs of College Biology Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borgerding, Lisa A.; Deniz, Hasan; Anderson, Elizabeth Shevock

2017-01-01

Evolutionary theory is central to biology, and scientifically accurate evolution instruction is promoted within national and state standards documents. Previous literature has identified students' epistemological beliefs as potential predictors of evolution acceptance. The present work seeks to explore more directly how student views of evolution…

Facilitating access to information in large documents with an intelligent hypertext system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mathe, Nathalie

1993-01-01

Retrieving specific information from large amounts of documentation is not an easy task. It could be facilitated if information relevant in the current problem solving context could be automatically supplied to the user. As a first step towards this goal, we have developed an intelligent hypertext system called CID (Computer Integrated Documentation) and tested it on the Space Station Freedom requirement documents. The CID system enables integration of various technical documents in a hypertext framework and includes an intelligent context-sensitive indexing and retrieval mechanism. This mechanism utilizes on-line user information requirements and relevance feedback either to reinforce current indexing in case of success or to generate new knowledge in case of failure. This allows the CID system to provide helpful responses, based on previous usage of the documentation, and to improve its performance over time.

Citizen science networks in natural history and the collective validation of biodiversity data.

PubMed

Turnhout, Esther; Lawrence, Anna; Turnhout, Sander

2016-06-01

Biodiversity data are in increasing demand to inform policy and management. A substantial portion of these data is generated in citizen science networks. To ensure the quality of biodiversity data, standards and criteria for validation have been put in place. We used interviews and document analysis from the United Kingdom and The Netherlands to examine how data validation serves as a point of connection between the diverse people and practices in natural history citizen science networks. We found that rather than a unidirectional imposition of standards, validation was performed collectively. Specifically, it was enacted in ongoing circulations of biodiversity records between recorders and validators as they jointly negotiated the biodiversity that was observed and the validity of the records. These collective validation practices contributed to the citizen science character or natural history networks and tied these networks together. However, when biodiversity records were included in biodiversity-information initiatives on different policy levels and scales, the circulation of records diminished. These initiatives took on a more extractive mode of data use. Validation ceased to be collective with important consequences for the natural history networks involved and citizen science more generally. © 2016 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

Conservation of biodiversity through taxonomy, data publication, and collaborative infrastructures.

PubMed

Costello, Mark J; Vanhoorne, Bart; Appeltans, Ward

2015-08-01

Taxonomy is the foundation of biodiversity science because it furthers discovery of new species. Globally, there have never been so many people involved in naming species new to science. The number of new marine species described per decade has never been greater. Nevertheless, it is estimated that tens of thousands of marine species, and hundreds of thousands of terrestrial species, are yet to be discovered; many of which may already be in specimen collections. However, naming species is only a first step in documenting knowledge about their biology, biogeography, and ecology. Considering the threats to biodiversity, new knowledge of existing species and discovery of undescribed species and their subsequent study are urgently required. To accelerate this research, we recommend, and cite examples of, more and better communication: use of collaborative online databases; easier access to knowledge and specimens; production of taxonomic revisions and species identification guides; engagement of nonspecialists; and international collaboration. "Data-sharing" should be abandoned in favor of mandated data publication by the conservation science community. Such a step requires support from peer reviewers, editors, journals, and conservation organizations. Online data publication infrastructures (e.g., Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Ocean Biogeographic Information System) illustrate gaps in biodiversity sampling and may provide common ground for long-term international collaboration between scientists and conservation organizations. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Asymmetric author-topic model for knowledge discovering of big data in toxicogenomics.

PubMed

Chung, Ming-Hua; Wang, Yuping; Tang, Hailin; Zou, Wen; Basinger, John; Xu, Xiaowei; Tong, Weida

2015-01-01

The advancement of high-throughput screening technologies facilitates the generation of massive amount of biological data, a big data phenomena in biomedical science. Yet, researchers still heavily rely on keyword search and/or literature review to navigate the databases and analyses are often done in rather small-scale. As a result, the rich information of a database has not been fully utilized, particularly for the information embedded in the interactive nature between data points that are largely ignored and buried. For the past 10 years, probabilistic topic modeling has been recognized as an effective machine learning algorithm to annotate the hidden thematic structure of massive collection of documents. The analogy between text corpus and large-scale genomic data enables the application of text mining tools, like probabilistic topic models, to explore hidden patterns of genomic data and to the extension of altered biological functions. In this paper, we developed a generalized probabilistic topic model to analyze a toxicogenomics dataset that consists of a large number of gene expression data from the rat livers treated with drugs in multiple dose and time-points. We discovered the hidden patterns in gene expression associated with the effect of doses and time-points of treatment. Finally, we illustrated the ability of our model to identify the evidence of potential reduction of animal use.

Avian Species Inventory at Manzanar National Historic Site, California - Final Report to the National Park Service

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hart, Jan; Drost, Charles

2008-01-01

We conducted a baseline inventory for avian species at Manzanar National Historic Site, Inyo County, Calif., from 2002 to 2005. Under the guidelines of the Mojave Network Biological Inventory Program, the primary objectives for this study were to (1) inventory and document the occurrence of avian species at Manzanar, with the goal of documenting at least 90 percent of the species present; (2) provide a geographic information system (GIS)-referenced list of sensitive species occurring at Manzanar that are rare, on Federal or State lists, or otherwise worthy of special consideration; and (3) enter all species data into the National Park Service NPSpecies database. Survey methods included general area searches, variable circular plot point-count censusing, nocturnal surveys, and nest searching. During 13 year-round survey sessions, we documented the occurrence of 132 bird species at Manzanar and confirmed breeding by 19 of these. Based on our findings, as well as review of the literature and searches for records of species occurrence, we estimate inventory completeness for regularly occurring bird species at Manzanar to be near 90 percent. No sensitive species on Federal or State lists were found. The distribution and relative abundance of common bird species at this site is now well enough known to begin development of a monitoring protocol for this group.

A method for automatically extracting infectious disease-related primers and probes from the literature

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Primer and probe sequences are the main components of nucleic acid-based detection systems. Biologists use primers and probes for different tasks, some related to the diagnosis and prescription of infectious diseases. The biological literature is the main information source for empirically validated primer and probe sequences. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important for researchers to navigate this important information. In this paper, we present a four-phase method for extracting and annotating primer/probe sequences from the literature. These phases are: (1) convert each document into a tree of paper sections, (2) detect the candidate sequences using a set of finite state machine-based recognizers, (3) refine problem sequences using a rule-based expert system, and (4) annotate the extracted sequences with their related organism/gene information. Results We tested our approach using a test set composed of 297 manuscripts. The extracted sequences and their organism/gene annotations were manually evaluated by a panel of molecular biologists. The results of the evaluation show that our approach is suitable for automatically extracting DNA sequences, achieving precision/recall rates of 97.98% and 95.77%, respectively. In addition, 76.66% of the detected sequences were correctly annotated with their organism name. The system also provided correct gene-related information for 46.18% of the sequences assigned a correct organism name. Conclusions We believe that the proposed method can facilitate routine tasks for biomedical researchers using molecular methods to diagnose and prescribe different infectious diseases. In addition, the proposed method can be expanded to detect and extract other biological sequences from the literature. The extracted information can also be used to readily update available primer/probe databases or to create new databases from scratch. PMID:20682041

SRS ecology: Environmental information document

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wike, L.D.; Shipley, R.W.; Bowers, J.A.

The purpose of this Document is to provide a source of ecological information based on the exiting knowledge gained from research conducted at the Savannah River Site. This document provides a summary and synthesis of ecological research in the three main ecosystem types found at SRS and information on the threatened and endangered species residing there.

77 FR 71432 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Application for Travel Document, Form Number I-131...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-30

...-0013] Agency Information Collection Activities: Application for Travel Document, Form Number I-131... information collection as DACA recipients that can establish a need to travel outside of the United States based on humanitarian, employment or education reasons will be able to request advance parole documents...

Mars Sample Handling Protocol Workshop Series: Workshop 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rummel, John D. (Editor); Acevedo, Sara E. (Editor); Kovacs, Gregory T. A. (Editor); Race, Margaret S. (Editor); DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Numerous NASA reports and studies have identified Planetary Protection (PP) as an important part of any Mars sample return mission. The mission architecture, hardware, on-board experiments, and related activities must be designed in ways that prevent both forward- and back-contamination and also ensure maximal return of scientific information. A key element of any PP effort for sample return missions is the development of guidelines for containment and analysis of returned sample(s). As part of that effort, NASA and the Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Research Council (NRC) have each assembled experts from a wide range of scientific fields to identify and discuss issues pertinent to sample return. In 1997, the SSB released its report on recommendations for handling and testing of returned Mars samples. In particular, the NRC recommended that: a) samples returned from Mars by spacecraft should be contained and treated as potentially hazardous until proven otherwise, and b) rigorous physical, chemical, and biological analyses [should] confirm that there is no indication of the presence of any exogenous biological entity. Also in 1997, a Mars Sample Quarantine Protocol workshop was convened at NASA Ames Research Center to deal with three specific aspects of the initial handling of a returned Mars sample: 1) biocontainment, to prevent 'uncontrolled release' of sample material into the terrestrial environment; 2) life detection, to examine the sample for evidence of organisms; and 3) biohazard testing, to determine if the sample poses any threat to terrestrial life forms and the Earth's biosphere. In 1999, a study by NASA's Mars Sample Handling and Requirements Panel (MSHARP) addressed three other specific areas in anticipation of returning samples from Mars: 1) sample collection and transport back to Earth; 2) certification of the samples as non-hazardous; and 3) sample receiving, curation, and distribution. To further refine the requirements for sample hazard testing and the criteria for subsequent release of sample materials from quarantine, the NASA Planetary Protection Officer convened an additional series of workshops beginning in March 2000. The overall objective of these workshops was to develop comprehensive protocols to assess whether the returned materials contain any biological hazards, and to safeguard the purity of the samples from possible terrestrial contamination. This document is the report of the second Workshop in the Series. The information herein will ultimately be integrated into a final document reporting the proceedings of the entire Workshop Series along with additional information and recommendations.

WikiHyperGlossary (WHG): an information literacy technology for chemistry documents.

PubMed

Bauer, Michael A; Berleant, Daniel; Cornell, Andrew P; Belford, Robert E

2015-01-01

The WikiHyperGlossary is an information literacy technology that was created to enhance reading comprehension of documents by connecting them to socially generated multimedia definitions as well as semantically relevant data. The WikiHyperGlossary enhances reading comprehension by using the lexicon of a discipline to generate dynamic links in a document to external resources that can provide implicit information the document did not explicitly provide. Currently, the most common method to acquire additional information when reading a document is to access a search engine and browse the web. This may lead to skimming of multiple documents with the novice actually never returning to the original document of interest. The WikiHyperGlossary automatically brings information to the user within the current document they are reading, enhancing the potential for deeper document understanding. The WikiHyperGlossary allows users to submit a web URL or text to be processed against a chosen lexicon, returning the document with tagged terms. The selection of a tagged term results in the appearance of the WikiHyperGlossary Portlet containing a definition, and depending on the type of word, tabs to additional information and resources. Current types of content include multimedia enhanced definitions, ChemSpider query results, 3D molecular structures, and 2D editable structures connected to ChemSpider queries. Existing glossaries can be bulk uploaded, locked for editing and associated with multiple social generated definitions. The WikiHyperGlossary leverages both social and semantic web technologies to bring relevant information to a document. This can not only aid reading comprehension, but increases the users' ability to obtain additional information within the document. We have demonstrated a molecular editor enabled knowledge framework that can result in a semantic web inductive reasoning process, and integration of the WikiHyperGlossary into other software technologies, like the Jikitou Biomedical Question and Answer system. Although this work was developed in the chemical sciences and took advantage of open science resources and initiatives, the technology is extensible to other knowledge domains. Through the DeepLit (Deeper Literacy: Connecting Documents to Data and Discourse) startup, we seek to extend WikiHyperGlossary technologies to other knowledge domains, and integrate them into other knowledge acquisition workflows.

Digital Accessible Knowledge and well-inventoried sites for birds in Mexico: baseline sites for measuring faunistic change

PubMed Central

Navarro-Sigüenza, Adolfo G.; Martínez-Meyer, Enrique

2016-01-01

Background Faunal change is a basic and fundamental element in ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology, yet vanishingly few detailed studies have documented such changes rigorously over decadal time scales. This study responds to that gap in knowledge, providing a detailed analysis of Digital Accessible Knowledge of the birds of Mexico, designed to marshal DAK to identify sites that were sampled and inventoried rigorously prior to the beginning of major global climate change (1980). Methods We accumulated DAK records for Mexican birds from all relevant online biodiversity data portals. After extensive cleaning steps, we calculated completeness indices for each 0.05° pixel across the country; we also detected ‘hotspots’ of sampling, and calculated completeness indices for these broader areas as well. Sites were designated as well-sampled if they had completeness indices above 80% and >200 associated DAK records. Results We identified 100 individual pixels and 20 broader ‘hotspots’ of sampling that were demonstrably well-inventoried prior to 1980. These sites are catalogued and documented to promote and enable resurvey efforts that can document events of avifaunal change (and non-change) across the country on decadal time scales. Conclusions Development of repeated surveys for many sites across Mexico, and particularly for sites for which historical surveys document their avifaunas prior to major climate change processes, would pay rich rewards in information about distributional dynamics of Mexican birds. PMID:27651986

Taking advantage of continuity of care documents to populate a research repository.

PubMed

Klann, Jeffrey G; Mendis, Michael; Phillips, Lori C; Goodson, Alyssa P; Rocha, Beatriz H; Goldberg, Howard S; Wattanasin, Nich; Murphy, Shawn N

2015-03-01

Clinical data warehouses have accelerated clinical research, but even with available open source tools, there is a high barrier to entry due to the complexity of normalizing and importing data. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's Meaningful Use Incentive Program now requires that electronic health record systems produce standardized consolidated clinical document architecture (C-CDA) documents. Here, we leverage this data source to create a low volume standards based import pipeline for the Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) clinical research platform. We validate this approach by creating a small repository at Partners Healthcare automatically from C-CDA documents. We designed an i2b2 extension to import C-CDAs into i2b2. It is extensible to other sites with variances in C-CDA format without requiring custom code. We also designed new ontology structures for querying the imported data. We implemented our methodology at Partners Healthcare, where we developed an adapter to retrieve C-CDAs from Enterprise Services. Our current implementation supports demographics, encounters, problems, and medications. We imported approximately 17 000 clinical observations on 145 patients into i2b2 in about 24 min. We were able to perform i2b2 cohort finding queries and view patient information through SMART apps on the imported data. This low volume import approach can serve small practices with local access to C-CDAs and will allow patient registries to import patient supplied C-CDAs. These components will soon be available open source on the i2b2 wiki. Our approach will lower barriers to entry in implementing i2b2 where informatics expertise or data access are limited. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Biological information systems: Evolution as cognition-based information management.

PubMed

Miller, William B

2018-05-01

An alternative biological synthesis is presented that conceptualizes evolutionary biology as an epiphenomenon of integrated self-referential information management. Since all biological information has inherent ambiguity, the systematic assessment of information is required by living organisms to maintain self-identity and homeostatic equipoise in confrontation with environmental challenges. Through their self-referential attachment to information space, cells are the cornerstone of biological action. That individualized assessment of information space permits self-referential, self-organizing niche construction. That deployment of information and its subsequent selection enacted the dominant stable unicellular informational architectures whose biological expressions are the prokaryotic, archaeal, and eukaryotic unicellular forms. Multicellularity represents the collective appraisal of equivocal environmental information through a shared information space. This concerted action can be viewed as systematized information management to improve information quality for the maintenance of preferred homeostatic boundaries among the varied participants. When reiterated in successive scales, this same collaborative exchange of information yields macroscopic organisms as obligatory multicellular holobionts. Cognition-Based Evolution (CBE) upholds that assessment of information precedes biological action, and the deployment of information through integrative self-referential niche construction and natural cellular engineering antecedes selection. Therefore, evolutionary biology can be framed as a complex reciprocating interactome that consists of the assessment, communication, deployment and management of information by self-referential organisms at multiple scales in continuous confrontation with environmental stresses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.