OSSOS: X. How to use a Survey Simulator: Statistical Testing of Dynamical Models Against the Real Kuiper Belt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawler, Samantha M.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Alexandersen, Mike; Bannister, Michele T.; Gladman, Brett; Petit, Jean-Marc; Shankman, Cory

2018-05-01

All surveys include observational biases, which makes it impossible to directly compare properties of discovered trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) with dynamical models. However, by carefully keeping track of survey pointings on the sky, detection limits, tracking fractions, and rate cuts, the biases from a survey can be modelled in Survey Simulator software. A Survey Simulator takes an intrinsic orbital model (from, for example, the output of a dynamical Kuiper belt emplacement simulation) and applies the survey biases, so that the biased simulated objects can be directly compared with real discoveries. This methodology has been used with great success in the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) and its predecessor surveys. In this chapter, we give four examples of ways to use the OSSOS Survey Simulator to gain knowledge about the true structure of the Kuiper Belt. We demonstrate how to statistically compare different dynamical model outputs with real TNO discoveries, how to quantify detection biases within a TNO population, how to measure intrinsic population sizes, and how to use upper limits from non-detections. We hope this will provide a framework for dynamical modellers to statistically test the validity of their models.

Parallaxes for the Coldest Brown Dwarfs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupuy, Trent; Kraus, Adam; Liu, Michael

2014-12-01

Understanding extremely cool atmospheres is a major goal of both brown dwarf and exoplanet studies. The WISE all-sky survey has uncovered the coolest brown dwarfs to date including the first unambiguous Y dwarfs. These discoveries are spectroscopically estimated to have temperatures of ~300-500 K and masses of ~5-20 Mjup, overlapping discoveries from radial velocity exoplanet surveys. However, direct distances are needed to determine model-independent temperatures and to test the observed properties against theoretical models in this new physical frontier. From our Cycle 8 program, we have successfully measured the first robust parallaxes for these extremely low-luminosity objects using Spitzer [3.6]-band astrometry, made possible with our improved distortion solution for IRAC. Our results, comprising less than half the currently known late-T/Y census, have uncovered a number of puzzles. Perhaps the most intriguing is the possibility that the observed near-IR spectral types and spectral energy distributions do not follow a simple correspondence with temperature, in contrast to all other (hotter) substellar and stellar objects. We propose here to obtain definitive parallaxes and temperatures to the ~2 dozen known coldest brown dwarfs. For our Cycle 8 sample, these new data will double the time baseline, leading to major improvements over our preliminary results. We will also double the total sample with parallaxes for more recent discoveries. Altogether, our work will establish the temperature scale as a function of spectral type, delineate the cooling (and intrinsic scatter) through the T/Y transition, and enable strong test of theoretical models for these coldest brown dwarfs, which are ~100x fainter than previously known objects at near-IR wavelengths.

The Outer Solar System Origins Survey. I. ; Design and First-Quarter Discoveries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bannister, Michele T.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Petit, Jean-Marc; Gladman, Brett J.; Gwyn, Stephen D. J.; Chen, Ying-Tung; Volk, Kathryn; Alexandersen, Mike; Benecchi, Susan D.; Delsanti, Audrey;

The Outer Solar System Origins Survey. I. Design and First-quarter Discoveries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bannister, Michele T.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Petit, Jean-Marc; Gladman, Brett J.; Gwyn, Stephen D. J.; Chen, Ying-Tung; Volk, Kathryn; Alexandersen, Mike; Benecchi, Susan D.; Delsanti, Audrey; Fraser, Wesley C.; Granvik, Mikael; Grundy, Will M.; Guilbert-Lepoutre, Aurélie; Hestroffer, Daniel; Ip, Wing-Huen; Jakubik, Marian; Jones, R. Lynne; Kaib, Nathan; Kavelaars, Catherine F.; Lacerda, Pedro; Lawler, Samantha; Lehner, Matthew J.; Lin, Hsing Wen; Lister, Tim; Lykawka, Patryk Sofia; Monty, Stephanie; Marsset, Michael; Murray-Clay, Ruth; Noll, Keith S.; Parker, Alex; Pike, Rosemary E.; Rousselot, Philippe; Rusk, David; Schwamb, Megan E.; Shankman, Cory; Sicardy, Bruno; Vernazza, Pierre; Wang, Shiang-Yu

2016-09-01

We report the discovery, tracking, and detection circumstances for 85 trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the first 42 deg2 of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey. This ongoing r-band solar system survey uses the 0.9 deg2 field of view MegaPrime camera on the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Our orbital elements for these TNOs are precise to a fractional semimajor axis uncertainty <0.1%. We achieve this precision in just two oppositions, as compared to the normal three to five oppositions, via a dense observing cadence and innovative astrometric technique. These discoveries are free of ephemeris bias, a first for large trans-Neptunian surveys. We also provide the necessary information to enable models of TNO orbital distributions to be tested against our TNO sample. We confirm the existence of a cold “kernel” of objects within the main cold classical Kuiper Belt and infer the existence of an extension of the “stirred” cold classical Kuiper Belt to at least several au beyond the 2:1 mean motion resonance with Neptune. We find that the population model of Petit et al. remains a plausible representation of the Kuiper Belt. The full survey, to be completed in 2017, will provide an exquisitely characterized sample of important resonant TNO populations, ideal for testing models of giant planet migration during the early history of the solar system.

Precision Higgs Boson Physics and Implications for Beyond the Standard Model Physics Theories

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

Wells, James

The discovery of the Higgs boson is one of science's most impressive recent achievements. We have taken a leap forward in understanding what is at the heart of elementary particle mass generation. We now have a significant opportunity to develop even deeper understanding of how the fundamental laws of nature are constructed. As such, we need intense focus from the scientific community to put this discovery in its proper context, to realign and narrow our understanding of viable theory based on this positive discovery, and to detail the implications the discovery has for theories that attempt to answer questions beyondmore » what the Standard Model can explain. This project's first main object is to develop a state-of-the-art analysis of precision Higgs boson physics. This is to be done in the tradition of the electroweak precision measurements of the LEP/SLC era. Indeed, the electroweak precision studies of the past are necessary inputs to the full precision Higgs program. Calculations will be presented to the community of Higgs boson observables that detail just how well various couplings of the Higgs boson can be measured, and more. These will be carried out using state-of-the-art theory computations coupled with the new experimental results coming in from the LHC. The project's second main objective is to utilize the results obtained from LHC Higgs boson experiments and the precision analysis, along with the direct search studies at LHC, and discern viable theories of physics beyond the Standard Model that unify physics to a deeper level. Studies will be performed on supersymmetric theories, theories of extra spatial dimensions (and related theories, such as compositeness), and theories that contain hidden sector states uniquely accessible to the Higgs boson. In addition, if data becomes incompatible with the Standard Model's low-energy effective lagrangian, new physics theories will be developed that explain the anomaly and put it into a more unified framework beyond the Standard Model.« less

Molecular Modeling of Heme Proteins Using MOE: Bio-Inorganic and Structure-Function Activity for Undergraduates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ray, Gigi B.; Cook, J. Whitney

2005-01-01

A biochemical molecular modeling project on heme proteins suitable for an introductory Biochemistry I class has been designed with a 2-fold objective: i) to reinforce the correlation between protein three-dimensional structure and function through a discovery oriented project, and ii) to introduce students to the fields of bioinorganic and…

77 FR 28923 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Unearthed: Recent...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-16

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 7888] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Unearthed: Recent Archeological Discoveries From Northern China'' SUMMARY: Notice is hereby... objects to be included in the exhibition ``Unearthed: Recent Archeological Discoveries from Northern China...

Camera Network Topology Discovery Literature Review

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-01

essential for 21st century military, enviromental and surveillance applications [Devarajan, Cheng & Radke 2008]. Computer networks pose several research...starting and ending points of object trajectories into entry/exit regions [Makris & Ellis 2003]. 3LDA is a new standard for document analysis. The model

OSSOS. IV. Discovery of a Dwarf Planet Candidate in the 9:2 Resonance with Neptune

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bannister, Michele T.; Alexandersen, Mike; Benecchi, Susan; Chen, Ying-Tung; Delsanti, Audrey; Fraser, Wesley C.; Gladman, Brett; Granvik, Mikael; Grundy, Will M.; Guilbert-Lepoutre, Aurelie;

Bias correction factors for near-Earth asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benedix, Gretchen K.; Mcfadden, Lucy Ann; Morrow, Esther M.; Fomenkova, Marina N.

1992-01-01

Knowledge of the population size and physical characteristics (albedo, size, and rotation rate) of near-Earth asteroids (NEA's) is biased by observational selection effects which are functions of the population's intrinsic properties and the size of the telescope, detector sensitivity, and search strategy used. The NEA population is modeled in terms of orbital and physical elements: a, e, i, omega, Omega, M, albedo, and diameter, and an asteroid search program is simulated using actual telescope pointings of right ascension, declination, date, and time. The position of each object in the model population is calculated at the date and time of each telescope pointing. The program tests to see if that object is within the field of view (FOV = 8.75 degrees) of the telescope and above the limiting magnitude (V = +1.65) of the film. The effect of the starting population on the outcome of the simulation's discoveries is compared to the actual discoveries in order to define a most probable starting population.

Introducing the Benson Prize for Discovery Methods of Near Earth Objects by Amateurs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benson, J. W.

1997-05-01

The Benson Prize Sponsored by Space Development Corporation The Benson Prize for Discovery Methods of Near Earth Objects by Amateurs is an annual competition which awards prizes to the best proposed methods by which amateur astronomers may discover such near earth objects as asteroids and comet cores. The purpose of the Benson Prize is to encourage the discovery of near earth objects by amateur astronomers. The utilization of valuable near earth resources can provide many new jobs and economic activities on earth, while also creating many new opportunities for opening up the space frontier. The utilization of near earth resources will significantly contribute to the lessening of environmental degradation on the Earth caused by mining and chemical leaching operations required to exploit the low grade ores now remaining on Earth. In addition, near earth objects pose grave dangers for life on earth. Discovering and plotting the orbits of all potentially dangerous near earth objects is the first and necessary step in protecting ourselves against the enormous potential damage possible from near earth objects. With the high quality, large size and low cost of todays consumer telescopes, the rapid development of powerful, high resolution and inexpensive CCD cameras, and the proliferation of inexpensive software for todays powerful home computers, the discovery of near earth objects by amateur astronomers is more attainable than ever. The Benson Prize is sponsored by the Space Development Corporation, a space resource exploration and utilization company. In 1997 one prize of \\500 will be awarded to the best proposed method for the amateur discovery of NEOs, and in each of the four following years, Prizes of \\500, \\250 and \\100 will be awarded. Prizes for the actual discovery of Near Earth Asteroids will be added in later years.

On the Discovery of Evolving Truth

PubMed Central

Li, Yaliang; Li, Qi; Gao, Jing; Su, Lu; Zhao, Bo; Fan, Wei; Han, Jiawei

2015-01-01

In the era of big data, information regarding the same objects can be collected from increasingly more sources. Unfortunately, there usually exist conflicts among the information coming from different sources. To tackle this challenge, truth discovery, i.e., to integrate multi-source noisy information by estimating the reliability of each source, has emerged as a hot topic. In many real world applications, however, the information may come sequentially, and as a consequence, the truth of objects as well as the reliability of sources may be dynamically evolving. Existing truth discovery methods, unfortunately, cannot handle such scenarios. To address this problem, we investigate the temporal relations among both object truths and source reliability, and propose an incremental truth discovery framework that can dynamically update object truths and source weights upon the arrival of new data. Theoretical analysis is provided to show that the proposed method is guaranteed to converge at a fast rate. The experiments on three real world applications and a set of synthetic data demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method over state-of-the-art truth discovery methods. PMID:26705502

A computational account of the development of the generalization of shape information.

PubMed

Doumas, Leonidas A A; Hummel, John E

2010-05-01

Abecassis, Sera, Yonas, and Schwade (2001) showed that young children represent shapes more metrically, and perhaps more holistically, than do older children and adults. How does a child transition from representing objects and events as undifferentiated wholes to representing them explicitly in terms of their attributes? According to RBC (Recognition-by-Components theory; Biederman, 1987), objects are represented as collections of categorical geometric parts ("geons") in particular categorical spatial relations. We propose that the transition from holistic to more categorical visual shape processing is a function of the development of geon-like representations via a process of progressive intersection discovery. We present an account of this transition in terms of DORA (Doumas, Hummel, & Sandhofer, 2008), a model of the discovery of relational concepts. We demonstrate that DORA can learn representations of single geons by comparing objects composed of multiple geons. In addition, as DORA is learning it follows the same performance trajectory as children, originally generalizing shape more metrically/holistically and eventually generalizing categorically. Copyright © 2010 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Creativity--A Dynamic Approach to Industrial Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Markowitz, John, Jr.

1974-01-01

The author presents a number of unique programs and projects which have proved successful in one high school's woodworking and graphic arts classes in terms of motivating high student interest, growth in skills, good community relations--and a financial profit. The chief objective is self-discovery, the model is Outward Bound. (AJ)

The Discovery of Herbig–Haro Objects in LDN 673

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rector, T. A.; Shuping, R. Y.; Prato, L.; Schweiker, H.

2018-01-01

We report the discovery of 12 faint Herbig–Haro (HH) objects in LDN 673 found using a novel color-composite imaging method that reveals faint Hα emission in complex environments. Follow-up observations in [S II] confirmed their classification as HH objects. Potential driving sources are identified from the Spitzer c2d Legacy Program catalog and other infrared observations. The 12 new HH objects can be divided into three groups: four are likely associated with a cluster of eight young stellar object class I/II IR sources that lie between them; five are colinear with the T Tauri multiple star system AS 353, and are likely driven by the same source as HH 32 and HH 332 and three are bisected by a very red source that coincides with an infrared dark cloud. We also provide updated coordinates for the three components of HH 332. Inaccurate numbers were given for this object in the discovery paper. The discovery of HH objects and associated driving sources in this region provides new evidence for star formation in the Aquila clouds, implying a much larger T Tauri population in a seldom-studied region.

Multiwavelength and Statistical Research in Space Astrophysics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feigelson, Eric D.

1997-01-01

The accomplishments in the following three research areas are summarized: multiwavelength study of active galactic nuclei; magnetic activity of young stellar objects; and statistical methodology for astronomical data analysis. The research is largely based on observations of the ROSAT and ASCA X-ray observatories, complemented by ground-based optical and radio studies. Major findings include: discovery of inverse Compton X-ray emission from radio galaxy lobes; creation of the largest and least biased available sample of BL Lac objects; characterization of X-ray and nonthermal radio emission from T Tauri stars; obtaining an improved census of young stars in a star forming region and modeling the star formation history and kinematics; discovery of X-ray emission from protostars; development of linear regression methods and codes for interpreting astronomical data; and organization of the first cross-disciplinary conferences for astronomers and statisticians.

Discovery of a Potent, Dual Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The objective of the described research effort was to identify a novel serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) with improved norepinephrine transporter activity and acceptable metabolic stability and exhibiting minimal drug–drug interaction. We describe herein the discovery of a series of 3-substituted pyrrolidines, exemplified by compound 1. Compound 1 is a selective SNRI in vitro and in vivo, has favorable ADME properties, and retains inhibitory activity in the formalin model of pain behavior. Compound 1 thus represents a potential new probe to explore utility of SNRIs in central nervous system disorders, including chronic pain conditions. PMID:24900709

An object-oriented approach to risk and reliability analysis : methodology and aviation safety applications.

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

Dandini, Vincent John; Duran, Felicia Angelica; Wyss, Gregory Dane

2003-09-01

This article describes how features of event tree analysis and Monte Carlo-based discrete event simulation can be combined with concepts from object-oriented analysis to develop a new risk assessment methodology, with some of the best features of each. The resultant object-based event scenario tree (OBEST) methodology enables an analyst to rapidly construct realistic models for scenarios for which an a priori discovery of event ordering is either cumbersome or impossible. Each scenario produced by OBEST is automatically associated with a likelihood estimate because probabilistic branching is integral to the object model definition. The OBEST methodology is then applied to anmore » aviation safety problem that considers mechanisms by which an aircraft might become involved in a runway incursion incident. The resulting OBEST model demonstrates how a close link between human reliability analysis and probabilistic risk assessment methods can provide important insights into aviation safety phenomenology.« less

Reporting Astronomical Discoveries: Past, Now, and Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamaoka, Hitoshi; Green, Daniel W. E.; Samus, Nikolai N.; West, Richard

2015-08-01

Many new astronomical objects have been discovered over the years by amateur astronomers, and this continues to be the case. They have traditionally reported them (as have professional astronomers) to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT), which was established in the 19th century. This procedure has worked very well throughout the 20th century, moving under the umbrella of the newly established IAU in 1920. The discoverers have been honored by the formal announcement of their discoveries in the publications of the CBAT.In recent years, some professional research groups have established other ways of announcing their discoveries of explosive objects such as novae and supernovae; some do not now report their discoveries or spectroscopic confirmations of the transients to the CBAT, including often spectroscopic reports of objects posted to the CBAT "Transient Objects Confirmation Page" -- the highly successful TOCP webpage, which assigns official positional designations to new transients posted there by approved, registered users. This leads to a delay in formal announcements of discoveries by amateur astronomers in many cases, as well as inconsistent designations being put into use by individual groups. Amateur astronomers are feeling frustrated about this situation, and they hope that the IAU will help to settle the situation.We have proposed the new IAU commission NC-52, which will treat these phenomena in a continuation of Commission 6, through the CBAT. We hope to continuously support the reporting of the discoveries by amateur astronomers, as well as professional astronomers, who all deserve and desire proper recognition. Our strategy will maintain the firm trust between the amateur and professional astronomers, which is necessary for true collaboration. The plan is for the CBAT to work with collaborators to assure that discoveries posted on the TOCP are promptly designated and announced by the CBAT, even when confirmations are made elsewhere. All discoverers are encouraged to send their discovery information for transients to the CBAT (particularly for those objects brighter than visual or red magnitude 20).

Asteroid (101955) Bennu Shape Model V1.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nolan, M. C.; Magri, C.; Howell, E. S.; Benner, L. A. M.; Giorgini, J. D.; Hergenrother, C. W.; Hudson, R. S.; Lauretta, D. S.; Margot, J. L.; Ostro, S. J.; Scheeres, D. J.

2013-09-01

We present the three-dimensional shape of near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu (provisional designation 1999 RQ36) based on radar images and optical lightcurves (Nolan et al., 2013). Bennu was observed both in 1999 at its discovery apparition, and in 2005 using the 12.6-cm radar at the Arecibo Observatory and the 3.5-cm radar at the Goldstone tracking station. Data obtained in both apparitions were used to construct a shape model of this object. Observations were also obtained at many other wavelengths to characterize this object, some of which were used to further constrain the shape modeling (Clark et al., 2011; Hergenrother et al., 2013; Krugly et al., 1999).

Planetary and Primitive Object Strength Measurement and Sampling Apparatus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahrens, Thomas J.

1995-01-01

Support is requested for continuation of a program of dynamic impact (harpoon) coring of planetary, comet, or asteroid surface materials. We have previously demonstrated that good quality cores are obtainable for planetary materials with compressive strengths less than 200 MPa. Since the dynamics of penetration are observable on a Discovery class spacecraft, which images the sampling operation, these data can be used with a model developed under this project, to measure in-situ strength and frictional strength of the crust of the object. During the last year we have developed a detailed analytic model of penetrator mechanics. Progress is reported for the solid penetrators experiments, the CIT penetrator model, and the impact spall sampling apparatus.

Evaluating the inverse reasoning account of object discovery.

PubMed

Carroll, Christopher D; Kemp, Charles

2015-06-01

People routinely make inferences about unobserved objects. A hotel guest with welts on his arms, for example, will often worry about bed bugs. The discovery of unobserved objects almost always involves a backward inference from some observed effects (e.g., welts) to unobserved causes (e.g., bed bugs). The inverse reasoning account, which is typically formalized as Bayesian inference, posits that the strength of a backward inference is closely connected to the strength of the corresponding forward inference from the unobserved causes to the observed effects. We evaluated the inverse reasoning account of object discovery in three experiments where participants were asked to discover the unobserved "attractors" and "repellers" that controlled a "particle" moving within an arena. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that participants often failed to provide the best explanations for various particle motions, even when the best explanations were simple and when participants enthusiastically endorsed these explanations when presented with them. This failure demonstrates that object discovery is critically dependent on the processes that support hypothesis generation-processes that the inverse reasoning account does not explain. Experiment 3 demonstrated that people sometimes generate explanations that are invalid even according to their own forward inferences, suggesting that the psychological processes that support forward and backward inference are less intertwined than the inverse reasoning account suggests. The experimental findings support an alternative account of object discovery in which people rely on heuristics to generate possible explanations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Animal models for acute radiation syndrome drug discovery.

PubMed

Singh, Vijay K; Newman, Victoria L; Berg, Allison N; MacVittie, Thomas J

2015-05-01

Although significant scientific advances have been made over the past six decades in developing safe, nontoxic and effective radiation/medical countermeasures (MCMs) for acute radiation syndrome (ARS), no drug has been approved by the US FDA. The availability of adequate animal models is a prime requisite under the criteria established by the FDA 'animal rule' for the development of novel MCMs for ARS and the discovery of biomarkers for radiation exposure. This article reviews the developments of MCMs to combat ARS, with particular reference to the various animal models (rodents: mouse and rat; canine: beagle; minipigs and nonhuman primates [NHPs]) utilized for the in-depth evaluation. The objective, pathways and challenges of the FDA Animal Efficacy Rule are also discussed. There are a number of well-defined animal models, the mouse, canine and NHP, that are being used for the development of MCMs. Additional animal models, such as the minipig, are under development to further assist in the identification, efficacy testing and approval of MCMs under the FDA Animal Efficacy Rule.

Translational biomarkers: from discovery and development to clinical practice.

PubMed

Subramanyam, Meena; Goyal, Jaya

The refinement of disease taxonomy utilizing molecular phenotypes has led to significant improvements in the precision of disease diagnosis and customization of treatment options. This has also spurred efforts to identify novel biomarkers to understand the impact of therapeutically altering the underlying molecular network on disease course, and to support decision-making in drug discovery and development. However, gaps in knowledge regarding disease heterogeneity, combined with the inadequacies of surrogate disease model systems, make it challenging to demonstrate the unequivocal association of molecular and physiological biomarkers to disease pathology. This article will discuss the current landscape in biomarker research and highlight strategies being adopted to increase the likelihood of transitioning biomarkers from discovery to medical practice to enable more objective decision making, and to improve health outcome. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictive Mining of Time Series Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Java, A.; Perlman, E. S.

2002-05-01

All-sky monitors are a relatively new development in astronomy, and their data represent a largely untapped resource. Proper utilization of this resource could lead to important discoveries not only in the physics of variable objects, but in how one observes such objects. We discuss the development of a Java toolbox for astronomical time series data. Rather than using methods conventional in astronomy (e.g., power spectrum and cross-correlation analysis) we employ rule discovery techniques commonly used in analyzing stock-market data. By clustering patterns found within the data, rule discovery allows one to build predictive models, allowing one to forecast when a given event might occur or whether the occurrence of one event will trigger a second. We have tested the toolbox and accompanying display tool on datasets (representing several classes of objects) from the RXTE All Sky Monitor. We use these datasets to illustrate the methods and functionality of the toolbox. We have found predictive patterns in several ASM datasets. We also discuss problems faced in the development process, particularly the difficulties of dealing with discretized and irregularly sampled data. A possible application would be in scheduling target of opportunity observations where the astronomer wants to observe an object when a certain event or series of events occurs. By combining such a toolbox with an automatic, Java query tool which regularly gathers data on objects of interest, the astronomer or telescope operator could use the real-time datastream to efficiently predict the occurrence of (for example) a flare or other event. By combining the toolbox with dynamic time warping data-mining tools, one could predict events which may happen on variable time scales.

Discovery learning model with geogebra assisted for improvement mathematical visual thinking ability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Juandi, D.; Priatna, N.

2018-05-01

The main goal of this study is to improve the mathematical visual thinking ability of high school student through implementation the Discovery Learning Model with Geogebra Assisted. This objective can be achieved through study used quasi-experimental method, with non-random pretest-posttest control design. The sample subject of this research consist of 62 senior school student grade XI in one of school in Bandung district. The required data will be collected through documentation, observation, written tests, interviews, daily journals, and student worksheets. The results of this study are: 1) Improvement students Mathematical Visual Thinking Ability who obtain learning with applied the Discovery Learning Model with Geogebra assisted is significantly higher than students who obtain conventional learning; 2) There is a difference in the improvement of students’ Mathematical Visual Thinking ability between groups based on prior knowledge mathematical abilities (high, medium, and low) who obtained the treatment. 3) The Mathematical Visual Thinking Ability improvement of the high group is significantly higher than in the medium and low groups. 4) The quality of improvement ability of high and low prior knowledge is moderate category, in while the quality of improvement ability in the high category achieved by student with medium prior knowledge.

10 CFR 205.198 - Discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Discovery. 205.198 Section 205.198 Energy DEPARTMENT OF... of Proposed Disallowance, and Order of Disallowance § 205.198 Discovery. (a) If a person intends to file a Motion for Discovery, he must file it at the same time that he files his Statement of Objections...

10 CFR 205.198 - Discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Discovery. 205.198 Section 205.198 Energy DEPARTMENT OF... of Proposed Disallowance, and Order of Disallowance § 205.198 Discovery. (a) If a person intends to file a Motion for Discovery, he must file it at the same time that he files his Statement of Objections...

10 CFR 205.198 - Discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Discovery. 205.198 Section 205.198 Energy DEPARTMENT OF... of Proposed Disallowance, and Order of Disallowance § 205.198 Discovery. (a) If a person intends to file a Motion for Discovery, he must file it at the same time that he files his Statement of Objections...

10 CFR 205.198 - Discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Discovery. 205.198 Section 205.198 Energy DEPARTMENT OF... of Proposed Disallowance, and Order of Disallowance § 205.198 Discovery. (a) If a person intends to file a Motion for Discovery, he must file it at the same time that he files his Statement of Objections...

10 CFR 205.198 - Discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Discovery. 205.198 Section 205.198 Energy DEPARTMENT OF... of Proposed Disallowance, and Order of Disallowance § 205.198 Discovery. (a) If a person intends to file a Motion for Discovery, he must file it at the same time that he files his Statement of Objections...

Boosting-Based Optimization as a Generic Framework for Novelty and Fraud Detection in Complex Strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavrishchaka, Valeriy V.; Kovbasinskaya, Maria; Monina, Maria

2008-11-01

Novelty detection is a very desirable additional feature of any practical classification or forecasting system. Novelty and rare patterns detection is the main objective in such applications as fault/abnormality discovery in complex technical and biological systems, fraud detection and risk management in financial and insurance industry. Although many interdisciplinary approaches for rare event modeling and novelty detection have been proposed, significant data incompleteness due to the nature of the problem makes it difficult to find a universal solution. Even more challenging and much less formalized problem is novelty detection in complex strategies and models where practical performance criteria are usually multi-objective and the best state-of-the-art solution is often not known due to the complexity of the task and/or proprietary nature of the application area. For example, it is much more difficult to detect a series of small insider trading or other illegal transactions mixed with valid operations and distributed over long time period according to a well-designed strategy than a single, large fraudulent transaction. Recently proposed boosting-based optimization was shown to be an effective generic tool for the discovery of stable multi-component strategies/models from the existing parsimonious base strategies/models in financial and other applications. Here we outline how the same framework can be used for novelty and fraud detection in complex strategies and models.

Assessment of Motor Function, Sensory Motor Gating and Recognition Memory in a Novel BACHD Transgenic Rat Model for Huntington Disease

PubMed Central

Abada, Yah-se K.; Nguyen, Huu Phuc; Schreiber, Rudy; Ellenbroek, Bart

2013-01-01

Rationale Huntington disease (HD) is frequently first diagnosed by the appearance of motor symptoms; the diagnosis is subsequently confirmed by the presence of expanded CAG repeats (> 35) in the HUNTINGTIN (HTT) gene. A BACHD rat model for HD carrying the human full length mutated HTT with 97 CAG-CAA repeats has been established recently. Behavioral phenotyping of BACHD rats will help to determine the validity of this model and its potential use in preclinical drug discovery studies. Objectives The present study seeks to characterize the progressive emergence of motor, sensorimotor and cognitive deficits in BACHD rats. Materials and Methods Wild type and transgenic rats were tested from 1 till 12 months of age. Motor tests were selected to measure spontaneous locomotor activity (open field) and gait coordination. Sensorimotor gating was assessed in acoustic startle response paradigms and recognition memory was evaluated in an object recognition test. Results Transgenic rats showed hyperactivity at 1 month and hypoactivity starting at 4 months of age. Motor coordination imbalance in a Rotarod test was present at 2 months and gait abnormalities were seen in a Catwalk test at 12 months. Subtle sensorimotor changes were observed, whereas object recognition was unimpaired in BACHD rats up to 12 months of age. Conclusion The current BACHD rat model recapitulates certain symptoms from HD patients, especially the marked motor deficits. A subtle neuropsychological phenotype was found and further studies are needed to fully address the sensorimotor phenotype and the potential use of BACHD rats for drug discovery purposes. PMID:23874679

46 CFR 201.109 - Discovery and production of documents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 201.109 Shipping MARITIME ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION POLICY, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Discovery and Depositions (Rule 11) § 201.109 Discovery and production... any designated documents, papers, books, accounts, letters, photographs, objects, or tangible things...

Age of high redshift objects—a litmus test for the dark energy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Deepak; Dev, Abha

2006-02-01

The discovery of the quasar, the APM 08279+5255 at z=3.91 whose age is 2 3 Gyr has once again led to “age crisis”. The noticeable fact about this object is that it cannot be accommodated in a universe with Ω=0.27, currently accepted value of matter density parameter and ω=const. In this work, we explore the concordance of various dark energy parameterizations (w(z) models) with the age estimates of the old high redshift objects. It is alarming to note that the quasar cannot be accommodated in any dark energy model even for Ω=0.23, which corresponds to 1σ deviation below the best fit value provided by WMAP. There is a need to look for alternative cosmologies or some other dark energy parameterizations which allow the existence of the high redshift objects.

The End of Accretion: The X-Ray Binary/Millisecond Pulsar Transition Object PSR J1023+0038

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Archibald, Anne

2015-04-01

Millisecond radio pulsars (MSRPs), those spinning hundreds of times per second, have long been understood to be old pulsars that have been spun up by the accretion of matter from a companion in a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) phase. Yet the details of this transformation, particularly the end of the accretion process and the birth of a radio pulsar, remain mysterious. I will describe the discovery and detailed study of the first object known to transition between MSRP and LMXB states, PSR J1023+0038. By dint of a multiwavelength campaign of observations in the RMSP state, we are able to measure all the key system parameters and show the existence of an X-ray shock close to the pulsar-facing side of the companion. Since the discovery of PSR J1023+0038, two more objects (XSS J12270-4859 and M28I) have been found to make the same transition, and the study of these transitioning objects has become an active field of research. Most interestingly, PSR J1023+0038 has transitioned back into an LMXB state, with an active accretion disk and a puzzling increase in gamma-ray flux. Our detailed picture of the system allows us to test models of accretion against the phenomena we observe in PSR J1023+0038, and in fact these observations challenge current models: in spite of the low luminosity of the system (and low inferred accretion rate) some material is penetrating the centrifugal barrier and falling on the neutron-star surface. Key evidence for explaining this puzzling behaviour will come when PSR J1023+0038 returns to an MSRP state and we are able to compare pulsar timing models from after the LMXB state with those we obtained in this work.

Scientific discovery as a combinatorial optimisation problem: How best to navigate the landscape of possible experiments?

PubMed Central

Kell, Douglas B

2012-01-01

A considerable number of areas of bioscience, including gene and drug discovery, metabolic engineering for the biotechnological improvement of organisms, and the processes of natural and directed evolution, are best viewed in terms of a ‘landscape’ representing a large search space of possible solutions or experiments populated by a considerably smaller number of actual solutions that then emerge. This is what makes these problems ‘hard’, but as such these are to be seen as combinatorial optimisation problems that are best attacked by heuristic methods known from that field. Such landscapes, which may also represent or include multiple objectives, are effectively modelled in silico, with modern active learning algorithms such as those based on Darwinian evolution providing guidance, using existing knowledge, as to what is the ‘best’ experiment to do next. An awareness, and the application, of these methods can thereby enhance the scientific discovery process considerably. This analysis fits comfortably with an emerging epistemology that sees scientific reasoning, the search for solutions, and scientific discovery as Bayesian processes. PMID:22252984

Scientific discovery as a combinatorial optimisation problem: how best to navigate the landscape of possible experiments?

PubMed

Kell, Douglas B

2012-03-01

A considerable number of areas of bioscience, including gene and drug discovery, metabolic engineering for the biotechnological improvement of organisms, and the processes of natural and directed evolution, are best viewed in terms of a 'landscape' representing a large search space of possible solutions or experiments populated by a considerably smaller number of actual solutions that then emerge. This is what makes these problems 'hard', but as such these are to be seen as combinatorial optimisation problems that are best attacked by heuristic methods known from that field. Such landscapes, which may also represent or include multiple objectives, are effectively modelled in silico, with modern active learning algorithms such as those based on Darwinian evolution providing guidance, using existing knowledge, as to what is the 'best' experiment to do next. An awareness, and the application, of these methods can thereby enhance the scientific discovery process considerably. This analysis fits comfortably with an emerging epistemology that sees scientific reasoning, the search for solutions, and scientific discovery as Bayesian processes. Copyright © 2012 WILEY Periodicals, Inc.

Discovery of the candidate Kuiper belt object 1992 QB1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jewitt, D.; Luu, J.

1993-04-01

The discovery of a new faint object in the outer solar system, 1992 QB1, moving beyond the orbit of Neptune is reported. It is suggested that the 1992 QB1 may represent the first detection of a member of the Kuiper belt (Edgworth, 1949; Kuiper, 1951), the hypothesized population of objects beyond Neptune and a possible source of the short-period comets, as suggested by Whipple (1964), Fernandez (1980), and Duncan et al. (1988).

Simultaneously Discovering and Localizing Common Objects in Wild Images.

PubMed

Wang, Zhenzhen; Yuan, Junsong

2018-09-01

Motivated by the recent success of supervised and weakly supervised common object discovery, in this paper, we move forward one step further to tackle common object discovery in a fully unsupervised way. Generally, object co-localization aims at simultaneously localizing objects of the same class across a group of images. Traditional object localization/detection usually trains specific object detectors which require bounding box annotations of object instances, or at least image-level labels to indicate the presence/absence of objects in an image. Given a collection of images without any annotations, our proposed fully unsupervised method is to simultaneously discover images that contain common objects and also localize common objects in corresponding images. Without requiring to know the total number of common objects, we formulate this unsupervised object discovery as a sub-graph mining problem from a weighted graph of object proposals, where nodes correspond to object proposals, and edges represent the similarities between neighbouring proposals. The positive images and common objects are jointly discovered by finding sub-graphs of strongly connected nodes, with each sub-graph capturing one object pattern. The optimization problem can be efficiently solved by our proposed maximal-flow-based algorithm. Instead of assuming that each image contains only one common object, our proposed solution can better address wild images where each image may contain multiple common objects or even no common object. Moreover, our proposed method can be easily tailored to the task of image retrieval in which the nodes correspond to the similarity between query and reference images. Extensive experiments on PASCAL VOC 2007 and Object Discovery data sets demonstrate that even without any supervision, our approach can discover/localize common objects of various classes in the presence of scale, view point, appearance variation, and partial occlusions. We also conduct broad experiments on image retrieval benchmarks, Holidays and Oxford5k data sets, to show that our proposed method, which considers both the similarity between query and reference images and also similarities among reference images, can help to improve the retrieval results significantly.

Knowledge Discovery from Biomedical Ontologies in Cross Domains.

PubMed

Shen, Feichen; Lee, Yugyung

2016-01-01

In recent years, there is an increasing demand for sharing and integration of medical data in biomedical research. In order to improve a health care system, it is required to support the integration of data by facilitating semantic interoperability systems and practices. Semantic interoperability is difficult to achieve in these systems as the conceptual models underlying datasets are not fully exploited. In this paper, we propose a semantic framework, called Medical Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (MedKDD), that aims to build a topic hierarchy and serve the semantic interoperability between different ontologies. For the purpose, we fully focus on the discovery of semantic patterns about the association of relations in the heterogeneous information network representing different types of objects and relationships in multiple biological ontologies and the creation of a topic hierarchy through the analysis of the discovered patterns. These patterns are used to cluster heterogeneous information networks into a set of smaller topic graphs in a hierarchical manner and then to conduct cross domain knowledge discovery from the multiple biological ontologies. Thus, patterns made a greater contribution in the knowledge discovery across multiple ontologies. We have demonstrated the cross domain knowledge discovery in the MedKDD framework using a case study with 9 primary biological ontologies from Bio2RDF and compared it with the cross domain query processing approach, namely SLAP. We have confirmed the effectiveness of the MedKDD framework in knowledge discovery from multiple medical ontologies.

Knowledge Discovery from Biomedical Ontologies in Cross Domains

PubMed Central

Shen, Feichen; Lee, Yugyung

2016-01-01

In recent years, there is an increasing demand for sharing and integration of medical data in biomedical research. In order to improve a health care system, it is required to support the integration of data by facilitating semantic interoperability systems and practices. Semantic interoperability is difficult to achieve in these systems as the conceptual models underlying datasets are not fully exploited. In this paper, we propose a semantic framework, called Medical Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (MedKDD), that aims to build a topic hierarchy and serve the semantic interoperability between different ontologies. For the purpose, we fully focus on the discovery of semantic patterns about the association of relations in the heterogeneous information network representing different types of objects and relationships in multiple biological ontologies and the creation of a topic hierarchy through the analysis of the discovered patterns. These patterns are used to cluster heterogeneous information networks into a set of smaller topic graphs in a hierarchical manner and then to conduct cross domain knowledge discovery from the multiple biological ontologies. Thus, patterns made a greater contribution in the knowledge discovery across multiple ontologies. We have demonstrated the cross domain knowledge discovery in the MedKDD framework using a case study with 9 primary biological ontologies from Bio2RDF and compared it with the cross domain query processing approach, namely SLAP. We have confirmed the effectiveness of the MedKDD framework in knowledge discovery from multiple medical ontologies. PMID:27548262

Discovery of A New Retrograde Trans-Neptunian Object: Hint of A Common Orbital Plane for Low Semi-Major Axis, High Inclination TNOs and Centaurs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Ying-Tung; Lin, Hsing-Wen; Holman, Matthew J.; Payne, Matthew John; Fraser, Wesley Cristopher; Lacerda, Pedro; Ip, Wing-Huen; Pan-STARRS 1 Builders

2016-10-01

The origin of high inclination objects beyond Jupiter, including trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Centaurs, remains uncertain. We report the discovery of a retrograde TNO, which we nickname "Niku", detected by the Pan-STARRS 1 Outer Solar System Survey. The numerical integrations show that the orbital dynamics of Niku are very similar to those of 2008 KV42 (Drac), with a half-life of ~ 500 Myr and analogous orbital evolution. Comparing similar high inclination members announced by the Minor-Planet Center (q > 10 AU, a < 100 AU and i > 60), we find these objects exhibit a surprising clustering of ascending node, populating a common orbital plane. The statistical significance of 3.8-sigma suggests it is unlikely to be coincidental. An unknown mechanism is required to explain the observed clustering. This discovery may provide a pathway to investigating a possible reservoir of high-inclination objects.

Airborne Astronomy Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butner, Harold M.

1999-01-01

Our understanding about the inter-relationship between the collapsing cloud envelope and the disk has been greatly altered. While the dominant star formation models invoke free fall collapse and r(sup -1.5) density profile, other star formation models are possible. These models invoke either different cloud starting conditions or the mediating effects of magnetic fields to alter the cloud geometry during collapse. To test these models, it is necessary to understand the envelope's physical structure. The discovery of disks, based on millimeter observations around young stellar objects, however makes a simple interpretation of the emission complicated. Depending on the wavelength, the disk or the envelope could dominate emission from a star. In addition, the discovery of planets around other stars has made understanding the disks in their own right quite important. Many star formation models predict disks should form naturally as the star is forming. In many cases, the information we derive about disk properties depends implicitly on the assumed envelope properties. How to understand the two components and their interaction with each other is a key problem of current star formation.

Psychological and Physiological Mechanisms by Which Discovery and Didactic Methods Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keegan, Mark

1995-01-01

Describes physiological, affective, and cognitive mechanisms by which didactic and discovery methods appear to work, as revealed by research literature. The optimal instructional method depends on the instructional objective, the educator's skills, and the nature of the students. Suggests more use of discovery methods. (69 references) (Author/MKR)

Accounting for discovery bias in genomic prediction

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Our objective was to evaluate an approach to mitigating discovery bias in genomic prediction. Accuracy may be improved by placing greater emphasis on regions of the genome expected to be more influential on a trait. Methods emphasizing regions result in a phenomenon known as “discovery bias” if info...

43 CFR 10.5 - Consultation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... REPATRIATION REGULATIONS Human Remains, Funerary Objects, Sacred Objects, or Objects of Cultural Patrimony From... inadvertent discovery of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony on... likely to be, culturally affiliated with the human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects...

Biomarker discovery and development in pediatric critical care medicine

PubMed Central

Kaplan, Jennifer M.; Wong, Hector R.

2010-01-01

Objective To frame the general process of biomarker discovery and development, and to describe a proposal for the development of a multi-biomarker based risk model for pediatric septic shock. Data Source Narrative literature review and author generated data. Main Results Biomarkers can be grouped into four broad classes, based on the intended function: diagnostic, monitoring, surrogate, and stratification. Biomarker discovery and development requires a rigorous process, which is frequently not well followed in the critical care medicine literature. Very few biomarkers have successfully transitioned from the candidate stage to the true biomarker stage. There is great interest in developing diagnostic and stratification biomarkers for sepsis. Procalcitonin is currently the most promising diagnostic biomarker for sepsis. Recent evidence suggests that interleukin-8 can be used to stratify children with septic shock having a high likelihood of survival with standard care. Currently, there is a multi-institutional effort to develop a multi-biomarker based sepsis risk model intended to predict outcome and illness severity for individual children with septic shock. Conclusions Biomarker discovery and development is an important portion of the pediatric critical care medicine translational research agenda. This effort will require collaboration across multiple institutions and investigators. Rigorous conduct of biomarker-focused research holds the promise of transforming our ability to care for individual patients and our ability to conduct clinical trials in a more effective manner. PMID:20473243

Petroleum-resource appraisal and discovery rate forecasting in partially explored regions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Drew, Lawrence J.; Schuenemeyer, J.H.; Root, David H.; Attanasi, E.D.

1980-01-01

PART A: A model of the discovery process can be used to predict the size distribution of future petroleum discoveries in partially explored basins. The parameters of the model are estimated directly from the historical drilling record, rather than being determined by assumptions or analogies. The model is based on the concept of the area of influence of a drill hole, which states that the area of a basin exhausted by a drill hole varies with the size and shape of targets in the basin and with the density of previously drilled wells. It also uses the concept of discovery efficiency, which measures the rate of discovery within several classes of deposit size. The model was tested using 25 years of historical exploration data (1949-74) from the Denver basin. From the trend in the discovery rate (the number of discoveries per unit area exhausted), the discovery efficiencies in each class of deposit size were estimated. Using pre-1956 discovery and drilling data, the model accurately predicted the size distribution of discoveries for the 1956-74 period. PART B: A stochastic model of the discovery process has been developed to predict, using past drilling and discovery data, the distribution of future petroleum deposits in partially explored basins, and the basic mathematical properties of the model have been established. The model has two exogenous parameters, the efficiency of exploration and the effective basin size. The first parameter is the ratio of the probability that an actual exploratory well will make a discovery to the probability that a randomly sited well will make a discovery. The second parameter, the effective basin size, is the area of that part of the basin in which drillers are willing to site wells. Methods for estimating these parameters from locations of past wells and from the sizes and locations of past discoveries were derived, and the properties of estimators of the parameters were studied by simulation. PART C: This study examines the temporal properties and determinants of petroleum exploration for firms operating in the Denver basin. Expectations associated with the favorability of a specific area are modeled by using distributed lag proxy variables (of previous discoveries) and predictions from a discovery process model. In the second part of the study, a discovery process model is linked with a behavioral well-drilling model in order to predict the supply of new reserves. Results of the study indicate that the positive effects of new discoveries on drilling increase for several periods and then diminish to zero within 2? years after the deposit discovery date. Tests of alternative specifications of the argument of the distributed lag function using alternative minimum size classes of deposits produced little change in the model's explanatory power. This result suggests that, once an exploration play is underway, favorable operator expectations are sustained by the quantity of oil found per time period rather than by the discovery of specific size deposits. When predictions of the value of undiscovered deposits (generated from a discovery process model) were substituted for the expectations variable in models used to explain exploration effort, operator behavior was found to be consistent with these predictions. This result suggests that operators, on the average, were efficiently using information contained in the discovery history of the basin in carrying out their exploration plans. Comparison of the two approaches to modeling unobservable operator expectations indicates that the two models produced very similar results. The integration of the behavioral well-drilling model and discovery process model to predict the additions to reserves per unit time was successful only when the quarterly predictions were aggregated to annual values. The accuracy of the aggregated predictions was also found to be reasonably robust to errors in predictions from the behavioral well-drilling equation.

Robustness of disaggregate oil and gas discovery forecasting models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Attanasi, E.D.; Schuenemeyer, J.H.

1989-01-01

The trend in forecasting oil and gas discoveries has been to develop and use models that allow forecasts of the size distribution of future discoveries. From such forecasts, exploration and development costs can more readily be computed. Two classes of these forecasting models are the Arps-Roberts type models and the 'creaming method' models. This paper examines the robustness of the forecasts made by these models when the historical data on which the models are based have been subject to economic upheavals or when historical discovery data are aggregated from areas having widely differing economic structures. Model performance is examined in the context of forecasting discoveries for offshore Texas State and Federal areas. The analysis shows how the model forecasts are limited by information contained in the historical discovery data. Because the Arps-Roberts type models require more regularity in discovery sequence than the creaming models, prior information had to be introduced into the Arps-Roberts models to accommodate the influence of economic changes. The creaming methods captured the overall decline in discovery size but did not easily allow introduction of exogenous information to compensate for incomplete historical data. Moreover, the predictive log normal distribution associated with the creaming model methods appears to understate the importance of the potential contribution of small fields. ?? 1989.

Laboratory Astrophysics: Enabling Scientific Discovery and Understanding

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirby, K.

2006-01-01

NASA's Science Strategic Roadmap for Universe Exploration lays out a series of science objectives on a grand scale and discusses the various missions, over a wide range of wavelengths, which will enable discovery. Astronomical spectroscopy is arguably the most powerful tool we have for exploring the Universe. Experimental and theoretical studies in Laboratory Astrophysics convert "hard-won data into scientific understanding". However, the development of instruments with increasingly high spectroscopic resolution demands atomic and molecular data of unprecedented accuracy and completeness. How to meet these needs, in a time of severe budgetary constraints, poses a significant challenge both to NASA, the astronomical observers and model-builders, and the laboratory astrophysics community. I will discuss these issues, together with some recent examples of productive astronomy/lab astro collaborations.

ACCESS - A Science and Engineering Assessment of Space Coronagraph Concepts for the Direct Imaging and Spectroscopy of Exoplanetary Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trauger, John

2008-01-01

Topics include and overview, science objectives, study objectives, coronagraph types, metrics, ACCESS observatory, laboratory validations, and summary. Individual slides examine ACCESS engineering approach, ACCESS gamut of coronagraph types, coronagraph metrics, ACCESS Discovery Space, coronagraph optical layout, wavefront control on the "level playing field", deformable mirror development for HCIT, laboratory testbed demonstrations, high contract imaging with the HCIT, laboratory coronagraph contrast and stability, model validation and performance predictions, HCIT coronagraph optical layout, Lyot coronagraph on the HCIT, pupil mapping (PIAA), shaped pupils, and vortex phase mask experiments on the HCIT.

Spacewatch search for near-Earth asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gehreis, Tom

1991-01-01

The objective of the Spacewatch Program is to develop new techniques for the discovery of near-earth asteroids and to prove the efficiency of the techniques. Extensive experience was obtained with the 0.91-m Spacewatch Telescope on Kitt Peak that now has the largest CCD detector in the world: a Tektronix 2048 x 2048 with 27-micron pixel size. During the past year, software and hardware for optimizing the discovery of near-earth asteroids were installed. As a result, automatic detection of objects that move with rates between 0.1 and 4 degrees per day has become routine since September 1990. Apparently, one or two near-earth asteroids are discovered per month, on average. The follow up is with astrometry over as long an arc as the geometry and faintness of the object allow, typically three months following the discovery observations. During the second half of 1990, replacing the 0.91-m mirror with a larger one, to increase the discovery rate, was considered. Studies and planning for this switch are proposed for funding during the coming year. It was also proposed that the Spacewatch Telescope be turned on the sky, instead of having the drive turned off, in order to increase the rate of discoveries by perhaps a factor of two.

43 CFR 10.5 - Consultation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... REPATRIATION REGULATIONS Human Remains, Funerary Objects, Sacred Objects, or Objects of Cultural Patrimony From... inadvertent discovery of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony on... of cultural patrimony; and (3) From Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations that have a...

Discovery of extreme [O III] λ5007 Å outflows in high-redshift red quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakamska, Nadia L.; Hamann, Fred; Pâris, Isabelle; Brandt, W. N.; Greene, Jenny E.; Strauss, Michael A.; Villforth, Carolin; Wylezalek, Dominika; Alexandroff, Rachael M.; Ross, Nicholas P.

2016-07-01

Black hole feedback is now a standard component of galaxy formation models. These models predict that the impact of black hole activity on its host galaxy likely peaked at z = 2-3, the epoch of strongest star formation activity and black hole accretion activity in the Universe. We used XSHOOTER on the Very Large Telescope to measure rest-frame optical spectra of four z ˜ 2.5 extremely red quasars with infrared luminosities ˜1047 erg s-1. We present the discovery of very broad (full width at half max = 2600-5000 km s-1), strongly blueshifted (by up to 1500 km s-1) [O III] λ5007 Å emission lines in these objects. In a large sample of type 2 and red quasars, [O III] kinematics are positively correlated with infrared luminosity, and the four objects in our sample are on the extreme end in both [O III] kinematics and infrared luminosity. We estimate that at least 3 per cent of the bolometric luminosity in these objects is being converted into the kinetic power of the observed wind. Photo-ionization estimates suggest that the [O III] emission might be extended on a few kpc scales, which would suggest that the extreme outflow is affecting the entire host galaxy of the quasar. These sources may be the signposts of the most extreme form of quasar feedback at the peak epoch of galaxy formation, and may represent an active `blow-out' phase of quasar evolution.

Detecting outliers and learning complex structures with large spectroscopic surveys - a case study with APOGEE stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reis, Itamar; Poznanski, Dovi; Baron, Dalya; Zasowski, Gail; Shahaf, Sahar

2018-05-01

In this work, we apply and expand on a recently introduced outlier detection algorithm that is based on an unsupervised random forest. We use the algorithm to calculate a similarity measure for stellar spectra from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE). We show that the similarity measure traces non-trivial physical properties and contains information about complex structures in the data. We use it for visualization and clustering of the data set, and discuss its ability to find groups of highly similar objects, including spectroscopic twins. Using the similarity matrix to search the data set for objects allows us to find objects that are impossible to find using their best-fitting model parameters. This includes extreme objects for which the models fail, and rare objects that are outside the scope of the model. We use the similarity measure to detect outliers in the data set, and find a number of previously unknown Be-type stars, spectroscopic binaries, carbon rich stars, young stars, and a few that we cannot interpret. Our work further demonstrates the potential for scientific discovery when combining machine learning methods with modern survey data.

The Ketogenic Diet and Potassium Channel Function

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

1 AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-13-1-0463 TITLE: The Ketogenic Diet and Potassium Channel Function...Unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT The overall objective of this Discovery Award is to explore the hypothesis the ketogenic diet ...have examining the impact of the ketogenic diet on mice in which the gene that encodes Kvβ2 has been deleted (Kvβ2 KO mice) using an in vitro model of

International Astronomical Search Collaboration: Online Educational Outreach Program in Astronomical Discovery for Middle School, High School, & College Students and Citizen Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, P.

2016-12-01

The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC = "Isaac") in an online educational outreach program in planetary science. Citizen scientists and students from middle schools, high schools, and colleges make original discoveries of Main Belt asteroids. They discover trans-Neptunian objects and near-Earth objects. To date there have been discoveries of 1300 provisional MBAs, 7 TNOs, 2 potentially hazardous NEOs, and one Jupiter-family comet 276P/Vorobjov. IASC receives images from the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii. Images are provided by the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS telescopes (PS1, PS2). These telescopes have the world's largest CCD cameras that produce 3o fields containing 1.4 billion pixels. These images are partitioned into 208 sub-images that are distributed online to the participating citizen scientists and schools (see http://iasc.hsutx.edu). Using the software Astrometrica, the sub-images are searched for moving object discoveries that are recorded with astrometry then reported to the Minor Planet Center (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Harvard). There are >5,000 citizen scientists and 700 schools that participate in the IASC asteroid searches. They come from more than 80 countries. And, the cost to participate…is free. Of the 1300 provisional MBA discoveries, 39 have been numbered and cataloged by the International Astronomical Union (Paris). The numbered discoveries are named by their citizen scientist and student discoverers. IASC works in conjunction with the NASA Asteroid Grand Challenge providing digital badging to the students (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-asteroid-grand-challenge-digital-badging-effort). IASC works online with the teachers from the participating schools, training them using videoconferencing to use Astrometrica in the search for, measurement of, and reporting of MBA discoveries by their students.

Investigating ChaMPlane X-Ray Sources in the Galactic Bulge with Magellan LDSS2 Spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koenig, Xavier; Grindlay, Jonathan E.; van den Berg, Maureen; Laycock, Silas; Zhao, Ping; Hong, JaeSub; Schlegel, Eric M.

2008-09-01

We have carried out optical and X-ray spectral analyses on a sample of 136 candidate optical counterparts of X-ray sources found in five Galactic bulge fields included in our Chandra Multiwavelength Plane Survey. We use a combination of optical spectral fitting and quantile X-ray analysis to obtain the hydrogen column density toward each object, and a three-dimensional dust model of the Galaxy to estimate the most probable distance in each case. We present the discovery of a population of stellar coronal emission sources, likely consisting of pre-main-sequence, young main-sequence, and main-sequence stars, as well as a component of active binaries of RS CVn or BY Dra type. We identify one candidate quiescent low-mass X-ray binary with a subgiant companion; we note that this object may also be an RS CVn system. We report the discovery of three new X-ray-detected cataclysmic variables (CVs) in the direction of the Galactic center (at distances lesssim2 kpc). This number is in excess of predictions made with a simple CV model based on a local CV space density of lesssim10-5 pc-3, and a scale height ~200 pc. We discuss several possible reasons for this observed excess.

The implementation of discovery learning model based on lesson study to increase student's achievement in colloid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suyanti, Retno Dwi; Purba, Deby Monika

2017-03-01

The objectives of this research are to get the increase student's achievement on the discovery learning model based on lesson study. Beside of that, this research also conducted to know the cognitive aspect. This research was done in three school that are SMA N 3 Medan. Population is all the students in SMA N 11 Medan which taken by purposive random sampling. The research instruments are achievement test instruments that have been validated. The research data analyzed by statistic using Ms Excell. The result data shows that the student's achievement taught by discovery learning model based on Lesson study higher than the student's achievement taught by direct instructional method. It can be seen from the average of gain and also proved with t-test, the normalized gain in experimental class of SMA N 11 is (0.74±0.12) and control class (0.45±0.12), at significant level α = 0.05, Ha is received and Ho is refused where tcount>ttable in SMA N 11 (9.81>1,66). Then get the improvement cognitive aspect from three of school is C2 where SMA N 11 is 0.84(high). Then the observation sheet result of lesson study from SMA N 11 92 % of student working together while 67% less in active using media.

The Discovery Channel Telescope: Construction and Design Progress, January 2007

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bida, Thomas A.; Millis, R. L.; Smith, B. W.; Dunham, E. W.; Marshall, H.

2006-12-01

The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is a 4.2m telescope under construction in northern Arizona. The DCT is located at a new site near Happy Jack at 2361m elevation, which was selected following a lengthy site testing campaign that demonstrated DIMM-characterized median ground-level seeing of 0.84-arcsec FWHM. The DCT science mission includes targeted studies of astrophysical and solar system objects utilizing RC and Nasmyth-mounted imaging and spectroscopic instrumentation, and wide-field surveys of KBO’s, NEA’s, and astrophysical objects with a 2-degree FOV prime focus camera. The DCT facility enclosure and control buildings will be completed soon, including the telescope mount and dome supports, major machinery infrastructure, the instrument laboratory, control and computer rooms, and the auxiliary building for the mirror coating plant. Meanwhile, the effort for final figuring and polishing of the 4.3m ULE meniscus primary mirror blank began in August 2006 at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. The primary mirror and its design support, and the integrated telescope mount model, were finite-element analyzed to optimize the design of the mirror and top-end support configurations. The primary mirror axial and tangential actuators will be fabricated in early 2007 and utilized in the final figure and polish cycle. The prime focus camera design has been refined to achieve atmospheric dispersion-compensated 0.25-arcsec images at 1-degree field radius, from B to I-band, at reduced cost through simplification of glasses to standard types and utilization of spheres on all but two lens surfaces. The Discovery Channel Telescope is a project of the Lowell Observatory with major financial support from Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI). DCI plans ongoing television programming featuring the construction of the telescope and the research ultimately conducted with the DCT. Lowell Observatory and Discovery Communications are actively seeking additional partners in the project; interested parties should contact R. L. Millis, Director.

The Pause That Refreshes: A Study of the Discovery Corners in the National Museum of History and Technology Smithsonian Institution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, Robert L.; Tymitz, Barbara L.

This report examines the impact and effectiveness of an educational program (Discovery Corners) offered by the National Museum of History and Technology. The main objective is to offer feedback to museum personnel regarding the impact of museum exhibits and programs. The Discovery Corners program involves on-site presentations and demonstrations…

Liver proteomics for therapeutic drug discovery: inhibition of the cyclophilin receptor CD147 attenuates sepsis-induced acute renal failure

PubMed Central

Dear, James W.; Leelahavanichkul, Asada; Aponte, Angel; Hu, Xuzhen; Constant, Stephanie L.; Hewitt, Stephen M.; Yuen, Peter S.T.; Star, Robert A.

2008-01-01

Objective Sepsis-induced multi-organ failure continues to have a high mortality. The liver is an organ central to the disease pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to identify the liver proteins that change in abundance with sepsis and, therefore, identify new drug targets. Design Proteomic discovery study and drug target validation Setting Research institute laboratory Subjects Three month old C57BL/6 mice Interventions We used a mouse model of sepsis based on cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) but with fluid and antibiotic resuscitation. Liver proteins that changed in abundance were identified by difference in-gel electrophoresis (DIGE). We compared liver proteins from 6 hr post-CLP to sham-operated mice (‘early proteins’) and 24 hr post-CLP with 6 hr post-CLP (‘late proteins’). Proteins that changed in abundance were identified by tandem mass spectrometry. We then inhibited the receptor for one protein and determined the effect on sepsis-induced organ dysfunction. Results The liver proteins that changed in abundance after sepsis had a range of functions such as acute phase proteins, coagulation, ER stress, oxidative stress, apoptosis, mitochondrial proteins and nitric oxide metabolism. We found that cyclophilin increased in abundance after CLP. When the receptor for this protein, CD147, was inhibited sepsis-induced renal dysfunction was reduced. There was also a significant reduction in serum cytokine production when CD147 was inhibited. Conclusion By applying proteomics to a clinically relevant mouse model of sepsis we identified a number of novel proteins that changed in abundance. The inhibition of the receptor for one of these proteins, cyclophilin, attenuated sepsis-induced acute renal failure. The application of proteomics to sepsis research can facilitate the discovery of new therapeutic targets. PMID:17944020

Multiwavelength Observations of the Previously Unidentified Blazar RX J0648.7+1516

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aliu, E.; Aune, T.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Böttcher, M.; Bouvier, A.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Cannon, A.; Cesarini, A.; Ciupik, L.; Connolly, M. P.; Cui, W.; Decerprit, G.; Dickherber, R.; Duke, C.; Errando, M.; Falcone, A.; Feng, Q.; Finnegan, G.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Galante, N.; Gall, D.; Gillanders, G. H.; Godambe, S.; Griffin, S.; Grube, J.; Gyuk, G.; Hanna, D.; Hivick, B.; Holder, J.; Huan, H.; Hughes, G.; Hui, C. M.; Humensky, T. B.; Kaaret, P.; Karlsson, N.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Maier, G.; Majumdar, P.; McArthur, S.; McCann, A.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; Nelson, T.; Ong, R. A.; Orr, M.; Otte, A. N.; Park, N.; Perkins, J. S.; Pichel, A.; Pohl, M.; Prokoph, H.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reyes, L. C.; Reynolds, P. T.; Roache, E.; Rose, H. J.; Ruppel, J.; Saxon, D. B.; Sembroski, G. H.; Skole, C.; Smith, A. W.; Staszak, D.; Tešić, G.; Theiling, M.; Thibadeau, S.; Tsurusaki, K.; Tyler, J.; Varlotta, A.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Wakely, S. P.; Weekes, T. C.; Weinstein, A.; Williams, D. A.; Zitzer, B.; VERITAS Collaboration; Ciprini, S.; Fumagalli, M.; Kaplan, K.; Paneque, D.; Prochaska, J. X.

2011-12-01

We report on the VERITAS discovery of very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission above 200 GeV from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) object RX J0648.7+1516 (GB J0648+1516), associated with 1FGL J0648.8+1516. The photon spectrum above 200 GeV is fitted by a power law dN/dE = F 0(E/E 0)-Γ with a photon index Γ of 4.4 ± 0.8stat ± 0.3syst and a flux normalization F 0 of (2.3 ± 0.5stat ± 1.2sys) × 10-11 TeV-1 cm-2 s-1 with E 0 = 300 GeV. No VHE variability is detected during VERITAS observations of RX J0648.7+1516 between 2010 March 4 and April 15. Following the VHE discovery, the optical identification and spectroscopic redshift were obtained using the Shane 3 m Telescope at the Lick Observatory, showing the unidentified object to be a BL Lac type with a redshift of z = 0.179. Broadband multiwavelength observations contemporaneous with the VERITAS exposure period can be used to subclassify the blazar as an HBL object, including data from the MDM observatory, Swift-UVOT, and X-Ray Telescope, and continuous monitoring at photon energies above 1 GeV from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We find that in the absence of undetected, high-energy rapid variability, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model overproduces the high-energy gamma-ray emission measured by the Fermi-LAT over 2.3 years. The spectral energy distribution can be parameterized satisfactorily with an external-Compton or lepto-hadronic model, which have two and six additional free parameters, respectively, compared to the one-zone SSC model.

Multiwavelength Observations Of The Previously Unidentified Blazar RX J0648.7+1516

DOE PAGES

Aliu, E.

2011-11-15

We report on the VERITAS discovery of very-high-energy (VHE) gammaray emission above 200 GeV from the high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object RXJ0648.7+1516 (GBJ0648+1516), associated with 1FGL J0648.8+1516. The photon spectrum above 200 GeV is fit by a power law dN/dE = F0(E/E0) -Γ with a photon index Γ of 4.4 ± 0.8stat ± 0.3syst and a flux normalization F0 of (2.3±0.5stat ±1.2sys)×10 -11 TeV -1cm -2s -1 with E0 = 300 GeV. No VHE variability is detected during VERITAS observations of RXJ0648.7+1516 between 2010 March 4 and April 15. Following the VHE discovery, the optical identification and spectroscopic redshift were obtainedmore » using the Shane 3–m Telescope at the Lick Observatory, showing the unidentified object to be a BL Lac type with a redshift of z = 0.179. Broadband multiwavelength observations contemporaneous with the VERITAS exposure period can be used to sub-classify the blazar as a high-frequency-peaked BL Lac (HBL) object, including data from the MDM observatory, Swift -UVOT and XRT, and continuous monitoring at photon energies above 1 GeV from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We find that in the absence of undetected, high-energy rapid variability, the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model (SSC) overproduces the high-energy gamma-ray emission measured by the Fermi -LAT over 2.3 years. The SED can be parameterized satisfactorily with an external-Compton or lepto-hadronic model, which have two and six additional free parameters, respectively, compared to the one-zone SSC model.« less

Detection of blob objects in microscopic zebrafish images based on gradient vector diffusion.

PubMed

Li, Gang; Liu, Tianming; Nie, Jingxin; Guo, Lei; Malicki, Jarema; Mara, Andrew; Holley, Scott A; Xia, Weiming; Wong, Stephen T C

2007-10-01

The zebrafish has become an important vertebrate animal model for the study of developmental biology, functional genomics, and disease mechanisms. It is also being used for drug discovery. Computerized detection of blob objects has been one of the important tasks in quantitative phenotyping of zebrafish. We present a new automated method that is able to detect blob objects, such as nuclei or cells in microscopic zebrafish images. This method is composed of three key steps. The first step is to produce a diffused gradient vector field by a physical elastic deformable model. In the second step, the flux image is computed on the diffused gradient vector field. The third step performs thresholding and nonmaximum suppression based on the flux image. We report the validation and experimental results of this method using zebrafish image datasets from three independent research labs. Both sensitivity and specificity of this method are over 90%. This method is able to differentiate closely juxtaposed or connected blob objects, with high sensitivity and specificity in different situations. It is characterized by a good, consistent performance in blob object detection.

HUBBLE CAPTURES MERGER BETWEEN QUASAR AND GALAXY

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows evidence fo r a merger between a quasar and a companion galaxy. This surprising result might require theorists to rethink their explanations for the nature of quasars, the most energetic objects in the universe. The bright central object is the quasar itself, located several billion light-years away. The two wisps on the (left) of the bright central object are remnants of a bright galaxy that have been disrupted by the mutual gravitational attraction between the quasar and the companion galaxy. This provides clear evidence for a merger between the two objects. Since their discovery in 1963, quasars (quasi-stellar objects) have been enigmatic because they emit prodigious amounts of energy from a very compact source. The most widely accepted model is that a quasar is powered by a supermassive black hole in the core of a galaxy. These new observations proved a challenge for theorists as no current models predict the complex quasar interactions unveiled by Hubble. The image was taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2. Credit: John Bahcall, Institute for Advanced Study, NASA.

Bridging the translational gap: collaborative drug development and dispelling the stigma of commercialization.

PubMed

Yu, Helen W H

2016-02-01

The current drug discovery and development process is stalling the translation of basic science into lifesaving products. Known as the 'Valley of Death', the traditional technology transfer model fails to bridge the gap between early-stage discoveries and preclinical research to advance innovations beyond the discovery phase. In addition, the stigma associated with 'commercialization' detracts from the importance of efficient translation of basic research. Here, I introduce a drug discovery model whereby the respective expertise of academia and industry are brought together to take promising discoveries through to proof of concept as a way to derisk the drug discovery and development process. Known as the 'integrated drug discovery model', I examine here the extent to which existing legal frameworks support this model. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A fortran program for Monte Carlo simulation of oil-field discovery sequences

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bohling, Geoffrey C.; Davis, J.C.

1993-01-01

We have developed a program for performing Monte Carlo simulation of oil-field discovery histories. A synthetic parent population of fields is generated as a finite sample from a distribution of specified form. The discovery sequence then is simulated by sampling without replacement from this parent population in accordance with a probabilistic discovery process model. The program computes a chi-squared deviation between synthetic and actual discovery sequences as a function of the parameters of the discovery process model, the number of fields in the parent population, and the distributional parameters of the parent population. The program employs the three-parameter log gamma model for the distribution of field sizes and employs a two-parameter discovery process model, allowing the simulation of a wide range of scenarios. ?? 1993.

Lunar polar ice deposits: scientific and utilization objectives of the Lunar Ice Discovery Mission proposal.

PubMed

Duke, Michael B

2002-03-01

The Clementine mission has revived interest in the possibility that ice exists in shadowed craters near the lunar poles. Theoretically, the problem is complex, with several possible sources of water (meteoroid, asteroid, comet impact), several possible loss mechanisms (impact vaporization, sputtering, photoionization), and burial by meteorite impact. Opinions of modelers have ranged from no ice to several times 10(16) g of ice in the cold traps. Clementine bistatic radar data have been interpreted in favor of the presence of ice, while Arecibo radar data do not confirm its presence. The Lunar Prospector mission, planned to be flown in the fall of 1997, could gather new evidence for the existence of ice. If ice is present, both scientific and utilitarian objectives would be addressed by a lunar polar rover, such as that proposed to the NASA Discovery program, but not selected. The lunar polar rover remains the best way to understand the distribution and characteristics of lunar polar ice. c2002 International Astronautical Federation. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Improve Success Rates in CNS Drug Discovery?

PubMed Central

Borsook, David; Hargreaves, Richard; Becerra, Lino

2011-01-01

Introduction The bar for developing new treatments for CNS disease is getting progressively higher and fewer novel mechanisms are being discovered, validated and developed. The high costs of drug discovery necessitate early decisions to ensure the best molecules and hypotheses are tested in expensive late stage clinical trials. The discovery of brain imaging biomarkers that can bridge preclinical to clinical CNS drug discovery and provide a ‘language of translation’ affords the opportunity to improve the objectivity of decision-making. Areas Covered This review discusses the benefits, challenges and potential issues of using a science based biomarker strategy to change the paradigm of CNS drug development and increase success rates in the discovery of new medicines. The authors have summarized PubMed and Google Scholar based publication searches to identify recent advances in functional, structural and chemical brain imaging and have discussed how these techniques may be useful in defining CNS disease state and drug effects during drug development. Expert opinion The use of novel brain imaging biomarkers holds the bold promise of making neuroscience drug discovery smarter by increasing the objectivity of decision making thereby improving the probability of success of identifying useful drugs to treat CNS diseases. Functional imaging holds the promise to: (1) define pharmacodynamic markers as an index of target engagement (2) improve translational medicine paradigms to predict efficacy; (3) evaluate CNS efficacy and safety based on brain activation; (4) determine brain activity drug dose-response relationships and (5) provide an objective evaluation of symptom response and disease modification. PMID:21765857

Sky-plane discovery rates for Near Earth Object discoveries from Pan-STARRS1 - implications for future search strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wainscoat, Richard J.; Chambers, Kenneth C.; Chastel, Serge; Denneau, Larry; Lilly Schunova, Eva; Micheli, Marco; Weryk, Robert J.

2016-10-01

The Pan-STARRS1 telescope has been spending most of its time for the last 2.5 years searching the sky for Near Earth Objects (NEOs). The surveyed area covers the entire northern sky and extends south to -49 degrees declination. Because Pan-STARRS1 has a large field-of-view, it has been able survey large areas of the sky, and we are now able to examine NEO discovery rates relative to ecliptic latitude.Most contemporary searches, including Pan-STARRS1, have been spending large amounts of their observing time during the dark moon period searching for NEOs close to the ecliptic. The rationale for this is that many objects have low inclination, and all objects in orbit around the Sun must cross the ecliptic. New search capabilities are now available, including Pan-STARRS2, and the upgraded camera in Catalina Sky Survey's G96 telescope. These allow NEO searches to be conducted over wider areas of the sky, and to extend further from the ecliptic.We have examined the discovery rates relative to location on the sky for new NEOs from Pan-STARRS1, and find that the new NEO discoveries are less concentrated on the ecliptic than might be expected. This finding also holds for larger objects. The southern sky has proven to be very productive in new NEO discoveries - this is a direct consequence of the major NEO surveys being located in the northern hemisphere.Our preliminary findings suggest that NEO searches should extend to at least 30 degrees from the ecliptic during the more sensitive dark moon period. At least 6,000 deg2 should therefore be searched each lunation. This is possible with the newly augmented NEO search assets, and repeat coverage will be needed in order to recover most of the NEO candidates found. However, weather challenges will likely make full and repeated coverage of such a large area of sky difficult to achieve. Some simple coordination between observing sites will likely lead to improvement in efficiency.

Origin of Outer Solar System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holman, Matthew J.; Boyce, J. (Technical Monitor)

2003-01-01

We feel that at the present moment the available theoretical models of the Kuiper belt are still in advance of the data, and thus our main task has been to conduct observational work guided by theoretical motivations. Our efforts over the past year can be divided into four categories: A) Wide-field Searches for Kuiper Belt Objects; B) Pencil-beam Searches for Kuiper Belt Objects; C) Wide-field Searches for Moons of the Outer Planets; D) Pencil-beam Searches for Faint Uranian and Neptunian Moons; E) Recovery Observations. As of April 2002, we have conducted several searches for Kuiper belt objects using large-format mosaic CCD camera on 4-meter class telescopes. In May 1999, we used the Kitt Peak 4-meter with the NOAO Mosaic camera we attempted a search for KBOs at a range of ecliptic latitudes. In addition to our wide-field searches, we have conducted three 'pencil-beam' searches in the past year. In a pencil-beam search we take repeated integrations of the same field throughout a night. After preprocessing the resulting images we shift and recombine them along a range of rates and directions consistent with the motion of KBOs. Stationary objects then smear out, while objects moving at near the shift rate appear as point sources. In addition to our searches for Kuiper belt objects, we are completing the inventory of the outer solar system by search for faint satellites of the outer planets. In August 2001 we conducted pencil beam searches for faint Uranian and Neptunian satellites at CFHT and CTIO. These searches resulted in the discover of two Neptunian and four Uranian satellite candidates. The discovery of Kuiper belt objects and outer planet satellites is of little use if the discoveries are not followed by systematic, repeated astrometric observations that permit reliable estimates of their orbits.

Contact binaries in the Trans-neptunian Belt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thirouin, Audrey; Sheppard, Scott S.

2017-10-01

A contact binary is made up of two objects that are almost touching or in contact with each other. These systems have been found in the Near-Earth Object population, the main belt of asteroids, the Jupiter Trojans, the comet population and even in the Trans-neptunian belt.Several studies suggest that up to 30% of the Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) could be contact binaries (Sheppard & Jewitt 2004, Lacerda 2011). Contact binaries are not resolvable with the Hubble Space Telescope because of the small separation between the system's components (Noll et al. 2008). Only lightcurves with a characteristic V-/U-shape at the minimum/maximum of brightness and a large amplitude can identify these contact binaries. Despite an expected high fraction of contact binaries, 2001 QG298 is the only confirmed contact binary in the Trans-Neptunian belt, and 2003 SQ317 is a candidate to this class of systems (Sheppard & Jewitt 2004, Lacerda et al. 2014).Recently, using the Lowell’s 4.3m Discovery Channel Telescope and the 6.5m Magellan Telescope, we started a search for contact binaries at the edge of our Solar System. So far, our survey focused on about 40 objects in different dynamical groups of the Trans-Neptunian belt for sparse or complete lightcurves. We report the discovery of 5 new potential contact binaries converting the current estimate of potential/confirmed contact binaries to 7 objects. With one epoch of observations per object, we are not able to model in detail the systems, but we derive estimate for basic information such as shape, size, density of both objects as well as the separation between the system’s components. In this work, we will present these new systems, their basic characteristics, and we will discuss the potential main reservoir of contact binaries in the Trans-neptunian belt.

Optimizing Libraries’ Content Findability Using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) With Multi-Tier Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lahinta, A.; Haris, I.; Abdillah, T.

2017-03-01

The aim of this paper is to describe a developed application of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) as a model for improving libraries’ digital content findability on the library web. The study applies XML text-based protocol tools in the collection of data about libraries’ visibility performance in the search results of the book. Model from the integrated Web Service Document Language (WSDL) and Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) are applied to analyse SOAP as element within the system. The results showed that the developed application of SOAP with multi-tier architecture can help people simply access the website in the library server Gorontalo Province and support access to digital collections, subscription databases, and library catalogs in each library in Regency or City in Gorontalo Province.

Discovery of the First Quadruple Gravitationally Lensed Quasar Candidate with Pan-STARRS

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

Berghea, C. T.; Nelson, George J.; Dudik, R. P.

We report the serendipitous discovery of the first gravitationally lensed quasar candidate from Pan-STARRS. The grizy images reveal four point-like images with magnitudes between 14.9 and 18.1 mag. The colors of the point sources are similar, and they are more consistent with quasars than with stars or galaxies. The lensing galaxy is detected in the izy bands, with an inferred photometric redshift of ∼0.6, lower than that of the point sources. We successfully model the system with a singular isothermal ellipsoid with shear, using the relative positions of the five objects as constraints. While the brightness ranking of the pointmore » sources is consistent with that of the model, we find discrepancies between the model-predicted and observed fluxes, likely due to microlensing by stars and millilensing due to the dark matter substructure. In order to fully confirm the gravitational lens nature of this system and add it to the small but growing number of the powerful probes of cosmology and astrophysics represented by quadruply lensed quasars, we require further spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging.« less

Discovery of the Red-Skewed K-alpha Iron Line in Cyg X-2 with Suzaku

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaposhnikov, Nikolai; Titarchuk, Lev; Laurent, Philippe

2008-01-01

We report on the Suzaku observation of neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Cygnus X-2 which reveals strong iron K-alpha emission line. The line profile shows a prominent red wing extending down to 4 keV. This discovery increases the number of neutron star sources where red-skewed iron lines were observed and strongly suggests that this phenomenon is common not only in black holes but also in other types of compact objects. We examine the line profile by fitting it with the model which attributes its production to the relativistic effects due to disk reflection of X-ray radiation. We also apply an alternative model where the red wing is a result of down-scattering effect of the first order with respect to electron velocity in the wind outflow. Both models describe adequately the observed line profile. However, the X-ray variability in a state similar to that in the Suzaku observation which we establish by analysing RXTE observation favors the wind origin of the line formation.

Virtual Observatories, Data Mining, and Astroinformatics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borne, Kirk

The historical, current, and future trends in knowledge discovery from data in astronomy are presented here. The story begins with a brief history of data gathering and data organization. A description of the development ofnew information science technologies for astronomical discovery is then presented. Among these are e-Science and the virtual observatory, with its data discovery, access, display, and integration protocols; astroinformatics and data mining for exploratory data analysis, information extraction, and knowledge discovery from distributed data collections; new sky surveys' databases, including rich multivariate observational parameter sets for large numbers of objects; and the emerging discipline of data-oriented astronomical research, called astroinformatics. Astroinformatics is described as the fourth paradigm of astronomical research, following the three traditional research methodologies: observation, theory, and computation/modeling. Astroinformatics research areas include machine learning, data mining, visualization, statistics, semantic science, and scientific data management.Each of these areas is now an active research discipline, with significantscience-enabling applications in astronomy. Research challenges and sample research scenarios are presented in these areas, in addition to sample algorithms for data-oriented research. These information science technologies enable scientific knowledge discovery from the increasingly large and complex data collections in astronomy. The education and training of the modern astronomy student must consequently include skill development in these areas, whose practitioners have traditionally been limited to applied mathematicians, computer scientists, and statisticians. Modern astronomical researchers must cross these traditional discipline boundaries, thereby borrowing the best of breed methodologies from multiple disciplines. In the era of large sky surveys and numerous large telescopes, the potential for astronomical discovery is equally large, and so the data-oriented research methods, algorithms, and techniques that are presented here will enable the greatest discovery potential from the ever-growing data and information resources in astronomy.

Lost Near-Earth Object Candidates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veres, Peter; Farnocchia, Davide; Williams, Gareth; Keys, Sonia; Boardman, Ian; Holman, Matthew J.; Payne, Matthew J.

2017-10-01

The number of discovered Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) increases rapidly, currently exceeding 16,000 NEOs. 2016 was the most productive year ever with 1,888 NEO discoveries. The NEO discovery process typically begins with three to five detections of a previously unidentified object that are reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC). According to the plane-of-sky motion, the MPC ranks all of the new candidate discoveries for the likelihood of being NEOs using the so-called digest score. If the digest score is greater than 65 the observations appear on the publicly accessible NEO Confirmation Page (NEOCP). Objects on the NEOCP are followed up in subsequent hours and days. When enough observations are collected to ensure that the object is real and that the orbit is determined, the NEO is officially announced with its new designation by a Minor Planet Electronic Circular. However, 14% of NEO candidates never get confirmed and are therefore lost due to the lack of follow-up observations. We analyzed the lost NEO candidates that appeared on NEOCP in 2013-2016 and investigated the reasons why they were not confirmed. In particular, we studied the properties of the lost NEO candidates with a digest score of 100 that were reported by the two most prolific discovery sites - Pan-STARRS1 (F51) and Mt. Lemmon Survey (G96). We derived their plane-of-sky positions and rates, brightness, and ephemeris uncertainties, and assessed correlations with the phase of the moon and seasonal effects apparent in the given observatory’s data. We concluded that lost NEO candidates typically have a larger rate of motion and larger uncertainties than those of confirmed objects. However, many of the lost candidates could be recovered. In fact, the 1-sigma plane-of-sky uncertainty was still within ±0.5 deg in 79% (F51) and 69% (G96) of the cases 24 hours after discovery and in 31% (F51) and 30% (G96) of the cases 48 hours after discovery. If all of the NEO candidates with a digest score of 100 had been followed up, the number of discovered NEOs would have been larger by 685+/-30 in 2013-2016. The measures to decrease the number of lost NEO candidates include improved uncertainty maps and uncertainties as function of time on the NEOCP.

Building Cognition: The Construction of Computational Representations for Scientific Discovery.

PubMed

Chandrasekharan, Sanjay; Nersessian, Nancy J

2015-11-01

Novel computational representations, such as simulation models of complex systems and video games for scientific discovery (Foldit, EteRNA etc.), are dramatically changing the way discoveries emerge in science and engineering. The cognitive roles played by such computational representations in discovery are not well understood. We present a theoretical analysis of the cognitive roles such representations play, based on an ethnographic study of the building of computational models in a systems biology laboratory. Specifically, we focus on a case of model-building by an engineer that led to a remarkable discovery in basic bioscience. Accounting for such discoveries requires a distributed cognition (DC) analysis, as DC focuses on the roles played by external representations in cognitive processes. However, DC analyses by and large have not examined scientific discovery, and they mostly focus on memory offloading, particularly how the use of existing external representations changes the nature of cognitive tasks. In contrast, we study discovery processes and argue that discoveries emerge from the processes of building the computational representation. The building process integrates manipulations in imagination and in the representation, creating a coupled cognitive system of model and modeler, where the model is incorporated into the modeler's imagination. This account extends DC significantly, and we present some of the theoretical and application implications of this extended account. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

DataHub: Knowledge-based data management for data discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handley, Thomas H.; Li, Y. Philip

1993-08-01

Currently available database technology is largely designed for business data-processing applications, and seems inadequate for scientific applications. The research described in this paper, the DataHub, will address the issues associated with this shortfall in technology utilization and development. The DataHub development is addressing the key issues in scientific data management of scientific database models and resource sharing in a geographically distributed, multi-disciplinary, science research environment. Thus, the DataHub will be a server between the data suppliers and data consumers to facilitate data exchanges, to assist science data analysis, and to provide as systematic approach for science data management. More specifically, the DataHub's objectives are to provide support for (1) exploratory data analysis (i.e., data driven analysis); (2) data transformations; (3) data semantics capture and usage; analysis-related knowledge capture and usage; and (5) data discovery, ingestion, and extraction. Applying technologies that vary from deductive databases, semantic data models, data discovery, knowledge representation and inferencing, exploratory data analysis techniques and modern man-machine interfaces, DataHub will provide a prototype, integrated environement to support research scientists' needs in multiple disciplines (i.e. oceanography, geology, and atmospheric) while addressing the more general science data management issues. Additionally, the DataHub will provide data management services to exploratory data analysis applications such as LinkWinds and NCSA's XIMAGE.

Spacewatch discovery of near-Earth asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gehrels, Tom

1992-01-01

Our overall scientific goal is to survey the solar system to completion - that is, to find the various populations and to study their statistics, interrelations, and origins. The practical benefit to SERC is that we are finding Earth-approaching asteroids that are accessible for mining. Our system can detect Earth-approachers in the 1-km size range even when they are far away, and can detect smaller objects when they are moving rapidly past Earth. Until Spacewatch, the size range of 6-300 meters in diameter for the near-Earth asteroids was unexplored. This important region represents the transition between the meteorites and the larger observed near-Earth asteroids. One of our Spacewatch discoveries, 1991 VG, may be representative of a new orbital class of object. If it is really a natural object, and not man-made, its orbital parameters are closer to those of the Earth than we have seen before; its delta V is the lowest of all objects known thus far. We may expect new discoveries as we continue our surveying, with fine-tuning of the techniques.

Guidelines for Developing and Reporting Machine Learning Predictive Models in Biomedical Research: A Multidisciplinary View

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background As more and more researchers are turning to big data for new opportunities of biomedical discoveries, machine learning models, as the backbone of big data analysis, are mentioned more often in biomedical journals. However, owing to the inherent complexity of machine learning methods, they are prone to misuse. Because of the flexibility in specifying machine learning models, the results are often insufficiently reported in research articles, hindering reliable assessment of model validity and consistent interpretation of model outputs. Objective To attain a set of guidelines on the use of machine learning predictive models within clinical settings to make sure the models are correctly applied and sufficiently reported so that true discoveries can be distinguished from random coincidence. Methods A multidisciplinary panel of machine learning experts, clinicians, and traditional statisticians were interviewed, using an iterative process in accordance with the Delphi method. Results The process produced a set of guidelines that consists of (1) a list of reporting items to be included in a research article and (2) a set of practical sequential steps for developing predictive models. Conclusions A set of guidelines was generated to enable correct application of machine learning models and consistent reporting of model specifications and results in biomedical research. We believe that such guidelines will accelerate the adoption of big data analysis, particularly with machine learning methods, in the biomedical research community. PMID:27986644

Evolution of X-ray astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rossj, B.

1981-01-01

The evolution of X-ray astronomy up to the launching of the Einstein observatory is presented. The evaluation proceeded through the following major steps: (1) discovery of an extrasolar X-ray source, Sco X-1, orders of magnitude stronger than astronomers believed might exist; (2) identification of a strong X-ray source with the Crab Nebula; (3) identification of Sco X-1 with a faint, peculiar optical object; (4) demonstration that X-ray stars are binary systems, each consisting of a collapsed object accreting matter from an ordinary star; (5) discovery of X-ray bursts; (6) discovery of exceedingly strong X-ray emission from active galaxies, quasars and clusters of galaxies; (7) demonstration that the principal X-ray source is a hot gas filling the space between galaxies.

43 CFR 4.1132 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

..., the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature, custody... persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that information...

43 CFR 4.1132 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

..., the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature, custody... persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that information...

43 CFR 4.1132 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

..., the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature, custody... persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that information...

43 CFR 4.1132 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

..., the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature, custody... persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that information...

FUV Emission from AGB Stars: Modeling Accretion Activity Associated with a Binary Companion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevens, Alyx Catherine; Sahai, Raghvendra

2012-01-01

It is widely believed that the late stages of evolution for Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars are influenced by the presence of binary companions. Unfortunately, there is a lack of direct observational evidence of binarity. However, more recently, strong indirect evidence comes from the discovery of UV emission in a subsample of these objects (fuvAGB stars). AGB stars are comparatively cool objects (< or =3000 K), thus their fluxes falls off drastically for wavelengths 3000 Angstroms and shorter. Therefore, ultraviolet observations offer an important, new technique for detecting the binary companions and/or associated accretion activity. We develop new models of UV emission from fuvAGB stars constrained by GALEX photometry and spectroscopy of these objects. We compare the GALEX UV grism spectra of the AGB M7 star EY Hya to predictions using the spectral synthesis code Cloudy, specifically investigating the ultraviolet wavelength range (1344-2831 Angstroms). We investigate models composed of contributions from a photoionized "hot spot" due to accretion activity around the companion, and "chromospheric" emission from collisionally ionized plasma, to fit the UV observations.

Discovery of a Thorne-Żytkow object candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Żytkow, Anna N.; Morrell, Nidia

2015-01-01

Thorne-Żytkow objects (TŻOs) are a theoretical class of star in which a compact neutron star is surrounded by a large, diffuse envelope. Supergiant TŻOs are predicted to be almost identical in appearance to red supergiants (RSGs), with their very red colors and cool temperatures placing them at the Hayashi limit on the H-R diagram. The only features that can be used at present to distinguish TŻOs from the general RSG population are the unusually strong heavy-element and lithium lines present in their spectra. These elements are the unique products of the stars fully convective envelope linking the photosphere with the extraordinarily hot burning region in the vicinity of the neutron star core. We have recently discovered a TŻO candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is the first star to display the distinctive chemical profile of anomalous element enhancements thought to be characteristic of TŻOs however, up-to-date models and additional observable predictions (including potential asteroseismological signatures) are required to solidify this discovery. The definitive detection of a TŻO would provide the first direct evidence for a completely new model of stellar interiors, a theoretically predicted fate for massive binary systems, and never-before-seen nucleosynthesis processes that would offer a new channel for heavy-element and lithium production in our universe.

The Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS): Survey Status and Highlights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kavelaars, J. J.; Bannister, Michele T.; Alexandersen, Mike; Chen, Ying-Tung; Gladman, Brett; Gwyn, Stephen; Petit, Jean-Marc; Volk, Kathryn; OSSOS Collaboration

2016-10-01

We report the discovery, tracking and detection circumstances for 562 trans- Neptunian objects (TNOs) from the first 128 deg2 of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS). This ongoing r-band Solar System survey uses the ~1 deg2 field-of-view MegaPrime camera on the 3.6 m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The orbital elements for these TNOs are precise to a fractional semi-major axis uncertainty of between 0.1 - 0.01%. We achieve this precision in just two oppositions, as compared to the normal 3--5 oppositions, via a dense observing cadence and innovative astrometric technique. These discoveries are free of ephemeris bias, a first for large trans-Neptunian surveys. Using the current OSSOS sample we confirm the existence of a cold "kernel" of objects within the main cold classical Kuiper belt, and infer the existence of an extension of the "stirred" cold classical Kuiper belt to at least several AU beyond the 2 :1 mean motion resonance with Neptune. We find that the population model of Petit et al. (2011) provides a plausible 1st order representation of the Kuiper belt, but more detailed structure has begun to emerged. The full survey, to be completed in 2017, will provide an exquisitely characterized sample of important resonant TNO populations, ideal for testing models of giant planet migration during the early history of the Solar System.

Analysis of latency performance of bluetooth low energy (BLE) networks.

PubMed

Cho, Keuchul; Park, Woojin; Hong, Moonki; Park, Gisu; Cho, Wooseong; Seo, Jihoon; Han, Kijun

2014-12-23

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a short-range wireless communication technology aiming at low-cost and low-power communication. The performance evaluation of classical Bluetooth device discovery have been intensively studied using analytical modeling and simulative methods, but these techniques are not applicable to BLE, since BLE has a fundamental change in the design of the discovery mechanism, including the usage of three advertising channels. Recently, there several works have analyzed the topic of BLE device discovery, but these studies are still far from thorough. It is thus necessary to develop a new, accurate model for the BLE discovery process. In particular, the wide range settings of the parameters introduce lots of potential for BLE devices to customize their discovery performance. This motivates our study of modeling the BLE discovery process and performing intensive simulation. This paper is focused on building an analytical model to investigate the discovery probability, as well as the expected discovery latency, which are then validated via extensive experiments. Our analysis considers both continuous and discontinuous scanning modes. We analyze the sensitivity of these performance metrics to parameter settings to quantitatively examine to what extent parameters influence the performance metric of the discovery processes.

Analysis of Latency Performance of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Networks

PubMed Central

Cho, Keuchul; Park, Woojin; Hong, Moonki; Park, Gisu; Cho, Wooseong; Seo, Jihoon; Han, Kijun

2015-01-01

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a short-range wireless communication technology aiming at low-cost and low-power communication. The performance evaluation of classical Bluetooth device discovery have been intensively studied using analytical modeling and simulative methods, but these techniques are not applicable to BLE, since BLE has a fundamental change in the design of the discovery mechanism, including the usage of three advertising channels. Recently, there several works have analyzed the topic of BLE device discovery, but these studies are still far from thorough. It is thus necessary to develop a new, accurate model for the BLE discovery process. In particular, the wide range settings of the parameters introduce lots of potential for BLE devices to customize their discovery performance. This motivates our study of modeling the BLE discovery process and performing intensive simulation. This paper is focused on building an analytical model to investigate the discovery probability, as well as the expected discovery latency, which are then validated via extensive experiments. Our analysis considers both continuous and discontinuous scanning modes. We analyze the sensitivity of these performance metrics to parameter settings to quantitatively examine to what extent parameters influence the performance metric of the discovery processes. PMID:25545266

"Structured Discovery": A Modified Inquiry Approach to Teaching Social Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lordon, John

1981-01-01

Describes structured discovery approach to inquiry teaching which encourages the teacher to select instructional objectives, content, and questions to be answered. The focus is on individual and group activities. A brief outline using this approach to analyze Adolf Hitler is presented. (KC)

16 CFR 1025.31 - General provisions governing discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

...: (1) In general. Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is within the Commission's statutory authority and is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceedings... any discoverable matter. It is not ground for objection that the information sought will be...

16 CFR 1025.31 - General provisions governing discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

...: (1) In general. Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is within the Commission's statutory authority and is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceedings... any discoverable matter. It is not ground for objection that the information sought will be...

16 CFR 1025.31 - General provisions governing discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

...: (1) In general. Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is within the Commission's statutory authority and is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceedings... any discoverable matter. It is not ground for objection that the information sought will be...

Evolution of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) into a Data Mining Discovery Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzarella, Joseph M.; NED Team

2017-06-01

We review recent advances and ongoing work in evolving the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) beyond an object reference database into a data mining discovery engine. Updates to the infrastructure and data integration techniques are enabling more than a 10-fold expansion; NED will soon contain over a billion objects with their fundamental attributes fused across the spectrum via cross-identifications among the largest sky surveys (e.g., GALEX, SDSS, 2MASS, AllWISE, EMU), and over 100,000 smaller but scientifically important catalogs and journal articles. The recent discovery of super-luminous spiral galaxies exemplifies the opportunities for data mining and science discovery directly from NED's rich data synthesis. Enhancements to the user interface, including new APIs, VO protocols, and queries involving derived physical quantities, are opening new pathways for panchromatic studies of large galaxy samples. Examples are shown of graphics characterizing the content of NED, as well as initial steps in exploring the database via interactive statistical visualizations.

Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey (PCAS): Recent discovery rate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Helin, Eleanor F.

1992-01-01

The discovery rate of Near-Earth Asteroids (NEA's) has increased significantly in the last decade. As greater numbers of NEA's are discovered, worldwide interest has grown leading to new programs. With the introduction of CCD telescopes throughout the world, an increase of 1-2 orders of magnitude in the discovery rate can be anticipated. Nevertheless, it will take several decades of dedicated searching to accomplish a 95 percent completeness, even for large objects.

[PCSK-9 inhibitors, effects on LDL-C and future implications: What you should know].

PubMed

Corral, P; Ruiz, A J

The discovery of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) in 2003 in families with familial hypercholesterolemia (HF) later generated the development of pharmacological strategies in order to inhibit this protein. Twelve years after this discovery, the first two biological compounds (monoclonal antibodies) were approved, which have been shown to substantially decrease LDL-C and other lipid subfractions. The objective of the present article is to review the history of the discovery of PCSK9, its physiology and pathophysiology and subsequent pharmacological development. The objectives and goals reached to date and the pending questions regarding the efficacy and safety of its clinical use are presented. Copyright © 2017 SEH-LELHA. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

49 CFR 1114.24 - Depositions; procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 8 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Depositions; procedures. 1114.24 Section 1114.24... OF TRANSPORTATION RULES OF PRACTICE EVIDENCE; DISCOVERY Discovery § 1114.24 Depositions; procedures... objections made at the time of the examination to the qualifications of the officer taking the deposition, or...

49 CFR 1114.24 - Depositions; procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Depositions; procedures. 1114.24 Section 1114.24... OF TRANSPORTATION RULES OF PRACTICE EVIDENCE; DISCOVERY Discovery § 1114.24 Depositions; procedures... objections made at the time of the examination to the qualifications of the officer taking the deposition, or...

Discovery of Main-Belt Comet P/2006 VW139 by Pan-STARRS1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsieh, H. H.; Yang, B.; Haghighipour, N.; Kaluna, H. M.; Fitzsimmons, A.; Denneau, L.; Novakovic, B.; Jedicke, R.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Armstrong, J. D.; Duddy, S. R.; Lowry, S. C.; Trujillo, C. A.; Micheli, M.; Keane, J. V.; Urban, L.; Riesen, T.; Meech, K. J.; Abe, S.; Cheng, Y. C.; Chen, W. P.; Granvik, M.; Grav, T.; Ip, W. H.; Kinoshita, D.; Kleyna, J.; Lacerda, P.; Lister, T.; Milani, A.; Tholen, D. J.; Veres, P.; Lisse, C. M.; Kelley, M. S.; Fernandez, Y. R.; Bhatt, B. C.; Sahu, D. K.; Kaiser, N.; Chambers, K. C.; Hodapp, K. W.; Magnier, E. A.; Price, P. A.; Tonry, J. L.

2012-05-01

We describe the discovery of comet-like activity in main-belt asteroid (300163) 2006 VW139 (later re-designated as Comet P/2006 VW139) by Pan-STARRS1. We also detail follow-up photometric, spectroscopic, and dynamical analyses of the object.

49 CFR 386.38 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... accordance with these rules, the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature... location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that...

49 CFR 386.38 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... accordance with these rules, the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature... location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that...

16 CFR § 1025.31 - General provisions governing discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

...: (1) In general. Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is within the Commission's statutory authority and is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceedings... any discoverable matter. It is not ground for objection that the information sought will be...

49 CFR 386.38 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... accordance with these rules, the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature... location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that...

49 CFR 386.38 - Scope of discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... accordance with these rules, the parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the proceeding, including the existence, description, nature... location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. (b) It is not ground for objection that...

Using Concepts in Literature-based Discovery: Simulating Swanson's Raynaud-Fish Oil and Migraine-Magnesium Discoveries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weeber, Marc; Klein, Henny; de Jong-van den Berg, Lolkje T. W.; Vos, Rein

2001-01-01

Proposes a two-step model of discovery in which new scientific hypotheses can be generated and subsequently tested. Applying advanced natural language processing techniques to find biomedical concepts in text, the model is implemented in a versatile interactive discovery support tool. This tool is used to successfully simulate Don R. Swanson's…

Intelligent Discovery for Learning Objects Using Semantic Web Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, I-Ching

2012-01-01

The concept of learning objects has been applied in the e-learning field to promote the accessibility, reusability, and interoperability of learning content. Learning Object Metadata (LOM) was developed to achieve these goals by describing learning objects in order to provide meaningful metadata. Unfortunately, the conventional LOM lacks the…

Deep learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lecun, Yann; Bengio, Yoshua; Hinton, Geoffrey

2015-05-01

Deep learning allows computational models that are composed of multiple processing layers to learn representations of data with multiple levels of abstraction. These methods have dramatically improved the state-of-the-art in speech recognition, visual object recognition, object detection and many other domains such as drug discovery and genomics. Deep learning discovers intricate structure in large data sets by using the backpropagation algorithm to indicate how a machine should change its internal parameters that are used to compute the representation in each layer from the representation in the previous layer. Deep convolutional nets have brought about breakthroughs in processing images, video, speech and audio, whereas recurrent nets have shone light on sequential data such as text and speech.

Deep learning.

PubMed

LeCun, Yann; Bengio, Yoshua; Hinton, Geoffrey

2015-05-28

Deep learning allows computational models that are composed of multiple processing layers to learn representations of data with multiple levels of abstraction. These methods have dramatically improved the state-of-the-art in speech recognition, visual object recognition, object detection and many other domains such as drug discovery and genomics. Deep learning discovers intricate structure in large data sets by using the backpropagation algorithm to indicate how a machine should change its internal parameters that are used to compute the representation in each layer from the representation in the previous layer. Deep convolutional nets have brought about breakthroughs in processing images, video, speech and audio, whereas recurrent nets have shone light on sequential data such as text and speech.

Open source drug discovery--a new paradigm of collaborative research in tuberculosis drug development.

PubMed

Bhardwaj, Anshu; Scaria, Vinod; Raghava, Gajendra Pal Singh; Lynn, Andrew Michael; Chandra, Nagasuma; Banerjee, Sulagna; Raghunandanan, Muthukurussi V; Pandey, Vikas; Taneja, Bhupesh; Yadav, Jyoti; Dash, Debasis; Bhattacharya, Jaijit; Misra, Amit; Kumar, Anil; Ramachandran, Srinivasan; Thomas, Zakir; Brahmachari, Samir K

2011-09-01

It is being realized that the traditional closed-door and market driven approaches for drug discovery may not be the best suited model for the diseases of the developing world such as tuberculosis and malaria, because most patients suffering from these diseases have poor paying capacity. To ensure that new drugs are created for patients suffering from these diseases, it is necessary to formulate an alternate paradigm of drug discovery process. The current model constrained by limitations for collaboration and for sharing of resources with confidentiality hampers the opportunities for bringing expertise from diverse fields. These limitations hinder the possibilities of lowering the cost of drug discovery. The Open Source Drug Discovery project initiated by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India has adopted an open source model to power wide participation across geographical borders. Open Source Drug Discovery emphasizes integrative science through collaboration, open-sharing, taking up multi-faceted approaches and accruing benefits from advances on different fronts of new drug discovery. Because the open source model is based on community participation, it has the potential to self-sustain continuous development by generating a storehouse of alternatives towards continued pursuit for new drug discovery. Since the inventions are community generated, the new chemical entities developed by Open Source Drug Discovery will be taken up for clinical trial in a non-exclusive manner by participation of multiple companies with majority funding from Open Source Drug Discovery. This will ensure availability of drugs through a lower cost community driven drug discovery process for diseases afflicting people with poor paying capacity. Hopefully what LINUX the World Wide Web have done for the information technology, Open Source Drug Discovery will do for drug discovery. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discovery of Spatio-Temporal Relationships in GRACE, GPS Time Series, and Groundwater Data Using Voronoi Visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rude, C. M.; Li, J. D.; Rongier, G.; Gowanlock, M.; Herring, T.; Pankratius, V.

2017-12-01

We introduce a data exploration and visualization tool to facilitate the discovery of correlations across geospatial data sets in a computer-aided discovery system. Our approach is based on adaptive Voronoi tessellation maps that can handle spotty data availability, varying sensor density, and resolution at different scales in the same visualization product. Successful applications exploring spatio-temporal relationships are demonstrated on data sets from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), GPS time series from the Plate Boundary Observatory, and groundwater well depth data from USGS, with the objective of understanding the Earth's surface response to changes in terrestrial water storage. Our results reveal that vertical positions in the majority of GPS stations are negatively correlated with terrestrial water storage from GRACE. This is expected if the changes are due to terrestrial water loading deforming the ground. Our application also identifies outliers that warrant further investigation, such as sites with low correlation or positive correlation due to poroelastic expansion. Other analyses reveal that GRACE correlates positively with water levels from wells, but the removal of GRACE non-groundwater components (canopy water, soil moisture, and snow accumulation) using model data from the Global Land Data Assimilation System unexpectedly lowers the correlations, effects which may be related to modeling accuracy and measurement errors. We acknowledge support from NASA AISTNNX15AG84G (PI Pankratius) and NSF ACI1442997 (PI Pankratius).

Inference and Discovery in an Exploratory Laboratory. Technical Report No. 10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shute, Valerie; And Others

This paper describes the results of a study done as part of a research program investigating the use of computer-based laboratories to support self-paced discovery learning in related to microeconomics, electricity, and light refraction. Program objectives include maximizing the laboratories' effectiveness in helping students learn content…

18 CFR 385.402 - Scope of discovery (Rule 402).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Scope of discovery (Rule 402). 385.402 Section 385.402 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY... persons having any knowledge of any discoverable matter. It is not ground for objection that the...

Instructional and Learning Modes in Math. Module CMM:006:02.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rexroat, Melvin E.

This is the second module in a series on mathematics methods and materials for preservice elementary teachers. This module focuses on three instructional and learning modes: expository, guided discovery, and inquiry (pure discovery). Objectives for the module are listed, the prerequisites are stated, pre- and post-assessment standards are…

Aztec Mexico: Discovery of Templo Mayor.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breslav, Marc

1982-01-01

Describes the Aztec archaeological artifacts shown in the American Museum of Natural History exhibit: "Aztec Mexico: Discovery of Templo Mayor." More than 100 objects, ranging from human skulls to jewelry, found in the excavation of the Great Temple of Mexico located under the center of Mexico City, were displayed. (AM)

Simple animal models for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis drug discovery.

PubMed

Patten, Shunmoogum A; Parker, J Alex; Wen, Xiao-Yan; Drapeau, Pierre

2016-08-01

Simple animal models have enabled great progress in uncovering the disease mechanisms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and are helping in the selection of therapeutic compounds through chemical genetic approaches. Within this article, the authors provide a concise overview of simple model organisms, C. elegans, Drosophila and zebrafish, which have been employed to study ALS and discuss their value to ALS drug discovery. In particular, the authors focus on innovative chemical screens that have established simple organisms as important models for ALS drug discovery. There are several advantages of using simple animal model organisms to accelerate drug discovery for ALS. It is the authors' particular belief that the amenability of simple animal models to various genetic manipulations, the availability of a wide range of transgenic strains for labelling motoneurons and other cell types, combined with live imaging and chemical screens should allow for new detailed studies elucidating early pathological processes in ALS and subsequent drug and target discovery.

Discovery of a narrow line quasar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocke, J.; Liebert, J.; Maccacaro, T.; Griffiths, R. E.; Steiner, J. E.

1982-01-01

A stellar object is reported which, while having X-ray and optical luminosities typical of quasars, has narrow permitted and forbidden emission lines over the observed spectral range. The narrow-line spectrum is high-excitation, the Balmer lines seem to be recombinational, and a redder optical spectrum than that of most quasars is exhibited, despite detection as a weak radio source. The object does not conform to the relationships between H-beta parameters and X-ray flux previously claimed for a large sample of the active galactic nuclei. Because reddish quasars with narrow lines, such as the object identified, may not be found by the standard techniques for the discovery of quasars, the object may be a prototype of a new class of quasars analogous to high-luminosity Seyfert type 2 galaxies. It is suggested that these objects cannot comprise more than 10% of all quasars.

Mathematical modeling for novel cancer drug discovery and development.

PubMed

Zhang, Ping; Brusic, Vladimir

2014-10-01

Mathematical modeling enables: the in silico classification of cancers, the prediction of disease outcomes, optimization of therapy, identification of promising drug targets and prediction of resistance to anticancer drugs. In silico pre-screened drug targets can be validated by a small number of carefully selected experiments. This review discusses the basics of mathematical modeling in cancer drug discovery and development. The topics include in silico discovery of novel molecular drug targets, optimization of immunotherapies, personalized medicine and guiding preclinical and clinical trials. Breast cancer has been used to demonstrate the applications of mathematical modeling in cancer diagnostics, the identification of high-risk population, cancer screening strategies, prediction of tumor growth and guiding cancer treatment. Mathematical models are the key components of the toolkit used in the fight against cancer. The combinatorial complexity of new drugs discovery is enormous, making systematic drug discovery, by experimentation, alone difficult if not impossible. The biggest challenges include seamless integration of growing data, information and knowledge, and making them available for a multiplicity of analyses. Mathematical models are essential for bringing cancer drug discovery into the era of Omics, Big Data and personalized medicine.

A Model-Based Analysis of Semi-Automated Data Discovery and Entry Using Automated Content Extraction

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

Accomplish Goal) to (a) visually search the contents of a file folder until the icon corresponding to the desired file is located (Choose...Item_from_set), and (b) move the mouse to that icon and double click to open it (Double_select Object). Note that Choose Item_from_set and Double_select...argument, which Open File fills with <found_item>, a working memory pointer to the file icon that Choose_item_from Set finds. Look_at, Point_to

47 CFR 1.319 - Objections to the taking of depositions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Objections to the taking of depositions. 1.319... Proceedings The Discovery and Preservation of Evidence § 1.319 Objections to the taking of depositions. (a) Objections to be made by motion prior to the taking of depositions. If there is objection to the substance of...

47 CFR 1.319 - Objections to the taking of depositions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Objections to the taking of depositions. 1.319... Proceedings The Discovery and Preservation of Evidence § 1.319 Objections to the taking of depositions. (a) Objections to be made by motion prior to the taking of depositions. If there is objection to the substance of...

Prize for Industrial Applications of Physics Talk: The Inverse Scattering Problem and the role of measurements in its solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyatt, Philip

2009-03-01

The electromagnetic inverse scattering problem suggests that if a homogeneous and non-absorbing object be illuminated with a monochromatic light source and if the far field scattered light intensity is known at sufficient scattering angles, then, in principle, one could derive the dielectric structure of the scattering object. In general, this is an ill-posed problem and methods must be developed to regularize the search for unique solutions. An iterative procedure often begins with a model of the scattering object, solves the forward scattering problem using this model, and then compares these calculated results with the measured values. Key to any such solution is instrumentation capable of providing adequate data. To this end, the development of the first laser based absolute light scattering photometers is described together with their continuing evolution and some of the remarkable discoveries made with them. For particles much smaller than the wavelength of the incident light (e.g. macromolecules), the inverse scattering problems are easily solved. Among the many solutions derived with this instrumentation are the in situ structure of bacterial cells, new drug delivery mechanisms, the development of new vaccines and other biologicals, characterization of wines, the possibility of custom chemotherapy, development of new polymeric materials, identification of protein crystallization conditions, and a variety discoveries concerning protein interactions. A new form of the problem is described to address bioterrorist threats. Over the many years of development and refinement, one element stands out as essential for the successes that followed: the R and D teams were always directed and executed by physics trained theorists and experimentalists. 14 Ph. D. physicists each made his/her unique contribution to the development of these evolving instruments and the interpretation of their results.

Causal discovery and inference: concepts and recent methodological advances.

PubMed

Spirtes, Peter; Zhang, Kun

This paper aims to give a broad coverage of central concepts and principles involved in automated causal inference and emerging approaches to causal discovery from i.i.d data and from time series. After reviewing concepts including manipulations, causal models, sample predictive modeling, causal predictive modeling, and structural equation models, we present the constraint-based approach to causal discovery, which relies on the conditional independence relationships in the data, and discuss the assumptions underlying its validity. We then focus on causal discovery based on structural equations models, in which a key issue is the identifiability of the causal structure implied by appropriately defined structural equation models: in the two-variable case, under what conditions (and why) is the causal direction between the two variables identifiable? We show that the independence between the error term and causes, together with appropriate structural constraints on the structural equation, makes it possible. Next, we report some recent advances in causal discovery from time series. Assuming that the causal relations are linear with nonGaussian noise, we mention two problems which are traditionally difficult to solve, namely causal discovery from subsampled data and that in the presence of confounding time series. Finally, we list a number of open questions in the field of causal discovery and inference.

A biological compression model and its applications.

PubMed

Cao, Minh Duc; Dix, Trevor I; Allison, Lloyd

2011-01-01

A biological compression model, expert model, is presented which is superior to existing compression algorithms in both compression performance and speed. The model is able to compress whole eukaryotic genomes. Most importantly, the model provides a framework for knowledge discovery from biological data. It can be used for repeat element discovery, sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis. We demonstrate that the model can handle statistically biased sequences and distantly related sequences where conventional knowledge discovery tools often fail.

First-Principles Modeling of Hydrogen Storage in Metal Hydride Systems

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

J. Karl Johnson

The objective of this project is to complement experimental efforts of MHoCE partners by using state-of-the-art theory and modeling to study the structure, thermodynamics, and kinetics of hydrogen storage materials. Specific goals include prediction of the heats of formation and other thermodynamic properties of alloys from first principles methods, identification of new alloys that can be tested experimentally, calculation of surface and energetic properties of nanoparticles, and calculation of kinetics involved with hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes. Discovery of new metal hydrides with enhanced properties compared with existing materials is a critical need for the Metal Hydride Center of Excellence. Newmore » materials discovery can be aided by the use of first principles (ab initio) computational modeling in two ways: (1) The properties, including mechanisms, of existing materials can be better elucidated through a combined modeling/experimental approach. (2) The thermodynamic properties of novel materials that have not been made can, in many cases, be quickly screened with ab initio methods. We have used state-of-the-art computational techniques to explore millions of possible reaction conditions consisting of different element spaces, compositions, and temperatures. We have identified potentially promising single- and multi-step reactions that can be explored experimentally.« less

From radio to TeV: the surprising spectral energy distribution of AP Librae

DOE PAGES

Sanchez, D. A.; Giebels, B.; Fortin, P.; ...

2015-10-17

Following the discovery of high-energy (HE; E > 10 MeV) and very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) γ-ray emission from the low-frequency-peaked BL Lac (LBL) object AP Librae, its electromagnetic spectrum is studied over 60 octaves in energy. Contemporaneous data in radio, optical and UV together with the (non-simultaneous) γ-ray data are used to construct the most precise spectral energy distribution of this source. We found that the data was modelled with difficulties with single-zone homogeneous leptonic synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) radiative scenarios due to the unprecedented width of the HE component when compared to the lower-energy component. Furthermore, the twomore » other LBL objects also detected at VHE appear to have similar modelling difficulties. Nevertheless, VHE γ-rays produced in the extended jet could account for the VHE flux observed by HESS.« less

Effectiveness of discovery learning model on mathematical problem solving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herdiana, Yunita; Wahyudin, Sispiyati, Ririn

2017-08-01

This research is aimed to describe the effectiveness of discovery learning model on mathematical problem solving. This research investigate the students' problem solving competency before and after learned by using discovery learning model. The population used in this research was student in grade VII in one of junior high school in West Bandung Regency. From nine classes, class VII B were randomly selected as the sample of experiment class, and class VII C as control class, which consist of 35 students every class. The method in this research was quasi experiment. The instrument in this research is pre-test, worksheet and post-test about problem solving of mathematics. Based on the research, it can be conclude that the qualification of problem solving competency of students who gets discovery learning model on level 80%, including in medium category and it show that discovery learning model effective to improve mathematical problem solving.

Simplified Rotation In Acoustic Levitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barmatz, M. B.; Gaspar, M. S.; Trinh, E. H.

1989-01-01

New technique based on old discovery used to control orientation of object levitated acoustically in axisymmetric chamber. Method does not require expensive equipment like additional acoustic drivers of precisely adjustable amplitude, phase, and frequency. Reflecting object acts as second source of sound. If reflecting object large enough, close enough to levitated object, or focuses reflected sound sufficiently, Rayleigh torque exerted on levitated object by reflected sound controls orientation of object.

The Discovery Channel Telescope: Construction and Design Progress, June 2006

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bida, Thomas A.; Smith, B. W.; Millis, R. L.; Dunham, E. W.; Wiecha, O. M.; Marshall, H.

2006-06-01

The Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) is a 4.2m telescope under construction in northern Arizona. The DCT is located at a new site near Happy Jack at 2361m elevation, which was selected following a lengthy site testing campaign that demonstrated median ground-level seeing of 0.84-arcsec FWHM. The DCT science mission includes targeted studies of astrophysical and solar system objects utilizing RC and Nasmyth-mounted imaging and spectroscopic instrumentation, and wide-field surveys of KBO’s, Centaurs, NEA’s, and other time-variable objects with a 2-degree FOV prime focus camera.The DCT facility enclosure and control building will be completed this year, including the supports for the telescope mount and dome, the major infrastructure for facility machinery, the instrument laboratory, control and computer rooms, and the auxiliary building for the mirror coating facility. Meanwhile, the 4.3m ULE meniscus primary mirror blank was completed at Corning, Inc., in October 2005, and the 2-3 year mirror figuring effort is due to begin June 2006. The primary mirror and its design support, and the preliminary integrated telescope mount model, were finite-element analyzed to optimize the design of the mirror and top-end support configurations. The prime focus camera design has been refined to achieve atmospheric dispersion-compensated 0.25-arcsec images at 1-degree field radius, from B to I-band, at reduced cost through simplification of glasses to standard types and utilization of spheres on all but two lens surfaces.The Discovery Channel Telescope is a project of the Lowell Observatory with major financial support from Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI). DCI plans ongoing television programming featuring the construction of the telescope and the research ultimately conducted with the DCT. Lowell Observatory is actively seeking additional partners in the project; interested parties should contact R. L. Millis, Director.

First EURONEAR NEA discoveries from La Palma using the INT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaduvescu, O.; Hudin, L.; Tudor, V.; Char, F.; Mocnik, T.; Kwiatkowski, T.; de Leon, J.; Cabrera-Lavers, A.; Alvarez, C.; Popescu, M.; Cornea, R.; Díaz Alfaro, M.; Ordonez-Etxeberria, I.; Kamiński, K.; Stecklum, B.; Verdes-Montenegro, L.; Sota, A.; Casanova, V.; Martin Ruiz, S.; Duffard, R.; Zamora, O.; Gomez-Jimenez, M.; Micheli, M.; Koschny, D.; Busch, M.; Knofel, A.; Schwab, E.; Negueruela, I.; Dhillon, V.; Sahman, D.; Marchant, J.; Génova-Santos, R.; Rubiño-Martín, J. A.; Riddick, F. C.; Mendez, J.; Lopez-Martinez, F.; Gänsicke, B. T.; Hollands, M.; Kong, A. K. H.; Jin, R.; Hidalgo, S.; Murabito, S.; Font, J.; Bereciartua, A.; Abe, L.; Bendjoya, P.; Rivet, J. P.; Vernet, D.; Mihalea, S.; Inceu, V.; Gajdos, S.; Veres, P.; Serra-Ricart, M.; Abreu Rodriguez, D.

2015-05-01

Since 2006, the European Near Earth Asteroids Research (EURONEAR) project has been contributing to the research of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) within a European network. One of the main aims is the amelioration of the orbits of NEAs, and starting in 2014 February we focus on the recovery of one-opposition NEAs using the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) in La Palma in override mode. Part of this NEA recovery project, since 2014 June EURONEAR serendipitously started to discover and secure the first NEAs from La Palma and using the INT, thanks to the teamwork including amateurs and students who promptly reduce the data, report discoveries and secure new objects recovered with the INT and few other telescopes from the EURONEAR network. Five NEAs were discovered with the INT, including 2014 LU14, 2014 NL52 (one very fast rotator), 2014 OL339 (the fourth known Earth quasi-satellite), 2014 SG143 (a quite large NEA), and 2014 VP. Another very fast moving NEA was discovered but was unfortunately lost due to lack of follow-up time. Additionally, another 14 NEA candidates were identified based on two models, all being rapidly followed-up using the INT and another 11 telescopes within the EURONEAR network. They include one object discovered by Pan-STARRS, two Mars crossers, two Hungarias, one Jupiter trojan, and other few inner main belt asteroids (MBAs). Using the INT and Sierra Nevada 1.5 m for photometry, then the Gran Telescopio de Canarias for spectroscopy, we derived the very rapid rotation of 2014 NL52, then its albedo, magnitude, size, and its spectral class. Based on the total sky coverage in dark conditions, we evaluate the actual survey discovery rate using 2-m class telescopes. One NEA is possible to be discovered randomly within minimum 2.8 deg2 and maximum 5.5 deg2. These findings update our past statistics, being based on double sky coverage and taking into account the recent increase in discovery.

From bench to patient: model systems in drug discovery

PubMed Central

Breyer, Matthew D.; Look, A. Thomas; Cifra, Alessandra

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Model systems, including laboratory animals, microorganisms, and cell- and tissue-based systems, are central to the discovery and development of new and better drugs for the treatment of human disease. In this issue, Disease Models & Mechanisms launches a Special Collection that illustrates the contribution of model systems to drug discovery and optimisation across multiple disease areas. This collection includes reviews, Editorials, interviews with leading scientists with a foot in both academia and industry, and original research articles reporting new and important insights into disease therapeutics. This Editorial provides a summary of the collection's current contents, highlighting the impact of multiple model systems in moving new discoveries from the laboratory bench to the patients' bedsides. PMID:26438689

What Neural Substrates Trigger the Adept Scientific Pattern Discovery by Biologists?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jun-Ki; Kwon, Yong-Ju

2011-01-01

This study investigated the neural correlates of experts and novices during biological object pattern detection using an fMRI approach in order to reveal the neural correlates of a biologist's superior pattern discovery ability. Sixteen healthy male participants (8 biologists and 8 non-biologists) volunteered for the study. Participants were shown…

Evaluation Techniques for the Sandy Point Discovery Center, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heffernan, Bernadette M.

1998-01-01

Describes work done to provide staff of the Sandy Point Discovery Center with methods for evaluating exhibits and interpretive programming. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation measures were designed to assess the program's objective of estuary education. Pretest-posttest questionnaires and interviews are used to measure subjects' knowledge and…

The discovery of DLT17cd/AT 2017fzw with PROMPT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tartaglia, L.; Sand, D.; Wyatt, S.; Valenti, S.; Bostroem, K. A.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2017-08-01

We report the discovery of DLT17cd/AT 2017fzw. The object was discovered on 2017 08 09.36 UT at R 17.17 mag, during the ongoing D < 40 Mpc (DLT40) one day cadence supernova search, using data from the PROMPT 5 0.41m telescope located at CTIO.

Computational methods for a three-dimensional model of the petroleum-discovery process

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schuenemeyer, J.H.; Bawiec, W.J.; Drew, L.J.

1980-01-01

A discovery-process model devised by Drew, Schuenemeyer, and Root can be used to predict the amount of petroleum to be discovered in a basin from some future level of exploratory effort: the predictions are based on historical drilling and discovery data. Because marginal costs of discovery and production are a function of field size, the model can be used to make estimates of future discoveries within deposit size classes. The modeling approach is a geometric one in which the area searched is a function of the size and shape of the targets being sought. A high correlation is assumed between the surface-projection area of the fields and the volume of petroleum. To predict how much oil remains to be found, the area searched must be computed, and the basin size and discovery efficiency must be estimated. The basin is assumed to be explored randomly rather than by pattern drilling. The model may be used to compute independent estimates of future oil at different depth intervals for a play involving multiple producing horizons. We have written FORTRAN computer programs that are used with Drew, Schuenemeyer, and Root's model to merge the discovery and drilling information and perform the necessary computations to estimate undiscovered petroleum. These program may be modified easily for the estimation of remaining quantities of commodities other than petroleum. ?? 1980.

The Top 10 List of Gravitational Lens Candidates from the HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE Medium Deep Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ratnatunga, Kavan U.; Griffiths, Richard E.; Ostrander, Eric J.

1999-05-01

A total of 10 good candidates for gravitational lensing have been discovered in the WFPC2 images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Medium Deep Survey (MDS) and archival primary observations. These candidate lenses are unique HST discoveries, i.e., they are faint systems with subarcsecond separations between the lensing objects and the lensed source images. Most of them are difficult objects for ground-based spectroscopic confirmation or for measurement of the lens and source redshifts. Seven are ``strong lens'' candidates that appear to have multiple images of the source. Three are cases in which the single image of the source galaxy has been significantly distorted into an arc. The first two quadruply lensed candidates were reported by Ratnatunga et al. We report on the subsequent eight candidates and describe them with simple models based on the assumption of singular isothermal potentials. Residuals from the simple models for some of the candidates indicate that a more complex model for the potential will probably be required to explain the full structural detail of the observations once they are confirmed to be lenses. We also discuss the effective survey area that was searched for these candidate lens objects.

Modeling & Informatics at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated: our philosophy for sustained impact

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGaughey, Georgia; Patrick Walters, W.

2017-03-01

Molecular modelers and informaticians have the unique opportunity to integrate cross-functional data using a myriad of tools, methods and visuals to generate information. Using their drug discovery expertise, information is transformed to knowledge that impacts drug discovery. These insights are often times formulated locally and then applied more broadly, which influence the discovery of new medicines. This is particularly true in an organization where the members are exposed to projects throughout an organization, such as in the case of the global Modeling & Informatics group at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. From its inception, Vertex has been a leader in the development and use of computational methods for drug discovery. In this paper, we describe the Modeling & Informatics group at Vertex and the underlying philosophy, which has driven this team to sustain impact on the discovery of first-in-class transformative medicines.

Computational modeling in melanoma for novel drug discovery.

PubMed

Pennisi, Marzio; Russo, Giulia; Di Salvatore, Valentina; Candido, Saverio; Libra, Massimo; Pappalardo, Francesco

2016-06-01

There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the applications of computational modeling in the field of biomedicine. It has recently been applied to the in silico analysis of cancer dynamics. In the era of precision medicine, this analysis may allow the discovery of new molecular targets useful for the design of novel therapies and for overcoming resistance to anticancer drugs. According to its molecular behavior, melanoma represents an interesting tumor model in which computational modeling can be applied. Melanoma is an aggressive tumor of the skin with a poor prognosis for patients with advanced disease as it is resistant to current therapeutic approaches. This review discusses the basics of computational modeling in melanoma drug discovery and development. Discussion includes the in silico discovery of novel molecular drug targets, the optimization of immunotherapies and personalized medicine trials. Mathematical and computational models are gradually being used to help understand biomedical data produced by high-throughput analysis. The use of advanced computer models allowing the simulation of complex biological processes provides hypotheses and supports experimental design. The research in fighting aggressive cancers, such as melanoma, is making great strides. Computational models represent the key component to complement these efforts. Due to the combinatorial complexity of new drug discovery, a systematic approach based only on experimentation is not possible. Computational and mathematical models are necessary for bringing cancer drug discovery into the era of omics, big data and personalized medicine.

The Solar Neighborhood. XXV. Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with 0.40 sec/yr mu or = 0.18 sec/yr Between Declinations -47 deg and 00 deg

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

that the object was indeed a proper motion object. For real ob- jects, Two Micron All Sky Survey ( 2MASS ) positions, epochs, and JHKs photometry were...and vice versa, and to ensure the correct 2MASS data were collected. The blinking process led to the discovery of many common proper motion (CPM...Proper motion or position angle suspect. f No 2MASS data available, so no distance estimate. g Coordinates not J2000.0 due to lack of proper motion or

KSC-05PD-0364

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Preparing for Return to Flight, workers at KSC walk the grounds around Launch Pad 39B looking for Foreign Object Debris, or FOD. The pad was recently refurbished and any possible debris left behind must be removed from the area prior to launch. Foreign objects that are alien to flight systems may cause material damage or may make the system or equipment inoperable, unsafe or less efficient. The Return to Flight mission STS-114 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery will carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Discovery is scheduled for launch in a window from May 15 to June 3.

KSC-05PD-0366

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Preparing for Return to Flight, workers at KSC walk the grounds around Launch Pad 39B looking for Foreign Object Debris, or FOD. The pad was recently refurbished and any possible debris left behind must be removed from the area prior to launch. Foreign objects that are alien to flight systems may cause material damage or may make the system or equipment inoperable, unsafe or less efficient. The Return to Flight mission STS-114 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery will carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Discovery is scheduled for launch in a window from May 15 to June 3.

KSC-05PD-0363

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Preparing for Return to Flight, workers at KSC walk the grounds around Launch Pad 39B looking for Foreign Object Debris, or FOD. The pad was recently refurbished and any possible debris left behind must be removed from the area prior to launch. Foreign objects that are alien to flight systems may cause material damage or may make the system or equipment inoperable, unsafe or less efficient. The Return to Flight mission STS-114 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery will carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Discovery is scheduled for launch in a window from May 15 to June 3.

Human Disease Models in Drosophila melanogaster and the Role of the Fly in Therapeutic Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Pandey, Udai Bhan

2011-01-01

The common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a well studied and highly tractable genetic model organism for understanding molecular mechanisms of human diseases. Many basic biological, physiological, and neurological properties are conserved between mammals and D. melanogaster, and nearly 75% of human disease-causing genes are believed to have a functional homolog in the fly. In the discovery process for therapeutics, traditional approaches employ high-throughput screening for small molecules that is based primarily on in vitro cell culture, enzymatic assays, or receptor binding assays. The majority of positive hits identified through these types of in vitro screens, unfortunately, are found to be ineffective and/or toxic in subsequent validation experiments in whole-animal models. New tools and platforms are needed in the discovery arena to overcome these limitations. The incorporation of D. melanogaster into the therapeutic discovery process holds tremendous promise for an enhanced rate of discovery of higher quality leads. D. melanogaster models of human diseases provide several unique features such as powerful genetics, highly conserved disease pathways, and very low comparative costs. The fly can effectively be used for low- to high-throughput drug screens as well as in target discovery. Here, we review the basic biology of the fly and discuss models of human diseases and opportunities for therapeutic discovery for central nervous system disorders, inflammatory disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. We also provide information and resources for those interested in pursuing fly models of human disease, as well as those interested in using D. melanogaster in the drug discovery process. PMID:21415126

The Role of Authentic Objects in Museums of the History of Science and Technology: Findings from a Visitor Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hampp, Constanze; Schwan, Stephan

2015-01-01

One characteristic of science centers and science museums is that they communicate scientific findings by presenting real scientific objects. In particular, science museums focus on the historical context of scientific discoveries by displaying authentic objects, defined as original objects that once served a science-related, real-world purpose…

Search techniques for near-earth asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Helin, E. F.; Dunbar, R. S.

1990-01-01

Knowledge of the near-earth asteroids (Apollo, Amor, and Aten groups) has increased enormously over the last 10 to 15 years. This has been due in large part to the success of programs that have systematically searched for these objects. These programs have been motivated by the apparent relationships of the near-earth asteroids to terrestrial impact cratering, meteorites, and comets, and their relative accessibility for asteroid missions. Discovery of new near-earth asteroids is fundamental to all other studies, from theoretical modeling of their populations to the determination of their physical characteristics by various remote-sensing techniques. The methods that have been used to find these objects are reviewed, and ways in which the search for near-earth asteroids can be expanded are discussed.

STS-41 crewmembers conduct DSO 0472 Intraocular Pressure on OV-103's middeck

NASA Image and Video Library

1990-10-10

STS-41 crewmembers conduct Detailed Supplementary Objective (DSO) 0472 Intraocular Pressure on the middeck of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103. Mission Specialist (MS) William M. Shepherd rests his head on the stowed treadmill while Pilot Robert D. Cabana, holding Shepherd's eye open, prepares to measure Shepherd's intraocular pressure using a tono pen (in his right hand). Objectives include: establishing a database of changes in intraocular pressures that can be used to evaluate crew health; validating ten degree head down bedrest as a model for cephalad fluid shifts in microgravity; facilitating the interpretation of data by providing a quantative measure of microgravity induced cephalad fluid shifts; and validating the tono pen as an effective tool for diagnostic and scientific data collection.

Pragmatic open space box utilization: asteroid survey model using distributed objects management based articulation (DOMBA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammad, Atif Farid; Straub, Jeremy

2015-05-01

A multi-craft asteroid survey has significant data synchronization needs. Limited communication speeds drive exacting performance requirements. Tables have been used in Relational Databases, which are structure; however, DOMBA (Distributed Objects Management Based Articulation) deals with data in terms of collections. With this, no read/write roadblocks to the data exist. A master/slave architecture is created by utilizing the Gossip protocol. This facilitates expanding a mission that makes an important discovery via the launch of another spacecraft. The Open Space Box Framework facilitates the foregoing while also providing a virtual caching layer to make sure that continuously accessed data is available in memory and that, upon closing the data file, recharging is applied to the data.

Engaging Scientists in Meaningful E/PO: The Universe Discovery Guides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meinke, B. K.; Lawton, B.; Gurton, S.; Smith, D. A.; Manning, J. G.

2014-12-01

For the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, the then-existing NASA Origins Forum collaborated with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) to create a series of monthly "Discovery Guides" for informal educator and amateur astronomer use in educating the public about featured sky objects and associated NASA science themes. Today's NASA Astrophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum (SEPOF), one of a new generation of forums coordinating the work of NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) EPO efforts—in collaboration with the ASP and NASA SMD missions and programs--has adapted the Discovery Guides into "evergreen" educational resources suitable for a variety of audiences. The Guides focus on "deep sky" objects and astrophysics themes (stars and stellar evolution, galaxies and the universe, and exoplanets), showcasing EPO resources from more than 30 NASA astrophysics missions and programs in a coordinated and cohesive "big picture" approach across the electromagnetic spectrum, grounded in best practices to best serve the needs of the target audiences. Each monthly guide features a theme and a representative object well-placed for viewing, with an accompanying interpretive story, finding charts, strategies for conveying the topics, and complementary supporting NASA-approved education activities and background information from a spectrum of NASA missions and programs. The Universe Discovery Guides are downloadable from the NASA Night Sky Network web site at nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov. We will share the Forum-led Collaborative's experience in developing the guides, how they place individual science discoveries and learning resources into context for audiences, and how the Guides can be readily used in scientist public outreach efforts, in college and university introductory astronomy classes, and in other engagements between scientists, students and the public.

The Universe Discovery Guides: A Collaborative Approach to Educating with NASA Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manning, Jim; Lawton, Brandon; Berendsen, Marni; Gurton, Suzanne; Smith, Denise A.; NASA SMD Astrophysics E/PO Community, The

2014-06-01

For the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, the then-existing NASA Origins Forum collaborated with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) to create a series of monthly “Discovery Guides” for informal educator and amateur astronomer use in educating the public about featured sky objects and associated NASA science themes. Today’s NASA Astrophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum (SEPOF), one of a new generation of forums coordinating the work of NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) EPO efforts—in collaboration with the ASP and NASA SMD missions and programs--has adapted the Discovery Guides into “evergreen” educational resources suitable for a variety of audiences. The Guides focus on “deep sky” objects and astrophysics themes (stars and stellar evolution, galaxies and the universe, and exoplanets), showcasing EPO resources from more than 30 NASA astrophysics missions and programs in a coordinated and cohesive “big picture” approach across the electromagnetic spectrum, grounded in best practices to best serve the needs of the target audiences.Each monthly guide features a theme and a representative object well-placed for viewing, with an accompanying interpretive story, finding charts, strategies for conveying the topics, and complementary supporting NASA-approved education activities and background information from a spectrum of NASA missions and programs. The Universe Discovery Guides are downloadable from the NASA Night Sky Network web site at nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov.The presenter will share the Forum-led Collaborative’s experience in developing the guides, how they place individual science discoveries and learning resources into context for audiences, and how the Guides can be readily used in scientist public outreach efforts, in college and university introductory astronomy classes, and in other engagements between scientists, students and the public.

From bench to patient: model systems in drug discovery.

PubMed

Breyer, Matthew D; Look, A Thomas; Cifra, Alessandra

2015-10-01

Model systems, including laboratory animals, microorganisms, and cell- and tissue-based systems, are central to the discovery and development of new and better drugs for the treatment of human disease. In this issue, Disease Models & Mechanisms launches a Special Collection that illustrates the contribution of model systems to drug discovery and optimisation across multiple disease areas. This collection includes reviews, Editorials, interviews with leading scientists with a foot in both academia and industry, and original research articles reporting new and important insights into disease therapeutics. This Editorial provides a summary of the collection's current contents, highlighting the impact of multiple model systems in moving new discoveries from the laboratory bench to the patients' bedsides. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Discovery of a Probable Nova in M31

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hornoch, K.; Kucakova, H.; Vrastil, J.

2018-04-01

We report the discovery of a probable nova in M31 on a co-added 720-s R-band CCD frame taken on 2018 Apr. 3.788 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov. The object designated PNV J00425509+4119009 is located at R.A. = 0h42m55s.09, Decl.

Projected Near-Earth Object Discovery Performance of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chesley, Steven R.; Veres, Peter

2017-01-01

This report describes the methodology and results of an assessment study of the performance of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) in its planned efforts to detect and catalog near-Earth objects (NEOs).

Discovery of VHE γ -ray emission from the BL Lacertae object B3 2247+381 with the MAGIC telescopes

DOE PAGES

Aleksić, J.; Alvarez, E. A.; Antonelli, L. A.; ...

2012-03-02

Here, we study the non-thermal jet emission of the BL Lac object B3 2247+381 during a high optical state. The MAGIC telescopes observed the source during 13 nights between September 30th and October 30th 2010, collecting a total of 14.2 h of good quality very high energy (VHE) γ-ray data. Simultaneous multiwavelength data was obtained with X-ray observations by the Swift satellite and optical R-band observations at the KVA-telescope. We also use high energy γ-ray (HE, 0.1-100 GeV) data from the Fermi satellite. We also dedected the BL Lac object B3 2247+381 (z = 0.119) , for the first time,more » at VHE γ-rays at a statistical significance of 5.6σ. A soft VHE spectrum with a photon index of -3.2 ± 0.6 was determined. No significant short term flux variations were found. Finally, we model the spectral energy distribution using a one-zone SSC-model, which can successfully describe our data.« less

A SEARCH FOR L/T TRANSITION DWARFS WITH PAN-STARRS1 AND WISE. II. L/T TRANSITION ATMOSPHERES AND YOUNG DISCOVERIES

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

Best, William M. J.; Liu, Michael C.; Magnier, Eugene A.

The evolution of brown dwarfs from L to T spectral types is one of the least understood aspects of the ultracool population, partly for lack of a large, well-defined, and well-characterized sample in the L/T transition. To improve the existing census, we have searched ≈28,000 deg{sup 2} using the Pan-STARRS1 and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer surveys for L/T transition dwarfs within 25 pc. We present 130 ultracool dwarf discoveries with estimated distances ≈9–130 pc, including 21 that were independently discovered by other authors and 3 that were previously identified as photometric candidates. Seventy-nine of our objects have near-IR spectral types ofmore » L6–T4.5, the most L/T transition dwarfs from any search to date, and we have increased the census of L9–T1.5 objects within 25 pc by over 50%. The color distribution of our discoveries provides further evidence for the “L/T gap,” a deficit of objects with (J − K){sub MKO} ≈ 0.0–0.5 mag in the L/T transition, and thus reinforces the idea that the transition from cloudy to clear photospheres occurs rapidly. Among our discoveries are 31 candidate binaries based on their low-resolution spectral features. Two of these candidates are common proper motion companions to nearby main sequence stars; if confirmed as binaries, these would be rare benchmark systems with the potential to stringently test ultracool evolutionary models. Our search also serendipitously identified 23 late-M and L dwarfs with spectroscopic signs of low gravity implying youth, including 10 with vl-g or int-g gravity classifications and another 13 with indications of low gravity whose spectral types or modest spectral signal-to-noise ratio do not allow us to assign formal classifications. Finally, we identify 10 candidate members of nearby young moving groups (YMG) with spectral types L7–T4.5, including three showing spectroscopic signs of low gravity. If confirmed, any of these would be among the coolest known YMG members and would help to determine the effective temperature at which young brown dwarfs cross the L/T transition.« less

Optimizing the discovery organization for innovation.

PubMed

Sams-Dodd, Frank

2005-08-01

Strategic management is the process of adapting organizational structure and management principles to fit the strategic goal of the business unit. The pharmaceutical industry has generally been expert at optimizing its organizations for drug development, but has rarely implemented different structures for the early discovery process, where the objective is innovation and the transformation of innovation into drug projects. Here, a set of strategic management methods is proposed, covering team composition, organizational structure, management principles and portfolio management, which are designed to increase the level of innovation in the early drug discovery process.

Planetary Radar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neish, Catherine D.; Carter, Lynn M.

2015-01-01

This chapter describes the principles of planetary radar, and the primary scientific discoveries that have been made using this technique. The chapter starts by describing the different types of radar systems and how they are used to acquire images and accurate topography of planetary surfaces and probe their subsurface structure. It then explains how these products can be used to understand the properties of the target being investigated. Several examples of discoveries made with planetary radar are then summarized, covering solar system objects from Mercury to Saturn. Finally, opportunities for future discoveries in planetary radar are outlined and discussed.

Discovery of the Lensed Quasar System DES J0408-5354

DOE PAGES

Lin, H.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Agnello, A.; ...

2017-03-27

We report the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of the quad-like lensed quasar system DES J0408-5354 found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 (Y1) data. This system was discovered during a search for DES Y1 strong lensing systems using a method that identified candidates as red galaxies with multiple blue neighbors. DES J0408-5354 consists of a central red galaxy surrounded by three bright (more » $$i\\lt 20$$) blue objects and a fourth red object. Subsequent spectroscopic observations using the Gemini South telescope confirmed that the three blue objects are indeed the lensed images of a quasar with redshift z = 2.375, and that the central red object is an early-type lensing galaxy with redshift z = 0.597. DES J0408-5354 is the first quad lensed quasar system to be found in DES and begins to demonstrate the potential of DES to discover and dramatically increase the sample size of these very rare objects.« less

Discovery of the Lensed Quasar System DES J0408-5354

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

Lin, H.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Agnello, A.

We report the discovery and spectroscopic confirmation of the quad-like lensed quasar system DES J0408-5354 found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 (Y1) data. This system was discovered during a search for DES Y1 strong lensing systems using a method that identified candidates as red galaxies with multiple blue neighbors. DES J0408-5354 consists of a central red galaxy surrounded by three bright (more » $$i\\lt 20$$) blue objects and a fourth red object. Subsequent spectroscopic observations using the Gemini South telescope confirmed that the three blue objects are indeed the lensed images of a quasar with redshift z = 2.375, and that the central red object is an early-type lensing galaxy with redshift z = 0.597. DES J0408-5354 is the first quad lensed quasar system to be found in DES and begins to demonstrate the potential of DES to discover and dramatically increase the sample size of these very rare objects.« less

Discovery of M class objects among the near-earth asteroid population

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tedesco, Edward F.; Gradie, Jonathan

1987-01-01

Broadband colorimetry, visual photometry, near-infrared photometry, and 10 and 20 micron radiometry of the near-earth asteroids (NEAs) 1986 DA and 1986 EB are used to show that these objects belong to the M class of asteroids. The similarity among the distributions of taxonomic classes among the 38 NEAs to the abundances found in the inner astoroid belt between the 3:1 and 5:2 resonances suggests that NEAs have their origins among asteroids in the vicinity of these resonances. The implied mineralogy of 1986 DA and 1986 EB is mostly nickel-iron metal; if this is indeed the case, then current models for meteorite production based on strength-related collisional processes on asteroidal surfaces predict that these two objects alone should produce about one percent of all meteorite falls. Iron meteorites derived from these near-earth asteroids should have low cosmic-ray exposure ages.

THE CANADA-FRANCE ECLIPTIC PLANE SURVEY-FULL DATA RELEASE: THE ORBITAL STRUCTURE OF THE KUIPER BELT

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

Petit, J.-M.; Rousselot, P.; Mousis, O.

2011-10-15

We report the orbital distribution of the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered during the Canada-France Ecliptic Plane Survey (CFEPS), whose discovery phase ran from early 2003 until early 2007. The follow-up observations started just after the first discoveries and extended until late 2009. We obtained characterized observations of 321 deg{sup 2} of sky to depths in the range g {approx} 23.5-24.4 AB mag. We provide a database of 169 TNOs with high-precision dynamical classification and known discovery efficiency. Using this database, we find that the classical belt is a complex region with sub-structures that go beyond the usual splitting of innermore » (interior to 3:2 mean-motion resonance [MMR]), main (between 3:2 and 2:1 MMR), and outer (exterior to 2:1 MMR). The main classical belt (a = 40-47 AU) needs to be modeled with at least three components: the 'hot' component with a wide inclination distribution and two 'cold' components (stirred and kernel) with much narrower inclination distributions. The hot component must have a significantly shallower absolute magnitude (H{sub g} ) distribution than the other two components. With 95% confidence, there are 8000{sup +1800}{sub -1600} objects in the main belt with H{sub g} {<=} 8.0, of which 50% are from the hot component, 40% from the stirred component, and 10% from the kernel; the hot component's fraction drops rapidly with increasing H{sub g} . Because of this, the apparent population fractions depend on the depth and ecliptic latitude of a trans-Neptunian survey. The stirred and kernel components are limited to only a portion of the main belt, while we find that the hot component is consistent with a smooth extension throughout the inner, main, and outer regions of the classical belt; in fact, the inner and outer belts are consistent with containing only hot-component objects. The H{sub g} {<=} 8.0 TNO population estimates are 400 for the inner belt and 10,000 for the outer belt to within a factor of two (95% confidence). We show how the CFEPS Survey Simulator can be used to compare a cosmogonic model for the orbital element distribution to the real Kuiper Belt.« less

Proposal and Evaluation of BLE Discovery Process Based on New Features of Bluetooth 5.0.

PubMed

Hernández-Solana, Ángela; Perez-Diaz-de-Cerio, David; Valdovinos, Antonio; Valenzuela, Jose Luis

2017-08-30

The device discovery process is one of the most crucial aspects in real deployments of sensor networks. Recently, several works have analyzed the topic of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device discovery through analytical or simulation models limited to version 4.x. Non-connectable and non-scannable undirected advertising has been shown to be a reliable alternative for discovering a high number of devices in a relatively short time period. However, new features of Bluetooth 5.0 allow us to define a variant on the device discovery process, based on BLE scannable undirected advertising events, which results in higher discovering capacities and also lower power consumption. In order to characterize this new device discovery process, we experimentally model the real device behavior of BLE scannable undirected advertising events. Non-detection packet probability, discovery probability, and discovery latency for a varying number of devices and parameters are compared by simulations and experimental measurements. We demonstrate that our proposal outperforms previous works, diminishing the discovery time and increasing the potential user device density. A mathematical model is also developed in order to easily obtain a measure of the potential capacity in high density scenarios.

Proposal and Evaluation of BLE Discovery Process Based on New Features of Bluetooth 5.0

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The device discovery process is one of the most crucial aspects in real deployments of sensor networks. Recently, several works have analyzed the topic of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) device discovery through analytical or simulation models limited to version 4.x. Non-connectable and non-scannable undirected advertising has been shown to be a reliable alternative for discovering a high number of devices in a relatively short time period. However, new features of Bluetooth 5.0 allow us to define a variant on the device discovery process, based on BLE scannable undirected advertising events, which results in higher discovering capacities and also lower power consumption. In order to characterize this new device discovery process, we experimentally model the real device behavior of BLE scannable undirected advertising events. Non-detection packet probability, discovery probability, and discovery latency for a varying number of devices and parameters are compared by simulations and experimental measurements. We demonstrate that our proposal outperforms previous works, diminishing the discovery time and increasing the potential user device density. A mathematical model is also developed in order to easily obtain a measure of the potential capacity in high density scenarios. PMID:28867786

Application of PBPK modelling in drug discovery and development at Pfizer.

PubMed

Jones, Hannah M; Dickins, Maurice; Youdim, Kuresh; Gosset, James R; Attkins, Neil J; Hay, Tanya L; Gurrell, Ian K; Logan, Y Raj; Bungay, Peter J; Jones, Barry C; Gardner, Iain B

2012-01-01

Early prediction of human pharmacokinetics (PK) and drug-drug interactions (DDI) in drug discovery and development allows for more informed decision making. Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling can be used to answer a number of questions throughout the process of drug discovery and development and is thus becoming a very popular tool. PBPK models provide the opportunity to integrate key input parameters from different sources to not only estimate PK parameters and plasma concentration-time profiles, but also to gain mechanistic insight into compound properties. Using examples from the literature and our own company, we have shown how PBPK techniques can be utilized through the stages of drug discovery and development to increase efficiency, reduce the need for animal studies, replace clinical trials and to increase PK understanding. Given the mechanistic nature of these models, the future use of PBPK modelling in drug discovery and development is promising, however, some limitations need to be addressed to realize its application and utility more broadly.

Supernovae Discovery Efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

John, Colin

2018-01-01

Abstract:We present supernovae (SN) search efficiency measurements for recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) surveys. Efficiency is a key component to any search, and is important parameter as a correction factor for SN rates. To achieve an accurate value for efficiency, many supernovae need to be discoverable in surveys. This cannot be achieved from real SN only, due to their scarcity, so fake SN are planted. These fake supernovae—with a goal of realism in mind—yield an understanding of efficiency based on position related to other celestial objects, and brightness. To improve realism, we built a more accurate model of supernovae using a point-spread function. The next improvement to realism is planting these objects close to galaxies and of various parameters of brightness, magnitude, local galactic brightness and redshift. Once these are planted, a very accurate SN is visible and discoverable by the searcher. It is very important to find factors that affect this discovery efficiency. Exploring the factors that effect detection yields a more accurate correction factor. Further inquires into efficiency give us a better understanding of image processing, searching techniques and survey strategies, and result in an overall higher likelihood to find these events in future surveys with Hubble, James Webb, and WFIRST telescopes. After efficiency is discovered and refined with many unique surveys, it factors into measurements of SN rates versus redshift. By comparing SN rates vs redshift against the star formation rate we can test models to determine how long star systems take from the point of inception to explosion (delay time distribution). This delay time distribution is compared to SN progenitors models to get an accurate idea of what these stars were like before their deaths.

Debiasing the Distant Solar System Populations Using Pan-STARRS1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lilly Schunova, Eva; Weryk, Robert J.; Chastel, Serge; Denneau, Larry; Jedicke, Robert; Wainscoat, Richard J.; Chambers, Kenneth C.

2017-10-01

We discuss our on-going effort to identify Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) in the Pan-STARRS1 dataset, and to debias the size-frequency distributions (SFD) of detected TNO sub-populations in order to estimate their true population sizes. To measure our detection efficiency we used the model of Grav et al. (2011)[1], which includes Kuiper belt Objects (KBOs), Scattered Disc Objects (SDOs), and Centaurs. Our debiasing method accounts for the per-chip CCD sensitivity as well as CCD cell gaps. The search method for finding distant Solar System objects, which was developed for our initial work (Weryk et al., 2016)[2], led to discovery of 29 Centaurs, 243 KBOs and 61 SDOs from Pan-STARRS data spanning years 2010-2015. Our work is extended using more recent PS1 data.[1] Grav, T., et al. (2011), Publications of the Astronomical Society of Pacific, Volume 123, Issue 902, pp. 423.[2] Weryk, R.J., et al. (2016), eprint arXiv:1607.04895.

Stardust in meteorites.

PubMed

Davis, Andrew M

2011-11-29

Primitive meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, and comets contain dust grains that formed around stars that lived their lives before the solar system formed. These remarkable objects have been intensively studied since their discovery a little over twenty years ago and they provide samples of other stars that can be studied in the laboratory in exquisite detail with modern analytical tools. The properties of stardust grains are used to constrain models of nucleosynthesis in red giant stars and supernovae, the dominant sources of dust grains that are recycled into the interstellar medium by stars.

Stardust in meteorites

PubMed Central

Davis, Andrew M.

2011-01-01

Primitive meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, and comets contain dust grains that formed around stars that lived their lives before the solar system formed. These remarkable objects have been intensively studied since their discovery a little over twenty years ago and they provide samples of other stars that can be studied in the laboratory in exquisite detail with modern analytical tools. The properties of stardust grains are used to constrain models of nucleosynthesis in red giant stars and supernovae, the dominant sources of dust grains that are recycled into the interstellar medium by stars. PMID:22106261

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS). I. (Bannister+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bannister, M. T.; Kavelaars, J. J.; Petit, J.-M.; Gladman, B. J.; Gwyn, S. D. J.; Chen, Y.-T.; Volk, K.; Alexandersen, M.; Benecchi, S. D.; Delsanti, A.; Fraser, W. C.; Granvik, M.; Grundy, W. M.; Guilbert-Lepoutre, A.; Hestroffer, D.; Ip, W.-H.; Jakubik, M.; Jones, R. L.; Kaib, N.; Kavelaars, C. F.; Lacerda, P.; Lawler, S.; Lehner, M. J.; Lin, H. W.; Lister, T.; Lykawka, P. S.; Monty, S.; Marsset, M.; Murray-Clay, R.; Noll, K. S.; Parker, A.; Pike, R. E.; Rousselot, P.; Rusk, D.; Schwamb, M. E.; Shankman, C.; Sicardy, B.; Vernazza, P.; Wang, S.-Y.

2016-09-01

The Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) observations are acquired in blocks: contiguous patches of sky formed by a layout of adjoining multiple 0.90deg2 MegaCam fields. The OSSOS discovery and tracking program uses the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) MegaPrime/MegaCam. In 2013 and 2014, the MegaPrime/MegaCam focal plane was populated by thirty-six 4612*2048 pixel CCDs in a 4 by 9 arrangement, with a 0.96°*0.94° unvignetted Field Of View (FOV) (0.90deg2) and 0.05'' Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) Image Quality (IQ) variation between center and edge. The plate scale is 0.184'' per pixel, which is well suited for sampling the 0.7'' median seeing at Maunakea. We observed our 2013 discovery fields in MegaCam's r.MP9601 filter (564-685nm at 50% transmission; 81.4% mean transmission) which is similar to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) r' filter. Our integration length was set at 287s. This exposure length achieves a target depth of mr=24.5 in a single frame in 0.7'' median CFHT seeing. MegaPrime/MegaCam operates exclusively as a dark-time queue-mode instrument for CFHT. The OSSOS project thus has between 10 and 14 potentially observable nights each month, weather considerations aside. Through CFHT's flexible queue-schedule system we requested our observations be made in possibly non-photometric conditions (discussed in Section 3.5) with 0.6''-0.8'' seeing and <0.1mag extinction for discovery, and requested image quality of 0.8''-1.0'' seeing for follow-up observations. Images were taken entirely with sidereal guiding and above airmass 1.5. This aided the quality of the astrometric solution and the point-spread function, and retained image depth: median extinction on Maunakea is 0.10mag per airmass in this passband. This paper covers OSSOS blocks that had their discovery observations in 2013A (2013 is the year that the discovery observations were successfully made, and A indicates the half-year semester of discovery opposition; A for Northern spring). Forthcoming papers will cover the subsequent discovery observations. The 2013A blocks were 13AE, centered at R.A. 14h20m, decl. -12°52' at discovery, spanning ecliptic latitude range b=0°-3°, and 13AO, centered at R.A. 15h57m, decl. -12°30' at discovery, spanning ecliptic latitude range b=6°-9°. The sky locations of the 13A blocks are at 44° and 30° galactic latitude. The 13AE discovery triplets were taken under some minor (<0.04mag) extinction and with IQ that ranged from 0.65'' to 0.84''. The 13AO discovery triplets exhibited no extinction and IQ that ranged from 0.49'' to 0.74''. Subsequent imaging to track the discoveries was acquired through 2013 August. Not all discoveries were observed in every lunation due to objects falling in chip gaps or on background sources on some dates, faint magnitudes, or variable seeing in the recovery observations. In much of 2013, poor weather conditions prevented observations in sufficient IQ for us to recover the faintest objects. To compensate, from 2013 November onward we used alternative 387s exposures in 0.8+/-0.1'' seeing for single-image passes on the block. For the seven February-August lunations that the blocks were visible in 2014, the 13AE and 13AO discoveries brighter than the characterization limit (Section 5) were observed with pointed recoveries; this was possible because the high-frequency cadence in the discovery year shrank the ephemeris uncertainty to a tiny fraction of the MegaPrime FOV. A handful of fainter objects not immediately recovered in the first pointed recovery images were targeted with spaced triplets of observations in subsequent lunations until recovery was successful on all of them (Section 6.1). Generally, two observations per object per lunation were made. (2 data files).

Cancer drug discovery: recent innovative approaches to tumor modeling.

PubMed

Lovitt, Carrie J; Shelper, Todd B; Avery, Vicky M

2016-09-01

Cell culture models have been at the heart of anti-cancer drug discovery programs for over half a century. Advancements in cell culture techniques have seen the rapid evolution of more complex in vitro cell culture models investigated for use in drug discovery. Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture research has become a strong focal point, as this technique permits the recapitulation of the tumor microenvironment. Biologically relevant 3D cellular models have demonstrated significant promise in advancing cancer drug discovery, and will continue to play an increasing role in the future. In this review, recent advances in 3D cell culture techniques and their application in tumor modeling and anti-cancer drug discovery programs are discussed. The topics include selection of cancer cells, 3D cell culture assays (associated endpoint measurements and analysis), 3D microfluidic systems and 3D bio-printing. Although advanced cancer cell culture models and techniques are becoming commonplace in many research groups, the use of these approaches has yet to be fully embraced in anti-cancer drug applications. Furthermore, limitations associated with analyzing information-rich biological data remain unaddressed.

Direct Comparison of the Precision of the New Hologic Horizon Model With the Old Discovery Model.

PubMed

Whittaker, LaTarsha G; McNamara, Elizabeth A; Vath, Savoun; Shaw, Emily; Malabanan, Alan O; Parker, Robert A; Rosen, Harold N

2017-11-22

Previous publications suggested that the precision of the new Hologic Horizon densitometer might be better than that of the previous Discovery model, but these observations were confounded by not using the same participants and technologists on both densitometers. We sought to study this issue methodically by measuring in vivo precision in both densitometers using the same patients and technologists. Precision studies for the Horizon and Discovery models were done by acquiring spine, hip, and forearm bone mineral density twice on 30 participants. The set of 4 scans on each participant (2 on the Discovery, 2 on the Horizon) was acquired by the same technologist using the same scanning mode. The pairs of data were used to calculate the least significant change according to the International Society for Clinical Densitometry guidelines. The significance of the difference between least significant changes was assessed using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test of the difference between the mean square error of the absolute value of the differences between paired measurements on the Discovery (Δ-Discovery) and the mean square error of the absolute value of the differences between paired measurements on the Horizon (Δ-Horizon). At virtually all anatomic sites, there was a nonsignificant trend for the precision to be better for the Horizon than for the Discovery. As more vertebrae were excluded from analysis, the precision deteriorated on both densitometers. The precision between densitometers was almost identical when reporting only 1 vertebral body. (1) There was a nonsignificant trend for greater precision on the new Hologic Horizon compared with the older Discovery model. (2) The difference in precision of the spine bone mineral density between the Horizon and the Discovery models decreases as fewer vertebrae are included. (3) These findings are substantially similar to previously published results which had not controlled as well for confounding from using different subjects and technologists. Copyright © 2017 The International Society for Clinical Densitometry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An High Resolution Near-Earth Objects Population Enabling Next-Generation Search Strategies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tricaico, Pasquale; Beshore, E. C.; Larson, S. M.; Boattini, A.; Williams, G. V.

2010-01-01

Over the past decade, the dedicated search for kilometer-size near-Earth objects (NEOs), potentially hazardous objects (PHOs), and potential Earth impactors has led to a boost in the rate of discoveries of these objects. The catalog of known NEOs is the fundamental ingredient used to develop a model for the NEOs population, either by assessing and correcting for the observational bias (Jedicke et al., 2002), or by evaluating the migration rates from the NEOs source regions (Bottke et al., 2002). The modeled NEOs population is a necessary tool used to track the progress in the search of large NEOs (Jedicke et al., 2003) and to try to predict the distribution of the ones still undiscovered, as well as to study the sky distribution of potential Earth impactors (Chesley & Spahr, 2004). We present a method to model the NEOs population in all six orbital elements, on a finely grained grid, allowing us the design and test of targeted and optimized search strategies. This method relies on the observational data routinely reported to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) by the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) and by other active NEO surveys over the past decade, to determine on a nightly basis the efficiency in detecting moving objects as a function of observable quantities including apparent magnitude, rate of motion, airmass, and galactic latitude. The cumulative detection probability is then be computed for objects within a small range in orbital elements and absolute magnitude, and the comparison with the number of know NEOs within the same range allows us to model the population. When propagated to the present epoch and projected on the sky plane, this provides the distribution of the missing large NEOs, PHOs, and potential impactors.

Multiple Object Retrieval in Image Databases Using Hierarchical Segmentation Tree

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Wei-Bang

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research is to develop a new visual information analysis, representation, and retrieval framework for automatic discovery of salient objects of user's interest in large-scale image databases. In particular, this dissertation describes a content-based image retrieval framework which supports multiple-object retrieval. The…

Detection of Outliers in Spatial-Temporal Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, James P.

2010-01-01

Outlier detection is an important data mining task that is focused on the discovery of objects that deviate significantly when compared with a set of observations that are considered typical. Outlier detection can reveal objects that behave anomalously with respect to other observations, and these objects may highlight current or future problems. …

discovery toolset for Emulytics v. 1.0

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

Fritz, David; Crussell, Jonathan

The discovery toolset for Emulytics enables the construction of high-fidelity emulation models of systems. The toolset consists of a set of tools and techniques to automatically go from network discovery of operational systems to emulating those complex systems. Our toolset combines data from host discovery and network mapping tools into an intermediate representation that can then be further refined. Once the intermediate representation reaches the desired state, our toolset supports emitting the Emulytics models with varying levels of specificity based on experiment needs.

Discovery Bottles: A Unique Inexpensive Tool for the K-2 Science Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Sandy

2008-01-01

Discover discovery bottles! These wide-mouth plastic containers of any size filled with objects of different kinds can be terrific tools for science explorations and a great way to cultivate science minds in a K-2 science classroom. In addition, the author has found them to be a useful, inexpensive, and engaging way to help students develop skills…

The Genetics of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Tourette Syndrome: An Epidemiological and Pathway-Based Approach for Gene Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grados, Marco A.

2010-01-01

Objective: To provide a contemporary perspective on genetic discovery methods applied to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome (TS). Method: A review of research trends in genetics research in OCD and TS is conducted, with emphasis on novel approaches. Results: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are now in progress in OCD…

Teachers' Journal Club: Bridging between the Dynamics of Biological Discoveries and Biology Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brill, Gilat; Falk, Hedda; Yarden, Anat

2003-01-01

Since biology is one of the most dynamic research fields within the natural sciences, the gap between the accumulated knowledge in biology and the knowledge that is taught in schools, increases rapidly with time. Our long-term objective is to develop means to bridge between the dynamics of biological discoveries and the biology teachers and…

A General Framework for Discovery and Classification in Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dick, Steven J.

2012-09-01

An analysis of the discovery of 82 classes of astronomical objects reveals an extended structure of discovery, consisting of detection, interpretation and understanding, each with its own nuances and a microstructure including conceptual, technological and social roles. This is true with a remarkable degree of consistency over the last 400 years of telescopic astronomy, ranging from Galileo's discovery of satellites, planetary rings and star clusters, to the discovery of quasars and pulsars. Telescopes have served as ``engines of discovery'' in several ways, ranging from telescope size and sensitivity (planetary nebulae and spiral nebulae), to specialized detectors (TNOs) and the opening of the electromagnetic spectrum for astronomy (pulsars, pulsar planets, and most active galaxies). A few classes (radiation belts, the solar wind and cosmic rays) were initially discovered without the telescope. Classification also plays an important role in discovery. While it might seem that classification marks the end of discovery, or a post-discovery phase, in fact it often marks the beginning, even a pre-discovery phase. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the classification of stellar spectra, long before dwarfs, giants and supergiants were known, or their evolutionary sequence recognized. Classification may also be part of a post-discovery phase, as in the MK system of stellar classification, constructed after the discovery of stellar luminosity classes. Some classes are declared rather than detected, as in the case of gas and ice giant planets, and, infamously, Pluto as a dwarf planet. Others are inferred rather than detected, including most classes of stars.

KSC-05PD-0365

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Preparing for Return to Flight, workers at KSC walk the grounds around Launch Pad 39B looking for and picking up Foreign Object Debris, or FOD. The pad was recently refurbished and any possible debris left behind must be removed from the area prior to launch. Foreign objects that are alien to flight systems may cause material damage or may make the system or equipment inoperable, unsafe or less efficient. The Return to Flight mission STS-114 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery will carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Discovery is scheduled for launch in a window from May 15 to June 3.

Suicide case with multiple injuries with sharp objects.

PubMed

Черняк, Валентина В; Девяткин, Александр Е; Мустафина, Галия М; Никифоров, Артём Г

The work of forensic - medical expert examination of the corpse at the place of its discovery and further research in the morgue often there are certain difficulties associated with the solution of a number of issues, including the establishment of a kind of death. Bringing the case demonstrates that, during the initial examination of the corpse to the place of its discovery the presence of multiple injuries on the body of a different nature, as a rule, initially suggest investigators to suspect that the murder occurred. But further questioning around him lately those studying survey data and scene study results allowed the corpse to make objective conclusions.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CURRENT CENSUS OF NORTHERN WHITE DWARFS WITHIN 40 pc OF THE SUN

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

Limoges, M.-M.; Bergeron, P.; Lépine, S., E-mail: limoges@astro.umontreal.ca, E-mail: bergeron@astro.umontreal.ca, E-mail: slepine@chara.gsu.edu

We present a detailed description of the physical properties of our current census of white dwarfs within 40 pc of the Sun, based on an exhaustive spectroscopic survey of northern hemisphere candidates from the SUPERBLINK proper motion database. Our method for selecting white dwarf candidates is based on a combination of theoretical color–magnitude relations and reduced proper motion diagrams. We reported in an earlier publication the discovery of nearly 200 new white dwarfs, and we present here the discovery of an additional 133 new white dwarfs, among which we identify 96 DA, 3 DB, 24 DC, 3 DQ, and 7more » DZ stars. We further identify 178 white dwarfs that lie within 40 pc of the Sun, representing a 40% increase of the current census, which now includes 492 objects. We estimate the completeness of our survey at between 66% and 78%, allowing for uncertainties in the distance estimates. We also perform a homogeneous model atmosphere analysis of this 40 pc sample and find a large fraction of massive white dwarfs, indicating that we are successfully recovering the more massive, and less luminous objects often missed in other surveys. We also show that the 40 pc sample is dominated by cool and old white dwarfs, which populate the faint end of the luminosity function, although trigonometric parallaxes will be needed to shape this part of the luminosity function more accurately. Finally, we identify 4 probable members of the 20 pc sample, 4 suspected double degenerate binaries, and we also report the discovery of two new ZZ Ceti pulsators.« less

JPL-20170629-ASTRDSf-0002-NASA's Asteroid Hunters

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-06-29

90% of all near-Earth object discoveries are made by the Catalina Sky Survey in Mt. Lemmon, AZ, and PanSTARRS in Haleakala, HI. Interviews include scientists at both locations and Paul Chodas of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

Graph-Based Object Class Discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, Shengping; Hancock, Edwin R.

We are interested in the problem of discovering the set of object classes present in a database of images using a weakly supervised graph-based framework. Rather than making use of the ”Bag-of-Features (BoF)” approach widely used in current work on object recognition, we represent each image by a graph using a group of selected local invariant features. Using local feature matching and iterative Procrustes alignment, we perform graph matching and compute a similarity measure. Borrowing the idea of query expansion , we develop a similarity propagation based graph clustering (SPGC) method. Using this method class specific clusters of the graphs can be obtained. Such a cluster can be generally represented by using a higher level graph model whose vertices are the clustered graphs, and the edge weights are determined by the pairwise similarity measure. Experiments are performed on a dataset, in which the number of images increases from 1 to 50K and the number of objects increases from 1 to over 500. Some objects have been discovered with total recall and a precision 1 in a single cluster.

Modeling Emergence in Neuroprotective Regulatory Networks

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

Sanfilippo, Antonio P.; Haack, Jereme N.; McDermott, Jason E.

2013-01-05

The use of predictive modeling in the analysis of gene expression data can greatly accelerate the pace of scientific discovery in biomedical research by enabling in silico experimentation to test disease triggers and potential drug therapies. Techniques that focus on modeling emergence, such as agent-based modeling and multi-agent simulations, are of particular interest as they support the discovery of pathways that may have never been observed in the past. Thus far, these techniques have been primarily applied at the multi-cellular level, or have focused on signaling and metabolic networks. We present an approach where emergence modeling is extended to regulatorymore » networks and demonstrate its application to the discovery of neuroprotective pathways. An initial evaluation of the approach indicates that emergence modeling provides novel insights for the analysis of regulatory networks that can advance the discovery of acute treatments for stroke and other diseases.« less

Dynamics of attitudes and genetic processes.

PubMed

Guastello, Stephen J; Guastello, Denise D

2008-01-01

Relatively new discoveries of a genetic component to attitudes have challenged the traditional viewpoint that attitudes are primarily learned ideas and behaviors. Attitudes that are regarded by respondents as "more important" tend to have greater genetic components to them, and tend to be more closely associated with authoritarianism. Nonlinear theories, nonetheless, have also been introduced to study attitude change. The objective of this study was to determine whether change in authoritarian attitudes across two generations would be more aptly described by a linear or a nonlinear model. Participants were 372 college students, their mothers, and their fathers who completed an attitude questionnaire. Results indicated that the nonlinear model (R2 = .09) was slightly better than the linear model (R2 = .08), but the two models offered very different forecasts for future generations of US society. The linear model projected a gradual and continuing bifurcation between authoritarians and non-authoritarians. The nonlinear model projected a stabilization of authoritarian attitudes.

Phenotypic and genomic comparison of Mycobacterium aurum and surrogate model species to Mycobacterium tuberculosis: implications for drug discovery.

PubMed

Namouchi, Amine; Cimino, Mena; Favre-Rochex, Sandrine; Charles, Patricia; Gicquel, Brigitte

2017-07-13

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and represents one of the major challenges facing drug discovery initiatives worldwide. The considerable rise in bacterial drug resistance in recent years has led to the need of new drugs and drug regimens. Model systems are regularly used to speed-up the drug discovery process and circumvent biosafety issues associated with manipulating M. tuberculosis. These include the use of strains such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium marinum that can be handled in biosafety level 2 facilities, making high-throughput screening feasible. However, each of these model species have their own limitations. We report and describe the first complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium aurum ATCC23366, an environmental mycobacterium that can also grow in the gut of humans and animals as part of the microbiota. This species shows a comparable resistance profile to that of M. tuberculosis for several anti-TB drugs. The aims of this study were to (i) determine the drug resistance profile of a recently proposed model species, Mycobacterium aurum, strain ATCC23366, for anti-TB drug discovery as well as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium marinum (ii) sequence and annotate the complete genome sequence of this species obtained using Pacific Bioscience technology (iii) perform comparative genomics analyses of the various surrogate strains with M. tuberculosis (iv) discuss how the choice of the surrogate model used for drug screening can affect the drug discovery process. We describe the complete genome sequence of M. aurum, a surrogate model for anti-tuberculosis drug discovery. Most of the genes already reported to be associated with drug resistance are shared between all the surrogate strains and M. tuberculosis. We consider that M. aurum might be used in high-throughput screening for tuberculosis drug discovery. We also highly recommend the use of different model species during the drug discovery screening process.

Science of the science, drug discovery and artificial neural networks.

PubMed

Patel, Jigneshkumar

2013-03-01

Drug discovery process many times encounters complex problems, which may be difficult to solve by human intelligence. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are one of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies used for solving such complex problems. ANNs are widely used for primary virtual screening of compounds, quantitative structure activity relationship studies, receptor modeling, formulation development, pharmacokinetics and in all other processes involving complex mathematical modeling. Despite having such advanced technologies and enough understanding of biological systems, drug discovery is still a lengthy, expensive, difficult and inefficient process with low rate of new successful therapeutic discovery. In this paper, author has discussed the drug discovery science and ANN from very basic angle, which may be helpful to understand the application of ANN for drug discovery to improve efficiency.

Structure-based discovery and binding site analysis of histamine receptor ligands.

PubMed

Kiss, Róbert; Keserű, György M

2016-12-01

The application of structure-based drug discovery in histamine receptor projects was previously hampered by the lack of experimental structures. The publication of the first X-ray structure of the histamine H1 receptor has been followed by several successful virtual screens and binding site analysis studies of H1-antihistamines. This structure together with several other recently solved aminergic G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) enabled the development of more realistic homology models for H2, H3 and H4 receptors. Areas covered: In this paper, the authors review the development of histamine receptor models and their application in drug discovery. Expert opinion: In the authors' opinion, the application of atomistic histamine receptor models has played a significant role in understanding key ligand-receptor interactions as well as in the discovery of novel chemical starting points. The recently solved H1 receptor structure is a major milestone in structure-based drug discovery; however, our analysis also demonstrates that for building H3 and H4 receptor homology models, other GPCRs may be more suitable as templates. For these receptors, the authors envisage that the development of higher quality homology models will significantly contribute to the discovery and optimization of novel H3 and H4 ligands.

Perspectives on Ultraluminous X-ray sources after the discovery of Ultraluminous Pulsars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zampieri, L.; Ambrosi, E.; Fiore, A.; Pintore, F.; Turolla, R.; Israel, GL.; Stella, L.; Casella, P.; Papitto, A.; Rodriguez Castillo, G. A.; De Luca, A.; Tiengo, A.; Belfiore, A.; Esposito, P.; Marelli, M.; Novara, G.; Salvaterra, R.; Salvetti, D.; Mereghetti, S.; Wolter, A.

2017-10-01

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are observationally defined as non-nuclear extragalactic X-ray point sources with inferred (isotropic) luminosity exceeding the Eddington limit for a ˜ 10 M_{⊙} compact object. While in the past few years a certain evidence (and a general consensus) has been gathered in favour of the existence of black hole (BH) remnants in ULXs, the recent discovery of three Ultraluminous X-ray Pulsars has unexpectedly revealed what is likely to be a significant population of neutron star (NS) ULXs. These findings challenge more than ever our present understanding of these sources, their accretion mechanism/history, and their formation pathways. After reviewing some of these intriguing observational facts, we will summarize some perspective studies that we are carrying out to model the multiwavelength variability and broadband spectra of ULXs, including the contribution of an accretion column for NS systems. We derive the luminosity emitted by the latter assuming that a multipolar component dominates the magnetic field close to the NS. The focus is on comparing the simulated multiwavelength emission properties of stellar-mass/massive BHs to those of NS systems, and on confronting the model predictions with the available observations of Pulsar ULXs.

Parameter discovery in stochastic biological models using simulated annealing and statistical model checking.

PubMed

Hussain, Faraz; Jha, Sumit K; Jha, Susmit; Langmead, Christopher J

2014-01-01

Stochastic models are increasingly used to study the behaviour of biochemical systems. While the structure of such models is often readily available from first principles, unknown quantitative features of the model are incorporated into the model as parameters. Algorithmic discovery of parameter values from experimentally observed facts remains a challenge for the computational systems biology community. We present a new parameter discovery algorithm that uses simulated annealing, sequential hypothesis testing, and statistical model checking to learn the parameters in a stochastic model. We apply our technique to a model of glucose and insulin metabolism used for in-silico validation of artificial pancreata and demonstrate its effectiveness by developing parallel CUDA-based implementation for parameter synthesis in this model.

Discovery of the Y1 Dwarf WISE J064723.23-623235.5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Cushing, Michael C.; Gelino, Christopher R.; Beichman, Charles A.; Tinney, C. G.; Faherty, Jacqueline K.; Schneider, Adam; Mace, Gregory N.

2013-10-01

We present the discovery of a very cold, very low mass, nearby brown dwarf using data from the NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The object, WISE J064723.23-623235.5, has a very red WISE color of W1-W2 > 3.77 mag and a very red Spitzer Space Telescope color of ch1-ch2 = 2.82 ± 0.09 mag. In J MKO -ch2 color (7.58 ± 0.27 mag) it is one of the two or three reddest brown dwarfs known. Our grism spectrum from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) confirms it to be the seventeenth Y dwarf discovered, and its spectral type of Y1 ± 0.5 makes it one of the four latest-type Y dwarfs classified. Astrometric imaging from Spitzer and HST, combined with data from WISE, provides a preliminary parallax of π = 115 ± 12 mas (d = 8.7 ± 0.9 pc) and proper motion of μ = 387 ± 25 mas yr-1 based on 2.5 yr of monitoring. The spectrum implies a blue J-H color, for which model atmosphere calculations suggest a relatively low surface gravity. The best fit to these models indicates an effective temperature of 350-400 K and a mass of ~5-30 M Jup. Kinematic analysis hints that this object may belong to the Columba moving group, which would support an age of ~30 Myr and thus an even lower mass of <2 M Jup, but verification would require a radial velocity measurement not currently possible for a J = 22.7 mag brown dwarf.

Interactive knowledge discovery with the doctor-in-the-loop: a practical example of cerebral aneurysms research.

PubMed

Girardi, Dominic; Küng, Josef; Kleiser, Raimund; Sonnberger, Michael; Csillag, Doris; Trenkler, Johannes; Holzinger, Andreas

2016-09-01

Established process models for knowledge discovery find the domain-expert in a customer-like and supervising role. In the field of biomedical research, it is necessary to move the domain-experts into the center of this process with far-reaching consequences for both their research output and the process itself. In this paper, we revise the established process models for knowledge discovery and propose a new process model for domain-expert-driven interactive knowledge discovery. Furthermore, we present a research infrastructure which is adapted to this new process model and demonstrate how the domain-expert can be deeply integrated even into the highly complex data-mining process and data-exploration tasks. We evaluated this approach in the medical domain for the case of cerebral aneurysms research.

Building Cognition: The Construction of Computational Representations for Scientific Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chandrasekharan, Sanjay; Nersessian, Nancy J.

2015-01-01

Novel computational representations, such as simulation models of complex systems and video games for scientific discovery (Foldit, EteRNA etc.), are dramatically changing the way discoveries emerge in science and engineering. The cognitive roles played by such computational representations in discovery are not well understood. We present a…

The discovery of DLT17aw/AT2017drh with PROMPT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sand, D.; Wyatt, S.; Valenti, S.; Bostroem, K. A.; Tartaglia, L.; Reichart, D. E.; Haislip, J. B.; Kouprianov, V.

2017-05-01

We report the discovery of DLT17aw/AT2017drh. The object was discovered on 2017-05-03.36 UT at R 17.9 mag, during the ongoing D20.5) on 2017-04-29.36 UT. All images were taken in a 'Clear' filter which was calibrated to an approximate R-band magnitude using the USNO-B1 catalog.

Enabling Service Discovery in a Federation of Systems: WS-Discovery Case Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

found that Pastry [3] coupled with SCRIBE [4] provides everything we require from the overlay network: Pastry nodes form a decentralized, self...application-independent manner. Furthermore, Pastry provides mechanisms that support and facilitate application-specific object replication, caching, and fault...recovery. Add SCRIBE to Pastry , and you get a generic, scalable and efficient group communication and event notification system providing

Translational research: understanding the continuum from bench to bedside.

PubMed

Drolet, Brian C; Lorenzi, Nancy M

2011-01-01

The process of translating basic scientific discoveries to clinical applications, and ultimately to public health improvements, has emerged as an important, but difficult, objective in biomedical research. The process is best described as a "translation continuum" because various resources and actions are involved in this progression of knowledge, which advances discoveries from the bench to the bedside. The current model of this continuum focuses primarily on translational research, which is merely one component of the overall translation process. This approach is ineffective. A revised model to address the entire continuum would provide a methodology to identify and describe all translational activities (eg, implementation, adoption translational research, etc) as well their place within the continuum. This manuscript reviews and synthesizes the literature to provide an overview of the current terminology and model for translation. A modification of the existing model is proposed to create a framework called the Biomedical Research Translation Continuum, which defines the translation process and describes the progression of knowledge from laboratory to health gains. This framework clarifies translation for readers who have not followed the evolving and complicated models currently described. Authors and researchers may use the continuum to understand and describe their research better as well as the translational activities within a conceptual framework. Additionally, the framework may increase the advancement of knowledge by refining discussions of translation and allowing more precise identification of barriers to progress. Copyright © 2011 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance comparison of two commercial BGO-based PET/CT scanners using NEMA NU 2-2001.

PubMed

Bolard, Grégory; Prior, John O; Modolo, Luca; Delaloye, Angelika Bischof; Kosinski, Marek; Wastiel, Claude; Malterre, Jérôme; Bulling, Shelley; Bochud, François; Verdun, Francis R

2007-07-01

Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) scanners play a major role in medicine for in vivo imaging in an increasing number of diseases in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry. With the advent of short-lived radioisotopes other than 18F and newer scanners, there is a need to optimize radioisotope activity and acquisition protocols, as well as to compare scanner performances on an objective basis. The Discovery-LS (D-LS) was among the first clinical PET/CT scanners to be developed and has been extensively characterized with older National Electrical Manufacturer Association (NEMA) NU 2-1994 standards. At the time of publication of the latest version of the standards (NU 2-2001) that have been adapted for whole-body imaging under clinical conditions, more recent models from the same manufacturer, i.e., Discovery-ST (D-ST) and Discovery-STE (D-STE), were commercially available. We report on the full characterization both in the two- and three-dimensional acquisition mode of the D-LS according to latest NEMA NU 2-2001 standards (spatial resolution, sensitivity, count rate performance, accuracy of count losses, and random coincidence correction and image quality), as well as a detailed comparison with the newer D-ST widely used and whose characteristics are already published.

Mining and Utilizing Dataset Relevancy from Oceanographic Dataset (MUDROD) Metadata, Usage Metrics, and User Feedback to Improve Data Discovery and Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y.; Jiang, Y.; Yang, C. P.; Armstrong, E. M.; Huang, T.; Moroni, D. F.; McGibbney, L. J.

2016-12-01

Big oceanographic data have been produced, archived and made available online, but finding the right data for scientific research and application development is still a significant challenge. A long-standing problem in data discovery is how to find the interrelationships between keywords and data, as well as the intrarelationships of the two individually. Most previous research attempted to solve this problem by building domain-specific ontology either manually or through automatic machine learning techniques. The former is costly, labor intensive and hard to keep up-to-date, while the latter is prone to noise and may be difficult for human to understand. Large-scale user behavior data modelling represents a largely untapped, unique, and valuable source for discovering semantic relationships among domain-specific vocabulary. In this article, we propose a search engine framework for mining and utilizing dataset relevancy from oceanographic dataset metadata, user behaviors, and existing ontology. The objective is to improve discovery accuracy of oceanographic data and reduce time for scientist to discover, download and reformat data for their projects. Experiments and a search example show that the proposed search engine helps both scientists and general users search with better ranking results, recommendation, and ontology navigation.

Performance comparison of two commercial BGO-based PET/CT scanners using NEMA NU 2-2001

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

Bolard, Gregory; Prior, John O.; Modolo, Luca

2007-07-15

Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) scanners play a major role in medicine for in vivo imaging in an increasing number of diseases in oncology, cardiology, neurology, and psychiatry. With the advent of short-lived radioisotopes other than {sup 18}F and newer scanners, there is a need to optimize radioisotope activity and acquisition protocols, as well as to compare scanner performances on an objective basis. The Discovery-LS (D-LS) was among the first clinical PET/CT scanners to be developed and has been extensively characterized with older National Electrical Manufacturer Association (NEMA) NU 2-1994 standards. At the time of publication ofmore » the latest version of the standards (NU 2-2001) that have been adapted for whole-body imaging under clinical conditions, more recent models from the same manufacturer, i.e., Discovery-ST (D-ST) and Discovery-STE (D-STE), were commercially available. We report on the full characterization both in the two- and three-dimensional acquisition mode of the D-LS according to latest NEMA NU 2-2001 standards (spatial resolution, sensitivity, count rate performance, accuracy of count losses, and random coincidence correction and image quality), as well as a detailed comparison with the newer D-ST widely used and whose characteristics are already published.« less

Discovery of two millisecond pulsars in Fermi sources with the Nancay Radio Telescope

DOE PAGES

Cognard, I.; Guillemot, L.; Johnson, Tyrel J.; ...

2011-04-14

Here, we report the discovery of two millisecond pulsars in a search for radio pulsations at the positions of Fermi-Large Area Telescope sources with no previously known counterparts, using the Nançay Radio Telescope. The two millisecond pulsars, PSRs J2017+0603 and J2302+4442, have rotational periods of 2.896 and 5.192 ms and are both in binary systems with low-eccentricity orbits and orbital periods of 2.2 and 125.9 days, respectively, suggesting long recycling processes. Gamma-ray pulsations were subsequently detected for both objects, indicating that they power the associated Fermi sources in which they were found. The gamma-ray light curves and spectral properties aremore » similar to those of previously detected gamma-ray millisecond pulsars. Detailed modeling of the observed radio and gamma-ray light curves shows that the gamma-ray emission seems to originate at high altitudes in their magnetospheres. Additionally, X-ray observations revealed the presence of an X-ray source at the position of PSR J2302+4442, consistent with thermal emission from a neutron star. These discoveries along with the numerous detections of radio-loud millisecond pulsars in gamma rays suggest that many Fermi sources with no known counterpart could be unknown millisecond pulsars.« less

Network-Based Approaches in Drug Discovery and Early Development

PubMed Central

Harrold, JM; Ramanathan, M; Mager, DE

2015-01-01

Identification of novel targets is a critical first step in the drug discovery and development process. Most diseases such as cancer, metabolic disorders, and neurological disorders are complex, and their pathogenesis involves multiple genetic and environmental factors. Finding a viable drug target–drug combination with high potential for yielding clinical success within the efficacy–toxicity spectrum is extremely challenging. Many examples are now available in which network-based approaches show potential for the identification of novel targets and for the repositioning of established targets. The objective of this article is to highlight network approaches for identifying novel targets with greater chances of gaining approved drugs with maximal efficacy and minimal side effects. Further enhancement of these approaches may emerge from effectively integrating computational systems biology with pharmacodynamic systems analysis. Coupling genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics databases with systems pharmacology modeling may aid in the development of disease-specific networks that can be further used to build confidence in target identification. PMID:24025802

Cell and small animal models for phenotypic drug discovery.

PubMed

Szabo, Mihaly; Svensson Akusjärvi, Sara; Saxena, Ankur; Liu, Jianping; Chandrasekar, Gayathri; Kitambi, Satish S

2017-01-01

The phenotype-based drug discovery (PDD) approach is re-emerging as an alternative platform for drug discovery. This review provides an overview of the various model systems and technical advances in imaging and image analyses that strengthen the PDD platform. In PDD screens, compounds of therapeutic value are identified based on the phenotypic perturbations produced irrespective of target(s) or mechanism of action. In this article, examples of phenotypic changes that can be detected and quantified with relative ease in a cell-based setup are discussed. In addition, a higher order of PDD screening setup using small animal models is also explored. As PDD screens integrate physiology and multiple signaling mechanisms during the screening process, the identified hits have higher biomedical applicability. Taken together, this review highlights the advantages gained by adopting a PDD approach in drug discovery. Such a PDD platform can complement target-based systems that are currently in practice to accelerate drug discovery.

Discovery of a new quasar: SDSS J022155.26-064916.6

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

Robertson, J. M.; Tucker, D. L.; Smith, J. A.

Here, we report the discovery of a new quasar: SDSS J022155.26-064916.6. This object was discovered while reducing the spectra of a sample of stars being considered as spectrophotometric standards for the Dark Energy Survey. The flux- and wavelength-calibrated spectrum is presented with four spectral lines identified. From these lines, the redshift is determined to be z≈0.806. In addition, the rest-frame u-, g-, and r-band luminosity, determined using a k-correction obtained with synthetic photometry of a proxy quasi stellar object (QSO), are reported as 7.496×10 13 L ⊙, 2.049×10 13 L ⊙, and 1.896×10 13 L ⊙, respectively.

Discovery of a new quasar: SDSS J022155.26-064916.6

DOE PAGES

Robertson, J. M.; Tucker, D. L.; Smith, J. A.; ...

2017-06-14

Here, we report the discovery of a new quasar: SDSS J022155.26-064916.6. This object was discovered while reducing the spectra of a sample of stars being considered as spectrophotometric standards for the Dark Energy Survey. The flux- and wavelength-calibrated spectrum is presented with four spectral lines identified. From these lines, the redshift is determined to be z≈0.806. In addition, the rest-frame u-, g-, and r-band luminosity, determined using a k-correction obtained with synthetic photometry of a proxy quasi stellar object (QSO), are reported as 7.496×10 13 L ⊙, 2.049×10 13 L ⊙, and 1.896×10 13 L ⊙, respectively.

The high road to success: how investing in ethics enhances corporate objectives.

PubMed

Dashefsky, Richard

2003-01-01

There is a growing gap between the tidal wave of information emerging from the Human Genome Project and other molecular biology initiatives, and the clinical research needed to transform these discoveries into new diagnostics and therapeutics. While genomics-based technologies are being rapidly integrated into pharmaceutical R&D, many steps in the experimental process are still reliant on traditional surrogate model systems whose predictive power about human disease is incomplete or inaccurate. There is a growing trend underway in the research community to introduce actual human disease understanding as early as possible into discovery, thereby improving accuracy of results throughout the R&D continuum. Such an approach (known as clinical genomics: the large scale study of genes in the context of actual human disease) requires the availability of large quantities of ethically and legally sourced, high-quality human tissues with associated clinical information.Heretofore, no source could meet all of these requirements. Ardais Corporation was the first to address this need by pioneering a systematized, standardized network for the collection, processing, dissemination and research application of human tissue and associated clinical information, all of which rest on the highest ethical standards. Based on a novel model of collaboration between industry and the academic/medical community, Ardais has created procedures, structures, technologies, and information tools that collectively compromise a new paradigm in the application of human disease to biomedical research. Ardais now serves as a clinical genomics resource to dozens of academic researchers and biopharmaceutical companies, providing products and services to accelerate and improve drug discovery and development.

Discovery and Classification in Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dick, Steven J.

2012-01-01

Three decades after Martin Harwit's pioneering Cosmic Discovery (1981), and following on the recent IAU Symposium "Accelerating the Rate of Astronomical Discovery,” we have revisited the problem of discovery in astronomy, emphasizing new classes of objects. 82 such classes have been identified and analyzed, including 22 in the realm of the planets, 36 in the realm of the stars, and 24 in the realm of the galaxies. We find an extended structure of discovery, consisting of detection, interpretation and understanding, each with its own nuances and a microstructure including conceptual, technological and social roles. This is true with a remarkable degree of consistency over the last 400 years of telescopic astronomy, ranging from Galileo's discovery of satellites, planetary rings and star clusters, to the discovery of quasars and pulsars. Telescopes have served as "engines of discovery” in several ways, ranging from telescope size and sensitivity (planetary nebulae and spiral galaxies), to specialized detectors (TNOs) and the opening of the electromagnetic spectrum for astronomy (pulsars, pulsar planets, and most active galaxies). A few classes (radiation belts, the solar wind and cosmic rays), were initially discovered without the telescope. Classification also plays an important role in discovery. While it might seem that classification marks the end of discovery, or a post-discovery phase, in fact it often marks the beginning, even a pre-discovery phase. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the classification of stellar spectra, long before dwarfs, giants and supergiants were known, or their evolutionary sequence recognized. Classification may also be part of a post-discovery phase, as in the MK system of stellar classification, constructed after the discovery of stellar luminosity classes. Some classes are declared rather than discovered, as in the case of gas and ice giant planets, and, infamously, Pluto as a dwarf planet.

The Universe Discovery Guides: A Collaborative Approach to Educating with NASA Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manning, James G.; Lawton, Brandon L.; Gurton, Suzanne; Smith, Denise Anne; Schultz, Gregory; Astrophysics Community, NASA

2015-08-01

For the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, the then-existing NASA Origins Forum collaborated with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) to create a series of monthly “Discovery Guides” for informal educator and amateur astronomer use in educating the public about featured sky objects and associated NASA science themes. Today’s NASA Astrophysics Science Education and Public Outreach Forum (SEPOF), one of the current generation of forums coordinating the work of NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) EPO efforts—in collaboration with the ASP and NASA SMD missions and programs--has adapted the Discovery Guides into “evergreen” educational resources suitable for a variety of audiences. The Guides focus on “deep sky” objects and astrophysics themes (stars and stellar evolution, galaxies and the universe, and exoplanets), showcasing EPO resources from more than 30 NASA astrophysics missions and programs in a coordinated and cohesive “big picture” approach across the electromagnetic spectrum, grounded in best practices to best serve the needs of the target audiences.Each monthly guide features a theme and a representative object well-placed for viewing, with an accompanying interpretive story, finding charts, strategies for conveying the topics, and complementary supporting NASA-approved education activities and background information from a spectrum of NASA missions and programs. The Universe Discovery Guides are downloadable from the NASA Night Sky Network web site at nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov and specifically from http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/news-display.cfm?News_ID=611.The presentation will describe the collaborative’s experience in developing the guides, how they place individual science discoveries and learning resources into context for audiences, and how the Guides can be readily used in scientist public outreach efforts, in college and university introductory astronomy classes, and in other engagements between scientists, instructors, students and the public.

Novel opportunities for computational biology and sociology in drug discovery

PubMed Central

Yao, Lixia

2009-01-01

Drug discovery today is impossible without sophisticated modeling and computation. In this review we touch on previous advances in computational biology and by tracing the steps involved in pharmaceutical development, we explore a range of novel, high value opportunities for computational innovation in modeling the biological process of disease and the social process of drug discovery. These opportunities include text mining for new drug leads, modeling molecular pathways and predicting the efficacy of drug cocktails, analyzing genetic overlap between diseases and predicting alternative drug use. Computation can also be used to model research teams and innovative regions and to estimate the value of academy-industry ties for scientific and human benefit. Attention to these opportunities could promise punctuated advance, and will complement the well-established computational work on which drug discovery currently relies. PMID:19674801

Personalized Learning Objects Recommendation Based on the Semantic-Aware Discovery and the Learner Preference Pattern

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Tzone I; Tsai, Kun Hua; Lee, Ming Che; Chiu, Ti Kai

2007-01-01

With vigorous development of the Internet, especially the web page interaction technology, distant E-learning has become more and more realistic and popular. Digital courses may consist of many learning units or learning objects and, currently, many learning objects are created according to SCORM standard. It can be seen that, in the near future,…

Experiments in concept modeling for radiographic image reports.

PubMed Central

Bell, D S; Pattison-Gordon, E; Greenes, R A

1994-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Development of methods for building concept models to support structured data entry and image retrieval in chest radiography. DESIGN: An organizing model for chest-radiographic reporting was built by analyzing manually a set of natural-language chest-radiograph reports. During model building, clinician-informaticians judged alternative conceptual structures according to four criteria: content of clinically relevant detail, provision for semantic constraints, provision for canonical forms, and simplicity. The organizing model was applied in representing three sample reports in their entirety. To explore the potential for automatic model discovery, the representation of one sample report was compared with the noun phrases derived from the same report by the CLARIT natural-language processing system. RESULTS: The organizing model for chest-radiographic reporting consists of 62 concept types and 17 relations, arranged in an inheritance network. The broadest types in the model include finding, anatomic locus, procedure, attribute, and status. Diagnoses are modeled as a subtype of finding. Representing three sample reports in their entirety added 79 narrower concept types. Some CLARIT noun phrases suggested valid associations among subtypes of finding, status, and anatomic locus. CONCLUSIONS: A manual modeling process utilizing explicitly stated criteria for making modeling decisions produced an organizing model that showed consistency in early testing. A combination of top-down and bottom-up modeling was required. Natural-language processing may inform model building, but algorithms that would replace manual modeling were not discovered. Further progress in modeling will require methods for objective model evaluation and tools for formalizing the model-building process. PMID:7719807

Impact of computational structure-based methods on drug discovery.

PubMed

Reynolds, Charles H

2014-01-01

Structure-based drug design has become an indispensible tool in drug discovery. The emergence of structure-based design is due to gains in structural biology that have provided exponential growth in the number of protein crystal structures, new computational algorithms and approaches for modeling protein-ligand interactions, and the tremendous growth of raw computer power in the last 30 years. Computer modeling and simulation have made major contributions to the discovery of many groundbreaking drugs in recent years. Examples are presented that highlight the evolution of computational structure-based design methodology, and the impact of that methodology on drug discovery.

Excited OH 4.7 GHz masers associated with IRAS far-infrared sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masheder, M. R. W.; Cohen, R. J.; Caswell, J. L.; Walker, R. N. F.; Shepherd, M.

We describe the results of an all-sky search for maser emission from excited OH in the 2Pi(1/2), J = 1/2 state at 4765, 4750, and 4660 MHz, carried out at Jodrell Bank and at Parkes in 1989 and 1991. A total of 129 sources were observed in all including all objects from the Cohen et al. (1988) (CBJ) sample of far infrared IRAS sources with 60 micron flux, F(60) over 4000 Jy for which OH 18-cm emission was already known. A total of 18 objects were detected, including seven new discoveries and a new maser region in W49. Three of these were also detected at 4750 MHz, including the first strong 4750 MHz maser (S252). Three objects were detected at 4660 MHz, including a new discovery seen in this line only. We found strong variations in seven sources.

Direct Observation of Accretion onto a Hypernova's Newly Formed Black Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milisavljevic, Dan

2017-09-01

Models of energetic core-collapse supernovae and long-duration gamma-ray bursts often invoke engine-driven scenarios associated with the formation of compact objects that input energy into the explosion. To date, only indirect evidence of black holes or magnetars formed in these events exists from observations obtained when the explosions are most luminous. Here we request a modest 15 ks Chandra pilot observation of the exceptionally important nearby hypernova SN2002ap to test models that predict X-ray emission associated with its remnant black hole to be detectable after 15 yr of ejecta expansion. Direct observation a newly formed "baby" black hole would be a landmark discovery capable of opening up new ways to investigate fundamental aspects of the core collapse process.

NV PFA Regional Data

DOE Data Explorer

James Faulds

2015-10-28

This project focused on defining geothermal play fairways and development of a detailed geothermal potential map of a large transect across the Great Basin region (96,000 km2), with the primary objective of facilitating discovery of commercial-grade, blind geothermal fields (i.e. systems with no surface hot springs or fumaroles) and thereby accelerating geothermal development in this promising region. Data included in this submission consists of: structural settings (target areas, recency of faulting, slip and dilation potential, slip rates, quality), regional-scale strain rates, earthquake density and magnitude, gravity data, temperature at 3 km depth, permeability models, favorability models, degree of exploration and exploration opportunities, data from springs and wells, transmission lines and wilderness areas, and published maps and theses for the Nevada Play Fairway area.

Predicting Presynaptic and Postsynaptic Neurotoxins by Developing Feature Selection Technique

PubMed Central

Yang, Yunchun; Zhang, Chunmei; Chen, Rong; Huang, Po

2017-01-01

Presynaptic and postsynaptic neurotoxins are proteins which act at the presynaptic and postsynaptic membrane. Correctly predicting presynaptic and postsynaptic neurotoxins will provide important clues for drug-target discovery and drug design. In this study, we developed a theoretical method to discriminate presynaptic neurotoxins from postsynaptic neurotoxins. A strict and objective benchmark dataset was constructed to train and test our proposed model. The dipeptide composition was used to formulate neurotoxin samples. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was proposed to find out the optimal feature set which can produce the maximum accuracy. In the jackknife cross-validation test, the overall accuracy of 94.9% was achieved. We believe that the proposed model will provide important information to study neurotoxins. PMID:28303250

Surveillance theory applied to virus detection: a case for targeted discovery

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bogich, Tiffany L.; Anthony, Simon J.; Nichols, James D.

2013-01-01

Virus detection and mathematical modeling have gone through rapid developments in the past decade. Both offer new insights into the epidemiology of infectious disease and characterization of future risk; however, modeling has not yet been applied to designing the best surveillance strategies for viral and pathogen discovery. We review recent developments and propose methods to integrate viral and pathogen discovery and mathematical modeling through optimal surveillance theory, arguing for a more targeted approach to novel virus detection guided by the principles of adaptive management and structured decision-making.

Sex-Specific Associations between Particulate Matter Exposure and Gene Expression in Independent Discovery and Validation Cohorts of Middle-Aged Men and Women

PubMed Central

Vrijens, Karen; Winckelmans, Ellen; Tsamou, Maria; Baeyens, Willy; De Boever, Patrick; Jennen, Danyel; de Kok, Theo M.; Den Hond, Elly; Lefebvre, Wouter; Plusquin, Michelle; Reynders, Hans; Schoeters, Greet; Van Larebeke, Nicolas; Vanpoucke, Charlotte; Kleinjans, Jos; Nawrot, Tim S.

2016-01-01

Background: Particulate matter (PM) exposure leads to premature death, mainly due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Objectives: Identification of transcriptomic biomarkers of air pollution exposure and effect in a healthy adult population. Methods: Microarray analyses were performed in 98 healthy volunteers (48 men, 50 women). The expression of eight sex-specific candidate biomarker genes (significantly associated with PM10 in the discovery cohort and with a reported link to air pollution-related disease) was measured with qPCR in an independent validation cohort (75 men, 94 women). Pathway analysis was performed using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis. Average daily PM2.5 and PM10 exposures over 2-years were estimated for each participant’s residential address using spatiotemporal interpolation in combination with a dispersion model. Results: Average long-term PM10 was 25.9 (± 5.4) and 23.7 (± 2.3) μg/m3 in the discovery and validation cohorts, respectively. In discovery analysis, associations between PM10 and the expression of individual genes differed by sex. In the validation cohort, long-term PM10 was associated with the expression of DNAJB5 and EAPP in men and ARHGAP4 (p = 0.053) in women. AKAP6 and LIMK1 were significantly associated with PM10 in women, although associations differed in direction between the discovery and validation cohorts. Expression of the eight candidate genes in the discovery cohort differentiated between validation cohort participants with high versus low PM10 exposure (area under the receiver operating curve = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.85, 1.00; p = 0.0002 in men, 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76, 0.96; p = 0.004 in women). Conclusions: Expression of the sex-specific candidate genes identified in the discovery population predicted PM10 exposure in an independent cohort of adults from the same area. Confirmation in other populations may further support this as a new approach for exposure assessment, and may contribute to the discovery of molecular mechanisms for PM-induced health effects. Citation: Vrijens K, Winckelmans E, Tsamou M, Baeyens W, De Boever P, Jennen D, de Kok TM, Den Hond E, Lefebvre W, Plusquin M, Reynders H, Schoeters G, Van Larebeke N, Vanpoucke C, Kleinjans J, Nawrot TS. 2017. Sex-specific associations between particulate matter exposure and gene expression in independent discovery and validation cohorts of middle-aged men and women. Environ Health Perspect 125:660–669; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP370 PMID:27740511

Earth-approaching asteroids: Populations, origin, and compositional types

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shoemaker, E. M.; Helin, E. F.

1978-01-01

Origin, physical properties, and discovery history of smaller asteroids are reviewed. They appear to link the main belt objects, namely the comets and meteorites. Physical observations suggest that a wide variety of compositional types are represented among the near-earth asteroids; the apparent rarity of carbonaceous objects is stated.

47 CFR 1.325 - Discovery and production of documents and things for inspection, copying, or photographing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... designated documents, papers, books, accounts, letters, photographs, objects, or tangible things which... property in his possession or control for purposes of inspecting, measuring, surveying, or photographing the property or any designated object or operation thereon within the scope of the examination...

47 CFR 1.325 - Discovery and production of documents and things for inspection, copying, or photographing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... designated documents, papers, books, accounts, letters, photographs, objects, or tangible things which... property in his possession or control for purposes of inspecting, measuring, surveying, or photographing the property or any designated object or operation thereon within the scope of the examination...

47 CFR 1.325 - Discovery and production of documents and things for inspection, copying, or photographing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... designated documents, papers, books, accounts, letters, photographs, objects, or tangible things which... property in his possession or control for purposes of inspecting, measuring, surveying, or photographing the property or any designated object or operation thereon within the scope of the examination...

A Practice-Oriented Review of Learning Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinclair, J.; Joy, M.; Yau, J. Y.-K.; Hagan, S.

2013-01-01

Reusable learning objects support packaging of educational materials allowing their discovery and reuse. Open educational resources emphasize the need for open licensing and promote sharing and community involvement. For both teachers and learners, finding appropriate tried and tested resources on a topic of interest and being able to incorporate…

About the Alliance | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

Objectives The major objective of the Alliance is to discover and develop molecular markers for early detection of cancer by conducting innovative, translational research in the field of complex carbohydrates. An important key to biomarker discovery is to understand the biological mechanisms by which changes in glycosylation promote cancer progression. Taking this

The Equilibrium Rule--A Personal Discovery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hewitt, Paul G.

2016-01-01

Examples of equilibrium are evident everywhere and the equilibrium rule provides a reasoned way to view all things, whether in static (balancing rocks, steel beams in building construction) or dynamic (airplanes, bowling balls) equilibrium. Interestingly, the equilibrium rule applies not just to objects at rest but whenever any object or system of…

Scientific Investigations Associated with the Human Exploration of Mars in the Next 35 Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niles, P. B.; Beaty, D.; Hays, L.; Bass, D.; Bell, M. S.; Bleacher, J.; Cabrol, N. A.; Conrad, P.; Eppler, D.; Hamilton, V.; Head, J.; Kahre, M.; Levy, J.; Lyons, T.; Rafkin, S.; Rice, J.; Rice, M.

2017-02-01

We present a summary of the findings of the Human Science Objectives Science Analysis Group (HSO-SAG) chartered by MEPAG in 2015 to address science objectives and landing site criteria for future human missions to Mars which could provide incredible scientific discovery.

A CONSTRAINT ON QUASAR CLUSTERING AT z = 5 FROM A BINARY QUASAR

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

McGreer, Ian D.; Fan, Xiaohui; Eftekharzadeh, Sarah

2016-03-15

We report the discovery of a quasar pair at z = 5 separated by 21″. Both objects were identified as quasar candidates using simple color selection techniques applied to photometric catalogs from the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) Legacy Survey (CFHTLS). Spectra obtained with the MMT present no discernible offset in redshift between the two objects; on the other hand, there are clear differences in the emission line profiles and in the multiwavelength spectral energy distributions that strongly disfavor the hypothesis that they are gravitationally lensed images of a single quasar. Both quasars are surprisingly bright given their proximity (a projected separation of ∼135more » kpc), with i = 19.4 and i = 21.4. Previous measurements of the luminosity function demonstrate that luminous quasars are extremely rare at z = 5; the existence of this pair suggests that quasars have strong small-scale clustering at high redshift. Assuming a real-space correlation function of the form ξ(r) ∝ (r/r{sub 0}){sup −2}, this discovery implies a correlation length of r{sub 0} ≳ 20h{sup −1} Mpc, consistent with a rapid strengthening of quasar clustering at high redshift as seen in previous observations and predicted by theoretical models where feedback effects are inefficient at shutting down black hole growth at high redshift.« less

Computational Methods Used in Hit-to-Lead and Lead Optimization Stages of Structure-Based Drug Discovery.

PubMed

Heifetz, Alexander; Southey, Michelle; Morao, Inaki; Townsend-Nicholson, Andrea; Bodkin, Mike J

2018-01-01

GPCR modeling approaches are widely used in the hit-to-lead (H2L) and lead optimization (LO) stages of drug discovery. The aims of these modeling approaches are to predict the 3D structures of the receptor-ligand complexes, to explore the key interactions between the receptor and the ligand and to utilize these insights in the design of new molecules with improved binding, selectivity or other pharmacological properties. In this book chapter, we present a brief survey of key computational approaches integrated with hierarchical GPCR modeling protocol (HGMP) used in hit-to-lead (H2L) and in lead optimization (LO) stages of structure-based drug discovery (SBDD). We outline the differences in modeling strategies used in H2L and LO of SBDD and illustrate how these tools have been applied in three drug discovery projects.

Solitary waves in dimer binary collision model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahsan, Zaid; Jayaprakash, K. R.

2017-01-01

Solitary wave propagation in nonlinear diatomic (dimer) chains is a very interesting topic of research in the study of nonlinear lattices. Such waves were recently found to be supported by the essentially nonlinear granular lattice and Toda lattice. An interesting aspect of this discovery is attributed to the realization of a spectrum of the mass ratio (the only system parameter governing the dynamics) that supports the propagation of such waves corresponding to the considered interaction potential. The objective of this exposition is to explore solitary wave propagation in the dimer binary collision (BC) model. Interestingly, the dimer BC model supports solitary wave propagation at a discrete spectrum of mass ratios similar to those observed in granular and Toda dimers. Further, we report a qualitative and one-to-one correspondence between the spectrum of the mass ratio corresponding to the dimer BC model and those corresponding to granular and Toda dimer chains.

Role of Academic Drug Discovery in the Quest for New CNS Therapeutics.

PubMed

Yokley, Brian H; Hartman, Matthew; Slusher, Barbara S

2017-03-15

There was a greater than 50% decline in central nervous system (CNS) drug discovery and development programs by major pharmaceutical companies from 2009 to 2014. This decline was paralleled by a rise in the number of university led drug discovery centers, many in the CNS area, and a growth in the number of public-private drug discovery partnerships. Diverse operating models have emerged as the academic drug discovery centers adapt to this changing ecosystem.

A-3 scientific results - extragalactic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, D. A.

1979-01-01

The results of the HEAO A-3 experiment are summarized. Specific contributions of the experiment to extragalactic astronomy are emphasized. The discovery of relatively condensed X-ray emission in the cores of those clusters of galaxies which are dominated by a giant elliptical or cD galaxy, the discovery of extended X-ray emitting plasma in groups of galaxies, and the demonstration that BL Lac objects are a class of X-ray sources are among the topics discussed.

Drug Discovery in Fish, Flies, and Worms

PubMed Central

Strange, Kevin

2016-01-01

Abstract Nonmammalian model organisms such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and the zebrafish Danio rerio provide numerous experimental advantages for drug discovery including genetic and molecular tractability, amenability to high-throughput screening methods and reduced experimental costs and increased experimental throughput compared to traditional mammalian models. An interdisciplinary approach that strategically combines the study of nonmammalian and mammalian animal models with diverse experimental tools has and will continue to provide deep molecular and genetic understanding of human disease and will significantly enhance the discovery and application of new therapies to treat those diseases. This review will provide an overview of C. elegans, Drosophila, and zebrafish biology and husbandry and will discuss how these models are being used for phenotype-based drug screening and for identification of drug targets and mechanisms of action. The review will also describe how these and other nonmammalian model organisms are uniquely suited for the discovery of drug-based regenerative medicine therapies. PMID:28053067

The Use of Physiology-Based Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Modeling in the Discovery of the Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonist ACT-541468.

PubMed

Treiber, Alexander; de Kanter, Ruben; Roch, Catherine; Gatfield, John; Boss, Christoph; von Raumer, Markus; Schindelholz, Benno; Muehlan, Clemens; van Gerven, Joop; Jenck, Francois

2017-09-01

The identification of new sleep drugs poses particular challenges in drug discovery owing to disease-specific requirements such as rapid onset of action, sleep maintenance throughout major parts of the night, and absence of residual next-day effects. Robust tools to estimate drug levels in human brain are therefore key for a successful discovery program. Animal models constitute an appropriate choice for drugs without species differences in receptor pharmacology or pharmacokinetics. Translation to man becomes more challenging when interspecies differences are prominent. This report describes the discovery of the dual orexin receptor 1 and 2 (OX 1 and OX 2 ) antagonist ACT-541468 out of a class of structurally related compounds, by use of physiology-based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PBPK-PD) modeling applied early in drug discovery. Although all drug candidates exhibited similar target receptor potencies and efficacy in a rat sleep model, they exhibited large interspecies differences in key factors determining their pharmacokinetic profile. Human PK models were built on the basis of in vitro metabolism and physicochemical data and were then used to predict the time course of OX 2 receptor occupancy in brain. An active ACT-541468 dose of 25 mg was estimated on the basis of OX 2 receptor occupancy thresholds of about 65% derived from clinical data for two other orexin antagonists, almorexant and suvorexant. Modeling predictions for ACT-541468 in man were largely confirmed in a single-ascending dose trial in healthy subjects. PBPK-PD modeling applied early in drug discovery, therefore, has great potential to assist in the identification of drug molecules when specific pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic requirements need to be met. Copyright © 2017 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

A renaissance of neural networks in drug discovery.

PubMed

Baskin, Igor I; Winkler, David; Tetko, Igor V

2016-08-01

Neural networks are becoming a very popular method for solving machine learning and artificial intelligence problems. The variety of neural network types and their application to drug discovery requires expert knowledge to choose the most appropriate approach. In this review, the authors discuss traditional and newly emerging neural network approaches to drug discovery. Their focus is on backpropagation neural networks and their variants, self-organizing maps and associated methods, and a relatively new technique, deep learning. The most important technical issues are discussed including overfitting and its prevention through regularization, ensemble and multitask modeling, model interpretation, and estimation of applicability domain. Different aspects of using neural networks in drug discovery are considered: building structure-activity models with respect to various targets; predicting drug selectivity, toxicity profiles, ADMET and physicochemical properties; characteristics of drug-delivery systems and virtual screening. Neural networks continue to grow in importance for drug discovery. Recent developments in deep learning suggests further improvements may be gained in the analysis of large chemical data sets. It's anticipated that neural networks will be more widely used in drug discovery in the future, and applied in non-traditional areas such as drug delivery systems, biologically compatible materials, and regenerative medicine.

The Pan-STARRS search for Near-Earth Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wainscoat, Richard J.; Weryk, Robert; Chambers, Kenneth

2018-01-01

The Pan-STARRS1 telescope on Haleakala, Hawaii has become the leading discovery telescope for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and is now responsible for discovering almost half of all new NEOs, more than half of all larger NEOs, and more than half of all new comets. The survey routinely reaches depths of V=22 or fainter (in dark sky conditions) over an area of approximately 1,000 square degrees per night. The survey strategy will be described. The survey will soon be augmented by the addition of the Pan-STARRS2 telescope, which has similar optics and an improved camera, and which will roughly double the survey power. A sample of the important recent solar system discoveries made by the Pan-STARRS survey will be summarized.

Beginning Research with the 1.8-meter Spacewatch Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gehrels, Tom; Lane, Lynn A.

2001-01-01

The purpose of this grant was to bring the Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope to operational status for research on asteroids and comets. This objective was achieved; first light with the telescope was in May 2000 and since then several tests and demonstrations of the facility's capability to observe Earth-approaching Asteroids (EAs) have been made, including the first observations to be incorporated into a peer-reviewed publication. The Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope will be the largest in the world dedicated full time to finding and doing astrometry of asteroids and comets. It will be used to search for asteroids and comets anywhere from the space near Earth to regions beyond the orbit of Neptune, and to do astrometry and lightcurves on the fainter of such objects that are already known. Its comparatively large aperture will permit faster discovery of the very small asteroids in Earthlike orbits, such as 1998 KY(sub 26), that are coveted for their accessibility as material resources in space, as well as recovery of EAs on their return apparitions when they tend to be more distant and fainter than they were at the times of their discoveries. It will also tend to find EAs when they do not happen to be close to Earth. Discoveries made under those circumstances allow the objects to be followed for longer intervals, providing better determinations of their orbits during their discovery apparitions. In addition to its size, the 1.8-m Spacewatch telescope will have the unique capability of long strip scanning in any direction, for example along the ecliptic (the plane of the solar system), and along the line of variation of EAs with uncertain orbits that are being targeted for recovery.

Phenotypic screening in cancer drug discovery - past, present and future.

PubMed

Moffat, John G; Rudolph, Joachim; Bailey, David

2014-08-01

There has been a resurgence of interest in the use of phenotypic screens in drug discovery as an alternative to target-focused approaches. Given that oncology is currently the most active therapeutic area, and also one in which target-focused approaches have been particularly prominent in the past two decades, we investigated the contribution of phenotypic assays to oncology drug discovery by analysing the origins of all new small-molecule cancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the past 15 years and those currently in clinical development. Although the majority of these drugs originated from target-based discovery, we identified a significant number whose discovery depended on phenotypic screening approaches. We postulate that the contribution of phenotypic screening to cancer drug discovery has been hampered by a reliance on 'classical' nonspecific drug effects such as cytotoxicity and mitotic arrest, exacerbated by a paucity of mechanistically defined cellular models for therapeutically translatable cancer phenotypes. However, technical and biological advances that enable such mechanistically informed phenotypic models have the potential to empower phenotypic drug discovery in oncology.

Which are the greatest recent discoveries and the greatest future challenges in nutrition?

PubMed

Katan, M B; Boekschoten, M V; Connor, W E; Mensink, R P; Seidell, J; Vessby, B; Willett, W

2009-01-01

Nutrition science aims to create new knowledge, but scientists rarely sit back to reflect on what nutrition research has achieved in recent decades. We report the outcome of a 1-day symposium at which the audience was asked to vote on the greatest discoveries in nutrition since 1976 and on the greatest challenges for the coming 30 years. Most of the 128 participants were Dutch scientists working in nutrition or related biomedical and public health fields. Candidate discoveries and challenges were nominated by five invited speakers and by members of the audience. Ballot forms were then prepared on which participants selected one discovery and one challenge. A total of 15 discoveries and 14 challenges were nominated. The audience elected Folic acid prevents birth defects as the greatest discovery in nutrition science since 1976. Controlling obesity and insulin resistance through activity and diet was elected as the greatest challenge for the coming 30 years. This selection was probably biased by the interests and knowledge of the speakers and the audience. For the present review, we therefore added 12 discoveries from the period 1976 to 2006 that we judged worthy of consideration, but that had not been nominated at the meeting. The meeting did not represent an objective selection process, but it did demonstrate that the past 30 years have yielded major new discoveries in nutrition and health.

Multimodal, high-dimensional, model-based, Bayesian inverse problems with applications in biomechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franck, I. M.; Koutsourelakis, P. S.

2017-01-01

This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of model-based, Bayesian inverse problems. We are particularly interested in cases where the cost of each likelihood evaluation (forward-model call) is expensive and the number of unknown (latent) variables is high. This is the setting in many problems in computational physics where forward models with nonlinear PDEs are used and the parameters to be calibrated involve spatio-temporarily varying coefficients, which upon discretization give rise to a high-dimensional vector of unknowns. One of the consequences of the well-documented ill-posedness of inverse problems is the possibility of multiple solutions. While such information is contained in the posterior density in Bayesian formulations, the discovery of a single mode, let alone multiple, poses a formidable computational task. The goal of the present paper is two-fold. On one hand, we propose approximate, adaptive inference strategies using mixture densities to capture multi-modal posteriors. On the other, we extend our work in [1] with regard to effective dimensionality reduction techniques that reveal low-dimensional subspaces where the posterior variance is mostly concentrated. We validate the proposed model by employing Importance Sampling which confirms that the bias introduced is small and can be efficiently corrected if the analyst wishes to do so. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed strategy in nonlinear elastography where the identification of the mechanical properties of biological materials can inform non-invasive, medical diagnosis. The discovery of multiple modes (solutions) in such problems is critical in achieving the diagnostic objectives.

Common characteristics of open source software development and applicability for drug discovery: a systematic review.

PubMed

Ardal, Christine; Alstadsæter, Annette; Røttingen, John-Arne

2011-09-28

Innovation through an open source model has proven to be successful for software development. This success has led many to speculate if open source can be applied to other industries with similar success. We attempt to provide an understanding of open source software development characteristics for researchers, business leaders and government officials who may be interested in utilizing open source innovation in other contexts and with an emphasis on drug discovery. A systematic review was performed by searching relevant, multidisciplinary databases to extract empirical research regarding the common characteristics and barriers of initiating and maintaining an open source software development project. Common characteristics to open source software development pertinent to open source drug discovery were extracted. The characteristics were then grouped into the areas of participant attraction, management of volunteers, control mechanisms, legal framework and physical constraints. Lastly, their applicability to drug discovery was examined. We believe that the open source model is viable for drug discovery, although it is unlikely that it will exactly follow the form used in software development. Hybrids will likely develop that suit the unique characteristics of drug discovery. We suggest potential motivations for organizations to join an open source drug discovery project. We also examine specific differences between software and medicines, specifically how the need for laboratories and physical goods will impact the model as well as the effect of patents.

Information Fusion for Natural and Man-Made Disasters

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-31

comprehensively large, and metaphysically accurate model of situations, through which specific tasks such as situation assessment, knowledge discovery , or the...significance” is always context specific. Event discovery is a very important element of the HLF process, which can lead to knowledge discovery about...expected, given the current state of knowledge . Examples of such behavior may include discovery of a new aggregate or situation, a specific pattern of

Building Community-Engaged Health Research and Discovery Infrastructure on the South Side of Chicago: Science in Service to Community Priorities

PubMed Central

Lindau, Stacy Tessler; Makelarski, Jennifer A.; Chin, Marshall H.; Desautels, Shane; Johnson, Daniel; Johnson, Waldo E.; Miller, Doriane; Peters, Susan; Robinson, Connie; Schneider, John; Thicklin, Florence; Watson, Natalie P.; Wolfe, Marcus; Whitaker, Eric

2011-01-01

Objective To describe the roles community members can and should play in, and an asset-based strategy used by Chicago’s South Side Health and Vitality Studies for, building sustainable, large-scale community health research infrastructure. The Studies are a family of research efforts aiming to produce actionable knowledge to inform health policy, programming, and investments for the region. Methods Community and university collaborators, using a consensus-based approach, developed shared theoretical perspectives, guiding principles, and a model for collaboration in 2008, which were used to inform an asset-based operational strategy. Ongoing community engagement and relationship-building support the infrastructure and research activities of the Studies. Results Key steps in the asset-based strategy include: 1) continuous community engagement and relationship building, 2) identifying community priorities, 3) identifying community assets, 4) leveraging assets, 5) conducting research, 6) sharing knowledge and 7) informing action. Examples of community member roles, and how these are informed by the Studies’ guiding principles, are provided. Conclusions Community and university collaborators, with shared vision and principles, can effectively work together to plan innovative, large-scale community-based research that serves community needs and priorities. Sustainable, effective models are needed to realize NIH’s mandate for meaningful translation of biomedical discovery into improved population health. PMID:21236295

iPTF discovery and identification of bright transients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, Scott; Karamehmetoglu, Emir; Roy, Rupak; Neill, James D.; Walters, Richard; Cook, Dave; Kupfer, Thomas; Cannella, Chris; Blagorodnova, Nadejda; Yan, Lin; Kasliwal, Mansi; Kulkarni, Shri

2017-02-01

The intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (ATel #4807) reports the discovery of the following bright transients. We report as ATel alerts all objects brighter than 19 mag. Our discoveries are reported in two filters: sdss-g and Mould-I, denoted as g and I. All magnitudes are obtained using difference image photometry based on the PTFIDE pipeline described in Masci et al. 2016.Our automated candidate vetting to distinguish a real astrophysical source (1.0) from bogus artifacts (0.0) is powered by three generations of machine learning algorithms: RB2 (Brink et al. 2013MNRAS.435.1047B), RB4 (Rebbapragada et al. 2015AAS...22543402R), and RB5 (Wozniak et al. 2013AAS...22143105W).

Discovery of an Unidentified Fermi Object as a Black Widow-Like Millisecond Pulsar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kong, A. K. H.; Huang, R. H. H.; Cheng, K. S.; Takata, J.; Yatsu, Y.; Cheung, C. C.; Donato, D.; Lin, L. C. C.; Kataoka, J.; Takahashi, Y.;

U.S. History: Grades 10-12. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Instructional Objectives Exchange, Los Angeles, CA.

Seventy-seven behavioral objectives and related test items for United States history in grades 10 through 12 are presented. Each sample contains the objective, sample test items, and criteria for judging the adequacy of student responses. Fourteen of the 15 categories are content-oriented, and presented in chronological groups: (1) discovery of…

32 CFR 644.531 - Warning to public of danger in handling explosive missiles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... missiles. 644.531 Section 644.531 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY... explosive missiles. When any land which has been contaminated with explosive objects, or chemical/biological..., in the event of the discovery of an explosive missile, or an object resembling an explosive missile...

32 CFR 644.531 - Warning to public of danger in handling explosive missiles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... missiles. 644.531 Section 644.531 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY... explosive missiles. When any land which has been contaminated with explosive objects, or chemical/biological..., in the event of the discovery of an explosive missile, or an object resembling an explosive missile...

32 CFR 644.531 - Warning to public of danger in handling explosive missiles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... missiles. 644.531 Section 644.531 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY... explosive missiles. When any land which has been contaminated with explosive objects, or chemical/biological..., in the event of the discovery of an explosive missile, or an object resembling an explosive missile...

32 CFR 644.531 - Warning to public of danger in handling explosive missiles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... explosive missiles. 644.531 Section 644.531 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF... handling explosive missiles. When any land which has been contaminated with explosive objects, or chemical..., in the event of the discovery of an explosive missile, or an object resembling an explosive missile...

32 CFR 644.531 - Warning to public of danger in handling explosive missiles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... explosive missiles. 644.531 Section 644.531 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF... handling explosive missiles. When any land which has been contaminated with explosive objects, or chemical..., in the event of the discovery of an explosive missile, or an object resembling an explosive missile...

Violence and Objectivity in Psychology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenny, Wade

The subject and the object are more strategically assigned than some might readily assume, both as people speak and as they live them. Subjectivity is associated with doing, hence responsibility, and therefore it noticeably slides in matters of credit and blame, with issues like Newton's or LaPlace's discovery. In scientific papers the subject has…

27 CFR 70.21 - Canvass for taxable persons and objects.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Canvass for taxable persons and objects. 70.21 Section 70.21 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO TAX... ADMINISTRATION Discovery of Liability and Enforcement of Laws Examination and Inspection § 70.21 Canvass for...

Predictive biophysical modeling and understanding of the dynamics of mRNA translation and its evolution

PubMed Central

Zur, Hadas; Tuller, Tamir

2016-01-01

mRNA translation is the fundamental process of decoding the information encoded in mRNA molecules by the ribosome for the synthesis of proteins. The centrality of this process in various biomedical disciplines such as cell biology, evolution and biotechnology, encouraged the development of dozens of mathematical and computational models of translation in recent years. These models aimed at capturing various biophysical aspects of the process. The objective of this review is to survey these models, focusing on those based and/or validated on real large-scale genomic data. We consider aspects such as the complexity of the models, the biophysical aspects they regard and the predictions they may provide. Furthermore, we survey the central systems biology discoveries reported on their basis. This review demonstrates the fundamental advantages of employing computational biophysical translation models in general, and discusses the relative advantages of the different approaches and the challenges in the field. PMID:27591251

Computational drug discovery

PubMed Central

Ou-Yang, Si-sheng; Lu, Jun-yan; Kong, Xiang-qian; Liang, Zhong-jie; Luo, Cheng; Jiang, Hualiang

2012-01-01

Computational drug discovery is an effective strategy for accelerating and economizing drug discovery and development process. Because of the dramatic increase in the availability of biological macromolecule and small molecule information, the applicability of computational drug discovery has been extended and broadly applied to nearly every stage in the drug discovery and development workflow, including target identification and validation, lead discovery and optimization and preclinical tests. Over the past decades, computational drug discovery methods such as molecular docking, pharmacophore modeling and mapping, de novo design, molecular similarity calculation and sequence-based virtual screening have been greatly improved. In this review, we present an overview of these important computational methods, platforms and successful applications in this field. PMID:22922346

Why Quantify Uncertainty in Ecosystem Studies: Obligation versus Discovery Tool?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harmon, M. E.

2016-12-01

There are multiple motivations for quantifying uncertainty in ecosystem studies. One is as an obligation; the other is as a tool useful in moving ecosystem science toward discovery. While reporting uncertainty should become a routine expectation, a more convincing motivation involves discovery. By clarifying what is known and to what degree it is known, uncertainty analyses can point the way toward improvements in measurements, sampling designs, and models. While some of these improvements (e.g., better sampling designs) may lead to incremental gains, those involving models (particularly model selection) may require large gains in knowledge. To be fully harnessed as a discovery tool, attitudes toward uncertainty may have to change: rather than viewing uncertainty as a negative assessment of what was done, it should be viewed as positive, helpful assessment of what remains to be done.

Reflective practice and guided discovery: clinical supervision.

PubMed

Todd, G; Freshwater, D

This article explores the parallels between reflective practice as a model for clinical supervision, and guided discovery as a skill in cognitive psychotherapy. A description outlining the historical development of clinical supervision in relationship to positional papers and policies is followed by an exposé of the difficulties in developing a clear, consistent model of clinical supervision with a coherent focus; reflective practice is proposed as a model of choice for clinical supervision in nursing. The article examines the parallels and processes of a model of reflection in an individual clinical supervision session, and the use of guided discovery through Socratic dialogue with a depressed patient in cognitive psychotherapy. Extracts from both sessions are used to illuminate the subsequent discussion.

Zebrafish models in neuropsychopharmacology and CNS drug discovery.

PubMed

Khan, Kanza M; Collier, Adam D; Meshalkina, Darya A; Kysil, Elana V; Khatsko, Sergey L; Kolesnikova, Tatyana; Morzherin, Yury Yu; Warnick, Jason E; Kalueff, Allan V; Echevarria, David J

2017-07-01

Despite the high prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders, their aetiology and molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is increasingly utilized as a powerful animal model in neuropharmacology research and in vivo drug screening. Collectively, this makes zebrafish a useful tool for drug discovery and the identification of disordered molecular pathways. Here, we discuss zebrafish models of selected human neuropsychiatric disorders and drug-induced phenotypes. As well as covering a broad range of brain disorders (from anxiety and psychoses to neurodegeneration), we also summarize recent developments in zebrafish genetics and small molecule screening, which markedly enhance the disease modelling and the discovery of novel drug targets. © 2017 The British Pharmacological Society.

Infrared heterodyne spectroscopy. [for observation of thermal emission from astrophysical objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mumma, M. J.; Kostiuk, T.; Buhl, D.; Chin, G.; Zipoy, D.

1982-01-01

Infrared heterodyne spectroscopy is an extremely useful tool for Doppler-limited studies of atomic and molecular lines in diverse astrophysical regions. The current state of the art is reviewed, and the analysis of CO2 lines in the atmosphere of Mars is outlined. Doppler-limited observations have enabled the discovery of natural laser emission in the mesosphere of Mars and the discovery of failure of local thermodynamic equilibrium near the surface of Mars.

Discovery of a Supernova in HST imaging of the MACSJ0717 Frontier Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodney, Steven A.; Lotz, Jennifer; Strolger, Louis-Gregory

2013-10-01

We report the discovery of a supernova (SN) in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations centered on the galaxy cluster MACSJ0717. It was discovered in the F814W (i) band of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), in observations that were collected as part of the ongoing HST Frontier Fields (HFF) program (PI:J.Lotz, HST PID 13498). The FrontierSN ID for this object is SN HFF13Zar (nicknamed "SN Zara").

Kepler Observations of Transiting Hot Compact Objects

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-20

1998) and a sample of extremely light WDs are shown with black o’s. The open circle near KOI-81b is the millisecond pulsar companion discovered by...Follow-up observations are planned as well as contin- ued with the Kepler instrument to help unravel their nature. Funding for this Discovery mission is... discoveries possible. Facilities: Kepler REFERENCES Bassa, C. G., van Kerkwijk, M. H., Koester, D., & Verbunt, F. 2006, A&A, 456, 295 Beech, M. 1989, Ap&SS

Discovering Mendeleev's Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sterling, Donna

1996-01-01

Presents an activity that introduces the historical developments in science that led to the discovery of the periodic table and lets students experience scientific discovery firsthand. Enables students to learn about patterns among the elements and experience how scientists analyze data to discover patterns and build models. (JRH)

The use of real-time cell analyzer technology in drug discovery: defining optimal cell culture conditions and assay reproducibility with different adherent cellular models.

PubMed

Atienzar, Franck A; Tilmant, Karen; Gerets, Helga H; Toussaint, Gaelle; Speeckaert, Sebastien; Hanon, Etienne; Depelchin, Olympe; Dhalluin, Stephane

2011-07-01

The use of impedance-based label-free technology applied to drug discovery is nowadays receiving more and more attention. Indeed, such a simple and noninvasive assay that interferes minimally with cell morphology and function allows one to perform kinetic measurements and to obtain information on proliferation, migration, cytotoxicity, and receptor-mediated signaling. The objective of the study was to further assess the usefulness of a real-time cell analyzer (RTCA) platform based on impedance in the context of quality control and data reproducibility. The data indicate that this technology is useful to determine the best coating and cellular density conditions for different adherent cellular models including hepatocytes, cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, and hybrid neuroblastoma/neuronal cells. Based on 31 independent experiments, the reproducibility of cell index data generated from HepG2 cells exposed to DMSO and to Triton X-100 was satisfactory, with a coefficient of variation close to 10%. Cell index data were also well reproduced when cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts were exposed to 21 compounds three times (correlation >0.91, p < 0.0001). The data also show that a cell index decrease is not always associated with cytotoxicity effects and that there are some confounding factors that can affect the analysis. Finally, another drawback is that the correlation analysis between cellular impedance measurements and classical toxicity endpoints has been performed on a limited number of compounds. Overall, despite some limitations, the RTCA technology appears to be a powerful and reliable tool in drug discovery because of the reasonable throughput, rapid and efficient performance, technical optimization, and cell quality control.

Beyond the International Year of Astronomy: The Universe Discovery Guides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawton, B.; Berendsen, M.; Gurton, S.; Smith, D.; NASA SMD Astrophysics EPO Community

2014-07-01

Developed for informal educators and their audiences, the 12 Universe Discovery Guides (UDGs, one per month) are adapted from the Discovery Guides that were developed for the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. The UDGs showcase education and public outreach resources from across more than 30 NASA astrophysics missions and programs. Via collaboration through scientist and educator partnerships, the UDGs aim to increase the impact of individual missions and programs, put their efforts into context, and extend their reach to new audiences. Each of the UDGs has a science topic, an interpretive story, a sky object to view with finding charts, hands-on activities, and connections to recent NASA science discoveries. The UDGs are modular; informal educators can take resources from the guides that they find most useful for their audiences. Attention is being given to audience needs, and field-testing is ongoing. The UDGs are available via downloadable PDFs.

The equivalence of learning paths in early science instruction: effect of direct instruction and discovery learning.

PubMed

Klahr, David; Nigam, Milena

2004-10-01

In a study with 112 third- and fourth-grade children, we measured the relative effectiveness of discovery learning and direct instruction at two points in the learning process: (a) during the initial acquisition of the basic cognitive objective (a procedure for designing and interpreting simple, unconfounded experiments) and (b) during the subsequent transfer and application of this basic skill to more diffuse and authentic reasoning associated with the evaluation of science-fair posters. We found not only that many more children learned from direct instruction than from discovery learning, but also that when asked to make broader, richer scientific judgments, the many children who learned about experimental design from direct instruction performed as well as those few children who discovered the method on their own. These results challenge predictions derived from the presumed superiority of discovery approaches in teaching young children basic procedures for early scientific investigations.

Mining and Utilizing Dataset Relevancy from Oceanographic Dataset (MUDROD) Metadata, Usage Metrics, and User Feedback to Improve Data Discovery and Access

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Y.

2015-12-01

Oceanographic resource discovery is a critical step for developing ocean science applications. With the increasing number of resources available online, many Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) components (e.g. catalogues and portals) have been developed to help manage and discover oceanographic resources. However, efficient and accurate resource discovery is still a big challenge because of the lack of data relevancy information. In this article, we propose a search engine framework for mining and utilizing dataset relevancy from oceanographic dataset metadata, usage metrics, and user feedback. The objective is to improve discovery accuracy of oceanographic data and reduce time for scientist to discover, download and reformat data for their projects. Experiments and a search example show that the propose engine helps both scientists and general users search for more accurate results with enhanced performance and user experience through a user-friendly interface.

Discovery and validation of cell cycle arrest biomarkers in human acute kidney injury

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Introduction Acute kidney injury (AKI) can evolve quickly and clinical measures of function often fail to detect AKI at a time when interventions are likely to provide benefit. Identifying early markers of kidney damage has been difficult due to the complex nature of human AKI, in which multiple etiologies exist. The objective of this study was to identify and validate novel biomarkers of AKI. Methods We performed two multicenter observational studies in critically ill patients at risk for AKI - discovery and validation. The top two markers from discovery were validated in a second study (Sapphire) and compared to a number of previously described biomarkers. In the discovery phase, we enrolled 522 adults in three distinct cohorts including patients with sepsis, shock, major surgery, and trauma and examined over 300 markers. In the Sapphire validation study, we enrolled 744 adult subjects with critical illness and without evidence of AKI at enrollment; the final analysis cohort was a heterogeneous sample of 728 critically ill patients. The primary endpoint was moderate to severe AKI (KDIGO stage 2 to 3) within 12 hours of sample collection. Results Moderate to severe AKI occurred in 14% of Sapphire subjects. The two top biomarkers from discovery were validated. Urine insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 (TIMP-2), both inducers of G1 cell cycle arrest, a key mechanism implicated in AKI, together demonstrated an AUC of 0.80 (0.76 and 0.79 alone). Urine [TIMP-2]·[IGFBP7] was significantly superior to all previously described markers of AKI (P <0.002), none of which achieved an AUC >0.72. Furthermore, [TIMP-2]·[IGFBP7] significantly improved risk stratification when added to a nine-variable clinical model when analyzed using Cox proportional hazards model, generalized estimating equation, integrated discrimination improvement or net reclassification improvement. Finally, in sensitivity analyses [TIMP-2]·[IGFBP7] remained significant and superior to all other markers regardless of changes in reference creatinine method. Conclusions Two novel markers for AKI have been identified and validated in independent multicenter cohorts. Both markers are superior to existing markers, provide additional information over clinical variables and add mechanistic insight into AKI. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT01209169. PMID:23388612

Analysis student self efficacy in terms of using Discovery Learning model with SAVI approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahara, Rifki; Mardiyana, S., Dewi Retno Sari

2017-12-01

Often students are unable to prove their academic achievement optimally according to their abilities. One reason is that they often feel unsure that they are capable of completing the tasks assigned to them. For students, such beliefs are necessary. The term belief has called self efficacy. Self efficacy is not something that has brought about by birth or something with permanent quality of an individual, but is the result of cognitive processes, the meaning one's self efficacy will be stimulated through learning activities. Self efficacy has developed and enhanced by a learning model that can stimulate students to foster confidence in their capabilities. One of them is by using Discovery Learning model with SAVI approach. Discovery Learning model with SAVI approach is one of learning models that involves the active participation of students in exploring and discovering their own knowledge and using it in problem solving by utilizing all the sensory devices they have. This naturalistic qualitative research aims to analyze student self efficacy in terms of use the Discovery Learning model with SAVI approach. The subjects of this study are 30 students focused on eight students who have high, medium, and low self efficacy obtained through purposive sampling technique. The data analysis of this research used three stages, that were reducing, displaying, and getting conclusion of the data. Based on the results of data analysis, it was concluded that the self efficacy appeared dominantly on the learning by using Discovery Learning model with SAVI approach is magnitude dimension.

Behavioral studies on anxiety and depression in a drug discovery environment: keys to a successful future.

PubMed

Bouwknecht, J Adriaan

2015-04-15

The review describes a personal journey through 25 years of animal research with a focus on the contribution of rodent models for anxiety and depression to the development of new medicines in a drug discovery environment. Several classic acute models for mood disorders are briefly described as well as chronic stress and disease-induction models. The paper highlights a variety of factors that influence the quality and consistency of behavioral data in a laboratory setting. The importance of meta-analysis techniques for study validation (tolerance interval) and assay sensitivity (Monte Carlo modeling) are demonstrated by examples that use historic data. It is essential for successful discovery of new potential drugs to maintain a high level of control in animal research and to bridge knowledge across in silico modeling, and in vitro and in vivo assays. Today, drug discovery is a highly dynamic environment in search of new types of treatments and new animal models which should be guided by enhanced two-way translation between bench and bed. Although productivity has been disappointing in the search of new and better medicines in psychiatry over the past decades, there has been and will always be an important role for in vivo models in-between preclinical discovery and clinical development. The right balance between good science and proper judgment versus a decent level of innovation, assay development and two-way translation will open the doors to a very bright future. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Applying ADLs to Assess Emerging Industry Specifications for Dynamic Discovery of Ad Hoc Network Services

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-01-31

function of Jini, UPnP, SLP, Bluetooth , and HAVi • Projected specific UML models for Jini, UPnP, and SLP • Developed a Rapide Model of Jini...is used by all JINI entities in directed -- discovery mode. It is part of the SCM_Discovery -- Module. Sends Unicast messages to SCMs on list of... SCMS to be discovered until all SCMS are found. -- Receives updates from SCM DB of discovered SCMs and -- removes SCMs accordingly -- NOTE

Unconfirmed Near-Earth Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vereš, Peter; Payne, Matthew J.; Holman, Matthew J.; Farnocchia, Davide; Williams, Gareth V.; Keys, Sonia; Boardman, Ian

2018-07-01

We studied the Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) candidates posted on the Minor Planet Center’s Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page (NEOCP) between years 2013 and 2016. Out of more than 17000 NEA candidates, while the majority became either new discoveries or were associated with previously known objects, about 11% were unable to be followed-up or confirmed. We further demonstrate that of the unconfirmed candidates, 926 ± 50 are likely to be NEAs, representing 18% of discovered NEAs in that period. Only 11% (∼93) of the unconfirmed NEA candidates were large (having absolute magnitude H < 22). To identify the reasons why these NEAs were not recovered, we analyzed those from the most prolific asteroid surveys: Pan-STARRS, the Catalina Sky Survey, the Dark Energy Survey, and the Space Surveillance Telescope. We examined the influence of plane-of-sky positions and rates of motion, brightnesses, submission delays, and computed absolute magnitudes, as well as correlations with the phase of the moon and seasonal effects. We find that delayed submission of newly discovered NEA candidate to the NEOCP drove a large fraction of the unconfirmed NEA candidates. A high rate of motion was another significant contributing factor. We suggest that prompt submission of suspected NEA discoveries and rapid response to fast-moving targets and targets with fast growing ephemeris uncertainty would allow better coordination among dedicated follow-up observers, decrease the number of unconfirmed NEA candidates, and increase the discovery rate of NEAs.

Rationalizing fragment based drug discovery for BACE1: insights from FB-QSAR, FB-QSSR, multi objective (MO-QSPR) and MIF studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manoharan, Prabu; Vijayan, R. S. K.; Ghoshal, Nanda

2010-10-01

The ability to identify fragments that interact with a biological target is a key step in FBDD. To date, the concept of fragment based drug design (FBDD) is increasingly driven by bio-physical methods. To expand the boundaries of QSAR paradigm, and to rationalize FBDD using In silico approach, we propose a fragment based QSAR methodology referred here in as FB-QSAR. The FB-QSAR methodology was validated on a dataset consisting of 52 Hydroxy ethylamine (HEA) inhibitors, disclosed by GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals as potential anti-Alzheimer agents. To address the issue of target selectivity, a major confounding factor in the development of selective BACE1 inhibitors, FB-QSSR models were developed using the reported off target activity values. A heat map constructed, based on the activity and selectivity profile of the individual R-group fragments, and was in turn used to identify superior R-group fragments. Further, simultaneous optimization of multiple properties, an issue encountered in real-world drug discovery scenario, and often overlooked in QSAR approaches, was addressed using a Multi Objective (MO-QSPR) method that balances properties, based on the defined objectives. MO-QSPR was implemented using Derringer and Suich desirability algorithm to identify the optimal level of independent variables ( X) that could confer a trade-off between selectivity and activity. The results obtained from FB-QSAR were further substantiated using MIF (Molecular Interaction Fields) studies. To exemplify the potentials of FB-QSAR and MO-QSPR in a pragmatic fashion, the insights gleaned from the MO-QSPR study was reverse engineered using Inverse-QSAR in a combinatorial fashion to enumerate some prospective novel, potent and selective BACE1 inhibitors.

Rationalizing fragment based drug discovery for BACE1: insights from FB-QSAR, FB-QSSR, multi objective (MO-QSPR) and MIF studies.

PubMed

Manoharan, Prabu; Vijayan, R S K; Ghoshal, Nanda

2010-10-01

The ability to identify fragments that interact with a biological target is a key step in FBDD. To date, the concept of fragment based drug design (FBDD) is increasingly driven by bio-physical methods. To expand the boundaries of QSAR paradigm, and to rationalize FBDD using In silico approach, we propose a fragment based QSAR methodology referred here in as FB-QSAR. The FB-QSAR methodology was validated on a dataset consisting of 52 Hydroxy ethylamine (HEA) inhibitors, disclosed by GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals as potential anti-Alzheimer agents. To address the issue of target selectivity, a major confounding factor in the development of selective BACE1 inhibitors, FB-QSSR models were developed using the reported off target activity values. A heat map constructed, based on the activity and selectivity profile of the individual R-group fragments, and was in turn used to identify superior R-group fragments. Further, simultaneous optimization of multiple properties, an issue encountered in real-world drug discovery scenario, and often overlooked in QSAR approaches, was addressed using a Multi Objective (MO-QSPR) method that balances properties, based on the defined objectives. MO-QSPR was implemented using Derringer and Suich desirability algorithm to identify the optimal level of independent variables (X) that could confer a trade-off between selectivity and activity. The results obtained from FB-QSAR were further substantiated using MIF (Molecular Interaction Fields) studies. To exemplify the potentials of FB-QSAR and MO-QSPR in a pragmatic fashion, the insights gleaned from the MO-QSPR study was reverse engineered using Inverse-QSAR in a combinatorial fashion to enumerate some prospective novel, potent and selective BACE1 inhibitors.

Formation of Kuiper-belt binaries through multiple chaotic scattering encounters with low-mass intruders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astakhov, Sergey A.; Lee, Ernestine A.; Farrelly, David

2005-06-01

The discovery that many trans-Neptunian objects exist in pairs, or binaries, is proving invaluable for shedding light on the formation, evolution and structure of the outer Solar system. Based on recent systematic searches it has been estimated that up to 10 per cent of Kuiper-belt objects might be binaries. However, all examples discovered to date are unusual, as compared with near-Earth and main-belt asteroid binaries, for their mass ratios of the order of unity and their large, eccentric orbits. In this article we propose a common dynamical origin for these compositional and orbital properties based on four-body simulations in the Hill approximation. Our calculations suggest that binaries are produced through the following chain of events. Initially, long-lived quasi-bound binaries form by two bodies getting entangled in thin layers of dynamical chaos produced by solar tides within the Hill sphere. Next, energy transfer through gravitational scattering with a low-mass intruder nudges the binary into a nearby non-chaotic, stable zone of phase space. Finally, the binary hardens (loses energy) through a series of relatively gentle gravitational scattering encounters with further intruders. This produces binary orbits that are well fitted by Kepler ellipses. Dynamically, the overall process is strongly favoured if the original quasi-bound binary contains comparable masses. We propose a simplified model of chaotic scattering to explain these results. Our findings suggest that the observed preference for roughly equal-mass ratio binaries is probably a real effect; that is, it is not primarily due to an observational bias for widely separated, comparably bright objects. Nevertheless, we predict that a sizeable population of very unequal-mass Kuiper-belt binaries is probably awaiting discovery.

High-Ability Students' Participation in Specialized Instructional Delivery Models: Variations by Aptitude, Grade, Gender, and Content Area

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Assouline, Susan G.; Colangelo, Nicholas; Heo, Nanseol; Dockery, Lori

2013-01-01

Established in the early 1970s, the talent search model has garnered strong theoretical and programming support for addressing the academic needs of highly able students. The two main components of the talent search model are discovery (identification) and development (programming) of academic talent. Discovery of academically talented elementary…

SemaTyP: a knowledge graph based literature mining method for drug discovery.

PubMed

Sang, Shengtian; Yang, Zhihao; Wang, Lei; Liu, Xiaoxia; Lin, Hongfei; Wang, Jian

2018-05-30

Drug discovery is the process through which potential new medicines are identified. High-throughput screening and computer-aided drug discovery/design are the two main drug discovery methods for now, which have successfully discovered a series of drugs. However, development of new drugs is still an extremely time-consuming and expensive process. Biomedical literature contains important clues for the identification of potential treatments. It could support experts in biomedicine on their way towards new discoveries. Here, we propose a biomedical knowledge graph-based drug discovery method called SemaTyP, which discovers candidate drugs for diseases by mining published biomedical literature. We first construct a biomedical knowledge graph with the relations extracted from biomedical abstracts, then a logistic regression model is trained by learning the semantic types of paths of known drug therapies' existing in the biomedical knowledge graph, finally the learned model is used to discover drug therapies for new diseases. The experimental results show that our method could not only effectively discover new drug therapies for new diseases, but also could provide the potential mechanism of action of the candidate drugs. In this paper we propose a novel knowledge graph based literature mining method for drug discovery. It could be a supplementary method for current drug discovery methods.

Visual images in Luigi Galvani's path to animal electricity.

PubMed

Piccolino, Marco

2008-01-01

The scientific endeavor that led Luigi Galvani to his hypothesis of "animal electricity," i.e., of an electricity present in a condition of disequilibrium between the interior and the exterior of excitable animal fibers, is reviewed here with particular emphasis to the role played by visual images in Galvani's path of discovery. In 1791 Galvani formulated his model of neuromuscular physiology on the base of the image of a muscle and a nerve fiber together as in a "minute animal Leyden jar." This was the last instance of a series of physical models that accompanied Galvani's experimental efforts in the search of a theory capable of accounting for the electric nature of nerve conduction in spite of the many objections formulated in the eighteenth century against a possible role of electricity in animal physiology.

The Discovery of America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Paul S.

1973-01-01

Discusses a model for explaining the spread of human population explosion on North American continent since its discovery 12,000 years ago. The model may help to map the spread of Homo sapiens throughout the New World by using the extinction chronology of the Pleistocene megafauna. (Author/PS)

Gamma-Ray Bursts: An Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fishman, Gerald J.

1995-01-01

A history and overview of the observed properties of gamma-ray bursts are presented. The phenomenon of gamma-ray bursts is without precedent in astronomy, having no observed property that would be a direct indicator of their distance and no counterpart object in another wavelength region. Their brief, random appearance only in the gamma-ray region has made their study difficult. The observed time profiles, spectral properties, and durations of gamma-ray bursts cover a wide range. All proposed models for their origin must be considered speculative. It is humbling to think that even after 25 years since their discovery, the distance scale of gamma-ray bursts is still very much debatable.

A MODERN SEARCH FOR WOLF–RAYET STARS IN THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS. II. A SECOND YEAR OF DISCOVERIES

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

Massey, Philip; Neugent, Kathryn F.; Morrell, Nidia, E-mail: phil.massey@lowell.edu, E-mail: kneugent@lowell.edu, E-mail: nmorrell@lco.cl

The numbers and types of evolved massive stars found in nearby galaxies provide an exacting test of stellar evolution models. Because of their proximity and rich massive star populations, the Magellanic Clouds have long served as the linchpins for such studies. Yet the continued accidental discoveries of Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars in these systems demonstrate that our knowledge is not as complete as usually assumed. Therefore, we undertook a multi-year survey for WRs in the Magellanic Clouds. Our results from our first year (reported previously) confirmed nine new LMC WRs. Of these, six were of a type never before recognized, withmore » WN3-type emission combined with O3-type absorption features. Yet these stars are 2–3 mag too faint to be WN3+O3 V binaries. Here we report on the second year of our survey, including the discovery of four more WRs, two of which are also WN3/O3s, plus two “slash” WRs. This brings the total of known LMC WRs to 152, 13 (8.2%) of which were found by our survey, which is now ∼60% complete. We find that the spatial distribution of the WN3/O3s is similar to that of other WRs in the LMC, suggesting that they are descended from the same progenitors. We call attention to the fact that 5 of the 12 known SMC WRs may in fact be similar WN3/O3s rather than the binaries they have often assumed to be. We also discuss our other discoveries: a newly discovered Onfp-type star, and a peculiar emission-line object. Finally, we consider the completeness limits of our survey.« less

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

McGreer, Ian D.; Fan Xiaohui; Bian Fuyan

We report the discovery of a gravitationally lensed quasar identified serendipitously in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The object, SDSS J094604.90+183541.8, was initially targeted for spectroscopy as a luminous red galaxy, but the SDSS spectrum has the features of both a z = 0.388 galaxy and a z = 4.8 quasar. We have obtained additional imaging that resolves the system into two quasar images separated by 3.''06 and a bright galaxy that is strongly blended with one of the quasar images. We confirm spectroscopically that the two quasar images represent a single-lensed source at z = 4.8 with amore » total magnification of 3.2, and we derive a model for the lensing galaxy. This is the highest redshift lensed quasar currently known. We examine the issues surrounding the selection of such an unusual object from existing data and briefly discuss implications for lensed quasar surveys.« less

System and Method for Providing a Climate Data Persistence Service

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schnase, John L. (Inventor); Ripley, III, William David (Inventor); Duffy, Daniel Q. (Inventor); Thompson, John H. (Inventor); Strong, Savannah L. (Inventor); McInerney, Mark (Inventor); Sinno, Scott (Inventor); Tamkin, Glenn S. (Inventor); Nadeau, Denis (Inventor)

2018-01-01

A system, method and computer-readable storage devices for providing a climate data persistence service. A system configured to provide the service can include a climate data server that performs data and metadata storage and management functions for climate data objects, a compute-storage platform that provides the resources needed to support a climate data server, provisioning software that allows climate data server instances to be deployed as virtual climate data servers in a cloud computing environment, and a service interface, wherein persistence service capabilities are invoked by software applications running on a client device. The climate data objects can be in various formats, such as International Organization for Standards (ISO) Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model Submission Information Packages, Archive Information Packages, and Dissemination Information Packages. The climate data server can enable scalable, federated storage, management, discovery, and access, and can be tailored for particular use cases.

Characterizing the Resolved M6 Dwarf Twin LP 318-218AB

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moreno Hilario, Elizabeth; Burgasser, Adam J.; Bardalez Gagliuffi, Daniella; Tamiya, Tomoki

2017-01-01

The lowest-mass stars and brown dwarfs are among the most common objects in the Milky Way Galaxy, but theories of their formation and evolution remain poorly constrained. Binary systems are important for understanding the formation of these objects and for making direct orbit and mass measurements to validate evolutionary theories. We report the discovery of LP 318-218, a high proper motion late M dwarf, as a near equal-brightness binary system with a separation of 0.72 arcseconds. Resolved near-infrared spectroscopy confirms the components as nearly identical M6 twins. We using our resolved photometry and spectroscopy to estimate the distance, projected separation and tangential velocity of the system, and confirm common proper motion. We also perform atmosphere model fits to the resolved spectra to assess their physical properties. We place LP 318-218 in context with other widely-separated late M dwarf binaries.

The Discovery of a Low-Mass Binary Companion to HD130948

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potter, D. E.; Cushing, M. C.; Neuhauser, R.

2003-10-01

We report the discovery of a low mass binary companion to the nearby (17.9 pc) main sequence star HD130948 (HR5534, HIP 72567) using the Hokupa'a adaptive optics instrument mounted on the Gemini North 8 meter telescope. Both companions have the same common proper motion as the primary star as seen over a 4 month baseline. The JHK' photometry of the companions, when placed on a near-IR color-magnitude diagram and compared with theoretical models places them at the bottom of the M-dwarf sequence. Preliminary near IR spectra have been obtained with SpeX mounted on the NASA IRTF 3 meter telescope are consistent with the photometric results and show carbon monoxide bandheads and water absorption features indicative of an early L-late M spectral type. The X-ray activity and Lithium abundance of the primary star indicate that the system is probably less than 1 Gyr old. Assuming a young age, these objects are less than 80 Mjupiter. With further astrometric observations carried out over an estimated orbital period of 10-20 years, a dynamical mass will be obtained.

Discovery of a Brown Dwarf Companion to Gliese 570ABC: A 2MASS T Dwarf Significantly Cooler than Gliese 229B.

PubMed

Burgasser; Kirkpatrick; Cutri; McCallon; Kopan; Gizis; Liebert; Reid; Brown; Monet; Dahn; Beichman; Skrutskie

2000-03-01

We report the discovery of a widely separated (258&farcs;3+/-0&farcs;4) T dwarf companion to the Gl 570ABC system. This new component, Gl 570D, was initially identified from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey. Its near-infrared spectrum shows the 1.6 and 2.2 µm CH4 absorption bands characteristic of T dwarfs, while its common proper motion with the Gl 570ABC system confirms companionship. Gl 570D (MJ=16.47+/-0.07) is nearly a full magnitude dimmer than the only other known T dwarf companion, Gl 229B, and estimates of L=&parl0;2.8+/-0.3&parr0;x10-6 L middle dot in circle and Teff=750+/-50 K make it significantly cooler and less luminous than any other known brown dwarf companion. Using evolutionary models by Burrows et al. and an adopted age of 2-10 Gyr, we derive a mass estimate of 50+/-20 MJup for this object.

A Hero’s Dark Horse: Discovery of an Ultra-faint Milky Way Satellite in Pegasus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Dongwon; Jerjen, Helmut; Mackey, Dougal; Da Costa, Gary S.; Milone, Antonino P.

2015-05-01

We report the discovery of an ultra-faint Milky Way satellite galaxy in the constellation of Pegasus. The concentration of stars was detected by applying our overdensity detection algorithm to the SDSS-DR 10 and confirmed with deeper photometry from the Dark Energy Camera at the 4 m Blanco telescope. Fitting model isochrones indicates that this object, Pegasus III, features an old and metal-poor stellar population ([Fe/H] ˜ -2.1) at a heliocentric distance of 205 ± 20 kpc. The new stellar system has an estimated half-light radius of {{r}h}=78-24+30 pc and a total luminosity of {{M}V}˜ -4.1+/- 0.5 that places it into the domain of dwarf galaxies on the size-luminosity plane. Pegasus III is spatially close to the MW satellite Pisces II. It is possible that the two might be physically associated, similar to the Leo IV and Leo V pair. Pegasus III is also well aligned with the Vast Polar Structure, which suggests a possible physical association.

DISCOVERY OF A LOW-MASS COMPANION AROUND HR 3549

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

Mawet, D.; David, T.; Bottom, M.

2015-10-01

We report the discovery of a low-mass companion to HR 3549, an A0V star surrounded by a debris disk with a warm excess detected by WISE at 22 μm (10σ significance). We imaged HR 3549 B in the L band with NAOS-CONICA, the adaptive optics infrared camera of the Very Large Telescope, in January 2013 and confirmed its common proper motion in 2015 January. The companion is at a projected separation of ≃80 AU and position angle of ≃157°, so it is orbiting well beyond the warm disk inner edge of r > 10 AU. Our age estimate for thismore » system corresponds to a companion mass in the range 15–80 M{sub J}, spanning the brown dwarf regime, and so HR 3549 B is another recent addition to the growing list of brown dwarf desert objects with extreme mass ratios. The simultaneous presence of a warm disk and a brown dwarf around HR 3549 provides interesting empirical constraints on models of the formation of substellar companions.« less

High-Power, High-Temperature Superconductor Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, Kul B.

2005-01-01

Since the first discovery of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) 10 years ago, the most promising areas for their applications in microwave systems have been as passive components for communication systems. Soon after the discovery, experiments showed that passive microwave circuits made from HTS material exceeded the performance of conventional devices for low-power applications and could be 10 times as small or smaller. However, for superconducting microwave components, high-power microwave applications have remained elusive until now. In 1996, DuPont and Com Dev Ltd. developed high-power superconducting materials and components for communication applications under a NASA Lewis Research Center cooperative agreement, NCC3-344 "High Power High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Technology Development." The agreement was cost shared between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Technology Reinvestment Program Office and the two industrial partners. It has the following objectives: 1) Material development and characterization for high-power HTS applications; 2) Development and validation of generic high-power microwave components; 3) Development of a proof-of-concept model for a high-power six-channel HTS output multiplexer.

Self Assessment and Discovery Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Betty

2011-01-01

Discovery learning in higher education has been reported to be effective in assisting learners to understand difficult concepts and retain long term information. This paper seeks to illustrate how one self assessment model may be used to demonstrate discovery learning in a collaborative atmosphere of students sharing and getting to know each…

Energy-Water Nexus Knowledge Discovery Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhaduri, B. L.; Foster, I.; Chandola, V.; Chen, B.; Sanyal, J.; Allen, M.; McManamay, R.

2017-12-01

As demand for energy grows, the energy sector is experiencing increasing competition for water. With increasing population and changing environmental, socioeconomic scenarios, new technology and investment decisions must be made for optimized and sustainable energy-water resource management. This requires novel scientific insights into the complex interdependencies of energy-water infrastructures across multiple space and time scales. An integrated data driven modeling, analysis, and visualization capability is needed to understand, design, and develop efficient local and regional practices for the energy-water infrastructure components that can be guided with strategic (federal) policy decisions to ensure national energy resilience. To meet this need of the energy-water nexus (EWN) community, an Energy-Water Knowledge Discovery Framework (EWN-KDF) is being proposed to accomplish two objectives: Development of a robust data management and geovisual analytics platform that provides access to disparate and distributed physiographic, critical infrastructure, and socioeconomic data, along with emergent ad-hoc sensor data to provide a powerful toolkit of analysis algorithms and compute resources to empower user-guided data analysis and inquiries; and Demonstration of knowledge generation with selected illustrative use cases for the implications of climate variability for coupled land-water-energy systems through the application of state-of-the art data integration, analysis, and synthesis. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and researchers affiliated with the Center for International Earth Science Information Partnership (CIESIN) at Columbia University and State University of New York-Buffalo (SUNY), propose to develop this Energy-Water Knowledge Discovery Framework to generate new, critical insights regarding the complex dynamics of the EWN and its interactions with climate variability and change. An overarching objective of this project is to integrate impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (IAV) science with emerging data science to meet the data analysis needs of the U.S. Department of Energy and partner federal agencies with respect to the EWN.

Conceptual Modeling in Systems Biology Fosters Empirical Findings: The mRNA Lifecycle

PubMed Central

Dori, Dov; Choder, Mordechai

2007-01-01

One of the main obstacles to understanding complex biological systems is the extent and rapid evolution of information, way beyond the capacity individuals to manage and comprehend. Current modeling approaches and tools lack adequate capacity to model concurrently structure and behavior of biological systems. Here we propose Object-Process Methodology (OPM), a holistic conceptual modeling paradigm, as a means to model both diagrammatically and textually biological systems formally and intuitively at any desired number of levels of detail. OPM combines objects, e.g., proteins, and processes, e.g., transcription, in a way that is simple and easily comprehensible to researchers and scholars. As a case in point, we modeled the yeast mRNA lifecycle. The mRNA lifecycle involves mRNA synthesis in the nucleus, mRNA transport to the cytoplasm, and its subsequent translation and degradation therein. Recent studies have identified specific cytoplasmic foci, termed processing bodies that contain large complexes of mRNAs and decay factors. Our OPM model of this cellular subsystem, presented here, led to the discovery of a new constituent of these complexes, the translation termination factor eRF3. Association of eRF3 with processing bodies is observed after a long-term starvation period. We suggest that OPM can eventually serve as a comprehensive evolvable model of the entire living cell system. The model would serve as a research and communication platform, highlighting unknown and uncertain aspects that can be addressed empirically and updated consequently while maintaining consistency. PMID:17849002

High Temperature Planetary Nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maran, Stephen P.

Following up on our recent discovery that a very hot planetary in the Small Magellanic Cloud has an extraordinary underabundance of carbon, we propose to observe two similar hot planetaries in the Clouds with IUE as part of an optical/UV investigation. The objectives are (1) to test the suggestion that high nebular electron temperatures can result from a strong deficiency of carbon that deprives the nebula of an important cooling channel; and (2) to determine accurate chemical abundances to constrain limits on the efficiency of "hot bottom burning" in massive progenitors of planetary nebulae. The targets are SMC 25 (Te = 34,000 K) and LMC 88 (= 25,500 K). These UV observations of targets not previously observed with IUE will be combined, for analysis, with visible wavelength spectra of both targets from the Anglo-Australian Telescope and the 2-3-m Siding Spring reflector. The objects will also be compared in the analysis stage with previous IUE observations (and consequent modeling) of type I planetaries in the Clouds. Model nebulae will be calculated, and physical parameters of the central stars will be inferred.

Infrared spectrum of an extremely cool white-dwarf star

PubMed

Hodgkin; Oppenheimer; Hambly; Jameson; Smartt; Steele

2000-01-06

White dwarfs are the remnant cores of stars that initially had masses of less than 8 solar masses. They cool gradually over billions of years, and have been suggested to make up much of the 'dark matter' in the halo of the Milky Way. But extremely cool white dwarfs have proved difficult to detect, owing to both their faintness and their anticipated similarity in colour to other classes of dwarf stars. Recent improved models indicate that white dwarfs are much more blue than previously supposed, suggesting that the earlier searches may have been looking for the wrong kinds of objects. Here we report an infrared spectrum of an extremely cool white dwarf that is consistent with the new models. We determine the star's temperature to be 3,500 +/- 200 K, making it the coolest known white dwarf. The kinematics of this star indicate that it is in the halo of the Milky Way, and the density of such objects implied by the serendipitous discovery of this star is consistent with white dwarfs dominating the dark matter in the halo.

The asteroids - Accretion, differentiation, fragmentation, and irradiation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkening, L. L.

1979-01-01

Various types of meteorites have experienced processes of condensation, accretion, metamorphism, differentiation, brecciation, irradiation and fragmentation. A typical view of meteorite formation has been that the processes following accretion take place in a few asteroidal-sized (approximately 100 km) objects. Discovery of decay products of now extinct Al-26 and Pd-107 in meteorites, discovery of isotopic heterogeneity among meteorite types, re-analysis of meteorite cooling rates, and continuing study of meteoritic compositions have led some meteoriticists to conclude that meteorites obtained their chemical, isotopic, and some textural characteristics in objects initially less than 10 km in diameter. Such a scenario, which is described in this paper, raises the possibility that some of these small planetesimals may have been 'condensation nuclei' for the formation of comets as well as the precursors of asteroids.

Bayesian Models Leveraging Bioactivity and Cytotoxicity Information for Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Ekins, Sean; Reynolds, Robert C.; Kim, Hiyun; Koo, Mi-Sun; Ekonomidis, Marilyn; Talaue, Meliza; Paget, Steve D.; Woolhiser, Lisa K.; Lenaerts, Anne J.; Bunin, Barry A.; Connell, Nancy; Freundlich, Joel S.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Identification of unique leads represents a significant challenge in drug discovery. This hurdle is magnified in neglected diseases such as tuberculosis. We have leveraged public high-throughput screening (HTS) data, to experimentally validate virtual screening approach employing Bayesian models built with bioactivity information (single-event model) as well as bioactivity and cytotoxicity information (dual-event model). We virtually screen a commercial library and experimentally confirm actives with hit rates exceeding typical HTS results by 1-2 orders of magnitude. The first dual-event Bayesian model identified compounds with antitubercular whole-cell activity and low mammalian cell cytotoxicity from a published set of antimalarials. The most potent hit exhibits the in vitro activity and in vitro/in vivo safety profile of a drug lead. These Bayesian models offer significant economies in time and cost to drug discovery. PMID:23521795

How molecular profiling could revolutionize drug discovery.

PubMed

Stoughton, Roland B; Friend, Stephen H

2005-04-01

Information from genomic, proteomic and metabolomic measurements has already benefited target discovery and validation, assessment of efficacy and toxicity of compounds, identification of disease subgroups and the prediction of responses of individual patients. Greater benefits can be expected from the application of these technologies on a significantly larger scale; by simultaneously collecting diverse measurements from the same subjects or cell cultures; by exploiting the steadily improving quantitative accuracy of the technologies; and by interpreting the emerging data in the context of underlying biological models of increasing sophistication. The benefits of applying molecular profiling to drug discovery and development will include much lower failure rates at all stages of the drug development pipeline, faster progression from discovery through to clinical trials and more successful therapies for patient subgroups. Upheavals in existing organizational structures in the current 'conveyor belt' models of drug discovery might be required to take full advantage of these methods.

Daily life activity routine discovery in hemiparetic rehabilitation patients using topic models.

PubMed

Seiter, J; Derungs, A; Schuster-Amft, C; Amft, O; Tröster, G

2015-01-01

Monitoring natural behavior and activity routines of hemiparetic rehabilitation patients across the day can provide valuable progress information for therapists and patients and contribute to an optimized rehabilitation process. In particular, continuous patient monitoring could add type, frequency and duration of daily life activity routines and hence complement standard clinical scores that are assessed for particular tasks only. Machine learning methods have been applied to infer activity routines from sensor data. However, supervised methods require activity annotations to build recognition models and thus require extensive patient supervision. Discovery methods, including topic models could provide patient routine information and deal with variability in activity and movement performance across patients. Topic models have been used to discover characteristic activity routine patterns of healthy individuals using activity primitives recognized from supervised sensor data. Yet, the applicability of topic models for hemiparetic rehabilitation patients and techniques to derive activity primitives without supervision needs to be addressed. We investigate, 1) whether a topic model-based activity routine discovery framework can infer activity routines of rehabilitation patients from wearable motion sensor data. 2) We compare the performance of our topic model-based activity routine discovery using rule-based and clustering-based activity vocabulary. We analyze the activity routine discovery in a dataset recorded with 11 hemiparetic rehabilitation patients during up to ten full recording days per individual in an ambulatory daycare rehabilitation center using wearable motion sensors attached to both wrists and the non-affected thigh. We introduce and compare rule-based and clustering-based activity vocabulary to process statistical and frequency acceleration features to activity words. Activity words were used for activity routine pattern discovery using topic models based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation. Discovered activity routine patterns were then mapped to six categorized activity routines. Using the rule-based approach, activity routines could be discovered with an average accuracy of 76% across all patients. The rule-based approach outperformed clustering by 10% and showed less confusions for predicted activity routines. Topic models are suitable to discover daily life activity routines in hemiparetic rehabilitation patients without trained classifiers and activity annotations. Activity routines show characteristic patterns regarding activity primitives including body and extremity postures and movement. A patient-independent rule set can be derived. Including expert knowledge supports successful activity routine discovery over completely data-driven clustering.

New trends in cosmology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Canuto, V. M.

1978-01-01

A review of big-bang cosmology is presented, emphasizing the big-bang model, hypotheses on the origin of galaxies, observational tests of the big-bang model that may be possible with the Large Space Telescope, and the scale-covariant theory of gravitation. Detailed attention is given to the equations of general relativity, the redshift-distance relation for extragalactic objects, expansion of the universe, the initial singularity, the discovery of the 3-K blackbody radiation, and measurements of the amount of deuterium in the universe. The curvature of the expanding universe is examined along with the magnitude-redshift relation for quasars and galaxies. Several models for the origin of galaxies are evaluated, and it is suggested that a model of galaxy formation via the formation of black holes is consistent with the model of an expanding universe. Scale covariance is discussed, a scale-covariant theory is developed which contains invariance under scale transformation, and it is shown that Dirac's (1937) large-numbers hypothesis finds a natural role in this theory by relating the atomic and Einstein units.

Common characteristics of open source software development and applicability for drug discovery: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Innovation through an open source model has proven to be successful for software development. This success has led many to speculate if open source can be applied to other industries with similar success. We attempt to provide an understanding of open source software development characteristics for researchers, business leaders and government officials who may be interested in utilizing open source innovation in other contexts and with an emphasis on drug discovery. Methods A systematic review was performed by searching relevant, multidisciplinary databases to extract empirical research regarding the common characteristics and barriers of initiating and maintaining an open source software development project. Results Common characteristics to open source software development pertinent to open source drug discovery were extracted. The characteristics were then grouped into the areas of participant attraction, management of volunteers, control mechanisms, legal framework and physical constraints. Lastly, their applicability to drug discovery was examined. Conclusions We believe that the open source model is viable for drug discovery, although it is unlikely that it will exactly follow the form used in software development. Hybrids will likely develop that suit the unique characteristics of drug discovery. We suggest potential motivations for organizations to join an open source drug discovery project. We also examine specific differences between software and medicines, specifically how the need for laboratories and physical goods will impact the model as well as the effect of patents. PMID:21955914

Gravity induced wave function collapse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gasbarri, G.; Toroš, M.; Donadi, S.; Bassi, A.

2017-11-01

Starting from an idea of S. L. Adler [in Quantum Nonlocality and Reality: 50 Years of Bell's Theorem, edited by M. Bell and S. Gao (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England 2016)], we develop a novel model of gravity induced spontaneous wave function collapse. The collapse is driven by complex stochastic fluctuations of the spacetime metric. After deriving the fundamental equations, we prove the collapse and amplification mechanism, the two most important features of a consistent collapse model. Under reasonable simplifying assumptions, we constrain the strength ξ of the complex metric fluctuations with available experimental data. We show that ξ ≥10-26 in order for the model to guarantee classicality of macro-objects, and at the same time ξ ≤10-20 in order not to contradict experimental evidence. As a comparison, in the recent discovery of gravitational waves in the frequency range 35 to 250 Hz, the (real) metric fluctuations reach a peak of ξ ˜10-21.

Automatic stage identification of Drosophila egg chamber based on DAPI images

PubMed Central

Jia, Dongyu; Xu, Qiuping; Xie, Qian; Mio, Washington; Deng, Wu-Min

2016-01-01

The Drosophila egg chamber, whose development is divided into 14 stages, is a well-established model for developmental biology. However, visual stage determination can be a tedious, subjective and time-consuming task prone to errors. Our study presents an objective, reliable and repeatable automated method for quantifying cell features and classifying egg chamber stages based on DAPI images. The proposed approach is composed of two steps: 1) a feature extraction step and 2) a statistical modeling step. The egg chamber features used are egg chamber size, oocyte size, egg chamber ratio and distribution of follicle cells. Methods for determining the on-site of the polytene stage and centripetal migration are also discussed. The statistical model uses linear and ordinal regression to explore the stage-feature relationships and classify egg chamber stages. Combined with machine learning, our method has great potential to enable discovery of hidden developmental mechanisms. PMID:26732176

Satellite image-based maps: Scientific inference or pretty pictures?

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts

2011-01-01

The scientific method has been characterized as having two distinct components, Discovery and Justification. Discovery emphasizes ideas and creativity, focuses on conceiving hypotheses and constructing models, and is generally regarded as lacking a formal logic. Justification begins with the hypotheses and models and ends with a...

Personal discovery in diabetes self-management: Discovering cause and effect using self-monitoring data

PubMed Central

Mamykina, Lena; Heitkemper, Elizabeth M.; Smaldone, Arlene M.; Kukafka, Rita; Cole-Lewis, Heather J.; Davidson, Patricia G.; Mynatt, Elizabeth D.; Cassells, Andrea; Tobin, Jonathan N.; Hripcsak, George

2017-01-01

Objective To outline new design directions for informatics solutions that facilitate personal discovery with self-monitoring data. We investigate this question in the context of chronic disease self-management with the focus on type 2 diabetes. Materials and methods We conducted an observational qualitative study of discovery with personal data among adults attending a diabetes self-management education (DSME) program that utilized a discovery-based curriculum. The study included observations of class sessions, and interviews and focus groups with the educator and attendees of the program (n = 14). Results The main discovery in diabetes self-management evolved around discovering patterns of association between characteristics of individuals’ activities and changes in their blood glucose levels that the participants referred to as “cause and effect”. This discovery empowered individuals to actively engage in self-management and provided a desired flexibility in selection of personalized self-management strategies. We show that discovery of cause and effect involves four essential phases: (1) feature selection, (2) hypothesis generation, (3) feature evaluation, and (4) goal specification. Further, we identify opportunities to support discovery at each stage with informatics and data visualization solutions by providing assistance with: (1) active manipulation of collected data (e.g., grouping, filtering and side-by-side inspection), (2) hypotheses formulation (e.g., using natural language statements or constructing visual queries), (3) inference evaluation (e.g., through aggregation and visual comparison, and statistical analysis of associations), and (4) translation of discoveries into actionable goals (e.g., tailored selection from computable knowledge sources of effective diabetes self-management behaviors). Discussion The study suggests that discovery of cause and effect in diabetes can be a powerful approach to helping individuals to improve their self-management strategies, and that self-monitoring data can serve as a driving engine for personal discovery that may lead to sustainable behavior changes. Conclusions Enabling personal discovery is a promising new approach to enhancing chronic disease self-management with informatics interventions. PMID:28974460

View of ANDE release from orbiter Discovery payload bay

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-12-21

S116-E-07828 (21 Dec. 2006) --- As seen through windows on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle Discovery, a Department of Defense pico-satellite known as Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment (ANDE) is released from the shuttle's payload bay by STS-116 crewmembers. ANDE consists of two micro-satellites which will measure the density and composition of the low Earth orbit (LEO) atmosphere while being tracked from the ground. The data will be used to better predict the movement of objects in orbit.

Closeup oblique view of the forward and starboard sides of ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Close-up oblique view of the forward and starboard sides of the Orbiter Discovery in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The view shows the void created by the removal of the Forward Reaction Control System Module. The void has a clear flexible covering to maintain positive pressure in the void to minimize foreign object contamination possibilities in the orbiter. - Space Transportation System, Orbiter Discovery (OV-103), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX

Closeup view of the forward and starboard sides of the ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

Close-up view of the forward and starboard sides of the Orbiter Discovery in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The view shows the void created by the removal of the Forward Reaction Control System Module. The void has a clear flexible covering to maintain positive pressure in the void to minimize foreign object contamination possibilities in the orbiter. - Space Transportation System, Orbiter Discovery (OV-103), Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Harris County, TX

In silico mining and PCR-based approaches to transcription factor discovery in non-model plants: gene discovery of the WRKY transcription factors in conifers.

PubMed

Liu, Jun-Jun; Xiang, Yu

2011-01-01

WRKY transcription factors are key regulators of numerous biological processes in plant growth and development, as well as plant responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Research on biological functions of plant WRKY genes has focused in the past on model plant species or species with largely characterized transcriptomes. However, a variety of non-model plants, such as forest conifers, are essential as feed, biofuel, and wood or for sustainable ecosystems. Identification of WRKY genes in these non-model plants is equally important for understanding the evolutionary and function-adaptive processes of this transcription factor family. Because of limited genomic information, the rarity of regulatory gene mRNAs in transcriptomes, and the sequence divergence to model organism genes, identification of transcription factors in non-model plants using methods similar to those generally used for model plants is difficult. This chapter describes a gene family discovery strategy for identification of WRKY transcription factors in conifers by a combination of in silico-based prediction and PCR-based experimental approaches. Compared to traditional cDNA library screening or EST sequencing at transcriptome scales, this integrated gene discovery strategy provides fast, simple, reliable, and specific methods to unveil the WRKY gene family at both genome and transcriptome levels in non-model plants.

Econometrics of exhaustible resource supply: a theory and an application. Final report

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

Epple, D.; Hansen, L.P.

1981-12-01

An econometric model of US oil and natural gas discoveries is developed in this study. The econometric model is explicitly derived as the solution to the problem of maximizing the expected discounted after tax present value of revenues net of exploration, development, and production costs. The model contains equations representing producers' formation of price expectations and separate equations giving producers' optimal exploration decisions contingent on expected prices. A procedure is developed for imposing resource base constraints (e.g., ultimate recovery estimates based on geological analysis) when estimating the econometric model. The model is estimated using aggregate post-war data for the Unitedmore » States. Production from a given addition to proved reserves is assumed to follow a negative exponential path, and additions of proved reserves from a given discovery are assumed to follow a negative exponential path. Annual discoveries of oil and natural gas are estimated as latent variables. These latent variables are the endogenous variables in the econometric model of oil and natural gas discoveries. The model is estimated without resource base constraints. The model is also estimated imposing the mean oil and natural gas ultimate recovery estimates of the US Geological Survey. Simulations through the year 2020 are reported for various future price regimes.« less

Quantitative structure-activity relationship: promising advances in drug discovery platforms.

PubMed

Wang, Tao; Wu, Mian-Bin; Lin, Jian-Ping; Yang, Li-Rong

2015-12-01

Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling is one of the most popular computer-aided tools employed in medicinal chemistry for drug discovery and lead optimization. It is especially powerful in the absence of 3D structures of specific drug targets. QSAR methods have been shown to draw public attention since they were first introduced. In this review, the authors provide a brief discussion of the basic principles of QSAR, model development and model validation. They also highlight the current applications of QSAR in different fields, particularly in virtual screening, rational drug design and multi-target QSAR. Finally, in view of recent controversies, the authors detail the challenges faced by QSAR modeling and the relevant solutions. The aim of this review is to show how QSAR modeling can be applied in novel drug discovery, design and lead optimization. QSAR should intentionally be used as a powerful tool for fragment-based drug design platforms in the field of drug discovery and design. Although there have been an increasing number of experimentally determined protein structures in recent years, a great number of protein structures cannot be easily obtained (i.e., membrane transport proteins and G-protein coupled receptors). Fragment-based drug discovery, such as QSAR, could be applied further and have a significant role in dealing with these problems. Moreover, along with the development of computer software and hardware, it is believed that QSAR will be increasingly important.

Radicalization in the National Economic Climate: Discovery Workshop at DRDC Toronto 7-8 December 2009

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

self-blame, and guilt or shame. The model provides an account of how economic Radicalization in the National Economic Climate Discovery Workshop at...RADICALIZATION IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC CLIMATE DISCOVERY WORKSHOP AT DRDC TORONTO 7-8 DECEMBER 2009 Gauthier, M.; Lamoureux, T. CAE...1 0 . Radicalization in the National Economic Climate Discovery Workshop at DRDC Toronto 7-8 December 2009 April 2010 – ii – © Her Majesty

The influence of discovery learning model application to the higher order thinking skills student of Srijaya Negara Senior High School Palembang on the animal kingdom subject matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riandari, F.; Susanti, R.; Suratmi

2018-05-01

This study aimed to find out the information in concerning the influence of discovery learning model application to the higher order thinking skills at the tenth grade students of Srijaya Negara senior high school Palembang on the animal kingdom subject matter. The research method used was pre-experimental with one-group pretest-posttest design. The researchconducted at Srijaya Negara senior high school Palembang academic year 2016/2017. The population sample of this research was tenth grade students of natural science 2. Purposive sampling techniquewas applied in this research. Data was collected by(1) the written test, consist of pretest to determine the initial ability and posttest to determine higher order thinking skills of students after learning by using discovery learning models. (2) Questionnaire sheet, aimed to investigate the response of the students during the learning process by using discovery learning models. The t-test result indicated there was significant increasement of higher order thinking skills students. Thus, it can be concluded that the application of discovery learning modelhad a significant effect and increased to higher order thinking skills students of Srijaya Negara senior high school Palembang on the animal kingdom subject matter.

A Virtual Bioinformatics Knowledge Environment for Early Cancer Detection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crichton, Daniel; Srivastava, Sudhir; Johnsey, Donald

2003-01-01

Discovery of disease biomarkers for cancer is a leading focus of early detection. The National Cancer Institute created a network of collaborating institutions focused on the discovery and validation of cancer biomarkers called the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). Informatics plays a key role in enabling a virtual knowledge environment that provides scientists real time access to distributed data sets located at research institutions across the nation. The distributed and heterogeneous nature of the collaboration makes data sharing across institutions very difficult. EDRN has developed a comprehensive informatics effort focused on developing a national infrastructure enabling seamless access, sharing and discovery of science data resources across all EDRN sites. This paper will discuss the EDRN knowledge system architecture, its objectives and its accomplishments.

STS-70 Discovery launch startling the birds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

Startled birds scatter as the stillness of a summer morning is broken by a giant's roar. The Space Shuttle Discovery thundered into space from launch Pad 39-B at 9:41:55:078 a.m. EDT. STS-70 is the 70th Shuttle flight overall, the 21st for Discovery (OV- 103), and the fourth Shuttle flight in 1995. On board for the nearly eight-day mission are a crew of five: Commander Terence 'Tom' Hendricks; Pilot Kevin R. Kregel; and Mission Specialists Nancy Jane Currie, Donald A. Thomas and Mary Ellen Weber. The crew's primary objective is to deploy the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-G (TDRS-G), which will join a constellation of other TDRS spacecraft already on orbit.

STS-70 Discovery launch startled birds at ignition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

Startled birds scatter as the stillness of a summer morning is broken by a giant's roar. The Space Shuttle Discovery thundered into space from launch Pad 39-B at 9:41:55:078 a.m. EDT. STS-70 is the 70th Shuttle flight overall, the 21st for Discovery (OV- 103), and the fourth Shuttle flight in 1995. On board for the nearly eight-day mission are a crew of five: Commander Terence 'Tom' Hendricks; Pilot Kevin R. Kregel; and Mission Specialists Nancy Jane Currie, Donald A. Thomas and Mary Ellen Weber. The crew's primary objective is to deploy the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-G (TDRS-G), which will join a constellation of other TDRS spacecraft already on orbit.

International Astronomical Search Collaboration: An Online Student-Based Discovery Program in Astronomy (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pennypacker, C.; Miller, P.

2009-12-01

The past 15 years has seen the development of affordable small telescopes, advanced digital cameras, high speed Internet access, and widely-available image analysis software. With these tools it is possible to provide student programs where they make original astronomical discoveries. High school aged students, even younger, have discovered Main Belt asteroids (MBA), near-Earth objects (NEO), comets, supernovae, and Kuiper Belt objects (KBO). Student-based discovery is truly an innovative way to generate enthusiasm for learning science. The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC = “Isaac”) is an online program where high school and college students make original MBA discoveries and important NEO observations. MBA discoveries are reported to the Minor Planet Center (Harvard) and International Astronomical Union. The NEO observations are included as part of the NASA Near-Earth Object Program (JPL). Provided at no cost to participating schools, IASC is centered at Hardin-Simmons University (Abilene, TX). It is a collaboration of the University, Lawrence Hall of Science (University of California, Berkeley), Astronomical Research Institute (ARI; Charleston, IL), Global Hands-On Universe Association (Portugal),and Astrometrica (Austria). Started in Fall 2006, IASC has reached 135 schools in 14 countries. There are 9 campaigns per year, each with 15 schools and lasting 45 days. Students have discovered 150 MBAs and made > 1,000 NEO observations. One notable discovery was 2009 BD81, discovered by two high school teachers and a graduate student at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. This object, about the size of 3 football fields, crosses Earth’s orbit and poses a serious impact risk. Each night with clear skies and no Moon, the ARI Observatory uses its 24" and 32" prime focus telescopes to take images along the ecliptic. Three images are taken of the same field of view (FOV) over a period of 30 minutes. These are bundled together and placed online at the IASC home site (iasc.hsutx.edu) into the participating school folders. In the morning, the students download their image sets, analyzing the set using the software Astrometrica. The software aligns the images using stars in the FOV then blinks them back and forth. The students easily see the asteroids moving in the background. Astrometrica records the times and celestial coordinates into a report that is forwarded to the Minor Planet Center. IASC is a volunteer-managed program. It has 17 volunteers from 6 countries. They run 9 campaigns per year for 135 schools, although the full capacity is 16 serving 240 schools world-wide. In addition to search campaigns open to any interested school, there have been dedicated campaigns including: 1) All-China Asteroid Search Campaign National Astronomical Observatory of China 2) All-Africa Asteroid Search Campaign South African Astronomical Observatory and Space School Africa 3) All-Texas Asteroid Search Campaign Texas Regional Collaboratives (University of Texas, Austin) Future plans for IASC include new campaigns searching for objects other than MBAs. These include comets, KBOs, supernovae, and active galactic nuclei. Students will also work on variable stars and asteroid light curves, and search for exoplanets.

Revisiting lab-on-a-chip technology for drug discovery.

PubMed

Neuži, Pavel; Giselbrecht, Stefan; Länge, Kerstin; Huang, Tony Jun; Manz, Andreas

2012-08-01

The field of microfluidics or lab-on-a-chip technology aims to improve and extend the possibilities of bioassays, cell biology and biomedical research based on the idea of miniaturization. Microfluidic systems allow more accurate modelling of physiological situations for both fundamental research and drug development, and enable systematic high-volume testing for various aspects of drug discovery. Microfluidic systems are in development that not only model biological environments but also physically mimic biological tissues and organs; such 'organs on a chip' could have an important role in expediting early stages of drug discovery and help reduce reliance on animal testing. This Review highlights the latest lab-on-a-chip technologies for drug discovery and discusses the potential for future developments in this field.

Discovery of magnetic A supergiants: the descendants of magnetic main-sequence B stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neiner, Coralie; Oksala, Mary E.; Georgy, Cyril; Przybilla, Norbert; Mathis, Stéphane; Wade, Gregg; Kondrak, Matthias; Fossati, Luca; Blazère, Aurore; Buysschaert, Bram; Grunhut, Jason

2017-10-01

In the context of the high resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio, high sensitivity, spectropolarimetric survey BritePol, which complements observations by the BRITE constellation of nanosatellites for asteroseismology, we are looking for and measuring the magnetic field of all stars brighter than V = 4. In this paper, we present circularly polarized spectra obtained with HarpsPol at ESO in La Silla (Chile) and ESPaDOnS at CFHT (Hawaii) for three hot evolved stars: ι Car, HR 3890 and ɛ CMa. We detected a magnetic field in all three stars. Each star has been observed several times to confirm the magnetic detections and check for variability. The stellar parameters of the three objects were determined and their evolutionary status was ascertained employing evolution models computed with the Geneva code. ɛ CMa was already known and is confirmed to be magnetic, but our modelling indicates that it is located near the end of the main sequence, I.e. it is still in a core hydrogen burning phase. ι Car and HR 3890 are the first discoveries of magnetic hot supergiants located well after the end of the main sequence on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. These stars are probably the descendants of main-sequence magnetic massive stars. Their current field strength (a few G) is compatible with magnetic flux conservation during stellar evolution. These results provide observational constraints for the development of future evolutionary models of hot stars including a fossil magnetic field.

Watershed and Economic Data InterOperability (WEDO): Facilitating Discovery, Evaluation and Integration through the Sharing of Watershed Modeling Data

EPA Science Inventory

Watershed and Economic Data InterOperability (WEDO) is a system of information technologies designed to publish watershed modeling studies for reuse. WEDO facilitates three aspects of interoperability: discovery, evaluation and integration of data. This increased level of interop...

Higgs Discovery: Impact on Composite Dynamics Technicolor & eXtreme Compositeness Thinking Fast and Slow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sannino, Francesco

I discuss the impact of the discovery of a Higgs-like state on composite dynamics starting by critically examining the reasons in favour of either an elementary or composite nature of this state. Accepting the standard model interpretation I re-address the standard model vacuum stability within a Weyl-consistent computation. I will carefully examine the fundamental reasons why what has been discovered might not be the standard model Higgs. Dynamical electroweak breaking naturally addresses a number of the fundamental issues unsolved by the standard model interpretation. However this paradigm has been challenged by the discovery of a not-so-heavy Higgs-like state. I will therefore review the recent discovery1 that the standard model top-induced radiative corrections naturally reduce the intrinsic non-perturbative mass of the composite Higgs state towards the desired experimental value. Not only we have a natural and testable working framework but we have also suggested specic gauge theories that can realise, at the fundamental level, these minimal models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking. These strongly coupled gauge theories are now being heavily investigated via first principle lattice simulations with encouraging results. The new findings show that the recent naive claims made about new strong dynamics at the electroweak scale being disfavoured by the discovery of a not-so-heavy composite Higgs are unwarranted. I will then introduce the more speculative idea of extreme compositeness according to which not only the Higgs sector of the standard model is composite but also quarks and leptons, and provide a toy example in the form of gauge-gauge duality.

New Observational Evidence of Active Asteroid P/2010 A2: Slow Rotation of the Largest Fragment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yoonyoung; Ishiguro, Masateru; Lee, Myung Gyoon

2017-06-01

We report new observations of the active asteroid P/2010 A2 taken when it made its closest approach to Earth (1.06 au in 2017 January) after its first discovery in 2010. Despite a crucial role of the rotational period in clarifying its ejection mechanism, the rotational property of P/2010 A2 has not yet been studied due to the extreme faintness of this tiny object (∼120 m in diameter). Taking advantage of the best observing geometry since the discovery, we succeed in obtaining the rotational light curve of the largest fragment with Gemini/GMOS-N. We find that (1) the largest fragment has a double-peaked period of 11.36 ± 0.02 hr spinning much slower than its critical spin period; (2) the largest fragment is a highly elongated object (a/b ≥ 1.94) with an effective radius of {61.9}-9.2+16.8 m; (3) the size distribution of the ejecta follows a broken power law (the power indices of the cumulative size distributions of the dust and fragments are 2.5 ± 0.1 and 5.2 ± 0.1, respectively); (4) the mass ratio of the largest fragment to the total ejecta is around 0.8; and (5) the dust cloud morphology is in agreement with the anisotropic ejection model in Kim et al. These new characteristics of the ejecta obtained in this work are favorable to the impact shattering hypothesis.

A new approach to the rationale discovery of polymeric biomaterials

PubMed Central

Kohn, Joachim; Welsh, William J.; Knight, Doyle

2007-01-01

This paper attempts to illustrate both the need for new approaches to biomaterials discovery as well as the significant promise inherent in the use of combinatorial and computational design strategies. The key observation of this Leading Opinion Paper is that the biomaterials community has been slow to embrace advanced biomaterials discovery tools such as combinatorial methods, high throughput experimentation, and computational modeling in spite of the significant promise shown by these discovery tools in materials science, medicinal chemistry and the pharmaceutical industry. It seems that the complexity of living cells and their interactions with biomaterials has been a conceptual as well as a practical barrier to the use of advanced discovery tools in biomaterials science. However, with the continued increase in computer power, the goal of predicting the biological response of cells in contact with biomaterials surfaces is within reach. Once combinatorial synthesis, high throughput experimentation, and computational modeling are integrated into the biomaterials discovery process, a significant acceleration is possible in the pace of development of improved medical implants, tissue regeneration scaffolds, and gene/drug delivery systems. PMID:17644176

Understanding price discovery in interconnected markets: Generalized Langevin process approach and simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schenck, Natalya A.; Horvath, Philip A.; Sinha, Amit K.

2018-02-01

While the literature on price discovery process and information flow between dominant and satellite market is exhaustive, most studies have applied an approach that can be traced back to Hasbrouck (1995) or Gonzalo and Granger (1995). In this paper, however, we propose a Generalized Langevin process with asymmetric double-well potential function, with co-integrated time series and interconnected diffusion processes to model the information flow and price discovery process in two, a dominant and a satellite, interconnected markets. A simulated illustration of the model is also provided.

Knowledge Discovery for Transonic Regional-Jet Wing through Multidisciplinary Design Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiba, Kazuhisa; Obayashi, Shigeru; Morino, Hiroyuki

Data mining is an important facet of solving multi-objective optimization problem. Because it is one of the effective manner to discover the design knowledge in the multi-objective optimization problem which obtains large data. In the present study, data mining has been performed for a large-scale and real-world multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) to provide knowledge regarding the design space. The MDO among aerodynamics, structures, and aeroelasticity of the regional-jet wing was carried out using high-fidelity evaluation models on the adaptive range multi-objective genetic algorithm. As a result, nine non-dominated solutions were generated and used for tradeoff analysis among three objectives. All solutions evaluated during the evolution were analyzed for the tradeoffs and influence of design variables using a self-organizing map to extract key features of the design space. Although the MDO results showed the inverted gull-wings as non-dominated solutions, one of the key features found by data mining was the non-gull wing geometry. When this knowledge was applied to one optimum solution, the resulting design was found to have better performance compared with the original geometry designed in the conventional manner.

Function-driven discovery of disease genes in zebrafish using an integrated genomics big data resource.

PubMed

Shim, Hongseok; Kim, Ji Hyun; Kim, Chan Yeong; Hwang, Sohyun; Kim, Hyojin; Yang, Sunmo; Lee, Ji Eun; Lee, Insuk

2016-11-16

Whole exome sequencing (WES) accelerates disease gene discovery using rare genetic variants, but further statistical and functional evidence is required to avoid false-discovery. To complement variant-driven disease gene discovery, here we present function-driven disease gene discovery in zebrafish (Danio rerio), a promising human disease model owing to its high anatomical and genomic similarity to humans. To facilitate zebrafish-based function-driven disease gene discovery, we developed a genome-scale co-functional network of zebrafish genes, DanioNet (www.inetbio.org/danionet), which was constructed by Bayesian integration of genomics big data. Rigorous statistical assessment confirmed the high prediction capacity of DanioNet for a wide variety of human diseases. To demonstrate the feasibility of the function-driven disease gene discovery using DanioNet, we predicted genes for ciliopathies and performed experimental validation for eight candidate genes. We also validated the existence of heterozygous rare variants in the candidate genes of individuals with ciliopathies yet not in controls derived from the UK10K consortium, suggesting that these variants are potentially involved in enhancing the risk of ciliopathies. These results showed that an integrated genomics big data for a model animal of diseases can expand our opportunity for harnessing WES data in disease gene discovery. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

7 CFR 283.12 - Discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... and shall be subject to cross-examination. Objections to questions or documents shall be in the short... require the introduction of any other part which is relevant be considered with the part introduced, and...

Chiron and the Centaurs: Escapees from the Kuiper Belt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stern, Alan; Campins, Humberto

1996-01-01

The outer Solar System has long appeared to be a largely empty place, inhabited only by the four giant planets, Pluto and a transient population of comets. In 1977 however, a faint and enigmatic object - 2060 Chiron - was discovered moving on a moderately inclined, strongly chaotic 51-year orbit which takes it from just inside Saturn's orbit out almost as far as that of Uranus. It was not initially clear from where Chiron originated. these objects become temporarily trapped on Centaur-like orbits Following Chiron's discovery, almost 15 years elapsed before other similar objects were discovered; five more have now been identified. Based on the detection statistics implied by these discoveries, it has become clear that these objects belong to a significant population of several hundred (or possibly several thousand) large icy bodies moving on relatively short-lived orbits between the giant planets. This new class of objects, known collectively as the Centaurs, are intermediate in diameter between typical comets (1-20 km) and small icy planets such as Pluto (approx. 2,300 km) and Triton (approx. 2,700 km). Although the Centaurs are interesting in their own right, they have taken on added significance following the recognition that they most probably originated in the ancient reservoir of comets and larger objects located beyond the orbit of Neptune known as the Kuiper belt.

Two Long-Term Intermittent Pulsars Discovered in the PALFA Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyne, A. G.; Stappers, B. W.; Freire, P. C. C.; Hessels, J. W. T.; Kaspi, V. M.; Allen, B.; Bogdanov, S.; Brazier, A.; Camilo, F.; Cardoso, F.; Chatterjee, S.; Cordes, J. M.; Crawford, F.; Deneva, J. S.; Ferdman, R. D.; Jenet, F. A.; Knispel, B.; Lazarus, P.; van Leeuwen, J.; Lynch, R.; Madsen, E.; McLaughlin, M. A.; Parent, E.; Patel, C.; Ransom, S. M.; Scholz, P.; Seymour, A.; Siemens, X.; Spitler, L. G.; Stairs, I. H.; Stovall, K.; Swiggum, J.; Wharton, R. S.; Zhu, W. W.

2017-01-01

We report the discovery of two long-term intermittent radio pulsars in the ongoing Pulsar Arecibo L-Band Feed Array survey. Following discovery with the Arecibo Telescope, extended observations of these pulsars over several years at Jodrell Bank Observatory have revealed the details of their rotation and radiation properties. PSRs J1910+0517 and J1929+1357 show long-term extreme bimodal intermittency, switching between active (ON) and inactive (OFF) emission states and indicating the presence of a large, hitherto unrecognized underlying population of such objects. For PSR J1929+1357, the initial duty cycle was fON = 0.008, but two years later, this changed quite abruptly to fON = 0.16. This is the first time that a significant evolution in the activity of an intermittent pulsar has been seen, and we show that the spin-down rate of the pulsar is proportional to the activity. The spin-down rate of PSR J1929+1357 is increased by a factor of 1.8 when it is in active mode, similar to the increase seen in the other three known long-term intermittent pulsars. These discoveries increase the number of known pulsars displaying long-term intermittency to five. These five objects display a remarkably narrow range of spin-down power (\\dot{E} ˜ {10}32 {erg} {{{s}}}-1) and accelerating potential above their polar caps. If confirmed by further discoveries, this trend might be important for understanding the physical mechanisms that cause intermittency.

Project Integration Architecture as a Foundation for Autonomous Solution Systems: The Postulation of a Meaningful "SolveYourself" Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, William Henry

2005-01-01

The Project Integration Architecture (PIA) uses object-oriented technology to implement self-revelation and semantic infusion through class derivation. That is, the kind of an object can be discovered through program inquiry and the well-known, well-defined meaning of that object can be utilized as a result of that discovery. This technology has already been demonstrated by the PIA effort in its parameter object classes. It is proposed that, by building on this technology, an autonomous, automatic, goal-seeking, solution system may be devised.

Novel opportunities for computational biology and sociology in drug discovery☆

PubMed Central

Yao, Lixia; Evans, James A.; Rzhetsky, Andrey

2013-01-01

Current drug discovery is impossible without sophisticated modeling and computation. In this review we outline previous advances in computational biology and, by tracing the steps involved in pharmaceutical development, explore a range of novel, high-value opportunities for computational innovation in modeling the biological process of disease and the social process of drug discovery. These opportunities include text mining for new drug leads, modeling molecular pathways and predicting the efficacy of drug cocktails, analyzing genetic overlap between diseases and predicting alternative drug use. Computation can also be used to model research teams and innovative regions and to estimate the value of academy–industry links for scientific and human benefit. Attention to these opportunities could promise punctuated advance and will complement the well-established computational work on which drug discovery currently relies. PMID:20349528

Glass Vision 3D: Digital Discovery for the Deaf

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parton, Becky Sue

2017-01-01

Glass Vision 3D was a grant-funded project focused on developing and researching a Google Glass app that would allowed young Deaf children to look at the QR code of an object in the classroom and see an augmented reality projection that displays an American Sign Language (ASL) related video. Twenty five objects and videos were prepared and tested…

On the Detectability of Interstellar Objects Like 1I/'Oumuamua

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ragozzine, Darin

2018-04-01

Almost since Oort's 1950 hypothesis of a tenuously bound cloud of comets, planetary formation theorists have realized that the process of planet formation must have ejected very large numbers of planetesimals into interstellar space. Unforunately, these objects are distributed over galactic volumes, while they are only likely to be detectable if they pass within a few AU of Earth, resulting in an incredibly sparse detectable population. Furthermore, hypotheses for the formation and distribution of these bodies allows for uncertainties of orders of magnitude in the expected detection rate: our analysis suggested LSST would discover 0.01-100 objects during its lifetime (Cook et al. 2016). The discovery of 1I/'Oumuamua by a survey less powerful that LSST indicates either a low probability event and/or that properties of this population are on the more favorable end of the spectrum. We revisit the detailed detection analysis of Cook et al. 2016 in light of the detection of 1I/'Oumuamua. We use these results to better understand 1I/'Oumuamua and to update our assessment of future detections of interstellar objects. We highlight some key questions that can be answered only by additional discoveries.

The effect of discovery learning and problem-based learning on middle school students’ self-regulated learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miatun, A.; Muntazhimah

2018-01-01

The aim of this research was to determine the effect of learning models on mathematics achievement viewed from student’s self-regulated learning. The learning model compared were discovery learning and problem-based learning. The population was all students at the grade VIII of Junior High School in Boyolali regency. The samples were students of SMPN 4 Boyolali, SMPN 6 Boyolali, and SMPN 4 Mojosongo. The instruments used were mathematics achievement tests and self-regulated learning questionnaire. The data were analyzed using unbalanced two-ways Anova. The conclusion was as follows: (1) discovery learning gives better achievement than problem-based learning. (2) Achievement of students who have high self-regulated learning was better than students who have medium and low self-regulated learning. (3) For discovery learning, achievement of students who have high self-regulated learning was better than students who have medium and low self-regulated learning. For problem-based learning, students who have high and medium self-regulated learning have the same achievement. (4) For students who have high self-regulated learning, discovery learning gives better achievement than problem-based learning. Students who have medium and low self-regulated learning, both learning models give the same achievement.

Digital Dinosaur Discoveries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pittman, Kim

1997-01-01

Presents an activity with the objective that students apply and integrate what they learn about classification, food webs, and paleontology to the creation of a scientifically sound ecosystem. Students read and discuss literature selections during the unit. (DDR)

Teaching Tip: Using Rapid Game Prototyping for Exploring Requirements Discovery and Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalal, Nikunj

2012-01-01

We describe the use of rapid game prototyping as a pedagogic technique to experientially explore and learn requirements discovery, modeling, and specification in systems analysis and design courses. Students have a natural interest in gaming that transcends age, gender, and background. Rapid digital game creation is used to build computer games…

The development of high-content screening (HCS) technology and its importance to drug discovery.

PubMed

Fraietta, Ivan; Gasparri, Fabio

2016-01-01

High-content screening (HCS) was introduced about twenty years ago as a promising analytical approach to facilitate some critical aspects of drug discovery. Its application has spread progressively within the pharmaceutical industry and academia to the point that it today represents a fundamental tool in supporting drug discovery and development. Here, the authors review some of significant progress in the HCS field in terms of biological models and assay readouts. They highlight the importance of high-content screening in drug discovery, as testified by its numerous applications in a variety of therapeutic areas: oncology, infective diseases, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. They also dissect the role of HCS technology in different phases of the drug discovery pipeline: target identification, primary compound screening, secondary assays, mechanism of action studies and in vitro toxicology. Recent advances in cellular assay technologies, such as the introduction of three-dimensional (3D) cultures, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and genome editing technologies (e.g., CRISPR/Cas9), have tremendously expanded the potential of high-content assays to contribute to the drug discovery process. Increasingly predictive cellular models and readouts, together with the development of more sophisticated and affordable HCS readers, will further consolidate the role of HCS technology in drug discovery.

Strategies for discovery and optimization of thermoelectric materials: Role of real objects and local fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hao; Xiao, Chong

2018-06-01

Thermoelectric materials provide a renewable and eco-friendly solution to mitigate energy shortages and to reduce environmental pollution via direct heat-to-electricity conversion. Discovery of the novel thermoelectric materials and optimization of the state-of-the-art material systems lie at the core of the thermoelectric society, the basic concept behind these being comprehension and manipulation of the physical principles and transport properties regarding thermoelectric materials. In this mini-review, certain examples for designing high-performance bulk thermoelectric materials are presented from the perspectives of both real objects and local fields. The highlights of this topic involve the Rashba effect, Peierls distortion, local magnetic field, and local stress field, which cover several aspects in the field of thermoelectric research. We conclude with an overview of future developments in thermoelectricity.

Computer-Aided Drug Discovery: Molecular Docking of Diminazene Ligands to DNA Minor Groove

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kholod, Yana; Hoag, Erin; Muratore, Katlynn; Kosenkov, Dmytro

2018-01-01

The reported project-based laboratory unit introduces upper-division undergraduate students to the basics of computer-aided drug discovery as a part of a computational chemistry laboratory course. The students learn to perform model binding of organic molecules (ligands) to the DNA minor groove with computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) tools. The…

Zebrafish xenograft models of cancer and metastasis for drug discovery.

PubMed

Brown, Hannah K; Schiavone, Kristina; Tazzyman, Simon; Heymann, Dominique; Chico, Timothy Ja

2017-04-01

Patients with metastatic cancer suffer the highest rate of cancer-related death, but existing animal models of metastasis have disadvantages that limit our ability to understand this process. The zebrafish is increasingly used for cancer modelling, particularly xenografting of human cancer cell lines, and drug discovery, and may provide novel scientific and therapeutic insights. However, this model system remains underexploited. Areas covered: The authors discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the zebrafish xenograft model for the study of cancer, metastasis and drug discovery. They summarise previous work investigating the metastatic cascade, such as tumour-induced angiogenesis, intravasation, extravasation, dissemination and homing, invasion at secondary sites, assessing metastatic potential and evaluation of cancer stem cells in zebrafish. Expert opinion: The practical advantages of zebrafish for basic biological study and drug discovery are indisputable. However, their ability to sufficiently reproduce and predict the behaviour of human cancer and metastasis remains unproven. For this to be resolved, novel mechanisms must to be discovered in zebrafish that are subsequently validated in humans, and for therapeutic interventions that modulate cancer favourably in zebrafish to successfully translate to human clinical studies. In the meantime, more work is required to establish the most informative methods in zebrafish.

A neural model of figure-ground organization.

PubMed

Craft, Edward; Schütze, Hartmut; Niebur, Ernst; von der Heydt, Rüdiger

2007-06-01

Psychophysical studies suggest that figure-ground organization is a largely autonomous process that guides--and thus precedes--allocation of attention and object recognition. The discovery of border-ownership representation in single neurons of early visual cortex has confirmed this view. Recent theoretical studies have demonstrated that border-ownership assignment can be modeled as a process of self-organization by lateral interactions within V2 cortex. However, the mechanism proposed relies on propagation of signals through horizontal fibers, which would result in increasing delays of the border-ownership signal with increasing size of the visual stimulus, in contradiction with experimental findings. It also remains unclear how the resulting border-ownership representation would interact with attention mechanisms to guide further processing. Here we present a model of border-ownership coding based on dedicated neural circuits for contour grouping that produce border-ownership assignment and also provide handles for mechanisms of selective attention. The results are consistent with neurophysiological and psychophysical findings. The model makes predictions about the hypothetical grouping circuits and the role of feedback between cortical areas.

Phenomenology of the Higgs sector of a Dimension-7 Neutrino Mass Generation Mechanism

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

Ghosh, Tathagata; Jana, Sudip; Nandi, S.

In this paper, we revisit the dimension-7 neutrino mass generation mechanism based on the addition of an isospinmore » $3/2$ scalar quadruplet and two vector-like iso-triplet leptons to the standard model. We discuss the LHC phenomenology of the charged scalars of this model, complemented by the electroweak precision and lepton flavor violation constraints. We pay particular attention to the triply charged and doubly charged components. We focus on the same-sign-tri-lepton signatures originating from the triply-charged scalars and find a discovery reach of 600 - 950 GeV at 3 ab$$^{-1}$$ of integrated luminosity at the LHC. On the other hand, doubly charged Higgs has been an object of collider searches for a long time, and we show how the present bounds on its mass depend on the particle spectrum of the theory. Strong constraint on the model parameter space can arise from the measured decay rate of the Standard Model Higgs to a pair of photons as well.« less

Modelling and enhanced molecular dynamics to steer structure-based drug discovery.

PubMed

Kalyaanamoorthy, Subha; Chen, Yi-Ping Phoebe

2014-05-01

The ever-increasing gap between the availabilities of the genome sequences and the crystal structures of proteins remains one of the significant challenges to the modern drug discovery efforts. The knowledge of structure-dynamics-functionalities of proteins is important in order to understand several key aspects of structure-based drug discovery, such as drug-protein interactions, drug binding and unbinding mechanisms and protein-protein interactions. This review presents a brief overview on the different state of the art computational approaches that are applied for protein structure modelling and molecular dynamics simulations of biological systems. We give an essence of how different enhanced sampling molecular dynamics approaches, together with regular molecular dynamics methods, assist in steering the structure based drug discovery processes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discovery and first models of the quadruply lensed quasar SDSS J1433+6007

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agnello, Adriano; Grillo, Claudio; Jones, Tucker; Treu, Tommaso; Bonamigo, Mario; Suyu, Sherry H.

2018-03-01

We report the discovery of the quadruply lensed quasar SDSS J1433+6007 (RA = 14:33:22.8, Dec. = +60:07:13.44), mined in the SDSS DR12 photometric catalogues using a novel outlier-selection technique, without prior spectroscopic or ultraviolet excess information. Discovery data obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope (La Palma) show nearly identical quasar spectra at zs = 2.737 ± 0.003 and four quasar images in a fold configuration, one of which sits on a blue arc, with maximum separation 3.6 arcsec. The deflector redshift is zl = 0.407 ± 0.002, from Keck-ESI spectra. We describe the selection procedure, discovery and follow-up, image positions and BVRi magnitudes, and first results and forecasts from lens model fit to the relative image positions.

Gamma-Ray Bursts: Characteristics and Prospects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azzam, W. J.; Zitouni, H.; Guessoum, N.

2017-06-01

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful explosions in the universe. They have remained the object of intense research ever since their discovery was declassified in the early 1970s. Several space-borne missions have been dedicated to their study, including the Compton Gamma-Ray Burst Observatory (CGRO) in the 1990s and the current Swift and Fermi satellites. However, despite several decades of focused research, the precise mechanisms behind these enigmatic explosions have not been fully established. In the first part of this paper, we review what is currently known about GRBs. This includes: GRB light-curves and spectra; the different progenitor models, i.e., the "collapsar" and "merger" models; and the afterglow characteristics, including external shocks and the surrounding medium. In the second part of the paper, we present our work, which focuses on utilizing GRBs as cosmological probes. GRBs are ideal cosmological tools, because they have been observed to great distances (redshifts up to z = 9.4) and their radiation is unencumbered by any intervening dust. Although GRBs are not standard candles, the discovery of several energy and luminosity correlations, like the Amati relation which correlates the intrinsic spectral peak energy, Ep,i to the equivalent isotropic energy, Eiso , has ushered in a new era in which GRBs are used to investigate cosmological issues like the star formation rate and the value of the matter-density parameter, ΩM.

Ground-based characterization of Eurybates and Orus, two fly-by targets of the Lucy Discovery mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mottola, Stefano; Marchi, Simone; Buie, Marc W.; Hellmich, Stephan; Di Martino, Mario; Proffe, Gerrit; Levison, Harold F.; Zangari, Amanda Marie

2016-10-01

Lucy is a proposed NASA Discovery mission designed to perform close fly-bys with six Jupiter Trojan asteroids. The mission, which is currently in the Phase A development phase, is planned to launch in 2021 and arrive at the Trojan L4 cloud in 2027.We report on ground-based light curve observations of two of Lucy's fly-by target candidates: (3548) Eurybates and (21900) Orus. The goal is to characterize their shape, spin state and photometric properties both to aid in the planning of the mission, and to complement the space-borne data.Each object has been observed over 5 apparitions in a wide range of geocentric ecliptic longitudes. Shape and spin state modeling was performed by using the convex shape inversion method (Kaasalainen, Mottola & Fulchignoni, 2002). Eurybates is a retrograde rotator with a sidereal rotation Psid=8.702724±0.000009 h. It has a moderately elongated shape with equivalent axial ratios a/b=1.08, b/c=1.16. No obvious signs of global non-convexities and/or albedo variegation are detected in its light curves. Orus is also a retrograde rotator with a period Psid=13.48617±0.00007 h. Its approximate axial ratios are a/b=1.14, b/c=1.12. The presence of a large, planar facet in the proximity of the model's North Pole suggests the presence of a large polar crater.

Drug discovery in prostate cancer mouse models.

PubMed

Valkenburg, Kenneth C; Pienta, Kenneth J

2015-01-01

The mouse is an important, though imperfect, organism with which to model human disease and to discover and test novel drugs in a preclinical setting. Many experimental strategies have been used to discover new biological and molecular targets in the mouse, with the hopes of translating these discoveries into novel drugs to treat prostate cancer in humans. Modeling prostate cancer in the mouse, however, has been challenging, and often drugs that work in mice have failed in human trials. The authors discuss the similarities and differences between mice and men; the types of mouse models that exist to model prostate cancer; practical questions one must ask when using a mouse as a model; and potential reasons that drugs do not often translate to humans. They also discuss the current value in using mouse models for drug discovery to treat prostate cancer and what needs are still unmet in field. With proper planning and following practical guidelines by the researcher, the mouse is a powerful experimental tool. The field lacks genetically engineered metastatic models, and xenograft models do not allow for the study of the immune system during the metastatic process. There remain several important limitations to discovering and testing novel drugs in mice for eventual human use, but these can often be overcome. Overall, mouse modeling is an essential part of prostate cancer research and drug discovery. Emerging technologies and better and ever-increasing forms of communication are moving the field in a hopeful direction.

Implementation of Augmented Reality Technology in Sangiran Museum with Vuforia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Purnomo, F. A.; Santosa, P. I.; Hartanto, R.; Pratisto, E. H.; Purbayu, A.

2018-03-01

Archaeological object is an evidence of life on ancient relics which has a lifespan of millions years ago. The discovery of this ancient object by the Museum Sangiran then is preserved and protected from potential damage. This research will develop Augmented Reality application for the museum that display a virtual information from ancient object on display. The content includes information as text, audio, and animation of 3D model as a representation of the ancient object. This study emphasizes the 3D Markerless recognition process by using Vuforia Augmented Reality (AR) system so that visitor can access the exhibition objects through different viewpoints. Based on the test result, by registering image target with 25o angle interval, 3D markerless keypoint feature can be detected with different viewpoint. The device must meet minimal specifications of Dual Core 1.2 GHz processor, GPU Power VR SG5X, 8 MP auto focus camera and 1 GB of memory to run the application. The average success of the AR application detects object in museum exhibition to 3D Markerless with a single view by 40%, Markerless multiview by 86% (for angle 0° - 180°) and 100% (for angle 0° - 360°). Application detection distance is between 23 cm and up to 540 cm with the response time to detect 3D Markerless has 12 seconds in average.

How tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella spp) and common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) align objects to surfaces: Insights into spatial reasoning and implications for tool use

PubMed Central

Fragaszy, Dorothy M.; Stone, Brian; Scott, Nicole M.; Menzel, Charles

2011-01-01

This report addresses phylogenetic variation in a spatial skill that underlies tool use: aligning objects to a feature of a surface. Fragaszy and Cummins-Sebree’s [2005] model of relational spatial reasoning and Skill Development and Perception-Action theories guided the design of the study. We examined how capuchins and chimpanzees place stick objects of varying shapes into matching grooves on a flat surface. Although most individuals aligned the long axis of the object with the matching groove more often than expected by chance, all typically did so with poor precision. Some individuals managed to align a second feature, and only one (a capuchin monkey) achieved above-chance success at aligning three features with matching grooves. Our findings suggest that capuchins and chimpanzees do not reliably align objects along even one axis, and that neither species can reliably or easily master object placement tasks that require managing two or more spatial relations concurrently. Moreover, they did not systematically vary their behavior in a manner that would aid discovery of the affordances of the stick-surface combination beyond sliding the stick along the surface (which may have provided haptic information about the location of the groove). These limitations have profound consequences for the forms of tool use we can expect these individuals to master. PMID:21608008

Compound scale-up at the discovery-development interface.

PubMed

Nikitenko, Antonia A

2006-11-01

As a result of an economically challenging environment within the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical companies and their departments must increase productivity and cut costs to stay in line with the market. Discovery-led departments such as the medicinal chemistry and lead optimization groups focus on synthesizing large varieties of compounds in minimal amounts, while the chemical development groups must then deliver a few chosen leads employing an optimized synthesis method and using multi-kilogram quantities of material. A research group at the discovery-development interface has the task of medium-scale synthesis which is important in the lead selection stage. The primary objective of this group is the initial scale-up of promising leads for extensive physicochemical and biological testing. The challenge of the interface group involves overcoming synthetic issues within the rigid, accelerated timelines.

The Semanticscience Integrated Ontology (SIO) for biomedical research and knowledge discovery

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The Semanticscience Integrated Ontology (SIO) is an ontology to facilitate biomedical knowledge discovery. SIO features a simple upper level comprised of essential types and relations for the rich description of arbitrary (real, hypothesized, virtual, fictional) objects, processes and their attributes. SIO specifies simple design patterns to describe and associate qualities, capabilities, functions, quantities, and informational entities including textual, geometrical, and mathematical entities, and provides specific extensions in the domains of chemistry, biology, biochemistry, and bioinformatics. SIO provides an ontological foundation for the Bio2RDF linked data for the life sciences project and is used for semantic integration and discovery for SADI-based semantic web services. SIO is freely available to all users under a creative commons by attribution license. See website for further information: http://sio.semanticscience.org. PMID:24602174

100 years of Drosophila research and its impact on vertebrate neuroscience: a history lesson for the future.

PubMed

Bellen, Hugo J; Tong, Chao; Tsuda, Hiroshi

2010-07-01

Discoveries in fruit flies have greatly contributed to our understanding of neuroscience. The use of an unparalleled wealth of tools, many of which originated between 1910–1960, has enabled milestone discoveries in nervous system development and function. Such findings have triggered and guided many research efforts in vertebrate neuroscience. After 100 years, fruit flies continue to be the choice model system for many neuroscientists. The combinational use of powerful research tools will ensure that this model organism will continue to lead to key discoveries that will impact vertebrate neuroscience.

Computational neuropharmacology: dynamical approaches in drug discovery.

PubMed

Aradi, Ildiko; Erdi, Péter

2006-05-01

Computational approaches that adopt dynamical models are widely accepted in basic and clinical neuroscience research as indispensable tools with which to understand normal and pathological neuronal mechanisms. Although computer-aided techniques have been used in pharmaceutical research (e.g. in structure- and ligand-based drug design), the power of dynamical models has not yet been exploited in drug discovery. We suggest that dynamical system theory and computational neuroscience--integrated with well-established, conventional molecular and electrophysiological methods--offer a broad perspective in drug discovery and in the search for novel targets and strategies for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases.

100 years of Drosophila research and its impact on vertebrate neuroscience: a history lesson for the future

PubMed Central

Bellen, Hugo J; Tong, Chao; Tsuda, Hiroshi

2014-01-01

Discoveries in fruit flies have greatly contributed to our understanding of neuroscience. The use of an unparalleled wealth of tools, many of which originated between 1910–1960, has enabled milestone discoveries in nervous system development and function. Such findings have triggered and guided many research efforts in vertebrate neuroscience. After 100 years, fruit flies continue to be the choice model system for many neuroscientists. The combinational use of powerful research tools will ensure that this model organism will continue to lead to key discoveries that will impact vertebrate neuroscience. PMID:20383202

Comparison: Discovery on WSMOLX and miAamics/jABC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubczak, Christian; Vitvar, Tomas; Winkler, Christian; Zaharia, Raluca; Zaremba, Maciej

This chapter compares the solutions to the SWS-Challenge discovery problems provided by DERI Galway and the joint solution from the Technical University of Dortmund and University of Postdam. The two approaches are described in depth in Chapters 10 and 13. The discovery scenario raises problems associated with making service discovery an automated process. It requires fine-grained specifications of search requests and service functionality including support for fetching dynamic information during the discovery process (e.g., shipment price). Both teams utilize semantics to describe services, service requests and data models in order to enable search at the required fine-grained level of detail.

Discovery of a new blue quasar: SDSS J022218.03-062511.1

DOE PAGES

Fix, Mees B.; Smith, J. Allyn; Tucker, Douglas L.; ...

2015-07-29

We report the discovery of a bright blue quasar: SDSS J022218.03–062511.1. This object was discovered spectroscopically while searching for hot white dwarfs that may be used as calibration sources for large sky surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project. In addition, we present the calibrated spectrum, spectral line shifts and report a redshift of z = 0.521 ± 0.0015 and a rest-frame g-band luminosity of 8.71 × 10 11 L ⊙.

Overview of Petroleum Settings in Deep Waters of the Brazilian South Atlantic Margin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anjos, Sylvia; Penteado, Henrique; Oliveira, Carlos M. M.

2015-04-01

The objective of this work is to present an overall view of the tectonic and stratigraphic evolution of the western South Atlantic with focus on the Brazilian marginal basins. It includes the structural evolution, stratigraphic sequences, depositional environments and petroleum systems model along the Brazilian marginal basins. In addition, a description of the main petroleum provinces and selected plays including the pre-salt carbonates and post-salt turbidite reservoirs is presented. Source-rock ages and types, trap styles, main reservoir characteristics, petroleum compositions, and recent exploration results are discussed. Finally, an outlook and general assessment of the impact of the large pre-salt discoveries on the present-day and future production curves are given.

Optimizing oncology therapeutics through quantitative translational and clinical pharmacology: challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Venkatakrishnan, K; Friberg, L E; Ouellet, D; Mettetal, J T; Stein, A; Trocóniz, I F; Bruno, R; Mehrotra, N; Gobburu, J; Mould, D R

2015-01-01

Despite advances in biomedical research that have deepened our understanding of cancer hallmarks, resulting in the discovery and development of targeted therapies, the success rates of oncology drug development remain low. Opportunities remain for objective dose selection informed by exposure-response understanding to optimize the benefit-risk balance of novel therapies for cancer patients. This review article discusses the principles and applications of modeling and simulation approaches across the lifecycle of development of oncology therapeutics. Illustrative examples are used to convey the value gained from integration of quantitative clinical pharmacology strategies from the preclinical-translational phase through confirmatory clinical evaluation of efficacy and safety. © 2014 American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Planets around pulsars - Implications for planetary formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bodenheimer, Peter

1993-01-01

Data on planets around pulsars are summarized, and different models intended to explain the formation mechanism are described. Both theoretical and observational evidence suggest that very special circumstances are required for the formation of planetary systems around pulsars, namely, the prior presence of a millisecond pulsar with a close binary companion, probably a low mass main-sequence star. It is concluded that the discovery of two planets around PSR 1257+12 is important for better understanding the problems of dynamics and stellar evolution. The process of planetary formation should be learned through intensive studies of the properties of disks near young objects and application of techniques for detection of planets around main-sequence solar-type stars.

A Knowledge Discovery framework for Planetary Defense

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Y.; Yang, C. P.; Li, Y.; Yu, M.; Bambacus, M.; Seery, B.; Barbee, B.

2016-12-01

Planetary Defense, a project funded by NASA Goddard and the NSF, is a multi-faceted effort focused on the mitigation of Near Earth Object (NEO) threats to our planet. Currently, there exists a dispersion of information concerning NEO's amongst different organizations and scientists, leading to a lack of a coherent system of information to be used for efficient NEO mitigation. In this paper, a planetary defense knowledge discovery engine is proposed to better assist the development and integration of a NEO responding system. Specifically, we have implemented an organized information framework by two means: 1) the development of a semantic knowledge base, which provides a structure for relevant information. It has been developed by the implementation of web crawling and natural language processing techniques, which allows us to collect and store the most relevant structured information on a regular basis. 2) the development of a knowledge discovery engine, which allows for the efficient retrieval of information from our knowledge base. The knowledge discovery engine has been built on the top of Elasticsearch, an open source full-text search engine, as well as cutting-edge machine learning ranking and recommendation algorithms. This proposed framework is expected to advance the knowledge discovery and innovation in planetary science domain.

Challenges in Biomarker Discovery: Combining Expert Insights with Statistical Analysis of Complex Omics Data

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

McDermott, Jason E.; Wang, Jing; Mitchell, Hugh D.

2013-01-01

The advent of high throughput technologies capable of comprehensive analysis of genes, transcripts, proteins and other significant biological molecules has provided an unprecedented opportunity for the identification of molecular markers of disease processes. However, it has simultaneously complicated the problem of extracting meaningful signatures of biological processes from these complex datasets. The process of biomarker discovery and characterization provides opportunities both for purely statistical and expert knowledge-based approaches and would benefit from improved integration of the two. Areas covered In this review we will present examples of current practices for biomarker discovery from complex omic datasets and the challenges thatmore » have been encountered. We will then present a high-level review of data-driven (statistical) and knowledge-based methods applied to biomarker discovery, highlighting some current efforts to combine the two distinct approaches. Expert opinion Effective, reproducible and objective tools for combining data-driven and knowledge-based approaches to biomarker discovery and characterization are key to future success in the biomarker field. We will describe our recommendations of possible approaches to this problem including metrics for the evaluation of biomarkers.« less

Building more realistic reservoir optimization models using data mining - A case study of Shelbyville Reservoir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hejazi, Mohamad I.; Cai, Ximing

2011-06-01

In this paper, we promote a novel approach to develop reservoir operation routines by learning from historical hydrologic information and reservoir operations. The proposed framework involves a knowledge discovery step to learn the real drivers of reservoir decision making and to subsequently build a more realistic (enhanced) model formulation using stochastic dynamic programming (SDP). The enhanced SDP model is compared to two classic SDP formulations using Lake Shelbyville, a reservoir on the Kaskaskia River in Illinois, as a case study. From a data mining procedure with monthly data, the past month's inflow ( Qt-1 ), current month's inflow ( Qt), past month's release ( Rt-1 ), and past month's Palmer drought severity index ( PDSIt-1 ) are identified as important state variables in the enhanced SDP model for Shelbyville Reservoir. When compared to a weekly enhanced SDP model of the same case study, a different set of state variables and constraints are extracted. Thus different time scales for the model require different information. We demonstrate that adding additional state variables improves the solution by shifting the Pareto front as expected while using new constraints and the correct objective function can significantly reduce the difference between derived policies and historical practices. The study indicates that the monthly enhanced SDP model resembles historical records more closely and yet provides lower expected average annual costs than either of the two classic formulations (25.4% and 4.5% reductions, respectively). The weekly enhanced SDP model is compared to the monthly enhanced SDP, and it shows that acquiring the correct temporal scale is crucial to model reservoir operation for particular objectives.

Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy: A Discovery-Based Activity for the General Chemistry Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borgsmiller, Karen L.; O'Connell, Dylan J.; Klauenberg, Kathryn M.; Wilson, Peter M.; Stromberg, Christopher J.

2012-01-01

A discovery-based method is described for incorporating the concepts of IR and Raman spectroscopy into the general chemistry curriculum. Students use three sets of springs to model the properties of single, double, and triple covalent bonds. Then, Gaussian 03W molecular modeling software is used to illustrate the relationship between bond…

Observations of J002E3: Possible Discovery of an Apollo Rocket Body

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jorgensen, K.; Rivkin, A.; Binzel, R.; Whitely, R.; Hergenrother, C.; Chodas, P.; Chesley, S.; Vilas, F.

2003-05-01

In early September 2002, spectral and photometric observations of J002E3 were made at IRTF and Mt. Biglow in an effort to determine whether the object was an asteroid or a human-made. Early observations yielded a possible spin-rate and orientation. Additional spectral observations were completed in May 2003 at the Air Force Maui Optical Supercomputing (AMOS) site. Through the modeling of common spacecraft materials, the observations of J002E3 show a strong correlation of absorption features to a combination of human-made materials including white paint, black paint, and aluminum. Absorption features in the near IR show a strong correlation with paint containing a titanium-oxide semiconductor. Using the material model and the orbital information, it was concluded that J002E3 is a human-made object from an Apollo rocket upperstage, most likely Apollo 12. In addition, the J002E3 observations were compared to spectral observations of other rocket bodies launched during a similar time and the results agree well. Results from the observations and modeling will be presented. This work has been a collaboration of governmental agencies, education institutions, and amateur astronomers. Funding agencies include National Research Council, NASA JSC, MIT, University of Arizona, and JPL.

DISCOVERY OF VERY HIGH ENERGY gamma-RAYS FROM THE BLAZAR S5 0716+714

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

Anderhub, H.; Biland, A.; Antonelli, L. A.

The MAGIC Collaboration reports the detection of the blazar S5 0716+714 (z = 0.31 +- 0.08) in very high energy gamma rays. The observations were performed in 2007 November and in 2008 April, and were triggered by the Kungliga Vetenskapliga Akademi telescope due to the high optical state of the object. An overall significance of the signal accounts to S = 5.8sigma for 13.1 hr of data. Most of the signal (S = 6.9sigma) comes from the 2008 April data sample during a higher optical state of the object suggesting a possible correlation between the Very High Energy gamma-ray andmore » optical emissions. The differential energy spectrum of the 2008 data sample follows a power law with a photon index of GAMMA = 3.45 +- 0.54{sub stat} +- 0.2{sub syst}, and the integral flux above 400 GeV is at the level of (7.5 +- 2.2{sub stat} +- 2.3{sub syst}) x 10{sup -12} cm{sup -2} s{sup -1}, corresponding to a 9% Crab Nebula flux. Modeling of the broadband spectral energy distribution indicates that a structured jet model appears to be more promising in describing the available data than a simple one-zone synchrotron self-Compton model.« less

On various metrics used for validation of predictive QSAR models with applications in virtual screening and focused library design.

PubMed

Roy, Kunal; Mitra, Indrani

2011-07-01

Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) have important applications in drug discovery research, environmental fate modeling, property prediction, etc. Validation has been recognized as a very important step for QSAR model development. As one of the important objectives of QSAR modeling is to predict activity/property/toxicity of new chemicals falling within the domain of applicability of the developed models and QSARs are being used for regulatory decisions, checking reliability of the models and confidence of their predictions is a very important aspect, which can be judged during the validation process. One prime application of a statistically significant QSAR model is virtual screening for molecules with improved potency based on the pharmacophoric features and the descriptors appearing in the QSAR model. Validated QSAR models may also be utilized for design of focused libraries which may be subsequently screened for the selection of hits. The present review focuses on various metrics used for validation of predictive QSAR models together with an overview of the application of QSAR models in the fields of virtual screening and focused library design for diverse series of compounds with citation of some recent examples.

Patient-derived tumour xenografts for breast cancer drug discovery.

PubMed

Cassidy, John W; Batra, Ankita S; Greenwood, Wendy; Bruna, Alejandra

2016-12-01

Despite remarkable advances in our understanding of the drivers of human malignancies, new targeted therapies often fail to show sufficient efficacy in clinical trials. Indeed, the cost of bringing a new agent to market has risen substantially in the last several decades, in part fuelled by extensive reliance on preclinical models that fail to accurately reflect tumour heterogeneity. To halt unsustainable rates of attrition in the drug discovery process, we must develop a new generation of preclinical models capable of reflecting the heterogeneity of varying degrees of complexity found in human cancers. Patient-derived tumour xenograft (PDTX) models prevail as arguably the most powerful in this regard because they capture cancer's heterogeneous nature. Herein, we review current breast cancer models and their use in the drug discovery process, before discussing best practices for developing a highly annotated cohort of PDTX models. We describe the importance of extensive multidimensional molecular and functional characterisation of models and combination drug-drug screens to identify complex biomarkers of drug resistance and response. We reflect on our own experiences and propose the use of a cost-effective intermediate pharmacogenomic platform (the PDTX-PDTC platform) for breast cancer drug and biomarker discovery. We discuss the limitations and unanswered questions of PDTX models; yet, still strongly envision that their use in basic and translational research will dramatically change our understanding of breast cancer biology and how to more effectively treat it. © 2016 The authors.

Data Prospecting with CORPRAL: Pre-attentive Vision Model at Work

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galkin, I. A.; Reinisch, B. W.; Khmyrov, G. M.; Kozlov, A. V.; Grinstein, J.; Fung, S. F.

2005-12-01

The Cognitive Online Rpi Plasmagram Rating Algorithm (CORPRAL) is the automated data prospecting tool developed to find interesting examples of signal propagation in the 1.2 million plasmagram image archive from the Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) onboard the IMAGE spacecraft. The RPI instrument is a spaceborne radar whose transmitted radio waves may reflect from important magnetospheric structures, such as the plasmapause and the magnetopause, and return to the spacecraft location to be detected. The CORPRAL prospector draws attention of the human analysts to the RPI plasmagrams that contain traces of remote reflections (~18% of all images), thus helping to relieve the search efforts in the otherwise overwhelming RPI data repository. To find the echo traces in plasmagrams, CORPRAL employs a pre-attentive vision model that replicates human ability to identify important objects in the field of view without willful concentration of attention. The importance of such objects is determined by their `saliency', the ability to stand out against the background. The saliency evaluation is done subconsciously, without a priori concepts of the object shape. The RPI imagery dataset providesd an excellent testbed for studies of the model performance on low saliency objects immersed in irregular background noise. The paper discusses results of statistical evaluation of the CORPRAL performance on a collection of ~25,000 plasmagram images interpreted manually. Overall accuracy of plasmagram interpretation varies depending on the applied measuring program but remains in the mid-90% range. As the prevalence of plasmagrams that contain traces goes below 10%, we do observe lower positive predicted values (PPV) of the CORPRAL analysis (~50%), indicating that automatically selected plasmagrams are interesting only with 50% chance. We will discuss future development efforts and provide examples and scenarios where RPI data prospecting is instrumental in knowledge discovery.

Discovery of the Most Ultra-Luminous QSO Using GAIA, SkyMapper, and WISE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolf, Christian; Bian, Fuyan; Onken, Christopher A.; Schmidt, Brian P.; Tisserand, Patrick; Alonzi, Noura; Hon, Wei Jeat; Tonry, John L.

2018-06-01

We report the discovery of the ultra-luminous quasi-stellar object SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 with magnitude z = 16.9 and W4 = 7.42 at redshift 4.75. Given absolute magnitudes of M145, AB = -29.3, M300, AB = -30.12, and logLbol/Lbol, ⊙ = 14.84, it is the quasi-stellar object with the highest unlensed UV-optical luminosity currently known in the Universe. It was found by combining proper-motion data from Gaia DR2 with photometry from SkyMapper DR1 and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. In the GAIA database, it is an isolated single source and thus unlikely to be strongly gravitationally lensed. It is also unlikely to be a beamed source as it is not discovered in the radio domain by either NRAO-VLA Sky Survey or Sydney University Molonglo Southern Survey. It is classed as a weak-emission-line quasi-stellar object and possesses broad absorption line features. A lightcurve from ATLAS spanning the time from 2015 October to 2017 December shows little sign of variability.

3D bioprinting for drug discovery and development in pharmaceutics.

PubMed

Peng, Weijie; Datta, Pallab; Ayan, Bugra; Ozbolat, Veli; Sosnoski, Donna; Ozbolat, Ibrahim T

2017-07-15

Successful launch of a commercial drug requires significant investment of time and financial resources wherein late-stage failures become a reason for catastrophic failures in drug discovery. This calls for infusing constant innovations in technologies, which can give reliable prediction of efficacy, and more importantly, toxicology of the compound early in the drug discovery process before clinical trials. Though computational advances have resulted in more rationale in silico designing, in vitro experimental studies still require gaining industry confidence and improving in vitro-in vivo correlations. In this quest, due to their ability to mimic the spatial and chemical attributes of native tissues, three-dimensional (3D) tissue models have now proven to provide better results for drug screening compared to traditional two-dimensional (2D) models. However, in vitro fabrication of living tissues has remained a bottleneck in realizing the full potential of 3D models. Recent advances in bioprinting provide a valuable tool to fabricate biomimetic constructs, which can be applied in different stages of drug discovery research. This paper presents the first comprehensive review of bioprinting techniques applied for fabrication of 3D tissue models for pharmaceutical studies. A comparative evaluation of different bioprinting modalities is performed to assess the performance and ability of fabricating 3D tissue models for pharmaceutical use as the critical selection of bioprinting modalities indeed plays a crucial role in efficacy and toxicology testing of drugs and accelerates the drug development cycle. In addition, limitations with current tissue models are discussed thoroughly and future prospects of the role of bioprinting in pharmaceutics are provided to the reader. Present advances in tissue biofabrication have crucial role to play in aiding the pharmaceutical development process achieve its objectives. Advent of three-dimensional (3D) models, in particular, is viewed with immense interest by the community due to their ability to mimic in vivo hierarchical tissue architecture and heterogeneous composition. Successful realization of 3D models will not only provide greater in vitro-in vivo correlation compared to the two-dimensional (2D) models, but also eventually replace pre-clinical animal testing, which has their own shortcomings. Amongst all fabrication techniques, bioprinting- comprising all the different modalities (extrusion-, droplet- and laser-based bioprinting), is emerging as the most viable fabrication technique to create the biomimetic tissue constructs. Notwithstanding the interest in bioprinting by the pharmaceutical development researchers, it can be seen that there is a limited availability of comparative literature which can guide the proper selection of bioprinting processes and associated considerations, such as the bioink selection for a particular pharmaceutical study. Thus, this work emphasizes these aspects of bioprinting and presents them in perspective of differential requirements of different pharmaceutical studies like in vitro predictive toxicology, high-throughput screening, drug delivery and tissue-specific efficacies. Moreover, since bioprinting techniques are mostly applied in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, a comparative analysis of similarities and differences are also expounded to help researchers make informed decisions based on contemporary literature. Copyright © 2017 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrating semantic web technologies and geospatial catalog services for geospatial information discovery and processing in cyberinfrastructure

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

Yue, Peng; Gong, Jianya; Di, Liping

Abstract A geospatial catalogue service provides a network-based meta-information repository and interface for advertising and discovering shared geospatial data and services. Descriptive information (i.e., metadata) for geospatial data and services is structured and organized in catalogue services. The approaches currently available for searching and using that information are often inadequate. Semantic Web technologies show promise for better discovery methods by exploiting the underlying semantics. Such development needs special attention from the Cyberinfrastructure perspective, so that the traditional focus on discovery of and access to geospatial data can be expanded to support the increased demand for processing of geospatial information andmore » discovery of knowledge. Semantic descriptions for geospatial data, services, and geoprocessing service chains are structured, organized, and registered through extending elements in the ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM) of a geospatial catalogue service, which follows the interface specifications of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalogue Services for the Web (CSW). The process models for geoprocessing service chains, as a type of geospatial knowledge, are captured, registered, and discoverable. Semantics-enhanced discovery for geospatial data, services/service chains, and process models is described. Semantic search middleware that can support virtual data product materialization is developed for the geospatial catalogue service. The creation of such a semantics-enhanced geospatial catalogue service is important in meeting the demands for geospatial information discovery and analysis in Cyberinfrastructure.« less

Validation of GATE Monte Carlo simulations of the GE Advance/Discovery LS PET scanners.

PubMed

Schmidtlein, C Ross; Kirov, Assen S; Nehmeh, Sadek A; Erdi, Yusuf E; Humm, John L; Amols, Howard I; Bidaut, Luc M; Ganin, Alex; Stearns, Charles W; McDaniel, David L; Hamacher, Klaus A

2006-01-01

The recently developed GATE (GEANT4 application for tomographic emission) Monte Carlo package, designed to simulate positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scanners, provides the ability to model and account for the effects of photon noncollinearity, off-axis detector penetration, detector size and response, positron range, photon scatter, and patient motion on the resolution and quality of PET images. The objective of this study is to validate a model within GATE of the General Electric (GE) Advance/Discovery Light Speed (LS) PET scanner. Our three-dimensional PET simulation model of the scanner consists of 12 096 detectors grouped into blocks, which are grouped into modules as per the vendor's specifications. The GATE results are compared to experimental data obtained in accordance with the National Electrical Manufactures Association/Society of Nuclear Medicine (NEMA/SNM), NEMA NU 2-1994, and NEMA NU 2-2001 protocols. The respective phantoms are also accurately modeled thus allowing us to simulate the sensitivity, scatter fraction, count rate performance, and spatial resolution. In-house software was developed to produce and analyze sinograms from the simulated data. With our model of the GE Advance/Discovery LS PET scanner, the ratio of the sensitivities with sources radially offset 0 and 10 cm from the scanner's main axis are reproduced to within 1% of measurements. Similarly, the simulated scatter fraction for the NEMA NU 2-2001 phantom agrees to within less than 3% of measured values (the measured scatter fractions are 44.8% and 40.9 +/- 1.4% and the simulated scatter fraction is 43.5 +/- 0.3%). The simulated count rate curves were made to match the experimental curves by using deadtimes as fit parameters. This resulted in deadtime values of 625 and 332 ns at the Block and Coincidence levels, respectively. The experimental peak true count rate of 139.0 kcps and the peak activity concentration of 21.5 kBq/cc were matched by the simulated results to within 0.5% and 0.1% respectively. The simulated count rate curves also resulted in a peak NECR of 35.2 kcps at 10.8 kBq/cc compared to 37.6 kcps at 10.0 kBq/cc from averaged experimental values. The spatial resolution of the simulated scanner matched the experimental results to within 0.2 mm.

Few Skewed Disks Found in First Closure-Phase Survey of Herbig Ae/Be Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monnier, J. D.; Berger, J.-P.; Millan-Gabet, R.; Traub, W. A.; Schloerb, F. P.; Pedretti, E.; Benisty, M.; Carleton, N. P.; Haguenauer, P.; Kern, P.; Labeye, P.; Lacasse, M. G.; Malbet, F.; Perraut, K.; Pearlman, M.; Zhao, M.

2006-08-01

Using the three-telescope IOTA interferometer on Mount Hopkins, we report results from the first near-infrared (λ=1.65 μm) closure-phase survey of young stellar objects (YSOs). These closure phases allow us to unambiguously detect departures from centrosymmetry (i.e., skew) in the emission pattern from YSO disks on the scale of ~4 mas, expected from generic ``flared disk'' models. Six of 14 targets showed small, yet statistically significant nonzero closure phases, with largest values from the young binary system MWC 361-A and the (pre-main-sequence?) Be star HD 45677. Our observations are quite sensitive to the vertical structure of the inner disk, and we confront the predictions of the ``puffed-up inner wall'' models of Dullemond, Dominik, & Natta (DDN). Our data support disk models with curved inner rims because the expected emission appears symmetrically distributed around the star over a wide range of inclination angles. In contrast, our results are incompatible with the models possessing vertical inner walls because they predict extreme skewness (i.e., large closure phases) from the near-IR disk emission that is not seen in our data. In addition, we also present the discovery of mysterious H-band ``halos'' (~5%-10% of light on scales 0.01"-0.50") around a few objects, a preliminary ``parametric imaging'' study for HD 45677, and the first astrometric orbit for the young binary MWC 361-A.

Endodontic management of a foreign body.

PubMed

Kalyan, Satish R; Sajjan, Girija

2010-07-01

The discovery of a foreign object embedded in a tooth is relatively uncommon. Some people have a habit of placing foreign objects to remove food plugs from the teeth. However, occasionally, these objects may be lodged in the teeth. These foreign objects may act as a potential source of infection and may later lead to a painful condition. A detailed case history, clinical, and radiographic examination is required to ascertain the size, position, and likely composition of the object, and also difficulty involved in its retrieval. This paper describes the successful retrieval of stapler pin located in the apical portion of root canal by simple orthograde nonsurgical technique.

Endodontic management of a foreign body

PubMed Central

Kalyan, Satish R.; Sajjan, Girija

2010-01-01

The discovery of a foreign object embedded in a tooth is relatively uncommon. Some people have a habit of placing foreign objects to remove food plugs from the teeth. However, occasionally, these objects may be lodged in the teeth. These foreign objects may act as a potential source of infection and may later lead to a painful condition. A detailed case history, clinical, and radiographic examination is required to ascertain the size, position, and likely composition of the object, and also difficulty involved in its retrieval. This paper describes the successful retrieval of stapler pin located in the apical portion of root canal by simple orthograde nonsurgical technique. PMID:22114412

Drug Discovery in Academia- the third way?

PubMed Central

Frearson, Julie; Wyatt, Paul

2010-01-01

As the pharmaceutical industry continues to re-strategise and focus on low-risk, relatively short term gains for the sake of survival, we need to re-invigorate the early stages of drug discovery and rebalance efforts towards novel modes of action therapeutics and neglected genetic and tropical diseases. Academic drug discovery is one model which offers the promise of new approaches and an alternative organisational culture for drug discovery as it attempts to apply academic innovation and thought processes to the challenge of discovering drugs to address real unmet need. PMID:20922062

Advanced Cell Culture Techniques for Cancer Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Lovitt, Carrie J.; Shelper, Todd B.; Avery, Vicky M.

2014-01-01

Human cancer cell lines are an integral part of drug discovery practices. However, modeling the complexity of cancer utilizing these cell lines on standard plastic substrata, does not accurately represent the tumor microenvironment. Research into developing advanced tumor cell culture models in a three-dimensional (3D) architecture that more prescisely characterizes the disease state have been undertaken by a number of laboratories around the world. These 3D cell culture models are particularly beneficial for investigating mechanistic processes and drug resistance in tumor cells. In addition, a range of molecular mechanisms deconstructed by studying cancer cells in 3D models suggest that tumor cells cultured in two-dimensional monolayer conditions do not respond to cancer therapeutics/compounds in a similar manner. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of utilizing 3D cell culture models in drug discovery programs; however, it is evident that further research is required for the development of more complex models that incorporate the majority of the cellular and physical properties of a tumor. PMID:24887773

Advanced cell culture techniques for cancer drug discovery.

PubMed

Lovitt, Carrie J; Shelper, Todd B; Avery, Vicky M

2014-05-30

Human cancer cell lines are an integral part of drug discovery practices. However, modeling the complexity of cancer utilizing these cell lines on standard plastic substrata, does not accurately represent the tumor microenvironment. Research into developing advanced tumor cell culture models in a three-dimensional (3D) architecture that more prescisely characterizes the disease state have been undertaken by a number of laboratories around the world. These 3D cell culture models are particularly beneficial for investigating mechanistic processes and drug resistance in tumor cells. In addition, a range of molecular mechanisms deconstructed by studying cancer cells in 3D models suggest that tumor cells cultured in two-dimensional monolayer conditions do not respond to cancer therapeutics/compounds in a similar manner. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of utilizing 3D cell culture models in drug discovery programs; however, it is evident that further research is required for the development of more complex models that incorporate the majority of the cellular and physical properties of a tumor.

THE FIRST HUNDRED BROWN DWARFS DISCOVERED BY THE WIDE-FIELD INFRARED SURVEY EXPLORER (WISE)

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

Davy Kirkpatrick, J.; Gelino, Christopher R.; Griffith, Roger L.

2011-12-01

We present ground-based spectroscopic verification of 6 Y dwarfs (see also Cushing et al.), 89 T dwarfs, 8 L dwarfs, and 1 M dwarf identified by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Eighty of these are cold brown dwarfs with spectral types {>=}T6, six of which have been announced earlier by Mainzer et al. and Burgasser et al. We present color-color and color-type diagrams showing the locus of M, L, T, and Y dwarfs in WISE color space. Near-infrared and, in a few cases, optical spectra are presented for these discoveries. Near-infrared classifications as late as early Y are presentedmore » and objects with peculiar spectra are discussed. Using these new discoveries, we are also able to extend the optical T dwarf classification scheme from T8 to T9. After deriving an absolute WISE 4.6 {mu}m (W2) magnitude versus spectral type relation, we estimate spectrophotometric distances to our discoveries. We also use available astrometric measurements to provide preliminary trigonometric parallaxes to four of our discoveries, which have types of L9 pec (red), T8, T9, and Y0; all of these lie within 10 pc of the Sun. The Y0 dwarf, WISE 1541-2250, is the closest at 2.8{sup +1.3}{sub -0.6} pc; if this 2.8 pc value persists after continued monitoring, WISE 1541-2250 will become the seventh closest stellar system to the Sun. Another 10 objects, with types between T6 and >Y0, have spectrophotometric distance estimates also placing them within 10 pc. The closest of these, the T6 dwarf WISE 1506+7027, is believed to fall at a distance of {approx}4.9 pc. WISE multi-epoch positions supplemented with positional info primarily from the Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera allow us to calculate proper motions and tangential velocities for roughly one-half of the new discoveries. This work represents the first step by WISE to complete a full-sky, volume-limited census of late-T and Y dwarfs. Using early results from this census, we present preliminary, lower limits to the space density of these objects and discuss constraints on both the functional form of the mass function and the low-mass limit of star formation.« less

39 CFR 958.12 - Depositions; interrogatories; admission of facts; production and inspection of documents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... limitations on the scope, method, time and place for discovery, and provisions for protecting the secrecy of... designated documents or objects, not privileged, specifically identified, and their relevance and materiality...

MAJOR MERGERS WITH SMALL GALAXIES: THE DISCOVERY OF A MAGELLANIC-TYPE GALAXY AT z = 0.12

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

Koch, Andreas; Frank, Matthias J.; Pasquali, Anna

We report on the serendipitous discovery of a star-forming galaxy at redshift z = 0.116 with morphological features that indicate an ongoing merger. This object exhibits two clearly separated components with significantly different colors, plus a possible tidal stream. Follow-up spectroscopy of the bluer component revealed a low star-forming activity of 0.09 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} and a high metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.6. Based on comparison with mass–star formation-rate and mass–metallicity relations, and on fitting of spectral energy distributions, we obtain a stellar mass of 3 × 10{sup 9} M{sub ⊙}, which renders this object comparable to the Largemore » Magellanic Cloud. Thus our finding provides a further piece of evidence of a major merger already acting on small, dwarf-galaxy-like scales.« less

Rotating Radio Transients and Their Place Among Pulsars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burke-Spolaor, S.

2012-01-01

Six years ago, the discovery of Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs) marked what appeared to be a new type of sparsely-emitting pulsar. Since 2006, more than 70 of these objects have been discovered in single-pulse searches of archival and new surveys. With a continual inflow of new information about the RRAT population in the form of new discoveries, multi-frequency follow ups, coherent timing solutions, and pulse rate statistics, a view is beginning to form of the place in the pulsar population RRATs hold. Here we review the properties of neutron stars discovered through single pulse searches. We first seek to clarify the definition of the term RRAT, emphasising that "the RRAT population" encompasses several phenomenologies. A large subset of RRATs appears to represent the tail of an extended distribution of pulsar nulling fractions and activity cycles; these objects present several key open questions remaining in this field.

HIGH-EFFICIENCY AUTONOMOUS LASER ADAPTIVE OPTICS

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

Baranec, Christoph; Riddle, Reed; Tendulkar, Shriharsh

2014-07-20

As new large-scale astronomical surveys greatly increase the number of objects targeted and discoveries made, the requirement for efficient follow-up observations is crucial. Adaptive optics imaging, which compensates for the image-blurring effects of Earth's turbulent atmosphere, is essential for these surveys, but the scarcity, complexity and high demand of current systems limit their availability for following up large numbers of targets. To address this need, we have engineered and implemented Robo-AO, a fully autonomous laser adaptive optics and imaging system that routinely images over 200 objects per night with an acuity 10 times sharper at visible wavelengths than typically possible frommore » the ground. By greatly improving the angular resolution, sensitivity, and efficiency of 1-3 m class telescopes, we have eliminated a major obstacle in the follow-up of the discoveries from current and future large astronomical surveys.« less

Providing data science support for systems pharmacology and its implications to drug discovery.

PubMed

Hart, Thomas; Xie, Lei

2016-01-01

The conventional one-drug-one-target-one-disease drug discovery process has been less successful in tracking multi-genic, multi-faceted complex diseases. Systems pharmacology has emerged as a new discipline to tackle the current challenges in drug discovery. The goal of systems pharmacology is to transform huge, heterogeneous, and dynamic biological and clinical data into interpretable and actionable mechanistic models for decision making in drug discovery and patient treatment. Thus, big data technology and data science will play an essential role in systems pharmacology. This paper critically reviews the impact of three fundamental concepts of data science on systems pharmacology: similarity inference, overfitting avoidance, and disentangling causality from correlation. The authors then discuss recent advances and future directions in applying the three concepts of data science to drug discovery, with a focus on proteome-wide context-specific quantitative drug target deconvolution and personalized adverse drug reaction prediction. Data science will facilitate reducing the complexity of systems pharmacology modeling, detecting hidden correlations between complex data sets, and distinguishing causation from correlation. The power of data science can only be fully realized when integrated with mechanism-based multi-scale modeling that explicitly takes into account the hierarchical organization of biological systems from nucleic acid to proteins, to molecular interaction networks, to cells, to tissues, to patients, and to populations.

Accelerated discovery of metallic glasses through iteration of machine learning and high-throughput experiments

PubMed Central

Wolverton, Christopher; Hattrick-Simpers, Jason; Mehta, Apurva

2018-01-01

With more than a hundred elements in the periodic table, a large number of potential new materials exist to address the technological and societal challenges we face today; however, without some guidance, searching through this vast combinatorial space is frustratingly slow and expensive, especially for materials strongly influenced by processing. We train a machine learning (ML) model on previously reported observations, parameters from physiochemical theories, and make it synthesis method–dependent to guide high-throughput (HiTp) experiments to find a new system of metallic glasses in the Co-V-Zr ternary. Experimental observations are in good agreement with the predictions of the model, but there are quantitative discrepancies in the precise compositions predicted. We use these discrepancies to retrain the ML model. The refined model has significantly improved accuracy not only for the Co-V-Zr system but also across all other available validation data. We then use the refined model to guide the discovery of metallic glasses in two additional previously unreported ternaries. Although our approach of iterative use of ML and HiTp experiments has guided us to rapid discovery of three new glass-forming systems, it has also provided us with a quantitatively accurate, synthesis method–sensitive predictor for metallic glasses that improves performance with use and thus promises to greatly accelerate discovery of many new metallic glasses. We believe that this discovery paradigm is applicable to a wider range of materials and should prove equally powerful for other materials and properties that are synthesis path–dependent and that current physiochemical theories find challenging to predict. PMID:29662953

Accelerated discovery of metallic glasses through iteration of machine learning and high-throughput experiments

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

Ren, Fang; Ward, Logan; Williams, Travis

With more than a hundred elements in the periodic table, a large number of potential new materials exist to address the technological and societal challenges we face today; however, without some guidance, searching through this vast combinatorial space is frustratingly slow and expensive, especially for materials strongly influenced by processing. We train a machine learning (ML) model on previously reported observations, parameters from physiochemical theories, and make it synthesis method–dependent to guide high-throughput (HiTp) experiments to find a new system of metallic glasses in the Co-V-Zr ternary. Experimental observations are in good agreement with the predictions of the model, butmore » there are quantitative discrepancies in the precise compositions predicted. We use these discrepancies to retrain the ML model. The refined model has significantly improved accuracy not only for the Co-V-Zr system but also across all other available validation data. We then use the refined model to guide the discovery of metallic glasses in two additional previously unreported ternaries. Although our approach of iterative use of ML and HiTp experiments has guided us to rapid discovery of three new glass-forming systems, it has also provided us with a quantitatively accurate, synthesis method–sensitive predictor for metallic glasses that improves performance with use and thus promises to greatly accelerate discovery of many new metallic glasses. We believe that this discovery paradigm is applicable to a wider range of materials and should prove equally powerful for other materials and properties that are synthesis path–dependent and that current physiochemical theories find challenging to predict.« less

Accelerated discovery of metallic glasses through iteration of machine learning and high-throughput experiments

DOE PAGES

Ren, Fang; Ward, Logan; Williams, Travis; ...

2018-04-01

With more than a hundred elements in the periodic table, a large number of potential new materials exist to address the technological and societal challenges we face today; however, without some guidance, searching through this vast combinatorial space is frustratingly slow and expensive, especially for materials strongly influenced by processing. We train a machine learning (ML) model on previously reported observations, parameters from physiochemical theories, and make it synthesis method–dependent to guide high-throughput (HiTp) experiments to find a new system of metallic glasses in the Co-V-Zr ternary. Experimental observations are in good agreement with the predictions of the model, butmore » there are quantitative discrepancies in the precise compositions predicted. We use these discrepancies to retrain the ML model. The refined model has significantly improved accuracy not only for the Co-V-Zr system but also across all other available validation data. We then use the refined model to guide the discovery of metallic glasses in two additional previously unreported ternaries. Although our approach of iterative use of ML and HiTp experiments has guided us to rapid discovery of three new glass-forming systems, it has also provided us with a quantitatively accurate, synthesis method–sensitive predictor for metallic glasses that improves performance with use and thus promises to greatly accelerate discovery of many new metallic glasses. We believe that this discovery paradigm is applicable to a wider range of materials and should prove equally powerful for other materials and properties that are synthesis path–dependent and that current physiochemical theories find challenging to predict.« less

Evaluation of the Mycobacterium smegmatis and BCG models for the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis inhibitors.

PubMed

Altaf, Mudassar; Miller, Christopher H; Bellows, David S; O'Toole, Ronan

2010-11-01

The objective of this study was to measure the efficacy of Mycobacterium smegmatis as a surrogate in vitro model for the detection of compounds which are inhibitory to the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A chemical screen of the LOPAC library for anti-mycobacterial compounds was performed using M. smegmatis. Parallel screens were conducted with another tuberculosis model, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, and with M. tuberculosis under identical growth conditions and the inhibitors detected across the three species were compared. 50% of compounds that were detected as active against M. tuberculosis were not detected using M. smegmatis compared to 21% of compounds using M. bovis BCG. To examine whether these findings were unique to LOPAC, screens were performed with the NIH Diversity Set and Spectrum Collection. An even higher proportion of M. tuberculosis inhibitors were not detected from the NIH Diversity Set and Spectrum Collection using M. smegmatis compared to M. bovis BCG. These data reveal that a significant proportion of M. tuberculosis inhibitors are missed in library screening with M. smegmatis. The basis of the variation in the inhibitory profiles of M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis has yet to be fully determined, however, our genomic comparisons indicate that approximately 30% of M. tuberculosis proteins lack conserved orthologues in M. smegmatis compared to 3% being absent in M. bovis BCG. In conclusion, although M. smegmatis offers some technical benefits such as a shorter generation time and negligible risk to laboratory workers, it is significantly less effective in the detection of anti-M. tuberculosis compounds relative to M. bovis BCG. This limitation needs to be taken into consideration when selecting an in vitro screening model for tuberculosis drug discovery. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Approach to Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Biomarker Discovery and Evaluation in HIV Infection

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

Price, Richard W.; Peterson, Julia; Fuchs, Dietmar

2013-12-13

Central nervous system (CNS) infection is a nearly universal facet of systemic HIV infection that varies in character and neurological consequences. While clinical staging and neuropsychological test performance have been helpful in evaluating patients, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers present a valuable and objective approach to more accurate diagnosis, assessment of treatment effects and understanding of evolving pathobiology. We review some lessons from our recent experience with CSF biomarker studies. We have used two approaches to biomarker analysis: targeted, hypothesis-driven and non-targeted exploratory discovery methods. We illustrate the first with data from a cross-sectional study of defined subject groups across themore » spectrum of systemic and CNS disease progression and the second with a longitudinal study of the CSF proteome in subjects initiating antiretroviral treatment. Both approaches can be useful and, indeed, complementary. The first is helpful in assessing known or hypothesized biomarkers while the second can identify novel biomarkers and point to broad interactions in pathogenesis. Common to both is the need for well-defined samples and subjects that span a spectrum of biological activity and biomarker concentrations. Previouslydefined guide biomarkers of CNS infection, inflammation and neural injury are useful in categorizing samples for analysis and providing critical biological context for biomarker discovery studies. CSF biomarkers represent an underutilized but valuable approach to understanding the interactions of HIV and the CNS and to more objective diagnosis and assessment of disease activity. Both hypothesis-based and discovery methods can be useful in advancing the definition and use of these biomarkers.« less

Approach to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker discovery and evaluation in HIV infection.

PubMed

Price, Richard W; Peterson, Julia; Fuchs, Dietmar; Angel, Thomas E; Zetterberg, Henrik; Hagberg, Lars; Spudich, Serena; Smith, Richard D; Jacobs, Jon M; Brown, Joseph N; Gisslen, Magnus

2013-12-01

Central nervous system (CNS) infection is a nearly universal facet of systemic HIV infection that varies in character and neurological consequences. While clinical staging and neuropsychological test performance have been helpful in evaluating patients, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers present a valuable and objective approach to more accurate diagnosis, assessment of treatment effects and understanding of evolving pathobiology. We review some lessons from our recent experience with CSF biomarker studies. We have used two approaches to biomarker analysis: targeted, hypothesis-driven and non-targeted exploratory discovery methods. We illustrate the first with data from a cross-sectional study of defined subject groups across the spectrum of systemic and CNS disease progression and the second with a longitudinal study of the CSF proteome in subjects initiating antiretroviral treatment. Both approaches can be useful and, indeed, complementary. The first is helpful in assessing known or hypothesized biomarkers while the second can identify novel biomarkers and point to broad interactions in pathogenesis. Common to both is the need for well-defined samples and subjects that span a spectrum of biological activity and biomarker concentrations. Previously-defined guide biomarkers of CNS infection, inflammation and neural injury are useful in categorizing samples for analysis and providing critical biological context for biomarker discovery studies. CSF biomarkers represent an underutilized but valuable approach to understanding the interactions of HIV and the CNS and to more objective diagnosis and assessment of disease activity. Both hypothesis-based and discovery methods can be useful in advancing the definition and use of these biomarkers.

A system to build distributed multivariate models and manage disparate data sharing policies: implementation in the scalable national network for effectiveness research.

PubMed

Meeker, Daniella; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Matheny, Michael E; Farcas, Claudiu; D'Arcy, Michel; Pearlman, Laura; Nookala, Lavanya; Day, Michele E; Kim, Katherine K; Kim, Hyeoneui; Boxwala, Aziz; El-Kareh, Robert; Kuo, Grace M; Resnic, Frederic S; Kesselman, Carl; Ohno-Machado, Lucila

2015-11-01

Centralized and federated models for sharing data in research networks currently exist. To build multivariate data analysis for centralized networks, transfer of patient-level data to a central computation resource is necessary. The authors implemented distributed multivariate models for federated networks in which patient-level data is kept at each site and data exchange policies are managed in a study-centric manner. The objective was to implement infrastructure that supports the functionality of some existing research networks (e.g., cohort discovery, workflow management, and estimation of multivariate analytic models on centralized data) while adding additional important new features, such as algorithms for distributed iterative multivariate models, a graphical interface for multivariate model specification, synchronous and asynchronous response to network queries, investigator-initiated studies, and study-based control of staff, protocols, and data sharing policies. Based on the requirements gathered from statisticians, administrators, and investigators from multiple institutions, the authors developed infrastructure and tools to support multisite comparative effectiveness studies using web services for multivariate statistical estimation in the SCANNER federated network. The authors implemented massively parallel (map-reduce) computation methods and a new policy management system to enable each study initiated by network participants to define the ways in which data may be processed, managed, queried, and shared. The authors illustrated the use of these systems among institutions with highly different policies and operating under different state laws. Federated research networks need not limit distributed query functionality to count queries, cohort discovery, or independently estimated analytic models. Multivariate analyses can be efficiently and securely conducted without patient-level data transport, allowing institutions with strict local data storage requirements to participate in sophisticated analyses based on federated research networks. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Two Color Populations of Kuiper Belt and Centaur Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tegler, Stephen C.; Romanishin, William; Consolmagno, Guy

2016-10-01

We present new optical colors for 64 Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) and Centaur objects measured with the 1.8-meter Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) and the 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT). By combining these new colors with our previously published colors, we increase the sample size of our survey to 154 objects. Our survey is unique in that the uncertainties in our color measurements are less than half the uncertainties in the color measurements reported by other researchers in the literature. Small uncertainties are essential for discerning between a unimodal and a bimodal distribution of colors for these objects as well as detecting correlations between colors and orbital elements. From our survey, it appears red Centaurs have a broader color distribution than grey Centaurs. We find red Centaurs have a smaller orbital inclination angle distribution than grey Centaurs at the 99.3% confidence level. Furthermore, we find that our entire sample of KBOs and Centaurs exhibits bimodal colors at the 99.4% confidence level. KBOs and Centaurs with HV > 7.0 have bimodal colors at the 99.96% confidence level and KBOs with HV < 6.0 have bimodal colors at the 96.3% confidence level.We are grateful to the NASA Solar System Observations Program for support, NAU for joining the Discovery Channel Telescope Partnership, and the Vatican Observatory for the consistent allocation of telescope time over the last 12 years of this project.

C-band radar pulse Doppler error: Its discovery, modeling, and elimination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krabill, W. B.; Dempsey, D. J.

1978-01-01

The discovery of a C Band radar pulse Doppler error is discussed and use of the GEOS 3 satellite's coherent transponder to isolate the error source is described. An analysis of the pulse Doppler tracking loop is presented and a mathematical model for the error was developed. Error correction techniques were developed and are described including implementation details.

Closing the Loop: Automated Data-Driven Cognitive Model Discoveries Lead to Improved Instruction and Learning Gains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Ran; Koedinger, Kenneth R.

2017-01-01

As the use of educational technology becomes more ubiquitous, an enormous amount of learning process data is being produced. Educational data mining seeks to analyze and model these data, with the ultimate goal of improving learning outcomes. The most firmly grounded and rigorous evaluation of an educational data mining discovery is whether it…

Implementation of a deidentified federated data network for population-based cohort discovery

PubMed Central

Abend, Aaron; Mandel, Aaron; Geraghty, Estella; Gabriel, Davera; Wynden, Rob; Kamerick, Michael; Anderson, Kent; Rainwater, Julie; Tarczy-Hornoch, Peter

2011-01-01

Objective The Cross-Institutional Clinical Translational Research project explored a federated query tool and looked at how this tool can facilitate clinical trial cohort discovery by managing access to aggregate patient data located within unaffiliated academic medical centers. Methods The project adapted software from the Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) program to connect three Clinical Translational Research Award sites: University of Washington, Seattle, University of California, Davis, and University of California, San Francisco. The project developed an iterative spiral software development model to support the implementation and coordination of this multisite data resource. Results By standardizing technical infrastructures, policies, and semantics, the project enabled federated querying of deidentified clinical datasets stored in separate institutional environments and identified barriers to engaging users for measuring utility. Discussion The authors discuss the iterative development and evaluation phases of the project and highlight the challenges identified and the lessons learned. Conclusion The common system architecture and translational processes provide high-level (aggregate) deidentified access to a large patient population (>5 million patients), and represent a novel and extensible resource. Enhancing the network for more focused disease areas will require research-driven partnerships represented across all partner sites. PMID:21873473

Software reuse example and challenges at NSIDC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Billingsley, B. W.; Brodzik, M.; Collins, J. A.

2009-12-01

NSIDC has created a new data discovery and access system, Searchlight, to provide users with the data they want in the format they want. NSIDC Searchlight supports discovery and access to disparate data types with on-the-fly reprojection, regridding and reformatting. Architected to both reuse open source systems and be reused itself, Searchlight reuses GDAL and Proj4 for manipulating data and format conversions, the netCDF Java library for creating netCDF output, MapServer and OpenLayers for defining spatial criteria and the JTS Topology Suite (JTS) in conjunction with Hibernate Spatial for database interaction and rich OGC-compliant spatial objects. The application reuses popular Java and Java Script libraries including Struts 2, Spring, JPA (Hibernate), Sitemesh, JFreeChart, JQuery, DOJO and a PostGIS PostgreSQL database. Future reuse of Searchlight components is supported at varying architecture levels, ranging from the database and model components to web services. We present the tools, libraries and programs that Searchlight has reused. We describe the architecture of Searchlight and explain the strategies deployed for reusing existing software and how Searchlight is built for reuse. We will discuss NSIDC reuse of the Searchlight components to support rapid development of new data delivery systems.

The Discovery of γ-Ray Emission from the Blazar RGB J0710+591

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acciari, V. A.; Aliu, E.; Arlen, T.; Aune, T.; Bautista, M.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Böttcher, M.; Boltuch, D.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Byrum, K.; Cannon, A.; Cesarini, A.; Ciupik, L.; Cui, W.; Dickherber, R.; Duke, C.; Falcone, A.; Finley, J. P.; Finnegan, G.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Galante, N.; Gall, D.; Gibbs, K.; Gillanders, G. H.; Godambe, S.; Grube, J.; Guenette, R.; Gyuk, G.; Hanna, D.; Holder, J.; Hui, C. M.; Humensky, T. B.; Imran, A.; Kaaret, P.; Karlsson, N.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D.; Konopelko, A.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Lang, M. J.; Lamerato, A.; LeBohec, S.; Maier, G.; McArthur, S.; McCann, A.; McCutcheon, M.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; Ong, R. A.; Otte, A. N.; Pandel, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Petry, D.; Pichel, A.; Pohl, M.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reyes, L. C.; Reynolds, P. T.; Roache, E.; Rose, H. J.; Roustazadeh, P.; Schroedter, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Senturk, G. Demet; Smith, A. W.; Steele, D.; Swordy, S. P.; Tešić, G.; Theiling, M.; Thibadeau, S.; Varlotta, A.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Vincent, S.; Wagner, R. G.; Wakely, S. P.; Ward, J. E.; Weekes, T. C.; Weinstein, A.; Weisgarber, T.; Williams, D. A.; Wissel, S.; Wood, M.; Zitzer, B.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Antolini, E.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Blandford, R. D.; Bloom, E. D.; Bonamente, E.; Borgland, A. W.; Bouvier, A.; Bregeon, J.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Carrigan, S.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cavazzuti, E.; Cecchi, C.; Çelik, Ö.; Charles, E.; Chekhtman, A.; Cheung, C. C.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Conrad, J.; Dermer, C. D.; de Palma, F.; Silva, E. do Couto e.; Drell, P. S.; Dubois, R.; Dumora, D.; Farnier, C.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Fortin, P.; Frailis, M.; Fukazawa, Y.; Funk, S.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giebels, B.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Giroletti, M.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Grove, J. E.; Guiriec, S.; Hays, E.; Horan, D.; Hughes, R. E.; Jóhannesson, G.; Johnson, A. S.; Johnson, W. N.; Kamae, T.; Katagiri, H.; Kataoka, J.; Knödlseder, J.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Latronico, L.; Lee, S.-H.; Llena Garde, M.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Makeev, A.; Mazziotta, M. N.; Michelson, P. F.; Mitthumsiri, W.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nolan, P. L.; Norris, J. P.; Nuss, E.; Ohno, M.; Ohsugi, T.; Omodei, N.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Paneque, D.; Panetta, J. H.; Pelassa, V.; Pepe, M.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Piron, F.; Porter, T. A.; Rainò, S.; Rando, R.; Razzano, M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Ripken, J.; Rodriguez, A. Y.; Roth, M.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Sanchez, D.; Sander, A.; Scargle, J. D.; Sgrò, C.; Siskind, E. J.; Smith, P. D.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Strickman, M. S.; Suson, D. J.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. B.; Thayer, J. G.; Thompson, D. J.; Tibaldo, L.; Torres, D. F.; Tosti, G.; Tramacere, A.; Usher, T. L.; Vasileiou, V.; Vilchez, N.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Wang, P.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Yang, Z.; Ylinen, T.; Ziegler, M.

2010-05-01

The high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object RGB J0710+591 was observed in the very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) wave band by the VERITAS array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The observations, taken between 2008 December and 2009 March and totaling 22.1 hr, yield the discovery of VHE gamma rays from the source. RGB J0710+591 is detected at a statistical significance of 5.5 standard deviations (5.5σ) above the background, corresponding to an integral flux of (3.9 ± 0.8) × 10-12 cm-2 s-1 (3% of the Crab Nebula's flux) above 300 GeV. The observed spectrum can be fit by a power law from 0.31 to 4.6 TeV with a photon spectral index of 2.69 ± 0.26stat ± 0.20sys. These data are complemented by contemporaneous multiwavelength data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope, the Swift X-ray Telescope, the Swift Ultra-Violet and Optical Telescope, and the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT observatory. Modeling the broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) with an equilibrium synchrotron self-Compton model yields a good statistical fit to the data. The addition of an external-Compton component to the model does not improve the fit nor brings the system closer to equipartition. The combined Fermi and VERITAS data constrain the properties of the high-energy emission component of the source over 4 orders of magnitude and give measurements of the rising and falling sections of the SED.

Problem Formulation in Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) for Environmental Risk Management

PubMed Central

Li, Yan; Thomas, Manoj; Osei-Bryson, Kweku-Muata; Levy, Jason

2016-01-01

With the growing popularity of data analytics and data science in the field of environmental risk management, a formalized Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) process that incorporates all applicable analytical techniques for a specific environmental risk management problem is essential. In this emerging field, there is limited research dealing with the use of decision support to elicit environmental risk management (ERM) objectives and identify analytical goals from ERM decision makers. In this paper, we address problem formulation in the ERM understanding phase of the KDDA process. We build a DM3 ontology to capture ERM objectives and to inference analytical goals and associated analytical techniques. A framework to assist decision making in the problem formulation process is developed. It is shown how the ontology-based knowledge system can provide structured guidance to retrieve relevant knowledge during problem formulation. The importance of not only operationalizing the KDDA approach in a real-world environment but also evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed procedure is emphasized. We demonstrate how ontology inferencing may be used to discover analytical goals and techniques by conceptualizing Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) exposure shifts based on a multilevel analysis of the level of urbanization (and related economic activity) and the degree of Socio-Economic Deprivation (SED) at the local neighborhood level. The HAPs case highlights not only the role of complexity in problem formulation but also the need for integrating data from multiple sources and the importance of employing appropriate KDDA modeling techniques. Challenges and opportunities for KDDA are summarized with an emphasis on environmental risk management and HAPs. PMID:27983713

Problem Formulation in Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) for Environmental Risk Management.

PubMed

Li, Yan; Thomas, Manoj; Osei-Bryson, Kweku-Muata; Levy, Jason

2016-12-15

With the growing popularity of data analytics and data science in the field of environmental risk management, a formalized Knowledge Discovery via Data Analytics (KDDA) process that incorporates all applicable analytical techniques for a specific environmental risk management problem is essential. In this emerging field, there is limited research dealing with the use of decision support to elicit environmental risk management (ERM) objectives and identify analytical goals from ERM decision makers. In this paper, we address problem formulation in the ERM understanding phase of the KDDA process. We build a DM³ ontology to capture ERM objectives and to inference analytical goals and associated analytical techniques. A framework to assist decision making in the problem formulation process is developed. It is shown how the ontology-based knowledge system can provide structured guidance to retrieve relevant knowledge during problem formulation. The importance of not only operationalizing the KDDA approach in a real-world environment but also evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed procedure is emphasized. We demonstrate how ontology inferencing may be used to discover analytical goals and techniques by conceptualizing Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) exposure shifts based on a multilevel analysis of the level of urbanization (and related economic activity) and the degree of Socio-Economic Deprivation (SED) at the local neighborhood level. The HAPs case highlights not only the role of complexity in problem formulation but also the need for integrating data from multiple sources and the importance of employing appropriate KDDA modeling techniques. Challenges and opportunities for KDDA are summarized with an emphasis on environmental risk management and HAPs.

A desirability-based multi objective approach for the virtual screening discovery of broad-spectrum anti-gastric cancer agents

PubMed Central

Sánchez-Rodríguez, Aminael; Tejera, Eduardo; Cruz-Monteagudo, Maykel; Borges, Fernanda; Cordeiro, M. Natália D. S.; Le-Thi-Thu, Huong; Pham-The, Hai

2018-01-01

Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide and despite advances in prevention, diagnosis and therapy, it is still regarded as a global health concern. The efficacy of the therapies for gastric cancer is limited by a poor response to currently available therapeutic regimens. One of the reasons that may explain these poor clinical outcomes is the highly heterogeneous nature of this disease. In this sense, it is essential to discover new molecular agents capable of targeting various gastric cancer subtypes simultaneously. Here, we present a multi-objective approach for the ligand-based virtual screening discovery of chemical compounds simultaneously active against the gastric cancer cell lines AGS, NCI-N87 and SNU-1. The proposed approach relays in a novel methodology based on the development of ensemble models for the bioactivity prediction against each individual gastric cancer cell line. The methodology includes the aggregation of one ensemble per cell line using a desirability-based algorithm into virtual screening protocols. Our research leads to the proposal of a multi-targeted virtual screening protocol able to achieve high enrichment of known chemicals with anti-gastric cancer activity. Specifically, our results indicate that, using the proposed protocol, it is possible to retrieve almost 20 more times multi-targeted compounds in the first 1% of the ranked list than what is expected from a uniform distribution of the active ones in the virtual screening database. More importantly, the proposed protocol attains an outstanding initial enrichment of known multi-targeted anti-gastric cancer agents. PMID:29420638

An approach to the analysis of SDSS spectroscopic outliers based on self-organizing maps. Designing the outlier analysis software package for the next Gaia survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fustes, D.; Manteiga, M.; Dafonte, C.; Arcay, B.; Ulla, A.; Smith, K.; Borrachero, R.; Sordo, R.

2013-11-01

Aims: A new method applied to the segmentation and further analysis of the outliers resulting from the classification of astronomical objects in large databases is discussed. The method is being used in the framework of the Gaia satellite Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) activities to prepare automated software tools that will be used to derive basic astrophysical information that is to be included in final Gaia archive. Methods: Our algorithm has been tested by means of simulated Gaia spectrophotometry, which is based on SDSS observations and theoretical spectral libraries covering a wide sample of astronomical objects. Self-organizing maps networks are used to organize the information in clusters of objects, as homogeneously as possible according to their spectral energy distributions, and to project them onto a 2D grid where the data structure can be visualized. Results: We demonstrate the usefulness of the method by analyzing the spectra that were rejected by the SDSS spectroscopic classification pipeline and thus classified as "UNKNOWN". First, our method can help distinguish between astrophysical objects and instrumental artifacts. Additionally, the application of our algorithm to SDSS objects of unknown nature has allowed us to identify classes of objects with similar astrophysical natures. In addition, the method allows for the potential discovery of hundreds of new objects, such as white dwarfs and quasars. Therefore, the proposed method is shown to be very promising for data exploration and knowledge discovery in very large astronomical databases, such as the archive from the upcoming Gaia mission.

Defining a Technical Basis for Comparing and Contrasting Emerging Dynamic Discovery Protocols

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-05-02

UPnP, SLP, Bluetooth , and HAVi • Projected specific UML models for Jini, UPnP, and SLP • Completed a Rapide Model of Jini structure, function, and...narrow application focus but targeting a different application domain. (e.g., HAVi, Salutation Consortium, and Bluetooth Service Discovery) • Sun has...Our General Approach? 1/31/2002 7 Particulars of Our Approach Define a Generic UML Model that Encompasses Jini, UPnP, SLP, HAVi, and Bluetooth

The Production of 3D Tumor Spheroids for Cancer Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Sant, Shilpa; Johnston, Paul A.

2017-01-01

New cancer drug approval rates are ≤ 5% despite significant investments in cancer research, drug discovery and development. One strategy to improve the rate of success of new cancer drugs transitioning into the clinic would be to more closely align the cellular models used in the early lead discovery with pre-clinical animal models and patient tumors. For solid tumors, this would mandate the development and implementation of three dimensional (3D) in vitro tumor models that more accurately recapitulate human solid tumor architecture and biology. Recent advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have provided new techniques for 3D spheroid generation and a variety of in vitro 3D cancer models are being explored for cancer drug discovery. Although homogeneous assay methods and high content imaging approaches to assess tumor spheroid morphology, growth and viability have been developed, the implementation of 3D models in HTS remains challenging due to reasons that we discuss in this review. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to achieve acceptable HTS assay performance metrics occurs in 3D tumor models that produce spheroids with highly variable morphologies and/or sizes. We highlight two methods that produce uniform size-controlled 3D multicellular tumor spheroids that are compatible with cancer drug research and HTS; tumor spheroids formed in ultra-low attachment microplates, or in polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate hydrogel microwell arrays. PMID:28647083

A quantum causal discovery algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giarmatzi, Christina; Costa, Fabio

2018-03-01

Finding a causal model for a set of classical variables is now a well-established task—but what about the quantum equivalent? Even the notion of a quantum causal model is controversial. Here, we present a causal discovery algorithm for quantum systems. The input to the algorithm is a process matrix describing correlations between quantum events. Its output consists of different levels of information about the underlying causal model. Our algorithm determines whether the process is causally ordered by grouping the events into causally ordered non-signaling sets. It detects if all relevant common causes are included in the process, which we label Markovian, or alternatively if some causal relations are mediated through some external memory. For a Markovian process, it outputs a causal model, namely the causal relations and the corresponding mechanisms, represented as quantum states and channels. Our algorithm opens the route to more general quantum causal discovery methods.

A Prerecognition Model for Hot Topic Discovery Based on Microblogging Data

PubMed Central

Zhu, Tongyu

2014-01-01

The microblogging is prevailing since its easy and anonymous information sharing at Internet, which also brings the issue of dispersing negative topics, or even rumors. Many researchers have focused on how to find and trace emerging topics for analysis. When adopting topic detection and tracking techniques to find hot topics with streamed microblogging data, it will meet obstacles like streamed microblogging data clustering, topic hotness definition, and emerging hot topic discovery. This paper schemes a novel prerecognition model for hot topic discovery. In this model, the concepts of the topic life cycle, the hot velocity, and the hot acceleration are promoted to calculate the change of topic hotness, which aims to discover those emerging hot topics before they boost and break out. Our experiments show that this new model would help to discover potential hot topics efficiently and achieve considerable performance. PMID:25254235

A prerecognition model for hot topic discovery based on microblogging data.

PubMed

Zhu, Tongyu; Yu, Jianjun

2014-01-01

The microblogging is prevailing since its easy and anonymous information sharing at Internet, which also brings the issue of dispersing negative topics, or even rumors. Many researchers have focused on how to find and trace emerging topics for analysis. When adopting topic detection and tracking techniques to find hot topics with streamed microblogging data, it will meet obstacles like streamed microblogging data clustering, topic hotness definition, and emerging hot topic discovery. This paper schemes a novel prerecognition model for hot topic discovery. In this model, the concepts of the topic life cycle, the hot velocity, and the hot acceleration are promoted to calculate the change of topic hotness, which aims to discover those emerging hot topics before they boost and break out. Our experiments show that this new model would help to discover potential hot topics efficiently and achieve considerable performance.

STS-70 Discovery launch before tower clear (fish eye view)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

The fourth Space Shuttle flight of 1995 is off to an all-but- perfect start, as the Shuttle Discovery surges skyward from Launch Pad 39B at 9:41:55.078 a.m. EDT, July 13, 1995. On board for Discovery's 21st spaceflight are a crew of five: Commander Terence 'Tom' Henricks; Pilot Kevin R. Kregel; and Mission Specialists Nancy Jane Currie, Donald A. Thomas and Mary Ellen Weber. Primary objective of Mission STS-70 is to assure the continued readiness of NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) communications network which links Earth-orbiting spacecraft -- including the Shuttle -- with the ground. The 70th Shuttle flight overall also marks the maiden flight of the new Block I Space Shuttle Main Engine configuration designed to increase engine performance as well as safety and reliability.

Huygens Identifies Rings Around Saturn : 350 Years Later

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deau, Estelle; Fulchignoni, M.

2006-09-01

On March 6, 1656, nearly forty years after Galileo discovered a strange object around Saturn and remained enigmatic until this time, a young unknown dutch of the name of Christiaan Huygens published a surprising article entitled "De Saturni luna observatio nova” in which he makes share to the erudite world of the first discovered satellite around Saturn. It finishes this article of only three pages by a logogriph which announces another discovery of which he hopes to be the first author while launching a call to all the astronomers of Europe. This second discovery much more resounding than the first ensured a world fame thereafter to him. We return here on this famous discovery: the identification of the Saturn's rings by the phyical explanation of its changing appearance. 350 years later, the physical assumptions of Huygens are used to understand ring's geometry.

Discovery of a Satellite of the Large Trans-Neptunian Object (225088) 2007 OR{sub 10}

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

Kiss, Csaba; Marton, Gábor; Farkas-Takács, Anikó

2007 OR{sub 10} is currently the third largest known dwarf planet in the trans-Neptunian region, with an effective radiometric diameter of ∼1535 km. It has a slow rotation period of ∼45 hr that was suspected to be caused by tidal interactions with a satellite undetected at that time. Here, we report on the discovery of a likely moon of 2007 OR{sub 10}, identified on archival Hubble Space Telescope WFC3/UVIS system images. Although the satellite is detected at two epochs, this does not allow an unambiguous determination of the orbit and the orbital period. A feasible 1.5–5.8 · 10{sup 21} kgmore » estimate for the system mass leads to a likely 35–100 day orbital period. The moon is about 4.ͫ2 fainter than 2007 OR{sub 10} in HST images that corresponds to a diameter of 237 km assuming equal albedos with the primary. Due to the relatively small size of the moon, the previous size and albedo estimates for the primary remains unchanged. With this discovery all trans-Neptunian objects larger than 1000 km are now known to harbor satellites, an important constraint for moon formation theories in the young solar system.« less

Space Science Enterprise Strategy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

The 2003 Space Science Enterprise Strategy represents the efforts of hundreds of scientists, staff, and educators, as well as collaboration with the other NASA Enterprises. It reveals the progress we have made, our plans for the near future, and our opportunity to support the Agency's Mission to "explore the universe and search for life." Space science has made spectacular advances in the recent past, from the first baby pictures of the universe to the discovery of water ice on Mars. Each new discovery impels us to ask new questions or regard old ones in new ways. How did the universe begin? How did life arise? Are we alone? These questions continue to inspire all of us to keep exploring and searching. And, as we get closer to answers, we will continue to share our findings with the science community, educators, and the public as broadly and as rapidly as possible. In this Strategy, you will find science objectives that define NASA's quest for discovery. You will also find the framework of programs, such as flight missions and ground-based research, that will enable us to achieve these objectives. This Strategy is founded on recommendations from the community, as well as lessons learned from past programs, and maps the stepping-stones to the future of space science.

2011 HM{sub 102}: DISCOVERY OF A HIGH-INCLINATION L5 NEPTUNE TROJAN IN THE SEARCH FOR A POST-PLUTO NEW HORIZONS TARGET

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

Parker, Alex H.; Holman, Matthew J.; McLeod, Brian A.

We present the discovery of a long-term stable L5 (trailing) Neptune Trojan in data acquired to search for candidate trans-Neptunian objects for the New Horizons spacecraft to fly by during an extended post-Pluto mission. This Neptune Trojan, 2011 HM{sub 102}, has the highest inclination (29. Degree-Sign 4) of any known member of this population. It is intrinsically brighter than any single L5 Jupiter Trojan at H{sub V} {approx} 8.18. We have determined its gri colors (a first for any L5 Neptune Trojan), which we find to be similar to the moderately red colors of the L4 Neptune Trojans, suggesting similarmore » surface properties for members of both Trojan clouds. We also present colors derived from archival data for two L4 Neptune Trojans (2006 RJ{sub 103} and 2007 VL{sub 305}), better refining the overall color distribution of the population. In this document we describe the discovery circumstances, our physical characterization of 2011 HM{sub 102}, and this object's implications for the Neptune Trojan population overall. Finally, we discuss the prospects for detecting 2011 HM{sub 102} from the New Horizons spacecraft during its close approach in mid- to late-2013.« less

Commentary on the MID3 Good Practices Paper.

PubMed

Manolis, Efthymios; Brogren, Jacob; Cole, Susan; Hay, Justin L; Nordmark, Anna; Karlsson, Kristin E; Lentz, Frederike; Benda, Norbert; Wangorsch, Gaby; Pons, Gerard; Zhao, Wei; Gigante, Valeria; Serone, Francesca; Standing, Joseph F; Dokoumetzidis, Aris; Vakkilainen, Juha; van den Heuvel, Michiel; Mangas Sanjuan, Victor; Taminiau, Johannes; Kerwash, Essam; Khan, David; Musuamba, Flora Tshinanu; Skottheim Rusten, Ine

2017-07-01

During the last 10 years the European Medicines Agency (EMA) organized a number of workshops on modeling and simulation, working towards greater integration of modeling and simulation (M&S) in the development and regulatory assessment of medicines. In the 2011 EMA - European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Workshop on Modelling and Simulation, European regulators agreed to the necessity to build expertise to be able to review M&S data provided by companies in their dossier. This led to the establishment of the EMA Modelling and Simulation Working Group (MSWG). Also, there was agreement reached on the need for harmonization on good M&S practices and for continuing dialog across all parties. The MSWG acknowledges the initiative of the EFPIA Model-Informed Drug Discovery and Development (MID3) group in promoting greater consistency in practice, application, and documentation of M&S and considers the paper is an important contribution towards achieving this objective. © 2017 The Authors CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Dwarfs Cooler Than M: The Definition of Spectral Type L Using Discoveries from the 2-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirkpatrick, J.; Reid, I.; Liebert, J.; Cutri, R.; Nelson, B.; Beichman, C.; Dahn, C.; Monet, D.; Gizis, J.; Skrutskie, M.

1998-01-01

Before the 2-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) began, only six objects were known with spectral types later than M9.5 V. In the first 371 sq. deg. of actual 2MASS survey data, we have identified another twenty such objects spectroscopically confirmed using the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph (LRIS) at the W.M. Keck Observatory.

Testing solar system formation models using Pan-STARRS1 detections of nearly inactive Manx comets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boe, Benjamin; Jedicke, Robert; Meech, Karen Jean; Morbidelli, Alessandro; Wiegert, Paul

2016-10-01

Newly discovered Manx comets show low levels of sublimation at perihelion indicating significantly lower volatile abundance compared to typical long period comets. The S-class spectrum of Manx comet C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) indicates that they may have formed in the inner solar system and were later perturbed to the highly eccentric orbits observed today (Meech et al. 2016). We used the Pan-STARRS1 observation history and its Moving Object Processing System (MOPS) (Denneau et al. 2013) to model Manx detections since Pan-STARRS has been the primary discovery source of Manx comets. A synthetic Manx population was generated according to the Wiegert and Tremaine (1999) model and processed through MOPS to determine the expected Pan-STARRS1 detections and the corresponding detection efficiencies for Manx comets as a function of each orbital parameter and object size. The population of normal long period comets (LPCs) was modeled in the same fashion. Unbiased populations for LPCs and Manx comets were computed by correcting the real comet populations with the detection efficiencies. Finally, the ratio of the bias corrected number of Manx comets to LPCs is compared to the predictions of various solar system formation models.References:Meech, K. J. et al. (2016), Science Advances 2, 4, id. E1600038.Denneau, L. et al. (2013), Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 125, 926, 357-395Wiegert, P. and Tremaine, S. (1999), Icarus, 137, 1, 84-121.

Hubble Space Telescope discovery of candidate young globular clusters in the merger remnant NGC 7252

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, Bradley C.; Schweizer, Francois; Leitherer, Claus; Borne, Kirk; Robert, Carmelle

1993-01-01

New, high-resolution images of the central region of NGC 7252 obtained with the Planetary Camera of the HST are presented. NGC 7252 is a prototypical example of a remnant of two merged disk galaxies. Our most striking result is the discovery of a population of about 40 blue pointlike objects in this galaxy. The mean absolute magnitude of these objects is Mv = -13 mag; the mean color is V-I = 0.7 mag; and the mean effective radius is 10 pc. The luminosities, colors, projected spatial distribution, and sizes are all compatible with the hypothesis that these objects formed within the last 1 Gyr following the collision of two spiral galaxies, and that they are young globular clusters. It therefore appears that the number of globular clusters may increase during the merger of gas-rich galaxies. This weakens van den Bergh's objection against ellipticals being formed through disk mergers, based mainly on the fact that disk galaxies have fewer globular clusters per unit luminosity than ellipticals do. NGC 7252 shows a single, semistellar nucleus; relatively bright spiral structure is seen within 1.6 kpc of the center, presumably formed through the continued infall of gas into a disk around the center of the galaxy.

Nature as a model for biomimetic sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bleckmann, H.

2012-04-01

Mammals, like humans, rely mainly on acoustic, visual and olfactory information. In addition, most also use tactile and thermal cues for object identification and spatial orientation. Most non-mammalian animals also possess a visual, acoustic and olfactory system. However, besides these systems they have developed a large variety of highly specialized sensors. For instance, pyrophilous insects use infrared organs for the detection of forest fires while boas, pythons and pit vipers sense the infrared radiation emitted by prey animals. All cartilaginous and bony fishes as well as some amphibians have a mechnaosensory lateral line. It is used for the detection of weak water motions and pressure gradients. For object detection and spatial orientation many species of nocturnal fish employ active electrolocation. This review describes certain aspects of the detection and processing of infrared, mechano- and electrosensory information. It will be shown that the study of these seemingly exotic sensory systems can lead to discoveries that are useful for the construction of technical sensors and artificial control systems.

The Discovery of Low-Luminosity BL Lacs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rector, Travis A.; Stocke, John T.

1995-12-01

Many of the properties of BL Lacs have become explicable in terms of the ``relativistic beaming'' hypothesis whereby BL Lacs are ``highly beamed'' FR-I radio galaxies (i.e. our line of sight to these objects is nearly along the jet axis). Further, radio-selected BL Lacs (RBLs) are believed to be seen nearly ``on-axis'' (the line-of-sight angle theta ~ 8deg ) while X-ray selected BL Lacs (XBLs) are seen at larger angles (theta ~ 30deg ; the X-ray emitting jet is believed to be less collimated). However, a major problem with this model was that a transition population between beamed BL Lacs and unbeamed FR-Is had not been detected. Low-luminosity BL Lacs may be such a transition population, and were predicted to exist by Browne and Marcha (1993). We present ROSAT HRI images, VLA radio maps and optical spectra which confirm the existence of low-luminosity BL Lacs, objects which were previously mis-identified in the EMSS catalog as clusters of galaxies. Thus our results strengthen the relativistic beaming hypothesis.

Software Tools for In-Situ Documentation of Built Heritage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smars, P.

2013-07-01

The paper presents open source software tools developed by the author to facilitate in-situ documentation of architectural and archæological heritage. The design choices are exposed and related to a general issue in conservation and documentation: taking decisions about a valuable object under threat . The questions of level of objectivity is central to the three steps of this process. It is our belief that in-situ documentation has to be favoured in this demanding context, full of potential discoveries. The very powerful surveying techniques in rapid development nowadays enhance our vision but often tend to bring back a critical part of the documentation process to the office. The software presented facilitate a direct treatment of the data on the site. Emphasis is given to flexibility, interoperability and simplicity. Key features of the software are listed and illustrated with examples (3D model of Gothic vaults, analysis of the shape of a column, deformation of a wall, direct interaction with AutoCAD).

VERITAS Discovery of >200 GeV Gamma-Ray Emission from the Intermediate-Frequency-Peaked BL Lacertae Object W Comae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acciari, V. A.; Aliu, E.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Böttcher, M.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Butt, Y.; Celik, O.; Cesarini, A.; Ciupik, L.; Chow, Y. C. K.; Cogan, P.; Colin, P.; Cui, W.; Daniel, M. K.; Ergin, T.; Falcone, A. D.; Fegan, S. J.; Finley, J. P.; Finnegan, G.; Fortin, P.; Fortson, L. F.; Furniss, A.; Gall, D.; Gillanders, G. H.; Grube, J.; Guenette, R.; Gyuk, G.; Hanna, D.; Hays, E.; Holder, J.; Horan, D.; Hui, C. M.; Humensky, T. B.; Imran, A.; Kaaret, P.; Karlsson, N.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D. B.; Konopelko, A.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Lang, M. J.; LeBohec, S.; Lee, K.; Maier, G.; McCann, A.; McCutcheon, M.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; Nagai, T.; Niemiec, J.; Ong, R. A.; Pandel, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Petry, D.; Pohl, M.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reyes, L. C.; Reynolds, P. T.; Roache, E.; Rose, H. J.; Schroedter, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Smith, A. W.; Steele, D.; Swordy, S. P.; Toner, J. A.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Wagner, R.; Wakely, S. P.; Ward, J. E.; Weekes, T. C.; Weinstein, A.; White, R. J.; Williams, D. A.; Wissel, S. A.; Wood, M.; Zitzer, B.

2008-09-01

We report the detection of very high energy γ-ray emission from the intermediate-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object W Comae (z = 0.102) by VERITAS. The source was observed between 2008 January and April. A strong outburst of γ-ray emission was measured in the middle of March, lasting for only 4 days. The energy spectrum measured during the two highest flare nights is fit by a power law and is found to be very steep, with a differential photon spectral index of Γ = 3.81 +/- 0.35stat+/- 0.34syst. The integral photon flux above 200 GeV during those two nights corresponds to roughly 9% of the flux from the Crab Nebula. Quasi-simultaneous Swift observations at X-ray energies were triggered by the VERITAS observations. The spectral energy distribution of the flare data can be described by synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) or external Compton (EC) leptonic jet models.

Neptune's Discovery: Le Verrier, Adams, and the Assignment of Credit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheehan, William

2011-01-01

As one of the most significant achievements of 19th century astronomy, the discovery of Neptune has been the subject of a vast literature. A large part of this literature--beginning with the period immediately after the optical discovery in Berlin--has been the obsession with assigning credit to the two men who attempted to calculate the planet's position (and initially this played out against the international rivalry between France and England). Le Verrier and Adams occupied much different positions in the Scientific Establishments of their respective countries; had markedly different personalities; and approached the investigation using different methods. A psychiatrist and historian of astronomy tries to provide some new contexts to the familiar story of the discovery of Neptune, and argues that the personalities of these two men played crucial roles in their approaches to the problem they set themselves and the way others reacted to their stimuli. Adams had features of high-functioning autism, while Le Verrier's domineering, obsessive, orderly personality--though it allowed him to be immensely productive--eventually led to serious difficulties with his peers (and an outright revolt). Though it took extraordinary smarts to calculate the position of Neptune, the discovery required social skills that these men lacked--and thus the process to discovery was more bumbling and adventitious than it might have been. The discovery of Neptune occurred at a moment when astronomy was changing from that of heroic individuals to team collaborations involving multiple experts, and remains an object lesson in the sociological aspects of scientific endeavor.

Nanosecond radio bursts from strong plasma turbulence in the Crab pulsar.

PubMed

Hankins, T H; Kern, J S; Weatherall, J C; Eilek, J A

2003-03-13

The Crab pulsar was discovered by the occasional exceptionally bright radio pulses it emits, subsequently dubbed 'giant' pulses. Only two other pulsars are known to emit giant pulses. There is no satisfactory explanation for the occurrence of giant pulses, nor is there a complete theory of the pulsar emission mechanism in general. Competing models for the radio emission mechanism can be distinguished by the temporal structure of their coherent emission. Here we report the discovery of isolated, highly polarized, two-nanosecond subpulses within the giant radio pulses from the Crab pulsar. The plasma structures responsible for these emissions must be smaller than one metre in size, making them by far the smallest objects ever detected and resolved outside the Solar System, and the brightest transient radio sources in the sky. Only one of the current models--the collapse of plasma-turbulent wave packets in the pulsar magnetosphere--can account for the nanopulses we observe.

Resident Space Object Characterization and Behavior Understanding via Machine Learning and Ontology-based Bayesian Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furfaro, R.; Linares, R.; Gaylor, D.; Jah, M.; Walls, R.

2016-09-01

In this paper, we present an end-to-end approach that employs machine learning techniques and Ontology-based Bayesian Networks (BN) to characterize the behavior of resident space objects. State-of-the-Art machine learning architectures (e.g. Extreme Learning Machines, Convolutional Deep Networks) are trained on physical models to learn the Resident Space Object (RSO) features in the vectorized energy and momentum states and parameters. The mapping from measurements to vectorized energy and momentum states and parameters enables behavior characterization via clustering in the features space and subsequent RSO classification. Additionally, Space Object Behavioral Ontologies (SOBO) are employed to define and capture the domain knowledge-base (KB) and BNs are constructed from the SOBO in a semi-automatic fashion to execute probabilistic reasoning over conclusions drawn from trained classifiers and/or directly from processed data. Such an approach enables integrating machine learning classifiers and probabilistic reasoning to support higher-level decision making for space domain awareness applications. The innovation here is to use these methods (which have enjoyed great success in other domains) in synergy so that it enables a "from data to discovery" paradigm by facilitating the linkage and fusion of large and disparate sources of information via a Big Data Science and Analytics framework.

Where to Dig for Fossils: Combining Climate-Envelope, Taphonomy and Discovery Models

PubMed Central

Block, Sebastián; Saltré, Frédérik; Rodríguez-Rey, Marta; Fordham, Damien A.; Unkel, Ingmar; Bradshaw, Corey J. A.

2016-01-01

Fossils represent invaluable data to reconstruct the past history of life, yet fossil-rich sites are often rare and difficult to find. The traditional fossil-hunting approach focuses on small areas and has not yet taken advantage of modelling techniques commonly used in ecology to account for an organism’s past distributions. We propose a new method to assist finding fossils at continental scales based on modelling the past distribution of species, the geological suitability of fossil preservation and the likelihood of fossil discovery in the field, and apply it to several genera of Australian megafauna that went extinct in the Late Quaternary. Our models predicted higher fossil potentials for independent sites than for randomly selected locations (mean Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic = 0.66). We demonstrate the utility of accounting for the distribution history of fossil taxa when trying to find the most suitable areas to look for fossils. For some genera, the probability of finding fossils based on simple climate-envelope models was higher than the probability based on models incorporating current conditions associated with fossil preservation and discovery as predictors. However, combining the outputs from climate-envelope, preservation, and discovery models resulted in the most accurate predictions of potential fossil sites at a continental scale. We proposed potential areas to discover new fossils of Diprotodon, Zygomaturus, Protemnodon, Thylacoleo, and Genyornis, and provide guidelines on how to apply our approach to assist fossil hunting in other continents and geological settings. PMID:27027874

Where to Dig for Fossils: Combining Climate-Envelope, Taphonomy and Discovery Models.

PubMed

Block, Sebastián; Saltré, Frédérik; Rodríguez-Rey, Marta; Fordham, Damien A; Unkel, Ingmar; Bradshaw, Corey J A

2016-01-01

Fossils represent invaluable data to reconstruct the past history of life, yet fossil-rich sites are often rare and difficult to find. The traditional fossil-hunting approach focuses on small areas and has not yet taken advantage of modelling techniques commonly used in ecology to account for an organism's past distributions. We propose a new method to assist finding fossils at continental scales based on modelling the past distribution of species, the geological suitability of fossil preservation and the likelihood of fossil discovery in the field, and apply it to several genera of Australian megafauna that went extinct in the Late Quaternary. Our models predicted higher fossil potentials for independent sites than for randomly selected locations (mean Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic = 0.66). We demonstrate the utility of accounting for the distribution history of fossil taxa when trying to find the most suitable areas to look for fossils. For some genera, the probability of finding fossils based on simple climate-envelope models was higher than the probability based on models incorporating current conditions associated with fossil preservation and discovery as predictors. However, combining the outputs from climate-envelope, preservation, and discovery models resulted in the most accurate predictions of potential fossil sites at a continental scale. We proposed potential areas to discover new fossils of Diprotodon, Zygomaturus, Protemnodon, Thylacoleo, and Genyornis, and provide guidelines on how to apply our approach to assist fossil hunting in other continents and geological settings.

Application of State Analysis and Goal-based Operations to a MER Mission Scenario

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, John Richard; Ingham, Michel D.; Mishkin, Andrew H.; Rasmussen, Robert D.; Starbird, Thomas W.

2006-01-01

State Analysis is a model-based systems engineering methodology employing a rigorous discovery process which articulates operations concepts and operability needs as an integrated part of system design. The process produces requirements on system and software design in the form of explicit models which describe the system behavior in terms of state variables and the relationships among them. By applying State Analysis to an actual MER flight mission scenario, this study addresses the specific real world challenges of complex space operations and explores technologies that can be brought to bear on future missions. The paper first describes the tools currently used on a daily basis for MER operations planning and provides an in-depth description of the planning process, in the context of a Martian day's worth of rover engineering activities, resource modeling, flight rules, science observations, and more. It then describes how State Analysis allows for the specification of a corresponding goal-based sequence that accomplishes the same objectives, with several important additional benefits.

Application of State Analysis and Goal-Based Operations to a MER Mission Scenario

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, J. Richard; Ingham, Michel D.; Mishkin, Andrew H.; Rasmussen, Robert D.; Starbird, Thomas W.

2006-01-01

State Analysis is a model-based systems engineering methodology employing a rigorous discovery process which articulates operations concepts and operability needs as an integrated part of system design. The process produces requirements on system and software design in the form of explicit models which describe the behavior of states and the relationships among them. By applying State Analysis to an actual MER flight mission scenario, this study addresses the specific real world challenges of complex space operations and explores technologies that can be brought to bear on future missions. The paper describes the tools currently used on a daily basis for MER operations planning and provides an in-depth description of the planning process, in the context of a Martian day's worth of rover engineering activities, resource modeling, flight rules, science observations, and more. It then describes how State Analysis allows for the specification of a corresponding goal-based sequence that accomplishes the same objectives, with several important additional benefits.

Acellular organ scaffolds for tumor tissue engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guller, Anna; Trusova, Inna; Petersen, Elena; Shekhter, Anatoly; Kurkov, Alexander; Qian, Yi; Zvyagin, Andrei

2015-12-01

Rationale: Tissue engineering (TE) is an emerging alternative approach to create models of human malignant tumors for experimental oncology, personalized medicine and drug discovery studies. Being the bottom-up strategy, TE provides an opportunity to control and explore the role of every component of the model system, including cellular populations, supportive scaffolds and signalling molecules. Objectives: As an initial step to create a new ex vivo TE model of cancer, we optimized protocols to obtain organ-specific acellular matrices and evaluated their potential as TE scaffolds for culture of normal and tumor cells. Methods and results: Effective decellularization of animals' kidneys, ureter, lungs, heart, and liver has been achieved by detergent-based processing. The obtained scaffolds demonstrated biocompatibility and growthsupporting potential in combination with normal (Vero, MDCK) and tumor cell lines (C26, B16). Acellular scaffolds and TE constructs have been characterized and compared with morphological methods. Conclusions: The proposed methodology allows creation of sustainable 3D tumor TE constructs to explore the role of organ-specific cell-matrix interaction in tumorigenesis.

Induction heating process of ferromagnetic filled carbon nanotubes based on 3-D model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiak, Sławomir; Firych-Nowacka, Anna; Smółka, Krzysztof; Pietrzak, Łukasz; Kołaciński, Zbigniew; Szymański, Łukasz

2017-12-01

Since their discovery by Iijima in 1991 [1], carbon nanotubes have sparked unwavering interest among researchers all over the world. This is due to the unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Carbon nanotubes have excellent mechanical and electrical properties with high chemical and thermal stability. In addition, carbon nanotubes have a very large surface area and are hollow inside. This gives a very broad spectrum of nanotube applications, such as in combination with polymers as polymer composites in the automotive, aerospace or textile industries. At present, many methods of nanotube synthesis are known [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. It is also possible to use carbon nanotubes in biomedical applications [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14], including the destruction of cancer cells using iron-filled carbon nanotubes in the hyperthermia process. Computer modelling results of Fe-CNTs induction heating process are presented in the paper. As an object used for computer model creation, Fe-CNTs were synthesized by the authors using CCVD technique.

Analyzing the Formation of Ultra-compact Dwarfs through Stellar Populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seshadri, Anish; Wang, Carolyn; Romanowsky, Aaron J.; Martin-navarro, Ignacio

2017-01-01

Since their discovery in 1999, ultra-compact dwarfs (UCDs) have been the subjects of intense study. Their small size, yet tremendous mass, brings into question their place among celestial objects. Are they galaxies or globular clusters? The answer to this question could come from analyzing how they formed. Thus, the goal of this project is to test one of the theories for the formation of UCDs, the theory of tidal stripping.This project approaches the issue by looking at dwarf galaxies currently in the process of stripping to understand formation history. Over twenty such dwarf galaxies were identified and their stellar populations analyzed. Using modeling techniques on spectroscopic and photometric data, the age, metallicity, and color of each object was identified. By objectively categorizing each object into a stage of evolution in the process of tidal stripping, a virtual timeline was built for the formation of UCDs. Data for each object were plotted vs. stage of formation, with pristine dwarfs and UCDs signifying the endpoints. Trends in the data revealed a natural progression over all stages of evolution, showing that tidally stripped dwarfs likely represent an intermediate stage in the formation of UCDs.This research was supported by NSF Grant AST-1515084. Most of this work was carried out by high school students working under the auspices of the Science Internship Program at UC Santa Cruz.

Detection of extended galactic sources with an underwater neutrino telescope

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

Leisos, A.; Tsirigotis, A. G.; Tzamarias, S. E.

2014-11-18

In this study we investigate the discovery capability of a Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescope to Galactic extended sources. We focus on the brightest HESS gamma rays sources which are considered also as very high energy neutrino emitters. We use the unbinned method taking into account both the spatial and the energy distribution of high energy neutrinos and we investigate parts of the Galactic plane where nearby potential neutrino emitters form neutrino source clusters. Neutrino source clusters as well as isolated neutrino sources are combined to estimate the observation period for 5 sigma discovery of neutrino signals from these objects.

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars.

PubMed

Lorimer, Duncan R

2005-01-01

We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103 pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5. Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.12942/lrr-2005-7.

Discovery and Analysis of 21 micrometer Feature Sources in the Magellanic Clouds (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-10

either definitely or may show the 21 μm feature have distinct dust shell properties compared to the Galactic 21 μm objects—the 21 μm features are weaker...13 objects that either definitely or may show the 21μm feature have distinct dust shell properties compared to the Galactic 21μm objects—the 21μm...SMC object J004441 than it is to the spectra of any of the other LMC objects. The optical counterpart, while definitely detected in the MCPS (V ∼ 18.4

From basic to clinical neuropharmacology: targetophilia or pharmacodynamics?

PubMed

Green, A Richard; Aronson, Jeffrey K

2012-06-01

Historically, much drug discovery and development in psychopharmacology tended to be empirical. However, over the last 20 years it has primarily been target oriented, with synthesis and selection of compounds designed to act at a specific neurochemical site. Such compounds are then examined in functional animal models of disease. There is little evidence that this approach (which we call 'targetophilia') has enhanced the discovery process and some indications that it may have retarded it. A major problem is the weakness of many animal models in mimicking the disease and the lack of appropriate biochemical markers of drug action in animals and patients. In this review we argue that preclinical studies should be conducted as if they were clinical studies in design, analysis, and reporting, and that clinical pharmacologists should be involved at the earliest stages, to help ensure that animal models reflect as closely as possible the clinical disease. In addition, their familiarity with pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic integration (PK-PD) would help ensure that appropriate dosing and drug measurement techniques are applied to the discovery process, thereby producing results with relevance to therapeutics. Better integration of experimental and clinical pharmacologists early in the discovery process would allow observations in animals and patients to be quickly exchanged between the two disciplines. This non-linear approach to discovery used to be the way research proceeded, and it resulted in productivity that has never been bettered. It also follows that occasionally 'look-see' studies, a proven technique for drug discovery, deserve to be reintroduced. © 2012 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2012 The British Pharmacological Society.

Prognostic Effect of Tumor Lymphocytic Infiltration in Resectable Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

PubMed Central

Le Teuff, Gwénaël; Marguet, Sophie; Lantuejoul, Sylvie; Dunant, Ariane; Graziano, Stephen; Pirker, Robert; Douillard, Jean-Yves; Le Chevalier, Thierry; Filipits, Martin; Rosell, Rafael; Kratzke, Robert; Popper, Helmut; Soria, Jean-Charles; Shepherd, Frances A.; Seymour, Lesley; Tsao, Ming Sound

2016-01-01

Purpose Tumor lymphocytic infiltration (TLI) has differing prognostic value among various cancers. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of TLI in lung cancer. Patients and Methods A discovery set (one trial, n = 824) and a validation set (three trials, n = 984) that evaluated the benefit of platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy in non–small-cell lung cancer were used as part of the LACE-Bio (Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation Biomarker) study. TLI was defined as intense versus nonintense. The main end point was overall survival (OS); secondary end points were disease-free survival (DFS) and specific DFS (SDFS). Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs associated with TLI were estimated through a multivariable Cox model in both sets. TLI-histology and TLI-treatment interactions were explored in the combined set. Results Discovery and validation sets with complete data included 783 (409 deaths) and 763 (344 deaths) patients, respectively. Median follow-up was 4.8 and 6 years, respectively. TLI was intense in 11% of patients in the discovery set compared with 6% in the validation set (P < .001). The prognostic value of TLI in the discovery set (OS: HR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.81; P = .002; DFS: HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.83; P = .002; SDFS: HR, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.82; P = .003) was confirmed in the validation set (OS: HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.85; P = .01; DFS: HR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.24 to 0.78; P = .005; SDFS: HR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.80; P = .008) with no heterogeneity across trials (P ≥ .38 for all end points). No significant predictive effect was observed for TLI (P ≥ .78 for all end points). Conclusion Intense lymphocytic infiltration, found in a minority of tumors, was validated as a favorable prognostic marker for survival in resected non–small-cell lung cancer. PMID:26834066

Wide cool and ultracool companions to nearby stars from Pan-STARRS 1

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

Deacon, Niall R.; Liu, Michael C.; Magnier, Eugene A.

2014-09-10

We present the discovery of 57 wide (>5'') separation, low-mass (stellar and substellar) companions to stars in the solar neighborhood identified from Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) data and the spectral classification of 31 previously known companions. Our companions represent a selective subsample of promising candidates and span a range in spectral type of K7-L9 with the addition of one DA white dwarf. These were identified primarily from a dedicated common proper motion search around nearby stars, along with a few as serendipitous discoveries from our Pan-STARRS 1 brown dwarf search. Our discoveries include 23 new L dwarf companions and one knownmore » L dwarf not previously identified as a companion. The primary stars around which we searched for companions come from a list of bright stars with well-measured parallaxes and large proper motions from the Hipparcos catalog (8583 stars, mostly A-K dwarfs) and fainter stars from other proper motion catalogs (79170 stars, mostly M dwarfs). We examine the likelihood that our companions are chance alignments between unrelated stars and conclude that this is unlikely for the majority of the objects that we have followed-up spectroscopically. We also examine the entire population of ultracool (>M7) dwarf companions and conclude that while some are loosely bound, most are unlikely to be disrupted over the course of ∼10 Gyr. Our search increases the number of ultracool M dwarf companions wider than 300 AU by 88% and increases the number of L dwarf companions in the same separation range by 82%. Finally, we resolve our new L dwarf companion to HIP 6407 into a tight (0.''13, 7.4 AU) L1+T3 binary, making the system a hierarchical triple. Our search for these key benchmarks against which brown dwarf and exoplanet atmosphere models are tested has yielded the largest number of discoveries to date.« less

Not lost in translation: how study of diseases in our pets can benefit them and us.

PubMed

Henry, Carolyn J; Bryan, Jeffrey N

2013-01-01

Practice-changing medical discovery requires preclinical and clinical assessment be carried out using appropriate disease models. There is growing awareness of companion animals with naturally-occurring disease as such models. They offer significant advantages over more traditional in vivo models of induced disease. This review describes current efforts to promote translation of discoveries between human and veterinary medicine in order to more rapidly and efficiently make progress in improving the health of all human and animal patients.

Discovery of a Metal-poor, Luminous Post-AGB Star that Failed the Third Dredge-up

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

Kamath, D.; Winckel, H. Van; Wood, P. R.

Post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) stars are known to be chemically diverse. In this paper we present the first observational evidence of a star that has failed the third dredge-up (TDU). J005252.87-722842.9 is an A-type ( T {sub eff} = 8250 ± 250 K) luminous (8200 ± 700 L {sub ⊙}) metal-poor ([Fe/H] = −1.18 ± 0.10) low-mass ( M {sub initial} ≈ 1.5–2.0 M {sub ⊙}) post-AGB star in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Through a systematic abundance study, using high-resolution optical spectra from UVES, we found that this likely post-AGB object shows an intriguing photospheric composition with no confirmed carbon-enhancementmore » (upper limit of [C/Fe] < 0.50) nor enrichment of s -process elements. We derived an oxygen abundance of [O/Fe] = 0.29 ± 0.1. For Fe and O, we took the effects of nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium into account. We could not derive an upper limit for the nitrogen abundance as there are no useful nitrogen lines within our spectral coverage. The chemical pattern displayed by this object has not been observed in single or binary post-AGBs. Based on its derived stellar parameters and inferred evolutionary state, single-star nucleosynthesis models predict that this star should have undergone TDU episodes while on the AGB, and it should be carbon enriched. However, our observations are in contrast with these predictions. We identify two possible Galactic analogs that are likely to be post-AGB stars, but the lack of accurate distances (hence luminosities) to these objects does not allow us to confirm their post-AGB status. If they have low luminosities, then they are likely to be dusty post-RGB stars. The discovery of J005252.87-722842.9 reveals a new stellar evolutionary channel whereby a star evolves without any TDU episodes.« less

Discovery of a substellar companion to the nearby debris disk host HR 2562

DOE PAGES

Konopacky, Quinn M.; Rameau, Julien; Duchêne, Gaspard; ...

2016-09-14

Here, we present the discovery of a brown dwarf companion to the debris disk host star HR 2562. This object, discovered with the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), has a projected separation of 20.3 ± 0.3 au (more » $$0\\buildrel{\\prime\\prime}\\over{.} 618\\pm 0\\buildrel{\\prime\\prime}\\over{.} 004$$) from the star. With the high astrometric precision afforded by GPI, we have confirmed, to more than 5σ, the common proper motion of HR 2562B with the star, with only a month-long time baseline between observations. Spectral data in the J-, H-, and K-bands show a morphological similarity to L/T transition objects. We assign a spectral type of L7 ± 3 to HR 2562B and derive a luminosity of log(L $${}_{\\mathrm{bol}}$$/$${L}_{\\odot })=-4.62\\pm 0.12$$, corresponding to a mass of 30 ± 15 $${M}_{\\mathrm{Jup}}$$ from evolutionary models at an estimated age of the system of 300–900 Myr. Although the uncertainty in the age of the host star is significant, the spectra and photometry exhibit several indications of youth for HR 2562B. The source has a position angle that is consistent with an orbit in the same plane as the debris disk recently resolved with Herschel. Additionally, it appears to be interior to the debris disk. Though the extent of the inner hole is currently too uncertain to place limits on the mass of HR 2562B, future observations of the disk with higher spatial resolution may be able to provide mass constraints. This is the first brown-dwarf-mass object found to reside in the inner hole of a debris disk, offering the opportunity to search for evidence of formation above the deuterium burning limit in a circumstellar disk.« less

Hello darkness my old friend: the fading of the nearby TDE ASASSN-14ae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Jonathan S.; Shappee, Benjamin J.; Holoien, T. W.-S.; Stanek, K. Z.; Kochanek, C. S.; Prieto, J. L.

2016-11-01

We present late-time optical spectroscopy taken with the Large Binocular Telescope's Multi-Object Double Spectrograph, an improved All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae pre-discovery non-detection, and late-time Swift observations of the nearby (d = 193 Mpc, z = 0.0436) tidal disruption event (TDE) ASASSN-14ae. Our observations span from ˜20 d before to ˜750 d after discovery. The proximity of ASASSN-14ae allows us to study the optical evolution of the flare and the transition to a host-dominated state with exceptionally high precision. We measure very weak Hα emission 300 d after discovery (LH α ≃ 4 × 1039 erg s-1) and the most stringent upper limit to date on the Hα luminosity ˜750 d after discovery (LH α ≲ 1039 erg s-1), suggesting that the optical emission arising from a TDE can vanish on a time-scale as short as 1 yr. Our results have important implications for both spectroscopic detection of TDE candidates at late times, as well as the nature of TDE host galaxies themselves.

High Throughput Screening for Anti–Trypanosoma cruzi Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Alonso-Padilla, Julio; Rodríguez, Ana

2014-01-01

The discovery of new therapeutic options against Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, stands as a fundamental need. Currently, there are only two drugs available to treat this neglected disease, which represents a major public health problem in Latin America. Both available therapies, benznidazole and nifurtimox, have significant toxic side effects and their efficacy against the life-threatening symptomatic chronic stage of the disease is variable. Thus, there is an urgent need for new, improved anti–T. cruzi drugs. With the objective to reliably accelerate the drug discovery process against Chagas disease, several advances have been made in the last few years. Availability of engineered reporter gene expressing parasites triggered the development of phenotypic in vitro assays suitable for high throughput screening (HTS) as well as the establishment of new in vivo protocols that allow faster experimental outcomes. Recently, automated high content microscopy approaches have also been used to identify new parasitic inhibitors. These in vitro and in vivo early drug discovery approaches, which hopefully will contribute to bring better anti–T. cruzi drug entities in the near future, are reviewed here. PMID:25474364

Workshop on Discovery Lessons-Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saunders, M. (Editor)

1995-01-01

As part of the Discovery Program's continuous improvement effort, a Discovery Program Lessons-Learned workshop was designed to review how well the Discovery Program is moving toward its goal of providing low-cost research opportunities to the planetary science community while ensuring continued U.S. leadership in solar system exploration. The principal focus of the workshop was on the recently completed Announcement of Opportunity (AO) cycle, but the program direction and program management were also open to comment. The objective of the workshop was to identify both the strengths and weaknesses of the process up to this point, with the goal of improving the process for the next AO cycle. The process for initializing the workshop was to solicit comments from the communities involved in the program and to use the feedback as the basis for establishing the workshop agenda. The following four sessions were developed after reviewing and synthesizing both the formal feedback received and informal feedback obtained during discussions with various participants: (1) Science and Return on Investment; (2) Technology vs. Risk; Mission Success and Other Factors; (3) Cost; and (4) AO.AO Process Changes and Program Management.

Genome-wide expression profiling in pediatric septic shock

PubMed Central

Wong, Hector R.

2013-01-01

For nearly a decade, our research group has had the privilege of developing and mining a multi-center, microarray-based, genome-wide expression database of critically ill children (≤ 10 years of age) with septic shock. Using bioinformatic and systems biology approaches, the expression data generated through this discovery-oriented, exploratory approach have been leveraged for a variety of objectives, which will be reviewed. Fundamental observations include wide spread repression of gene programs corresponding to the adaptive immune system, and biologically significant differential patterns of gene expression across developmental age groups. The data have also identified gene expression-based subclasses of pediatric septic shock having clinically relevant phenotypic differences. The data have also been leveraged for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets, and for the discovery and development of novel stratification and diagnostic biomarkers. Almost a decade of genome-wide expression profiling in pediatric septic shock is now demonstrating tangible results. The studies have progressed from an initial discovery-oriented and exploratory phase, to a new phase where the data are being translated and applied to address several areas of clinical need. PMID:23329198

High throughput screening for anti-Trypanosoma cruzi drug discovery.

PubMed

Alonso-Padilla, Julio; Rodríguez, Ana

2014-12-01

The discovery of new therapeutic options against Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, stands as a fundamental need. Currently, there are only two drugs available to treat this neglected disease, which represents a major public health problem in Latin America. Both available therapies, benznidazole and nifurtimox, have significant toxic side effects and their efficacy against the life-threatening symptomatic chronic stage of the disease is variable. Thus, there is an urgent need for new, improved anti-T. cruzi drugs. With the objective to reliably accelerate the drug discovery process against Chagas disease, several advances have been made in the last few years. Availability of engineered reporter gene expressing parasites triggered the development of phenotypic in vitro assays suitable for high throughput screening (HTS) as well as the establishment of new in vivo protocols that allow faster experimental outcomes. Recently, automated high content microscopy approaches have also been used to identify new parasitic inhibitors. These in vitro and in vivo early drug discovery approaches, which hopefully will contribute to bring better anti-T. cruzi drug entities in the near future, are reviewed here.

Ultracompact Blue Dwarfs: Galaxy Formation in the Local Universe?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corbin, Michael

2004-07-01

Recent observations suggest that very low-mass galaxies in the local universe are still in the process of formation. To investigate this issue we propose to obtain deep ACS HRC images in the U, V and I bands of a sample of 11 "ultracompact" blue dwarf galaxies {UCBDs} identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These objects are nearby {z < 0.009}, actively star-forming, and have extremely small angular and physical sizes {d < 6" and D < 1 kpc}. They also tend to reside in voids. Our WFPC2 images of the prototype object of this class, POX 186, reveal this tiny object to have a highly disturbed morphlogy indicative of a recent {within 10^8 yr} collision between two small { 100 pc} clumps of stars that could represent the long-sought building blocks predicted by the Press-Schechter model of hierarchical galaxy formation. This collision has also triggered the formation of a "super" star cluster {SSC} at the object's core that may be the progenitor of a globular cluster. POX 186 thus appears to be a very small dwarf galaxy in the process of formation. This exciting discovery strongly motivates HST imaging of a full sample of UCBDs in order to determine if they have morphologies similar to POX 186. HST images are essential for resolving the structure of these objects, including establishing the presence of SSCs. HST also offers the only way to determine their morphologies in the near UV. The spectra of the objects available from the SDSS will also allow us to measure their star formation rates, dust content and metallicities. In addition to potentially providing the first direct evidence of Press-Schechter building blocks, these data could yield insight into the relationship between galaxy and globular cluster formation, and will serve as a test of the recent "downsizing" model of galaxy formation in which the least massive objects are the last to form.

Does Cometary Panspermia Falsify Dark Energy?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, Carl H.

2011-10-01

The 2011 Nobel Prize for physics has been awarded to Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, and Adam G. Riess "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae", judged to be the "most important discovery or invention within the field of physics" (Excerpt from the will of Alfred Nobel). Are we forced by this claimed discovery to believe the universe is dominated by anti- gravitational dark energy? Can the discovery be falsified? Because life as we observe it on Earth is virtually impossible by the standard ΛCDMHC model, extraterrestrial life and cometary panspermia may provide the first definitive falsification of a Nobel Prize in Physics since its first award in 1901 to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays.

STS-103 perfect night-time landing for Space Shuttle Discovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

The orbiter Discovery looks like a blue ghost as it drops from the darkness onto lighted runway 33 at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility. After traveling more than 3,267,000 miles on a successful eight-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, the orbiter touches down at 7:00:47 p.m. EST. Aboard are Commander Curtis L. Brown Jr., Pilot Scott J. Kelly, and Mission Specialists Steven L. Smith, C. Michael Foale (Ph.D.), John M. Grunsfeld (Ph.D.), Claude Nicollier of Switzerland and Jean-Frangois Clervoy of France, who spent the Christmas holiday in space in order to accomplish their mission before the end of 1999. During the mission, Discovery's four space-walking astronauts, Smith, Foale, Grunsfeld and Nicollier, spent 24 hours and 33 minutes upgrading and refurbishing Hubble, making it more capable than ever to renew its observations of the universe. Mission objectives included replacing gyroscopes and an old computer, installing another solid state recorder, and replacing damaged insulation in the telescope. Hubble was released from the end of Discovery's robot arm on Christmas Day. This was the 96th flight in the Space Shuttle program and the 27th for the orbiter Discovery. The landing was the 20th consecutive Shuttle landing in Florida and the 13th night landing in Shuttle program history.

Highlights from SelectBio 2015: Academic Drug Discovery Conference, Cambridge, UK, 19-20 May 2015.

PubMed

Spencer, John; Coaker, Hannah

2015-01-01

The SelectBio 2015: Academic Drug Discovery Conference was held in Cambridge, UK, on 19-20 May 2015. Building on the success of academic drug discovery events in the USA, this conference aimed to showcase the exciting new research emerging from academic drug discovery and to help bridge the gap between basic research and commercial application. At the event the authors heard from a number of speakers on a broad array of topics, from partnering models for academia and industry to novel drug discovery approaches across various therapeutic areas, with a few talks, such as those by Susanne Muller-Knapp (Structure Genomics Consortium, Oxford University, Oxford, UK) and Julian Blagg (Institute of Cancer Research, UK), covering both remits, by highlighting a number of such partnerships and then delving into some case studies. The conference concluded with a heated debate on whether phenotypic discovery should be favored over targeted discovery in academia and pharma, in a panel discussion chaired by Roland Wolkowicz (San Diego State University, USA).

Linking Automated Data Analysis and Visualization with Applications in Developmental Biology and High-Energy Physics

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

Ruebel, Oliver

2009-11-20

Knowledge discovery from large and complex collections of today's scientific datasets is a challenging task. With the ability to measure and simulate more processes at increasingly finer spatial and temporal scales, the increasing number of data dimensions and data objects is presenting tremendous challenges for data analysis and effective data exploration methods and tools. Researchers are overwhelmed with data and standard tools are often insufficient to enable effective data analysis and knowledge discovery. The main objective of this thesis is to provide important new capabilities to accelerate scientific knowledge discovery form large, complex, and multivariate scientific data. The research coveredmore » in this thesis addresses these scientific challenges using a combination of scientific visualization, information visualization, automated data analysis, and other enabling technologies, such as efficient data management. The effectiveness of the proposed analysis methods is demonstrated via applications in two distinct scientific research fields, namely developmental biology and high-energy physics.Advances in microscopy, image analysis, and embryo registration enable for the first time measurement of gene expression at cellular resolution for entire organisms. Analysis of high-dimensional spatial gene expression datasets is a challenging task. By integrating data clustering and visualization, analysis of complex, time-varying, spatial gene expression patterns and their formation becomes possible. The analysis framework MATLAB and the visualization have been integrated, making advanced analysis tools accessible to biologist and enabling bioinformatic researchers to directly integrate their analysis with the visualization. Laser wakefield particle accelerators (LWFAs) promise to be a new compact source of high-energy particles and radiation, with wide applications ranging from medicine to physics. To gain insight into the complex physical processes of particle acceleration, physicists model LWFAs computationally. The datasets produced by LWFA simulations are (i) extremely large, (ii) of varying spatial and temporal resolution, (iii) heterogeneous, and (iv) high-dimensional, making analysis and knowledge discovery from complex LWFA simulation data a challenging task. To address these challenges this thesis describes the integration of the visualization system VisIt and the state-of-the-art index/query system FastBit, enabling interactive visual exploration of extremely large three-dimensional particle datasets. Researchers are especially interested in beams of high-energy particles formed during the course of a simulation. This thesis describes novel methods for automatic detection and analysis of particle beams enabling a more accurate and efficient data analysis process. By integrating these automated analysis methods with visualization, this research enables more accurate, efficient, and effective analysis of LWFA simulation data than previously possible.« less

Stau coannihilation, compressed spectrum, and SUSY discovery potential at the LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aboubrahim, Amin; Nath, Pran; Spisak, Andrew B.

2017-06-01

The lack of observation of supersymmetry thus far implies that the weak supersymmetry scale is larger than what was thought before the LHC era. This observation is strengthened by the Higgs boson mass measurement at ˜125 GeV , which within supersymmetric models implies a large loop correction and a weak supersymmetry scale lying in the several TeV region. In addition if neutralino is the dark matter, its relic density puts further constraints on models often requiring coannihilation to reduce the neutralino relic density to be consistent with experimental observation. The coannihilation in turn implies that the mass gap between the lightest supersymmetric particle and the next to lightest supersymmetric particle will be small, leading to softer final states and making the observation of supersymmetry challenging. In this work we investigate stau coannihilation models within supergravity grand unified models and the potential of discovery of such models at the LHC in the post-Higgs boson discovery era. We utilize a variety of signal regions to optimize the discovery of supersymmetry in the stau coannihilation region. In the analysis presented we impose the relic density constraint as well as the constraint of the Higgs boson mass. The range of sparticle masses discoverable up to the optimal integrated luminosity of the HL-LHC is investigated. It is found that the mass difference between the stau and the neutralino does not exceed ˜20 GeV over the entire mass range of the models explored. Thus the discovery of a supersymmetric signal arising from the stau coannihilation region will also provide a measurement of the neutralino mass. The direct detection of neutralino dark matter is analyzed within the class of stau coannihilation models investigated. The analysis is extended to include multiparticle coannihilation where stau along with chargino and the second neutralino enter into the coannihilation process.

28 CFR 68.23 - Motion to compel response to discovery; sanctions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... forth and include: (1) The nature of the questions or request; (2) The response or objections of the..., documents, or other evidence would have shown; (5) Rule that a pleading, or part of a pleading, or a motion...

Gamma-ray burst theory: Back to the drawing board

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harding, Alice K.

1994-01-01

Gamma-ray bursts have always been intriguing sources to study in terms of particle acceleration, but not since their discovery two decades ago has the theory of these objects been in such turmoil. Prior to the launch of Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and observations by Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), there was strong evidence pointing to magnetized Galactic neutron stars as the sources of gamma-ray bursts. However, since BATSE the observational picture has changed dramatically, requiring much more distant and possibly cosmological sources. I review the history of gamma-ray burst theory from the era of growing consensus for nearby neutron stars to the recent explosion of halo and cosmological models and the impact of the present confusion on the particle acceleration problem.

Hypernuclei Program at the CBM Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vassiliev, Iouri; Senger, Peter; Kisel, Ivan; Zyzak, Maksym

Main goal of the CBM experiment at FAIR is to study behaviour of nuclear matter at very high baryonic density in which the transition to a deconfined and chirally restored phase is expected to happen. Promising signatures of this new state are enhanced production of multi-strange particles, and production of hypernuclei and dibaryons. Theoretical models predict that single and double hypernuclei, and heavy multi-strange short-lived objects are produced via coalescence in heavy-ion collisions with the maximum yield in the region of SIS100 energies. Discovery and investigation of new hypernuclei and of hypermatter will shed light on hyperon-nucleon and hyperon-hyperon interactions. Results of feasibility studies of multi-strange hyperons and hypernuclei in the CBM experiment are discussed.

General Theory of Relativity: Will It Survive the Next Decade?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bertolami, Orfeu; Paramos, Jorge; Turyshev, Slava G.

2006-01-01

The nature of gravity is fundamental to our understanding of our own solar system, the galaxy and the structure and evolution of the Universe. Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard model that is used for almost ninety years to describe gravitational phenomena on these various scales. We review the foundations of general relativity, discuss the recent progress in the tests of relativistic gravity, and present motivations for high-accuracy gravitational experiments in space. We also summarize the science objectives and technology needs for the laboratory experiments in space with laboratory being the entire solar system. We discuss the advances in our understanding of fundamental physics anticipated in the near future and evaluate discovery potential for the recently proposed gravitational experiments.

Project X

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

Holmes, Steve; Alber, Russ; Asner, David

2013-06-23

Particle physics has made enormous progress in understanding the nature of matter and forces at a fundamental level and has unlocked many mysteries of our world. The development of the Standard Model of particle physics has been a magnificent achievement of the field. Many deep and important questions have been answered and yet many mysteries remain. The discovery of neutrino oscillations, discrepancies in some precision measurements of Standard-Model processes, observation of matter-antimatter asymmetry, the evidence for the existence of dark matter and dark energy, all point to new physics beyond the Standard Model. The pivotal developments of our field, includingmore » the latest discovery of the Higgs Boson, have progressed within three interlocking frontiers of research – the Energy, Intensity and Cosmic frontiers – where discoveries and insights in one frontier powerfully advance the other frontiers as well.« less

Perspective: Materials informatics and big data: Realization of the "fourth paradigm" of science in materials science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrawal, Ankit; Choudhary, Alok

2016-05-01

Our ability to collect "big data" has greatly surpassed our capability to analyze it, underscoring the emergence of the fourth paradigm of science, which is data-driven discovery. The need for data informatics is also emphasized by the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), further boosting the emerging field of materials informatics. In this article, we look at how data-driven techniques are playing a big role in deciphering processing-structure-property-performance relationships in materials, with illustrative examples of both forward models (property prediction) and inverse models (materials discovery). Such analytics can significantly reduce time-to-insight and accelerate cost-effective materials discovery, which is the goal of MGI.

Collaborative pre-competitive preclinical drug discovery with academics and pharma/biotech partners at Sanford|Burnham: infrastructure, capabilities & operational models.

PubMed

Chung, Thomas D Y

2014-03-01

There has been increased concern that the current "blockbuster" model of drug discovery and development practiced by "Big Pharma" are unsustainable in terms of cost (> $1 billion/approved drug) and time to market (10 - 15 years). The recent mergers and acquisitions (M&A), shuttering of internal research programs, closure of "redundant" sites of operations, senior management turnover and continued workforce reductions among the top 10 major pharmaceutical companies reflect draconian responses to reduce costs. However, the resultant exodus of intellectual capital, loss in motivation and momentum, and exit from early stage discovery programs by pharmaceutical companies has contributed to an "innovation deficit". Disease advocacy groups, investment communities and the government are calling for new innovative business models to address this deficit. In particular they are looking towards academia and clinical trials centers to catalyze new innovations in translational research. Indeed over the last decade many academic institutions have launched drug discovery centers largely comprising high-throughput screening (HTS) to accelerate "translational" research. A major impetus for this "open innovation" effort has been the National Institutes of Health (NIH) "Roadmap" and Molecular Libraries Initiative/Program (MLI/MLP), which is in its last year, and will be transitioned into the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences (NCATS). With the end of Roadmap funding, general reduction in Federal government funding and its recent sequestration, academic drug discovery centers are being challenged to become selfsustaining, adding financial value, while remaining aligned with the missions of their respective academic non-profit institutions. We describe herein, a brief history of our bi-coastal Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics (Prebys Center) at the Sanford|Burnham Medical Research Institute (SBMRI), the key components of its infrastructure, core competencies of its fully integrated drug discovery expertise, best practices adopted in our day-to-day operations, and finally some of our current funding and collaboration and/or strategic alliance models for pre-competitive drug discovery with other academic/clinical partners, other governmental agencies, and with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Model-Based Analysis for Qualitative Data: An Application in Drosophila Germline Stem Cell Regulation

PubMed Central

Pargett, Michael; Rundell, Ann E.; Buzzard, Gregery T.; Umulis, David M.

2014-01-01

Discovery in developmental biology is often driven by intuition that relies on the integration of multiple types of data such as fluorescent images, phenotypes, and the outcomes of biochemical assays. Mathematical modeling helps elucidate the biological mechanisms at play as the networks become increasingly large and complex. However, the available data is frequently under-utilized due to incompatibility with quantitative model tuning techniques. This is the case for stem cell regulation mechanisms explored in the Drosophila germarium through fluorescent immunohistochemistry. To enable better integration of biological data with modeling in this and similar situations, we have developed a general parameter estimation process to quantitatively optimize models with qualitative data. The process employs a modified version of the Optimal Scaling method from social and behavioral sciences, and multi-objective optimization to evaluate the trade-off between fitting different datasets (e.g. wild type vs. mutant). Using only published imaging data in the germarium, we first evaluated support for a published intracellular regulatory network by considering alternative connections of the same regulatory players. Simply screening networks against wild type data identified hundreds of feasible alternatives. Of these, five parsimonious variants were found and compared by multi-objective analysis including mutant data and dynamic constraints. With these data, the current model is supported over the alternatives, but support for a biochemically observed feedback element is weak (i.e. these data do not measure the feedback effect well). When also comparing new hypothetical models, the available data do not discriminate. To begin addressing the limitations in data, we performed a model-based experiment design and provide recommendations for experiments to refine model parameters and discriminate increasingly complex hypotheses. PMID:24626201

Multi-Stage Hybrid Rocket Conceptual Design for Micro-Satellites Launch using Genetic Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitagawa, Yosuke; Kitagawa, Koki; Nakamiya, Masaki; Kanazaki, Masahiro; Shimada, Toru

The multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is applied to the multi-disciplinary conceptual design problem for a three-stage launch vehicle (LV) with a hybrid rocket engine (HRE). MOGA is an optimization tool used for multi-objective problems. The parallel coordinate plot (PCP), which is a data mining method, is employed in the post-process in MOGA for design knowledge discovery. A rocket that can deliver observing micro-satellites to the sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) is designed. It consists of an oxidizer tank containing liquid oxidizer, a combustion chamber containing solid fuel, a pressurizing tank and a nozzle. The objective functions considered in this study are to minimize the total mass of the rocket and to maximize the ratio of the payload mass to the total mass. To calculate the thrust and the engine size, the regression rate is estimated based on an empirical model for a paraffin (FT-0070) propellant. Several non-dominated solutions are obtained using MOGA, and design knowledge is discovered for the present hybrid rocket design problem using a PCP analysis. As a result, substantial knowledge on the design of an LV with an HRE is obtained for use in space transportation.

Knowledge discovery from data as a framework to decision support in medical domains

PubMed Central

Gibert, Karina

2009-01-01

Introduction Knowledge discovery from data (KDD) is a multidisciplinary discipline which appeared in 1996 for “non trivial identifying of valid, novel, potentially useful, ultimately understandable patterns in data”. Pre-treatment of data and post-processing is as important as the data exploitation (Data Mining) itself. Different analysis techniques can be properly combined to produce explicit knowledge from data. Methods Hybrid KDD methodologies combining Artificial Intelligence with Statistics and visualization have been used to identify patterns in complex medical phenomena: experts provide prior knowledge (pK); it biases the search of distinguishable groups of homogeneous objects; support-interpretation tools (CPG) assisted experts in conceptualization and labelling of discovered patterns, consistently with pK. Results Patterns of dependency in mental disabilities supported decision-making on legislation of the Spanish Dependency Law in Catalonia. Relationships between type of neurorehabilitation treatment and patterns of response for brain damage are assessed. Patterns of the perceived QOL along time are used in spinal cord lesion to improve social inclusion. Conclusion Reality is more and more complex and classical data analyses are not powerful enough to model it. New methodologies are required including multidisciplinarity and stressing on production of understandable models. Interaction with the experts is critical to generate meaningful results which can really support decision-making, particularly convenient transferring the pK to the system, as well as interpreting results in close interaction with experts. KDD is a valuable paradigm, particularly when facing very complex domains, not well understood yet, like many medical phenomena.

Discovery of pulsations from NGC 300 ULX1 and its fast period evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carpano, S.; Haberl, F.; Maitra, C.; Vasilopoulos, G.

2018-05-01

The supernova impostor SN 2010da located in the nearby galaxy NGC 300, later identified as a likely supergiant B[e] high-mass X-ray binary, was simultaneously observed by NuSTAR and XMM-Newton between 2016 December 16 and 20, over a total time span of ˜310 ks. We report the discovery of a strong periodic modulation in the X-ray flux with a pulse period of 31.6 s and a very rapid spin-up, and confirm therefore that the compact object is a neutron star. We find that the spin period is changing from 31.71 s to 31.54 s over that period, with a spin-up rate of -5.56 × 10-7 s s-1, likely the largest ever observed from an accreting neutron star. The spectrum is described by a power-law and a disc blackbody model, leading to a 0.3-30 keV unabsorbed luminosity of 4.7 × 1039 erg s-1. Applying our best-fitting model successfully to the spectra of an XMM-Newton observation from 2010, suggests that the lower fluxes of NGC 300 ULX1 reported from observations around that time are caused by a large amount of absorption, while the intrinsic luminosity was similar as seen in 2016. A more constant luminosity level is also consistent with the long-term pulse period evolution approaching an equilibrium value asymptotically. We conclude that the source is another candidate for the new class of ultraluminous X-ray pulsars.

WISE Observations of Comets, Centaurs, & Scattered Disk Objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauer, J.; Walker, R.; Mainzer, A.; Masiero, J.; Grav, T.; Cutri, R.; Dailey, J.; McMillan, R.; Lisse, C. M.; Fernandez, Y. R.;

Overview of the Coastal Marine Discovery Service: data discovery, visualization, and understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armstrong, E. M.; Mattmann, C. A.; Cinquini, L.; O'Brien, F. J.; Resneck, G.; Siegrist, Z.

2012-12-01

Many resources available for coastal ocean research and management remain underutilized. Typically, the emphasis in the past has been on increasing access and usability of remote sensing satellite products from NASA data centers. Significant progress has been made in this regard although access and discovery mechanisms still remain disjointed. Less attention has been paid to discovery and usability to ocean in situ records and circulation model products, because typically these are organized and maintained on a smaller regional level such as a university or smaller division of a larger national agency. The NASA Coastal Marine Discovery Service, a NASA ACCESS funded activity, focuses on improving discovery of these regional coastal ocean web services and data portals, including databases for satellite imagery, in situ and field measurements, ocean circulation models, and GIS coverages as a few examples. Beyond resource discovery, the CMDS integrated system (http://cmds.jpl.nasa.gov) leverages open source technology for unifying coastal ocean data within the framework on a GIS web client, the Easy GIS Net Viewer. In sum, CMDS consists of an online catalog of coastal resources that allows users to quickly discover the availability of data for their region of interest, physical parameter of interest or specific regional project of interest, or any combination of these. After discovery, data can be transparently linked to Netviewer client to view, overlay and interrogate products, and make GIS-like queries on the data layers to investigate statistical relationships. In this presentation, we will review the CMDS system, it architecture and resource harvesting approach, and more importantly demonstrate real world use of cases of data exploration, visualization and ultimately understanding.

Small astronomy satellite-A, Uhuru data analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koch, D.

1974-01-01

Objectives were to conduct observations with the first satellite entirely devoted to X-ray astronomy and to analyze the results obtained. A catalog of X-ray sources was generated, and results of discoveries and further detailed observations of sources were presented in scientific journals and meetings. A list of how objectives were met, a brief description of the instrument, significant results, the X-ray catalog, and a complete bibliography of results are included.

Discovery of the fourth quark in the Standard Model

Science.gov Websites

, using the MARK I detector, (above left) and on the East Coast, at DOE’s Brookhaven Laboratory Burton Richter at DOE’s SLAC Sam Ting and team at DOE's Brookhaven 1974 The discovery of charm , the fourth quark in the Standard Model, occurred simultaneously on the West Coast, at DOE’s SLAC

The top quark (20 years after the discovery)

DOE PAGES

Boos, Eduard; Brandt, Oleg; Denisov, Dmitri; ...

2015-09-10

On the twentieth anniversary of the observation of the top quark, we trace our understanding of this heaviest of all known particles from the prediction of its existence, through the searches and discovery, to the current knowledge of its production mechanisms and properties. We also discuss the central role of the top quark in the Standard Model and the windows that it opens for seeking new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The Development of Learning Devices Based Guided Discovery Model to Improve Understanding Concept and Critical Thinking Mathematically Ability of Students at Islamic Junior High School of Medan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuliani, Kiki; Saragih, Sahat

2015-01-01

The purpose of this research was to: 1) development of learning devices based guided discovery model in improving of understanding concept and critical thinking mathematically ability of students at Islamic Junior High School; 2) describe improvement understanding concept and critical thinking mathematically ability of students at MTs by using…

A Framework of Knowledge Integration and Discovery for Supporting Pharmacogenomics Target Predication of Adverse Drug Events: A Case Study of Drug-Induced Long QT Syndrome.

PubMed

Jiang, Guoqian; Wang, Chen; Zhu, Qian; Chute, Christopher G

2013-01-01

Knowledge-driven text mining is becoming an important research area for identifying pharmacogenomics target genes. However, few of such studies have been focused on the pharmacogenomics targets of adverse drug events (ADEs). The objective of the present study is to build a framework of knowledge integration and discovery that aims to support pharmacogenomics target predication of ADEs. We integrate a semantically annotated literature corpus Semantic MEDLINE with a semantically coded ADE knowledgebase known as ADEpedia using a semantic web based framework. We developed a knowledge discovery approach combining a network analysis of a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and a gene functional classification approach. We performed a case study of drug-induced long QT syndrome for demonstrating the usefulness of the framework in predicting potential pharmacogenomics targets of ADEs.

KSC-99pp1439

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-12-17

An olivaceous cormorant soars in the cloud-streaked sky near the Space Shuttle Discovery as it waits for liftoff on mission STS-103. To the left of Discovery is the Rotating Service Structure, rolled back on Dec. 16 in preparation for launch. At right is a 290-foot-high water tank with a capacity of 300,000 gallons. The tank is part of the sound suppression water system used during launch. The STS-103 mission, to service the Hubble Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch Dec. 17 at 8:47 p.m. EST from Launch Pad 39B. Mission objectives include replacing gyroscopes and an old computer, installing another solid state recorder, and replacing damaged insulation in the telescope. The mission is expected to last about 8 days and 21 hours. Discovery is expected to land at KSC Sunday, Dec. 26, at about 6:25 p.m. EST

Unbiased approaches to biomarker discovery in neurodegenerative diseases

PubMed Central

Chen-Plotkin, Alice S.

2014-01-01

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia have several important features in common. They are progressive, they affect a relatively inaccessible organ, and we have no disease-modifying therapies for them. For these brain-based diseases, current diagnosis and evaluation of disease severity rely almost entirely on clinical examination, which may only be a rough approximation of disease state. Thus, the development of biomarkers – objective, relatively easily measured and precise indicators of pathogenic processes – could improve patient care and accelerate therapeutic discovery. Yet existing, rigorously tested neurodegenerative disease biomarkers are few, and even fewer biomarkers have translated into clinical use. To find new biomarkers for these diseases, an unbiased, high-throughput screening approach may be needed. In this review, I will describe the potential utility of such an approach to biomarker discovery, using Parkinson’s disease as a case example. PMID:25442938

The Southern HII Region Discovery Survey: Preliminary Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shea, Jeanine; Wenger, Trey; Balser, Dana S.; Anderson, Loren D.; Armentrout, William P.; Bania, Thomas M.; Dawson, Joanne; Miller Dickey, John; Jordan, Christopher; McClure-Griffiths, Naomi M.

2017-01-01

HII regions are some of the brightest sources at radio frequencies in the Milky Way and are the sites of massive O and B-type star formation. They have relatively short (< 10 Myr) lifetimes compared to other Galactic objects and therefore reveal information about spiral structure and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The HII Region Discovery Surveys (HRDS) discovered about 800 new HII regions in the Galactic longitude range -20 degrees to 270 degrees using primarily the Green Bank Telescope. Candidate HII regions were selected from mid-infrared emission coincident with radio continuum emission, and confirmed as HII regions by the detection of radio recombination lines. Here we discuss the Southern HII Region Discovery Survey (SHRDS), a continuation of the HRDS using the Australia Telescope Compact Array over the Galactic longitude range 230 to 360 degrees. We have reduced and analyzed a small sub-set of the SHRDS sources and discuss preliminary results, including kinematic distances and metallicities.

The Coldest Discoveries of Backyard Worlds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faherty, Jacqueline; Kuchner, Marc; Logsdon, Sarah; Bardalez Gagliuffi, Daniella; Meisner, Aaron; Schneider, Adam; Gagne, Jonathan; Caselden, Dan

2018-05-01

Over the past five years, our view of the local solar neighborhood has changed drastically thanks to the Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Not only did WISE redefine the five closest systems to the Sun with the discovery of Luhman16AB and WISE0855, but it also revealed the Sun's closest fly by and it defined an entirely new class of extremely cold and close compact objects: the Y dwarfs. At present, all but two of the Y dwarfs were discovered through a WISE single epoch photometric identification. As a whole, these objects are of critical importance to identifying the efficiency of star formation at the lowest masses. As individuals, each of these objects represents a unique probe into the complex chemistry present in the coldest photospheres produced in the Universe. Every single Y dwarf discovered is an observational treasure. In February 2017, we launched a citizen science project called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 with the intention of scanning the entire sky using not just photometric information but positional as well to identify the coldest, closest, and fastest moving objects near the Sun. In this Spitzer Cycle 14 proposal, we have identified 65 tantalizingly fast moving objects that appear to be extremely cold hence potentially among the Sun's nearest neighbors. We ask for 26.8 hours with Spitzer to obtain critical ch1 and ch2 photometry as well as astrometric information (to confirm motion) which will allow us to characterize these new cold brown dwarf neighbors. The coldest objects discovered through this proposal will be important follow-up targets for JWST spectroscopy.

Automated Morphological and Morphometric Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Imaging Data: Application to Biomarker Discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Picard de Muller, Gaël; Ait-Belkacem, Rima; Bonnel, David; Longuespée, Rémi; Stauber, Jonathan

2017-12-01

Mass spectrometry imaging datasets are mostly analyzed in terms of average intensity in regions of interest. However, biological tissues have different morphologies with several sizes, shapes, and structures. The important biological information, contained in this highly heterogeneous cellular organization, could be hidden by analyzing the average intensities. Finding an analytical process of morphology would help to find such information, describe tissue model, and support identification of biomarkers. This study describes an informatics approach for the extraction and identification of mass spectrometry image features and its application to sample analysis and modeling. For the proof of concept, two different tissue types (healthy kidney and CT-26 xenograft tumor tissues) were imaged and analyzed. A mouse kidney model and tumor model were generated using morphometric - number of objects and total surface - information. The morphometric information was used to identify m/z that have a heterogeneous distribution. It seems to be a worthwhile pursuit as clonal heterogeneity in a tumor is of clinical relevance. This study provides a new approach to find biomarker or support tissue classification with more information. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

The ultimate question of origins: God and the beginning of the Universe.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craig, W. L.

Both cosmology and philosophy trace their roots to the wonder felt by the ancient Greeks as they contemplated the Universe. The ultimate question remains why the Universe exists rather than nothing. This question led Leibniz to postulate the existence of a metaphysically necessary being, which he identified as God. Leibniz's critics, however, disputed this identification, claiming that the space-time universe itself may be the metaphysically necessary being. The discovery during this century that the Universe began to exist, however, calls into question the Universe's status as metaphysically necessary, since any necessary being must be eternal in its existence. Although various cosmogonic models claiming to avert the beginning of the Universe predicted by the standard model have been and continue to be offered, no model involving an eternal universe has proved as plausible as the standard model. Unless we are to assert that the Universe simply sprang into being uncaused out of nothing, we are thus led to Leibniz's conclusion. Several objections to inferring a supernatural cause of the origin of the Universe are considered and found to be unsound.

The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Craig, William Lane

1999-12-01

Both cosmology and philosophy trace their roots to the wonder felt by the ancient Greeks as they contemplated the universe. The ultimate question remains why the universe exists rather than nothing. This question led Leibniz to postulate the existence of a metaphysically necessary being, which he identified as God. Leibniz's critics, however, disputed this identification, claiming that the space-time universe itself may be the metaphysically necessary being. The discovery during this century that the universe began to exist, however, calls into question the universe's status as metaphysically necessary, since any necessary being must be eternal in its existence. Although various cosmogonic models claiming to avert the beginning of the universe predicted by the standard model have been and continue to be offered, no model involving an eternal universe has proved as plausible as the standard model. Unless we are to assert that the universe simply sprang into being uncaused out of nothing, we are thus led to Leibniz's conclusion. Several objections to inferring a supernatural cause of the origin of the universe are considered and found to be unsound.

Ecology, Elementary Teaching Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Iva Helen

In an effort to provide background information and encourage incorporation of ecological understandings into the curriculum, this teacher's guide has been devised for fourth and fifth grade teachers. It utilizes an activity-oriented approach to discovery and inquiry, outlining behavioral objectives, learning activities, teaching suggestions, and…

Serendipitous discovery of quadruply imaged quasars: two diamonds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lucey, John R.; Schechter, Paul L.; Smith, Russell J.; Anguita, T.

2018-05-01

Gravitationally lensed quasars are powerful and versatile astrophysical tools, but they are challengingly rare. In particular, only ˜25 well-characterized quadruple systems are known to date. To refine the target catalogue for the forthcoming Taipan Galaxy Survey, the images of a large number of sources are being visually inspected in order to identify objects that are confused by a foreground star or galaxies that have a distinct multicomponent structure. An unexpected by-product of this work has been the serendipitous discovery of about a dozen galaxies that appear to be lensing quasars, i.e. pairs or quartets of foreground stellar objects in close proximity to the target source. Here, we report two diamond-shaped systems. Follow-up spectroscopy with the IMACS instrument on the 6.5m Magellan Baade telescope confirms one of these as a z = 1.975 quasar quadruply lensed by a double galaxy at z = 0.293. Photometry from publicly available survey images supports the conclusion that the other system is a highly sheared quadruply imaged quasar. In starting with objects thought to be galaxies, our lens finding technique complements the conventional approach of first identifying sources with quasar-like colours and subsequently finding evidence of lensing.

Fifty-four Years of Adventures in Infrared Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becklin, Eric Eric

2018-01-01

My adventures in infrared astronomy started when I was a grad student in 1965 with the discovery of an infrared-bright object (now known as the Becklin-Neugebauer Object) in the Orion Nebula. In 1966, I made the first measurements of the infrared radiation from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of the 2.2 micron sky survey carried out by Neugebauer and Leighton (1969), which produced many remarkable discoveries, the most spectacular being the heavily dust-embedded carbon star IRC+10216, thebrightest object in the sky at 5 microns outside the solar system. In the 1970’s there was a growth in Infrared astronomy with the availability of many new facilities such as the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, (KAO) which I used extensively with Mike Werner and Ian Gatley for many unique observations. In 1977, I moved to Hawaii to work on the NASA IRTF 3- meter telescope. Many discoveries were made, including the first direct measurements of the rings of Jupiter at 2.2 microns (with Gareth Wynn-Williams) and the discovery of the first L dwarf star around a white dwarf (with Ben Zuckerman). In the 1980’s the introduction of large format arrays changed the way we did infrared astronomy. With Ian McLean, I moved to UCLA in 1990 to start the IR lab and get involved in Keck development and science. In 1995, Andrea, Ghez, Mark Morris and I started looking for evidence of a possible massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center. Spectacular observations using the Keck10 meter telescopes with large format near-infrared arrays and adaptive optics led to the confirmation of the presence of such a black hole and an estimate of its mass (4xE6 M (Sun)). In 1996, I began working on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and I will finish my talk by discussing SOFIA observations of the ring of dust and gas orbiting the massive black hole in the center

Predicting Error Bars for QSAR Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schroeter, Timon; Schwaighofer, Anton; Mika, Sebastian; Ter Laak, Antonius; Suelzle, Detlev; Ganzer, Ursula; Heinrich, Nikolaus; Müller, Klaus-Robert

2007-09-01

Unfavorable physicochemical properties often cause drug failures. It is therefore important to take lipophilicity and water solubility into account early on in lead discovery. This study presents log D7 models built using Gaussian Process regression, Support Vector Machines, decision trees and ridge regression algorithms based on 14556 drug discovery compounds of Bayer Schering Pharma. A blind test was conducted using 7013 new measurements from the last months. We also present independent evaluations using public data. Apart from accuracy, we discuss the quality of error bars that can be computed by Gaussian Process models, and ensemble and distance based techniques for the other modelling approaches.

Computational modeling approaches to quantitative structure-binding kinetics relationships in drug discovery.

PubMed

De Benedetti, Pier G; Fanelli, Francesca

2018-03-21

Simple comparative correlation analyses and quantitative structure-kinetics relationship (QSKR) models highlight the interplay of kinetic rates and binding affinity as an essential feature in drug design and discovery. The choice of the molecular series, and their structural variations, used in QSKR modeling is fundamental to understanding the mechanistic implications of ligand and/or drug-target binding and/or unbinding processes. Here, we discuss the implications of linear correlations between kinetic rates and binding affinity constants and the relevance of the computational approaches to QSKR modeling. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Imbalanced target prediction with pattern discovery on clinical data repositories.

PubMed

Chan, Tak-Ming; Li, Yuxi; Chiau, Choo-Chiap; Zhu, Jane; Jiang, Jie; Huo, Yong

2017-04-20

Clinical data repositories (CDR) have great potential to improve outcome prediction and risk modeling. However, most clinical studies require careful study design, dedicated data collection efforts, and sophisticated modeling techniques before a hypothesis can be tested. We aim to bridge this gap, so that clinical domain users can perform first-hand prediction on existing repository data without complicated handling, and obtain insightful patterns of imbalanced targets for a formal study before it is conducted. We specifically target for interpretability for domain users where the model can be conveniently explained and applied in clinical practice. We propose an interpretable pattern model which is noise (missing) tolerant for practice data. To address the challenge of imbalanced targets of interest in clinical research, e.g., deaths less than a few percent, the geometric mean of sensitivity and specificity (G-mean) optimization criterion is employed, with which a simple but effective heuristic algorithm is developed. We compared pattern discovery to clinically interpretable methods on two retrospective clinical datasets. They contain 14.9% deaths in 1 year in the thoracic dataset and 9.1% deaths in the cardiac dataset, respectively. In spite of the imbalance challenge shown on other methods, pattern discovery consistently shows competitive cross-validated prediction performance. Compared to logistic regression, Naïve Bayes, and decision tree, pattern discovery achieves statistically significant (p-values < 0.01, Wilcoxon signed rank test) favorable averaged testing G-means and F1-scores (harmonic mean of precision and sensitivity). Without requiring sophisticated technical processing of data and tweaking, the prediction performance of pattern discovery is consistently comparable to the best achievable performance. Pattern discovery has demonstrated to be robust and valuable for target prediction on existing clinical data repositories with imbalance and noise. The prediction results and interpretable patterns can provide insights in an agile and inexpensive way for the potential formal studies.

Progressively consolidating historical visual explorations for new discoveries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Kaiyu; Ward, Matthew O.; Rundensteiner, Elke A.; Higgins, Huong N.

2013-12-01

A significant task within data mining is to identify data models of interest. While facilitating the exploration tasks, most visualization systems do not make use of all the data models that are generated during the exploration. In this paper, we introduce a system that allows the user to gain insights from the data space progressively by forming data models and consolidating the generated models on the fly. Each model can be a a computationally extracted or user-defined subset that contains a certain degree of interest and might lead to some discoveries. When the user generates more and more data models, the degree of interest of some portion of some models will either grow (indicating higher occurrence) or will fluctuate or decrease (corresponding to lower occurrence). Our system maintains a collection of such models and accumulates the interestingness of each model into a consolidated model. In order to consolidate the models, the system summarizes the associations between the models in the collection and identifies support (models reinforce each other), complementary (models complement each other), and overlap of the models. The accumulated interestingness keeps track of historical exploration and helps the user summarize their findings which can lead to new discoveries. This mechanism for integrating results from multiple models can be applied to a wide range of decision support systems. We demonstrate our system in a case study involving the financial status of US companies.