Leaping the College-Ready Gap: What Can Be Learned from Schools That Focus on Deeper Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Monica; McGrath, Dennis

2015-01-01

Learners of all types can see achievement gains when schools remake themselves as centers of deeper learning. This article highlights eight schools that may be pointing the way to how the nation can finally close the gaps for Latino and black students in beginning and finishing college degrees: (1) King Middle School (Portland, Maine); (2)…

The Shape of Deeper Learning: Strategies, Structures, and Cultures in Deeper Learning Network High Schools. Findings from the Study of Deeper Learning Opportunities and Outcomes: Report 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huberman, Mette; Bitter, Catherine; Anthony, Jennifer; O'Day, Jennifer

2014-01-01

The "Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes"--funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation--is a proof-of-concept study, the purpose of which was to determine whether students attending high schools with a mature and at least moderately well implemented approach to promoting deeper learning actually experienced…

Gaining deeper insight into the psychological challenges of human spaceflight: The role of motivational dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goemaere, Sophie; Vansteenkiste, Maarten; Van Petegem, Stijn

2016-04-01

Past research in space psychology has produced a plethora of interesting findings with regard to the psychological stressors and benefits associated with human spaceflight. To help synthesize these rather scattered findings and to advance our theorizing about critical psychological phenomena and processes within the rapidly growing field of space psychology, the aim of this contribution is to approach them from the perspective of Self-Determination Theory (SDT; 1)

A deeper view of insight in schizophrenia: Insight dimensions, unawareness and misattribution of particular symptoms and its relation with psychopathological factors.

PubMed

Pousa, Esther; Ochoa, Susana; Cobo, Jesús; Nieto, Lourdes; Usall, Judith; Gonzalez, Beatriz; Garcia-Ribera, Carles; Pérez Solà, Victor; Ruiz, Ada-I; Baños, Iris; Cobo, Jesús; García-Ribera, Carles; González, Beatriz; Massons, Carmina; Nieto, Lourdes; Monserrat, Clara; Ochoa, Susana; Pousa, Esther; Ruiz, Ada-Inmaculada; Ruiz, Isabel; Sanchez-Cabezudo, Dolores; Usall, Judith

2017-11-01

1. To describe insight in a large sample of schizophrenia subjects from a multidimensional point of view, including unawareness of general insight dimensions as well as unawareness and misattribution of particular symptoms. 2. To explore the relationship between unawareness and clinical and socio-demographic variables. 248 schizophrenia patients were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS, five factor model of Lindenmayer) and the full Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Bivariate associations and multiple linear regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship between unawareness, symptoms and socio-demographic variables. Around 40% of the sample showed unawareness of mental disorder, of the need for medication and of the social consequences. Levels of unawareness and misattribution of particular symptoms varied considerably. General unawareness dimensions showed small significant correlations with positive, cognitive and excitement factors of psychopathology, whereas these symptom factors showed higher correlations with unawareness of particular symptoms. Similarly, regression models showed a small significant predictive value of positive symptoms in the three general unawareness dimensions while a moderate one in the prediction of particular symptoms. Misattribution showed no significant correlations with any symptom factors. Results confirm that insight in schizophrenia is a multi-phased phenomenon and that unawareness into particular symptoms varies widely. The overlap between unawareness dimensions and psychopathology is small and seems to be restricted to positive and cognitive symptoms, supporting the accounts from cognitive neurosciences that suggest that besides basic cognition poor insight may be in part a failure of self-reflection or strategic metacognition. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unraveling Network-induced Memory Contention: Deeper Insights with Machine Learning

DOE PAGES

Groves, Taylor Liles; Grant, Ryan; Gonzales, Aaron; ...

2017-11-21

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) is expected to be an integral communication mechanism for future exascale systems enabling asynchronous data transfers, so that applications may fully utilize CPU resources while simultaneously sharing data amongst remote nodes. We examine Network-induced Memory Contention (NiMC) on Infiniband networks. We expose the interactions between RDMA, main-memory and cache, when applications and out-of-band services compete for memory resources. We then explore NiMCs resulting impact on application-level performance. For a range of hardware technologies and HPC workloads, we quantify NiMC and show that NiMCs impact grows with scale resulting in up to 3X performance degradation atmore » scales as small as 8K processes even in applications that previously have been shown to be performance resilient in the presence of noise. In addition, this work examines the problem of predicting NiMC's impact on applications by leveraging machine learning and easily accessible performance counters. This approach provides additional insights about the root cause of NiMC and facilitates dynamic selection of potential solutions. Finally, we evaluated three potential techniques to reduce NiMCs impact, namely hardware offloading, core reservation and network throttling.« less

Unraveling Network-induced Memory Contention: Deeper Insights with Machine Learning

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

Groves, Taylor Liles; Grant, Ryan; Gonzales, Aaron

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) is expected to be an integral communication mechanism for future exascale systems enabling asynchronous data transfers, so that applications may fully utilize CPU resources while simultaneously sharing data amongst remote nodes. We examine Network-induced Memory Contention (NiMC) on Infiniband networks. We expose the interactions between RDMA, main-memory and cache, when applications and out-of-band services compete for memory resources. We then explore NiMCs resulting impact on application-level performance. For a range of hardware technologies and HPC workloads, we quantify NiMC and show that NiMCs impact grows with scale resulting in up to 3X performance degradation atmore » scales as small as 8K processes even in applications that previously have been shown to be performance resilient in the presence of noise. In addition, this work examines the problem of predicting NiMC's impact on applications by leveraging machine learning and easily accessible performance counters. This approach provides additional insights about the root cause of NiMC and facilitates dynamic selection of potential solutions. Finally, we evaluated three potential techniques to reduce NiMCs impact, namely hardware offloading, core reservation and network throttling.« less

Late Permian marine ecosystem collapse began in deeper waters: evidence from brachiopod diversity and body size changes.

PubMed

He, W-H; Shi, G R; Twitchett, R J; Zhang, Y; Zhang, K-X; Song, H-J; Yue, M-L; Wu, S-B; Wu, H-T; Yang, T-L; Xiao, Y-F

2015-03-01

Analysis of Permian-Triassic brachiopod diversity and body size changes from different water depths spanning the continental shelf to basinal facies in South China provides insights into the process of environmental deterioration. Comparison of the temporal changes of brachiopod diversity between deepwater and shallow-water facies demonstrates that deepwater brachiopods disappeared earlier than shallow-water brachiopods. This indicates that high environmental stress commenced first in deepwater settings and later extended to shallow waters. This environmental stress is attributed to major volcanic eruptions, which first led to formation of a stratified ocean and a chemocline in the outer shelf and deeper water environments, causing the disappearance of deep marine benthos including brachiopods. The chemocline then rapidly migrated upward and extended to shallow waters, causing widespread mass extinction of shallow marine benthos. We predict that the spatial and temporal patterns of earlier onset of disappearance/extinction and ecological crisis in deeper water ecosystems will be recorded during other episodes of rapid global warming. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Deeper Look at the Fundamentals of Heterodyne Detection Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roychoudhuri, Chandrasekhar; Prasad, Narasimha S.

2007-01-01

response time of the detector. We will also present a correspondingly better interpretation of two distinguishable coherence properties, temporal coherence and spectral coherence. Our investigation provides a deeper insight into how to rela x various system requirements for heterodyne detection and accordingly develop systems that are simpler, more reliable and lower in cost. Also, we believe that engineering of detector architecture by appropriately modifying dipole behavior using emerging nanotechnology to optimize heterodyne efficiency will be advantageous.

Proofs that Develop Insight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Keith

2010-01-01

Many mathematics educators have noted that mathematicians do not only read proofs to gain conviction but also to obtain insight. The goal of this article is to discuss what this insight is from mathematicians' perspective. Based on interviews with nine research-active mathematicians, two sources of insight are discussed. The first is reading a…

Using Genetic Mouse Models to Gain Insight into Glaucoma: Past Results and Future Possibilities

PubMed Central

Fernandes, Kimberly A.; Harder, Jeffrey M.; Williams, Pete A.; Rausch, Rebecca L.; Kiernan, Amy E.; Nair, K. Saidas; Anderson, Michael G.; John, Simon W.; Howell, Gareth R.; Libby, Richard T.

2015-01-01

While all forms of glaucoma are characterized by a specific pattern of retinal ganglion cell death, they are clinically divided into several distinct subclasses, including normal tension glaucoma, primary open angle glaucoma, congenital glaucoma, and secondary glaucoma. For each type of glaucoma there are likely numerous molecular pathways that control susceptibility to the disease. Given this complexity, a single animal model will never precisely model all aspects of all the different types of human glaucoma. Therefore, multiple animal models have been utilized to study glaucoma but more are needed. Because of the powerful genetic tools available to use in the laboratory mouse, it has proven to be a highly useful mammalian system for studying the pathophysiology of human disease. The similarity between human and mouse eyes coupled with the ability to use a combination of advanced cell biological and genetic tools in mice have led to a large increase in the number of studies using mice to model specific glaucoma phenotypes. Over the last decade, numerous new mouse models and genetic tools have emerged, providing important insight into the cell biology and genetics of glaucoma. In this review, we describe available mouse genetic models that can be used to study glaucoma-relevant disease/pathobiology. Furthermore, we discuss how these models have been used to gain insights into ocular hypertension (a major risk factor for glaucoma) and glaucomatous retinal ganglion cell death. Finally, the potential for developing new mouse models and using advanced genetic tools and resources for studying glaucoma are discussed. PMID:26116903

A Deeper Level of Network Intelligence: Combating Cyber Warfare

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

A Deeper Level of Network Intelligence: Combating Cyber Warfare This information is provided for your review only and is not for any distribution...A Deeper Level of Network Intelligence: Combating Cyber Warfare 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d

Outsourcing goes to a deeper level.

PubMed

Davies, Julie

2003-12-01

Medical device manufacturers and diagnostics companies are among the fastest adopters of the outsourcing model. This article outlines how a deeper level of outsourcing is evolving and how this will transform just about every part of a company's business.

Comparing personal insight gains due to consideration of a recent dream and consideration of a recent event using the Ullman and Schredl dream group methods

PubMed Central

Edwards, Christopher L.; Malinowski, Josie E.; McGee, Shauna L.; Bennett, Paul D.; Ruby, Perrine M.; Blagrove, Mark T.

2015-01-01

There have been reports and claims in the psychotherapeutic literature that the consideration of recent dreams can result in personal realizations and insight. There is theoretical support for these claims from work on rapid eye movement (REM) sleep having a function of the consolidation of emotional memories and the creative formation of connections between new and older memories. To investigate these claims, 11 participants (10 females, one male) reported and considered a recent home dream in a dream discussion group that following the “Appreciating dreams” method of Montague Ullman. The group ran 11 times, each participant attending and participating once. A further nine participants (seven females, two males) reported and considered a recent home dream in a group that followed the “Listening to the dreamer” method of Michael Schredl. The two studies each had a control condition where the participant also reported a recent event, the consideration of which followed the same technique as was followed for the dream report. Outcomes of the discussions were assessed by the participants on the Gains from Dream Interpretation (GDI) scale, and on its counterpart, the Gains from Event Interpretation scale. High ratings on the GDI experiential-insight subscale were reported for both methods, when applied to dreams, and for the Ullman method Exploration-Insight ratings for the dream condition were significantly higher than for the control event condition. In the Ullman method, self-assessment of personal insight due to consideration of dream content was also significantly higher than for the event consideration condition. The findings support the view that benefits can be obtained from the consideration of dream content, in terms of identifying the waking life sources of dream content, and because personal insight may also occur. To investigate the mechanisms for the findings, the studies should be repeated with REM and non-REM dream reports, hypothesizing greater

Teaching Goal-Setting for Weight-Gain Prevention in a College Population: Insights from the CHOICES Study.

PubMed

Gardner, Jolynn; Kjolhaug, Jerri; Linde, Jennifer A; Sevcik, Sarah; Lytle, Leslie A

2013-01-01

This article describes the effectiveness of goal setting instruction in the CHOICES (Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings) study, an intervention evaluating the effectiveness of weight gain prevention strategies for 2-year college students. Four hundred and forty-one participants from three community colleges were recruited. Participants randomized into the intervention (n=224) enrolled in a course that taught strategies to help maintain or achieve a healthy weight. Participants were instructed in SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-based) and behavioral goal-setting practices. Throughout the course, participants set goals related to improving their sleep, stress-management, exercise, and nutrition." Intervention participants set four hundred eighteen goals. Each goal was carefully evaluated. The efforts to teach behavioral goal-setting strategies were largely successful; however efforts to convey the intricacies of SMART goal-setting were not as successful. Implications for effective teaching of skills in setting SMART behavioral goals were realized in this study. The insights gained from the goal-setting activities of this study could be used to guide educators who utilize goals to achieve health behavior change. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that very clear and directed instruction be provided in addition to multiple opportunities for goal-setting practice. Implications for future interventions involving education about goal-setting activities are discussed.

Assessing computerized eye tracking technology for gaining insight into expert interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram: an objective quantitative approach.

PubMed

Bond, R R; Zhu, T; Finlay, D D; Drew, B; Kligfield, P D; Guldenring, D; Breen, C; Gallagher, A G; Daly, M J; Clifford, G D

2014-01-01

It is well known that accurate interpretation of the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) requires a high degree of skill. There is also a moderate degree of variability among those who interpret the ECG. While this is the case, there are no best practice guidelines for the actual ECG interpretation process. Hence, this study adopts computerized eye tracking technology to investigate whether eye-gaze can be used to gain a deeper insight into how expert annotators interpret the ECG. Annotators were recruited in San Jose, California at the 2013 International Society of Computerised Electrocardiology (ISCE). Each annotator was recruited to interpret a number of 12-lead ECGs (N=12) while their eye gaze was recorded using a Tobii X60 eye tracker. The device is based on corneal reflection and is non-intrusive. With a sampling rate of 60Hz, eye gaze coordinates were acquired every 16.7ms. Fixations were determined using a predefined computerized classification algorithm, which was then used to generate heat maps of where the annotators looked. The ECGs used in this study form four groups (3=ST elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI], 3=hypertrophy, 3=arrhythmias and 3=exhibiting unique artefacts). There was also an equal distribution of difficulty levels (3=easy to interpret, 3=average and 3=difficult). ECGs were displayed using the 4x3+1 display format and computerized annotations were concealed. Precisely 252 expert ECG interpretations (21 annotators×12 ECGs) were recorded. Average duration for ECG interpretation was 58s (SD=23). Fleiss' generalized kappa coefficient (Pa=0.56) indicated a moderate inter-rater reliability among the annotators. There was a 79% inter-rater agreement for STEMI cases, 71% agreement for arrhythmia cases, 65% for the lead misplacement and dextrocardia cases and only 37% agreement for the hypertrophy cases. In analyzing the total fixation duration, it was found that on average annotators study lead V1 the most (4.29s), followed by leads V2 (3.83s

The Role of Digital Technologies in Deeper Learning. Students at the Center: Deeper Learning Research Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dede, Chris

2014-01-01

To compete in today's global, knowledge-based, innovation-centered economy, young people must go beyond a high school diploma and acquire not just academic knowledge, but interpersonal and interpersonal capacities. That is, they must engage in deeper learning. As schools shift away from traditional education models in favor or providing deeper…

Trading shallow safety for deep sleep: Juvenile green turtles select deeper resting sites as they grow

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hart, Kristen M.; White, Connor F.; Iverson, Autumn R.; Whitney, Nick

2016-01-01

To better protect endangered green sea turtles Chelonia mydas, a more thorough understanding of the behaviors of each life stage is needed. Although dive profile analyses obtained using time-depth loggers have provided some insights into habitat use, recent work has shown that more fine-scale monitoring of body movements is needed to elucidate physical activity patterns. We monitored 11 juvenile green sea turtles with tri-axial acceleration data loggers in their foraging grounds in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida, USA, for periods ranging from 43 to 118 h (mean ± SD: 72.8 ± 27.3 h). Approximately half of the individuals (n = 5) remained in shallow (overall mean depth less than 2 m) water throughout the experiment, whereas the remaining individuals (n = 6) made excursions to deeper (4 to 27 m) waters, often at night. Despite these differences in depth use, acceleration data revealed a consistent pattern of diurnal activity and nocturnal resting in most individuals. Nocturnal depth differences thus do not appear to represent differences in behavior, but rather different strategies to achieve the same behavior: rest. We calculated overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) to assess the relative energetic cost of each behavioral strategy in an attempt to explain the differences between them. Animals in deeper water experienced longer resting dives, more time resting per hour, and lower mean hourly ODBA. These results suggest that resting in deeper water provides energetic benefits that outweigh the costs of transiting to deep water and a potential increased risk of predation.

Improving participant selection in disease management programmes: insights gained from propensity score stratification.

PubMed

Linden, Ariel; Adams, John L

2008-10-01

While the randomized controlled trial (RCT) remains the gold-standard study design for evaluating treatment effect, outcomes researchers turn to powerful quasi-experimental designs when only observational studies can be conducted. Within these designs, propensity score matching is one of the most popular to evaluate disease management (DM) programme effectiveness. Given that DM programmes generally have a much smaller number of participants than non-participants in the population, propensity score matching will typically result in all or nearly all participants finding successful matches, while most of the non-participants in the population remain unmatched and thereby excluded from the analysis. By excluding data from the unmatched population, the effect of non-treatment in the remaining population with the disease is not captured. In the present study, we examine changes in hospitalization rates stratified by propensity score quintiles across the entire population allowing us to gain insight as to how well the programme chose its participants, or if the programme could have been effective on those individuals not explicitly targeted for the intervention. These data indicate the presence of regression to the mean, and suggest that the DM programme may be overly limited to only the highest strata when there is evidence of a potential benefit for those in all the lower strata as well.

How to gain insight into the polydispersity of tannins: a combined MS and LC study.

PubMed

Mouls, Laetitia; Hugouvieux, Virginie; Mazauric, Jean-Paul; Sommerer, Nicolas; Mazerolles, Gérard; Fulcrand, Hélène

2014-12-15

In the context of the potential health benefits of food polyphenols, the bioavailability of tannins (i.e. proanthocyanidins) is a major issue, which is strongly influenced by the polydispersity and the degree of polymerisation of tannins. The average degree of polymerisation (DP) of tannins is usually determined using depolymerisation methods, which do not provide any information about their polymer distribution. Moreover, it is still a challenge to characterise tannin fractions of high polydispersity and/or containing polymers of high molecular weights, due to the limit of detection of direct mass spectrometry (MS) analysis methods. In the present work, the polydispersity of several tannin fractions is investigated by two complementary methods: a MALDI-MS method and a semi-preparative sub-fractionation. Using a combination of these methods we are able to gain insight into the DP distributions of the fractions consisting of tannins of medium and high DP. Moreover combining analyses can be useful to assess and compare the DP distributions of most tannin fractions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How Pregnant African-American Women View Pregnancy Weight Gain

PubMed Central

Groth, Susan W.; Morrison-Beedy, Dianne; Meng, Ying

2012-01-01

Objective To gain insight into how low-income, pregnant African-American women viewed their weight gain while pregnant and how they managed their weight during pregnancy. Design Descriptive study using three focus groups. Setting Women were recruited from urban prenatal care sites and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) services in a medium-sized urban Northeastern city. Participants Twenty-six adult, low-income, pregnant African-American women, aged 18–39; the majority were within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Methods Three focus groups were conducted utilizing open-ended questions related to pregnancy weight gain. Content analysis was used to analyze the verbatim transcripts. Analysis focused on meaning, intention and context. Groups were compared and contrasted at the within and between group levels to identify themes. Results Four themes were identified that provided insight into how women viewed their pregnancy weight gain and managed weight gain during pregnancy: (a) pregnancy weight gain: no matter how much means a healthy baby; (b) weight retention: it happens; (c) there is a limit: weight gain impact on appearance; and (d) watching and waiting: plans for controlling weight. Conclusion Low-income African-American women, though cognizant of the likelihood of retention of weight following pregnancy, are not focused on limiting their gestational weight gain. The cultural acceptance of a larger body size along with the belief that gaining more weight is indicative of a healthy infant present challenges for interventions to limit excessive gestational weight gain. PMID:22789036

How School Districts Can Support Deeper Learning: The Need for Performance Alignment. Executive Summary. Deeper Learning Research Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honig, Meredith I.; Rainey, Lydia R.

2015-01-01

School district leaders nationwide aspire to help their schools become vibrant places for learning--where students have meaningful academic opportunities "and" develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, the ability to communicate effectively, and other deeper learning capacities that are essential to success in later life.…

Crosswalk Analysis of Deeper Learning Skills to Common Core State Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conley, David T.

2011-01-01

The Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) conducted a crosswalk between the Deeper Learning Skills (DLS) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The purpose of the crosswalk was to understand the ways in which strategies for deeper learning relate to the CCSS. This comparison was not solely or simply an alignment study, although some…

Dreaming and insight

PubMed Central

Edwards, Christopher L.; Ruby, Perrine M.; Malinowski, Josie E.; Bennett, Paul D.; Blagrove, Mark T.

2013-01-01

This paper addresses claims that dreams can be a source of personal insight. Whereas there has been anecdotal backing for such claims, there is now tangential support from findings of the facilitative effect of sleep on cognitive insight, and of REM sleep in particular on emotional memory consolidation. Furthermore, the presence in dreams of metaphorical representations of waking life indicates the possibility of novel insight as an emergent feature of such metaphorical mappings. In order to assess whether personal insight can occur as a result of the consideration of dream content, 11 dream group discussion sessions were conducted which followed the Ullman Dream Appreciation technique, one session for each of 11 participants (10 females, 1 male; mean age = 19.2 years). Self-ratings of deepened self-perception and personal gains from participation in the group sessions showed that the Ullman technique is an effective procedure for establishing connections between dream content and recent waking life experiences, although wake life sources were found for only 14% of dream report text. The mean Exploration-Insight score on the Gains from Dream Interpretation questionnaire was very high and comparable to outcomes from the well-established Hill (1996) therapist-led dream interpretation method. This score was associated between-subjects with pre-group positive Attitude Toward Dreams (ATD). The need to distinguish “aha” experiences as a result of discovering a waking life source for part of a dream, from “aha” experiences of personal insight as a result of considering dream content, is discussed. Difficulties are described in designing a control condition to which the dream report condition can be compared. PMID:24550849

Snapshot recordings provide a first description of the acoustic signatures of deeper habitats adjacent to coral reefs of Moorea.

PubMed

Bertucci, Frédéric; Parmentier, Eric; Berthe, Cécile; Besson, Marc; Hawkins, Anthony D; Aubin, Thierry; Lecchini, David

2017-01-01

Acoustic recording has been recognized as a valuable tool for non-intrusive monitoring of the marine environment, complementing traditional visual surveys. Acoustic surveys conducted on coral ecosystems have so far been restricted to barrier reefs and to shallow depths (10-30 m). Since they may provide refuge for coral reef organisms, the monitoring of outer reef slopes and describing of the soundscapes of deeper environment could provide insights into the characteristics of different biotopes of coral ecosystems. In this study, the acoustic features of four different habitats, with different topographies and substrates, located at different depths from 10 to 100 m, were recorded during day-time on the outer reef slope of the north Coast of Moorea Island (French Polynesia). Barrier reefs appeared to be the noisiest habitats whereas the average sound levels at other habitats decreased with their distance from the reef and with increasing depth. However, sound levels were higher than expected by propagation models, supporting that these habitats possess their own sound sources. While reef sounds are known to attract marine larvae, sounds from deeper habitats may then also have a non-negligible attractive potential, coming into play before the reef itself.

Snapshot recordings provide a first description of the acoustic signatures of deeper habitats adjacent to coral reefs of Moorea

PubMed Central

Parmentier, Eric; Berthe, Cécile; Besson, Marc; Hawkins, Anthony D.; Aubin, Thierry; Lecchini, David

2017-01-01

Acoustic recording has been recognized as a valuable tool for non-intrusive monitoring of the marine environment, complementing traditional visual surveys. Acoustic surveys conducted on coral ecosystems have so far been restricted to barrier reefs and to shallow depths (10–30 m). Since they may provide refuge for coral reef organisms, the monitoring of outer reef slopes and describing of the soundscapes of deeper environment could provide insights into the characteristics of different biotopes of coral ecosystems. In this study, the acoustic features of four different habitats, with different topographies and substrates, located at different depths from 10 to 100 m, were recorded during day-time on the outer reef slope of the north Coast of Moorea Island (French Polynesia). Barrier reefs appeared to be the noisiest habitats whereas the average sound levels at other habitats decreased with their distance from the reef and with increasing depth. However, sound levels were higher than expected by propagation models, supporting that these habitats possess their own sound sources. While reef sounds are known to attract marine larvae, sounds from deeper habitats may then also have a non-negligible attractive potential, coming into play before the reef itself. PMID:29158970

Drowning in negativism, self-hate, doubt, madness: Linguistic insights into Sylvia Plath's experience of depression.

PubMed

Demjén, Zsófia

2014-01-01

This paper demonstrates how a range of linguistic methods can be harnessed in pursuit of a deeper understanding of the 'lived experience' of psychological disorders. It argues that such methods should be applied more in medical contexts, especially in medical humanities. Key extracts from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath are examined, as a case study of the experience of depression. Combinations of qualitative and quantitative linguistic methods, and inter- and intra-textual comparisons are used to consider distinctive patterns in the use of metaphor, personal pronouns and (the semantics of) verbs, as well as other relevant aspects of language. Qualitative techniques provide in-depth insights, while quantitative corpus methods make the analyses more robust and ensure the breadth necessary to gain insights into the individual experience. Depression emerges as a highly complex and sometimes potentially contradictory experience for Plath, involving both a sense of apathy and inner turmoil. It involves a sense of a split self, trapped in a state that one cannot overcome, and intense self-focus, a turning in on oneself and a view of the world that is both more negative and more polarized than the norm. It is argued that a linguistic approach is useful beyond this specific case.

Effect of the INSIGHT Responsive Parenting Intervention on Rapid Infant Weight Gain and Overweight Status at Age 1 Year

PubMed Central

Savage, Jennifer S.; Birch, Leann L.; Marini, Michele; Anzman-Frasca, Stephanie; Paul, Ian M.

2016-01-01

IMPORTANCE Rapid infant weight gain is associated with later obesity, but interventions to prevent rapid infant growth and reduce risk for overweight status in infancy are lacking. OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of a responsive parenting (RP) intervention on infant weight gain between birth and 28 weeks and overweight status at age 1 year. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study is an ongoing randomized clinical trial comparing an RP intervention designed to prevent childhood obesity with a safety control. The study includes primiparous mother-newborn dyads (n = 291) and was conducted at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, in addition to home visits. Enrollment was initiated in January 2012, and evaluable population analyses for this study were conducted between April 2015 and November 2015. INTERVENTIONS At 2 weeks post partum, initial intervention materials appropriate to the assigned treatment group were mailed to the participant’s home. Research nurses conducted home visits at 3 weeks, 16 weeks, 28 weeks, and 40 weeks, and a research center visit occurred at 1 year. The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories curriculum included messages about infant feeding, sleep hygiene, active social play, emotion regulation, and growth record education. The control group received a developmentally appropriate home safety intervention also delivered by nurse home visitors. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Conditional weight gain from birth to 28 weeks was calculated. General linear models examined intervention effect on conditional weight gain. The intervention’s effect on infant weight-for-length percentiles was tested using analysis of variance. Logistic regression compared the odds of overweight status (weight for length ≥95th percentile) at 1 year as a function of conditional weight gain. RESULTS Of the mothers included in the

Gaining insights into the consequences of target-mediated drug disposition of monoclonal antibodies using quasi-steady-state approximations.

PubMed

Grimm, Hans Peter

2009-10-01

Target-mediated drug disposition (TMDD) is frequently reported for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and is linked to the high affinity and high specificity of antibody molecules for their target. Understanding TMDD of a monoclonal antibody should go beyond the empirical description of its non-linear PK since valuable insights on the antibody-target interaction itself can be gained. This makes its mechanistic understanding precious for the drug development process, in particular for the optimization of new antibody molecules, for the design and interpretation of pharmacokinetic studies, and possibly even for the evaluation of efficacy and dose selection of drug candidates. Using the observation that the molecular (microscopic) processes are usually much more rapid than the pharmacokinetic (macroscopic) processes, a series of quasi-steady-state conditions on the microscopic level is proposed to bridge the gap between simple empirical and complex mechanistic descriptions of TMDD. These considerations show the impact of parameters such as target turnover, target expression, and target accessibility on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of monoclonal antibodies.

Using Twitter Data to Gain Insights into E-cigarette Marketing and Locations of Use: An Infoveillance Study

PubMed Central

Kim, Annice E; Hopper, Timothy; Simpson, Sean; Nonnemaker, James; Lieberman, Alicea J; Hansen, Heather; Porter, Lauren

2015-01-01

Background Marketing and use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other electronic nicotine delivery devices have increased exponentially in recent years fueled, in part, by marketing and word-of-mouth communications via social media platforms, such as Twitter. Objective This study examines Twitter posts about e-cigarettes between 2008 and 2013 to gain insights into (1) marketing trends for selling and promoting e-cigarettes and (2) locations where people use e-cigarettes. Methods We used keywords to gather tweets about e-cigarettes between July 1, 2008 and February 28, 2013. A randomly selected subset of tweets was manually coded as advertising (eg, marketing, advertising, sales, promotion) or nonadvertising (eg, individual users, consumers), and classification algorithms were trained to code the remaining data into these 2 categories. A combination of manual coding and natural language processing methods was used to indicate locations where people used e-cigarettes. Additional metadata were used to generate insights about users who tweeted most frequently about e-cigarettes. Results We identified approximately 1.7 million tweets about e-cigarettes between 2008 and 2013, with the majority of these tweets being advertising (93.43%, 1,559,508/1,669,123). Tweets about e-cigarettes increased more than tenfold between 2009 and 2010, suggesting a rapid increase in the popularity of e-cigarettes and marketing efforts. The Twitter handles tweeting most frequently about e-cigarettes were a mixture of e-cigarette brands, affiliate marketers, and resellers of e-cigarette products. Of the 471 e-cigarette tweets mentioning a specific place, most mentioned e-cigarette use in class (39.1%, 184/471) followed by home/room/bed (12.5%, 59/471), school (12.1%, 57/471), in public (8.7%, 41/471), the bathroom (5.7%, 27/471), and at work (4.5%, 21/471). Conclusions Twitter is being used to promote e-cigarettes by different types of entities and the online marketplace is more

Using Twitter Data to Gain Insights into E-cigarette Marketing and Locations of Use: An Infoveillance Study.

PubMed

Kim, Annice E; Hopper, Timothy; Simpson, Sean; Nonnemaker, James; Lieberman, Alicea J; Hansen, Heather; Guillory, Jamie; Porter, Lauren

2015-11-06

Marketing and use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other electronic nicotine delivery devices have increased exponentially in recent years fueled, in part, by marketing and word-of-mouth communications via social media platforms, such as Twitter. This study examines Twitter posts about e-cigarettes between 2008 and 2013 to gain insights into (1) marketing trends for selling and promoting e-cigarettes and (2) locations where people use e-cigarettes. We used keywords to gather tweets about e-cigarettes between July 1, 2008 and February 28, 2013. A randomly selected subset of tweets was manually coded as advertising (eg, marketing, advertising, sales, promotion) or nonadvertising (eg, individual users, consumers), and classification algorithms were trained to code the remaining data into these 2 categories. A combination of manual coding and natural language processing methods was used to indicate locations where people used e-cigarettes. Additional metadata were used to generate insights about users who tweeted most frequently about e-cigarettes. We identified approximately 1.7 million tweets about e-cigarettes between 2008 and 2013, with the majority of these tweets being advertising (93.43%, 1,559,508/1,669,123). Tweets about e-cigarettes increased more than tenfold between 2009 and 2010, suggesting a rapid increase in the popularity of e-cigarettes and marketing efforts. The Twitter handles tweeting most frequently about e-cigarettes were a mixture of e-cigarette brands, affiliate marketers, and resellers of e-cigarette products. Of the 471 e-cigarette tweets mentioning a specific place, most mentioned e-cigarette use in class (39.1%, 184/471) followed by home/room/bed (12.5%, 59/471), school (12.1%, 57/471), in public (8.7%, 41/471), the bathroom (5.7%, 27/471), and at work (4.5%, 21/471). Twitter is being used to promote e-cigarettes by different types of entities and the online marketplace is more diverse than offline product offerings and

Mining Login Data for Actionable Student Insight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agnihotri, Lalitha; Aghababyan, Ani; Mojarad, Shirin; Riedesel, Mark; Essa, Alfred

2015-01-01

Student login data is a key resource for gaining insight into their learning experience. However, the scale and the complexity of this data necessitate a thorough exploration to identify potential actionable insights, thus rendering it less valuable compared to student achievement data. To compensate for the underestimation of login data…

Fostering Deeper Critical Inquiry with Causal Layered Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haigh, Martin

2016-01-01

Causal layered analysis (CLA) is a technique that enables deeper critical inquiry through a structured exploration of four layers of causation. CLA's layers reach down from the surface litany of media understanding, through the layer of systemic causes identified by conventional research, to underpinning worldviews, ideologies and philosophies,…

Machine learning of big data in gaining insight into successful treatment of hypertension.

PubMed

Koren, Gideon; Nordon, Galia; Radinsky, Kira; Shalev, Varda

2018-06-01

Despite effective medications, rates of uncontrolled hypertension remain high. Treatment protocols are largely based on randomized trials and meta-analyses of these studies. The objective of this study was to test the utility of machine learning of big data in gaining insight into the treatment of hypertension. We applied machine learning techniques such as decision trees and neural networks, to identify determinants that contribute to the success of hypertension drug treatment on a large set of patients. We also identified concomitant drugs not considered to have antihypertensive activity, which may contribute to lowering blood pressure (BP) control. Higher initial BP predicts lower success rates. Among the medication options and their combinations, treatment with beta blockers appears to be more commonly effective, which is not reflected in contemporary guidelines. Among numerous concomitant drugs taken by hypertensive patients, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), and HMG CO-A reductase inhibitors (statins) significantly improved the success rate of hypertension. In conclusions, machine learning of big data is a novel method to identify effective antihypertensive therapy and for repurposing medications already on the market for new indications. Our results related to beta blockers, stemming from machine learning of a large and diverse set of big data, in contrast to the much narrower criteria for randomized clinic trials (RCTs), should be corroborated and affirmed by other methods, as they hold potential promise for an old class of drugs which may be presently underutilized. These previously unrecognized effects of PPIs and statins have been very recently identified as effective in lowering BP in preliminary clinical observations, lending credibility to our big data results.

The Schistosoma mansoni phylome: using evolutionary genomics to gain insight into a parasite's biology.

PubMed

Silva, Larissa Lopes; Marcet-Houben, Marina; Nahum, Laila Alves; Zerlotini, Adhemar; Gabaldón, Toni; Oliveira, Guilherme

2012-11-13

Schistosoma mansoni is one of the causative agents of schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that affects about 237 million people worldwide. Despite recent efforts, we still lack a general understanding of the relevant host-parasite interactions, and the possible treatments are limited by the emergence of resistant strains and the absence of a vaccine. The S. mansoni genome was completely sequenced and still under continuous annotation. Nevertheless, more than 45% of the encoded proteins remain without experimental characterization or even functional prediction. To improve our knowledge regarding the biology of this parasite, we conducted a proteome-wide evolutionary analysis to provide a broad view of the S. mansoni's proteome evolution and to improve its functional annotation. Using a phylogenomic approach, we reconstructed the S. mansoni phylome, which comprises the evolutionary histories of all parasite proteins and their homologs across 12 other organisms. The analysis of a total of 7,964 phylogenies allowed a deeper understanding of genomic complexity and evolutionary adaptations to a parasitic lifestyle. In particular, the identification of lineage-specific gene duplications pointed to the diversification of several protein families that are relevant for host-parasite interaction, including proteases, tetraspanins, fucosyltransferases, venom allergen-like proteins, and tegumental-allergen-like proteins. In addition to the evolutionary knowledge, the phylome data enabled us to automatically re-annotate 3,451 proteins through a phylogenetic-based approach rather than solely sequence similarity searches. To allow further exploitation of this valuable data, all information has been made available at PhylomeDB (http://www.phylomedb.org). In this study, we used an evolutionary approach to assess S. mansoni parasite biology, improve genome/proteome functional annotation, and provide insights into host-parasite interactions. Taking advantage of a proteome

Teaching for Deeper Political Learning: A Design Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Walter C.; Valencia, Sheila W.; Lo, Jane C.

2018-01-01

Is in-depth political learning possible in college-preparatory courses known for curricular breadth at an accelerated pace plus a high-stakes exam? A multidisciplinary research team conducted design-based implementation research (DBIR) for seven years across three school systems for the purpose of achieving deeper learning in an 'advanced' high…

Taking an Instrumental Genesis Lens: New Insights into Collaborative Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cerratto Pargman, Teresa; Nouri, Jalal; Milrad, Marcelo

2018-01-01

In this paper, we argue that in order to gain a deeper understanding of collaborative mobile learning in schools, it is important to know not only how mobile devices affect collaborative learning but also how collaborative learning emerges and is mediated by these devices. We develop our argument by applying the instrumental genesis theory and the…

How to estimate understanding: professionals' assessment of loved ones' insight into a patient's fatal disease.

PubMed

Benkel, Inger; Wijk, Helle; Molander, Ulla

2014-04-01

Loved ones of a patient with an incurable disease will accompany the patient to the end of life. Health care professionals must discuss difficult matters with loved ones and be sure that they really understand the seriousness of the patient's disease. The study explore how the professionals do when they explore the grounds on which they make their assessment of loved ones' insight into a patient's fatal disease. A qualitative design was chosen to gain deeper knowledge of professionals' perception of loved ones' understanding. The transcribed interviews were analysed using content analysis giving a richer understanding of the meaning of the content. The participants assessed loved ones' insight into the fatal disease based on the course and content of the conversations they had with the loved ones. The professionals' assessments were based on how the loved ones talked and expressed themselves in words and behavior and on the type of questions posed by the loved ones. The loved ones' observations and hope as denial or a strategy also contributed to their assessment. Ways to communicate with loved ones are crucial when making an assessment. The different ways loved ones use hope and other strategies made it problematic for the professionals to use these as indicators of state of mind in this matter. Training in conversation skills could be one way to support professionals when discussing and managing these difficult situations.

Designing for deeper learning in a blended computer science course for middle school students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grover, Shuchi; Pea, Roy; Cooper, Stephen

2015-04-01

The focus of this research was to create and test an introductory computer science course for middle school. Titled "Foundations for Advancing Computational Thinking" (FACT), the course aims to prepare and motivate middle school learners for future engagement with algorithmic problem solving. FACT was also piloted as a seven-week course on Stanford's OpenEdX MOOC platform for blended in-class learning. Unique aspects of FACT include balanced pedagogical designs that address the cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal aspects of "deeper learning"; a focus on pedagogical strategies for mediating and assessing for transfer from block-based to text-based programming; curricular materials for remedying misperceptions of computing; and "systems of assessments" (including formative and summative quizzes and tests, directed as well as open-ended programming assignments, and a transfer test) to get a comprehensive picture of students' deeper computational learning. Empirical investigations, accomplished over two iterations of a design-based research effort with students (aged 11-14 years) in a public school, sought to examine student understanding of algorithmic constructs, and how well students transferred this learning from Scratch to text-based languages. Changes in student perceptions of computing as a discipline were measured. Results and mixed-method analyses revealed that students in both studies (1) achieved substantial learning gains in algorithmic thinking skills, (2) were able to transfer their learning from Scratch to a text-based programming context, and (3) achieved significant growth toward a more mature understanding of computing as a discipline. Factor analyses of prior computing experience, multivariate regression analyses, and qualitative analyses of student projects and artifact-based interviews were conducted to better understand the factors affecting learning outcomes. Prior computing experiences (as measured by a pretest) and math ability were

Emotional intelligence, anxiety, and emotional eating: A deeper insight into a recently reported association?

PubMed

Zysberg, Leehu

2018-04-01

Recent studies reported a negative association between emotional intelligence (EI: defined here as individual predispositions associated with effective identification and regulation of emotions) and emotional eating. Although theory provides some insights into how the concept represents mechanisms that may serve as protective factors, empirical evidence of the mechanism behind the association has yet to be presented. This study tested a proposed model in which anxiety levels mediate the association between emotional intelligence and emotional-eating patterns in a normative sample of women in Israel. A cross-sectional/correlational design was used to gather data from 208 generally healthy female participants who completed measures of trait emotional intelligence, anxiety, and tendency toward emotional eating, as well as demographics. Anxiety levels mediated the negative association between emotional intelligence and emotional eating. Background variables had only marginal involvement in this model. The results shed light on the mechanisms underlying the association between emotional intelligence and emotional eating. Should future studies corroborate the findings, they may serve as a basis for future screening protocols, prevention and interventions with individuals and groups at risk of EE and eating disorders. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gabor Deconvolution as Preliminary Method to Reduce Pitfall in Deeper Target Seismic Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oktariena, M.; Triyoso, W.

2018-03-01

Anelastic attenuation process during seismic wave propagation is the trigger of seismic non-stationary characteristic. An absorption and a scattering of energy are causing the seismic energy loss as the depth increasing. A series of thin reservoir layers found in the study area is located within Talang Akar Fm. Level, showing an indication of interpretation pitfall due to attenuation effect commonly occurred in deeper level seismic data. Attenuation effect greatly influences the seismic images of deeper target level, creating pitfalls in several aspect. Seismic amplitude in deeper target level often could not represent its real subsurface character due to a low amplitude value or a chaotic event nearing the Basement. Frequency wise, the decaying could be seen as the frequency content diminishing in deeper target. Meanwhile, seismic amplitude is the simple tool to point out Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator (DHI) in preliminary Geophysical study before a further advanced interpretation method applied. A quick-look of Post-Stack Seismic Data shows the reservoir associated with a bright spot DHI while another bigger bright spot body detected in the North East area near the field edge. A horizon slice confirms a possibility that the other bright spot zone has smaller delineation; an interpretation pitfall commonly occurs in deeper level of seismic. We evaluates this pitfall by applying Gabor Deconvolution to address the attenuation problem. Gabor Deconvolution forms a Partition of Unity to factorize the trace into smaller convolution window that could be processed as stationary packets. Gabor Deconvolution estimates both the magnitudes of source signature alongside its attenuation function. The enhanced seismic shows a better imaging in the pitfall area that previously detected as a vast bright spot zone. When the enhanced seismic is used for further advanced reprocessing process, the Seismic Impedance and Vp/Vs Ratio slices show a better reservoir delineation, in which the

Weight gain in women diagnosed with breast cancer.

PubMed

Demark-Wahnefried, W; Rimer, B K; Winer, E P

1997-05-01

This review of the literature indicates that weight gain is a common observation among women after the diagnosis of breast cancer. Gains in weight range from 0 to 50 lb and are influenced by menopausal status; nodal status; and the type, duration, and intensity of treatment. Weight gain appears to be greater among premenopausal women; among those who are node positive; and among those receiving higher dose, longer duration, and multiagent regimens. Psychosocial research suggests that weight gain has a profoundly negative impact on quality of life in patients with breast cancer. Recent findings also suggest that weight gain during therapy may increase the risk of recurrence and decrease survival. Although weight gain in patients with breast cancer is clinically well appreciated, little research has been conducted to investigate the underlying mechanisms of energy imbalance. Changes in rates of metabolism, physical activity, and dietary intake are all plausible mechanisms and call for more research. Further study will provide valuable insight into the problem of weight gain and encourage effective interventions to improve the quality and quantity of life for the woman with breast cancer. Until more is known, however, dietetics practitioners will have to monitor and work individually with patients with breast cancer and use empirical approaches to achieve the important goal of weight management.

'Maximising shareholder value': a detailed insight into the corporate political activity of the Australian food industry.

PubMed

Mialon, Melissa; Swinburn, Boyd; Allender, Steven; Sacks, Gary

2017-04-01

To gain deeper insight into the corporate political activity (CPA) of the Australian food industry from a public health perspective. Fifteen interviews with a purposive sample of current and former policy makers, public health advocates and academics who have closely interacted with food industry representatives or observed food industry behaviours. All participants reported having directly experienced the CPA of the food industry during their careers, with the 'information and messaging' and 'constituency building' strategies most prominent. Participants expressed concern that food industry CPA strategies resulted in weakened policy responses to addressing diet-related disease. This study provides direct evidence of food industry practices that have the potential to shape public health-related policies and programs in Australia in ways that favour business interests at the expense of population health. Implications for public health: This evidence can inform policy makers and public health advocates and be used to adopt measures to ensure that public interests are put at the forefront as part of the policy development and implementation process. © 2017 The Authors.

Dispersion relations for 1D high-gain FELs

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

Webb, S.D.; Litvinenko, V.N.

2010-08-23

We present analytical results for the one-dimensional dispersion relation for high-gain FELs. Using kappa-n distributions, we obtain analytical relations between the dispersion relations for various order kappa distributions. Since an exact solution exists for the kappa-1 (Lorentzian) distribution, this provides some insight into the number of modes on the way to the Gaussian distribution.

High School Students' Informal Reasoning on a Socio-Scientific Issue: Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Ying-Tien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2007-01-01

Recently, the significance of learners' informal reasoning on socio-scientific issues has received increasing attention among science educators. To gain deeper insights into this important issue, an integrated analytic framework was developed in this study. With this framework, 71 Grade 10 students' informal reasoning about nuclear energy usage…

Gaining insights from social media language: Methodologies and challenges.

PubMed

Kern, Margaret L; Park, Gregory; Eichstaedt, Johannes C; Schwartz, H Andrew; Sap, Maarten; Smith, Laura K; Ungar, Lyle H

2016-12-01

Language data available through social media provide opportunities to study people at an unprecedented scale. However, little guidance is available to psychologists who want to enter this area of research. Drawing on tools and techniques developed in natural language processing, we first introduce psychologists to social media language research, identifying descriptive and predictive analyses that language data allow. Second, we describe how raw language data can be accessed and quantified for inclusion in subsequent analyses, exploring personality as expressed on Facebook to illustrate. Third, we highlight challenges and issues to be considered, including accessing and processing the data, interpreting effects, and ethical issues. Social media has become a valuable part of social life, and there is much we can learn by bringing together the tools of computer science with the theories and insights of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Electrical gain in interband cascade infrared photodetectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Wenxiang; Li, Lu; Lei, Lin; Massengale, Jeremy A.; Yang, Rui Q.; Mishima, Tetsuya D.; Santos, Michael B.

2018-03-01

In order to achieve improved understanding and gain insights into the device operation of interband cascade infrared photodetectors (ICIPs) and ultimately to optimize the design, we present a comparative study of five long-wavelength (LW) ICIPs based on a type-II InAs/GaSb superlattice. This study shows how the device responsivity is affected by the individual absorber thicknesses and the number of cascade stages, through the impact of light attenuation. Additionally, this study further validates that the electrical gain universally exists in non-current-matched ICIPs. With multiple cascade stages to suppress noise, these LW ICIPs achieved superior device performance at high temperatures, in terms of Johnson-noise limited detectivities, compared to commercial MCT detectors. Furthermore, a theory is developed to quantitatively describe the electrical gain in ICIPs and our calculations are in good agreement with the experimental results. Based on the theory, the optimal number of stages for maximizing the device detectivity D* is identified with inclusion of the electrical gain. Our calculation shows that this optimal number of stages is relatively large in the presence of the gain and the maximized D* has a relatively weak dependence on the absorber thickness when it is sufficiently thin.

Gaining insight into how women conceptualize satisfaction: Western Australian women's perception of their maternity care experiences.

PubMed

Lewis, Lucy; Hauck, Yvonne L; Ronchi, Fiona; Crichton, Caroline; Waller, Liana

2016-02-04

The concept of maternal satisfaction is challenging, as women's and clinicians' expectations and experiences can differ. Our aim was to investigate women's experiences of maternity care in an urban tertiary obstetric setting, to gain insight into conceptualization of satisfaction across the childbirth continuum. This mixed method study was conducted at a public maternity hospital in Western Australia. A questionnaire was sent to 733 women two weeks post birth, which included an invitation for an audio-recorded, telephone interview. Frequency distributions and univariate comparisons were employed for quantitative data. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts was undertaken to extract common themes. A total of 54% (399 of 733) returned the questionnaire. Quantitative results indicated that women were less likely to feel: involved if they did not have a spontaneous vaginal birth (P = 0.020); supported by a midwife if they had a caesarean (P = <0.001); or supported by an obstetrician if they had a spontaneous vaginal birth (P = <0.001). Qualitative findings emerged from 63 interviews which highlighted the influence that organization of care, resources and facilities had on women's satisfaction. These paradigms unfolded as three broad themes constructed by four sub-themes, each illustrating a dichotomy of experiences. The first theme 'how care was provided' encompassed: familiar faces versus a different one every time and the best place to be as opposed to so disappointed. The second theme 'attributes of staff' included: above and beyond versus caring without caring and in good hands as opposed to handled incorrectly. The third theme 'engaged in care' incorporated: explained everything versus did not know why and had a choice as opposed to did not listen to my needs. Quantitative analysis confirmed that the majority of women surveyed were satisfied. Mode of birth influenced women's perception of being involved with their birth. Being able to explore the

Christian Learner: Wisdom and Gaining Knowledge Equals Joy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagle, Bonne

2012-01-01

When a Christian learner gains insight that learning is needed and takes the appropriate action to learn the knowledge and apply it, there will be joy and satisfaction with learning. The premise for this paper is in the Bible verse Ecclesiastes 2:26: (NASB) "For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy..."…

Patients with and without oral malignancy in Pakistan. A dental elective report.

PubMed

Khan, A S; Ahmad, F

1994-03-05

As part of the undergraduate course, final year students are encouraged to undertake a 2 week elective study, in order to gain a deeper insight into a chosen branch of dentistry. Since we both had an interest in oral medicine, we decided to carry out a small project on oral cancer.

Exploring Teacher Induction: Collaborative Self-Studies across Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Déirdre; Engemann, Joe

2015-01-01

Educators from eight institutions engaged in collaborative self-studies of their own practices to gain deeper insight into the significance of narrative-based writing supporting the process of teacher induction. A series of teacher induction institutes based on narrative writing processes provided the context for critical exploration of the lived…

Effect of the INSIGHT Responsive Parenting Intervention on Rapid Infant Weight Gain and Overweight Status at Age 1 Year: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

PubMed

Savage, Jennifer S; Birch, Leann L; Marini, Michele; Anzman-Frasca, Stephanie; Paul, Ian M

2016-08-01

Rapid infant weight gain is associated with later obesity, but interventions to prevent rapid infant growth and reduce risk for overweight status in infancy are lacking. To examine the effect of a responsive parenting (RP) intervention on infant weight gain between birth and 28 weeks and overweight status at age 1 year. The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study is an ongoing randomized clinical trial comparing an RP intervention designed to prevent childhood obesity with a safety control. The study includes primiparous mother-newborn dyads (n = 291) and was conducted at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, in addition to home visits. Enrollment was initiated in January 2012, and evaluable population analyses for this study were conducted between April 2015 and November 2015. At 2 weeks post partum, initial intervention materials appropriate to the assigned treatment group were mailed to the participant's home. Research nurses conducted home visits at 3 weeks, 16 weeks, 28 weeks, and 40 weeks, and a research center visit occurred at 1 year. The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories curriculum included messages about infant feeding, sleep hygiene, active social play, emotion regulation, and growth record education. The control group received a developmentally appropriate home safety intervention also delivered by nurse home visitors. Conditional weight gain from birth to 28 weeks was calculated. General linear models examined intervention effect on conditional weight gain. The intervention's effect on infant weight-for-length percentiles was tested using analysis of variance. Logistic regression compared the odds of overweight status (weight for length ≥95th percentile) at 1 year as a function of conditional weight gain. Of the mothers included in the study, 246 were white (88%), 260 were non-Hispanic (93%), 210 were married (75%), and 201 were working full

Big maggots dig deeper: size-dependent larval dispersal in flies.

PubMed

Davis, Jeremy M; Coogan, Laura E; Papaj, Daniel R

2015-09-01

The ability of individual animals to select habitats optimal for development and survival can be constrained by the costs of moving through the environment. Animals that seek overwintering sites underground, for example, may be constrained by the energy required to burrow into the soil. We conducted field and laboratory studies to determine the relationship between individual size and overwintering site selection in the tephritid flies, Rhagoletis juglandis and Rhagoletis suavis. We also explored the effect of site selection on pupal mortality, parasitism, and the ability to emerge from overwintering sites after eclosion. In both species, and in both lab and field tests, larger pupae were found at deeper soil depths. In addition, marginally non-significant trends indicated pupae in deeper sites were 48% more likely to survive the overwintering period. Finally, larger individuals were more likely to eclose and emerge from the soil at a given depth, but flies in deep overwintering sites were less likely to emerge from those sites than flies in shallow sites. Our data indicate that overwintering site selection represents a trade-off between avoiding predators and parasites that occur at shallow sites, and the energetic and mortality costs of burrowing to, overwintering in, and emerging from, deeper sites. The size-dependent overwintering site selection demonstrated here has implications for population dynamics and pest control strategies. Some fly control measures, such as the introduction of parasites or predators, will be mitigated when the deepest and least accessible overwintering pupae represent a disproportionately large amount of the population's reproductive capacity.

Handling Handicap Complaints Requires Special Insights.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wirth, George N.

1979-01-01

In the two years that the Michigan Civil Rights Commission has been enforcing legislation prohibiting discrimination against handicapped persons, some valuable insights have been gained into how these complaints must be handled in ways different from other types of discrimination complaints. (Author/EB)

Effects of perturbation relative phase on transverse mode instability gain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zervas, Michalis N.

2018-02-01

We have shown that the relative phase between the fundamental fiber mode and the transverse perturbation affects significantly the local transverse modal instability (TMI) gain. The gain variation is more pronounced as the core diameter increases. This finding can be used in conjunction with other proposed approaches to develop efficient strategies for mitigating TMI in high power fiber amplifiers and lasers. It also provides some physical insight on the physical origin of the observed large differences in the TMI threshold dependence on core diameter for narrow and broad linewidth operation.

A Neuropsychological Approach to Understanding Risk-Taking for Potential Gains and Losses

PubMed Central

Levin, Irwin P.; Xue, Gui; Weller, Joshua A.; Reimann, Martin; Lauriola, Marco; Bechara, Antoine

2012-01-01

Affective neuroscience has helped guide research and theory development in judgment and decision-making by revealing the role of emotional processes in choice behavior, especially when risk is involved. Evidence is emerging that qualitatively and quantitatively different processes may be involved in risky decision-making for gains and losses. We start by reviewing behavioral work by Kahneman and Tversky (1979) and others, which shows that risk-taking differs for potential gains and potential losses. We then turn to the literature in decision neuroscience to support the gain versus loss distinction. Relying in part on data from a new task that separates risky decision-making for gains and losses, we test a neural model that assigns unique mechanisms for risky decision-making involving potential losses. Included are studies using patients with lesions to brain areas specified as important in the model and studies with healthy individuals whose brains are scanned to reveal activation in these and other areas during risky decision-making. In some cases, there is evidence that gains and losses are processed in different regions of the brain, while in other cases the same region appears to process risk in a different manner for gains and losses. At a more general level, we provide strong support for the notion that decisions involving risk-taking for gains and decisions involving risk-taking for losses represent different psychological processes. At a deeper level, we present mounting evidence that different neural structures play different roles in guiding risky choices in these different domains. Some structures are differentially activated by risky gains and risky losses while others respond uniquely in one domain or the other. Taken together, these studies support a clear functional dissociation between risk-taking for gains and risk-taking for losses, and further dissociation at the neural level. PMID:22347161

Edemagenic gain and interstitial fluid volume regulation.

PubMed

Dongaonkar, R M; Quick, C M; Stewart, R H; Drake, R E; Cox, C S; Laine, G A

2008-02-01

Under physiological conditions, interstitial fluid volume is tightly regulated by balancing microvascular filtration and lymphatic return to the central venous circulation. Even though microvascular filtration and lymphatic return are governed by conservation of mass, their interaction can result in exceedingly complex behavior. Without making simplifying assumptions, investigators must solve the fluid balance equations numerically, which limits the generality of the results. We thus made critical simplifying assumptions to develop a simple solution to the standard fluid balance equations that is expressed as an algebraic formula. Using a classical approach to describe systems with negative feedback, we formulated our solution as a "gain" relating the change in interstitial fluid volume to a change in effective microvascular driving pressure. The resulting "edemagenic gain" is a function of microvascular filtration coefficient (K(f)), effective lymphatic resistance (R(L)), and interstitial compliance (C). This formulation suggests two types of gain: "multivariate" dependent on C, R(L), and K(f), and "compliance-dominated" approximately equal to C. The latter forms a basis of a novel method to estimate C without measuring interstitial fluid pressure. Data from ovine experiments illustrate how edemagenic gain is altered with pulmonary edema induced by venous hypertension, histamine, and endotoxin. Reformulation of the classical equations governing fluid balance in terms of edemagenic gain thus yields new insight into the factors affecting an organ's susceptibility to edema.

The Physical Placement of Classroom Technology and Its Influences on Educational Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tondeur, J.; De Bruyne, E.; Van Den Driessche, M.; McKenney, S.; Zandvliet, D.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to gain deeper insights into how technology restructures the classroom as a spatial setting and how the positioning of these technologies can be associated with educational practices. The research includes a photographic and schematic representation of 115 classrooms in 12 primary schools in Belgium, resulting in a…

The Effect of Self Reflections through Electronic Journals (E-Journals) on the Self Efficacy of Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tavýl, Zekiye Müge

2014-01-01

This study aims both to provide information about the self-reflections of pre-service teachers keeping self-reflective e-journals during the practicum period and to determine the relationship between their self-reflection and self-efficacy levels. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed in integration to gain deeper insight into the…

A Representation for Gaining Insight into Clinical Decision Models

PubMed Central

Jimison, Holly B.

1988-01-01

For many medical domains uncertainty and patient preferences are important components of decision making. Decision theory is useful as a representation for such medical models in computer decision aids, but the methodology has typically had poor performance in the areas of explanation and user interface. The additional representation of probabilities and utilities as random variables serves to provide a framework for graphical and text insight into complicated decision models. The approach allows for efficient customization of a generic model that describes the general patient population of interest to a patient- specific model. Monte Carlo simulation is used to calculate the expected value of information and sensitivity for each model variable, thus providing a metric for deciding what to emphasize in the graphics and text summary. The computer-generated explanation includes variables that are sensitive with respect to the decision or that deviate significantly from what is typically observed. These techniques serve to keep the assessment and explanation of the patient's decision model concise, allowing the user to focus on the most important aspects for that patient.

Deep--deeper--deepest? Encoding strategies and the recognition of human faces.

PubMed

Sporer, S L

1991-03-01

Various encoding strategies that supposedly promote deeper processing of human faces (e.g., character judgments) have led to better recognition than more shallow processing tasks (judging the width of the nose). However, does deeper processing actually lead to an improvement in recognition, or, conversely, does shallow processing lead to a deterioration in performance when compared with naturally employed encoding strategies? Three experiments systematically compared a total of 8 different encoding strategies manipulating depth of processing, amount of elaboration, and self-generation of judgmental categories. All strategies that required a scanning of the whole face were basically equivalent but no better than natural strategy controls. The consistently worst groups were the ones that rated faces along preselected physical dimensions. This can be explained by subjects' lesser task involvement as revealed by manipulation checks.

Insight in Schizophrenia: Relationship to Positive, Negative and Neurocognitive Dimensions

PubMed Central

Joseph, Boban; Narayanaswamy, Janardhanan C.; Venkatasubramanian, Ganesan

2015-01-01

Impairment of insight is considered as the hallmark of schizophrenia. Substantial proportion of patients with schizophrenia has either poor or absent insight. Insight is a multidimensional and dynamic construct which appears to have intricate links with other symptom dimensions of the psychotic illness. A better appreciation of the association that insight shares with other symptom clusters in psychosis could help us in gaining knowledge about aetiology, prognosis and treatment-related facets of the disorder. This is likely to have critical implications in the understanding and therapeutics of schizophrenia. PMID:25722504

Getting Inside the Black Box of Technology Integration in Education: Teachers' Stimulated Recall of Classroom Observations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tondeur, Jo; Kershaw, L. H.; Vanderlinde, R.; van Braak, J.

2013-01-01

This study explored the black box of technology integration through the stimulated recall of teachers who showed proficiency in the use of technology to support teaching and learning. More particularly, the aim of the study was to examine how these teachers use technology in their lessons and to gain deeper insights into the multifaceted…

An Investigation into How Grade 5 Teachers Teach Natural Science Concepts in Three Western Cape Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Set, Beata; Hadman, Joanne; Ashipala, Daniel Opotamutale

2017-01-01

Purpose: The rationale behind this study was to investigate how three Grade 5 Natural Sciences teachers in three Western Cape primary schools teach science concepts so as to enable the researcher to gain a deeper understanding and more insightful perception of the ways in which the pedagogical practices of South African primary school teachers…

Visual Modeling as a Motivation for Studying Mathematics and Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sendova, Evgenia; Grkovska, Slavica

2005-01-01

The paper deals with the possibility of enriching the curriculum in mathematics, informatics and art by means of visual modeling of abstract paintings. The authors share their belief that in building a computer model of a construct, one gains deeper insight into the construct, and is motivated to elaborate one's knowledge in mathematics and…

Using community insight to understand physical activity adoption in overweight and obese African American and Hispanic women: A qualitative study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Ecologic models suggest that multiple levels of influencing factors are important for determining physical activity participation and include individual, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an ecologic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the un...

The Future of Higher Education: How Technology Will Shape Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glenn, Marie; D'Agostino, Debra, Ed.

2008-01-01

On October 20, 2008, the New Media Consortium announced the release of a white paper produced in conjunction with the Economist Magazine and in collaboration with Apple, Inc. This paper reports the results of a study of nearly 300 CIOs and technology leaders inside and outside of education to gain deeper insight into the wider impact of technology…

Heart and Reason: A Comparison of John Dewey's "A Common Faith" and His "Religious" Poems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miedema, Siebren

2010-01-01

In this article a comparison is drawn between the way in which the pragmatist philosopher and pedagogue John Dewey addressed religious issues and his view on Religious Education in his poetic narratives and in his scholarly writings, especially in his "magnus opus" on religion, "A Common Faith". Do we gain deeper insight into Dewey's view on…

How English Language Head of Departments Perceive Their Roles in Teacher Development and Teacher Efficacy: A Study of Eight Jamaican Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilmot, Ann-Marie

2017-01-01

This qualitative study sought to gain deeper insights into how English Language Heads of Department (H.O.D.) perceive their roles in teacher development and efficacy, what leadership styles inform their role enactment and the different skill sets and beliefs they take to their H.O.D. roles. The population was limited to selected schools in central…

Probing biological redox chemistry with large amplitude Fourier transformed ac voltammetry

PubMed Central

Adamson, Hope

2017-01-01

Biological electron-exchange reactions are fundamental to life on earth. Redox reactions underpin respiration, photosynthesis, molecular biosynthesis, cell signalling and protein folding. Chemical, biomedical and future energy technology developments are also inspired by these natural electron transfer processes. Further developments in techniques and data analysis are required to gain a deeper understanding of the redox biochemistry processes that power Nature. This review outlines the new insights gained from developing Fourier transformed ac voltammetry as a tool for protein film electrochemistry. PMID:28804798

The Mediating Role of Insight for Long-Term Improvements in Psychodynamic Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansson, Paul; Hoglend, Per; Ulberg, Randi; Amlo, Svein; Marble, Alice; Bogwald, Kjell-Petter; Sorbye, Oystein; Sjaastad, Mary Cosgrove; Heyerdahl, Oscar

2010-01-01

Objective: According to psychoanalytic theory, interpretation of transference leads to increased insight that again leads to improved interpersonal functioning over time. In this study, we performed a full mediational analysis to test whether insight gained during treatment mediates the long-term effects of transference interpretation in dynamic…

The role of insight in exploratory psychodynamic psychotherapy.

PubMed

Høglend, P; Engelstad, V; Sørbye, O; Heyerdahl, O; Amlo, S

1994-12-01

Psychoanalytic theory holds that dynamic insight is used for self-observation and self-analysis during and after explorative therapy. Such self-analysis is held to lead to stable dynamic change. Within a sample of 43 moderately disturbed out-patients, pre-treatment level of insight was associated with treatment length, with not being an early or late drop-out, and with receiving additional psychotherapy during a four-year follow-up period. Pre-treatment level of insight turned out to be not directly correlated with outcome two and four years after therapy. However, level of insight was significantly correlated with outcome in interaction with treatment length. Gain of insight measured at two-year follow-up was the strongest predictor of overall dynamic change four years after therapy, compared with all the other outcome assessments made at two-year follow-up.

Some User's Insights Into ADIFOR 2.0D

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giesy, Daniel P.

2002-01-01

Some insights are given which were gained by one user through experience with the use of the ADIFOR 2.0D software for automatic differentiation of Fortran code. These insights are generally in the area of the user interface with the generated derivative code - particularly the actual form of the interface and the use of derivative objects, including "seed" matrices. Some remarks are given as to how to iterate application of ADIFOR in order to generate second derivative code.

Clinical and cognitive insight in patients with acute-phase psychosis: Association with treatment and neuropsychological functioning.

PubMed

Poyraz, Burç Çağri; Arikan, Mehmet Kemal; Poyraz, Cana Aksoy; Turan, Şenol; Kani, Ayşe Sakalli; Aydin, Eser; İnce, Ezgi

2016-10-01

The severity of psychopathology cannot fully explain deficits in the multi-dimensional construct of insight. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlates and associations of clinical and cognitive insight in patients in an acute phase of psychosis and to analyse the impact of acute treatment on these variables. This study examined 47 inpatients who were recently hospitalized with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. All subjects were assessed at both admission and discharge with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Schedule for the Assessment of Insight-Expanded Version (SAI-E), Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS), and a neurocognition battery. Patients with schizophrenia gained clinical insight after treatment. Cognitive insight did not change significantly after treatment. Insight showed significant negative correlations with positive symptoms and general psychopathology, but not with negative symptoms. Clinical insight was not associated with neuropsychological functioning in this cohort. Gaining clinical insight in the acute phase of illness was associated with the remission of positive symptoms, but not with neuropsychological functioning. Some significant correlations between clinical and cognitive insights were detected, which suggests that cognitive insight contributes to clinical insight but is not treatment-dependent. Long-term treatment may be required to understand the contribution of insight to the outcome of patients with schizophrenia.

Emerging Technologies Look Deeper into the Eyes to Catch Signs of Disease

MedlinePlus

... Eye Disease Vision Screening World Sight Day Emerging technologies look deeper into the eyes to catch signs ... to eye gazing Adaptive optics (AO) is one technology helping to overcome this problem. It deals with ...

Using Community Insight to Understand Physical Activity Adoption in Overweight and Obese African American and Hispanic Women: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mama, Scherezade K.; McCurdy, Sheryl A.; Evans, Alexandra E.; Thompson, Deborah I.; Diamond, Pamela M.; Lee, Rebecca E.

2015-01-01

Ecologic models suggest that multiple levels of influencing factors are important for determining physical activity participation and include individual, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an ecologic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying behavioral mechanisms that influence…

Sleep does not facilitate insight in older adults.

PubMed

Debarnot, Ursula; Rossi, Marta; Faraguna, Ugo; Schwartz, Sophie; Sebastiani, Laura

2017-04-01

Sleep has been shown to foster the process of insight generation in young adults during problem solving activities. Aging is characterized by substantial changes in sleep architecture altering memory consolidation. Whether sleep might promote the occurrence of insight in older adults as well has not yet been tested experimentally. To address this issue, we tested healthy young and old volunteers on an insight problem solving task, involving both explicit and implicit features, before and after a night of sleep or a comparable wakefulness period. Data showed that insight emerged significantly less frequently after a night of sleep in older adults compared to young. Moreover, there was no difference in the magnitude of insight occurrence following sleep and daytime -consolidation in aged participants. We further found that acquisition of implicit knowledge in the task before sleep potentiated the gain of insight in young participants, but this effect was not observed in aged participants. Overall, present findings demonstrate that a period of sleep does not significantly promote insight in problem solving in older adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Providing Greater Opportunities for Deeper Learning in NCLB Waivers. Policy Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012

2012-01-01

The eleven state applications approved by the federal government for waivers under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act vary in the degree to which "deeper learning" skills are reflected in the standards, accountability systems, professional development, and teacher evaluations, according to a new policy brief written by the Alliance for…

Gaining insights into reactive fluid-fractured rock systems using the temporal moments of a tracer breakthrough curve.

PubMed

Mukhopadhyay, Sumit; Liu, H-H; Spycher, N; Kennedy, B M

2014-03-01

In this paper, we show that the tracer breakthrough curves (BTCs), when the tracer chemically interacts with the solid matrix of a fractured rock, are considerably different than when it does not. Of particular interest, is the presence of a long pseudo steady state zone in the BTCs, where the tracer concentration is more or less constant over a long period of time. However, such a zone of constant concentration is not visible when either the tracer does not interact with the solid, or does so at an extremely fast rate. We show that these characteristics of the BTCs could be correlated to the parameters of the system. We develop expressions for the mean residence time and its variance for a chemically active and inactive tracer. We show that chemical interaction between the tracer and the solid increases the mean residence time and the increase depends on the distribution coefficient. We also show that the variance of residence time for a chemically active tracer is much larger than that for an inactive tracer, and it depends on both the distribution coefficient and the rate of chemical reaction. We verify these calculations against synthetic tracer BTCs, where the temporal moments are calculated by numerically integrating the tracer evolution curves. Even though we developed the mathematical expressions assuming an idealized fracture-matrix system, we believe that the mathematical expressions developed in this paper can be useful in gaining insights into reactive transport in a real fractured rock system. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Weight gain in freshman college students and perceived health

PubMed Central

de Vos, Paul; Hanck, Christoph; Neisingh, Marjolein; Prak, Dennis; Groen, Henk; Faas, Marijke M.

2015-01-01

Background We determined body weight increase in first year Dutch college students. We had the objective to determine whether the awareness of the unhealthy lifestyle raised concerns and willingness to change habits. Methods Body weight, heartbeat, BMI, body fat percentages, and blood pressure values were collected from 1095 students. Comprehensive statistical analysis was performed on the data. Results The students had a mean weight gain of 1.1 kg and an average BMI gain of 0.35. Members of a student corps gained significantly more weight (1.6 ± 3.1 kg) than non-members (1.0 ± 2.5 kg), while students who are living independently gained an average of 0.5 kg more than students living with their parents (p < 0.05). Approximately 40% of the students changed their eating patterns and 30.7% of the students consumed more alcohol. Conclusions Students experienced hindrance in physical exercise and mental well-being. Students with a high BMI without irregular eating habits were willing to change their lifestyle. However, students who had irregular lifestyles exhibited the lowest willingness to change their eating behaviors and to lose weight. Our study provides insight into means by which adolescents at high risk for weight gain can be approached to improve experienced quality of life. PMID:26844076

Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans. Executive Summary and Recommendations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Kevin

2017-01-01

This document provides a summary of and recommendations from the larger report, "Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans" (ED580345). Over the course of the past few decades student loans have become an increasingly common means of paying for a college education. Most students who complete a college program now take on student loans, and…

[Insight into illness: an overview of the concept focusing on schizophrenia].

PubMed

Bottlender, Ronald; Hloucal, Teresa-Maria

2010-03-01

Insight into illness is key to successful treatment. Poor insight, especially in schizophrenia, is, however, quite a frequent phenomenon that is also associated with poor adherence to treatment and a variety of unfavorable outcome parameters. On that background, the concept of insight into illness has gained new reseach interest during the last 10 years. The present review aims to report new findings regarding conceptual changes of insight, findings on the etiology, contributing factors as well as the assessment and methods to develop insight. Based on a review of the literature, results from more recent studies on insight into illness will be presented. Insight into illness is a complex, multidimensional, strongly culturally embedded phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of factors. The etiology of insight still remains poorly understood but is likely to be multifactorial including psychological, neuropsychological and organic reasons. Further research is needed, in particularly regarding therapeutical techniques to improve insight into illness.

Characterization of Scenedesmus obtusiusculus AT-UAM for high-energy molecules accumulation: deeper insight into biotechnological potential of strains of the same species.

PubMed

Toledo-Cervantes, Alma; Garduño Solórzano, Gloria; Campos, Jorge E; Martínez-García, Martha; Morales, Marcia

2018-03-01

Scenedesmus obtusiusculus AT-UAM, isolated from Cuatro Ciénegas wetlands in Mexico was taxonomically, molecularly and biochemically compared to S. obtusiusculus CCAP 276/25 (Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa, Scotland, UK). Analysis of Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) secondary structures confirmed that the mexican strain belongs to S. obtusiusculus with one change in the ITS2 nucleotide sequence. However, both strains exhibited different biochemical and fatty acid profiles and therefore biotechnological potential, emphasizing the need for deeper studies among strains of the same species. Furthermore, the biochemical variations of S. obtusiusculus AT-UAM under nitrogen starvation and different levels of irradiance were evaluated. The maximum lipid production (1730 mg L -1 ) was obtained at 613 μmol m -2  s -1 while the highest carbohydrate content (49%) was achieved at 896 μmol m -2  s -1 . Additionally, this strain was capable of storing lipids (∼52%) and carbohydrates (∼40%) under outdoor condition depending on the light availability in the cultivation broth.

A novel heart rate control model provides insights linking LF-HRV behavior to the open-loop gain.

PubMed

Dvir, Hila; Bobrovsky, Ben Zion; Gabbay, Uri

2013-09-20

Low-frequency heart rate variability (LF-HRV) at rest has already been successfully modeled as self-sustained oscillations in a nonlinear control loop, but these models fail to simulate LF-HRV decreases either during aerobic exercise or in heart failure patients. Following control engineering practices, we assume the existence of a biological excitation (dither) within the heart rate control loop that softens the nonlinearity and studied LF-HRV behavior in a dither-embedded model. We adopted the Ottesen model with some revisions and induced a dither of high-frequency stochastic perturbations. We simulated scenarios of a healthy subject at rest and during aerobic exercise (by decreasing peripheral vascular resistance) and a heart failure patient (by decreasing stroke volume). The simulations resembled physiological LF-HRV behavior, i.e., LF-HRV decreased during aerobic exercise and in the heart failure patient. The simulations exhibited LF-HRV dependency on the open-loop gain, which is related to the product of the feedback gain and the feed forward gain. We are the first to demonstrate that LF-HRV may be dependent on the open-loop gain. Accordingly, reduced open-loop gain results in decreased LF-HRV, and vice versa. Our findings explain a well-known but unexplained observed phenomenon of reduced LF-HRV both in heart failure patients and in healthy subjects performing aerobic exercise. These findings have implications on how changes in LF-HRV can be interpreted physiologically, a necessary step towards the clinical utilization of LF-HRV. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working wonders? investigating insight with magic tricks.

PubMed

Danek, Amory H; Fraps, Thomas; von Müller, Albrecht; Grothe, Benedikt; Ollinger, Michael

2014-02-01

We propose a new approach to differentiate between insight and noninsight problem solving, by introducing magic tricks as problem solving domain. We argue that magic tricks are ideally suited to investigate representational change, the key mechanism that yields sudden insight into the solution of a problem, because in order to gain insight into the magicians' secret method, observers must overcome implicit constraints and thus change their problem representation. In Experiment 1, 50 participants were exposed to 34 different magic tricks, asking them to find out how the trick was accomplished. Upon solving a trick, participants indicated if they had reached the solution either with or without insight. Insight was reported in 41.1% of solutions. The new task domain revealed differences in solution accuracy, time course and solution confidence with insight solutions being more likely to be true, reached earlier, and obtaining higher confidence ratings. In Experiment 2, we explored which role self-imposed constraints actually play in magic tricks. 62 participants were presented with 12 magic tricks. One group received verbal cues, providing solution relevant information without giving the solution away. The control group received no informative cue. Experiment 2 showed that participants' constraints were suggestible to verbal cues, resulting in higher solution rates. Thus, magic tricks provide more detailed information about the differences between insightful and noninsightful problem solving, and the underlying mechanisms that are necessary to have an insight. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Insights on the mechanism of thioredoxin reductase inhibition by gold N-heterocyclic carbene compounds using the synthetic linear selenocysteine containing C-terminal peptide hTrxR(488-499): an ESI-MS investigation.

PubMed

Pratesi, Alessandro; Gabbiani, Chiara; Michelucci, Elena; Ginanneschi, Mauro; Papini, Anna Maria; Rubbiani, Riccardo; Ott, Ingo; Messori, Luigi

2014-07-01

Gold-based drugs typically behave as strong inhibitors of the enzyme thioredoxin reductase (hTrxR), possibly as the consequence of direct Gold(I) coordination to its active site selenocysteine. To gain a deeper insight into the molecular basis of enzyme inhibition and prove gold-selenocysteine coordination, the reactions of three parent Gold(I) NHC compounds with the synthetic C-terminal dodecapeptide of hTrxR containing Selenocysteine at position 498, were investigated by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Formation of 1:1 Gold-peptide adducts, though in highly different amounts, was demonstrated in all cases. In these adducts the same [Au-NHC](+) moiety is always associated to the intact peptide. Afterward, tandem MS experiments, conducted on a specific Gold-peptide complex, pointed out that Gold is coordinated to the selenolate group. The relatively large strength of the Gold-selenolate coordinative bond well accounts for potent enzyme inhibition typically afforded by these Gold(I) compounds. In a selected case, the time course of enzyme inhibition was explored. Interestingly, enzyme inhibition turned out to show up very quickly and reached its maximum just few minutes after mixing. Overall, the present results offer some clear insight into the process of thioredoxin reductase inhibition by Gold-based compounds. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Predicting the Effects of Sexual Assault Research Participation: Reactions, Perceived Insight, and Help-Seeking.

PubMed

Kirkner, Anne; Relyea, Mark; Ullman, Sarah E

2016-09-01

This study examined effects of participating in survey research for women sexual assault survivors with other trauma histories to understand the role of study participation on perceived insight and long-term help-seeking behaviors. A diverse sample of 1,863 women from a large Midwestern city participated in a 3-year study on women's experiences with sexual assault. Regression analyses were conducted to (a) examine predictors of immediate positive and negative reactions to survey participation and (b) assess the impact of the survey on perceived insight and women's long-term help-seeking behavior. Overall, most women in the study had a higher positive than negative reaction to the survey (92%), with a significant proportion indicating they sought additional services as a result of participation (55%). Women with child sexual abuse (CSA), more emotion dysregulation, and more characterological self-blame had more negative reactions to the survey, whereas those with more education and individual adaptive coping had more positive reactions. Women who said they gained insight from answering survey questions were most likely to seek additional help. This study extends the literature by examining cumulative trauma and postassault symptoms in relation to the effects of survey participation. This is also the first study of women sexual assault survivors to find a relationship between gaining perceived insight from research and subsequent help-seeking. Participating in sexual assault research may help survivors gain greater insight into their recovery, which can lead them to seek out more resources for their ongoing trauma-related problems.

Monitoring air quality in California's Central Valley with aircraft and continuous mountaintop observations - attribution insights gained by considering the scalar budget equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faloona, I. C.; Trousdell, J.; Caputi, D.; Conley, S. A.

2017-12-01

Ozone is one of the six criteria pollutants established by the US EPA's Clean Air Act, and one of two that still routinely violates federal standards as it is a secondary pollutant and therefore subject to indirect control strategies on complex, non-linear atmospheric chemistry. While improvements have been seen in many regions where ozone controls are in place, gains in California's San Joaquin Valley have lagged many other districts across the state. We present airborne measurements from several different campaigns in the valley (DISCOVER-AQ, ArvinO3, and CABOTS) along with data from a mountaintop monitoring site on its upwind side near the Pacific coast that has been operational for 5 years, and we shed light on several outstanding questions concerning air pollution in California's vast Central Valley. The framework of analysis is centered on the primitive equation of any atmospheric constituent - the scalar budget equation. By measuring each term in this equation, we gain insights into the relative impacts of exogenous (due to long range transport) vs. endogenous ozone (due to local photochemical production). We further argue that small aircraft campaigns with an emphasis on scalar budgeting sorties are a cost-effective tool in uncovering specific shortcomings of regional air quality models (e.g., lateral boundary conditions can be tested by comparing horizontal advection, turbulence parameterizations by comparing vertical fluxes, and chemical mechanisms by comparing net photochemical production rates.) In the case of NOx and CH4, for instance, we find that solving for surface emissions points toward inventory underestimates of both species by at least a factor of two. We discuss possible causes of these discrepancies, and suggest other ways to specifically vet aspects of regional air quality models with airborne measurements of meteorological and chemical variables.

Continuation of Gradual Weight Gain Necessary for the Onset of Puberty May Be Responsible for Obesity Later in Life

PubMed Central

Lehrer, Steven

2016-01-01

A continuation of the gradual weight gain necessary for the onset of puberty may be responsible for obesity later in life. Hypothetically, a group of brain nuclei form components of a single pubertal clock mechanism that drives pre-pubertal weight gain and governs the onset of puberty and fertility. No mechanism evolved to shut off pre-pubertal and pubertal weight and body fat gain after puberty. The weight gain continues unabated throughout life. A better understanding of the mechanism of puberty and pre-pubertal weight gain could provide new insights into obesity and diseases associated with obesity such as type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension, heart disease, depression, etc. PMID:26562472

Emerging insights on intestinal dysbiosis during bacterial infections☆

PubMed Central

Pham, Tu Anh N; Lawley, Trevor D

2014-01-01

Infection of the gastrointestinal tract is commonly linked to pathological imbalances of the resident microbiota, termed dysbiosis. In recent years, advanced high-throughput genomic approaches have allowed us to examine the microbiota in an unprecedented manner, revealing novel biological insights about infection-associated dysbiosis at the community and individual species levels. A dysbiotic microbiota is typically reduced in taxonomic diversity and metabolic function, and can harbour pathobionts that exacerbate intestinal inflammation or manifest systemic disease. Dysbiosis can also promote pathogen genome evolution, while allowing the pathogens to persist at high density and transmit to new hosts. A deeper understanding of bacterial pathogenicity in the context of the intestinal microbiota should unveil new approaches for developing diagnostics and therapies for enteropathogens. PMID:24581695

Deeper Insight into Fluorescence-Excitation of Molecules by Light

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wahab, M. Farooq; Gore, Gordon R.

2013-01-01

In a recent issue of "TPT," Gordon Gore made interesting observations about the red or yellow fluorescence when laser beams are passed through olive oil. With the excellent visuals contained in that article, we present a pictorial explanation of the questions that were raised in Ref 1 ("Fun with Fluorescence in Olive Oil,"…

Deeper Insight into Fluorescence--Excitation of Molecules by Light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahab, M. Farooq; Gore, Gordon R.

2013-05-01

In a recent issue of TPT, Gordon Gore made interesting observations about the red or yellow fluorescence when laser beams are passed through olive oil. With the excellent visuals contained in that article, we present a pictorial explanation of the questions that were raised in Ref 1.

Suggestions to Gain Deeper Understanding of Magnetic Fields in Astrophysics Classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woolsey, Lauren N.

2016-01-01

I present two tools that could be used in an undergraduate or graduate classroom to aid in developing intuition of magnetic fields, how they are measured, and how they affect large scale phenomena like the solar wind. The first tool is a Mathematica widget I developed that simulates observations of magnetic field in the Interstellar Medium (ISM) using the weak Zeeman effect. Woolsey (2015, JAESE) discusses the relevant background information about what structures in the ISM produce a strong enough effect and which molecules are used to make the measurement and why. This widget could be used in an entry level astronomy course as a way to show how astronomers actually make certain types of measurements and allow students to practice inquiry-based learning to understand how different aspects of the ISM environment strengthen or weaken the observed signal. The second tool is a Python model of the solar wind, The Efficient Modified Parker Equation Solving Tool (TEMPEST), that is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/lnwoolsey/tempest). I discuss possible short-term projects or investigations that could be done using the programs in the TEMPEST library that are suitable for upper-level undergraduates or in graduate level coursework (Woolsey, 2015, JRAEO).

InSight Cruise Stage and Lander in Assembly

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-05-27

Spacecraft specialists in a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, are working on NASA's InSight spacecraft in this January 2015 scene from the mission's assembly and testing phase. At center is the cruise stage, which will serve multiple functions during the flight from Earth to Mars. In the background is the InSight lander. InSight, for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will investigate the deep interior of Mars to gain information about how rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved. The mission is scheduled for launch from California in March 2016 and landing on Mars in September 2016. Note: After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19403

Neural correlates of insight in dreaming and psychosis.

PubMed

Dresler, Martin; Wehrle, Renate; Spoormaker, Victor I; Steiger, Axel; Holsboer, Florian; Czisch, Michael; Hobson, J Allan

2015-04-01

The idea that dreaming can serve as a model for psychosis has a long and honourable tradition, however it is notoriously speculative. Here we demonstrate that recent research on the phenomenon of lucid dreaming sheds new light on the debate. Lucid dreaming is a rare state of sleep in which the dreamer gains insight into his state of mind during dreaming. Recent electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data for the first time allow very specific hypotheses about the dream-psychosis relationship: if dreaming is a reasonable model for psychosis, then insight into the dreaming state and insight into the psychotic state should share similar neural correlates. This indeed seems to be the case: cortical areas activated during lucid dreaming show striking overlap with brain regions that are impaired in psychotic patients who lack insight into their pathological state. This parallel allows for new therapeutic approaches and ways to test antipsychotic medication. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Controlling the gain contribution of background emitters in few-quantum-dot microlasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gericke, F.; Segnon, M.; von Helversen, M.; Hopfmann, C.; Heindel, T.; Schneider, C.; Höfling, S.; Kamp, M.; Musiał, A.; Porte, X.; Gies, C.; Reitzenstein, S.

2018-02-01

We provide experimental and theoretical insight into single-emitter lasing effects in a quantum dot (QD)-microlaser under controlled variation of background gain provided by off-resonant discrete gain centers. For that purpose, we apply an advanced two-color excitation concept where the background gain contribution of off-resonant QDs can be continuously tuned by precisely balancing the relative excitation power of two lasers emitting at different wavelengths. In this way, by selectively exciting a single resonant QD and off-resonant QDs, we identify distinct single-QD signatures in the lasing characteristics and distinguish between gain contributions of a single resonant emitter and a countable number of off-resonant background emitters to the optical output of the microlaser. Our work addresses the important question whether single-QD lasing is feasible in experimentally accessible systems and shows that, for the investigated microlaser, the single-QD gain needs to be supported by the background gain contribution of off-resonant QDs to reach the transition to lasing. Interestingly, while a single QD cannot drive the investigated micropillar into lasing, its relative contribution to the emission can be as high as 70% and it dominates the statistics of emitted photons in the intermediate excitation regime below threshold.

[Relationship between insight, violence and diagnoses in psychotic patients].

PubMed

Lera Calatayud, Guillem; Herrero Sebastián, Neus; Aguilar García-Iturrospe, Eduardo; González Piqueras, José Carlos; Sanjuán Arias, Julio; Leal Cercós, Carmen

2012-01-01

Lack of insight is a common clinical problem in psichiatric patients, but few times has been properly studied until recently. Patients with good insight tend to show a better treatment adherence with a better prognosis and swow less hostility. This study aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between the hostility degree and insight or not and to anlalyze if there are insight quantitative differences between the patients regarding their diagnoses. 168 psychotic patients were studied (including 86 patients with schizophrenia and 43 with bipolar disorder). PANNS P7 (hostility) item and G14 (poor impulse control) were analized in order to assess patients' violence and G12 in order to assess insight. All these data was correlated. It was also analyzed the PANSS results of schizophrenic vs bipolar patients regarding insight and hostility separately looking for a more homogenic pull of patients. Patients with greater hostility showed a worse impulse control and poorer insight than the rest. Schizophrenic patients showed a greater hostility and lower insight than bipolar patients. Lack of insight may lead to a greater hostility and worse impulse control. Therapeutic interventions adressed to improve insight could indirectly lower hostility and gain a better impulse control for psychotic patients. Copyright © 2010 SEP y SEPB. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Temperature Measurement by a Nanoscale Electron Probe Using Energy Gain and Loss Spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idrobo, Juan Carlos; Lupini, Andrew R.; Feng, Tianli; Unocic, Raymond R.; Walden, Franklin S.; Gardiner, Daniel S.; Lovejoy, Tracy C.; Dellby, Niklas; Pantelides, Sokrates T.; Krivanek, Ondrej L.

2018-03-01

Heat dissipation in integrated nanoscale devices is a major issue that requires the development of nanoscale temperature probes. Here, we report the implementation of a method that combines electron energy gain and loss spectroscopy to provide a direct measurement of the local temperature in the nanoenvironment. Loss and gain peaks corresponding to an optical-phonon mode in boron nitride were measured from room temperature to ˜1600 K . Both loss and gain peaks exhibit a shift towards lower energies as the sample is heated up. First-principles calculations of the temperature-induced phonon frequency shifts provide insights into the origin of this effect and confirm the experimental data. The experiments and theory presented here open the doors to the study of anharmonic effects in materials by directly probing phonons in the electron microscope.

Recent advances in biosynthetic modeling of nitric oxide reductases and insights gained from nuclear resonance vibrational and other spectroscopic studies

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

Chakraborty, Saumen; Reed, Julian; Sage, Timothy

This Forum Article focuses on recent advances in structural and spectroscopic studies of biosynthetic models of nitric oxide reductases (NORs). NORs are complex metalloenzymes found in the denitrification pathway of Earth's nitrogen cycle where they catalyze the proton-dependent twoelectron reduction of nitric oxide (NO) to nitrous oxide (N 2O). While much progress has been made in biochemical and biophysical studies of native NORs and their variants, a. clear mechanistic understanding of this important metalloenzyme related to its function is still elusive. We report herein UV vis and nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) studies of mononitrosylated intermediates of the NOR reactionmore » of a biosynthetic model. The ability to selectively substitute metals at either heme or nonheme metal sites allows the introduction of independent 57Fe probe atoms at either site, as well as allowing the preparation of analogues of stable reaction intermediates by replacing either metal with a redox inactive metal. Together with previous structural and spectroscopic results, we summarize insights gained from studying these biosynthetic models toward understanding structural features responsible for the NOR activity and its mechanism. As a result, the outlook on NOR modeling is also discussed, with an emphasis on the design of models capable of catalytic turnovers designed based on close mimics of the secondary coordination sphere of native NORs.« less

Teachers' Planning Processes: Seeking Insights from Australian Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Peter; Clarke, Doug M.; Albright, James; Clarke, David J.; Farrell, Lesley; Freebody, Peter; Gerrard, Jessica; Michels, Deborah

2012-01-01

The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (AC:M) prompts consideration of planning processes teachers typically use (as a whole school, in grade levels, and at the classroom level). In order to gain insights into the nature of the planning decisions teachers make, Australian teachers drawn from every state and territory were invited to respond to a…

Using Ada: The deeper challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feinberg, David A.

1986-01-01

The Ada programming language and the associated Ada Programming Support Environment (APSE) and Ada Run Time Environment (ARTE) provide the potential for significant life-cycle cost reductions in computer software development and maintenance activities. The Ada programming language itself is standardized, trademarked, and controlled via formal validation procedures. Though compilers are not yet production-ready as most would desire, the technology for constructing them is sufficiently well known and understood that time and money should suffice to correct current deficiencies. The APSE and ARTE are, on the other hand, significantly newer issues within most software development and maintenance efforts. Currently, APSE and ARTE are highly dependent on differing implementer concepts, strategies, and market objectives. Complex and sophisticated mission-critical computing systems require the use of a complete Ada-based capability, not just the programming language itself; yet the range of APSE and ARTE features which must actually be utilized can vary significantly from one system to another. As a consequence, the need to understand, objectively evaluate, and select differing APSE and ARTE capabilities and features is critical to the effective use of Ada and the life-cycle efficiencies it is intended to promote. It is the selection, collection, and understanding of APSE and ARTE which provide the deeper challenges of using Ada for real-life mission-critical computing systems. Some of the current issues which must be clarified, often on a case-by-case basis, in order to successfully realize the full capabilities of Ada are discussed.

A Deeper Glimpse into the National Core Arts Standards for General Music

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaffini, Erin Dineen

2018-01-01

The National Core Arts Standards in general music provide some exciting possibilities for music growth and understanding among our students. For those of us who are still unsure of how to read the standards or implement them in our classrooms, the standards also present some challenges for music educators. This article provides a deeper look into…

Qualitative research methods: key features and insights gained from use in infection prevention research.

PubMed

Forman, Jane; Creswell, John W; Damschroder, Laura; Kowalski, Christine P; Krein, Sarah L

2008-12-01

Infection control professionals and hospital epidemiologists are accustomed to using quantitative research. Although quantitative studies are extremely important in the field of infection control and prevention, often they cannot help us explain why certain factors affect the use of infection control practices and identify the underlying mechanisms through which they do so. Qualitative research methods, which use open-ended techniques, such as interviews, to collect data and nonstatistical techniques to analyze it, provide detailed, diverse insights of individuals, useful quotes that bring a realism to applied research, and information about how different health care settings operate. Qualitative research can illuminate the processes underlying statistical correlations, inform the development of interventions, and show how interventions work to produce observed outcomes. This article describes the key features of qualitative research and the advantages that such features add to existing quantitative research approaches in the study of infection control. We address the goal of qualitative research, the nature of the research process, sampling, data collection and analysis, validity, generalizability of findings, and presentation of findings. Health services researchers are increasingly using qualitative methods to address practical problems by uncovering interacting influences in complex health care environments. Qualitative research methods, applied with expertise and rigor, can contribute important insights to infection prevention efforts.

Insights into sleep's role for insight: Studies with the number reduction task

PubMed Central

Verleger, Rolf; Rose, Michael; Wagner, Ullrich; Yordanova, Juliana; Kolev, Vasil

2013-01-01

In recent years, vibrant research has developed on “consolidation” during sleep: To what extent are newly experienced impressions reprocessed or even restructured during sleep? We used the number reduction task (NRT) to study if and how sleep does not only reiterate new experiences but may even lead to new insights. In the NRT, covert regularities may speed responses. This implicit acquisition of regularities may become explicitly conscious at some point, leading to a qualitative change in behavior which reflects this insight. By applying the NRT at two consecutive sessions separated by an interval, we investigated the role of sleep in this interval for attaining insight at the second session. In the first study, a night of sleep was shown to triple the number of participants attaining insight above the base rate of about 20%. In the second study, this hard core of 20% discoverers differed from other participants in their task-related EEG potentials from the very beginning already. In the third study, the additional role of sleep was specified as an effect of the deep-sleep phase of slow-wave sleep on participants who had implicitly acquired the covert regularity before sleep. It was in these participants that a specific increase of EEG during slow-wave sleep in the 10-12 Hz band was obtained. These results support the view that neuronal memory reprocessing during slow-wave sleep restructures task-related representations in the brain, and that such restructuring promotes the gain of explicit knowledge. PMID:24605175

Measuring Deeper Learning through Cognitively Demanding Test Items: Results from the Analysis of Six National and International Exams. Research Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Kun; Le, Vi-Nhuan

2014-01-01

In 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Education Program has established the Deeper Learning Initiative, which focuses on students' development of deeper learning skills (i.e., the mastery of core academic content, critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and "learn-how-to-learn" skills). Two test…

Visible and Near-IR Imaging of Giant Planets: Outer Manifestations of Deeper Secrets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammel, Heidi B.

1996-09-01

Visible and near-infrared imaging of the giant planets -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune -- probes the outermost layers of clouds in these gaseous atmospheres. Not only are the images beautiful and striking in their color and diversity of detail, they also provide quantitative clues to the dynamical and chemical processes taking place both at the cloud tops and deeper in the interior: zonal wind profiles can be extracted; wavelength-dependent center-to-limb brightness variations yield valuable data for modeling vertical aerosol structure; the presence of planetary-scale atmospheric waves can sometimes be deduced; variations of cloud color and brightness with latitude provide insight into the underlying mechanisms driving circulation; development and evolution of discrete atmospheric features trace both exogenic and endogenic events. During the 1980's, our understanding of the giant planets was revolutionized by detailed visible-wavelength images taken by the Voyager spacecraft of these planets' atmospheres. However, those images were static: brief snapshots in time of four complex and dynamic atmospheric systems. In short, those images no longer represent the current appearance of these planets. Recently, our knowledge of the atmospheres of the gas giant planets has undergone major new advances, due in part to the excellent imaging capability and longer-term temporal sampling of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Galileo Mission to Jupiter. In this talk, I provide an update on our current understanding of the gas giants based on recent visible and near-infrared imaging, highlighting results from the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, Saturn's White Spots, intriguing changes in the atmosphere of Uranus, and Neptune's peripatetic clouds.

Promoting Effective Dialogue between Business and Education around the Need for Deeper Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Business-Higher Education Forum, 2013

2013-01-01

As employers scan the current workforce and anticipate future workforce needs, they frequently find that employees are not well-equipped with core content knowledge and 21st century workplace competencies, the combination of which the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defines as "deeper learning." The cumulative effect of these…

Application variables and their influence on forest herbicide efficacy and selectivity: gaining understanding and control

Treesearch

James H. Miller

1998-01-01

Available research is reviewed on the interactions of application variables, herbicides, and species. Objectives of this review are to gain insights into why variation occurs with herbicide performance, how current knowledge might be applied to enhance efficacy and consistency, and research pathways that should foster integration of application-efficacy models. A...

Decomposition of potential efficiency gains from hospital mergers in Greece.

PubMed

Flokou, Angeliki; Aletras, Vassilis; Niakas, Dimitris

2017-12-01

This paper evaluates the technical efficiency of 71 Greek public hospitals and examines potential efficiency gains from 13 candidate mergers among them. Efficiency assessments are performed using bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) whilst merger analysis is conducted by applying the Bogetoft and Wang methodology which allows the overall potential merger gains to be decomposed into three main components of inefficiency, namely technical (or learning), scope (or harmony) and scale (or size) effects. Thus, the analysis provides important insights not only on the magnitude of the potential total efficiency gains but also on their sources. The overall analysis is conducted in the context of a complete methodological framework where methods for outlier detection, returns to scale identification, and bias corrections for DEA estimations are also applied. Mergers are analyzed under the assumptions of constant, variable and non-decreasing returns to scale in an input oriented DEA model with three inputs and three outputs. The main finding of the study indicates that almost all mergers show substantial potential room for efficiency improvement, which is mainly attributed to the pre-merger technical inefficiencies of the individual hospitals and therefore it might be possible to be achieved without the need of implementing full-scale mergers. The same -though, at a lower extent- applies to the harmony effect whilst the size effect shows marginal or even negative gains.

Soleus H-reflex gain in humans walking and running under simulated reduced gravity

PubMed Central

Ferris, Daniel P; Aagaard, Per; Simonsen, Erik B; Farley, Claire T; Dyhre-Poulsen, Poul

2001-01-01

The Hoffmann (H-) reflex is an electrical analogue of the monosynaptic stretch reflex, elicited by bypassing the muscle spindle and directly stimulating the afferent nerve. Studying H-reflex modulation provides insight into how the nervous system centrally modulates stretch reflex responses. A common measure of H-reflex gain is the slope of the relationship between H-reflex amplitude and EMG amplitude. To examine soleus H-reflex gain across a range of EMG levels during human locomotion, we used simulated reduced gravity to reduce muscle activity. We hypothesised that H-reflex gain would be independent of gravity level. We recorded EMG from eight subjects walking (1.25 m s−1) and running (3.0 m s−1) at four gravity levels (1.0, 0.75, 0.5 and 0.25 G (Earth gravity)). We normalised the stimulus M-wave and resulting H-reflex to the maximal M-wave amplitude (Mmax) elicited throughout the stride to correct for movement of stimulus and recording electrodes relative to nerve and muscle fibres. Peak soleus EMG amplitude decreased by ≈30% for walking and for running over the fourfold change in gravity. As hypothesised, slopes of linear regressions fitted to H-reflex versus EMG data were independent of gravity for walking and running (ANOVA, P > 0.8). The slopes were also independent of gait (P > 0.6), contrary to previous studies. Walking had a greater y-intercept (19.9%Mmax) than running (-2.5%Mmax; P < 0.001). At all levels of EMG, walking H-reflex amplitudes were higher than running H-reflex amplitudes by a constant amount. We conclude that the nervous system adjusts H-reflex threshold but not H-reflex gain between walking and running. These findings provide insight into potential neural mechanisms responsible for spinal modulation of the stretch reflex during human locomotion. PMID:11136869

Soleus H-reflex gain in humans walking and running under simulated reduced gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferris, D. P.; Aagaard, P.; Simonsen, E. B.; Farley, C. T.; Dyhre-Poulsen, P.

2001-01-01

The Hoffmann (H-) reflex is an electrical analogue of the monosynaptic stretch reflex, elicited by bypassing the muscle spindle and directly stimulating the afferent nerve. Studying H-reflex modulation provides insight into how the nervous system centrally modulates stretch reflex responses.A common measure of H-reflex gain is the slope of the relationship between H-reflex amplitude and EMG amplitude. To examine soleus H-reflex gain across a range of EMG levels during human locomotion, we used simulated reduced gravity to reduce muscle activity. We hypothesised that H-reflex gain would be independent of gravity level.We recorded EMG from eight subjects walking (1.25 m s-1) and running (3.0 m s-1) at four gravity levels (1.0, 0.75, 0.5 and 0.25 G (Earth gravity)). We normalised the stimulus M-wave and resulting H-reflex to the maximal M-wave amplitude (Mmax) elicited throughout the stride to correct for movement of stimulus and recording electrodes relative to nerve and muscle fibres. Peak soleus EMG amplitude decreased by 30% for walking and for running over the fourfold change in gravity. As hypothesised, slopes of linear regressions fitted to H-reflex versus EMG data were independent of gravity for walking and running (ANOVA, P > 0.8). The slopes were also independent of gait (P > 0.6), contrary to previous studies. Walking had a greater y-intercept (19.9% Mmax) than running (-2.5% Mmax; P < 0.001). At all levels of EMG, walking H-reflex amplitudes were higher than running H-reflex amplitudes by a constant amount. We conclude that the nervous system adjusts H-reflex threshold but not H-reflex gain between walking and running. These findings provide insight into potential neural mechanisms responsible for spinal modulation of the stretch reflex during human locomotion.

A Haven for Learning: Gaining Professional Knowledge through Sincere Conversation in an Online Reading Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Deborah A.

2014-01-01

As an educator teaching an online course for the first time, I observed that the teachers in my class engaged in meaningful and sincere conversation and gained deep insight and greater awareness about their practice. Sincere conversation obviously differs from brief verbal exchanges operating at the surface level. It is conversation that invites…

The Practice of Field Ecology: Insights for Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, G. Michael; Roth, Wolff-Michael

2007-01-01

In the past several years a number of authors have suggested that science education could benefit from insights gained by research in the social studies of science that documents and theorises science as it is actually done. There currently exist two gaps in the literature. First, most research in science studies are concerned with the practices…

Translation in Language Teaching: Insights from Professional Translator Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carreres, Angeles; Noriega-Sanchez, Maria

2011-01-01

The past three decades have seen vast changes in attitudes towards translation, both as an academic discipline and as a profession. The insights we have gained in recent years, in particular in the area of professional translator training, call for a reassessment of the role of translation in language teaching. Drawing on research and practices in…

Mechanistic and kinetic insights into the thermally induced rearrangement of alpha-pinene.

PubMed

Stolle, Achim; Ondruschka, Bernd; Findeisen, Matthias

2008-11-07

The thermal rearrangement of alpha-pinene (1) is interesting from mechanistic as well as kinetic point of view. Carrier gas pyrolyses with 1 and its acyclic isomers ocimene (2) and alloocimene (3) were performed to investigate the thermal network of these hydrocarbons. Kinetic analysis of the major reaction steps allows for a deeper insight in the reaction mechanism. Thus it was possible to explain the racemization of 1, the formation of racemic limonene (4), and the absence of the primary pyrolysis product 2 in the reaction mixture resulting from thermal rearrangement of 1. Results supported the conclusion that the reactions starting with 1 involve biradical transition states.

Unified analysis of ensemble and single-complex optical spectral data from light-harvesting complex-2 chromoproteins for gaining deeper insight into bacterial photosynthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pajusalu, Mihkel; Kunz, Ralf; Rätsep, Margus; Timpmann, Kõu; Köhler, Jürgen; Freiberg, Arvi

2015-11-01

Bacterial light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes are very efficient at converting photons into excitons and transferring them to reaction centers, where the energy is stored in a chemical form. Optical properties of the complexes are known to change significantly in time and also vary from one complex to another; therefore, a detailed understanding of the variations on the level of single complexes and how they accumulate into effects that can be seen on the macroscopic scale is required. While experimental and theoretical methods exist to study the spectral properties of light-harvesting complexes on both individual complex and bulk ensemble levels, they have been developed largely independently of each other. To fill this gap, we simultaneously analyze experimental low-temperature single-complex and bulk ensemble optical spectra of the light-harvesting complex-2 (LH2) chromoproteins from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila in order to find a unique theoretical model consistent with both experimental situations. The model, which satisfies most of the observations, combines strong exciton-phonon coupling with significant disorder, characteristic of the proteins. We establish a detailed disorder model that, in addition to containing a C2-symmetrical modulation of the site energies, distinguishes between static intercomplex and slow conformational intracomplex disorders. The model evaluations also verify that, despite best efforts, the single-LH2-complex measurements performed so far may be biased toward complexes with higher Huang-Rhys factors.

Unified analysis of ensemble and single-complex optical spectral data from light-harvesting complex-2 chromoproteins for gaining deeper insight into bacterial photosynthesis.

PubMed

Pajusalu, Mihkel; Kunz, Ralf; Rätsep, Margus; Timpmann, Kõu; Köhler, Jürgen; Freiberg, Arvi

2015-01-01

Bacterial light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes are very efficient at converting photons into excitons and transferring them to reaction centers, where the energy is stored in a chemical form. Optical properties of the complexes are known to change significantly in time and also vary from one complex to another; therefore, a detailed understanding of the variations on the level of single complexes and how they accumulate into effects that can be seen on the macroscopic scale is required. While experimental and theoretical methods exist to study the spectral properties of light-harvesting complexes on both individual complex and bulk ensemble levels, they have been developed largely independently of each other. To fill this gap, we simultaneously analyze experimental low-temperature single-complex and bulk ensemble optical spectra of the light-harvesting complex-2 (LH2) chromoproteins from the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila in order to find a unique theoretical model consistent with both experimental situations. The model, which satisfies most of the observations, combines strong exciton-phonon coupling with significant disorder, characteristic of the proteins. We establish a detailed disorder model that, in addition to containing a C_{2}-symmetrical modulation of the site energies, distinguishes between static intercomplex and slow conformational intracomplex disorders. The model evaluations also verify that, despite best efforts, the single-LH2-complex measurements performed so far may be biased toward complexes with higher Huang-Rhys factors.

Facilitating insights with a user adaptable dashboard, illustrated by airport connectivity data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dobraja, Ieva; Kraak, Menno-Jan; Engelhardt, Yuri

2018-05-01

Since the movement data exist, there have been approaches to collect and analyze them to get insights. This kind of data is often heterogeneous, multiscale and multi-temporal. Those interested in spatio-temporal patterns of movement data do not gain insights from textual descriptions. Therefore, visualization is required. As spatio-temporal movement data can be complex because size and characteristics, it is even challenging to create an overview of it. Plotting all the data on the screen will not be the solution as it likely will result into cluttered images where no data exploration is possible. To ensure that users will receive the information they are interested in, it is important to provide a graphical data representation environment where exploration to gain insights are possible not only in the overall level but at sub-levels as well. A dashboard would be a solution the representation of heterogeneous spatio- temporal data. It provides an overview and helps to unravel the complexity of data by splitting data in multiple data representation views. The adaptability of dashboard will help to reveal the information which cannot be seen in the overview.

Analysis of Surgical Freedom Variation Across the Basilar Artery Bifurcation: Towards a Deeper Insight Into Approach Selection for Basilar Apex Aneurysms.

PubMed

Tayebi Meybodi, Ali; Benet, Arnau; Rodriguez Rubio, Roberto; Yousef, Sonia; Lawton, Michael T

2018-03-03

The orbitozygomatic approach is generally advocated over the pterional approach for basilar apex aneurysms. However, the impact of the extensions of the pterional approach on the obtained maneuverability over multiple vascular targets (relevant to basilar apex surgery) has not been studied before. To analyze the patterns of surgical freedom change across the basilar bifurcation between the pterional, orbitopterional, and orbitozygomatic approaches. Surgical freedom was assessed for 3 vascular targets important in basilar apex aneurysm surgery (ipsilateral and contralateral P1-P2 junctions, and basilar apex), and compared between the pterional, orbitopterional, and orbitozygomatic approaches in 10 cadaveric specimens. Transitioning from the pterional to orbitopterional approach, the surgical freedom increased significantly at all 3 targets (P < .05). However, the gain in surgical freedom declined progressively from the most superficial target (60% for ipsilateral P1-P2 junction) to the deepest target (35% for contralateral P1-P2 junction). Conversely, transitioning from the orbitopterional to the orbitozygomatic approach, the gain in surgical freedom was minimal for the ipsilateral P1-P2 and basilar apex (<4%), but increased dramatically to 19% at the contralateral P1-P2 junction. The orbitopterional approach provides a remarkable increase in surgical maneuverability compared to the pterional approach for the basilar apex target and the relevant adjacent arterial targets. However, compared to the orbitopterional, the orbitozygomatic approach adds little maneuverability except for the deepest target (ie, contralateral P1-P2 junction). Therefore, the orbitozygomatic approach may be most efficacious with larger basilar apex aneurysms limiting the control over of the contralateral P1 PCA.

Gaining perspective: the effects of message frame on viewer attention to and recall of osteoporosis prevention print advertisements.

PubMed

O'Malley, Deborah A; Latimer-Cheung, Amy E

2013-11-01

This study examined how framed messages affect viewer attention to and cognitive processing of osteoporosis prevention print ads. Attention was measured with eye tracking technology. Cognitive processing was assessed through masked recall. A total of 60 college-aged women viewed 12 gain-framed, 12 loss-framed, and 12 neutral-framed ads. Number of fixations, dwell time, and recall of gain-framed osteoporosis prevention ads were higher than loss-framed or neutral-framed ads, p < .01. Message recall was positively correlated with the number of fixations and dwell time for the gain-framed and neutral-framed messages, p < .01. These findings provide preliminary insight into potential mechanisms underlying message framing effects.

Going deeper: teaching more than the mechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruck, R. A.

2013-02-01

What follows is a description of an introductory holography course titled "Lasers and Holography," taught by the author at Columbia College Chicago since 1997. Because this is a science class at an arts college with an open admissions policy, these students have many different levels of education, dissimilar backgrounds, and varied fields of interest. There are few science majors. Therefore, specific learning objectives are developed. The author contends that for many of these students it is not enough to teach the physics of making holograms. To inspire and instill a lifelong appreciation for science and physics, one must go still deeper. Students need to be touched on more than just an intellectual level. Consequently, a broader approach is used. Ultimately, it may stir students to want to learn more, and to be confident they can. The paper addresses: 1) Becoming aware of one's individual state of seeing 2) Perceptual illusions: their impact on the advancement of science 3) Promoting artistic applications and exposing students to fine art holography 4) Teaching holography as an information processing, as well as an image-making technology 5) Introducing and exploring philosophical implications of holographic principles.

Achieving Deeper Energy Savings in Federal Energy Performance Contracts

DOE PAGES

Shonder, John A.; Nasseri, Cyrus

2015-01-01

Legislation requires each agency of the US federal government to reduce the aggregate energy use index of its buildings by 30% by 2015, with respect to a 2003 baseline. The declining availability of appropriated funding means that energy performance contracting will be key to achieving this goal. Historically however, energy performance contracts have been able to reduce energy use by only about 20% over baseline. Achieving 30% energy reductions using performance contracting will require new approaches and a specific focus on achieving higher energy savings, both by ESCOs and by agencies. This paper describes some of the ways federal agenciesmore » are meeting this challenge, and presents results from the efforts of one agency the US General Services Administration -- to achieve deeper energy savings in conventional energy savings performance contracts.« less

Use of activity theory-based need finding for biomedical device development.

PubMed

Rismani, Shalaleh; Ratto, Matt; Machiel Van der Loos, H F

2016-08-01

Identifying the appropriate needs for biomedical device design is challenging, especially for less structured environments. The paper proposes an alternate need-finding method based on Cultural Historical Activity Theory and expanded to explicitly examine the role of devices within a socioeconomic system. This is compared to a conventional need-finding technique in a preliminary study with engineering student teams. The initial results show that the Activity Theory-based technique allows teams to gain deeper insights into their needs space.

Teaching Goal-Setting for Weight-Gain Prevention in a College Population: Insights from the CHOICES Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Jolynn; Kjolhaug, Jerri; Linde, Jennifer A.; Sevcik, Sarah; Lytle, Leslie A.

2013-01-01

Purpose: This article describes the effectiveness of goal setting instruction in the CHOICES (Choosing Healthy Options in College Environments and Settings) study, an intervention evaluating the effectiveness of weight gain prevention strategies for 2-year college students. Methods: Four hundred and forty-one participants from three community…

The development of insight and its relationship with suicidality over one year follow-up in patients with first episode psychosis.

PubMed

Barrett, Elizabeth A; Mork, Erlend; Færden, Ann; Nesvåg, Ragnar; Agartz, Ingrid; Andreassen, Ole A; Melle, Ingrid

2015-03-01

Insight into psychosis has been linked to suicidality, although inconsistently. The co-variation between insight and suicidality over time is under-investigated. The aim of the present study was to investigate predictors of suicidality in patients with first episode of psychosis (FEP) over one year, focusing on the relationship between insight and suicidality. Patients with FEP (n=146) were interviewed as soon as possible after treatment starts and at one year follow-up. At baseline 37% of patients were suicidal, significantly reduced to 20% at follow-up. The effect of insight on suicidality was in different directions at different time-points, with insight at baseline increasing and insight at follow-up decreasing the risk of suicidality at follow-up. Patients with stable levels of insight across baseline and follow-up did not differ in risk for suicidality at follow-up. However, patients who lost insight from baseline to follow-up were more often suicidal at follow-up, whilst patients who gained insight were more seldom suicidal at follow-up. Other predictors of suicidality at follow-up were more depressive episodes before study entry, longer duration of untreated psychosis, more suicide attempts six months prior to follow-up, and depression at follow-up. The results indicate that the effect of insight on suicidality in FEP-patients depends on time of assessment and of changes in insight. Gaining insight during treatment was associated with reduced risk for suicidality, whilst losing insight had the opposite effect, underlining the need to monitor insight over time and tailor interventions according to illness phase. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cycle training induces muscle hypertrophy and strength gain: strategies and mechanisms.

PubMed

Ozaki, Hayao; Loenneke, J P; Thiebaud, R S; Abe, T

2015-03-01

Cycle training is widely performed as a major part of any exercise program seeking to improve aerobic capacity and cardiovascular health. However, the effect of cycle training on muscle size and strength gain still requires further insight, even though it is known that professional cyclists display larger muscle size compared to controls. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to discuss the effects of cycle training on muscle size and strength of the lower extremity and the possible mechanisms for increasing muscle size with cycle training. It is plausible that cycle training requires a longer period to significantly increase muscle size compared to typical resistance training due to a much slower hypertrophy rate. Cycle training induces muscle hypertrophy similarly between young and older age groups, while strength gain seems to favor older adults, which suggests that the probability for improving in muscle quality appears to be higher in older adults compared to young adults. For young adults, higher-intensity intermittent cycling may be required to achieve strength gains. It also appears that muscle hypertrophy induced by cycle training results from the positive changes in muscle protein net balance.

Gaining Insight of Fetal Brain Development with Diffusion MRI and Histology

PubMed Central

Huang, Hao; Vasung, Lana

2013-01-01

Human brain is extraordinarily complex and yet its origin is a simple tubular structure. Its development during the fetal period is characterized by a series of accurately organized events which underlie the mechanisms of dramatic structural changes during fetal development. Revealing detailed anatomy at different stages of human fetal brain development provides insight on understanding not only this highly ordered process, but also the neurobiological foundations of cognitive brain disorders such as mental retardation, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar and language impairment. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and histology are complementary tools which are capable of delineating the fetal brain structures at both macroscopic and microscopic level. In this review, the structural development of the fetal brains has been characterized with DTI and histology. Major components of the fetal brain, including cortical plate, fetal white matter and cerebral wall layer between the ventricle and subplate, have been delineated with DTI and histology. Anisotropic metrics derived from DTI were used to quantify the microstructural changes during the dynamic process of human fetal cortical development and prenatal development of other animal models. Fetal white matter pathways have been traced with DTI-based tractography to reveal growth patterns of individual white matter tracts and corticocortical connectivity. These detailed anatomical accounts of the structural changes during fetal period may provide the clues of detecting developmental and cognitive brain disorders at their early stages. The anatomical information from DTI and histology may also provide reference standards for diagnostic radiology of premature newborns. PMID:23796901

Signal Transduction in Histidine Kinases: Insights from New Structures

PubMed Central

Bhate, Manasi P.; Molnar, Kathleen S.; Goulian, Mark; DeGrado, William F.

2015-01-01

Histidine kinases (HKs) are major players in bacterial signaling. There has been an explosion of new HK crystal structures in the last five years. We globally analyze the structures of HKs to yield insights into the mechanisms by which signals are transmitted to and across protein structures in this family. We interpret known enzymological data in the context of new structural data to show how asymmetry across the dimer interface is a key feature of signal transduction in HKs, and discuss how different HK domains undergo asymmetric-to-symmetric transitions during signal transduction and catalysis. A thermodynamic framework for signaling that encompasses these various properties is presented and the consequences of weak thermodynamic coupling are discussed. The synthesis of observations from enzymology, structural biology, protein engineering and thermodynamics paves the way for a deeper molecular understanding of histidine kinase signal transduction. PMID:25982528

Lesson Imaging in Math and Science: Anticipating Student Ideas and Questions for Deeper STEM Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephan, Michelle; Pugalee, David; Cline, Julie; Cline, Chris

2016-01-01

Help turn students into problem solvers. With lesson imaging, teachers anticipate how chosen activities will unfold in real time--what solutions, questions, and misconceptions students might have and how teachers can promote deeper reasoning. When lesson imaging occurs before instruction, students achieve lesson objectives more naturally and…

Flow-mediated dilation: can new approaches provide greater mechanistic insight into vascular dysfunction in preeclampsia and other diseases?

PubMed

Weissgerber, Tracey L

2014-11-01

Endothelial dysfunction is a key feature of preeclampsia and may contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk years after pregnancy. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is a non-invasive endothelial function test that predicts cardiovascular event risk. New protocols allow researchers to measure three components of the FMD response: FMD, low flow-mediated constriction, and shear stimulus. This review encourages researchers to think beyond "low FMD" by examining how these three components may provide additional insights into the mechanisms and location of vascular dysfunction. The review then examines what FMD studies reveal about vascular dysfunction in preeclampsia while highlighting opportunities to gain greater mechanistic insight from new protocols. Studies using traditional protocols show that FMD is low in mid-pregnancy prior to preeclampsia, at diagnosis, and for 3 years post-partum. However, FMD returns to normal by 10 years post-partum. Studies using new protocols are needed to gain more mechanistic insight.

Maximizing the Gains and Minimizing the Pains of Diversity: A Policy Perspective.

PubMed

Galinsky, Adam D; Todd, Andrew R; Homan, Astrid C; Phillips, Katherine W; Apfelbaum, Evan P; Sasaki, Stacey J; Richeson, Jennifer A; Olayon, Jennifer B; Maddux, William W

2015-11-01

Empirical evidence reveals that diversity-heterogeneity in race, culture, gender, etc.-has material benefits for organizations, communities, and nations. However, because diversity can also incite detrimental forms of conflict and resentment, its benefits are not always realized. Drawing on research from multiple disciplines, this article offers recommendations for how best to harness the benefits of diversity. First, we highlight how two forms of diversity-the diversity present in groups, communities, and nations, and the diversity acquired by individuals through their personal experiences (e.g., living abroad)-enable effective decision making, innovation, and economic growth by promoting deeper information processing and complex thinking. Second, we identify methods to remove barriers that limit the amount of diversity and opportunity in organizations. Third, we describe practices, including inclusive multiculturalism and perspective taking, that can help manage diversity without engendering resistance. Finally, we propose a number of policies that can maximize the gains and minimize the pains of diversity. © The Author(s) 2015.

Gaining insight of fetal brain development with diffusion MRI and histology.

PubMed

Huang, Hao; Vasung, Lana

2014-02-01

Human brain is extraordinarily complex and yet its origin is a simple tubular structure. Its development during the fetal period is characterized by a series of accurately organized events which underlie the mechanisms of dramatic structural changes during fetal development. Revealing detailed anatomy at different stages of human fetal brain development provides insight on understanding not only this highly ordered process, but also the neurobiological foundations of cognitive brain disorders such as mental retardation, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar and language impairment. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and histology are complementary tools which are capable of delineating the fetal brain structures at both macroscopic and microscopic levels. In this review, the structural development of the fetal brains has been characterized with DTI and histology. Major components of the fetal brain, including cortical plate, fetal white matter and cerebral wall layer between the ventricle and subplate, have been delineated with DTI and histology. Anisotropic metrics derived from DTI were used to quantify the microstructural changes during the dynamic process of human fetal cortical development and prenatal development of other animal models. Fetal white matter pathways have been traced with DTI-based tractography to reveal growth patterns of individual white matter tracts and corticocortical connectivity. These detailed anatomical accounts of the structural changes during fetal period may provide the clues of detecting developmental and cognitive brain disorders at their early stages. The anatomical information from DTI and histology may also provide reference standards for diagnostic radiology of premature newborns. Copyright © 2013 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Process Evaluation of a School-Based Weight Gain Prevention Program: The Dutch Obesity Intervention in Teenagers (DOiT)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, A. S.; Chinapaw, M. J. M.; Brug, J.; van Mechelen, W.

2009-01-01

Health promotion programs benefit from an accompanying process evaluation since it can provide more insight in the strengths and weaknesses of a program. A process evaluation was conducted to assess the reach, implementation, satisfaction and maintenance of a school-based program aimed at the prevention of excessive weight gain among Dutch…

Some Problems and Insights in the Lexicography of Two Non-Kindred Languages: Spanish and Swahili.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Githiora, Chege

2001-01-01

Discusses problems and insights gained during the preparation of a bilingual dictionary of Spanish--a Romance and ultimately Indo-European language--and Swahili, a coastal Bantu language of the Niger-Congo stock of African languages. (Author/VWL)

Insights on STEM Careers

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

Wendelberger, Joanne Roth

2014-11-05

This presentation will provide career advice for individuals seeking to go beyond just having a job to building a successful career in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Careful planning can be used to turn a job into a springboard for professional advancement and personal satisfaction. Topics to be addressed include setting priorities, understanding career ladders, making tough choices, overcoming stereotypes and assumptions by others, networking, developing a professional identify, and balancing a career with family and other personal responsibilities. Insights on the transition from individual technical work to leadership will also be provided. The author will drawmore » upon experiences gained in academic, industrial, and government laboratory settings, as well as extensive professional service and community involvement.« less

Quantum-mechanical analysis of low-gain free-electron laser oscillators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fares, H.; Yamada, M.; Chiadroni, E.; Ferrario, M.

2018-05-01

In the previous classical theory of the low-gain free-electron laser (FEL) oscillators, the electron is described as a point-like particle, a delta function in the spatial space. On the other hand, in the previous quantum treatments, the electron is described as a plane wave with a single momentum state, a delta function in the momentum space. In reality, an electron must have statistical uncertainties in the position and momentum domains. Then, the electron is neither a point-like charge nor a plane wave of a single momentum. In this paper, we rephrase the theory of the low-gain FEL where the interacting electron is represented quantum mechanically by a plane wave with a finite spreading length (i.e., a wave packet). Using the concepts of the transformation of reference frames and the statistical quantum mechanics, an expression for the single-pass radiation gain is derived. The spectral broadening of the radiation is expressed in terms of the spreading length of an electron, the relaxation time characterizing the energy spread of electrons, and the interaction time. We introduce a comparison between our results and those obtained in the already known classical analyses where a good agreement between both results is shown. While the correspondence between our results and the classical results are shown, novel insights into the electron dynamics and the interaction mechanism are presented.

Flow-mediated Dilation: Can New Approaches Provide Greater Mechanistic Insight into Vascular Dysfunction in Preeclampsia and Other Diseases?

PubMed Central

Weissgerber, Tracey L.

2015-01-01

Endothelial dysfunction is a key feature of preeclampsia, and may contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk years after pregnancy. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is a non-invasive endothelial function test that predicts cardiovascular event risk. New protocols allow researchers to measure three components of the FMD response: FMD, low flow-mediated constriction and the shear stimulus. This review encourages researchers to think beyond “low FMD” by examining how these three components may provide additional insights into the mechanisms and location of vascular dysfunction. The review then examines what FMD studies reveal about vascular dysfunction in preeclampsia, while highlighting opportunities to gain greater mechanistic insight from new protocols. Studies using traditional protocols show that FMD is low in mid-pregnancy prior to preeclampsia, at diagnosis, and for three years post-partum. However, FMD returns to normal by ten years post-partum. Studies using new protocols are needed to gain more mechanistic insight. PMID:25182159

Sexoanalysis: a new insight-oriented treatment approach for sexual disorders.

PubMed

Ravart, M; Côté, H

1992-01-01

Sexoanalysis is an innovative therapeutic approach for the treatment of complex sexual disorders. This approach integrates current knowledge on sexual/erotic development pathology within a psychodynamic framework to help patients gain insight on the secondary gains, anxieties, and intrapsychic issues that are at the roots of their sexual problem. The treatment process essentially focuses on the analysis of sexual fantasies and the modification of maladaptive erotic imagery. The present authors present a brief overview of sexoanalytic theory and describe how sexoanalysis can resolve sexual disorders, improve sexual/erotic functioning, and promote sexual maturity. A clinical illustration is provided to help further clarify the sexoanalytic treatment process and demonstrate the use and utility of this promising sexotherapeutic approach.

Benchmarks for Deeper Learning on Next Generation Tests: A Study of PISA. CRESST Report 855

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Joan L.; La Torre, Deborah; Epstein, Scott; Wang, Jia

2016-01-01

This report presents the results of expert panels' item-by-item analysis of the 2015 PISA Reading Literacy and Mathematics Literacy assessments and compares study findings on PISA's representation of deeper learning with that of other related studies. Results indicate that about 11% to 14% of PISA's total raw score value for reading and…

Modal gain characteristics of a 2 μm InGaSb/AlGaAsSb passively mode-locked quantum well laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiang; Wang, Hong; Qiao, Zhongliang; Guo, Xin; Ng, Geok Ing; Zhang, Yu; Niu, Zhichuan; Tong, Cunzhu; Liu, Chongyang

2017-12-01

Passive mode locking with a fundamental repetition rate at ˜18.46 GHz is demonstrated in a two-section InGaSb/AlGaAsSb quantum well laser emitting at 2 μm. Modal gain characteristics of the laser are investigated by performing the Hakki-Paoli method to gain better insight into the impact of the absorber bias voltage (Va) on the light output. The lasing action moves to longer wavelengths markedly with increasing negative Va. The light output contains more longitudinal modes in the mode locking regime if the gain bandwidth is larger at a certain Va. Our findings provide guidelines for output characteristics of the mode-locked laser.

Stressors associated with dyspnea in childhood: patients' insights and a case report.

PubMed

Anbar, Ran D

2004-10-01

To highlight the concept that stress can be associated with dyspnea in children. A chart review identified 22 patients (age range, 9-17 years) referred to a pediatric pulmonologist, who were offered instruction in self-hypnosis for treatment of dyspnea that persisted despite medical therapy. Patients were offered the opportunity to use hypnosis to gain insight into the causes of their dyspnea. The dyspnea resolved in 18 of the 22 patients within 1 month of instruction in self-hypnosis for relaxation and symptom reduction. Eight of the 22 patients (age range, 11-16 years) chose to use hypnosis for insight. Using automatic word processing, they explained that their dyspnea was associated with stressful situations, or that it reduced the chances of having to experience an uncomfortable situation. For example, a girl with dyspnea resulting from vocal cord dysfunction realized during hypnosis that she developed her symptom in order to prevent herself from talking about information that might cause discomfort were it disclosed. As soon as the patient decided that she could trust herself to handle the information appropriately, her symptom resolved. Dyspnea may provide patients with a way of expressing their reactions to perceived or anticipated stress. Thus, stress reduction interventions may prove very helpful in resolving this symptom. However, in some cases gaining an insight into the potential cause of the dyspnea may increase the effectiveness of therapy.

New insights from well responses to fluctuations in barometric pressure

USGS Publications Warehouse

Butler, J.J.; Jin, W.; Mohammed, G.A.; Reboulet, E.C.

2011-01-01

Hydrologists have long recognized that changes in barometric pressure can produce changes in water levels in wells. The barometric response function (BRF) has proven to be an effective means to characterize this relationship; we show here how it can also be utilized to glean valuable insights into semi-confined aquifer systems. The form of the BRF indicates the degree of aquifer confinement, while a comparison of BRFs between wells sheds light on hydrostratigraphic continuity. A new approach for estimating hydraulic properties of aquitards from BRFs has been developed and verified. The BRF is not an invariant characteristic of a well; in unconfined or semi-confined aquifers, it can change with conditions in the vadose zone. Field data from a long-term research site demonstrate the hydrostratigraphic insights that can be gained from monitoring water levels and barometric pressure. Such insights should be of value for a wide range of practical applications. ?? 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation ?? 2010 National Ground Water Association.

Methodological Complications of Matching Designs under Real World Constraints: Lessons from a Study of Deeper Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zeiser, Kristina; Rickles, Jordan; Garet, Michael S.

2014-01-01

To help researchers understand potential issues one can encounter when conducting propensity matching studies in complex settings, this paper describes methodological complications faced when studying schools using deeper learning practices to improve college and career readiness. The study uses data from high schools located in six districts…

Genomics of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Insights Gained by Studying Monogenic Young-Onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

PubMed

Hiraki, Linda T; Silverman, Earl D

2017-08-01

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic, autoimmune, multisystem disease with a heterogeneous clinical phenotype. Genome-wide association studies have identified multiple susceptibility loci, but these explain a fraction of the estimated heritability. This is partly because within the broad spectrum of SLE are monogenic diseases that tend to cluster in patients with young age of onset, and in families. This article highlights insights into the pathogenesis of SLE provided by these monogenic diseases. It examines genetic causes of complement deficiency, abnormal interferon production, and abnormalities of tolerance, resulting in monogenic SLE with overlapping clinical features, autoantibodies, and shared inflammatory pathways. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genomic Insights into Cardiomyopathies: A Comparative Cross-Species Review

PubMed Central

Simpson, Siobhan; Rutland, Paul; Rutland, Catrin Sian

2017-01-01

In the global human population, the leading cause of non-communicable death is cardiovascular disease. It is predicted that by 2030, deaths attributable to cardiovascular disease will have risen to over 20 million per year. This review compares the cardiomyopathies in both human and non-human animals and identifies the genetic associations for each disorder in each species/taxonomic group. Despite differences between species, advances in human medicine can be gained by utilising animal models of cardiac disease; likewise, gains can be made in animal medicine from human genomic insights. Advances could include undertaking regular clinical checks in individuals susceptible to cardiomyopathy, genetic testing prior to breeding, and careful administration of breeding programmes (in non-human animals), further development of treatment regimes, and drugs and diagnostic techniques. PMID:29056678

Temporally evolving gain mechanisms of attention in macaque area V4.

PubMed

Sani, Ilaria; Santandrea, Elisa; Morrone, Maria Concetta; Chelazzi, Leonardo

2017-08-01

Cognitive attention and perceptual saliency jointly govern our interaction with the environment. Yet, we still lack a universally accepted account of the interplay between attention and luminance contrast, a fundamental dimension of saliency. We measured the attentional modulation of V4 neurons' contrast response functions (CRFs) in awake, behaving macaque monkeys and applied a new approach that emphasizes the temporal dynamics of cell responses. We found that attention modulates CRFs via different gain mechanisms during subsequent epochs of visually driven activity: an early contrast-gain, strongly dependent on prestimulus activity changes (baseline shift); a time-limited stimulus-dependent multiplicative modulation, reaching its maximal expression around 150 ms after stimulus onset; and a late resurgence of contrast-gain modulation. Attention produced comparable time-dependent attentional gain changes on cells heterogeneously coding contrast, supporting the notion that the same circuits mediate attention mechanisms in V4 regardless of the form of contrast selectivity expressed by the given neuron. Surprisingly, attention was also sometimes capable of inducing radical transformations in the shape of CRFs. These findings offer important insights into the mechanisms that underlie contrast coding and attention in primate visual cortex and a new perspective on their interplay, one in which time becomes a fundamental factor. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We offer an innovative perspective on the interplay between attention and luminance contrast in macaque area V4, one in which time becomes a fundamental factor. We place emphasis on the temporal dynamics of attentional effects, pioneering the notion that attention modulates contrast response functions of V4 neurons via the sequential engagement of distinct gain mechanisms. These findings advance understanding of attentional influences on visual processing and help reconcile divergent results in the literature. Copyright © 2017 the

Dynamic Excitatory and Inhibitory Gain Modulation Can Produce Flexible, Robust and Optimal Decision-making

PubMed Central

Niyogi, Ritwik K.; Wong-Lin, KongFatt

2013-01-01

value. Our work provides insights into the simultaneous and rapid modulation of excitatory and inhibitory neuronal gains, which enables flexible, robust, and optimal decision-making. PMID:23825935

Integrated knowledge translation: digging deeper, moving forward.

PubMed

Kothari, Anita; Wathen, C Nadine

2017-06-01

Integrated knowledge translation has risen in popularity as a solution to the underuse of research in policy and practice settings. It engages knowledge users-policymakers, practitioners, patients/consumers or their advocates, and members of the wider public-in mutually beneficial research that can involve the joint development of research questions, data collection, analysis and dissemination of findings. Knowledge that is co-produced has a better chance of being implemented. The purpose of this paper is to update developments in the field of integrated knowledge translation through a deeper analysis of the approach in practice-oriented and policy-oriented health research. We present collaborative models that fall outside the scope of integrated knowledge translation, but then explore consensus-based approaches and networks as alternate sites of knowledge co-production. We discuss the need to advance the field through the development, or use, of data collection and interpretation tools that creatively engage knowledge users in the research process. Most importantly, conceptually relevant outcomes need to be identified, including ones that focus on team transformation through the co-production of knowledge. We explore some of these challenges and benefits in detail to help researchers understand what integrated knowledge translation means, and whether the approach's potential added value is worth the investment of time, energy and other resources. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Gaining insight in the behaviour of imidazolium-based ionic liquids as additives in reversed-phase liquid chromatography for the analysis of basic compounds.

PubMed

Ubeda-Torres, M T; Ortiz-Bolsico, C; García-Alvarez-Coque, M C; Ruiz-Angel, M J

2015-02-06

In reversed-phase liquid chromatography in the absence of additives, cationic basic compounds give rise to broad and asymmetrical peaks as a result of ionic interactions with residual free silanols on silica-based stationary phases. Ionic liquids (ILs), added to the mobile phase, have been suggested as alternatives to amines to block the activity of silanols. However, the dual character of ILs should be considered: both cation and anion may be adsorbed on the stationary phase, thereby creating a double asymmetrical layer positively or negatively charged, depending on the relative adsorption of both ions. In this work, a study of the performance of six imidazolium-based ILs (the chlorides and tetrafluoroborates of 1-ethyl-, 1-butyl- and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium) as modifiers of the chromatographic behaviour of a group of 10 β-blockers is performed, and compared with triethylamine and dimethyloctylamine. In order to gain more insight in the behaviour of ILs in RPLC, the changes in the nature of the chromatographic system, at increasing concentration of the additives, were followed based on retention and peak shape modelling. The multiple interactions that amines and ILs experience inside the chromatographic system suggest that the suppressing potency should be measured based on the shape of chromatographic peaks and not on the changes in retention. The ILs 1-hexyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride and tetrafluoroborate offered the most interesting features for the separation of the basic drugs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Insights on the poster preparation and presentation process.

PubMed

Moore, L W; Augspurger, P; King, M O; Proffitt, C

2001-05-01

Dissemination of research findings and effective clinical innovations is key to the growth and development of the nursing profession. Several avenues exist for the dissemination of information. One forum for communication that has gained increased recognition over the past decade is the poster presentation. Poster presentations are often a significant part of regional, national, and international nursing conferences. Although posters are frequently used to disseminate information to the nursing community, little is reported about actual poster presenters' experiences with preparation and presentation of their posters. The purpose of this article is to present insights derived from information shared by poster presenters regarding the poster preparation and presentation process. Such insights derived from the personal experiences of poster presenters may assist others to efficiently and effectively prepare and present scholarly posters that disseminate information to the nursing community. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company

Determination of differential gene expression profiles in superficial and deeper zones of mature rat articular cartilage using RNA sequencing of laser microdissected tissue specimens.

PubMed

Mori, Yoshifumi; Chung, Ung-Il; Tanaka, Sakae; Saito, Taku

2014-01-01

Superficial zone (SFZ) cells, which are morphologically and functionally distinct from chondrocytes in deeper zones, play important roles in the maintenance of articular cartilage. Here, we established an easy and reliable method for performance of laser microdissection (LMD) on cryosections of mature rat articular cartilage using an adhesive membrane. We further examined gene expression profiles in the SFZ and the deeper zones of articular cartilage by performing RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). We validated sample collection methods, RNA amplification and the RNA-seq data using real-time RT-PCR. The combined data provide comprehensive information regarding genes specifically expressed in the SFZ or deeper zones, as well as a useful protocol for expression analysis of microsamples of hard tissues.

Punish the Perpetrator or Compensate the Victim? Gain vs. Loss Context Modulate Third-Party Altruistic Behaviors.

PubMed

Liu, Yingjie; Li, Lin; Zheng, Li; Guo, Xiuyan

2017-01-01

Third-party punishment and third-party compensation are primary responses to observed norms violations. Previous studies mostly investigated these behaviors in gain rather than loss context, and few study made direct comparison between these two behaviors. We conducted three experiments to investigate third-party punishment and third-party compensation in the gain and loss context. Participants observed two persons playing Dictator Game to share an amount of gain or loss, and the proposer would propose unfair distribution sometimes. In Study 1A, participants should decide whether they wanted to punish proposer. In Study 1B, participants decided to compensate the recipient or to do nothing. This two experiments explored how gain and loss contexts might affect the willingness to altruistically punish a perpetrator, or to compensate a victim of unfairness. Results suggested that both third-party punishment and compensation were stronger in the loss context. Study 2 directly compare third-party punishment and third-party compensation in the both contexts, by allowing participants choosing between punishment, compensation and keeping. Participants chose compensation more often than punishment in the loss context, and chose more punishments in the gain context. Empathic concern partly explained between-context differences of altruistic compensation and punishment. Our findings provide insights on modulating effect of context on third-party altruistic decisions.

The mediating role of insight for long-term improvements in psychodynamic therapy.

PubMed

Johansson, Paul; Høglend, Per; Ulberg, Randi; Amlo, Svein; Marble, Alice; Bøgwald, Kjell-Petter; Sørbye, Oystein; Sjaastad, Mary Cosgrove; Heyerdahl, Oscar

2010-06-01

According to psychoanalytic theory, interpretation of transference leads to increased insight that again leads to improved interpersonal functioning over time. In this study, we performed a full mediational analysis to test whether insight gained during treatment mediates the long-term effects of transference interpretation in dynamic psychotherapy. This study is a randomized clinical trial with a dismantling design. One hundred outpatients seeking psychotherapy for depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and interpersonal problems were randomly assigned to 1 year of weekly sessions of dynamic psychotherapy with transference interpretation or to the same type and duration of treatment with the same therapists but without the use of transference interpretation. Interpersonal functioning and insight were measured pretreatment, posttreatment, and 1 year and 3 years after treatment termination. Contrary to common expectation, patients with a life-long pattern of low quality of object relations and personality disorder pathology profited more from therapy with transference interpretation than from therapy with no transference interpretation. This long-term effect was mediated by an increase in the level of insight during treatment. Insight seems to be a key mechanism of change in dynamic psychotherapy. Our results bridge the gap between clinical theory and empirical research.

Insights into the mechanism of copper-tolerance in Fibroporia radiculosa: The biosynthesis of oxalate

Treesearch

Katie Jenkins; Carol A. Clausen; Frederick Green; Susan V. Diehl

2015-01-01

Copper is currently used as the key component in wood preservatives despite the known tolerance of many brown-rot Basidiomycetes. Copper-tolerant fungi, like Fibroporia radiculosa, produce and accumulate high levels of oxalate when exposed to copper. To gain insight into the mechanism of oxalate production, four F. radiculosa...

Apodization in high-contrast long-slit spectroscopy. Closer, deeper, fainter, cooler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vigan, A.; N'Diaye, M.; Dohlen, K.

2013-07-01

The spectroscopy of faint planetary-mass companions to nearby stars is one of the main challenges that new-generation high-contrast spectro-imagers are going to face. However, the high contrast ratio between main-sequence stars and young planets makes it difficult to extract a companion spectrum that is not biased by the signal from the star. In a previous work we demonstrated that coupling long-slit spectroscopy (LSS) and classical Lyot coronagraphy (CLC) to form a long-slit coronagraph (LSC) allows low-mass companions to be properly characterized when combined with an innovative a posteriori data analysis methods based on the spectral deconvolution (SD). However, the presence of a slit in the coronagraphic focal plane induces a complex distribution of energy in the Lyot pupil plane that cannot be easily masked with a binary Lyot stop, creating strong diffraction residuals at close angular separation. To alleviate this concern, we propose to use a pupil apodization to suppress diffraction, creating an apodized long-slit coronagraph (ALSC). We show that this concept allows looking at a closer separation from the star, at deeper contrast, which enables the characterization of fainter substellar companions. After describing how the apodization was optimized, we demonstrate its advantages with respect to the CLC in the context of SPHERE/IRDIS LSS mode at low resolution with a 0.12'' slit and 0.18'' coronagraphic mask. We performed different sets of simulations with and without aberrations, and with and without a slit to demonstrate that the apodization is a more appropriate concept for LSS, at the expense of a significantly reduced throughput (37%) compared to the LSC. Then we performed detailed end-to-end simulations of the LSC and the ALSC that include realistic levels of aberrations to obtain several datasets representing 1 h of integration time on stars of spectral type A0 to M0 located at 10 pc. We inserted the spectra of planetary companions at different

Extensive Gains and Losses of Olfactory Receptor Genes in Mammalian Evolution

PubMed Central

Niimura, Yoshihito; Nei, Masatoshi

2007-01-01

Odor perception in mammals is mediated by a large multigene family of olfactory receptor (OR) genes. The number of OR genes varies extensively among different species of mammals, and most species have a substantial number of pseudogenes. To gain some insight into the evolutionary dynamics of mammalian OR genes, we identified the entire set of OR genes in platypuses, opossums, cows, dogs, rats, and macaques and studied the evolutionary change of the genes together with those of humans and mice. We found that platypuses and primates have <400 functional OR genes while the other species have 800–1,200 functional OR genes. We then estimated the numbers of gains and losses of OR genes for each branch of the phylogenetic tree of mammals. This analysis showed that (i) gene expansion occurred in the placental lineage each time after it diverged from monotremes and from marsupials and (ii) hundreds of gains and losses of OR genes have occurred in an order-specific manner, making the gene repertoires highly variable among different orders. It appears that the number of OR genes is determined primarily by the functional requirement for each species, but once the number reaches the required level, it fluctuates by random duplication and deletion of genes. This fluctuation seems to have been aided by the stochastic nature of OR gene expression. PMID:17684554

New lucinid bivalves from shallow and deeper water of the Indian and West Pacific Oceans (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Lucinidae)

PubMed Central

Taylor, John D.; Glover, Emily A.

2013-01-01

Abstract Four new species and a new genus of lucinid bivalves are described from shallow and deeper waters in the Indian and West Pacific Oceans. The new genus Scabrilucina (subfamily Lucininae) includes the little-known Scabrilucina victorialis (Melvill, 1899) from the Arabian Sea and Scabrilucina vitrea (Deshayes, 1844) from the Andaman Sea as well as a new species Scabrilucina melvilli from the Torres Strait off northeastern Australia. Ferrocina brunei new species (Lucininae) was recovered from 60 m near oil drilling activities off Borneo; its anatomy confirmed the presence of symbiotic bacteria. Two unusual deeper water species of Leucosphaerinae are described, both species included in on-going molecular analyses; Gonimyrtea ferruginea from 400–650 m in the southwest Pacific and Myrtina reflexa from 200–825 m off Zanzibar and Madagascar. PMID:24039537

Detailed proteomic analysis on DM: insight into its hypoallergenicity.

PubMed

Bertino, Enrico; Gastaldi, Daniela; Monti, Giovanna; Baro, Cristina; Fortunato, Donatella; Perono Garoffo, Lorenza; Coscia, Alessandra; Fabris, Claudio; Mussap, Michele; Conti, Amedeo

2010-01-01

Successful therapy in cow milk (CM) protein allergy rests upon completely eliminating CM proteins from the child's diet: it is thus necessary to provide a replacement food. Donkey milk (DM) has recently aroused scientific and clinical interest, above all among paediatric allergologists. A deeper knowledge of proteins in DM is necessary to evaluate the immunological and physiological properties of this natural substitute for cow's milk. The paper offers a detailed comparative analysis among the protein fractions of DM, CM and human milk, following an extensive proteomic study of the casein and whey proteins of DM performed by narrow pH range 2-DE. The detailed protein composition and structural features reported in this study provide insight into the molecular reasons for the hypoallergenicity of DM. Whole DM might constitute a valid substitute of CM in feeding children with CM protein allergy and it might also constitute the basis for formulas suitable for allergic subjects in the first year of life.

Developmental gains in visuospatial memory predict gains in mathematics achievement.

PubMed

Li, Yaoran; Geary, David C

2013-01-01

Visuospatial competencies are related to performance in mathematical domains in adulthood, but are not consistently related to mathematics achievement in children. We confirmed the latter for first graders and demonstrated that children who show above average first-to-fifth grade gains in visuospatial memory have an advantage over other children in mathematics. The study involved the assessment of the mathematics and reading achievement of 177 children in kindergarten to fifth grade, inclusive, and their working memory capacity and processing speed in first and fifth grade. Intelligence was assessed in first grade and their second to fourth grade teachers reported on their in-class attentive behavior. Developmental gains in visuospatial memory span (d = 2.4) were larger than gains in the capacity of the central executive (d = 1.6) that in turn were larger than gains in phonological memory span (d = 1.1). First to fifth grade gains in visuospatial memory and in speed of numeral processing predicted end of fifth grade mathematics achievement, as did first grade central executive scores, intelligence, and in-class attentive behavior. The results suggest there are important individual differences in the rate of growth of visuospatial memory during childhood and that these differences become increasingly important for mathematics learning.

Developmental Gains in Visuospatial Memory Predict Gains in Mathematics Achievement

PubMed Central

Li, Yaoran; Geary, David C.

2013-01-01

Visuospatial competencies are related to performance in mathematical domains in adulthood, but are not consistently related to mathematics achievement in children. We confirmed the latter for first graders and demonstrated that children who show above average first-to-fifth grade gains in visuospatial memory have an advantage over other children in mathematics. The study involved the assessment of the mathematics and reading achievement of 177 children in kindergarten to fifth grade, inclusive, and their working memory capacity and processing speed in first and fifth grade. Intelligence was assessed in first grade and their second to fourth grade teachers reported on their in-class attentive behavior. Developmental gains in visuospatial memory span (d = 2.4) were larger than gains in the capacity of the central executive (d = 1.6) that in turn were larger than gains in phonological memory span (d = 1.1). First to fifth grade gains in visuospatial memory and in speed of numeral processing predicted end of fifth grade mathematics achievement, as did first grade central executive scores, intelligence, and in-class attentive behavior. The results suggest there are important individual differences in the rate of growth of visuospatial memory during childhood and that these differences become increasingly important for mathematics learning. PMID:23936154

Exploring the diet and lifestyle changes contributing to weight gain among Australian West African women following migration: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Babatunde-Sowole, Olutoyin O; Power, Tamara; Davidson, Patricia; Ballard, Charlotte; Jackson, Debra

2018-04-10

This paper reports on women's experiences of weight gain and obesity as they became acculturated to the Australian diet and lifestyle. Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have a much higher risk of obesity than the native population when settling in industrialised countries. Qualitative. Women in this study reported weight gain post-migration. This was attributed to increased access to a wide variety of food including takeaway food and more sedentary lifestyles. Obesity has long-term consequences for health and well-being. Further research is needed to support a healthy transition to life in Australia. Gaining insight into the underlying reasons that West African immigrants to Australia become obese could contribute to assisting health professionals design culturally appropriate interventions and health education programmes to support new arrivals.

Mentalization, insightfulness, and therapeutic action. The importance of mental organization.

PubMed

Sugarman, Alan

2006-08-01

Continuing debates over the relative importance of the role of interpretation leading to insight versus the relationship with the analyst as contributing to structural change are based on traditional definitions of insight as gaining knowledge of unconscious content. This definition inevitably privileges verbal interpretation as self-knowledge becomes equated with understanding the contents of the mind. It is suggested that a way out of this debate is to redefine insight as a process, one that is called insightfulness. This term builds on concepts such as mentalization, or theory of mind, and suggests that patients present with difficulties being able to fully mentalize. Awareness of repudiated content will usually accompany the attainment of insightfulness. But the point of insightfulness is to regain access to inhibited or repudiated mentalization, not to specific content, per se. Emphasizing the process of insightfulness integrates the importance of the relationship with the analyst with the facilitation of insightfulness. A variety of interventions help patients gain the capacity to reflect upon and become aware of the intricate workings of their minds, of which verbal interpretation is only one. For example, often it seems less important to focus on a particular conflict than to show interest in our patients' minds. Furthermore, analysands develop insightfulness by becoming interested in and observing our minds in action. Because the mind originates in bodily experience, mental functioning will always fluctuate between action modes of experiencing and expressing and verbal, symbolic modes. The analyst's role becomes making the patient aware of regressions to action modes, understanding the reasons for doing so, and subordinating this tendency to the verbal, symbolic mode. All mental functions work better and facilitate greater self-regulation when they work in abstract, symbolic ways. Psychopathology can be understood as failing to develop or losing the

Morphology and electronic transport of polycrystalline pentacene thin-film transistors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knipp, D.; Street, R. A.; Völkel, A. R.

2003-06-01

Temperature-dependent measurements of thin-film transistors were performed to gain insight in the electronic transport of polycrystalline pentacene. Devices were fabricated with plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon nitride gate dielectrics. The influence of the dielectric roughness and the deposition temperature of the thermally evaporated pentacene films were studied. Although films on rougher gate dielectrics and films prepared at low deposition temperatures exhibit similar grain size, the electronic properties are different. Increasing the dielectric roughness reduces the free carrier mobility, while low substrate temperature leads to more and deeper hole traps.

Knocking in the Otto-cycle Engine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weinhart, H

1939-01-01

Engine knock is, as is known, preceded by normal burning of the first part of the charge, and only the part burned last (residual charge), knocks. The aim of the present measurements was, first, to reexamine the combustion form in this residual charge, because of the absence of uniform and frequently contradictory results in the very extensive literature on the subject. On top of that, an attempt was to be made to gain a deeper insight into the mechanism accompanying the combustion process, by means of the electrical test equipment perfected in recent years.

Electron Dynamics in Nanostructures in Strong Laser Fields

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

Kling, Matthias

2014-09-11

The goal of our research was to gain deeper insight into the collective electron dynamics in nanosystems in strong, ultrashort laser fields. The laser field strengths will be strong enough to extract and accelerate electrons from the nanoparticles and to transiently modify the materials electronic properties. We aimed to observe, with sub-cycle resolution reaching the attosecond time domain, how collective electronic excitations in nanoparticles are formed, how the strong field influences the optical and electrical properties of the nanomaterial, and how the excitations in the presence of strong fields decay.

Gain weighted eigenspace assignment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidson, John B.; Andrisani, Dominick, II

1994-01-01

This report presents the development of the gain weighted eigenspace assignment methodology. This provides a designer with a systematic methodology for trading off eigenvector placement versus gain magnitudes, while still maintaining desired closed-loop eigenvalue locations. This is accomplished by forming a cost function composed of a scalar measure of error between desired and achievable eigenvectors and a scalar measure of gain magnitude, determining analytical expressions for the gradients, and solving for the optimal solution by numerical iteration. For this development the scalar measure of gain magnitude is chosen to be a weighted sum of the squares of all the individual elements of the feedback gain matrix. An example is presented to demonstrate the method. In this example, solutions yielding achievable eigenvectors close to the desired eigenvectors are obtained with significant reductions in gain magnitude compared to a solution obtained using a previously developed eigenspace (eigenstructure) assignment method.

New insights into biogeochemical processing gained from sub-daily river monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halliday, S. J.; Wade, A. J.; Skeffington, R. A.; Bowes, M.; Palmer-Felgate, E.; Loewenthal, M.; Jarvie, H.; Neal, C.; Reynolds, B.; Gozzard, E.; Newman, J.

2012-12-01

This talk will focus on the insights obtained from sub-daily hydrochemical monitoring for a sustained time periods (> 1 year), at multiple sites within a catchment and across different catchment types. Sub-daily instream hydrochemical dynamics were investigated, using non-stationary time-series analysis techniques, for two catchments representative of upland and lowland UK. The River Hafren at Plynlimon, mid-Wales drains an upland catchment where half the land cover is unmanaged moorland and the other half is first generation plantation forestry. The Hafren was monitored at two sites on a 7-hourly basis, between March 2007 and January 2009, using a Xian automatic sampler. The River Enborne, Berkshire, southeast England, is a rural lowland catchment, impacted by agricultural runoff, and septic tank and sewage treatment works discharges. The Enborne was monitored on an hourly basis between November 2009 and February 2012, using in situ field deployable analytical equipment to measure: Total Reactive Phosphorus (TRP: Systea Micromac C), Nitrate (Hach-Lange Nitratax), pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and water temperature (YSI 6600 Multi-parameter sonde). The results reveal complex diurnal patterns which exhibit seasonal changes in phase and amplitude, and are influenced by both flow conditions and nutrient sources. The comparison of the upland and lowland nitrate time series highlights how the different nitrogen sources within each system results in marked differences in the seasonal and diurnal dynamics, with a seasonal maximum in winter and a single peak diurnal cycle in the upland system, compared to a summer maximum and a two peak diurnal cycle in the lowland system. The analysis of TRP and nitrate concentrations in the Enborne catchment, in combination with flow, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and water temperature, allowed the main processes controlling the observed sub-daily nutrient dynamics to be investigated. The different monitoring approaches adopted

Online analysis: Deeper insights into water quality dynamics in spring water.

PubMed

Page, Rebecca M; Besmer, Michael D; Epting, Jannis; Sigrist, Jürg A; Hammes, Frederik; Huggenberger, Peter

2017-12-01

We have studied the dynamics of water quality in three karst springs taking advantage of new technological developments that enable high-resolution measurements of bacterial load (total cell concentration: TCC) as well as online measurements of abiotic parameters. We developed a novel data analysis approach, using self-organizing maps and non-linear projection methods, to approximate the TCC dynamics using the multivariate data sets of abiotic parameter time-series, thus providing a method that could be implemented in an online water quality management system for water suppliers. The (TCC) data, obtained over several months, provided a good basis to study the microbiological dynamics in detail. Alongside the TCC measurements, online abiotic parameter time-series, including spring discharge, turbidity, spectral absorption coefficient at 254nm (SAC254) and electrical conductivity, were obtained. High-density sampling over an extended period of time, i.e. every 45min for 3months, allowed a detailed analysis of the dynamics in karst spring water quality. Substantial increases in both the TCC and the abiotic parameters followed precipitation events in the catchment area. Differences between the parameter fluctuations were only apparent when analyzed at a high temporal scale. Spring discharge was always the first to react to precipitation events in the catchment area. Lag times between the onset of precipitation and a change in discharge varied between 0.2 and 6.7h, depending on the spring and event. TCC mostly reacted second or approximately concurrent with turbidity and SAC254, whereby the fastest observed reaction in the TCC time series occurred after 2.3h. The methodological approach described here enables a better understanding of bacterial dynamics in karst springs, which can be used to estimate risks and management options to avoid contamination of the drinking water. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Insights into the metabolic mechanism of rapamycin overproduction in the shikimate-resistant Streptomyces hygroscopicus strain UV-II using comparative metabolomics.

PubMed

Geng, Huiyan; Liu, Huanhuan; Liu, Jiao; Wang, Cheng; Wen, Jianping

2017-06-01

Rapamycin is a polyketide with a 31-membered macrolide ring that possesses powerful immunosuppressant activity. In this study, we firstly obtained a mutant, shikimate-resistant Streptomyces hygroscopicus strain UV-II, which displayed about 3.20-fold higher rapamycin production (305.9 mg/L) than the wild-type S. hygroscopicus ATCC29253 (95.5 mg/L). Under optimal conditions, with the addition of 2 g/L shikimic acid, the strain's rapamycin production was further increased by approximately 34.9%, to 412.6 mg/L. To gain deeper insights into the effects of shikimic acid resistance and supplementation, the fermentation properties, metabolite concentrations, and transcriptional levels of relevant genes were analyzed and evaluated for differences between this improved mutant and its parental strain. The results showed that most of the metabolic modules involved in rapamycin biosynthesis were upregulated in the mutant strain. Analysis of metabolic pathways and gene expression levels further revealed that shikimic acid metabolism plays a crucial role in the synthesis of rapamycin, and identified the rapK gene as a potential target for genetic manipulation to obtain rapamycin-producing strains with improved product yield. Consequently, the rapK gene was overexpressed in the UV-II strain, which to our delight further improved rapamycin production to 457.3 mg/L. These findings thus provide a theoretical basis for further improvements in the production of not only rapamycin, but also of other, analogous macrolide compounds.

Using Community Insight to Understand Physical Activity Adoption in Overweight and Obese African American and Hispanic Women: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Mama, Scherezade K.; McCurdy, Sheryl A.; Evans, Alexandra E.; Thompson, Deborah I.; Diamond, Pamela M.; Lee, Rebecca E.

2015-01-01

Ecologic models suggest that multiple levels of influencing factors are important for determining physical activity participation and include individual, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an ecologic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying behavioral mechanisms that influence physical activity adoption among ethnic minority women. Eighteen African American and Hispanic women completed a 1-hour in-depth interview. Verbatim interview transcripts were analyzed for emergent themes using a constant comparison approach. Women were middle-aged (age M = 43.9 ± 7.3 years), obese (body mass index M = 35.0 ± 8.9 kg/m2), and of high socioeconomic status (88.9% completed some college or more, 41.2% reported income >$82,600/year). Participants discussed individual factors, including the need for confidence, motivation and time, and emphasized the importance of environmental factors, including their physical neighborhood environments and safety of and accessibility to physical activity resources. Women talked about caretaking for others and social support and how these influenced physical activity behavior. The findings from this study highlight the multilevel, interactive complexities that influence physical activity, emphasizing the need for a more sophisticated, ecologic approach for increasing physical activity adoption and maintenance among ethnic minority women. Community insight gleaned from this study may be used to better understand determinants of physical activity and develop multilevel solutions and programs guided by an ecologic framework to increase physical activity in ethnic minority women. PMID:25504569

Drought as a driver of declining boreal forest growth: Integrating forest inventory measurements with models to gain insight into underlying mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trugman, A. T.; Medvigy, D.; Anderegg, W.; Caspersen, J.; Zeng, H.; Pacala, S. W.

2016-12-01

Boreal forests contain over 30% of Earth's terrestrial carbon and are an important component of the land carbon sink. However, the future ability of the boreal forest to maintain a net carbon sink is uncertain and depends on potentially compensating interactions of CO2 fertilization, warmer temperatures, and hotter drought conditions. Observational studies have attributed drought as a major driver of recent declines in growth and increases in mortality in many parts of the North American boreal forest. Yet, most vegetation models have a simplistic representation of vegetation water stress and fail to capture drought-associated growth and mortality trends, impacting our ability to accurately forecast the effects of climate change on the boreal forest. Here, we show additional evidence for widespread declines in boreal tree growth and increasing insect-related mortality in aspen trees based on a mixed model analysis of the Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory. Our findings indicate that the growth decline is controlled by high midsummer potential evapotranspiration that overpowers any CO2 fertilization signal. We also observe a possible shift in the distribution of angiosperm and gymnosperm, a biological transition that could impact long-term local carbon dynamics. Using insight gained from our mixed model analysis, we perform a regional-scale model evaluation using the boreal forest version of Ecosystem Demography model 2 that includes a dynamic soil organic layer, 7 boreal-specific plant functional types, and a fully mechanistic plant hydraulic scheme. We then use both the Alaskan and Canadian Forest Inventories to constrain our hypotheses and assess whether drought related growth declines can be better attributed to tree drought response from (1) carbon starvation, (2) permanent damage of hydraulic machinery, or (3) delayed recovery of hydraulic machinery. Under each of these scenarios we forecast how drought potentially impacts decadal-scale boreal carbon dynamics.

Toward a deeper characterization of the social phenotype of Williams syndrome: the association between personality and social drive

PubMed Central

Ng, Rowena; Järvinen, Anna; Bellugi, Ursula

2014-01-01

Previous research has robustly established a Williams syndrome (WS) specific personality profile, predominantly characterized a gregarious, people-oriented, and tense predisposition. Extending this work, the aims of the current, cross-sectional study were two-fold: (1) to elucidate the stability of personality characteristics in individuals with WS and typically developing (TD) comparisons across development, and (2) to explore the personality attributes that may be related to the respective profiles of social functioning characterizing the two groups, which is currently poorly understood. The sample comprised of participants with WS and TD matched on chronological age. The test battery included the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Salk Institute Sociability Questionnaire (SISQ), an index of real-life social behavior. The main results showed that compared to the TD individuals, the WS group were consistently rated higher in Social Closeness, and this trait remained stable across development. Interpersonal behaviors were best predicted by Social Closeness in WS and by Social Potency in TD. Regression analysis highlighted that while a central motive underlying the increased drive toward social interaction in individuals with WS pertains to a desire to form affectionate relationships, TD individuals by contrast are motivated by a desire to exert social influence over others (leadership, social-dominance) and Well-Being (positive emotional disposition). In conclusion, these findings provide novel insight into social motivational factors underpinning the WS social behavior in real life, and contribute toward a deeper characterization of the WS affiliative drive. We suggest potential areas for behavioral intervention targeting improved social adjustment in individuals with WS. PMID:24794322

Understanding the use of continuous oscillating positive airway pressure (bubble CPAP) to treat neonatal respiratory disease: an engineering approach.

PubMed

Manilal-Reddy, P I; Al-Jumaily, A M

2009-01-01

A continuous oscillatory positive airway pressure with pressure oscillations incidental to the mean airway pressure (bubble CPAP) is defined as a modified form of traditional continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) delivery where pressure oscillations in addition to CPAP are administered to neonates with lung diseases. The mechanical effect of the pressure oscillations on lung performance is investigated by formulating mathematical models of a typical bubble CPAP device and a simple representation of a neonatal respiratory system. Preliminary results of the respiratory system's mechanical response suggest that bubble CPAP may improve lung performance by minimizing the respiratory system impedance and that the resonant frequency of the respiratory system may be a controlling factor. Additional steps in terms of clinical trials and a more complex respiratory system model are required to gain a deeper insight into the mechanical receptiveness of the respiratory system to pressure oscillations. However, the current results are promising in that they offer a deeper insight into the trends of variations that can be expected in future extended models as well as the model philosophies that need to be adopted to produce results that are compatible with experimental verification.

Insights into the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Challenges for Implementing Technology Education: Case Studies of Queensland Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Finger, Glenn; Houguet, Belinda

2009-01-01

This study, embedded within the "Researching School Change in Technology Education" (RSCTE) project in Queensland, Australia, aimed to gain insights into the intrinsic and extrinsic challenges experienced by teachers during the implementation of technology education within primary school settings. The official publication and launch of…

Coupled long-term summer warming and deeper snow alters species composition and stimulates gross primary productivity in tussock tundra.

PubMed

Leffler, A Joshua; Klein, Eric S; Oberbauer, Steven F; Welker, Jeffrey M

2016-05-01

Climate change is expected to increase summer temperature and winter precipitation throughout the Arctic. The long-term implications of these changes for plant species composition, plant function, and ecosystem processes are difficult to predict. We report on the influence of enhanced snow depth and warmer summer temperature following 20 years of an ITEX experimental manipulation at Toolik Lake, Alaska. Winter snow depth was increased using snow fences and warming was accomplished during summer using passive open-top chambers. One of the most important consequences of these experimental treatments was an increase in active layer depth and rate of thaw, which has led to deeper drainage and lower soil moisture content. Vegetation concomitantly shifted from a relatively wet system with high cover of the sedge Eriophorum vaginatum to a drier system, dominated by deciduous shrubs including Betula nana and Salix pulchra. At the individual plant level, we observed higher leaf nitrogen concentration associated with warmer temperatures and increased snow in S. pulchra and B. nana, but high leaf nitrogen concentration did not lead to higher rates of net photosynthesis. At the ecosystem level, we observed higher GPP and NEE in response to summer warming. Our results suggest that deeper snow has a cascading set of biophysical consequences that include a deeper active layer that leads to altered species composition, greater leaf nitrogen concentration, and higher ecosystem-level carbon uptake.

Punish the Perpetrator or Compensate the Victim? Gain vs. Loss Context Modulate Third-Party Altruistic Behaviors

PubMed Central

Liu, Yingjie; Li, Lin; Zheng, Li; Guo, Xiuyan

2017-01-01

Third-party punishment and third-party compensation are primary responses to observed norms violations. Previous studies mostly investigated these behaviors in gain rather than loss context, and few study made direct comparison between these two behaviors. We conducted three experiments to investigate third-party punishment and third-party compensation in the gain and loss context. Participants observed two persons playing Dictator Game to share an amount of gain or loss, and the proposer would propose unfair distribution sometimes. In Study 1A, participants should decide whether they wanted to punish proposer. In Study 1B, participants decided to compensate the recipient or to do nothing. This two experiments explored how gain and loss contexts might affect the willingness to altruistically punish a perpetrator, or to compensate a victim of unfairness. Results suggested that both third-party punishment and compensation were stronger in the loss context. Study 2 directly compare third-party punishment and third-party compensation in the both contexts, by allowing participants choosing between punishment, compensation and keeping. Participants chose compensation more often than punishment in the loss context, and chose more punishments in the gain context. Empathic concern partly explained between-context differences of altruistic compensation and punishment. Our findings provide insights on modulating effect of context on third-party altruistic decisions. PMID:29234295

Disciplinary Literacy and Inquiry: Teaching for Deeper Content Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spires, Hiller A.; Kerkhoff, Shea N.; Graham, Abbey C. K.

2016-01-01

Disciplinary literacy is gaining momentum as an approach to adolescent literacy. Believing that a key aspect of disciplinary literacy is knowledge construction, the authors introduce a model for relating disciplinary literacy with project-based inquiry. Rather than merely exploring topics during inquiry, students use practices of a discipline to…

Going Deeper With Contextual CNN for Hyperspectral Image Classification.

PubMed

Lee, Hyungtae; Kwon, Heesung

2017-10-01

In this paper, we describe a novel deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that is deeper and wider than other existing deep networks for hyperspectral image classification. Unlike current state-of-the-art approaches in CNN-based hyperspectral image classification, the proposed network, called contextual deep CNN, can optimally explore local contextual interactions by jointly exploiting local spatio-spectral relationships of neighboring individual pixel vectors. The joint exploitation of the spatio-spectral information is achieved by a multi-scale convolutional filter bank used as an initial component of the proposed CNN pipeline. The initial spatial and spectral feature maps obtained from the multi-scale filter bank are then combined together to form a joint spatio-spectral feature map. The joint feature map representing rich spectral and spatial properties of the hyperspectral image is then fed through a fully convolutional network that eventually predicts the corresponding label of each pixel vector. The proposed approach is tested on three benchmark data sets: the Indian Pines data set, the Salinas data set, and the University of Pavia data set. Performance comparison shows enhanced classification performance of the proposed approach over the current state-of-the-art on the three data sets.

Comparing gains and losses.

PubMed

McGraw, A Peter; Larsen, Jeff T; Kahneman, Daniel; Schkade, David

2010-10-01

Loss aversion in choice is commonly assumed to arise from the anticipation that losses have a greater effect on feelings than gains, but evidence for this assumption in research on judged feelings is mixed. We argue that loss aversion is present in judged feelings when people compare gains and losses and assess them on a common scale. But many situations in which people judge and express their feelings lack these features. When judging their feelings about an outcome, people naturally consider a context of similar outcomes for comparison (e.g., they consider losses against other losses). This process permits gains and losses to be normed separately and produces psychological scale units that may not be the same in size or meaning for gains and losses. Our experiments show loss aversion in judged feelings for tasks that encourage gain-loss comparisons, but not tasks that discourage them, particularly those using bipolar scales.

Gaining insight into the physics of dynamic atomic force microscopy in complex environments using the VEDA simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiracofe, Daniel; Melcher, John; Raman, Arvind

2012-01-01

Dynamic atomic force microscopy (dAFM) continues to grow in popularity among scientists in many different fields, and research on new methods and operating modes continues to expand the resolution, capabilities, and types of samples that can be studied. But many promising increases in capability are accompanied by increases in complexity. Indeed, interpreting modern dAFM data can be challenging, especially on complicated material systems, or in liquid environments where the behavior is often contrary to what is known in air or vacuum environments. Mathematical simulations have proven to be an effective tool in providing physical insight into these non-intuitive systems. In this article we describe recent developments in the VEDA (virtual environment for dynamic AFM) simulator, which is a suite of freely available, open-source simulation tools that are delivered through the cloud computing cyber-infrastructure of nanoHUB (www.nanohub.org). Here we describe three major developments. First, simulations in liquid environments are improved by enhancements in the modeling of cantilever dynamics, excitation methods, and solvation shell forces. Second, VEDA is now able to simulate many new advanced modes of operation (bimodal, phase-modulation, frequency-modulation, etc.). Finally, nineteen different tip-sample models are available to simulate the surface physics of a wide variety different material systems including capillary, specific adhesion, van der Waals, electrostatic, viscoelasticity, and hydration forces. These features are demonstrated through example simulations and validated against experimental data, in order to provide insight into practical problems in dynamic AFM.

Gaining insight into the physics of dynamic atomic force microscopy in complex environments using the VEDA simulator.

PubMed

Kiracofe, Daniel; Melcher, John; Raman, Arvind

2012-01-01

Dynamic atomic force microscopy (dAFM) continues to grow in popularity among scientists in many different fields, and research on new methods and operating modes continues to expand the resolution, capabilities, and types of samples that can be studied. But many promising increases in capability are accompanied by increases in complexity. Indeed, interpreting modern dAFM data can be challenging, especially on complicated material systems, or in liquid environments where the behavior is often contrary to what is known in air or vacuum environments. Mathematical simulations have proven to be an effective tool in providing physical insight into these non-intuitive systems. In this article we describe recent developments in the VEDA (virtual environment for dynamic AFM) simulator, which is a suite of freely available, open-source simulation tools that are delivered through the cloud computing cyber-infrastructure of nanoHUB (www.nanohub.org). Here we describe three major developments. First, simulations in liquid environments are improved by enhancements in the modeling of cantilever dynamics, excitation methods, and solvation shell forces. Second, VEDA is now able to simulate many new advanced modes of operation (bimodal, phase-modulation, frequency-modulation, etc.). Finally, nineteen different tip-sample models are available to simulate the surface physics of a wide variety different material systems including capillary, specific adhesion, van der Waals, electrostatic, viscoelasticity, and hydration forces. These features are demonstrated through example simulations and validated against experimental data, in order to provide insight into practical problems in dynamic AFM.

Building Capacity for Tracking Human Capital Development and Its Mobility across State Lines. Policy Insights

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prescott, Brian T.

2014-01-01

This issue of "Policy Insights" provides a review of the past five years of the cost and value of higher education, which have gained increased policymaker, consumer, and media attention. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has worked with four of its member states (Hawai'i, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) to…

Advancing Deeper Learning under ESSA: Seven Priorities. Turning the Corner Post-Conference Brief. Students at the Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heller, Rafael; Gerwin, Carol

2016-01-01

This brief recommends seven ways for supporters of deeper learning to take advantage of the changing education policy landscape, as authority shifts from the federal government to states and local districts. The authors outline priorities to help the nation's high schools move from a largely inequitable system to one that prepares all students for…

The Need for Deeper Roots: Making a Mission-Driven Case for Poverty-Related Issues in Business Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naughton, Michael; de la Cruz, Rachelle

2016-01-01

We begin with the argument that if universities are to form and educate future business leaders with a disciplined sensitivity to those who suffer from both material and spiritual poverty, they will be most successful when they draw upon a mission that has a deeper root system than generic values or instrumental rationality. Recognizing that…

Simple sugar intake and hepatocellular carcinoma: epidemiological and mechanistic insight.

PubMed

Laguna, Juan Carlos; Alegret, Marta; Roglans, Núria

2014-12-22

Sugar intake has dramatically increased during the last few decades. Specifically, there has been a clear trend towards higher consumption of fructose and high fructose corn syrup, which are the most common added sugars in processed food, soft drinks and other sweetened beverages. Although still controversial, this rising trend in simple sugar consumption has been positively associated with weight gain and obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Interestingly, all of these metabolic alterations have also been related to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. The purpose of this review is to discuss the evidence coming from epidemiological studies and data from animal models relating the consumption of simple sugars, and specifically fructose, with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma and to gain insight into the putative molecular mechanisms involved.

Active rc filter permits easy trade-off of amplifier gain and sensitivity to gain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kerwin, W. J.; Shaffer, C. V.

1968-01-01

Passive RC network was designed with zeros of transmission in the right half of the complex frequency plane in the feedback loop of a simple negative-gain amplifier. The proper positioning provides any desired trade-off between amplifier gain and sensitivity to amplifier gain.

Intuition, insight, and the right hemisphere: Emergence of higher sociocognitive functions

PubMed Central

McCrea, Simon M

2010-01-01

Intuition is the ability to understand immediately without conscious reasoning and is sometimes explained as a ‘gut feeling’ about the rightness or wrongness of a person, place, situation, temporal episode or object. In contrast, insight is the capacity to gain accurate and a deep understanding of a problem and it is often associated with movement beyond existing paradigms. Examples include Darwin, Einstein and Freud’s theories of natural selection, relativity, or the unconscious; respectively. Many cultures name these concepts and acknowledge their value, and insight is recognized as particularly characteristic of eminent achievements in the arts, sciences and politics. Considerable data suggests that these two concepts are more related than distinct, and that a more distributed intuitive network may feed into a predominately right hemispheric insight-based functional neuronal architecture. The preparation and incubation stages of insight may rely on the incorporation of domain-specific automatized expertise schema associated with intuition. In this manuscript the neural networks associated with intuition and insight are reviewed. Case studies of anomalous subjects with ability–achievement discrepancies are summarized. This theoretical review proposes the prospect that atypical localization of cognitive modules may enhance intuitive and insightful functions and thereby explain individual achievement beyond that expected by conventionally measured intelligence tests. A model and theory of intuition and insight’s neuroanatomical basis is proposed which could be used as a starting point for future research and better understanding of the nature of these two distinctly human and highly complex poorly understood abilities. PMID:22110327

Improved Gain Microstrip Patch Antenna

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-06

08-2015 Publication Improved Gain Microstrip Patch Antenna David A. Tonn Naval Under Warfare Center Division, Newport 1176 Howell St., Code 00L...GAIN MICROSTRIP PATCH ANTENNA STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST [0001] The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the...patch antenna having increased gain, and an apparatus for increasing the gain and bandwidth of an existing microstrip patch antenna . (2) Description

Phylogeographic insights into cryptic glacial refugia.

PubMed

Provan, Jim; Bennett, K D

2008-10-01

The glacial episodes of the Quaternary (2.6 million years ago-present) were a major factor in shaping the present-day distributions of extant flora and fauna, with expansions and contractions of the ice sheets rendering large areas uninhabitable for most species. Fossil records suggest that many species survived glacial maxima by retreating to refugia, usually at lower latitudes. Recently, phylogeographic studies have given support to the existence of previously unknown, or cryptic, refugia. Here we summarise many of these insights into the glacial histories of species in cryptic refugia gained through phylogeographic approaches. Understanding such refugia might be important as the Earth heads into another period of climate change, in terms of predicting the effects on species distribution and survival.

Toward a deeper characterization of the social phenotype of Williams syndrome: The association between personality and social drive.

PubMed

Ng, Rowena; Järvinen, Anna; Bellugi, Ursula

2014-08-01

Previous research has robustly established a Williams syndrome (WS) specific personality profile, predominantly characterized a gregarious, people-oriented, and tense predisposition. Extending this work, the aims of the current, cross-sectional study were two-fold: (1) to elucidate the stability of personality characteristics in individuals with WS and typically developing (TD) comparisons across development, and (2) to explore the personality attributes that may be related to the respective profiles of social functioning characterizing the two groups, which is currently poorly understood. The sample comprised of participants with WS and TD matched on chronological age. The test battery included the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Salk Institute Sociability Questionnaire (SISQ), an index of real-life social behavior. The main results showed that compared to the TD individuals, the WS group were consistently rated higher in Social Closeness, and this trait remained stable across development. Interpersonal behaviors were best predicted by Social Closeness in WS and by Social Potency in TD. Regression analysis highlighted that while a central motive underlying the increased drive toward social interaction in individuals with WS pertains to a desire to form affectionate relationships, TD individuals by contrast are motivated by a desire to exert social influence over others (leadership, social-dominance) and Well-Being (positive emotional disposition). In conclusion, these findings provide novel insight into social motivational factors underpinning the WS social behavior in real life, and contribute toward a deeper characterization of the WS affiliative drive. We suggest potential areas for behavioral intervention targeting improved social adjustment in individuals with WS. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain on neonatal birth weight.

PubMed

Du, Meng-Kai; Ge, Li-Ya; Zhou, Meng-Lin; Ying, Jun; Qu, Fan; Dong, Min-Yue; Chen, Dan-Qing

To evaluate the effects of maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (pre-BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) on neonatal birth weight (NBW) in the population of Chinese healthy pregnant women, attempting to guide weight control in pregnancy. A retrospective cohort study of 3772 Chinese women was conducted. The population was stratified by maternal pre-BMI categories as underweight (<18.5 kg/m 2 ), normal weight (18.5-23.9 kg/m 2 ), overweight (24.0-27.9 kg/m 2 ), and obesity (≥28.0 kg/m 2 ). The NBW differences were tested among the four groups, and then deeper associations among maternal pre-BMI, GWG, and NBW were investigated by multivariate analysis. NBW increased significantly with the increase of maternal pre-BMI level (P<0.05), except overweight to obesity (P>0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that both pre-BMI and GWG were positively correlated with NBW (P<0.05). Compared with normal pre-BMI, underweight predicted an increased odds ratio of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and decreased odds ratio for macrosomia and large-for-gestational-age (LGA), and the results were opposite for overweight. With the increase of GWG, the risk of SGA decreased and the risks of macrosomia and LGA increased. In addition, in different pre-BMI categories, the effects of weight gain in the first trimester on NBW were different (P<0.05). NBW is positively affected by both maternal pre-BMI and GWG, extreme pre-BMI and GWG are both associated with increased risks of abnormal birth weight, and maternal pre-BMI may modify the effect of weight gain in each trimester on NBW. A valid GWG guideline for Chinese women is an urgent requirement, whereas existing recommendations seem to be not very suitable for the Chinese.

From big data to deep insight in developmental science.

PubMed

Gilmore, Rick O

2016-01-01

The use of the term 'big data' has grown substantially over the past several decades and is now widespread. In this review, I ask what makes data 'big' and what implications the size, density, or complexity of datasets have for the science of human development. A survey of existing datasets illustrates how existing large, complex, multilevel, and multimeasure data can reveal the complexities of developmental processes. At the same time, significant technical, policy, ethics, transparency, cultural, and conceptual issues associated with the use of big data must be addressed. Most big developmental science data are currently hard to find and cumbersome to access, the field lacks a culture of data sharing, and there is no consensus about who owns or should control research data. But, these barriers are dissolving. Developmental researchers are finding new ways to collect, manage, store, share, and enable others to reuse data. This promises a future in which big data can lead to deeper insights about some of the most profound questions in behavioral science. © 2016 The Authors. WIREs Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Soil nitrogen balance assessment and its application for sustainable agriculture and environment.

PubMed

Roy, Rabindra Nath; Misra, Ram Vimal

2005-12-01

Soil nitrogen balance assessment (SNBA) serves as an effective tool for estimating the magnitude of nitrogen loss/gain of the agro-eco systems and to appraise their sustainability. SNBA brings forth awareness of soil fertility problems, besides providing information relating to the resultant release of nitrogen into the environment consequent to agricultural practices. Quantitative information relating to nitrogen escape into the environment through such exercises can be gainfully utilized for identification of causative factors, enhancing fertilizer use efficiency and formulating programmes aimed at plugging N leakages. An overview of nitrogen balance approaches and methodologies is presented. A deeper understanding and insight into the agro-eco systems provided by the SNBA exercises can lay the basis for the formulation of effective agronomic interventions and policies aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and a benign environment.

Soil nitrogen balance assessment and its application for sustainable agriculture and environment.

PubMed

Roy, Rabindra Nath; Misra, Ram Vimal

2005-09-01

Soil nitrogen balance assessment (SNBA) serves as an effective tool for estimating the magnitude of nitrogen loss/gain of the agro-eco systems and to appraise their sustainability. SNBA brings forth awareness of soil fertility problems, besides providing information relating to the resultant release of nitrogen into the environment consequent to agricultural practices. Quantitative information relating to nitrogen escape into the environment through such exercises can be gainfully utilized for identification of causative factors, enhancing fertilizer use efficiency and formulating programmes aimed at plugging N leakages. An overview of nitrogen balance approaches and methodologies is presented. A deeper understanding and insight into the agro-eco systems provided by the SNBA exercises can lay the basis for the formulation of effective agronomic interventions and policies aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture and a benign environment.

A Deeper Look at the "Neural Correlate of Consciousness".

PubMed

Fink, Sascha Benjamin

2016-01-01

A main goal of the neuroscience of consciousness is: find the neural correlate to conscious experiences (NCC). When have we achieved this goal? The answer depends on our operationalization of "NCC." Chalmers (2000) shaped the widely accepted operationalization according to which an NCC is a neural system with a state which is minimally sufficient (but not necessary) for an experience. A deeper look at this operationalization reveals why it might be unsatisfactory: (i) it is not an operationalization of a correlate for occurring experiences, but of the capacity to experience; (ii) it is unhelpful for certain cases which are used to motivate a search for neural correlates of consciousness; (iii) it does not mirror the usage of "NCC" by scientists who seek for unique correlates; (iv) it hardly allows for a form of comparative testing of hypotheses, namely experimenta crucis. Because of these problems (i-iv), we ought to amend or improve on Chalmers's operationalization. Here, I present an alternative which avoids these problems. This "NCC2.0" also retains some benefits of Chalmers's operationalization, namely being compatible with contributions from extended, embedded, enacted, or embodied accounts (4E-accounts) and allowing for the possibility of non-biological or artificial experiencers.

Archaeological Geophysics, Excavation, and Ethnographic Approaches Toward a Deeper Understanding of an Eighteenth Century Wichita Site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlock, Michael Don

This research exemplifies a multidirectional approach to an archaeological interpretation of an eighteenth century Wichita village and fortification located on the Red River bordering Oklahoma and Texas. A battle that is believed to have occurred at the Longest site (34JF1) in 1759 between Spanish colonials and a confederation of Native Americans led to several Spanish primary documents describing the people that lived there, the fortification and surrounding village, and of course the battle itself. Investigation of the Longest site (34JF1) in Oklahoma presents a remarkable opportunity to combine extensive historical research, archaeological prospecting using geophysics, and traditional excavation techniques in order to gain a more complete understanding of this important archaeological site. The fortification at the Longest site, as well as possible associated structures and cultural features, were relocated using magnetometry, ground-penetrating radar, and electrical resistivity methods. Then, previously translated historical documents provided valuable insights in the interpretation of the geophysical data. Finally, archaeological excavation permitted validation of the interpretations and identification of features described in the historical accounts. As interpreted in the geophysical data and excavations, the construction of the fortification and associated interior subterranean rooms suggests that it is indeed the fortification involved in the altercation between the Taovayas and the Spanish in 1759.

Karyological characterization of the endemic Iberian rock lizard, Iberolacerta monticola (Squamata, Lacertidae): insights into sex chromosome evolution.

PubMed

Rojo, V; Giovannotti, M; Naveira, H; Nisi Cerioni, P; González-Tizón, A M; Caputo Barucchi, V; Galán, P; Olmo, E; Martínez-Lage, A

2014-01-01

Rock lizards of the genus Iberolacerta constitute a promising model to examine the process of sex chromosome evolution, as these closely related taxa exhibit remarkable diversity in the degree of sex chromosome differentiation with no clear phylogenetic segregation, ranging from cryptic to highly heteromorphic ZW chromosomes and even multiple chromosome systems (Z1Z1Z2Z2/Z1Z2W). To gain a deeper insight into the patterns of karyotype and sex chromosome evolution, we performed a cytogenetic analysis based on conventional staining, banding techniques and fluorescence in situ hybridization in the species I. monticola, for which previous cytogenetic investigations did not detect differentiated sex chromosomes. The karyotype is composed of 2n = 36 acrocentric chromosomes. NORs and the major ribosomal genes were located in the subtelomeric region of chromosome pair 6. Hybridization signals of the telomeric sequences (TTAGGG)n were visualized at the telomeres of all chromosomes and interstitially in 5 chromosome pairs. C-banding showed constitutive heterochromatin at the centromeres of all chromosomes, as well as clear pericentromeric and light telomeric C-bands in several chromosome pairs. These results highlight some chromosomal markers which can be useful to identify species-specific diagnostic characters, although they may not accurately reflect the phylogenetic relationships among the taxa. In addition, C-banding revealed the presence of a heteromorphic ZW sex chromosome pair, where W is smaller than Z and almost completely heterochromatic. This finding sheds light on sex chromosome evolution in the genus Iberolacerta and suggests that further comparative cytogenetic analyses are needed to understand the processes underlying the origin, differentiation and plasticity of sex chromosome systems in lacertid lizards. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Association of gestational weight gain expectations with advice on actual weight gain

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To examine pregnant women's gestational weight gain expectations/advice from various sources (i.e., self, family/friends, physician) and the impact of these sources of expectations/advice on actual measured gestational weight gain. Pregnant women (n=230, 87.4% Caucasian, second pregnancy) in a cohor...

Heterobimetallic Complexes for Theranostic Applications.

PubMed

Fernández-Moreira, Vanesa; Gimeno, M Concepción

2018-03-07

The design of more efficient anticancer drugs requires a deeper understanding of their biodistribution and mechanism of action. Cell imaging agents could help to gain insight into biological processes and, consequently, the best strategy for attaining suitable scaffolds in which both biological and imaging properties are maximized. A new concept arises in this field that is the combination of two metal fragments as collaborative partners to provide the precise emissive properties to visualize the cell as well as the optimum cytotoxic activity to build more potent and selective chemotherapeutic agents. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The 4D nucleome project.

PubMed

Dekker, Job; Belmont, Andrew S; Guttman, Mitchell; Leshyk, Victor O; Lis, John T; Lomvardas, Stavros; Mirny, Leonid A; O'Shea, Clodagh C; Park, Peter J; Ren, Bing; Politz, Joan C Ritland; Shendure, Jay; Zhong, Sheng

2017-09-13

The 4D Nucleome Network aims to develop and apply approaches to map the structure and dynamics of the human and mouse genomes in space and time with the goal of gaining deeper mechanistic insights into how the nucleus is organized and functions. The project will develop and benchmark experimental and computational approaches for measuring genome conformation and nuclear organization, and investigate how these contribute to gene regulation and other genome functions. Validated experimental technologies will be combined with biophysical approaches to generate quantitative models of spatial genome organization in different biological states, both in cell populations and in single cells.

Electronic quantization in dielectric nanolaminates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willemsen, T.; Geerke, P.; Jupé, M.; Gallais, L.; Ristau, D.

2016-12-01

The scientific background in the field of the laser induced damage processes in optical coatings has been significantly extended during the last decades. Especially for the ultra-short pulse regime a clear correlation between the electronic material parameters and the laser damage threshold could be demonstrated. In the present study, the quantization in nanolaminates is investigated to gain a deeper insight into the behavior of the blue shift of the bandgap in specific coating materials as well as to find approximations for the effective mass of the electrons. The theoretical predictions are correlated to the measurements.

Weight Gain during Pregnancy

MedlinePlus

... Global Map Premature Birth Report Cards Careers Archives Pregnancy Before or between pregnancies Nutrition, weight & fitness Prenatal ... fitness > Weight gain during pregnancy Weight gain during pregnancy E-mail to a friend Please fill in ...

Asthma Triggers: Gain Control

MedlinePlus

... Centers Asthma Contact Us Share Asthma Triggers: Gain Control Breathing Freely: Controlling Asthma Triggers This video features ... Air Quality: Biological Pollutants Help Your Child Gain Control Over Asthma Top of Page Molds About Molds ...

Gaining insight into the Clinical Practice Guideline development processes: qualitative study in a workshop to implement the GRADE proposal in Spain

PubMed Central

Calderón, Carlos; Rotaeche, Rafael; Etxebarria, Arritxu; Marzo, Mercé; Rico, Rosa; Barandiaran, Marta

2006-01-01

Background The GRADE method represents a new approach to grading the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations in the preparation of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG). In the context of a pilot study to assess the implementability of the system in Spain, we considered it relevant to gain an insight into the significance of the perceptions and attitudes expressed by the actual experts participating in the system try-out. Methods Qualitative research with an ethnographic approach, through non-participant observation and focus groups within the context of a consensus workshop in which 19 CPG experts participated to evaluate the GRADE proposal using 12 evidence tables taken from hypertension, asthma and arthritis CPGs. The interventions were recorded, under a guarantee of confidentiality. The transcriptions and field notes were analyzed, based on a sociological discourse analysis model, and the provisional findings were re-sent to participants in order to improve their validity. Results 1) Certain problems over procedure and terminology hindered the acceptance of this new method as a common reference system for the preparation of CPGs. 2). A greater closeness to clinical practice was accompanied by concerns over value judgments and subjectivity, with a demand for greater explicitness in the consensus process. 3). The type of "evidence" on which the guidelines are based, how and by whom the evidence is prepared, and what the role of the different actors should be, all constitute unresolved concerns in the CPG preparation and implementation processes. 4). The grading process is not neutral: professional background, prior experience and the degree of leadership all condition the participants' input and interactions. Conclusion The findings obtained allow the quantitative evaluation to be better interpreted and, in turn, go beyond the particularities of the GRADE method. Adaptation to the complexities of clinical practice, the need for carefully designed multi

Water quality in Gaines Creek and Gaines Creek arm of Eufaula Lake, Oklahoma

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kurklin, J.K.

1990-01-01

Based on samples collected from May 1978 to May 1980 and analyzed for major anions, nitrogen, trace elements, phytoplankton, and bacteria, the water in Gaines Creek and the Gaines Creek arm of Eufaula Lake was similar with respect to suitability for municipal use. Water from Gaines Creek had a pH range of 5.7 to 7.6 and a maximum specific conductance of 97 microsiemens per centimeter at 25o Celsius, whereas water from the Gaines Creek arm of Eufaula Lake had a pH range of 6.0 to 9.2 and a maximum specific conductance of 260 microsiemens per centimeter at 25o Celsius. Dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, and specific conductance values for the lake varied with depth. With the exceptions of cadmium, iron, lead, and manganese, trace-element determinations of samples were within recommended national primary and secondary drinking-water standards. When compared to the National Academy of Sciences water-quality criteria, phytoplankton and bacteria counts exceeded recommendations; however, water from either Gaines Creek or Eufaula Lake could be treated similarly and used as a municipal water supply.

USDA Climate Hubs - delivering usable information and tools to farmers, ranchers and forest land managers - Communication insights from the Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, R.; Steele, R.

2016-12-01

The USDA Climate Hubs were established in 2014 to develop and deliver science-based, region-specific information and technologies, with USDA agencies and partners, to agricultural and natural resource managers to enable climate-informed decision-making. In the two and half years of existence, our regional leads have gained insights into communicating with the agricultural and forestry communities throughout the different regions of the country. Perspectives differ somewhat among regions and sectors. This talk will share those various insights.

Insights to regenerate materials: learning from nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Aznar, J. M.; Valero, C.; Gómez-Benito, M. J.; Javierre, E.

2016-08-01

Self-healing materials, both biological and engineered, integrate the ability to repair themselves and recover their functionality using the resources inherently available to them. Although significant advances have been made, in recent years, for the design of different concepts of self-healing materials, this work aims to provide some insights into how living materials are able to regenerate or heal when a fracture or injury occurs. The main sensors that regulate this adaptive and regenerative behavior are the cells. These are able to sense the mechanical alterations in their surroundings and regulate their activity in order to remove dead tissue and/or create new tissue. Therefore, understanding how cells are able to regenerate tissues under complex and multiphysics conditions can define the biomimetics guidelines to heal through inert or traditional engineering materials. In this work, we present a combination of experiments and different kinds of multiscale and multiphysics models in order to understand how mechanics regulate some mechanisms at cell and tissue level. This combination of results aims to gain insight into the development of novel strategies for self-healing materials, mimicking the behavior induced by cells and biological tissues.

Using community insight to understand physical activity adoption in overweight and obese African American and Hispanic women: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Mama, Scherezade K; McCurdy, Sheryl A; Evans, Alexandra E; Thompson, Deborah I; Diamond, Pamela M; Lee, Rebecca E

2015-06-01

Ecologic models suggest that multiple levels of influencing factors are important for determining physical activity participation and include individual, social, and environmental factors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to use an ecologic framework to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying behavioral mechanisms that influence physical activity adoption among ethnic minority women. Eighteen African American and Hispanic women completed a 1-hour in-depth interview. Verbatim interview transcripts were analyzed for emergent themes using a constant comparison approach. Women were middle-aged (age M = 43.9 ± 7.3 years), obese (body mass index M = 35.0 ± 8.9 kg/m(2)), and of high socioeconomic status (88.9% completed some college or more, 41.2% reported income >$82,600/year). Participants discussed individual factors, including the need for confidence, motivation and time, and emphasized the importance of environmental factors, including their physical neighborhood environments and safety of and accessibility to physical activity resources. Women talked about caretaking for others and social support and how these influenced physical activity behavior. The findings from this study highlight the multilevel, interactive complexities that influence physical activity, emphasizing the need for a more sophisticated, ecologic approach for increasing physical activity adoption and maintenance among ethnic minority women. Community insight gleaned from this study may be used to better understand determinants of physical activity and develop multilevel solutions and programs guided by an ecologic framework to increase physical activity in ethnic minority women. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

Greater soil carbon accumulation in deeper soils in native- than in exotic-dominated grassland plantings in the southern Plains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilsey, B. J.; Xu, X.; Polley, H. W.; Hofmockel, K. S.

2017-12-01

Global change includes invasion by non-native plant species, and invasion may affect carbon cycling and storage. We tested predictions in central Texas in an experiment that compares mixtures of all exotic or all native species under two summer irrigation treatments (128 or 0 mm) that varies the amount of summer drought stress. At the end of the eighth growing season after establishment, soils were sampled in 10 cm increments to 100 cm depth to determine if soil C differed among treatments, and if treatments differentially affected soil C in deeper soils. Soil C content was significantly (5%) higher under native plantings than under exotic species plantings (P < 0.001). The difference between native and exotic plantings increased with depth, and native plantings had higher soil C in deeper soil layers than in surface layers (native-exotic x depth, P < 0.001). Exotic plantings had decreasing soil C with depth. Soil C:N ratio and δ13C/12C were also significantly affected by native-exotic status, with soils in exotic plots having a significantly greater C4 contribution than native soils. Soil C was unaffected by summer irrigation treatments. Our results suggest that a significant amount of carbon could be sequestered by replacing exotic plant species with native species in the southern Plains, and that more work should be conducted at deeper soil depths. If we had restricted our analyses to surface soil layers (e.g. top 30 cm), we would have failed to detect depth differences between natives and exotics.

Insights Gained into Arts and Smarts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Viadero, Debra

2008-01-01

Findings released this week from three years of studies by neuroscientists and psychologists at seven universities help amplify scientists' understanding of how training in the arts might contribute to improving the general thinking skills of children and adults. The idea that the arts, and music in particular, could make children smarter in other…

Insights Gained from Forensic Analysis with MELCOR of the Fukushima-Daiichi Accidents.

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

Andrews, Nathan C.; Gauntt, Randall O.

Since the accidents at Fukushima-Daiichi, Sandia National Laboratories has been modeling these accident scenarios using the severe accident analysis code, MELCOR. MELCOR is a widely used computer code developed at Sandia National Laboratories since ~1982 for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Insights from the modeling of these accidents is being used to better inform future code development and potentially improved accident management. To date, our necessity to better capture in-vessel thermal-hydraulic and ex-vessel melt coolability and concrete interactions has led to the implementation of new models. The most recent analyses, presented in this paper, have been in support of themore » of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency’s (OECD/NEA) Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF) Project. The goal of this project is to accurately capture the source term from all three releases and then model the atmospheric dispersion. In order to do this, a forensic approach is being used in which available plant data and release timings is being used to inform the modeled MELCOR accident scenario. For example, containment failures, core slumping events and lower head failure timings are all enforced parameters in these analyses. This approach is fundamentally different from a blind code assessment analysis often used in standard problem exercises. The timings of these events are informed by representative spikes or decreases in plant data. The combination of improvements to the MELCOR source code resulting from analysis previous accident analysis and this forensic approach has allowed Sandia to generate representative and plausible source terms for all three accidents at Fukushima Daiichi out to three weeks after the accident to capture both early and late releases. In particular, using the source terms developed by MELCOR, the MACCS software code, which models atmospheric dispersion

Feed-Forward: Students Gaining More from Assessment via Deeper Engagement in Video-Recorded Presentations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Karen; Barry, Shane

2016-01-01

Presentation feedback can be limited in its feed-forward value, as students do not have their actual presentation available for review whilst reflecting upon the feedback. This study reports on students' perceptions of the learning and feed-forward value of an oral presentation assessment. Students self-marked their performance immediately after…

Leading Gainful Employment Metric Reporting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Kristina; MacPherson, Derek

2016-01-01

This chapter will address the importance of intercampus involvement in reporting of gainful employment student-level data that will be used in the calculation of gainful employment metrics by the U.S. Department of Education. The authors will discuss why building relationships within the institution is critical for effective gainful employment…

Gaining and maintaining commitment to large-scale change in healthcare organizations.

PubMed

Narine, L; Persaud, D D

2003-08-01

Healthcare administrators have sought to improve the quality of healthcare services by using organizational change as a lever. Unfortunately, evaluations of organizational change efforts in areas such as total quality management (TQM), continuous quality improvement (CQI), and organizational restructuring have indicated that these change programmes have not fulfilled their promise in improving service delivery. Furthermore, there are no easy answers as to why so many large-scale change programmes are unsuccessful. The aim of this analysis is to provide insights into practices that may be utilized to improve the chances of successful change management. It is proposed that in order to effect change, implementers must first gain commitment to the change. This is done by ensuring organizational readiness for change, surfacing dissatisfaction with the present state, communicating a clear vision of the proposed change, promoting participation in the change effort, and developing a clear and consistent communication plan. However gaining commitment is not enough. Many change programmes have been initially perceived as being successful but long-term success has been elusive. Therefore, maintaining commitment during the uncertainty associated with the transition period is imperative. This can be done by successfully managing the transition using action steps such as consolidating change using feedback mechanisms and making the change a permanent part of the organization's culture.

Insights gained through Marte Meo counselling: experiences of nurses in dementia specific care units.

PubMed

Einang Alnes, Rigmor; Kirkevold, Marit; Skovdahl, Kirsti

2011-06-01

This study sought to uncover what nurses perceived to have learned, during their participation in video supported counselling, based on Marte Meo principles, in four dementia specific care units. This was a descriptive qualitative study. Data were collected through 12 individual and four focus group interviews. In addition, supplementary data from two video recordings and one written log were included. Findings emerged through content analysis and re-examination of the text based on the initial analysis. The nurses experienced that they acquired new knowledge about the residents through Marte Meo Counselling (MMC), resulting in improved capability to interpret the residents` expressions, and increased awareness of the residents' competence. New knowledge about themselves as nurses also emerged; they recognised how their actions entailed consequences for the interaction, in turn making them conscious of the usefulness of taking time, pacing their interactions, maintaining eye contact and describing the situation in words when the interaction took place. This appeared to increase the resident's perception of being able to cope. This study indicates that MMC helped the nurses to gain knowledge about how to improve interactions with residents suffering from dementia. Further research is warranted into the effectiveness of MMC. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Invention and Gain Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weber, Robert J.; Dixon, Stacey

1989-01-01

Gain analysis is applied to the invention of the sewing needle as well as different sewing implements and modes of sewing. The analysis includes a two-subject experiment. To validate the generality of gain heuristics and underlying switching processes, the invention of the assembly line is also analyzed. (TJH)

Insights into enzymatic halogenation from computational studies

PubMed Central

Senn, Hans M.

2014-01-01

The halogenases are a group of enzymes that have only come to the fore over the last 10 years thanks to the discovery and characterization of several novel representatives. They have revealed the fascinating variety of distinct chemical mechanisms that nature utilizes to activate halogens and introduce them into organic substrates. Computational studies using a range of approaches have already elucidated many details of the mechanisms of these enzymes, often in synergistic combination with experiment. This Review summarizes the main insights gained from these studies. It also seeks to identify open questions that are amenable to computational investigations. The studies discussed herein serve to illustrate some of the limitations of the current computational approaches and the challenges encountered in computational mechanistic enzymology. PMID:25426489

'Following the word of God': Empirical insights into managerial perceptions on spirituality, culture and health.

PubMed

Mayer, Claude-Hélène; Viviers, Rian

2014-06-01

This article focuses on managers in a selected South African organization and the connections they draw between mental health, culture and spirituality within the workplace. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the interrelationships in this complex and growing scientific discourse and to respond to the research question of how mental health, culture and spirituality are interrelated from a managerial perspective. The study follows an inductive single case study approach within the phenomenological paradigm. Qualitative research methods using in-depth interviews and observation were used. The sample comprised 27 managers within the international South African automotive organization. The findings show that not only culture, but also spirituality and religion in particular, influence mental health and well-being of managers at work. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations made.

Live-Cell Imaging of Filoviruses.

PubMed

Schudt, Gordian; Dolnik, Olga; Becker, Stephan

2017-01-01

Observation of molecular processes inside living cells is fundamental to a deeper understanding of virus-host interactions in filoviral-infected cells. These observations can provide spatiotemporal insights into protein synthesis, protein-protein interaction dynamics, and transport processes of these highly pathogenic viruses. Thus, live-cell imaging provides the possibility for antiviral screening in real time and gives mechanistic insights into understanding filovirus assembly steps that are dependent on cellular factors, which then represent potential targets against this highly fatal disease. Here we describe analysis of living filovirus-infected cells under maximum biosafety (i.e., BSL4) conditions using plasmid-driven expression of fluorescently labeled viral and cellular proteins and/or viral genome-encoded expression of fluorescently labeled proteins. Such multiple-color and multidimensional time-lapse live-cell imaging analyses are a powerful method to gain a better understanding of the filovirus infection cycle.

Soil and leaf litter metaproteomics—a brief guideline from sampling to understanding

PubMed Central

Keiblinger, Katharina M.; Fuchs, Stephan; Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Sophie; Riedel, Katharina

2016-01-01

The increasing application of soil metaproteomics is providing unprecedented, in-depth characterization of the composition and functionality of in situ microbial communities. Despite recent advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry, soil metaproteomics still suffers from a lack of effective and reproducible protein extraction protocols and standardized data analyses. This review discusses the opportunities and limitations of selected techniques in soil-, and leaf litter metaproteomics, and presents a step-by-step guideline on their application, covering sampling, sample preparation, extraction and data evaluation strategies. In addition, we present recent applications of soil metaproteomics and discuss how such approaches, linking phylogenetics and functionality, can help gain deeper insights into terrestrial microbial ecology. Finally, we strongly recommend that to maximize the insights environmental metaproteomics may provide, such methods should be employed within a holistic experimental approach considering relevant aboveground and belowground ecosystem parameters. PMID:27549116

Loop gain stabilizing with an all-digital automatic-gain-control method for high-precision fiber-optic gyroscope.

PubMed

Zheng, Yue; Zhang, Chunxi; Li, Lijing; Song, Lailiang; Chen, Wen

2016-06-10

For a fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) using electronic dithers to suppress the dead zone, without a fixed loop gain, the deterministic compensation for the dither signals in the control loop of the FOG cannot remain accurate, resulting in the dither residuals in the FOG rotation rate output and the navigation errors in the inertial navigation system. An all-digital automatic-gain-control method for stabilizing the loop gain of the FOG is proposed. By using a perturbation square wave to measure the loop gain of the FOG and adding an automatic gain control loop in the conventional control loop of the FOG, we successfully obtain the actual loop gain and make the loop gain converge to the reference value. The experimental results show that in the case of 20% variation in the loop gain, the dither residuals are successfully eliminated and the standard deviation of the FOG sampling outputs is decreased from 2.00  deg/h to 0.62  deg/h (sampling period 2.5 ms, 10 points smoothing). With this method, the loop gain of the FOG can be stabilized over the operation temperature range and in the long-time application, which provides a solid foundation for the engineering applications of the high-precision FOG.

Stability analysis of Hawaiian Island flanks using insight gained from strength testing of the HSDP core

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Nick; Watters, Robert J.; Schiffman, Peter

2008-04-01

Hawaiian Island flank failures are recognized as the largest landslide events on Earth, reaching volumes of several thousand cubic kilometers and lengths of over 200 km and occurring on an average of once every 100 000 years. The 3.1 km deep Hawaii Scientific Drilling Project (HSDP) enabled an investigation of the rock mass strength variations on the island of Hawaii [Schiffman, P., Watters, R.J., Thompson, N., Walton, A.W., 2006. Hyaloclastites and the slope stability of Hawaiian volcanoes: insights from the Hawaiian Scientific Drilling Project's 3-km drill core. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 151 (1-3): 217-228]. This study builds on that of Schiffman et al. [Schiffman, P., Watters, R.J., Thompson, N., Walton, A.W., 2006. Hyaloclastites and the slope stability of Hawaiian volcanoes: Insights from the Hawaiian Scientific Drilling Project's 3-km drill core. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 151 (1-3): 217-228] by considering more in-depth rock mass classification and strength testing methods of the HSDP core. Geotechnical core logging techniques combined with laboratory strength testing methods show that rock strength differences exist within the edifice. Comparing the rock strength parameters obtained from the various volcano lithologies identified weak zones, suggesting the possible location of future slip surfaces for large flank failures. Relatively weak rock layers were recognized within poorly consolidated hyaloclastite zones, with increases in strength based on degree of alteration. Subaerial and submarine basalt flows are found to be significantly stronger. With the aid of digital elevation models, cross-sections have been developed of key flank areas on the island of Hawaii. Limit equilibrium slope stability analyses are performed on each cross-section using various failure criteria for the rock mass strength calculations. Based on the stability analyses the majority of the slopes analyzed are considered stable. In cases

Weight gain following treatment of hyperthyroidism.

PubMed

Dale, J; Daykin, J; Holder, R; Sheppard, M C; Franklyn, J A

2001-08-01

Patients frequently express concern that treating hyperthyroidism will lead to excessive weight gain. This study aimed to determine the extent of, and risk factors for, weight gain in an unselected group of hyperthyroid patients. We investigated 162 consecutive hyperthyroid patients followed for at least 6 months. Height, weight, clinical features, biochemistry and management were recorded at each clinic visit. Documented weight gain was 5.42 +/- 0.46 kg (mean +/- SE) and increase in BMI was 8.49 +/- 0.71%, over a mean 24.2 +/- 1.6 months. Pre-existing obesity, Graves' disease causing hyperthyroidism, weight loss before presentation and length of follow-up each independently predicted weight gain. Patients treated with thionamides or radioiodine gained a similar amount of weight (thionamides, n = 87, 5.16 +/- 0.63 kg vs. radioiodine, n = 62, 4.75 +/- 0.57 kg, P = 0.645), but patients who underwent thyroidectomy (n = 13) gained more weight (10.27 +/- 2.56 kg vs. others, P = 0.007). Development of hypothyroidism (even transiently) was associated with weight gain (never hypothyroid, n = 102, 4.57 +/- 0.52 kg, transiently hypothyroid, n = 29, 5.37 +/- 0.85 kg, on T4, n = 31, 8.06 +/- 1.42 kg, P = 0.014). This difference remained after correcting for length of follow-up. In the whole cohort, weight increased by 3.95 +/- 0.40 kg at 1 year (n = 144) to 9.91 +/- 1.62 kg after 4 years (n = 27) (P = 0.008), representing a mean weight gain of 3.66 +/- 0.44 kg/year. We have demonstrated marked weight gain after treatment of hyperthyroidism. Pre-existing obesity, a diagnosis of Graves' disease and prior weight loss independently predicted weight gain and weight continued to rise with time. Patients who became hypothyroid, despite T4 replacement, gained most weight.

Study of gain-coupled distributed feedback laser based on high order surface gain-coupled gratings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Feng; Qin, Li; Chen, Yongyi; Jia, Peng; Chen, Chao; Cheng, LiWen; Chen, Hong; Liang, Lei; Zeng, Yugang; Zhang, Xing; Wu, Hao; Ning, Yongqiang; Wang, Lijun

2018-03-01

Single-longitudinal-mode, gain-coupled distributed feedback (DFB) lasers based on high order surface gain-coupled gratings are achieved. Periodic surface metal p-contacts with insulated grooves realize gain-coupled mechanism. To enhance gain contrast in the quantum wells without the introduction of effective index-coupled effect, groove length and depth were well designed. Our devices provided a single longitudinal mode with the maximum CW output power up to 48.8 mW/facet at 971.31 nm at 250 mA without facet coating, 3dB linewidth (<3.2 pm) and SMSR (>39 dB). Optical bistable characteristic was observed with a threshold current difference. Experimentally, devices with different cavity lengths were contrasted on power-current and spectrum characteristics. Due to easy fabrication technique and stable performance, it provides a method of fabricating practical gain-coupled distributed feedback lasers for commercial applications.

Linking susceptibility genes and pathogenesis mechanisms using mouse models of systemic lupus erythematosus

PubMed Central

Crampton, Steve P.; Morawski, Peter A.; Bolland, Silvia

2014-01-01

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) represents a challenging autoimmune disease from a clinical perspective because of its varied forms of presentation. Although broad-spectrum steroids remain the standard treatment for SLE, they have many side effects and only provide temporary relief from the symptoms of the disease. Thus, gaining a deeper understanding of the genetic traits and biological pathways that confer susceptibility to SLE will help in the design of more targeted and effective therapeutics. Both human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and investigations using a variety of mouse models of SLE have been valuable for the identification of the genes and pathways involved in pathogenesis. In this Review, we link human susceptibility genes for SLE with biological pathways characterized in mouse models of lupus, and discuss how the mechanistic insights gained could advance drug discovery for the disease. PMID:25147296

Stoking the Dialogue on the Domains of Transformative Learning Theory: Insights From Research With Faith-Based Organizations in Kenya

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moyer, Joanne M.; Sinclair, A. John

2016-01-01

Transformative learning theory is applied in a variety of fields, including archaeology, religious studies, health care, the physical sciences, environmental studies, and natural resource management. Given the breadth of the theory's application, it needs to be adaptable to broad contexts. This article shares insights gained from applying the…

Creating insight when the literature is absent: the circle of advisors.

PubMed

Batcheller, Joyce; Yoder-Wise, Patricia S

2011-01-01

When changes happen as rapidly as they do today, the literature is often absent. Although related literature may be available to substantiate a direction to take when faced with some issue to resolve, that literature may be vague in terms of its applicability within health care. The idea of a circle of advisors was instituted to gain insight from experts who had faced similar challenges and often had extensive networks of shared experiences. The use of a sequential dialog identified specific talents to be developed in a chief nurse executive enculturation program.

Optimization of control gain by operator adjustment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kruse, W.; Rothbauer, G.

1973-01-01

An optimal gain was established by measuring errors at 5 discrete control gain settings in an experimental set-up consisting of a 2-dimensional, first-order pursuit tracking task performed by subjects (S's). No significant experience effect on optimum gain setting was found in the first experiment. During the second experiment, in which control gain was continuously adjustable, high experienced S's tended to reach the previously determined optimum gain quite accurately and quickly. Less experienced S's tended to select a marginally optimum gain either below or above the experimentally determined optimum depending on initial control gain setting, although mean settings of both groups were equal. This quick and simple method is recommended for selecting control gains for different control systems and forcing functions.

Optical antenna gain. I - Transmitting antennas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klein, B. J.; Degnan, J. J.

1974-01-01

The gain of centrally obscured optical transmitting antennas is analyzed in detail. The calculations, resulting in near- and far-field antenna gain patterns, assume a circular antenna illuminated by a laser operating in the TEM-00 mode. A simple polynomial equation is derived for matching the incident source distribution to a general antenna configuration for maximum on-axis gain. An interpretation of the resultant gain curves allows a number of auxiliary design curves to be drawn that display the losses in antenna gain due to pointing errors and the cone angle of the beam in the far field as a function of antenna aperture size and its central obscuration. The results are presented in a series of graphs that allow the rapid and accurate evaluation of the antenna gain which may then be substituted into the conventional range equation.

In Vitro Reconstitution of Metabolic Pathways: Insights into Nature’s Chemical Logic

PubMed Central

Lowry, Brian; Walsh, Christopher T.

2015-01-01

In vitro analysis of metabolic pathways is becoming a powerful method to gain a deeper understanding of Nature’s core biochemical transformations. With astounding advancements in biotechnology, purification of a metabolic pathway’s constitutive enzymatic components is becoming a tractable problem, and such in vitro studies allow scientists to capture the finer details of enzymatic reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and the identity of organic product molecules. In this review, we present eleven metabolic pathways that have been the subject of in vitro reconstitution studies in the literature in recent years. In addition, we have selected and analyzed subset of four case studies within these eleven examples that exemplify remarkable organic chemistry occurring within biology. These examples serves as tangible reminders that Nature’s biochemical routes obey the fundamental principles of organic chemistry, and the chemical mechanisms are reminiscent of those featured in traditional synthetic organic routes. The illustrations of biosynthetic chemistry depicted in this review may inspire the development of biomimetic chemistries via abiotic chemical techniques. PMID:26207083

From big data to deep insight in developmental science

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The use of the term ‘big data’ has grown substantially over the past several decades and is now widespread. In this review, I ask what makes data ‘big’ and what implications the size, density, or complexity of datasets have for the science of human development. A survey of existing datasets illustrates how existing large, complex, multilevel, and multimeasure data can reveal the complexities of developmental processes. At the same time, significant technical, policy, ethics, transparency, cultural, and conceptual issues associated with the use of big data must be addressed. Most big developmental science data are currently hard to find and cumbersome to access, the field lacks a culture of data sharing, and there is no consensus about who owns or should control research data. But, these barriers are dissolving. Developmental researchers are finding new ways to collect, manage, store, share, and enable others to reuse data. This promises a future in which big data can lead to deeper insights about some of the most profound questions in behavioral science. WIREs Cogn Sci 2016, 7:112–126. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1379 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. PMID:26805777

New insights into the nanostructure of innovative thin film solar cells gained by positron annihilation spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eijt, S. W. H.; Shi, W.; Mannheim, A.; Butterling, M.; Schut, H.; Egger, W.; Dickmann, M.; Hugenschmidt, C.; Shakeri, B.; Meulenberg, R. W.; Callewaert, V.; Saniz, R.; Partoens, B.; Barbiellini, B.; Bansil, A.; Melskens, J.; Zeman, M.; Smets, A. H. M.; Kulbak, M.; Hodes, G.; Cahen, D.; Brück, E.

2017-01-01

Recent studies showed that positron annihilation methods can provide key insights into the nanostructure and electronic structure of thin film solar cells. In this study, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) is applied to investigate CdSe quantum dot (QD) light absorbing layers, providing evidence of positron trapping at the surfaces of the QDs. This enables one to monitor their surface composition and electronic structure. Further, 2D-Angular Correlation of Annihilation Radiation (2D-ACAR) is used to investigate the nanostructure of divacancies in photovoltaic-high-quality a-Si:H films. The collected momentum distributions were converted by Fourier transformation to the direct space representation of the electron-positron autocorrelation function. The evolution of the size of the divacancies as a function of hydrogen dilution during deposition of a-Si:H thin films was examined. Finally, we present a first positron Doppler Broadening of Annihilation Radiation (DBAR) study of the emerging class of highly efficient thin film solar cells based on perovskites.

A Deeper Look at the “Neural Correlate of Consciousness”

PubMed Central

Fink, Sascha Benjamin

2016-01-01

A main goal of the neuroscience of consciousness is: find the neural correlate to conscious experiences (NCC). When have we achieved this goal? The answer depends on our operationalization of “NCC.” Chalmers (2000) shaped the widely accepted operationalization according to which an NCC is a neural system with a state which is minimally sufficient (but not necessary) for an experience. A deeper look at this operationalization reveals why it might be unsatisfactory: (i) it is not an operationalization of a correlate for occurring experiences, but of the capacity to experience; (ii) it is unhelpful for certain cases which are used to motivate a search for neural correlates of consciousness; (iii) it does not mirror the usage of “NCC” by scientists who seek for unique correlates; (iv) it hardly allows for a form of comparative testing of hypotheses, namely experimenta crucis. Because of these problems (i–iv), we ought to amend or improve on Chalmers's operationalization. Here, I present an alternative which avoids these problems. This “NCC2.0” also retains some benefits of Chalmers's operationalization, namely being compatible with contributions from extended, embedded, enacted, or embodied accounts (4E-accounts) and allowing for the possibility of non-biological or artificial experiencers. PMID:27507950

Substrate effects in high gain, low operating voltage SnSe2 photoconductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krishna, Murali; Kallatt, Sangeeth; Majumdar, Kausik

2018-01-01

High gain photoconductive devices find wide spread applications in low intensity light detection. Ultra-thin layered materials have recently drawn a lot of attention from researchers in this regard. However, in general, a large operating voltage is required to obtain large responsivity in these devices. In addition, the characteristics are often confounded by substrate induced trap effects. Here we report multi-layer SnSe2 based photoconductive devices using two different structures: (1) SiO2 substrate supported inter-digitated electrode (IDE), and (2) suspended channel. The IDE device exhibits a responsivity of ≈ {10}3 A W-1 and ≈ 8.66× {10}4 A W-1 at operating voltages of 1 mV and 100 mV, respectively—a superior low voltage performance over existing literature on planar 2D structures. However, the responsivity reduces by more than two orders of magnitude, while the transient response improves for the suspended device—providing insights into the critical role played by the channel-substrate interface in the gain mechanism. The results, on one hand, are promising for highly sensitive photoconductive applications consuming ultra-low power, and on the other hand, show a generic methodology that could be applied to other layered material based photoconductive devices as well for extracting the intrinsic behavior.

Perceiving the moral dimension of practice: insights from Murdoch, Vetlesen, and Aristotle.

PubMed

Scott, P Anne

2006-07-01

This paper situates the moral domain of practice within the context of a particular description of nursing practice - one that sees human interaction at the heart of that practice. Such a description fits not only with professional rhetoric but also with literature from patients and recent empirical work exploring the nature of nursing practice. Martha Levine in her 1977 description of ethics, within the context of nursing practice, indicated that what was important from an ethical perspective was how we interact with each other, with patients and colleagues, on a daily basis. What enables such interaction to display moral sensitivity, insight into patient need, and a focus on the good for the patient? Of relevance when answering this question is the empirical evidence indicating that professional socialization, as a nurse or a doctor, may dull the individual's moral sense. If this is the case, cognizance needs to be taken of such evidence when identifying theoretical approaches from mainstream ethics that may provide insight and value for nurse education. It is suggested that such insight and value can be gained from a consideration of the work of Aristotle, Murdoch, and Vetlesen.

Big insights from small volumes: deciphering complex leukocyte behaviors using microfluidics

PubMed Central

Irimia, Daniel; Ellett, Felix

2016-01-01

Inflammation is an indispensable component of the immune response, and leukocytes provide the first line of defense against infection. Although the major stereotypic leukocyte behaviors in response to infection are well known, the complexities and idiosyncrasies of these phenotypes in conditions of disease are still emerging. Novel tools are indispensable for gaining insights into leukocyte behavior, and in the past decade, microfluidic technologies have emerged as an exciting development in the field. Microfluidic devices are readily customizable, provide tight control of experimental conditions, enable high precision of ex vivo measurements of individual as well as integrated leukocyte functions, and have facilitated the discovery of novel leukocyte phenotypes. Here, we review some of the most interesting insights resulting from the application of microfluidic approaches to the study of the inflammatory response. The aim is to encourage leukocyte biologists to integrate these new tools into increasingly more sophisticated experimental designs for probing complex leukocyte functions. PMID:27194799

Towards a magnetoresistive platform for neural signal recording

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, P. P.; Gervasoni, G.; Albisetti, E.; D'Ercoli, F.; Monticelli, M.; Moretti, D.; Forte, N.; Rocchi, A.; Ferrari, G.; Baldelli, P.; Sampietro, M.; Benfenati, F.; Bertacco, R.; Petti, D.

2017-05-01

A promising strategy to get deeper insight on brain functionalities relies on the investigation of neural activities at the cellular and sub-cellular level. In this framework, methods for recording neuron electrical activity have gained interest over the years. Main technological challenges are associated to finding highly sensitive detection schemes, providing considerable spatial and temporal resolution. Moreover, the possibility to perform non-invasive assays would constitute a noteworthy benefit. In this work, we present a magnetoresistive platform for the detection of the action potential propagation in neural cells. Such platform allows, in perspective, the in vitro recording of neural signals arising from single neurons, neural networks and brain slices.

Wireless communication links for brain-machine interface applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larson, L.

2016-05-01

Recent technological developments have given neuroscientists direct access to neural signals in real time, with the accompanying ability to decode the resulting information and control various prosthetic devices and gain insight into deeper aspects of cognition. These developments - along with deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease and the possible use of electro-stimulation for other maladies - leads to the conclusion that the widespread use electronic brain interface technology is a long term possibility. This talk will summarize the various technical challenges and approaches that have been developed to wirelessly communicate with the brain, including technology constraints, dc power limits, compression and data rate issues.

Porous Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Frameworks.

PubMed

Han, Yi-Fei; Yuan, Ying-Xue; Wang, Hong-Bo

2017-02-13

Ordered porous solid-state architectures constructed via non-covalent supramolecular self-assembly have attracted increasing interest due to their unique advantages and potential applications. Porous metal-coordination organic frameworks (MOFs) are generated by the assembly of metal coordination centers and organic linkers. Compared to MOFs, porous hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) are readily purified and recovered via simple recrystallization. However, due to lacking of sufficiently ability to orientate self-aggregation of building motifs in predictable manners, rational design and preparation of porous HOFs are still challenging. Herein, we summarize recent developments about porous HOFs and attempt to gain deeper insights into the design strategies of basic building motifs.

Biocatalytic Synthesis of Poly(δ-Valerolactone) Using a Thermophilic Esterase from Archaeoglobus fulgidus as Catalyst

PubMed Central

Cao, Hong; Han, Haobo; Li, Guangquan; Yang, Jiebing; Zhang, Lingfei; Yang, Yan; Fang, Xuedong; Li, Quanshun

2012-01-01

The ring-opening polymerization of δ-valerolactone catalyzed by a thermophilic esterase from the archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus was successfully conducted in organic solvents. The effects of enzyme concentration, temperature, reaction time and reaction medium on monomer conversion and product molecular weight were systematically evaluated. Through the optimization of reaction conditions, poly(δ-valerolactone) was produced in 97% monomer conversion, with a number-average molecular weight of 2225 g/mol, in toluene at 70 °C for 72 h. This paper has produced a new biocatalyst for the synthesis of poly(δ-valerolactone), and also deeper insight has been gained into the mechanism of thermophilic esterase-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization. PMID:23202895

The Long Term Effectiveness of Intensive Stuttering Therapy: A Mixed Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irani, Farzan; Gabel, Rodney; Daniels, Derek; Hughes, Stephanie

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of client perceptions of an intensive stuttering therapy program that utilizes a multi-faceted approach to therapy. The study also proposed to gain a deeper understanding about the process involved in long-term maintenance of meaningful changes made in therapy. Methods: The…

Optical antenna gain. III - The effect of secondary element support struts on transmitter gain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klein, B. J.; Degnan, J. J.

1976-01-01

The effect of a secondary-element spider support structure on optical antenna transmitter gain is analyzed. An expression describing the influence of the struts on the axial gain, in both the near and far fields, is derived as a function of the number of struts and their width. It is found that, for typical systems, the struts degrade the on-axis gain by less than 0.4 dB, and the first side-lobe level is not increased significantly. Contour plots have also been included to show the symmetry of the far-field distributions for three- and four-support members.

High-gain magnetized inertial fusion.

PubMed

Slutz, Stephen A; Vesey, Roger A

2012-01-13

Magnetized inertial fusion (MIF) could substantially ease the difficulty of reaching plasma conditions required for significant fusion yields, but it has been widely accepted that the gain is not sufficient for fusion energy. Numerical simulations are presented showing that high-gain MIF is possible in cylindrical liner implosions based on the MagLIF concept [S. A. Slutz et al Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)] with the addition of a cryogenic layer of deuterium-tritium (DT). These simulations show that a burn wave propagates radially from the magnetized hot spot into the surrounding much denser cold DT given sufficient hot-spot areal density. For a drive current of 60 MA the simulated gain exceeds 100, which is more than adequate for fusion energy applications. The simulated gain exceeds 1000 for a drive current of 70 MA.

A deeper insight into an intriguing acetonitrile-water binary mixture: synergistic effect, dynamic Stokes shift, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and NMR studies.

PubMed

Koley, Somnath; Ghosh, Subhadip

2016-11-30

An insight study reveals the strong synergistic solvation behaviours from reporter dye molecules within the acetonitrile (ACN)-water (WT) binary mixture. Synergism of a binary mixture refers to some unique changes of the physical and thermodynamic properties of the solvent mixture, originating from the interactions among its cosolvents, which are absent within the pure cosolvents. Synergistic solvation of a binary mixture is likely to be fundamental for greater stabilization of an excited state solute dipole; at least to some extent greater as compared to one stabilized by any of its cosolvents alone. A dynamic Stokes shift due to the solvation of an excited dipole in the ACN-WT binary mixture is found to be highly relevant to the ground state physical properties of the solute molecule (polarity, hydrophilicity, acidity, etc.). Largely different solvation times in the ACN-WT mixture are observed from different dye molecules with widely varying polarities. However, earlier study shows that dye molecules, irrespective of their varying polarities, exhibit very similar solvation times within a pure solvent (J. Phys. Chem. B, 2014, 118, 7577-7785). On further study with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) we observed that, unlike the translational diffusion coefficient (D t ) of a dye molecule within a pure solvent, which remains the same irrespective of the location of the dye molecule inside the solvent, a broad distribution among the D t values of a dye molecule is obtained from different locations within the ACN-WT binary mixture. Lastly our 1 H NMR study in the ACN-WT binary mixture shows the existence of strong hydrogen bond interactions among the cosolvents in the ACN-WT mixture.

How Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills Influenced One Suburban District's Transition to 1:1 Student Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dillon, Paula A.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine administrator, student, and teacher perceptions of organizational structures, systems, and supports implemented to aid technology integration, and the potential for that technology integration to achieve 21st century skill acquisition and deeper learning in a 1:1 environment. The Diffusion of Innovation…

Determination of the STIS CCD Gain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riley, Allyssa; Monroe, TalaWanda; Lockwood, Sean

2016-09-01

This report summarizes the analysis and absolute gain results of the STIS Cycle 23 special calibration program 14424 that was designed to measure the gain of amplifiers A, C and D at nominal gain settings of 1 and 4 e-/DN. We used the mean-variance technique and the results indicate a <3.5% change in the gain for amplifier D from when it was originally calculated pre-flight. We compared these values to previous measurements from Cycles 17 through 23. This report outlines the observations, methodology, and results of the mean-variance technique.

Measurement of Antenna Bore-Sight Gain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fortinberry, Jarrod; Shumpert, Thomas

2016-01-01

The absolute or free-field gain of a simple antenna can be approximated using standard antenna theory formulae or for a more accurate prediction, numerical methods may be employed to solve for antenna parameters including gain. Both of these methods will result in relatively reasonable estimates but in practice antenna gain is usually verified and documented via measurements and calibration. In this paper, a relatively simple and low-cost, yet effective means of determining the bore-sight free-field gain of a VHF/UHF antenna is proposed by using the Brewster angle relationship.

Association of global weather changes with acute coronary syndromes: gaining insights from clinical trials data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakal, Jeffrey A.; Ezekowitz, Justin A.; Westerhout, Cynthia M.; Boersma, Eric; Armstrong, Paul W.

2013-05-01

The aim of this study was to develop a method for the identification of global weather parameters and patient characteristics associated with a type of heart attack in which there is a sudden partial blockage of a coronary artery. This type of heart attack does not demonstrate an elevation of the ST segment on an electrocardiogram and is defined as a non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). Data from the Global Summary of the Day database was linked with the enrollment and baseline data for a phase III international clinical trial in NSTE-ACS in four 48-h time periods covering the week prior to the clinical event that prompted enrollment in the study. Meteorological events were determined by standardizing the weather data from enrollment dates against an empirical distribution from the month prior. These meteorological events were then linked to the patients' geographic region, demographics and comorbidities to identify potential susceptible populations. After standardization, changes in temperature and humidity demonstrated an association with the enrollment event. Additionally there appeared to be an association with gender, region and a history of stroke. This methodology may provide a useful global insight into assessing the biometeorologic component of diseases from international data.

Sand waves in environmental flows: Insights gained by coupling large-eddy simulation with morphodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sotiropoulos, Fotis; Khosronejad, Ali

2016-02-01

Sand waves arise in subaqueous and Aeolian environments as the result of the complex interaction between turbulent flows and mobile sand beds. They occur across a wide range of spatial scales, evolve at temporal scales much slower than the integral scale of the transporting turbulent flow, dominate river morphodynamics, undermine streambank stability and infrastructure during flooding, and sculpt terrestrial and extraterrestrial landscapes. In this paper, we present the vision for our work over the last ten years, which has sought to develop computational tools capable of simulating the coupled interactions of sand waves with turbulence across the broad range of relevant scales: from small-scale ripples in laboratory flumes to mega-dunes in large rivers. We review the computational advances that have enabled us to simulate the genesis and long-term evolution of arbitrarily large and complex sand dunes in turbulent flows using large-eddy simulation and summarize numerous novel physical insights derived from our simulations. Our findings explain the role of turbulent sweeps in the near-bed region as the primary mechanism for destabilizing the sand bed, show that the seeds of the emergent structure in dune fields lie in the heterogeneity of the turbulence and bed shear stress fluctuations over the initially flatbed, and elucidate how large dunes at equilibrium give rise to energetic coherent structures and modify the spectra of turbulence. We also discuss future challenges and our vision for advancing a data-driven simulation-based engineering science approach for site-specific simulations of river flooding.

IQ Gains and the Binet Decrements.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flynn, James R.

1984-01-01

Thorndike's Stanford-Binet data suggest that from 1932 to 1971-72 preschool children enjoyed greater IQ gains than older children, possibly due to the rise of television. Additional analysis indicated that gains were either due to sampling error or totally antedated 1947. Gains of 12 IQ points were found for Americans. (Author/EGS)

New Insights in Tropospheric Ozone and its Variability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oman, Luke D.; Douglass, Anne R.; Ziemke, Jerry R.; Rodriquez, Jose M.

2011-01-01

We have produced time-slice simulations using the Goddard Earth Observing System Version 5 (GEOS-5) coupled to a comprehensive stratospheric and tropospheric chemical mechanism. These simulations are forced with observed sea surface temperatures over the past 25 years and use constant specified surface emissions, thereby providing a measure of the dynamically controlled ozone response. We examine the model performance in simulating tropospheric ozone and its variability. Here we show targeted comparisons results from our simulations with a multi-decadal tropical tropospheric column ozone dataset obtained from satellite observations of total column ozone. We use SHADOZ ozonesondes to gain insight into the observed vertical response and compare with the simulated vertical structure. This work includes but is not limited to ENSO related variability.

"Structure and dynamics in complex chemical systems: Gaining new insights through recent advances in time-resolved spectroscopies.” ACS Division of Physical Chemistry Symposium presented at the Fall National ACS Meeting in Boston, MA, August 2015

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

Crawford, Daniel

8-Session Symposium on STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS IN COMPLEX CHEMICAL SYSTEMS: GAINING NEW INSIGHTS THROUGH RECENT ADVANCES IN TIME-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPIES. The intricacy of most chemical, biochemical, and material processes and their applications are underscored by the complex nature of the environments in which they occur. Substantial challenges for building a global understanding of a heterogeneous system include (1) identifying unique signatures associated with specific structural motifs within the heterogeneous distribution, and (2) resolving the significance of each of multiple time scales involved in both small- and large-scale nuclear reorganization. This symposium focuses on the progress in our understanding of dynamics inmore » complex systems driven by recent innovations in time-resolved spectroscopies and theoretical developments. Such advancement is critical for driving discovery at the molecular level facilitating new applications. Broad areas of interest include: Structural relaxation and the impact of structure on dynamics in liquids, interfaces, biochemical systems, materials, and other heterogeneous environments.« less

Learner Agency and Non-Native Speaker Identity in Pedagogical Lingua Franca Conversations: Insights from Intercultural Telecollaboration in Foreign Language Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kohn, Kurt; Hoffstaedter, Petra

2017-01-01

This article discusses insights gained from a case study on telecollaboration for intercultural communication in foreign language school contexts. Focus was on non-native English and German lingua franca conversations between pairs of students (aged 14-16, B1 level) from schools in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Telecollaboration…

Video analysis for insight and coding: Examples from tutorials in introductory physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scherr, Rachel E.

2009-12-01

The increasing ease of video recording offers new opportunities to create richly detailed records of classroom activities. These recordings, in turn, call for research methodologies that balance generalizability with interpretive validity. This paper shares methodology for two practices of video analysis: (1) gaining insight into specific brief classroom episodes and (2) developing and applying a systematic observational protocol for a relatively large corpus of video data. These two aspects of analytic practice are illustrated in the context of a particular research interest but are intended to serve as general suggestions.

Crown depth as a result of evolutionary games: decreasing solar angle should lead to shallower, not deeper crowns.

PubMed

Vermeulen, Peter Johannes

2014-06-01

There is a general notion in the literature that, with increasing latitude, trees have deeper crowns as a result of a lower solar elevation angle. However, these predictions are based on models that did not include the effects of competition for light between individuals. Here, I argue that there should be selection for trees to increase the height of the crown base, as this decreases shading by neighbouring trees, leading to an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS). Because the level of between-tree shading increases with decreasing solar angle, the predicted ESS will shift to higher crown base height. This argument is supported by a simulation model to check for the effects of crown shape and the change of light intensity that occurs with changing solar angle on model outcomes. So, the lower solar angle at higher latitudes would tend to select for shallower, and not deeper, crowns. This casts doubt on the common belief that a decreasing solar angle increases crown depth. More importantly, it shows that different assumptions about what should be optimized can lead to different predictions, not just for absolute trait values, but for the direction of selection itself. © 2014 The Author. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust.

Using Item Response Theory to Evaluate LSCI Learning Gains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlingman, Wayne M.; Prather, E. E.; Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars CATS

2012-01-01

Analyzing the data from the recent national study using the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI), this project uses Item Response Theory (IRT) to investigate the learning gains of students as measured by the LSCI. IRT provides a theoretical model to generate parameters accounting for students’ abilities. We use IRT to measure changes in students’ abilities to reason about light from pre- to post-instruction. Changes in students’ abilities are compared by classroom to better understand the learning that is taking place in classrooms across the country. We compare the average change in ability for each classroom to the Interactivity Assessment Score (IAS) to provide further insight into the prior results presented from this data set. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0715517, a CCLI Phase III Grant for the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars (CATS). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

A weight-gain-for-gestational-age z score chart for the assessment of maternal weight gain in pregnancy.

PubMed

Hutcheon, Jennifer A; Platt, Robert W; Abrams, Barbara; Himes, Katherine P; Simhan, Hyagriv N; Bodnar, Lisa M

2013-05-01

To establish the unbiased relation between maternal weight gain in pregnancy and perinatal health, a classification for maternal weight gain is needed that is uncorrelated with gestational age. The goal of this study was to create a weight-gain-for-gestational-age percentile and z score chart to describe the mean, SD, and selected percentiles of maternal weight gain throughout pregnancy in a contemporary cohort of US women. The study population was drawn from normal-weight women with uncomplicated, singleton pregnancies who delivered at the Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, 1998-2008. Analyses were based on a randomly selected subset of 648 women for whom serial prenatal weight measurements were available through medical chart record abstraction (6727 weight measurements). The pattern of maternal weight gain throughout gestation was estimated by using a random-effects regression model. The estimates were used to create a chart with the smoothed means, percentiles, and SDs of gestational weight gain for each week of pregnancy. This chart allows researchers to express total weight gain as an age-standardized z score, which can be used in epidemiologic analyses to study the association between pregnancy weight gain and adverse or physiologic pregnancy outcomes independent of gestational age.

Charge Gain, Voltage Gain, and Node Capacitance of the SAPHIRA Detector Pixel by Pixel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastrana, Izabella M.; Hall, Donald N. B.; Baker, Ian M.; Jacobson, Shane M.; Goebel, Sean B.

2018-01-01

The University of Hawai`i Institute for Astronomy has partnered with Leonardo (formerly Selex) in the development of HgCdTe linear mode avalanche photodiode (L-APD) SAPHIRA detectors. The SAPHIRA (Selex Avalanche Photodiode High-speed Infra-Red Array) is ideally suited for photon-starved astronomical observations, particularly near infrared (NIR) adaptive optics (AO) wave-front sensing. I have measured the stability, and linearity with current, of a 1.7-um (10% spectral bandpass) infrared light emitting diode (IR LED) used to illuminate the SAPHIRA and have then utilized this source to determine the charge gain (in e-/ADU), voltage gain (in uV/ADU), and node capacitance (in fF) for each pixel of the 320x256@24um SAPHIRA. These have previously only been averages over some sub-array. Determined from the ratio of the temporal averaged signal level to variance under constant 1.7-um LED illumination, I present the charge gain pixel-by-pixel in a 64x64 sub-array at the center of the active area of the SAPHIRA (analyzed separately as four 32x32 sub-arrays) to be about 1.6 e-/ADU (σ=0.5 e-/ADU). Additionally, the standard technique of varying the pixel reset voltage (PRV) in 10 mV increments and recording output frames for the same 64x64 subarray found the voltage gain per pixel to be about 11.7 uV/ADU (σ=0.2 uV/ADU). Finally, node capacitance was found to be approximately 23 fF (σ=6 fF) utilizing the aforementioned charge and voltage gain measurements. I further discuss the linearity measurements of the 1.7-um LED used in the charge gain characterization procedure.

Effect of intermittent kangaroo mother care on weight gain of low birth weight neonates with delayed weight gain.

PubMed

Samra, Nashwa M; Taweel, Amal El; Cadwell, Karin

2013-01-01

To evaluate intermittent Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) with additional opportunities to breastfeed on weight gain of low birth weight (LBW) neonates with delayed weight gain. 40 LBW neonates were followed to see whether KMC with additional opportunities to breastfeed improved weight gain. In the KMC group, the mean age of regaining birth weight was significantly less (15.68 vs. 24.56 days) and the average daily weight gain was significantly higher (22.09 vs. 10.39 g, p < .001) than controls. KMC with additional opportunities to breastfeed was found to be an effective intervention for LBWs with delayed weight gain and should be considered to be an effective strategy.

Association between insight, cognitive insight, positive symptoms and violence in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ekinci, Okan; Ekinci, Asli

2013-04-01

Violence is a significant clinical and public concern and is a frequent occurrence in patients with schizophrenia. The relationship between insight and violence remains controversial. In addition, there is a lack of research on insight, cognitive insight, demographic and psychopathologic variables in violent versus nonviolent schizophrenia patients. We aimed to compare insight, cognitive insight, psychopathological and demographic variables in violent and nonviolent subjects suffering from schizophrenia. In addition, we aimed to determine the demographic and clinical predictors of violent behaviour in patients with schizophrenia. We recruited 133 schizophrenic patients without concomitant substance abuse or axis II disorder. Diagnoses were based on the SCID-I and SCID-II. Violent behaviours were assessed using the Overt Aggression Scale. Insight and cognitive insight were assessed with the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder and the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale, respectively. We compared 47 patients with violent schizophrenia with 86 nonviolent patients. Non-violent patients had more severe depression, lower scores on positive symptoms, better clinical insight, more self-reflectivity and higher R-C index scores than did violent patients. In addition, history of violence, lower self-reflectiveness, worse clinical insight and delusion severity were significant predictors of violence in schizophrenia. The present study suggests that the inclusion of insight and cognitive insight may increase the prediction of violence in this population. In addition, clinicians should consider using non-pharmacological techniques that are based on cognitive behaviour therapy and enhance insight, particularly cognitive insight, among patients with schizophrenia who exhibit violent behaviour.

Insights into structural variations and genome rearrangements in prokaryotic genomes.

PubMed

Periwal, Vinita; Scaria, Vinod

2015-01-01

Structural variations (SVs) are genomic rearrangements that affect fairly large fragments of DNA. Most of the SVs such as inversions, deletions and translocations have been largely studied in context of genetic diseases in eukaryotes. However, recent studies demonstrate that genome rearrangements can also have profound impact on prokaryotic genomes, leading to altered cell phenotype. In contrast to single-nucleotide variations, SVs provide a much deeper insight into organization of bacterial genomes at a much better resolution. SVs can confer change in gene copy number, creation of new genes, altered gene expression and many other functional consequences. High-throughput technologies have now made it possible to explore SVs at a much refined resolution in bacterial genomes. Through this review, we aim to highlight the importance of the less explored field of SVs in prokaryotic genomes and their impact. We also discuss its potential applicability in the emerging fields of synthetic biology and genome engineering where targeted SVs could serve to create sophisticated and accurate genome editing. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

New insights in morphological analysis for managing activated sludge systems.

PubMed

Oliveira, Pedro; Alliet, Marion; Coufort-Saudejaud, Carole; Frances, Christine

2018-06-01

In activated sludge (AS) process, the impact of the operational parameters on process efficiency is assumed to be correlated with the sludge properties. This study provides a better insight into these interactions by subjecting a laboratory-scale AS system to a sequence of operating condition modifications enabling typical situations of a wastewater treatment plant to be represented. Process performance was assessed and AS floc morphology (size, circularity, convexity, solidity and aspect ratio) was quantified by measuring 100,000 flocs per sample with an automated image analysis technique. Introducing 3D distributions, which combine morphological properties, allowed the identification of a filamentous bulking characterized by a floc population shift towards larger sizes and lower solidity and circularity values. Moreover, a washout phenomenon was characterized by smaller AS flocs and an increase in their solidity. Recycle ratio increase and COD:N ratio decrease both promoted a slight reduction of floc sizes and a constant evolution of circularity and convexity values. The analysis of the volume-based 3D distributions turned out to be a smart tool to combine size and shape data, allowing a deeper understanding of the dynamics of floc structure under process disturbances.

Neuroimaging Insights into the Pathophysiology of Sleep Disorders

PubMed Central

Desseilles, Martin; Dang-Vu, Thanh; Schabus, Manuel; Sterpenich, Virginie; Maquet, Pierre; Schwartz, Sophie

2008-01-01

Neuroimaging methods can be used to investigate whether sleep disorders are associated with specific changes in brain structure or regional activity. However, it is still unclear how these new data might improve our understanding of the pathophysiology underlying adult sleep disorders. Here we review functional brain imaging findings in major intrinsic sleep disorders (i.e., idiopathic insomnia, narcolepsy, and obstructive sleep apnea) and in abnormal motor behavior during sleep (i.e., periodic limb movement disorder and REM sleep behavior disorder). The studies reviewed include neuroanatomical assessments (voxel-based morphometry, magnetic resonance spectroscopy), metabolic/functional investigations (positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging), and ligand marker measurements. Based on the current state of the research, we suggest that brain imaging is a useful approach to assess the structural and functional correlates of sleep impairments as well as better understand the cerebral consequences of various therapeutic approaches. Modern neuroimaging techniques therefore provide a valuable tool to gain insight into possible pathophysiological mechanisms of sleep disorders in adult humans. Citation: Desseilles M; Dang-Vu TD; Schabus M; Sterpenich V; Maquet P; Schwartz S. Neuroimaging insights into the pathophysiology of sleep disorders. SLEEP 2008;31(6):777–794. PMID:18548822

Insights on activation enthalpy for non-Schmid slip in body-centered cubic metals

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

Hale, Lucas M.; Lim, Hojun; Zimmerman, Jonathan A.

2014-12-18

We use insights gained from atomistic simulation to develop an activation enthalpy model for dislocation slip in body-centered cubic iron. Furthermore, using a classical potential that predicts dislocation core stabilities consistent with ab initio predictions, we quantify the non-Schmid stress-dependent effects of slip. The kink-pair activation enthalpy is evaluated and a model is identified as a function of the general stress state. Thus, our model enlarges the applicability of the classic Kocks activation enthalpy model to materials with non-Schmid behavior.

Comparison of Video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) Gains Between Two Commercially Available Devices and by Different Gain Analytical Methods.

PubMed

Lee, Sang Hun; Yoo, Myung Hoon; Park, Jun Woo; Kang, Byung Chul; Yang, Chan Joo; Kang, Woo Suk; Ahn, Joong Ho; Chung, Jong Woo; Park, Hong Ju

2018-06-01

To evaluate whether video head impulse test (vHIT) gains are dependent on the measuring device and method of analysis. Prospective study. vHIT was performed in 25 healthy subjects using two devices simultaneously. vHIT gains were compared between these instruments and using five different methods of comparing position and velocity gains during head movement intervals. The two devices produced different vHIT gain results with the same method of analysis. There were also significant differences in the vHIT gains measured using different analytical methods. The gain analytic method that compares the areas under the velocity curve (AUC) of the head and eye movements during head movements showed lower vHIT gains than a method that compared the peak velocities of the head and eye movements. The former method produced the vHIT gain with the smallest standard deviation among the five procedures tested in this study. vHIT gains differ in normal subjects depending on the device and method of analysis used, suggesting that it is advisable for each device to have its own normal values. Gain calculations that compare the AUC of the head and eye movements during the head movements show the smallest variance.

Can LENR Energy Gains Exceed 1000?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagel, David J.

2011-03-01

Energy gain is defined as the energy realized from reactions divided by the energy required to produce those reactions. Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) have already been measured to significantly exceed the energy gain of 10 projected from ITER,possibly 15 years from now. Electrochemical experiments using the Pd-D system have shown energy gains exceeding 10. Gas phase experiments with the Ni-H system were reported to yield energy gains of over 100. Neither of these reports has been adequately verified or reproduced. However, the question in the title still deserves consideration. If, as thought by many, it is possible to trigger nuclear reactions that yield MeV energies with chemical energies of the order of eV, then the most optimistic expectation is that LENR gains could approach one million. Hence, the very tentative answer to the question above is yes. However, if LENR could be initiated with some energy cost, and then continue to ``burn,'' very high energy gains might be realized. Consider a match and a pile of dry logs. The phenomenon termed ``heat after death'' will be examined to see if it might be the initial evidence for nuclear ``burning.''

Controlling gain one photon at a time

PubMed Central

Schwartz, Gregory W; Rieke, Fred

2013-01-01

Adaptation is a salient property of sensory processing. All adaptational or gain control mechanisms face the challenge of obtaining a reliable estimate of the property of the input to be adapted to and obtaining this estimate sufficiently rapidly to be useful. Here, we explore how the primate retina balances the need to change gain rapidly and reliably when photons arrive rarely at individual rod photoreceptors. We find that the weakest backgrounds that decrease the gain of the retinal output signals are similar to those that increase human behavioral threshold, and identify a novel site of gain control in the retinal circuitry. Thus, surprisingly, the gain of retinal signals begins to decrease essentially as soon as background lights are detectable; under these conditions, gain control does not rely on a highly averaged estimate of the photon count, but instead signals from individual photon absorptions trigger changes in gain. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00467.001 PMID:23682314

Effect of Intermittent Kangaroo Mother Care on Weight Gain of Low Birth Weight Neonates With Delayed Weight Gain

PubMed Central

Samra, Nashwa M.; Taweel, Amal El; Cadwell, Karin

2013-01-01

Objective: To evaluate intermittent Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) with additional opportunities to breastfeed on weight gain of low birth weight (LBW) neonates with delayed weight gain. Methods: 40 LBW neonates were followed to see whether KMC with additional opportunities to breastfeed improved weight gain. Results: In the KMC group, the mean age of regaining birth weight was significantly less (15.68 vs. 24.56 days) and the average daily weight gain was significantly higher (22.09 vs. 10.39 g, p < .001) than controls. Conclusion: KMC with additional opportunities to breastfeed was found to be an effective intervention for LBWs with delayed weight gain and should be considered to be an effective strategy. PMID:24868132

Kohler's Insight Revisited.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Windholtz, George

1985-01-01

Psychology textbooks frequently present Wolfgang Kohler's two-stick experiment with chimpanzees as having demonstrated insight in learning. Studies that replicated Kohler's work support his findings but not his interpretation in terms of insightful solution. The uncritical inclusion of Kohler's insight interpretation in texts is not warranted in…

Modification of saccadic gain by reinforcement

PubMed Central

Paeye, Céline; Wallman, Josh

2011-01-01

Control of saccadic gain is often viewed as a simple compensatory process in which gain is adjusted over many trials by the postsaccadic retinal error, thereby maintaining saccadic accuracy. Here, we propose that gain might also be changed by a reinforcement process not requiring a visual error. To test this hypothesis, we used experimental paradigms in which retinal error was removed by extinguishing the target at the start of each saccade and either an auditory tone or the vision of the target on the fovea was provided as reinforcement after those saccades that met an amplitude criterion. These reinforcement procedures caused a progressive change in saccade amplitude in nearly all subjects, although the rate of adaptation differed greatly among subjects. When we reversed the contingencies and reinforced those saccades landing closer to the original target location, saccade gain changed back toward normal gain in most subjects. When subjects had saccades adapted first by reinforcement and a week later by conventional intrasaccadic step adaptation, both paradigms yielded similar degrees of gain changes and similar transfer to new amplitudes and to new starting positions of the target step as well as comparable rates of recovery. We interpret these changes in saccadic gain in the absence of postsaccadic retinal error as showing that saccade adaptation is not controlled by a single error signal. More generally, our findings suggest that normal saccade adaptation might involve general learning mechanisms rather than only specialized mechanisms for motor calibration. PMID:21525366

New insights into the molecular characteristics behind the function of Renilla luciferase.

PubMed

Fanaei-Kahrani, Zahra; Ganjalikhany, Mohamad Reza; Rasa, Seyed Mohammad Mahdi; Emamzadeh, Rahman

2018-02-01

Renilla Luciferase (RLuc) is a blue light emitter protein which can be applied as a valuable tool in medical diagnosis. But due to lack of the crystal structure of RLuc-ligand complex, the functional motions and catalytic mechanism of this enzyme remain largely unknown. In the present study, the active site properties and the ligand-receptor interactions of the native RLuc and its red-shifted light emitting variant (Super RLuc 8) were investigated using molecular docking approach, molecular dynamics (MD) analysis, and MM-PBSA method. The detailed analysis of the main clusters led to identifying a lid-like structure and its functional motions. Furthermore, an induced-fit mechanism is proposed where ligand-binding induces conformational changes of the active site. Our findings give an insight into the deeper understanding of RLuc conformational changes during binding steps and ligand-receptor pattern. Moreover, our work broaden our understanding of how active site geometry is adjusted to support the catalytic activity and red-shifted light emission in Super RLuc 8. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Variable gain for a wind turbine pitch control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seidel, R. C.; Birchenough, A. G.

1981-01-01

The gain variation is made in the software logic of the pitch angle controller. The gain level is changed depending upon the level of power error. The control uses low gain for low pitch activity the majority of the time. If the power exceeds ten percent offset above rated, the gain is increased to a higher gain to more effectively limit power. A variable gain control functioned well in tests on the Mod-0 wind turbine.

Historical account on gaining insights on the mechanism of crown gall tumorigenesis induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens

PubMed Central

Kado, Clarence I.

2014-01-01

The plant tumor disease known as crown gall was not called by that name until more recent times. Galls on plants were described by Malpighi (1679) who believed that these extraordinary growth are spontaneously produced. Agrobacterium was first isolated from tumors in 1897 by Fridiano Cavara in Napoli, Italy. After this bacterium was recognized to be the cause of crown gall disease, questions were raised on the mechanism by which it caused tumors on a variety of plants. Numerous very detailed studies led to the identification of Agrobacterium tumefaciens as the causal bacterium that cleverly transferred a genetic principle to plant host cells and integrated it into their chromosomes. Such studies have led to a variety of sophisticated mechanisms used by this organism to aid in its survival against competing microorganisms. Knowledge gained from these fundamental discoveries has opened many avenues for researchers to examine their primary organisms of study for similar mechanisms of pathogenesis in both plants and animals. These discoveries also advanced the genetic engineering of domesticated plants for improved food and fiber. PMID:25147542

Contrast Gain Control in Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Rabinowitz, Neil C.; Willmore, Ben D.B.; Schnupp, Jan W.H.; King, Andrew J.

2011-01-01

Summary The auditory system must represent sounds with a wide range of statistical properties. One important property is the spectrotemporal contrast in the acoustic environment: the variation in sound pressure in each frequency band, relative to the mean pressure. We show that neurons in ferret auditory cortex rescale their gain to partially compensate for the spectrotemporal contrast of recent stimulation. When contrast is low, neurons increase their gain, becoming more sensitive to small changes in the stimulus, although the effectiveness of contrast gain control is reduced at low mean levels. Gain is primarily determined by contrast near each neuron's preferred frequency, but there is also a contribution from contrast in more distant frequency bands. Neural responses are modulated by contrast over timescales of ∼100 ms. By using contrast gain control to expand or compress the representation of its inputs, the auditory system may be seeking an efficient coding of natural sounds. PMID:21689603

High performance quantum cascade lasers: Loss, beam stability, and gain engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouzi, Pierre Michel

Quantum Cascade (QC) lasers are semiconductor devices emitting in the mid-infrared (3-30 micron) and terahertz (30-300 micron) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Since their first demonstration by Jerome Faist et. al. in 1994, they have evolved very quickly into high performance devices and given rise to many applications such as trace-gas sensing, medical diagnosis, free-space communication, and light detection and ranging (LIDAR). In this thesis, we investigate a further increase of the performance of QC devices and, through meticulous device modeling and characterizations, gain a deeper understanding of several of their unique characteristics, especially their carrier transport and lifetime, their characteristic temperature, their waveguide loss and modal gain, their leakage current, and their transverse mode profile. First, in our quest to achieve higher performance, we investigate the effect of growth asymmetries on device transport characteristics. This investigation stems from recent studies on the role of interface roughness on intersubband scattering and device performance. Through a symmetric active core design, we find that interface roughness and ionized impurity scattering induced by dopant migration play a significant role in carrier transport through the device. Understanding how interface roughness affects intersubband scattering, in turn, we engineer the gain in QC devices by placing monolayer barriers at specific locations within the device band structure. These strategically placed additional thin barrier layers introduce roughness scattering into the device active region, thereby selectively decreasing the lower laser state lifetime and increasing population inversion necessary for laser action. Preliminary measurement results from modified devices reveal a 50% decrease in the emission broadening compared to the control structures, which should lead to a two-fold increase in gain. A special class of so-called "strong coupling" QC lasers

Computer algorithm for coding gain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dodd, E. E.

1974-01-01

Development of a computer algorithm for coding gain for use in an automated communications link design system. Using an empirical formula which defines coding gain as used in space communications engineering, an algorithm is constructed on the basis of available performance data for nonsystematic convolutional encoding with soft-decision (eight-level) Viterbi decoding.

Insights into software development in Japan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duvall, Lorraine M.

1992-01-01

The interdependence of the U.S.-Japanese economies makes it imperative that we in the United States understand how business and technology developments take place in Japan. We can gain insight into these developments in software engineering by studying the context in which Japanese software is developed, the practices that are used, the problems encountered, the setting surrounding these problems, and the resolution of these problems. Context includes the technological and sociological characteristics of the software development environment, the software processes applied, personnel involved in the development process, and the corporate and social culture surrounding the development. Presented in this paper is a summary of results of a study that addresses these issues. Data for this study was collected during a three month visit to Japan where the author interviewed 20 software managers representing nine companies involved in developing software in Japan. These data are compared to similar data from the United States in which 12 managers from five companies were interviewed.

Gaining Insight into an Organization's Fixed Assets.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardy, Elisabet

2003-01-01

Discusses issues related to school district implementation of June 2001 Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 34 designed to change how schools report fixed assets. Includes planning for GASB implementation, conducting fixed-asset inventories, and making time for GASB reporting. (PKP)

Gaining Insight into Hispanic Students' Postsecondary Plans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Neel A.

2012-01-01

While the growth of the Hispanic population in the United States is outpacing other ethnicities, college enrollment and graduation rates of Hispanic students continue to lag behind other groups. This longitudinal, qualitative case study explored when, how, and why a sample of Hispanic high school seniors at a large high school in North Central…

Advanced imaging in COPD: insights into pulmonary pathophysiology

PubMed Central

Milne, Stephen

2014-01-01

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) involves a complex interaction of structural and functional abnormalities. The two have long been studied in isolation. However, advanced imaging techniques allow us to simultaneously assess pathological processes and their physiological consequences. This review gives a comprehensive account of the various advanced imaging modalities used to study COPD, including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the nuclear medicine techniques positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Some more recent developments in imaging technology, including micro-CT, synchrotron imaging, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and electrical impedance tomography (EIT), are also described. The authors identify the pathophysiological insights gained from these techniques, and speculate on the future role of advanced imaging in both clinical and research settings. PMID:25478198

Movement, resting, and attack behaviors of wild pumas are revealed by tri-axial accelerometer measurements.

PubMed

Wang, Yiwei; Nickel, Barry; Rutishauser, Matthew; Bryce, Caleb M; Williams, Terrie M; Elkaim, Gabriel; Wilmers, Christopher C

2015-01-01

Accelerometers are useful tools for biologists seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the daily behavior of cryptic species. We describe how we used GPS and tri-axial accelerometer (sampling at 64 Hz) collars to monitor behaviors of free-ranging pumas (Puma concolor), which are difficult or impossible to observe in the wild. We attached collars to twelve pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains, CA from 2010-2012. By implementing Random Forest models, we classified behaviors in wild pumas based on training data from observations and measurements of captive puma behavior. We applied these models to accelerometer data collected from wild pumas and identified mobile and non-mobile behaviors in captive animals with an accuracy rate greater than 96%. Accuracy remained above 95% even after downsampling our accelerometer data to 16 Hz. We were further able to predict low-acceleration movement behavior (e.g. walking) and high-acceleration movement behavior (e.g. running) with 93.8% and 92% accuracy, respectively. We had difficulty predicting non-movement behaviors such as feeding and grooming due to the small size of our training dataset. Lastly, we used model-predicted and field-verified predation events to quantify acceleration characteristics of puma attacks on large prey. These results demonstrate that accelerometers are useful tools for classifying the behaviors of cryptic medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals in their natural habitats and can help scientists gain deeper insight into their fine-scale behavioral patterns. We also show how accelerometer measurements can provide novel insights on the energetics and predation behavior of wild animals. Lastly we discuss the conservation implications of identifying these behavioral patterns in free-ranging species as natural and anthropogenic landscape features influence animal energy allocation and habitat use.

Direct measurements of fluorine atom concentration, gain length and small signal gain in an hydrogen fluoride overtone laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wisniewski, Charles F.; Hewett, Kevin B.; Manke, Gerald C., II; Randall Truman, C.; Hager, Gordon D.

2003-03-01

Experimental techniques have been developed to directly measure the concentration of fluorine atoms, the gain length and the small signal gain in a hydrogen fluoride 5 cm slit nozzle laser. A gas phase titration technique was utilized to measure the fluorine atom concentration using HCl as the titrant. The gain length was measured using a pitot probe to locate the interface of the primary flow with the high Mach number shroud flows. A tunable diode laser was utilized to perform small signal gain measurements on HF overtone ( ν=2→0) transitions.

Gene expression analysis of aquatic angiosperms podostemaceae to gain insight into the evolution of their enigmatic morphology.

PubMed

Koi, Satoshi; Katayama, Natsu

2013-01-01

Podostemaceae is a family of aquatic angiosperms growing submerged on rocks in fast-flowing water and called moss-like or alga-like riverweeds. It evolved remarkable innovations to adapt to such an extreme environment, one of which is reduced shoots borne on roots adhering to rock surface. Recent observations revealed that the basal subfamily Tristichoideae, like most other angiosperms, has typical shoot apical meristems (SAMs). In species of the subfamily Podostemoideae, however, shoot apical meristems (SAMs) are not formed during development and new leaves arise from the meristematic basal region of preexisting leaves. The genetic basis of this shoot organogenesis process, e.g., the expression patterns of genes homologous to transcription factors regulating shoot development, is essential to better understand the evolution of Podostemaceae. A gene expression analysis found that the SAM-less Podostemoideae leaf has mixed identity of SAM and leaf, and provided insight into the evolution of the shoot in Podostemaceae.

Influence of a compost layer on the attenuation of 28 selected organic micropollutants under realistic soil aquifer treatment conditions: insights from a large scale column experiment.

PubMed

Schaffer, Mario; Kröger, Kerrin Franziska; Nödler, Karsten; Ayora, Carlos; Carrera, Jesús; Hernández, Marta; Licha, Tobias

2015-05-01

Soil aquifer treatment is widely applied to improve the quality of treated wastewater in its reuse as alternative source of water. To gain a deeper understanding of the fate of thereby introduced organic micropollutants, the attenuation of 28 compounds was investigated in column experiments using two large scale column systems in duplicate. The influence of increasing proportions of solid organic matter (0.04% vs. 0.17%) and decreasing redox potentials (denitrification vs. iron reduction) was studied by introducing a layer of compost. Secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment plant was used as water matrix for simulating soil aquifer treatment. For neutral and anionic compounds, sorption generally increases with the compound hydrophobicity and the solid organic matter in the column system. Organic cations showed the highest attenuation. Among them, breakthroughs were only registered for the cationic beta-blockers atenolol and metoprolol. An enhanced degradation in the columns with organic infiltration layer was observed for the majority of the compounds, suggesting an improved degradation for higher levels of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon. Solely the degradation of sulfamethoxazole could clearly be attributed to redox effects (when reaching iron reducing conditions). The study provides valuable insights into the attenuation potential for a wide spectrum of organic micropollutants under realistic soil aquifer treatment conditions. Furthermore, the introduction of the compost layer generally showed positive effects on the removal of compounds preferentially degraded under reducing conditions and also increases the residence times in the soil aquifer treatment system via sorption. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gain-phase modulation in chirped-pulse amplification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yijie; Gao, Gan; Meng, Yuan; Fu, Xing; Gong, Mali

2017-10-01

The cross-modulation between the gain and chirped phase in chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. We propose a gain-phase coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation (GPC-NLSE) for solving chirped-pulse propagation in a nonlinear gain medium involved in the gain-phase modulation (GPM) process. With the GPC-NLSE, the space-time-frequency-dependent gain, chirped phase, pulse, and spectrum evolutions can be precisely calculated. Moreover, a short-length high-gain Yb-doped fiber CPA experiment is presented in which a self-steepening distortion of the seed pulse is automatically compensated after amplification. This phenomenon can be explained by the GPM theory whereas conventional models cannot. The experimental results for the temporal and spectral intensities show excellent agreement with our theory. Our GPM theory paves the way for further investigations of the finer structures of the pulse and spectrum in CPA systems.

Theory of mind correlates with clinical insight but not cognitive insight in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Zhang, Qi; Li, Xu; Parker, Giverny J; Hong, Xiao-Hong; Wang, Yi; Lui, Simon S Y; Neumann, David L; Cheung, Eric F C; Shum, David H K; Chan, Raymond C K

2016-03-30

Research on the relationship between insight and social cognition, in particular Theory of Mind (ToM), in schizophrenia has yielded mixed findings to date. Very few studies, however, have assessed both clinical insight and cognitive insight when examining their relationships with ToM in schizophrenia. The current study thus investigated the relationship between clinical insight, cognitive insight, and ToM in a sample of 56 patients with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls. Twenty-seven patients were classified as low in clinical insight according to their scores on the 'insight' item (G12) of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Moreover, cognitive insight and ToM were assessed with the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) and the Yoni task, respectively. The results indicated that patients with poor clinical insight performed worse on tasks of second-order cognitive and affective ToM, while the ToM performance of patients with high clinical insight was equivalent to that of healthy controls. Furthermore, while clinical insight was correlated with ToM and clinical symptoms, cognitive insight did not correlate with clinical insight, ToM, or clinical symptoms. Clinical insight thus appears to be an important factor related to ToM in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimal PID gain schedule for hydrogenerators

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

Orelind, G.; Wozniak, L.; Medanic, J.

1989-09-01

This paper describes the development and testing of a digital gain switching governor for hydrogenerators. Optimal gains were found at different load points by minimizing a quadratic performance criterion prior to controller operating. During operation, the gain sets are switched in depending on the gate position and speed error magnitude. With gain switching operating, the digital governor was shown to have a substantial reduction of noise on the command signal and up to 42% faster responses to power requests. Non-linear control strategies enabled the digital governor to have a 2.5% to 2% reduction in speed overshoot on startups, and anmore » 8% to 1% reduction in undershoot on load rejections as compared to the analog.« less

Sudden Gains During Therapy of Social Phobia

PubMed Central

Hofmann, Stefan G.; Schulz, Stefan M.; Meuret, Alicia E.; Moscovitch, David A.; Suvak, Michael

2007-01-01

The present study investigated the phenomenon of sudden gains in 107 participants with social phobia (social anxiety disorder) who received either cognitive–behavioral group therapy or exposure group therapy without explicit cognitive interventions, which primarily used public speaking situations as exposure tasks. Twenty-two out of 967 session-to-session intervals met criteria for sudden gains, which most frequently occurred in Session 5. Individuals with sudden gains showed similar improvements in the 2 treatment groups. Although cognitive–behavioral therapy was associated with more cognitive changes than exposure therapy, cognitive changes did not precede sudden gains. In general, the results of this study question the clinical significance of sudden gains in social phobia treatment. PMID:16881776

Near-peer teaching in anatomy: an approach for deeper learning.

PubMed

Evans, Darrell J R; Cuffe, Tracy

2009-10-01

Peer teaching has been recognized as a valuable and effective approach for learning and has been incorporated into medical, dental, and healthcare courses using a variety of approaches. The success of peer teaching is thought to be related to the ability of peer tutors and tutees to communicate more effectively, thereby improving the learning environment. Near-peer teaching involves more experienced students acting as tutors who are ideally placed to pass on their knowledge and experience. The advantage of using near-peer teachers is the opportunity for the teacher to reinforce and expand their own learning and develop essential teaching skills. This study describes the design and implementation of a program for fourth year medical students to teach anatomy to first- and second-year medical students and evaluates the perceptions of the near-peer teachers on the usefulness of the program, particularly in relation to their own learning. Feedback from participants suggests that the program fulfills its aims of providing an effective environment for developing deeper learning in anatomy through teaching. Participants recognize that the program also equips them with more advanced teaching skills that will be required as they move nearer toward taking on supervisory and teaching duties. The program has also provided the school with an additional valuable and appropriate resource for teaching anatomy to first- and second-year students, who themselves view the inclusion of near-peer teachers as a positive element in their learning.

CONDITIONS FOR CSR MICROBUNCHING GAIN SUPPRESSION

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

Tsai, Cheng Ying; Douglas, David R.; Li, Rui

The coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) of a high brightness electron beam traversing a series of dipoles, such as transport arcs, may result in phase space degradation. On one hand, the CSR can perturb electron transverse motion in dispersive regions along the beamline, causing emittance growth. On the other hand, the CSR effect on the longitudinal beam dynamics could result in microbunching gain enhancement. For transport arcs, several schemes have been proposed* to suppress the CSR-induced emittance growth. Similarly, several scenarios have been introduced** to suppress CSR-induced microbunching gain, which however mostly aim for linac-based machines. In this paper we trymore » to provide sufficient conditions for suppression of CSR-induced microbunching gain along a transport arc, analogous to*. Several example lattices are presented, with the relevant microbunching analyses carried out by our semi-analytical Vlasov solver***. The simulation results show that lattices satisfying the proposed conditions indeed have microbunching gain suppressed. We expect this analysis can shed light on lattice design approach that could suppress the CSR-induced microbunching gain.« less

Hypertext or Textbook: Effects on Motivation and Gain in Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conradty, Cathérine; Bogner, Franz X.

2016-01-01

Computers are considered innovative in classrooms, raising expectations of increased cognitive learning outcomes or motivation with effects on Deeper Learning (DL). The "new medium", however, may cause cognitive overloads. Combined with gender-related variations in ability, self-efficacy or self-confidence, computers may even diminish…

Abscisic acid and other plant hormones: Methods to visualize distribution and signaling

PubMed Central

Waadt, Rainer; Hsu, Po-Kai; Schroeder, Julian I.

2015-01-01

The exploration of plant behavior on a cellular scale in a minimal invasive manner is key to understanding plant adaptations to their environment. Plant hormones regulate multiple aspects of growth and development and mediate environmental responses to ensure a successful life cycle. To monitor the dynamics of plant hormone actions in intact tissue, we need qualitative and quantitative tools with high temporal and spatial resolution. Here, we describe a set of biological instruments (reporters) for the analysis of the distribution and signaling of various plant hormones. Furthermore, we provide examples of their utility for gaining novel insights into plant hormone action with a deeper focus on the drought hormone abscisic acid. PMID:26577078

Measuring Adaptive Coping of Hospitalized Patients With a Severe Medical Condition: The Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire.

PubMed

Boezeman, Edwin J; Hofhuis, José G M; Hovingh, Aly; Cox, Christopher E; de Vries, Reinout E; Spronk, Peter E

2016-09-01

Adaptive coping strategies are associated with less psychological distress. However, there is no brief, specific, and validated instrument for assessing adaptive coping among seriously ill patients. Our objective was to examine the validity and patient-proxy agreement of a novel instrument, the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire. A cross-sectional design which included two related studies. A single university-affiliated Dutch hospital. Hospitalized patients (study 1) and ICU-patients and proxies (study 2). None. Study 1 (n = 103 hospitalized patients) addressed the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire's performance relative to questionnaires addressing similar content areas. Coping subscales of the BRIEF COPE, Illness Cognition Questionnaire, and Utrecht Coping List were used as comparator measures in testing the construct validity of the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire-subscales (fighting spirit, toughness, redefinition, positivism, and non-acceptance). The Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire had good internal consistency (0.64 ≤ α ≤ 0.79), a clear initial factor structure, and fair convergent (0.24 ≤ r ≤ 0.50) and divergent (r, ≤ 0.12) construct validity. Study 2 examined the performance of the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire among 100 ICU patients and their close family members. This study showed that the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire has good structural validity (confirmatory factor analyses with Comparative Fit Index > 0.90 and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation < 0.08) and moderate (r, 0.37; non-acceptance) to strong (r, > 0.50; fighting spirit, toughness, redefinition, and positivism) patient-close proxy agreement. Overall, the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire has good psychometric properties. ICU clinicians can use the Sickness Insight in Coping Questionnaire to gain insight in adaptive coping style of patients through ratings of patients or their close family members.

Insight in first-episode psychosis.

PubMed

McEvoy, Joseph P; Johnson, Jackie; Perkins, Diana; Lieberman, Jeffrey A; Hamer, Robert M; Keefe, Richard S E; Tohen, Mauricio; Glick, Ira D; Sharma, Tonmoy

2006-10-01

We report here a study examining the relationships between insight and psychopathology, cognitive performance, brain volume and co-morbid depression in 251 patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis, who were then randomly assigned to 2 years of double-blind treatment with either olanzapine or haloperidol. Repeated measures of insight were obtained at baseline and 12, 24, 52 and 104 weeks by the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire (ITAQ). Older age, female gender and white ethnicity were associated with more insight. Higher total, positive, negative and general psychopathology scores on the Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (PANSS) were associated with less insight. Higher depression scores were associated with more insight. Better neurocognitive function and large brain volumes were associated with more insight. More insight throughout the study was associated with longer time to medication non-adherence. However, baseline insight was not significantly related to the probability of discontinuing the study before 2 years. Insight improved significantly over the course of the study, but the improvement in insight was not significantly different between the two antipsychotic treatment groups. Multiple factors contribute to insight. Patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis who have little insight are at increased risk of discontinuing their medication.

Weight gain - unintentional

MedlinePlus

... Cushing syndrome Underactive thyroid, or low thyroid (hypothyroidism) Polycystic ovary syndrome Menopause Pregnancy Bloating, or swelling due to a buildup of fluid in the tissues can cause weight gain. This may be due to menstruation, heart ...

Is Weight Gain after Smoking Cessation Inevitable?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talcott, Gerald W.; And Others

1995-01-01

Studied weight gain after smoking cessation in a naturalistic setting where all smokers quit and risk factors for postcessation weight gain were modified. Results showed no significant weight changes for smokers who quit. Suggests that an intensive program featuring dietary guidelines and increased physical activity can attenuate weight gain. (RJM)

Approximate reversibility in the context of entropy gain, information gain, and complete positivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buscemi, Francesco; Das, Siddhartha; Wilde, Mark M.

2016-06-01

There are several inequalities in physics which limit how well we can process physical systems to achieve some intended goal, including the second law of thermodynamics, entropy bounds in quantum information theory, and the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. Recent results provide physically meaningful enhancements of these limiting statements, determining how well one can attempt to reverse an irreversible process. In this paper, we apply and extend these results to give strong enhancements to several entropy inequalities, having to do with entropy gain, information gain, entropic disturbance, and complete positivity of open quantum systems dynamics. Our first result is a remainder term for the entropy gain of a quantum channel. This result implies that a small increase in entropy under the action of a subunital channel is a witness to the fact that the channel's adjoint can be used as a recovery map to undo the action of the original channel. We apply this result to pure-loss, quantum-limited amplifier, and phase-insensitive quantum Gaussian channels, showing how a quantum-limited amplifier can serve as a recovery from a pure-loss channel and vice versa. Our second result regards the information gain of a quantum measurement, both without and with quantum side information. We find here that a small information gain implies that it is possible to undo the action of the original measurement if it is efficient. The result also has operational ramifications for the information-theoretic tasks known as measurement compression without and with quantum side information. Our third result shows that the loss of Holevo information caused by the action of a noisy channel on an input ensemble of quantum states is small if and only if the noise can be approximately corrected on average. We finally establish that the reduced dynamics of a system-environment interaction are approximately completely positive and trace preserving if and only if the data processing

InSight Encapsulation

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-16

In the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander is encapsulated in its payload fairing. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

Development of the Exercise Motives and Gains Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strömmer, Sofia T.; Ingledew, David K.; Markland, David

2015-01-01

There are existing measures of exercise motives (what people want from exercise), but corresponding measures of gains (what people get) are needed, because motives and gains could influence each other and together influence other variables. An exercise motives and gains inventory (EMGI) was developed by creating gains scales to complement existing…

Nicotine Replacement: Effects on Postcessation Weight Gain.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Janet; And Others

1989-01-01

Examined nicotine replacement effects on postcessation weight gain in smoking cessation volunteers. Randomly assigned abstinent subjects to active nicotine or placebo gum conditions for 10 weeks. Analyses revealed strong evidence for gum effect on weight gain, with active gum users gaining mean total of 3.8 pounds compared with 7.8 pounds for…

Insight Is Not in the Problem: Investigating Insight in Problem Solving across Task Types.

PubMed

Webb, Margaret E; Little, Daniel R; Cropper, Simon J

2016-01-01

The feeling of insight in problem solving is typically associated with the sudden realization of a solution that appears obviously correct (Kounios et al., 2006). Salvi et al. (2016) found that a solution accompanied with sudden insight is more likely to be correct than a problem solved through conscious and incremental steps. However, Metcalfe (1986) indicated that participants would often present an inelegant but plausible (wrong) answer as correct with a high feeling of warmth (a subjective measure of closeness to solution). This discrepancy may be due to the use of different tasks or due to different methods in the measurement of insight (i.e., using a binary vs. continuous scale). In three experiments, we investigated both findings, using many different problem tasks (e.g., Compound Remote Associates, so-called classic insight problems, and non-insight problems). Participants rated insight-related affect (feelings of Aha-experience, confidence, surprise, impasse, and pleasure) on continuous scales. As expected we found that, for problems designed to elicit insight, correct solutions elicited higher proportions of reported insight in the solution compared to non-insight solutions; further, correct solutions elicited stronger feelings of insight compared to incorrect solutions.

Insight Is Not in the Problem: Investigating Insight in Problem Solving across Task Types

PubMed Central

Webb, Margaret E.; Little, Daniel R.; Cropper, Simon J.

2016-01-01

The feeling of insight in problem solving is typically associated with the sudden realization of a solution that appears obviously correct (Kounios et al., 2006). Salvi et al. (2016) found that a solution accompanied with sudden insight is more likely to be correct than a problem solved through conscious and incremental steps. However, Metcalfe (1986) indicated that participants would often present an inelegant but plausible (wrong) answer as correct with a high feeling of warmth (a subjective measure of closeness to solution). This discrepancy may be due to the use of different tasks or due to different methods in the measurement of insight (i.e., using a binary vs. continuous scale). In three experiments, we investigated both findings, using many different problem tasks (e.g., Compound Remote Associates, so-called classic insight problems, and non-insight problems). Participants rated insight-related affect (feelings of Aha-experience, confidence, surprise, impasse, and pleasure) on continuous scales. As expected we found that, for problems designed to elicit insight, correct solutions elicited higher proportions of reported insight in the solution compared to non-insight solutions; further, correct solutions elicited stronger feelings of insight compared to incorrect solutions. PMID:27725805

Insulin detemir attenuates food intake, body weight gain and fat mass gain in diet-induced obese Sprague-Dawley rats.

PubMed

Rojas, J M; Printz, R L; Niswender, K D

2011-07-04

Initiation and intensification of insulin therapy commonly causes weight gain, a barrier to therapy. A contrasting body of evidence indicates that insulin functions as an adiposity negative feedback signal and reduces food intake, weight gain and adiposity via action in the central nervous system. Basal insulin analogs, detemir (Det) and glargine (Glar), have been associated with less hypoglycemia compared with neutral protamine hagedorn insulin, and Det with less weight gain, especially in patients with higher body mass index (BMI). We sought to determine whether insulin therapy per se causes body weight and fat mass gain when delivered via a clinically relevant subcutaneous (SC) route in the absence of hypoglycemia and glycosuria in non-diabetic lean and diet-induced obese rats. Rats were exposed to either a low-fat diet (LFD; 13.5% fat) or high-fat diet (HFD; 60% fat), and received Det (0.5 U kg(-1)), Glar (0.2 U kg(-1)) or vehicle (Veh) SC once daily for 4 weeks. These dosages of insulin were equipotent in rats with respect to blood-glucose concentration and did not induce hypoglycemia. As predicted by current models of energy homeostasis, neither insulin Det nor Glar therapy affected food intake and weight gain in LFD rats. Det treatment significantly attenuated food intake, body weight gain and fat mass gain relative to the Glar and Veh in high-fat fed animals, mirroring observations in humans. That neither insulin group gained excess weight, suggests weight gain with SC basal insulin therapy may not be inevitable. Our data further suggest that Det possesses a unique property to attenuate the development of obesity associated with a HFD.

Probing Transient Valence Orbital Changes with Picosecond Valence-to-Core X-ray Emission Spectroscopy

DOE PAGES

March, Anne Marie; Assefa, Tadesse A.; Boemer, Christina; ...

2017-01-17

Here we probe the dynamics of valence electrons in photoexcited [Fe(terpy) 2] 2+ in solution to gain deeper insight into the Fe-ligand bond changes. We use hard X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), which combines element specificity and high penetration with sensitivity to orbital structure, making it a powerful technique for molecular studies in a wide variety of environments. A picosecond-time-resolved measurement of the complete Is X-ray emission spectrum captures the transient photoinduced changes and includes the weak valence-to-core (vtc) emission lines that correspond to transitions from occupied valence orbitals to the nascent core-hole. Vtc-XES offers particular insight into the molecular orbitalsmore » directly involved in the light-driven dynamics; a change in the metal-ligand orbital overlap results in an intensity reduction and a blue energy shift in agreement with our theoretical calculations and more subtle features at the highest energies reflect changes in the frontier orbital populations.« less

Probing Transient Valence Orbital Changes with Picosecond Valence-to-Core X-ray Emission Spectroscopy

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

March, Anne Marie; Assefa, Tadesse A.; Boemer, Christina

Here we probe the dynamics of valence electrons in photoexcited [Fe(terpy) 2] 2+ in solution to gain deeper insight into the Fe-ligand bond changes. We use hard X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), which combines element specificity and high penetration with sensitivity to orbital structure, making it a powerful technique for molecular studies in a wide variety of environments. A picosecond-time-resolved measurement of the complete Is X-ray emission spectrum captures the transient photoinduced changes and includes the weak valence-to-core (vtc) emission lines that correspond to transitions from occupied valence orbitals to the nascent core-hole. Vtc-XES offers particular insight into the molecular orbitalsmore » directly involved in the light-driven dynamics; a change in the metal-ligand orbital overlap results in an intensity reduction and a blue energy shift in agreement with our theoretical calculations and more subtle features at the highest energies reflect changes in the frontier orbital populations.« less

A permutation testing framework to compare groups of brain networks.

PubMed

Simpson, Sean L; Lyday, Robert G; Hayasaka, Satoru; Marsh, Anthony P; Laurienti, Paul J

2013-01-01

Brain network analyses have moved to the forefront of neuroimaging research over the last decade. However, methods for statistically comparing groups of networks have lagged behind. These comparisons have great appeal for researchers interested in gaining further insight into complex brain function and how it changes across different mental states and disease conditions. Current comparison approaches generally either rely on a summary metric or on mass-univariate nodal or edge-based comparisons that ignore the inherent topological properties of the network, yielding little power and failing to make network level comparisons. Gleaning deeper insights into normal and abnormal changes in complex brain function demands methods that take advantage of the wealth of data present in an entire brain network. Here we propose a permutation testing framework that allows comparing groups of networks while incorporating topological features inherent in each individual network. We validate our approach using simulated data with known group differences. We then apply the method to functional brain networks derived from fMRI data.

[Effects of water storage in deeper soil layers on the root growth, root distribution and economic yield of cotton in arid area with drip irrigation under mulch].

PubMed

Luo, Hong-Hai; Zhang, Hong-Zhi; Zhang, Ya-Li; Zhang, Wang-Feng

2012-02-01

Taking cotton cultivar Xinluzao 13 as test material, a soil column culture expenment was conducted to study the effects of water storage in deeper (> 60 cm) soil layer on the root growth and its relations with the aboveground growth of the cultivar in arid area with drip irrigation under mulch. Two levels of water storage in 60-120 cm soil layer were installed, i. e., well-watered and no watering, and for each, the moisture content in 0-40 cm soil layer during growth period was controlled at two levels, i.e., 70% and 55% of field capacity. It was observed that the total root mass density of the cultivar and its root length density and root activity in 40-120 cm soil layer had significant positive correlations with the aboveground dry mass. When the moisture content in 0-40 cm soil layer during growth season was controlled at 70% of field capacity, the total root mass density under well-watered and no watering had less difference, but the root length density and root activity in 40-120 cm soil layer under well-watered condition increased, which enhanced the water consumption in deeper soil layer, increased the aboveground dry mass, and finally, led to an increased economic yield and higher water use efficiency. When the moisture content in 0-40 cm soil layer during growth season was controlled at 55% of field capacity and the deeper soil layer was well-watered, the root/shoot ratio and root length density in 40-120 cm soil layer and the root activity in 80-120 cm soil layer were higher, the water consumption in deeper soil layer increased, but it was still failed to adequately compensate for the negative effects of water deficit during growth season on the impaired growth of roots and aboveground parts, leading to a significant decrease in the economic yield, as compared with that at 70% of field capacity. Overall, sufficient water storage in deeper soil layer and a sustained soil moisture level of 65% -75% of field capacity during growth period could promote the

How should gestational weight gain be assessed? A comparison of existing methods and a novel method, area under the weight gain curve

PubMed Central

Kleinman, Ken P; Oken, Emily; Radesky, Jenny S; Rich-Edwards, Janet W; Peterson, Karen E; Gillman, Matthew W

2007-01-01

Background Gestational weight gain is important to assess for epidemiological and public health purposes: it is correlated with infant growth and may be related to maternal outcomes such as reproductive health and chronic disease risk. Methods commonly used to assess weight gain incorporate assumptions that are usually not borne out, such as a linear weight gain, or do not account for differential length of gestation. Methods We introduce a novel method to assess gestational weight gain, the area under the weight gain curve. This is easily interpretable as the additional pound-days carried due to pregnancy and avoids many flaws in alternative assessments. We compare the performance of the simple difference, weekly gain, Institute of Medicine categories and the area under the weight gain curve in predicting birthweight and maternal weight retention at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months post-partum. The analytic sample comprises 2016 participants in Project Viva, an observational prospective cohort study of pregnant women in Massachusetts. Results For birthweight outcomes, none of the weight gain measures is a meaningfully superior predictor. For 6-month postpartum weight retention the simple difference is superior, while for 12-, 24- and 36-month weight retention the area under the weight gain curve is superior. Conclusions These findings are plausible biologically: the same amount of weight gained early vs later in the pregnancy may reflect increased maternal fat stores. The timing of weight gain is reflected best in the area under the weight gain curve. Different methods of measuring gestational weight gain may be appropriate depending on the context. PMID:17715174

InSight Encapsulation

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-16

In the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers encapsulate NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander in its payload fairing. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

Biotechnological interventions in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal.

PubMed

Singh, Pritika; Guleri, Rupam; Singh, Varinder; Kaur, Gurpreet; Kataria, Hardeep; Singh, Baldev; Kaur, Gurcharan; Kaul, Sunil C; Wadhwa, Renu; Pati, Pratap Kumar

2015-01-01

Withania somnifera is one of the most valued plants and is extensively used in Indian, Unani, and African systems of traditional medicine. It possess a wide array of therapeutic properties including anti-arthritic, anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, chemoprotective, cardioprotective, and recovery from neurodegenerative disorders. With the growing realization of benefits and associated challenges in the improvement of W. somnifera, studies on exploration of genetic and chemotypic variations, identification and characterization of important genes, and understanding the secondary metabolites production and their modulation has gained significant momentum. In recent years, several in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies have facilitated the validation of therapeutic potential of the phytochemicals derived from W. somnifera and have provided necessary impetus for gaining deeper insight into the mechanistic aspects involved in the mode of action of these important pharmaceutically active constituents. The present review highlights some of the current developments and future prospects of biotechnological intervention in this important medicinal plant.

Non-Simian Foamy Viruses: Molecular Virology, Tropism and Prevalence and Zoonotic/Interspecies Transmission

PubMed Central

Kehl, Timo; Tan, Juan; Materniak, Magdalena

2013-01-01

Within the field of retrovirus, our knowledge of foamy viruses (FV) is still limited. Their unique replication strategy and mechanism of viral persistency needs further research to gain understanding of the virus-host interactions, especially in the light of the recent findings suggesting their ancient origin and long co-evolution with their nonhuman hosts. Unquestionably, the most studied member is the primate/prototype foamy virus (PFV) which was originally isolated from a human (designated as human foamy virus, HFV), but later identified as chimpanzee origin; phylogenetic analysis clearly places it among other Old World primates. Additionally, the study of non-simian animal FVs can contribute to a deeper understanding of FV-host interactions and development of other animal models. The review aims at highlighting areas of special interest regarding the structure, biology, virus-host interactions and interspecies transmission potential of primate as well as non-primate foamy viruses for gaining new insights into FV biology. PMID:24064793

Long-term changes in deep-water fish populations in the northeast Atlantic: a deeper reaching effect of fisheries?

PubMed

Bailey, D M; Collins, M A; Gordon, J D M; Zuur, A F; Priede, I G

2009-06-07

A severe scarcity of life history and population data for deep-water fishes is a major impediment to successful fisheries management. Long-term data for non-target species and those living deeper than the fishing grounds are particularly rare. We analysed a unique dataset of scientific trawls made from 1977 to 1989 and from 1997 to 2002, at depths from 800 to 4800 m. Over this time, overall fish abundance fell significantly at all depths from 800 to 2500 m, considerably deeper than the maximum depth of commercial fishing (approx. 1600 m). Changes in abundance were significantly larger in species whose ranges fell at least partly within fished depths and did not appear to be consistent with any natural factors such as changes in fluxes from the surface or the abundance of potential prey. If the observed decreases in abundance are due to fishing, then its effects now extend into the lower bathyal zone, resulting in declines in areas that have been previously thought to be unaffected. A possible mechanism is impacts on the shallow parts of the ranges of fish species, resulting in declines in abundance in the lower parts of their ranges. This unexpected phenomenon has important consequences for fisheries and marine reserve management, as this would indicate that the impacts of fisheries can be transmitted into deep offshore areas that are neither routinely monitored nor considered as part of the managed fishery areas.

Personality type influence the gestational weight gain.

PubMed

Franik, Grzegorz; Lipka, Nela; Kopyto, Katarzyna; Kopocińska, Joanna; Owczarek, Aleksander; Sikora, Jerzy; Madej, Paweł; Chudek, Jerzy; Olszanecka-Glinianowicz, Magdalena

2017-08-01

Pregnancy is frequently followed by the development of obesity. Aside from psychological factors, hormonal changes influence weight gain in pregnant women. We attempted to assess the potential association between personality type and the extent of gestational weight gain. The study group involved 773 women after term delivery (age 26.3 ± 3.9 years, body mass before pregnancy 61.2 ± 11.1 kg). Weight gain during pregnancy was calculated by using self-reported body mass prior to and during the 38th week of pregnancy. Personality type was assessed using the Polish version of the Framingham Type A Behavior Patterns Questionnaire (adapted by Juczynski). Two hundred forty-six (31.8%) study subjects represented type A personalities, 272 (35.2%) type B and 255 (33.0%) an indirect type. Gestational weight gain was related to the behavior patterns questionnaire score and age. In women <30 years with type A personality, the weight gain was higher than in women with type B behavior of the same age. In women >30, the gestational weight gain was larger for type B personalities. Type A personality and increased urgency in younger pregnant women increases the risk of developing obesity during pregnancy in women below 30 years old. A higher level of competitiveness demonstrates a risk factor of excessive weight gain during pregnancy regardless of age.

IQ Gains in Argentina between 1964 and 1998

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flynn, James R.; Rossi-Case, Lilia

2012-01-01

The literature on IQ gains in Latin America is sparse. We estimate gains on Raven's Progressive Matrices in the city of La Plata (Argentina) between 1964 and 1998. The gains are robust at the top of the curve as well as at the bottom. Therefore, they are contrary to the hypothesis that nutrition played a major role in recent Argentine IQ gains.…

Loss restlessness and gain calmness: durable effects of losses and gains on choice switching.

PubMed

Yechiam, Eldad; Zahavi, Gal; Arditi, Eli

2015-08-01

While the traditional conceptualization of the effect of losses focuses on bias in the subjective weight of losses compared with respective gains, some accounts suggest more global task-related effects of losses. Based on a recent attentional theory, we predicted a positive after-effect of losses on choice switching in later tasks. In two experimental studies, we found increased choice switching rates in tasks with losses compared to tasks with no losses. Additionally, this heightened shifting behavior was maintained in subsequent tasks that do not include losses, a phenomenon we refer to as "loss restlessness." Conversely, gains were found to have an opposite "calming" effect on choice switching. Surprisingly, the loss restlessness phenomenon was observed following an all-losses payoff regime but not after a task with symmetric mixed gains and losses. This suggests that the unresolved mental account following an all-losses regime increases search behavior. Potential implications to macro level phenomena, such as the leverage effect, are discussed.

Developing Physics Textbook Based on Cognitive Conflict for Deeper Conceptual Understanding and Better Characters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linuwih, S.; Lurinda, N. W.; Fianti

2017-04-01

These study aims are to develop a textbook based on cognitive conflict approachment, to know theproperness of textbook, the legibility of textbook, and also the effect of using the textbook for increasing the conceptual understanding and improving the character of the students. This study was conducted by research and development method employing non-equivalent control group design to test the product. The subjects wereten-grade students of SMA N 1 Gubug in thesecond semester of 2015/2016. The properness test used properness-questionnaire, while the legibility test used themost closet. The data of conceptual understanding was taken from thepretest-postest result and the data of characters was taken from direct observation. By analysing the data, we concluded that the textbook based on cognitive conflict approachment was very proper to use with high legibility. By applied this textbook, students would be helped to get a deeper conceptual understanding and better characters.

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

Stu Spath, InSight program manager, Lockheed Martin Space, left, and Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager, NASA JPL, discuss NASA's InSight mission during a prelaunch media briefing, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Insight into multiple-triggering effect in DTSCRs for ESD protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lizhong; Wang, Yuan; Wang, Yize; He, Yandong

2017-07-01

The diode-triggered silicon-controlled rectifier (DTSCR) is widely used for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in advanced CMOS process owing to its advantages, such as design simplification, adjustable trigger/holding voltage, low parasitic capacitance. However, the multiple-triggering effect in the typical DTSCR device may cause undesirable larger overall trigger voltage, which results in a reduced ESD safe margin. In previous research, the major cause is attributed to the higher current level required in the intrinsic SCR. The related discussions indicate that it seems to result from the current division rule between the intrinsic and parasitic SCR formed in the triggering process. In this letter, inserting a large space into the trigger diodes is proposed to get a deeper insight into this issue. The triggering current is observed to be regularly reduced along with the increased space, which confirms that the current division is determined by the parasitic resistance distributed between the intrinsic and parasitic SCR paths. The theoretical analysis is well confirmed by device simulation and transmission line pulse (TLP) test results. The reduced overall trigger voltage is achieved in the modified DTSCR structures due to the comprehensive result of the parasitic resistance vs triggering current, which indicates a minimized multiple-triggering effect. Project supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, China (No. 4162030).

Induced seismicity provides insight into why earthquake ruptures stop.

PubMed

Galis, Martin; Ampuero, Jean Paul; Mai, P Martin; Cappa, Frédéric

2017-12-01

Injection-induced earthquakes pose a serious seismic hazard but also offer an opportunity to gain insight into earthquake physics. Currently used models relating the maximum magnitude of injection-induced earthquakes to injection parameters do not incorporate rupture physics. We develop theoretical estimates, validated by simulations, of the size of ruptures induced by localized pore-pressure perturbations and propagating on prestressed faults. Our model accounts for ruptures growing beyond the perturbed area and distinguishes self-arrested from runaway ruptures. We develop a theoretical scaling relation between the largest magnitude of self-arrested earthquakes and the injected volume and find it consistent with observed maximum magnitudes of injection-induced earthquakes over a broad range of injected volumes, suggesting that, although runaway ruptures are possible, most injection-induced events so far have been self-arrested ruptures.

Induced seismicity provides insight into why earthquake ruptures stop

PubMed Central

Galis, Martin; Ampuero, Jean Paul; Mai, P. Martin; Cappa, Frédéric

2017-01-01

Injection-induced earthquakes pose a serious seismic hazard but also offer an opportunity to gain insight into earthquake physics. Currently used models relating the maximum magnitude of injection-induced earthquakes to injection parameters do not incorporate rupture physics. We develop theoretical estimates, validated by simulations, of the size of ruptures induced by localized pore-pressure perturbations and propagating on prestressed faults. Our model accounts for ruptures growing beyond the perturbed area and distinguishes self-arrested from runaway ruptures. We develop a theoretical scaling relation between the largest magnitude of self-arrested earthquakes and the injected volume and find it consistent with observed maximum magnitudes of injection-induced earthquakes over a broad range of injected volumes, suggesting that, although runaway ruptures are possible, most injection-induced events so far have been self-arrested ruptures. PMID:29291250

Gain scheduling - Potential hazards and possible remedies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shamma, Jeff S.; Athans, Michael

1991-01-01

A common gain scheduling rule-of-thumb is to schedule on a slow variable. In this work, it is shown how current gain scheduling practice is necessarily limited to slow variations in the scheduling variable. These limitations are revealed to be consequences of fundamental control concepts. Furthermore, it is shown how a formulation of the gain scheduling procedure can lead toward ultimately removing these restrictions.

The heuristic value of redundancy models of aging.

PubMed

Boonekamp, Jelle J; Briga, Michael; Verhulst, Simon

2015-11-01

Molecular studies of aging aim to unravel the cause(s) of aging bottom-up, but linking these mechanisms to organismal level processes remains a challenge. We propose that complementary top-down data-directed modelling of organismal level empirical findings may contribute to developing these links. To this end, we explore the heuristic value of redundancy models of aging to develop a deeper insight into the mechanisms causing variation in senescence and lifespan. We start by showing (i) how different redundancy model parameters affect projected aging and mortality, and (ii) how variation in redundancy model parameters relates to variation in parameters of the Gompertz equation. Lifestyle changes or medical interventions during life can modify mortality rate, and we investigate (iii) how interventions that change specific redundancy parameters within the model affect subsequent mortality and actuarial senescence. Lastly, as an example of data-directed modelling and the insights that can be gained from this, (iv) we fit a redundancy model to mortality patterns observed by Mair et al. (2003; Science 301: 1731-1733) in Drosophila that were subjected to dietary restriction and temperature manipulations. Mair et al. found that dietary restriction instantaneously reduced mortality rate without affecting aging, while temperature manipulations had more transient effects on mortality rate and did affect aging. We show that after adjusting model parameters the redundancy model describes both effects well, and a comparison of the parameter values yields a deeper insight in the mechanisms causing these contrasting effects. We see replacement of the redundancy model parameters by more detailed sub-models of these parameters as a next step in linking demographic patterns to underlying molecular mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Antipsychotic-induced weight gain--pharmacogenetic studies].

PubMed

Olajossy-Hilkesberger, Luiza; Godlewska, Beata; Marmurowska-Michałowskal, Halina; Olajossy, Marcin; Landowski, Jerzy

2006-01-01

Drug-naive patients with schizophrenia often present metabolic abnormalities and obesity. Weight gain may be the side effect of treatment with many antipsychotic drugs. Genetic effects, besides many other factors, are known to influence obesity in patients with schizophrenia treated with antipsychotics. Numerous studies of several genes' polymorphisms have been performed. -759C/T polymorphism of 5HT2C gene attracted most attention. In 5 independent studies of this polymorphism the association between T allele with the lower AP-induced weight gain was detected. No associations could be detected between weight gain and other polymorphisms of serotonergic system genes as well as histaminergic system genes. Studies of adrenergic and dopaminergic system have neither produced any unambiguous results. Analysis of the newest candidate genes (SAP-25, leptin gene) confirmed the role of genetic factors in AP-induced weight gain. It is worth emphasising, that the studies have been conducted in relatively small and heterogenic groups and that various treatment strategies were used.

Insights from a Modular Interdisciplinary Laboratory Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouvier-Brown, N. C.; Carmona, V.

2016-12-01

A laboratory curriculum is naturally oriented towards "hands on" and problem-based learning. An earth science course, like chemical ecology, has the additional advantage of interdisciplinary education. Our Chemical Ecology course at Loyola Marymount University was structured as a small modular workshop. Students first gained hands-on experience with each analytical technique in the laboratory. The class then discussed these first datasets, delved into lecture topics, and tweaked their experimental procedures. Lastly, students were given time to design and execute their own experiments and present their findings. Three-to-four class periods were allotted for each laboratory topic. Detailed information and student reflections will be presented from the Spectroscopy module. Students used the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent method to extract the phenolic content of vegetation and/or soils. Because phenols are produced by plants for defense, this spectroscopic laboratory activity provided insight on allelopathy using analytical chemistry. Students were extremely engaged and learned not only the lab theory and technique, but also its application to our local ecology.

Multiphoton imaging microscopy at deeper layers with adaptive optics control of spherical aberration.

PubMed

Bueno, Juan M; Skorsetz, Martin; Palacios, Raquel; Gualda, Emilio J; Artal, Pablo

2014-01-01

Despite the inherent confocality and optical sectioning capabilities of multiphoton microscopy, three-dimensional (3-D) imaging of thick samples is limited by the specimen-induced aberrations. The combination of immersion objectives and sensorless adaptive optics (AO) techniques has been suggested to overcome this difficulty. However, a complex plane-by-plane correction of aberrations is required, and its performance depends on a set of image-based merit functions. We propose here an alternative approach to increase penetration depth in 3-D multiphoton microscopy imaging. It is based on the manipulation of the spherical aberration (SA) of the incident beam with an AO device while performing fast tomographic multiphoton imaging. When inducing SA, the image quality at best focus is reduced; however, better quality images are obtained from deeper planes within the sample. This is a compromise that enables registration of improved 3-D multiphoton images using nonimmersion objectives. Examples on ocular tissues and nonbiological samples providing different types of nonlinear signal are presented. The implementation of this technique in a future clinical instrument might provide a better visualization of corneal structures in living eyes.

Gain-adaptive vector quantization for medium-rate speech coding

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, J.-H.; Gersho, A.

1985-01-01

A class of adaptive vector quantizers (VQs) that can dynamically adjust the 'gain' of codevectors according to the input signal level is introduced. The encoder uses a gain estimator to determine a suitable normalization of each input vector prior to VQ coding. The normalized vectors have reduced dynamic range and can then be more efficiently coded. At the receiver, the VQ decoder output is multiplied by the estimated gain. Both forward and backward adaptation are considered and several different gain estimators are compared and evaluated. An approach to optimizing the design of gain estimators is introduced. Some of the more obvious techniques for achieving gain adaptation are substantially less effective than the use of optimized gain estimators. A novel design technique that is needed to generate the appropriate gain-normalized codebook for the vector quantizer is introduced. Experimental results show that a significant gain in segmental SNR can be obtained over nonadaptive VQ with a negligible increase in complexity.

26 CFR 1.737-1 - Recognition of precontribution gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Property A1 and Property A2 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A3 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real... long-term, U.S.-source capital gain ($10,000 gain on Property A1 and $8,000 loss on Property A2) and $1...

Gain and energy storage in holmium YLF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Storm, Mark E.; Deyst, John P.

1991-01-01

It is demonstrated that Q-switched holmium lasers are capable of high-gain and high-energy operation at 300 K. Small-signal gain coefficients of 0.50 and 0.12/cm have been measured in YLF and YAG, respectively. Small-signal gains of 0.50/cm are comparable to those achievable in Nd:YAG and are not typical of low-gain materials. This large gain in the Ho:YLF material is made possible by operating the amplifier in the ground state depletion mode. The amplifier performance data and associated analysis presented demonstrate that efficient energy storage is possible with very high excited state ion densities of the Ho 5I7 upper laser level. This is an important result since upconversion can limit the 5I7 population. Although upconversion was still present in this experiment, it was possible to achieve efficient energy storage, demonstrating that the problem is manageable even at high excitation densities in YLF.

[Atypical antipsychotic-induced weight gain].

PubMed

Godlewska, Beata R; Olajossy-Hilkesberger, Luiza; Marmurowska-Michałowska, Halina; Olajossy, Marcin; Landowski, Jerzy

2006-01-01

Introduction of a new group of antipsychotic drugs, called atypical because of the proprieties differing them from classical neuroleptics, gave hope for the beginning of a new era in treatment of psychoses, including schizophrenia. Different mechanisms of action not only resulted in a broader spectrum of action and high efficacy but also in a relative lack of extrapiramidal symptoms. However, atypical neuroleptics are not totally free from adverse effects. Symptoms such as sedation, metabolic changes and weight gain, often very quick and severe - present also in the case of classical drugs, but put to the background by extrapiramidal symptoms--have become prominent. Weight gain is important both from the clinical and subjective point of view--as associated with serious somatic consequences and as a source of enormous mental distress. These problems are addressed in this review, with the focus on weight gain associated with the use of specific atypical neuroleptics.

High current gain transistor laser

PubMed Central

Liang, Song; Qiao, Lijun; Zhu, Hongliang; Wang, Wei

2016-01-01

A transistor laser (TL), having the structure of a transistor with multi-quantum wells near its base region, bridges the functionality gap between lasers and transistors. However, light emission is produced at the expense of current gain for all the TLs reported up to now, leading to a very low current gain. We propose a novel design of TLs, which have an n-doped InP layer inserted in the emitter ridge. Numerical studies show that a current flow aperture for only holes can be formed in the center of the emitter ridge. As a result, the common emitter current gain can be as large as 143.3, which is over 15 times larger than that of a TL without the aperture. Besides, the effects of nonradiative recombination defects can be reduced greatly because the flow of holes is confined in the center region of the emitter ridge. PMID:27282466

Optimal gains for a single polar orbiting satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banfield, Don; Ingersoll, A. P.; Keppenne, C. L.

1993-01-01

Gains are the spatial weighting of an observation in its neighborhood versus the local values of a model prediction. They are the key to data assimilation, as they are the direct measure of how the data are used to guide the model. As derived in the broad context of data assimilation by Kalman and in the context of meteorology, for example, by Rutherford, the optimal gains are functions of the prediction error covariances between the observation and analysis points. Kalman introduced a very powerful technique that allows one to calculate these optimal gains at the time of each observation. Unfortunately, this technique is both computationally expensive and often numerically unstable for dynamical systems of the magnitude of meteorological models, and thus is unsuited for use in PMIRR data assimilation. However, the optimal gains as calculated by a Kalman filter do reach a steady state for regular observing patterns like that of a satellite. In this steady state, the gains are constants in time, and thus could conceivably be computed off-line. These steady-state Kalman gains (i.e., Wiener gains) would yield optimal performance without the computational burden of true Kalman filtering. We proposed to use this type of constant-in-time Wiener gain for the assimilation of data from PMIRR and Mars Observer.

Psychosocial working conditions and weight gain among employees.

PubMed

Lallukka, T; Laaksonen, M; Martikainen, P; Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, S; Lahelma, E

2005-08-01

To study the associations between psychosocial working conditions and weight gain. Data from postal questionnaires (response rate 67%) sent to 40- to 60-y-old women (n=7093) and men (n=1799) employed by the City of Helsinki in 2000-2002 were analysed. Weight gain during the previous 12 months was the outcome variable in logistic regression analyses. Independent variables included Karasek's job demands and job control, work fatigue, working overtime, work-related mental strain, social support and the work-home interface. The final models were adjusted for age, education, marital status, physical strain and body mass index. In the previous 12 months, 25% of women and 19% of men reported weight gain. Work fatigue and working overtime were associated with weight gain in both sexes. Women who were dissatisfied with combining paid work and family life were more likely to have gained weight. Men with low job demands were less likely to have gained weight. All of these associations were independent of each other. Few work-related factors were associated with weight gain. However, our study suggests that work fatigue and working overtime are potential risk factors for weight gain. These findings need to be confirmed in prospective studies.

Molecular-level insights into intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of nanocarbon oxides.

PubMed

Zhao, Ruisheng; Zhao, Xiang; Gao, Xingfa

2015-01-12

Nanocarbon oxides have been proved to possess great peroxidase-like activity, catalyzing the oxidation of many peroxidase substrates, such as 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and o-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (OPD), accompanied by a significant color change. This chromogenic reaction is widely used to detect glucose and occult blood. The chromogenic reaction was intensively investigated with density functional theory and molecular-level insights into the nature of peroxidase-like activity were gained. A radical mechanism was unraveled and the carboxyl groups of nanocarbon oxides were identified as the reactive sites. Aromatic domains connected with the carboxyl groups were critical to the peroxidase-like activity. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Policy insights from the nutritional food market transformation model: the case of obesity prevention.

PubMed

Struben, Jeroen; Chan, Derek; Dubé, Laurette

2014-12-01

This paper presents a system dynamics policy model of nutritional food market transformation, tracing over-time interactions between the nutritional quality of supply, consumer food choice, population health, and governmental policy. Applied to the Canadian context and with body mass index as the primary outcome, we examine policy portfolios for obesity prevention, including (1) industry self-regulation efforts, (2) health- and nutrition-sensitive governmental policy, and (3) efforts to foster health- and nutrition-sensitive innovation. This work provides novel theoretical and practical insights on drivers of nutritional market transformations, highlighting the importance of integrative policy portfolios to simultaneously shift food demand and supply for successful and self-sustaining nutrition and health sensitivity. We discuss model extensions for deeper and more comprehensive linkages of nutritional food market transformation with supply, demand, and policy in agrifood and health/health care. These aim toward system design and policy that can proactively, and with greater impact, scale, and resilience, address single as well as double malnutrition in varying country settings. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

Effects of internal gain assumptions in building energy calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christensen, C.; Perkins, R.

1981-01-01

The utilization of direct solar gains in buildings can be affected by operating profiles, such as schedules for internal gains, thermostat controls, and ventilation rates. Building energy analysis methods use various assumptions about these profiles. The effects of typical internal gain assumptions in energy calculations are described. Heating and cooling loads from simulations using the DOE 2.1 computer code are compared for various internal gain inputs: typical hourly profiles, constant average profiles, and zero gain profiles. Prototype single-family-detached and multifamily-attached residential units are studied with various levels of insulation and infiltration. Small detached commercial buildings and attached zones in large commercial buildings are studied with various levels of internal gains. The results indicate that calculations of annual heating and cooling loads are sensitive to internal gains, but in most cases are relatively insensitive to hourly variations in internal gains.

Correcting the Normalized Gain for Guessing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, John; Stewart, Gay

2010-01-01

The normalized gain, "g", has been an important tool for the characterization of conceptual improvement in physics courses since its use in Hake's extensive study on conceptual learning in introductory physics. The normalized gain is calculated from the score on a pre-test administered before instruction and a post-test administered…

Seizure drawings: insight into the self-image of children with epilepsy.

PubMed

Stafstrom, Carl E; Havlena, Janice

2003-02-01

Epilepsy is a chronic disorder that is associated with numerous psychological challenges, especially in children. Drawings have been underutilized as a method to obtain insight into psychological issues in children with epilepsy. We asked 105 children with epilepsy, ages 5 to 18 years, to draw a picture of what it is like to have a seizure. Across ages and epilepsy syndromes, the drawings showed evidence of impaired self-concept, low self-esteem, and a sense of helplessness and vulnerability. Overall, the drawings of human figures were less developed than expected for chronological age. In some drawings, indicators of underlying depression were found. When considered by epilepsy syndrome or seizure type, some specific artistic features were noted. Children with simple partial (motor) seizures drew distorted body parts, especially limbs. Those with complex partial seizures depicted sensory symptoms and mental status changes such as confusion. Children with generalized tonic-clonic seizures showed shaking extremities. Drawings by children with absence seizures illustrated mainly staring. In conclusion, drawings are a powerful method to examine the self-concept of children with epilepsy and gain insight into their feelings about themselves and their world.

Nucleus accumbens response to gains in reputation for the self relative to gains for others predicts social media use

PubMed Central

Meshi, Dar; Morawetz, Carmen; Heekeren, Hauke R.

2013-01-01

Our reputation is important to us; we've experienced natural selection to care about our reputation. Recently, the neural processing of gains in reputation (positive social feedback concerning one's character) has been shown to occur in the human ventral striatum. It is still unclear, however, how individual differences in the processing of gains in reputation may lead to individual differences in real-world behavior. For example, in the real-world, one way that people currently maintain their reputation is by using social media websites, like Facebook. Furthermore, Facebook use consists of a social comparison component, where users observe others' behavior and can compare it to their own. Therefore, we hypothesized a relationship between the way the brain processes specifically self-relevant gains in reputation and one's degree of Facebook use. We recorded functional neuroimaging data while participants received gains in reputation, observed the gains in reputation of another person, or received monetary reward. We demonstrate that across participants, when responding to gains in reputation for the self, relative to observing gains for others, reward-related activity in the left nucleus accumbens predicts Facebook use. However, nucleus accumbens activity in response to monetary reward did not predict Facebook use. Finally, a control step-wise regression analysis showed that Facebook use primarily explains our results in the nucleus accumbens. Overall, our results demonstrate how individual sensitivity of the nucleus accumbens to the receipt of self-relevant social information leads to differences in real-world behavior. PMID:24009567

Nucleus accumbens response to gains in reputation for the self relative to gains for others predicts social media use.

PubMed

Meshi, Dar; Morawetz, Carmen; Heekeren, Hauke R

2013-01-01

Our reputation is important to us; we've experienced natural selection to care about our reputation. Recently, the neural processing of gains in reputation (positive social feedback concerning one's character) has been shown to occur in the human ventral striatum. It is still unclear, however, how individual differences in the processing of gains in reputation may lead to individual differences in real-world behavior. For example, in the real-world, one way that people currently maintain their reputation is by using social media websites, like Facebook. Furthermore, Facebook use consists of a social comparison component, where users observe others' behavior and can compare it to their own. Therefore, we hypothesized a relationship between the way the brain processes specifically self-relevant gains in reputation and one's degree of Facebook use. We recorded functional neuroimaging data while participants received gains in reputation, observed the gains in reputation of another person, or received monetary reward. We demonstrate that across participants, when responding to gains in reputation for the self, relative to observing gains for others, reward-related activity in the left nucleus accumbens predicts Facebook use. However, nucleus accumbens activity in response to monetary reward did not predict Facebook use. Finally, a control step-wise regression analysis showed that Facebook use primarily explains our results in the nucleus accumbens. Overall, our results demonstrate how individual sensitivity of the nucleus accumbens to the receipt of self-relevant social information leads to differences in real-world behavior.

Magnetic Navigation in Sea Turtles: Insights from Secular Variation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putman, N. F.; Lohmann, K.

2011-12-01

Sea turtles are iconic migrants that posses a sensitive magnetic-sense that guides their long-distance movements in a variety of contexts. In the first few hours after hatching turtles use the magnetic field to maintain an offshore compass heading to reach deeper water, out of the reach of nearshore predators. Young turtles engage in directed swimming in response to regional magnetic fields that exist along their transoceanic migratory path. Older turtles also use magnetic information to relocate foraging sites and islands used for nesting after displacement. Numerous hypotheses have been put forth to explain how magnetic information functions in these movements, however, there is little consensus among animal navigation researchers. A particular vexing issue is how magnetic navigation can function under the constraints of the constant, gradual shifting of the earth's magnetic field (secular variation). Here, I present a framework based on models of recent geomagnetic secular variation to explore several navigational mechanisms proposed for sea turtles. I show that while examination of secular variation likely falsifies some hypothetical navigational strategies, it provides key insights into the selective pressures that could maintain other navigational mechanisms. Moreover, examination of secular variation's influence on the navigational precision in reproductive migrations of sea turtles offers compelling explanations for the population structure along sea turtle nesting beaches as well as spatiotemporal variation in nesting turtle abundance.

Digging Deeper: An Analysis of Student Loan Debt in Texas. A Report to the 82nd Regular Session of the Texas Legislature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shook, Melissa; Webster, Jeff; Fletcher, Carla

2010-01-01

In 2006, TG estimated that 47,000 bachelor's degrees would be lost in Texas due to financial barriers experienced by college-qualified high school graduates from the class of 2004. With more current data, TG now estimates that the number will be 52,800. "Digging Deeper" explores how students who enroll in college continue to experience…

20 CFR 220.141 - Substantial gainful activity, defined.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

...) Substantial work activity. Substantial work activity is work activity that involves doing significant physical... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Substantial gainful activity, defined. 220... RETIREMENT ACT DETERMINING DISABILITY Substantial Gainful Activity § 220.141 Substantial gainful activity...

20 CFR 220.141 - Substantial gainful activity, defined.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...) Substantial work activity. Substantial work activity is work activity that involves doing significant physical... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Substantial gainful activity, defined. 220... RETIREMENT ACT DETERMINING DISABILITY Substantial Gainful Activity § 220.141 Substantial gainful activity...

Complying with physician gain-sharing restrictions.

PubMed

O'Hare, P K

1998-05-01

Many IDSs are considering implementing gain-sharing programs as a way to motivate their physicians to provide high-quality, cost-effective services. Before embarking on such programs, however, IDSs need to understand the legal requirements associated with such programs to ensure that the gain-sharing arrangement is in compliance with Federal law.

Radiation hardness of thin Low Gain Avalanche Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kramberger, G.; Carulla, M.; Cavallaro, E.; Cindro, V.; Flores, D.; Galloway, Z.; Grinstein, S.; Hidalgo, S.; Fadeyev, V.; Lange, J.; Mandić, I.; Medin, G.; Merlos, A.; McKinney-Martinez, F.; Mikuž, M.; Quirion, D.; Pellegrini, G.; Petek, M.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Seiden, A.; Zavrtanik, M.

2018-05-01

Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGAD) are based on a n++-p+-p-p++ structure where an appropriate doping of the multiplication layer (p+) leads to high enough electric fields for impact ionization. Gain factors of few tens in charge significantly improve the resolution of timing measurements, particularly for thin detectors, where the timing performance was shown to be limited by Landau fluctuations. The main obstacle for their operation is the decrease of gain with irradiation, attributed to effective acceptor removal in the gain layer. Sets of thin sensors were produced by two different producers on different substrates, with different gain layer doping profiles and thicknesses (45, 50 and 80 μm). Their performance in terms of gain/collected charge and leakage current was compared before and after irradiation with neutrons and pions up to the equivalent fluences of 5 ṡ 1015 cm-2. Transient Current Technique and charge collection measurements with LHC speed electronics were employed to characterize the detectors. The thin LGAD sensors were shown to perform much better than sensors of standard thickness (∼300 μm) and offer larger charge collection with respect to detectors without gain layer for fluences < 2 ṡ 1015 cm-2. Larger initial gain prolongs the beneficial performance of LGADs. Pions were found to be more damaging than neutrons at the same equivalent fluence, while no significant difference was found between different producers. At very high fluences and bias voltages the gain appears due to deep acceptors in the bulk, hence also in thin standard detectors.

Effect of body image on pregnancy weight gain.

PubMed

Mehta, Ushma J; Siega-Riz, Anna Maria; Herring, Amy H

2011-04-01

The majority of women gain more weight during pregnancy than what is recommended. Since gestational weight gain is related to short and long-term maternal health outcomes, it is important to identify women at greater risk of not adhering to guidelines. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between body image and gestational weight gain. The Body Image Assessment for Obesity tool was used to measure ideal and current body sizes in 1,192 women participating in the Pregnancy, Infection and Nutrition Study. Descriptive and multivariable techniques were used to assess the effects of ideal body size and discrepancy score (current-ideal body sizes), which reflected the level of body dissatisfaction, on gestational weight gain. Women who preferred to be thinner had increased risk of excessive gain if they started the pregnancy at a BMI ≤26 kg/m(2) but a decreased risk if they were overweight or obese. Comparing those who preferred thin body silhouettes to those who preferred average size silhouettes, low income women had increased risk of inadequate weight gain [RR = 1.76 (1.08, 2.88)] while those with lower education were at risk of excessive gain [RR = 1.11 (1.00, 1.22)]. Our results revealed that body image was associated with gestational weight gain but the relationship is complex. Identifying factors that affect whether certain women are at greater risk of gaining outside of guidelines may improve our ability to decrease pregnancy-related health problems.

Brillouin gain enhancement in nano-scale photonic waveguide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nouri Jouybari, Soodabeh

2018-05-01

The enhancement of stimulated Brillouin scattering in nano-scale waveguides has a great contribution in the improvement of the photonic devices technology. The key factors in Brillouin gain are the electrostriction force and radiation pressure generated by optical waves in the waveguide. In this article, we have proposed a new scheme of nano-scale waveguide in which the Brillouin gain is considerably improved compared to the previously-reported schemes. The role of radiation pressure in the Brillouin gain was much higher than the role of the electrostriction force. The Brillouin gain strongly depends on the structural parameters of the waveguide and the maximum value of 12127 W-1 m-1 is obtained for the Brillouin gain.

Method and system for edge cladding of laser gain media

DOEpatents

Bayramian, Andrew James; Caird, John Allyn; Schaffers, Kathleen Irene

2014-03-25

A gain medium operable to amplify light at a gain wavelength and having reduced transverse ASE includes an input surface and an output surface opposing the input surface. The gain medium also includes a central region including gain material and extending between the input surface and the output surface along a longitudinal optical axis of the gain medium. The gain medium further includes an edge cladding region surrounding the central region and extending between the input surface and the output surface along the longitudinal optical axis of the gain medium. The edge cladding region includes the gain material and a dopant operable to absorb light at the gain wavelength.

Impaired insight into illness and cognitive insight in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Resting state functional connectivity

PubMed Central

Gerretsen, Philip; Menon, Mahesh; Mamo, David C.; Fervaha, Gagan; Remington, Gary; Pollock, Bruce G.; Graff-Guerrero, Ariel

2015-01-01

Background Impaired insight into illness (clinical insight) in schizophrenia has negative effects on treatment adherence and clinical outcomes. Schizophrenia is described as a disorder of disrupted brain connectivity. In line with this concept, resting state networks (RSNs) appear differentially affected in persons with schizophrenia. Therefore, impaired clinical, or the related construct of cognitive insight (which posits that impaired clinical insight is a function of metacognitive deficits), may reflect alterations in RSN functional connectivity (fc). Based on our previous research, which showed that impaired insight into illness was associated with increased left hemisphere volume relative to right, we hypothesized that impaired clinical insight would be associated with increased connectivity in the DMN with specific left hemisphere brain regions. Methods Resting state MRI scans were acquired for participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (n = 20). Seed-to-voxel and ROI-to-ROI fc analyses were performed using the CONN-fMRI fc toolbox v13 for established RSNs. Clinical and cognitive insight were measured with the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight—Expanded Version and Beck Cognitive Insight Scale, respectively, and included as the regressors in fc analyses. Results As hypothesized, impaired clinical insight was associated with increased connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) with the left angular gyrus, and also in the self-referential network (SRN) with the left insula. Cognitive insight was associated with increased connectivity in the dorsal attention network (DAN) with the right inferior frontal cortex (IFC) and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Conclusion Increased connectivity in DMN and SRN with the left angular gyrus and insula, respectively, may represent neural correlates of impaired clinical insight in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and is consistent with the literature attributing impaired insight to left

A variable-gain output feedback control design methodology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halyo, Nesim; Moerder, Daniel D.; Broussard, John R.; Taylor, Deborah B.

1989-01-01

A digital control system design technique is developed in which the control system gain matrix varies with the plant operating point parameters. The design technique is obtained by formulating the problem as an optimal stochastic output feedback control law with variable gains. This approach provides a control theory framework within which the operating range of a control law can be significantly extended. Furthermore, the approach avoids the major shortcomings of the conventional gain-scheduling techniques. The optimal variable gain output feedback control problem is solved by embedding the Multi-Configuration Control (MCC) problem, previously solved at ICS. An algorithm to compute the optimal variable gain output feedback control gain matrices is developed. The algorithm is a modified version of the MCC algorithm improved so as to handle the large dimensionality which arises particularly in variable-gain control problems. The design methodology developed is applied to a reconfigurable aircraft control problem. A variable-gain output feedback control problem was formulated to design a flight control law for an AFTI F-16 aircraft which can automatically reconfigure its control strategy to accommodate failures in the horizontal tail control surface. Simulations of the closed-loop reconfigurable system show that the approach produces a control design which can accommodate such failures with relative ease. The technique can be applied to many other problems including sensor failure accommodation, mode switching control laws and super agility.

Spectral gain measurements of quantum confined emitters, and design and fabrication of intersubband quantum box laser structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsvid, Gene

Semiconductor laser active regions are commonly characterized by photo- and electro-luminescence (PL, EL) and cavity length analysis. However quantitative spectral information is not readily extracted from PL and EL data and comparison of different active region materials can be difficult. More quantifiable spectral information is contained in the optical gain spectra. This work reports on spectral gain studies, using multi-segmented interband devices, of InGaAs quantum well and quantum dot active regions grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Using the fundamental connection between gain and spontaneous emission spectra, the spontaneous radiative current and spontaneous radiative efficiency is evaluated for these active regions. The spectral gain and spontaneous radiative efficiency measurements of 980 nm emitting InGaAs quantum well (QW) material provides a benchmark comparison to previous results obtained on highly-strained, 1200 nm emitting InGaAs QW material. These studies provide insight into carrier recombination and the role of the current injection efficiency in InGaAs QW lasers. The spectral gain of self-assembled MOCVD grown InGaAs quantum dots (QD) active regions are also investigated, allowing for comparison to InGaAs QW material. The second part of my talk will cover intersubband-transition QW and quantum-box (QB) lasers. Quantum cascade (QC) lasers have emerged as compact and technologically important light sources in the mid-infrared (IR) and far-IR wavelength ranges infringing on the near-IR and terahertz spectral regions respectively. However, the overall power conversion efficiency, so-called wallplug efficiency, of the best QC lasers, emitting around 5 microns, is ˜9% in CW operation and very unlikely to exceed 15%. In order to dramatically improve the wallplug efficiency of mid-IR lasers (i.e., to about 50%), intersubband QB (IQB) lasers have been proposed. The basic idea, the optimal design and the progress towards the

An overview of new insights from 6 years of salinity data from SMOS mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicolas, R.

2015-12-01

Measurements of salt held in surface seawater are becoming ever-more important for oceanographers and climatologists to gain a deeper understanding of ocean circulation and Earth's water cycle. ESA's SMOS mission is proving essential for this aim. Launched in 2009, SMOS has provided the longest continuous record (now ~6 years) of sea-surface salinity measurements from space. The salinity of surface seawater is controlled largely by the balance between evaporation and precipitation, but freshwater from rivers and the freezing and melting of ice also cause changes in concentrations. Along with temperature, salinity drives ocean circulation - the thermohaline circulation - which, in turn, plays a key role in the global climate. With a wealth of salinity data from SMOS now in hand complemented by measurements from the NASA-CONAE Aquarius satellite, which uses a different measuring technique. In this talk we shall provide an overview of how the SMOS mission - now celebrating 6 years in orbit - is providing detailed global measurements of SSS. An ensemble of key ocean processes for climate and biochemistry can now be determined and monitored for the first time from space : the detailed salinity structure of tropical instability waves along the equator and the salt exchanged across major oceanic current fronts, the occurrences of large-scale salinity anomalies in the Pacific and Indian oceans related to important climate indexes are also well-evidenced in the six year-long data. In addition, the dispersal of freshwater into the ocean from the major large tropical rivers (Amazon, Orinoco and Congo), their impact on tropical cyclone (TC) intensification and the oceanic imprints of the intense rainfall in the ITCZ and under TC can now be regularly monitored to better understand the variability of the oceanic part of the global water cycle. We will present how SMOS data, along with concurrent in situ Argo ocean-profile data, other satellite observations of sea

Helping medical students to acquire a deeper understanding of truth-telling

PubMed Central

Hurst, Samia A.; Baroffio, Anne; Ummel, Marinette; Burn, Carine Layat

2015-01-01

Problem Truth-telling is an important component of respect for patients’ self-determination, but in the context of breaking bad news, it is also a distressing and difficult task. Intervention We investigated the long-term influence of a simulated patient-based teaching intervention, integrating learning objectives in communication skills and ethics into students’ attitudes and concerns regarding truth-telling. We followed two cohorts of medical students from the preclinical third year to their clinical rotations (fifth year). Open-ended responses were analysed to explore medical students’ reported difficulties in breaking bad news. Context This intervention was implemented during the last preclinical year of a problem-based medical curriculum, in collaboration between the doctor–patient communication and ethics programs. Outcome Over time, concerns such as empathy and truthfulness shifted from a personal to a relational focus. Whereas ‘truthfulness’ was a concern for the content of the message, ‘truth-telling’ included concerns on how information was communicated and how realistically it was received. Truth-telling required empathy, adaptation to the patient, and appropriate management of emotions, both for the patient's welfare and for a realistic understanding of the situation. Lessons learned Our study confirms that an intervention confronting students with a realistic situation succeeds in making them more aware of the real issues of truth-telling. Medical students deepened their reflection over time, acquiring a deeper understanding of the relational dimension of values such as truth-telling, and honing their view of empathy. PMID:26563958

Helping medical students to acquire a deeper understanding of truth-telling.

PubMed

Hurst, Samia A; Baroffio, Anne; Ummel, Marinette; Burn, Carine Layat

2015-01-01

Truth-telling is an important component of respect for patients' self-determination, but in the context of breaking bad news, it is also a distressing and difficult task. We investigated the long-term influence of a simulated patient-based teaching intervention, integrating learning objectives in communication skills and ethics into students' attitudes and concerns regarding truth-telling. We followed two cohorts of medical students from the preclinical third year to their clinical rotations (fifth year). Open-ended responses were analysed to explore medical students' reported difficulties in breaking bad news. This intervention was implemented during the last preclinical year of a problem-based medical curriculum, in collaboration between the doctor-patient communication and ethics programs. Over time, concerns such as empathy and truthfulness shifted from a personal to a relational focus. Whereas 'truthfulness' was a concern for the content of the message, 'truth-telling' included concerns on how information was communicated and how realistically it was received. Truth-telling required empathy, adaptation to the patient, and appropriate management of emotions, both for the patient's welfare and for a realistic understanding of the situation. Our study confirms that an intervention confronting students with a realistic situation succeeds in making them more aware of the real issues of truth-telling. Medical students deepened their reflection over time, acquiring a deeper understanding of the relational dimension of values such as truth-telling, and honing their view of empathy.

Helping medical students to acquire a deeper understanding of truth-telling.

PubMed

Hurst, Samia A; Baroffio, Anne; Ummel, Marinette; Layat Burn, Carine

2015-01-01

Problem Truth-telling is an important component of respect for patients' self-determination, but in the context of breaking bad news, it is also a distressing and difficult task. Intervention We investigated the long-term influence of a simulated patient-based teaching intervention, integrating learning objectives in communication skills and ethics into students' attitudes and concerns regarding truth-telling. We followed two cohorts of medical students from the preclinical third year to their clinical rotations (fifth year). Open-ended responses were analysed to explore medical students' reported difficulties in breaking bad news. Context This intervention was implemented during the last preclinical year of a problem-based medical curriculum, in collaboration between the doctor-patient communication and ethics programs. Outcome Over time, concerns such as empathy and truthfulness shifted from a personal to a relational focus. Whereas 'truthfulness' was a concern for the content of the message, 'truth-telling' included concerns on how information was communicated and how realistically it was received. Truth-telling required empathy, adaptation to the patient, and appropriate management of emotions, both for the patient's welfare and for a realistic understanding of the situation. Lessons learned Our study confirms that an intervention confronting students with a realistic situation succeeds in making them more aware of the real issues of truth-telling. Medical students deepened their reflection over time, acquiring a deeper understanding of the relational dimension of values such as truth-telling, and honing their view of empathy.

PV Calibration Insights | NREL

Science.gov Websites

PV Calibration Insights PV Calibration Insights The Photovoltaic (PV) Calibration Insights blog will provide updates on the testing done by the NREL PV Device Performance group. This NREL research group measures the performance of any and all technologies and sizes of PV devices from around the world

Subglacial geomorphology reveals connections between glacial dynamics and deeper hydrocarbon reservoir leakages at the Polar north Atlantic continental margin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreassen, Karin; Deryabin, Alexey; Rafaelsen, Bjarne; Richarsen, Morten

2014-05-01

Three-dimensional (3D) seismic data from the Barents Sea continental shelf and margin reveal spatial links between subsurface distributions of inferred glacitectonic geomorphic landforms and seismic indications of fluid flow from deeper hydrocarbon reservoirs. Particularly 3D seismic techniques allow detailed mapping and visualization of buried glacial geomorphology and geophysical indications of fluid flow and gas accumulations. Several subsurface glacitectonic landforms show pronounced depressions up to 200 m deep and several km wide. These appear in many locations just upstream from hills of similar sizes and volumes, and are inferred to be hill-hole pairs. The hills are interpreted as thrusted and compressed slabs of sediments and bedrock which have been removed from their original location by moving glaciers during the last glacial, leaving the holes as depressions. The mapped depressions seem often to appear in sediments of different lithology and age. The appearance of mega-scale glacial lineations indicates that fast-flowing ice streams, draining the former Barents Sea and Fennoscandian ice sheets were the main agents of these glacitectonic landforms. Mapped fluid flow migration pathways from deeper reservoirs and shallow gas accumulations show evidence of active fluid migration systems over longer time periods, and their spatial relationship with the glacitectonic landforms is documented for several areas of the Barents Sea continental shelf. A conceptual model is proposed for the depressions, where brittle glacitectonic deformation takes place along a weak layer at the base of gas-hydrate cemented sediments. Fluid flow from deeper hydrocarbon reservoirs is inferred to be associated with cycles of glaciations and unloading due to glacial erosion and ice retreat, causing gas to expand, which in turn potentially breaks the traps, reactivates faults and creates new faults. Gas hydrate stability modeling indicates that the south-western Barents Sea is today

Insight in schizophrenia: a review.

PubMed

Dam, Jesper

2006-01-01

The issue of insight in schizophrenia must be assumed to be one of the most important aspects of the clinical examination. Comprehensive studies have shown that between 50% and 80% of all patients suffering from schizophrenia do not believe that they have a disorder. In recent years, poor insight in schizophrenia has been the subject of increasing interest, as manifested in a number of studies discussed in the present review. Some of these studies focus on insight correlated to various parameters such as psychopathology, neuropsychology, clinical relevance and compliance. Other studies refer to more theoretical implications, among these the issue of defining the concept of insight: whether insight can be seen as a "primary" phenomenon in schizophrenia, and whether insight may be graduated, dimensioned or increased. Several authors have developed rating scales in an attempt to obtain a measure for the degree or dimension of insight. Here, the range of parameters employed gives an excellent impression of the complexity of the concept of insight. In the concluding discussion, a phenomenological aspect is brought in, in an attempt to place the concept of insight in relation to disturbances of the self in schizophrenia and to primary symptoms in schizophrenia, amongst these autism.

Speed of transverse waves in a string revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizcallah, Joseph A.

2017-11-01

In many introductory-level physics textbooks, the derivation of the formula for the speed of transverse waves in a string is either omitted altogether or presented under physically overly idealized assumptions about the shape of the considered wave pulse and the related velocity and acceleration distributions. In this paper, we derive the named formula by applying Newton’s second law or the work-energy theorem to a finite element of the string, making no assumptions about the shape of the wave. We argue that the suggested method can help the student gain a deeper insight into the nature of waves and the related process of energy transport, as well as provide a new experience with the fundamental principles of mechanics as applied to extended and deformable bodies.

On the ground-state degeneracy and entropy in a double-tetrahedral chain formed by the localized Ising spins and mobile electrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gálisová, Lucia

2018-05-01

Ground-state properties of a hybrid double-tetrahedral chain, in which the localized Ising spins regularly alternate with triangular plaquettes occupied by a variable number of mobile electrons, are exactly investigated. We demonstrate that the zero-temperature phase diagram of the model involves several non-degenerate, two-fold degenerate and macroscopically degenerate chiral phases. Low-temperature dependencies of the entropy and specific heat are also examined in order to gain a deeper insight into the degeneracy of individual ground-state phases and phase transitions. It is shown that a diversity of the ground-state degeneracy manifests itself in multiple-peak structures of both thermodynamic quantities. A remarkable temperature dependencies of the specific heat with two and three Schottky-type maxima are discussed in detail.

Developing a Deeper Understanding of "Mathematics Teaching Expertise": An Examination of Three Chinese Mathematics Teachers' Resource Systems as Windows into Their Work and Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pepin, Birgit; Xu, Binyan; Trouche, Luc; Wang, Chongyang

2017-01-01

In order to develop a deeper understanding of mathematics teaching expertise, in this study we use the Documentational Approach to Didactics to explore the resource systems of three Chinese mathematics "expert" teachers. Exploiting the Western and Eastern literature we examine the notion of "mathematics teaching expertise", as…

24 CFR 3280.506 - Heat loss/heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Heat loss/heat gain. 3280.506... URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.506 Heat loss/heat gain. The manufactured home heat loss/heat gain shall be determined by methods outlined in...

24 CFR 3280.506 - Heat loss/heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Heat loss/heat gain. 3280.506... URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.506 Heat loss/heat gain. The manufactured home heat loss/heat gain shall be determined by methods outlined in...

24 CFR 3280.506 - Heat loss/heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Heat loss/heat gain. 3280.506... URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.506 Heat loss/heat gain. The manufactured home heat loss/heat gain shall be determined by methods outlined in...

24 CFR 3280.506 - Heat loss/heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Heat loss/heat gain. 3280.506... URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.506 Heat loss/heat gain. The manufactured home heat loss/heat gain shall be determined by methods outlined in...

24 CFR 3280.506 - Heat loss/heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Heat loss/heat gain. 3280.506... URBAN DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.506 Heat loss/heat gain. The manufactured home heat loss/heat gain shall be determined by methods outlined in...

Paternal and maternal obesity but not gestational weight gain is associated with type 1 diabetes

PubMed Central

Magnus, Maria C; Olsen, Sjurdur F; Granstrom, Charlotta; Lund-Blix, Nicolai A; Svensson, Jannet; Johannesen, Jesper; Fraser, Abigail; Skrivarhaug, Torild; Joner, Geir; Njølstad, Pål R; Størdal, Ketil; Stene, Lars C

2018-01-01

Abstract Background Our objective was to examine the associations of parental body mass index (BMI) and maternal gestational weight gain with childhood-onset type 1 diabetes. Comparing the associations of maternal and paternal BMI with type 1 diabetes in the offspring will provide further insight into the role of unmeasured confounding by characteristics linked to BMI in both parents. Methods We studied 132 331 children participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) who were born between February 1998 and July 2009. Exposures of interest included parental BMI and maternal gestational weight gain obtained by maternal report. We used Cox-proportional hazards regression to examine the risk of type 1 diabetes (n=499 cases), which was ascertained by national childhood diabetes registers. Results The incidence of type 1 diabetes was 32.7 per 100 000 person-years in MoBa and 28.5 per 100 000 person-years in DNBC. Both maternal pre-pregnancy obesity, adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.41 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.89] and paternal obesity, adjusted HR 1.51 (95% CI: 1.11, 2.04), were associated with childhood-onset type 1 diabetes. The associations were similar after mutual adjustment. In contrast, maternal total gestational weight gain was not associated with childhood-onset type 1 diabetes, adjusted HR 1.00 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.02) per kilogram increase. Conclusions Our study suggests that the association between maternal obesity and childhood-onset type 1 diabetes is not likely explained by intrauterine mechanisms, but possibly rather by unknown environmental factors influencing BMI in the family. PMID:29415279

Genetics of antipsychotic-induced weight gain: update and current perspectives.

PubMed

Kao, Amy C C; Müller, Daniel J

2013-12-01

Antipsychotic medications are used to effectively treat various symptoms for different psychiatric conditions. Unfortunately, antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG) is a common side effect that frequently results in obesity and secondary medical conditions. Twin and sibling studies have indicated that genetic factors are likely to be highly involved in AIWG. Over recent years, there has been considerable progress in this area, with several consistently replicated findings, as well as the identification of new genes and implicated pathways. Here, we will review the most recent genetic studies related to AIWG using the Medline database (PubMed) and Google Scholar. Among the steadiest findings associated with AIWG are serotonin 2C receptors (HTR2C) and leptin promoter gene variants, with more recent studies implicating MTHFR and, in particular, MC4R genes. Additional support was reported for the HRH1, BDNF, NPY, CNR1, GHRL, FTO and AMPK genes. Notably, some of the reported variants appear to have relatively large effect sizes. These findings have provided insights into the mechanisms involved in AIWG and will help to develop predictive genetic tests in the near future.

Optical properties of nanowire metamaterials with gain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lima, Joaquim; Adam, Jost; Rego, Davi; Esquerre, Vitaly; Bordo, Vladimir

2016-11-01

The transmittance, reflectance and absorption of a nanowire metamaterial with optical gain are numerically simulated and investigated. It is assumed that the metamaterial is represented by aligned silver nanowires embedded into a semiconductor matrix, made of either silicon or gallium phosphide. The gain in the matrix is modeled by adding a negative imaginary part to the dielectric function of the semiconductor. It is found that the optical coefficients of the metamaterial depend on the gain magnitude in a non-trivial way: they can both increase and decrease with gain depending on the lattice constant of the metamaterial. This peculiar behavior is explained by the field redistribution between the lossy metal nanowires and the amplifying matrix material. These findings are significant for a proper design of nanowire metamaterials with low optical losses for diverse applications.

New Discovery About Middle-Age Weight Gain

MedlinePlus

... Middle-Age Weight Gain Follow us Photo: AdobeStock New Discovery About Middle-Age Weight Gain A TEAM ... findings could lead to the development of a new type of weight-loss medication. SOURCE: NIH Research ...

Multiple network-constrained regressions expand insights into influenza vaccination responses.

PubMed

Avey, Stefan; Mohanty, Subhasis; Wilson, Jean; Zapata, Heidi; Joshi, Samit R; Siconolfi, Barbara; Tsang, Sui; Shaw, Albert C; Kleinstein, Steven H

2017-07-15

Systems immunology leverages recent technological advancements that enable broad profiling of the immune system to better understand the response to infection and vaccination, as well as the dysregulation that occurs in disease. An increasingly common approach to gain insights from these large-scale profiling experiments involves the application of statistical learning methods to predict disease states or the immune response to perturbations. However, the goal of many systems studies is not to maximize accuracy, but rather to gain biological insights. The predictors identified using current approaches can be biologically uninterpretable or present only one of many equally predictive models, leading to a narrow understanding of the underlying biology. Here we show that incorporating prior biological knowledge within a logistic modeling framework by using network-level constraints on transcriptional profiling data significantly improves interpretability. Moreover, incorporating different types of biological knowledge produces models that highlight distinct aspects of the underlying biology, while maintaining predictive accuracy. We propose a new framework, Logistic Multiple Network-constrained Regression (LogMiNeR), and apply it to understand the mechanisms underlying differential responses to influenza vaccination. Although standard logistic regression approaches were predictive, they were minimally interpretable. Incorporating prior knowledge using LogMiNeR led to models that were equally predictive yet highly interpretable. In this context, B cell-specific genes and mTOR signaling were associated with an effective vaccination response in young adults. Overall, our results demonstrate a new paradigm for analyzing high-dimensional immune profiling data in which multiple networks encoding prior knowledge are incorporated to improve model interpretability. The R source code described in this article is publicly available at https

From tectonics to tractors: New insight into Earth's changing surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, I. J.

2017-12-01

Weathering and erosion of rock and the transport of sediment continually modify Earth's surface. The transformation and transfer of material by both natural and anthropogenic processes drives global cycles and influences the habitability of our planet. By quantitatively linking erosional and depositional landforms to the processes that form them, we better understand how Earth's surface will evolve in the future, and gain the ability to look into the past to recognize how planetary surfaces evolved when environments were drastically different than today. Many of the recent advances in our understanding of the processes that influence landscape evolution have been driven by the development and application of tools such as cosmogenic nuclides, computational models, and digital topographic data. Here I present results gleaned from applying these tools to a diverse set of landscapes, where erosion is driven by factors ranging from tectonics to tractors, to provide insight into the mechanics, chemistry, and history of Earth's changing surface. I will first examine the landslide response of hillslopes in the Himalaya to spatial gradients in tectonic forcing to assess the paradigm of threshold hillslopes. Second, I will present soil production and chemical weathering rates measured in the Southern Alps of New Zealand to determine the relationship between physical erosion and chemical weathering in one of Earth's most rapidly uplifting landscapes, and discuss the implications for proposed links between mountain uplift and global climate. Third, I will discuss results from numerical flood simulations used to explore the interplay between outburst flood hydraulics and canyon incision in the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington, and explore the implications for reconstructing discharge in flood-carved canyons on Earth and Mars. Finally, I will present new work that couples high resolution spectral and topographic data to estimate the spatial extent of agriculturally

Gain Shift Corrections at Chi-Nu

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

Brown, Tristan Brooks; Devlin, Matthew James

Ambient conditions have the potential to cause changes in liquid scintillator detector gain that vary with time and temperature. These gain shifts can lead to poor resolution in both energy as well as pulse shape discrimination. In order to correct for these shifts in the Chi-Nu high energy array, a laser system has been developed for calibration of the pulse height signals.

Gaining hope and self-confidence-An interview study of women's experience of treatment by art therapy for severe fear of childbirth.

PubMed

Wahlbeck, Helén; Kvist, Linda J; Landgren, Kajsa

2017-10-31

Fear of childbirth is a serious problem that can have negative effects on both women and babies and to date treatment options are limited. The aim of this study was to elucidate the experience of undergoing art therapy in women with severe fear of childbirth. Nineteen women residing in Sweden, who had undergone art therapy for severe fear of childbirth, were interviewed during 2011-2013 about their experiences of the treatment. All women had received both support from a specialist team of midwives and treatment by an art therapist who was also a midwife. The women were interviewed three months after giving birth. The transcribed interviews were analysed with a phenomenological hermeneutical method. A main theme and three themes emerged from the analysis. The main theme was Gaining hope and self confidence. The three themes were; Carrying heavy baggage, Creating images as a catalyst for healing and Gaining new insights and abilities. Through the use of images and colours the women gained access to difficult emotions and the act of painting helped them visualize these emotions and acted as a catalyst for the healing process. Art therapy was well accepted by the women. Through sharing their burden of fear by creating visible images, they gained hope and self-confidence in the face of their impending childbirth. The results may contribute to knowledge about the feasibility of treating fear of childbirth by art therapy. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Cognitive insight: A systematic review.

PubMed

Van Camp, L S C; Sabbe, B G C; Oldenburg, J F E

2017-07-01

Cognitive insight is the ability to re-evaluate thoughts and beliefs in order to make thoughtful conclusions. It differs from clinical insight, as it focuses on more general metacognitive processes. Therefore, it could be relevant to diverse disorders and non-clinical subjects. There is a growing body of research on cognitive insight in individuals with and without psychosis. This review has summarised the current state of the art regarding this topic. We conclude that while cognitive insight in its current form seems valid for use in individuals with psychosis, it is less so for individuals without psychosis. Additionally, higher cognitive insight not always leads to better psychological functioning. For instance, higher levels of self-reflection are often associated with depressive mood. We therefore recommend the sub-components of cognitive insight to be studied separately. Also, it is unclear what position cognitive insight takes within the spectrum of metacognitive processes and how it relates to other self-related concepts that have been defined previously in literature. Combining future and past research on cognitive insight and its analogue concepts will help in the formation of a uniform definition that fits all subjects discussed here. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Gains in accuracy from averaging ratings of abnormality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swensson, Richard G.; King, Jill L.; Gur, David; Good, Walter F.

1999-05-01

Six radiologists used continuous scales to rate 529 chest-film cases for likelihood of five separate types of abnormalities (interstitial disease, nodules, pneumothorax, alveolar infiltrates and rib fractures) in each of six replicated readings, yielding 36 separate ratings of each case for the five abnormalities. Analyses for each type of abnormality estimated the relative gains in accuracy (area below the ROC curve) obtained by averaging the case-ratings across: (1) six independent replications by each reader (30% gain), (2) six different readers within each replication (39% gain) or (3) all 36 readings (58% gain). Although accuracy differed among both readers and abnormalities, ROC curves for the median ratings showed similar relative gains in accuracy. From a latent-variable model for these gains, we estimate that about 51% of a reader's total decision variance consisted of random (within-reader) errors that were uncorrelated between replications, another 14% came from that reader's consistent (but idiosyncratic) responses to different cases, and only about 35% could be attributed to systematic variations among the sampled cases that were consistent across different readers.

Particulate Matter over the Western Mediterranean sea: new insights gained from data collected during the 2011, 2012 and 2015 CNR research cruise campaigns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castagna, Jessica; D'Amore, Francesco; Naccarato, Attilio; Moretti, Sacha; Mannarino, Valentino; Bencardino, Mariantonia; Sprovieri, Francesca; Pirrone, Nicola

2017-04-01

The Mediterranean basin, due to its unique geographic position and its peculiar meteo-climatic conditions, appears to be an area with a relevant pollution load. Significant is the contribution of dense ship traffic and highly industrialized population centres surrounding the basin itself but a large influence is also due to geological sources like Saharan dust and volcanic ashes. The transport of both natural dust and anthropogenic aerosols into the marine environment involves considerable interest, not least for its potential impact on marine ecosystems, world climate and air quality. However, whereas there is already a large monitoring database measuring air pollution at surface land-based sites and in ports, there is a relatively little information on atmospheric aerosol directly measured at sea. In order to fill in the gap of observations in the Mediterranean basin and to gain more insight into the atmospheric dynamical and chemical mechanisms leading to high surface Particulate Matter (PM) levels, the Institute of Atmospheric Pollution of the National Research Council (CNR-IIA), since 2003, has started regular ship-borne measurements over the Mediterranean Sea. In the present work we will specifically focus on PM observations obtained, travelling on the sea, during three cruise campaigns performed during autumn 2011, summer 2012 and summer 2015, along different tracks and almost covering the Western Mediterranean sector. We specifically recorded two, gravimetrically determined, PM size fraction mass concentrations (PM2.5 and PM10), whose major and trace elemental composition was subsequently obtained by chemical analysis with an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). Overall, we obtained 40 days of data observations whose analysis contributes to investigate the causes of aerosol pollution in this area. Data on PM mass concentrations showed a quite high variability ranging from 10.5 to 38.8 μg.m-3 for the PM10, and from 5.5 to 29.7 μg.m-3 for

Sudden gains in exposure therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

PubMed

Collins, Lindsey M; Coles, Meredith E

2017-06-01

Prior research in the treatment of depression and anxiety has demonstrated that a sudden reduction in symptoms between two consecutive sessions (sudden gain) is related to lower post-treatment symptom severity (e.g. Hofmann, Schulz, Meuret, Moscovitch, & Suvak, 2006; Tang & DeRubeis, 1999). However, only one study has examined sudden gains in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). In that study, one-third of the patients with OCD experienced a sudden gain (Aderka et al., 2012). Further, patients who had a sudden gain had lower clinician-rated OCD symptom severity post-treatment (Aderka et al., 2012). In replication, the current study examined the frequency, characteristics, and clinical impact of sudden gains in 27 OCD patients during exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. Fifty two percent of patients experienced a sudden gain. The mean magnitude of a sudden gain represented, on average, 61.4% of total symptom reduction. Following treatment, individuals who had experienced a sudden gain were rated as less severe on the clinical global impression scale, but they did not experience a greater reduction in OCD symptoms (pre-to post-treatment) than those without a sudden gain. None of the pre-treatment characteristics tested were found to significantly predict whether a patient would have a sudden gain. Additional research examining predictors of, and patterns of, change in OCD symptoms is warranted. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential gains from hospital mergers in Denmark.

PubMed

Kristensen, Troels; Bogetoft, Peter; Pedersen, Kjeld Moeller

2010-12-01

The Danish hospital sector faces a major rebuilding program to centralize activity in fewer and larger hospitals. We aim to conduct an efficiency analysis of hospitals and to estimate the potential cost savings from the planned hospital mergers. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate a cost frontier. Based on this analysis, we calculate an efficiency score for each hospital and estimate the potential gains from the proposed mergers by comparing individual efficiencies with the efficiency of the combined hospitals. Furthermore, we apply a decomposition algorithm to split merger gains into technical efficiency, size (scale) and harmony (mix) gains. The motivation for this decomposition is that some of the apparent merger gains may actually be available with less than a full-scale merger, e.g., by sharing best practices and reallocating certain resources and tasks. Our results suggest that many hospitals are technically inefficient, and the expected "best practice" hospitals are quite efficient. Also, some mergers do not seem to lower costs. This finding indicates that some merged hospitals become too large and therefore experience diseconomies of scale. Other mergers lead to considerable cost reductions; we find potential gains resulting from learning better practices and the exploitation of economies of scope. To ensure robustness, we conduct a sensitivity analysis using two alternative returns-to-scale assumptions and two alternative estimation approaches. We consistently find potential gains from improving the technical efficiency and the exploitation of economies of scope from mergers.

Optomechanical transistor with mechanical gain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X. Z.; Tian, Lin; Li, Yong

2018-04-01

We study an optomechanical transistor, where an input field can be transferred and amplified unidirectionally in a cyclic three-mode optomechanical system. In this system, the mechanical resonator is coupled simultaneously to two cavity modes. We show that it only requires a finite mechanical gain to achieve the nonreciprocal amplification. Here the nonreciprocity is caused by the phase difference between the linearized optomechanical couplings that breaks the time-reversal symmetry of this system. The amplification arises from the mechanical gain, which provides an effective phonon bath that pumps the mechanical mode coherently. This effect is analogous to the stimulated emission of atoms, where the probe field can be amplified when its frequency is in resonance with that of the anti-Stokes transition. We show that by choosing optimal parameters, this optomechanical transistor can reach perfect unidirectionality accompanied with strong amplification. In addition, the presence of the mechanical gain can result in ultralong delay in the phase of the probe field, which provides an alternative to controlling light transport in optomechanical systems.

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

Stu Spath, InSight program manager, Lockheed Martin Space, discusses NASA's InSight mission during a prelaunch media briefing, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

Tom Hoffman, InSight project manager, NASA JPL, right, discusses NASA's InSight mission during a prelaunch media briefing, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator, NASA JPL, discusses NASA's InSight mission during a prelaunch media briefing, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

[Regulation effect of water storage in deeper soil layers on root physiological characteristics and leaf photosynthetic traits of cotton with drip irrigation under mulch].

PubMed

Luo, Hong-Hai; Zhang, Hong-Zhi; Du, Ming-Wei; Huang, Jian-Jun; Zhang, Ya-Li; Zhang, Wang-Feng

2009-06-01

A soil column culture experiment was conducted under the ecological and climatic conditions of Xinjiang to study the effects of water storage in deeper (> 60 cm) soil layers on the root physiological characteristics and leaf photosynthetic traits of cotton variety Xinluzao 13. Two treatments were installed, i.e., well-watered and no watering. The moisture content in plough layer was controlled at 70% +/- 5% and 55% +/- 5% of field capacity by drip irrigation under mulch during growth season. It was shown that the water storage in deeper soil layers enhanced the SOD activity and the vigor of cotton root, and increased the water use efficiency of plant as well as the leaf water potential, chlorophyll content, and net photosynthesis rate, which finally led to a higher yield of seed cotton and higher water use efficiency. Under well-watered condition and when the moisture content in plough layer was maintained at 55% of field capacity, the senescence of roots in middle and lower soil layers was slower, and the higher root vigor compensated the negative effects of impaired photosynthesis caused by water deficit to some extent. The yield of seed cotton was lower when the moisture content in plough layer was maintained at 55% of field capacity than at 70% of field capacity, but no significant difference was observed in the water use efficiency. Our results emphasized the importance of pre-sowing irrigation in winter or in spring to increase the water storage of deeper soil layers. In addition, proper cultivation practices and less frequent drip irrigation (longer intervals between successive rounds of irrigation) were also essential for conserving irrigation water and achieving higher yield.

Structural Insights into Amyloid Oligomers of the Parkinson Disease-related Protein α-Synuclein*

PubMed Central

Gallea, J. Ignacio; Celej, M. Soledad

2014-01-01

The presence of intraneuronal deposits mainly formed by amyloid fibrils of the presynaptic protein α-synuclein (AS) is a hallmark of Parkinson disease. Currently, neurotoxicity is attributed to prefibrillar oligomeric species rather than the insoluble aggregates, although their mechanisms of toxicity remain elusive. Structural details of the supramolecular organization of AS oligomers are critically needed to decipher the structure-toxicity relationship underlying their pathogenicity. In this study, we employed site-specific fluorescence to get a deeper insight into the internal architecture of AS oligomeric intermediates. We demonstrate that AS oligomers are ordered assemblies possessing a well defined pattern of intermolecular contacts. Some of these contacts involve regions that form the β-sheet core in the fibrillar state, although their spatial arrangement may differ in the two aggregated forms. However, even though the two termini are excluded from the fibrillar core, they are engaged in a number of intermolecular interactions within the oligomer. Therefore, substantial structural remodeling of early oligomeric interactions is essential for fibril growth. The intermolecular contacts identified in AS oligomers can serve as targets for the rational design of anti-amyloid compounds directed at preventing oligomeric interactions/reorganizations. PMID:25143382

Recent Advances in Type-2-Cell-Mediated Immunity: Insights from Helminth Infection.

PubMed

Harris, Nicola L; Loke, P'ng

2017-12-19

Type-2-cell-mediated immune responses play a critical role in mediating both host-resistance and disease-tolerance mechanisms during helminth infections. Recently, type 2 cell responses have emerged as major regulators of tissue repair and metabolic homeostasis even under steady-state conditions. In this review, we consider how studies of helminth infection have contributed toward our expanding cellular and molecular understanding of type-2-cell-mediated immunity, as well as new areas such as the microbiome. By studying how these successful parasites form chronic infections without overt pathology, we are gaining additional insights into allergic and inflammatory diseases, as well as normal physiology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Control of root system architecture by DEEPER ROOTING 1 increases rice yield under drought conditions.

PubMed

Uga, Yusaku; Sugimoto, Kazuhiko; Ogawa, Satoshi; Rane, Jagadish; Ishitani, Manabu; Hara, Naho; Kitomi, Yuka; Inukai, Yoshiaki; Ono, Kazuko; Kanno, Noriko; Inoue, Haruhiko; Takehisa, Hinako; Motoyama, Ritsuko; Nagamura, Yoshiaki; Wu, Jianzhong; Matsumoto, Takashi; Takai, Toshiyuki; Okuno, Kazutoshi; Yano, Masahiro

2013-09-01

The genetic improvement of drought resistance is essential for stable and adequate crop production in drought-prone areas. Here we demonstrate that alteration of root system architecture improves drought avoidance through the cloning and characterization of DEEPER ROOTING 1 (DRO1), a rice quantitative trait locus controlling root growth angle. DRO1 is negatively regulated by auxin and is involved in cell elongation in the root tip that causes asymmetric root growth and downward bending of the root in response to gravity. Higher expression of DRO1 increases the root growth angle, whereby roots grow in a more downward direction. Introducing DRO1 into a shallow-rooting rice cultivar by backcrossing enabled the resulting line to avoid drought by increasing deep rooting, which maintained high yield performance under drought conditions relative to the recipient cultivar. Our experiments suggest that control of root system architecture will contribute to drought avoidance in crops.

Symmetric Gain Optoelectronic Mixers for LADAR

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

photodetector in the receiver is used as an optoelectronic mixer (OEM). Adding gain to the optoelectronic mixer allows the following transimpedance ...output is the low frequency difference signal, several orders of magnitude lower than the LO signal. Therefore, the gain of the transimpedance ... amplifier (TZA) following the photodetector can be increased, improving LADAR range. The metal-semiconductor- metal (MSM) Schottky detector is such a

Gain curves and hydrodynamic modeling for shock ignition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lafon, M.; Ribeyre, X.; Schurtz, G.

2010-05-01

Ignition of a precompressed thermonuclear fuel by means of a converging shock is now considered as a credible scheme to obtain high gains for inertial fusion energy. This work aims at modeling the successive stages of the fuel time history, from compression to final thermonuclear combustion, in order to provide the gain curves of shock ignition (SI). The leading physical mechanism at work in SI is pressure amplification, at first by spherical convergence, and by collision with the shock reflected at center during the stagnation process. These two effects are analyzed, and ignition conditions are provided as functions of the shock pressure and implosion velocity. Ignition conditions are obtained from a non-isobaric fuel assembly, for which we present a gain model. The corresponding gain curves exhibit a significantly lower ignition threshold and higher target gains than conventional central ignition.

Gestational Weight Gain: Association with Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.

PubMed

Hannaford, Karen E; Tuuli, Methodius G; Odibo, Linda; Macones, George A; Odibo, Anthony O

2017-01-01

Background  It is unclear how adherence to the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) guidelines for weight gain affects pregnancy outcomes. Objective  We investigated how weight gain outside the IOM's recommendations affects the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Study Design  We performed a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study including singleton, nonanomalous fetuses. The risks of small for gestational age (SGA), macrosomia, preeclampsia, cesarean delivery, gestational diabetes, or preterm birth were calculated for patients who gained weight below or above the IOM's recommendations based on body mass index category. A time-to-event analysis was performed to account for gestational age at delivery. A Cox proportional model was fit to estimate hazard ratios accounting for possible confounders. Results  Women who gained weight below recommendations were 2.5 times more likely to deliver SGA and twice as likely to deliver preterm. Normal-weight patients who gained below recommendations were 2.5 times more likely to deliver SGA and twice as likely to deliver preterm. Obese patients who gained inadequate weight were 2.5 times more likely to deliver SGA. Conclusion  Among normal-weight patients, adhering to IOM recommendations may prevent growth abnormalities and preterm delivery. Among obese patients, a minimum weight gain requirement may prevent SGA infants. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Antidepressants and Weight Gain

MedlinePlus

... 2015;37:46. Blumenthal SR, et al. An electronic health records study of long-term weight gain following antidepressant ... your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy ...

Sound pressure gain produced by the human middle ear.

PubMed

Kurokawa, H; Goode, R L

1995-10-01

The acoustic function of the middle ear is to match sound passing from the low impedance of air to the high impedance of cochlear fluid. Little information is available on the actual middle ear pressure gain in human beings. This article describes experiments on middle ear pressure gain in six fresh human temporal bones. Stapes footplate displacement and phase were measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer before and after removal of the tympanic membrane, malleus, and incus. Acoustic insulation of the round window with clay was performed. Umbo displacement was also measured before tympanic membrane removal to assess baseline tympanic membrane function. The middle ear has its major gain in the lower frequencies, with a peak near 0.9 kHz. The mean gain was 23.0 dB below 1.0 kHz, the resonant frequency of the middle ear; the mean peak gain was 26.6 dB. Above 1.0 kHz, the second pressure gain decreased at a rate of -8.6 dB/octave, with a mean gain of 6.5 dB at 4.0 kHz. Only a small amount of gain was present above 7.0 kHz. Significant individual differences in pressure gain were found between ears that appeared related to variations in tympanic membrane function and not to variations in cochlear impedance.

Welfare Gains from Financial Liberalization

PubMed Central

Townsend, Robert M.; Ueda, Kenichi

2010-01-01

Financial liberalization has been a controversial issue, as empirical evidence for growth enhancing effects is mixed. Here, we find sizable welfare gains from liberalization (cost to repression), though the gain in economic growth is ambiguous. We take the view that financial liberalization is a government policy that alters the path of financial deepening, while financial deepening is endogenously chosen by agents given a policy and occurs in transition towards a distant steady state. This history-dependent view necessitates the use of simulation analysis based on a growth model. Our application is a specific episode: Thailand from 1976 to 1996. PMID:20806055

InSight Prelaunch Briefing

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

Social media guest listen as Bruce Banerdt, InSight principal investigator, NASA JPL, discusses NASA's InSight mission during a prelaunch media briefing, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Denial of illness in schizophrenia as a disturbance of self-reflection, self-perception and insight.

PubMed

Bedford, Nicholas J; David, Anthony S

2014-01-01

A substantial proportion of schizophrenia patients deny aspects of their illness to others, which may indicate a deeper disturbance of 'insight' and a self-reflection deficit. The present study used a 'levels-of-processing' mnemonic paradigm to examine whether such patients engage in particularly brief and shallow self-reflection during mental illness-related self-evaluation. 26 schizophrenia patients with either an overall acceptance or denial of their illness and 25 healthy controls made timed decisions about the self-descriptiveness, other-person-descriptiveness and phonological properties of mental illness traits, negative traits and positive traits, before completing surprise tests of retrieval for these traits. The acceptance patients and denial patients were particularly slow in their mental illness-related self-evaluation, indicating that they both found this exercise particularly difficult. Both patient groups displayed intact recognition but particularly reduced recall for self-evaluated traits in general, possibly indicating poor organisational processing during self-reflection. Lower recall for self-evaluated mental illness traits significantly correlated with higher denial of illness and higher illness-severity. Whilst explicit and implicit measures of self-perception corresponded in the healthy controls (who displayed an intact positive>negative 'self-positivity bias') and acceptance patients (who displayed a reduced self-positivity bias), the denial patients' self-positivity bias was explicitly intact but implicitly reduced. Schizophrenia patients, regardless of their illness-attitudes, have a particular deficit in recalling new self-related information that worsens with increasing denial of illness. This deficit may contribute towards rigid self-perception and disturbed self-awareness and insight in patients with denial of illness. © 2013.

Antipsychotic induced weight gain in schizophrenia:mechanisms and management.

PubMed

Rege, Sanil

2008-05-01

The aim of the present paper was to describe the mechanisms and management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain in schizophrenia patients. A comprehensive literature review of all available articles on the mechanisms and management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain was done by searching databases PsychINFO and PubMed. A summary of the available guidelines for monitoring of antipsychotic-induced weight gain and metabolic syndrome is also provided. There has been a substantial increase in the number of studies investigating the mechanisms and management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain after 2002. These include advances in the understanding of pharmacogenomics of weight gain and several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating pharmacological and psychological treatments to promote weight loss. The most effective strategy for prevention of weight gain is the choice of antipsychotic medication with low weight gain potential. In individuals with established weight gain and metabolic issues, switching to an antipsychotic agent with lower weight gain potential and/or lifestyle modifications with physical activity are most effective in promoting weight loss. Pharmacological agents such as orlistat and sibutramine are effective in general obesity but have not been sufficiently evaluated in antipsychotic-induced weight gain. The case to prescribe routine pharmacological treatment to promote weight loss is weak. Long-term, pragmatic studies are required to inform clinical practice. Weight gain in schizophrenia is associated with significant physical and psychological morbidity. Achieving an optimal trade-off between effectiveness and side-effects of antipsychotic agents, although difficult, is achievable. This should be based on three main principles: (i) a shared decision-making model between the patient, clinician and carer(s) when choosing an antipsychotic; (ii) a commitment to baseline and follow-up monitoring with explicit identification of the responsible

Extensive intron gain in the ancestor of placental mammals

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Genome-wide studies of intron dynamics in mammalian orthologous genes have found convincing evidence for loss of introns but very little for intron turnover. Similarly, large-scale analysis of intron dynamics in a few vertebrate genomes has identified only intron losses and no gains, indicating that intron gain is an extremely rare event in vertebrate evolution. These studies suggest that the intron-rich genomes of vertebrates do not allow intron gain. The aim of this study was to search for evidence of de novo intron gain in domesticated genes from an analysis of their exon/intron structures. Results A phylogenomic approach has been used to analyse all domesticated genes in mammals and chordates that originated from the coding parts of transposable elements. Gain of introns in domesticated genes has been reconstructed on well established mammalian, vertebrate and chordate phylogenies, and examined as to where and when the gain events occurred. The locations, sizes and amounts of de novo introns gained in the domesticated genes during the evolution of mammals and chordates has been analyzed. A significant amount of intron gain was found only in domesticated genes of placental mammals, where more than 70 cases were identified. De novo gained introns show clear positional bias, since they are distributed mainly in 5' UTR and coding regions, while 3' UTR introns are very rare. In the coding regions of some domesticated genes up to 8 de novo gained introns have been found. Intron densities in Eutheria-specific domesticated genes and in older domesticated genes that originated early in vertebrates are lower than those for normal mammalian and vertebrate genes. Surprisingly, the majority of intron gains have occurred in the ancestor of placentals. Conclusions This study provides the first evidence for numerous intron gains in the ancestor of placental mammals and demonstrates that adequate taxon sampling is crucial for reconstructing intron evolution. The

The Intervention Nurses Start Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT) study.

PubMed

Paul, Ian M; Williams, Jennifer S; Anzman-Frasca, Stephanie; Beiler, Jessica S; Makova, Kateryna D; Marini, Michele E; Hess, Lindsey B; Rzucidlo, Susan E; Verdiglione, Nicole; Mindell, Jodi A; Birch, Leann L

2014-07-18

Because early life growth has long-lasting metabolic and behavioral consequences, intervention during this period of developmental plasticity may alter long-term obesity risk. While modifiable factors during infancy have been identified, until recently, preventive interventions had not been tested. The Intervention Nurses Starting Infants Growing on Healthy Trajectories (INSIGHT). Study is a longitudinal, randomized, controlled trial evaluating a responsive parenting intervention designed for the primary prevention of obesity. This "parenting" intervention is being compared with a home safety control among first-born infants and their parents. INSIGHT's central hypothesis is that responsive parenting and specifically responsive feeding promotes self-regulation and shared parent-child responsibility for feeding, reducing subsequent risk for overeating and overweight. 316 first-time mothers and their full-term newborns were enrolled from one maternity ward. Two weeks following delivery, dyads were randomly assigned to the "parenting" or "safety" groups. Subsequently, research nurses conduct study visits for both groups consisting of home visits at infant age 3-4, 16, 28, and 40 weeks, followed by annual clinic-based visits at 1, 2, and 3 years. Both groups receive intervention components framed around four behavior states: Sleeping, Fussy, Alert and Calm, and Drowsy. The main study outcome is BMI z-score at age 3 years; additional outcomes include those related to patterns of infant weight gain, infant sleep hygiene and duration, maternal responsiveness and soothing strategies for infant/toddler distress and fussiness, maternal feeding style and infant dietary content and physical activity. Maternal outcomes related to weight status, diet, mental health, and parenting sense of competence are being collected. Infant temperament will be explored as a moderator of parenting effects, and blood is collected to obtain genetic predictors of weight status. Finally, second

InSight Lift & Mate

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-23

At Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers position NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

InSight Lift & Mate

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-23

Encapsulated in its payload fairing NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander is prepared for transport to Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

InSight Battery Installation

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-20

In the gantry at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a technician prepares batteries for installation in NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

InSight Battery Installation

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-20

In the gantry at Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers prepare batteries for installation in NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

A generalized predictive model for direct gain

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

Givoni, B.

In the correlational model for direct gain developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a list of constants applicable to different types of buildings or passive solar systems was specified separately for each type. In its original form, the model was applicable only to buildings similar in their heat capacity, type of glazing, or night insulation to the types specified by the model. While maintaining the general form of the predictive equations, the new model, the predictive model for direct gain (PMDG), replaces the constants with functions dependent upon the thermal properties of the building, or the components of themore » solar system, or both. By this transformation, the LANL model for direct gain becomes a generalized one. The new model predicts the performance of buildings heated by direct gain with any heat capacity, glazing, and night insulation as functions of their thermophysical properties and climatic conditions.« less

Microwave gain medium with negative refractive index.

PubMed

Ye, Dexin; Chang, Kihun; Ran, Lixin; Xin, Hao

2014-12-19

Artificial effective media are attractive because of the fantastic applications they may enable, such as super lensing and electromagnetic invisibility. However, the inevitable loss due to their strongly dispersive nature is one of the fundamental challenges preventing such applications from becoming a reality. In this study, we demonstrate an effective gain medium based on negative resistance, to overcompensate the loss of a conventional passive metamaterial, meanwhile keeping its original negative-index property. Energy conservation-based theory, full-wave simulation and experimental measurement show that a fabricated sample consisting of conventional sub-wavelength building blocks with embedded microwave tunnel diodes exhibits a band-limited Lorentzian dispersion simultaneously with a negative refractive index and a net gain. Our work provides experimental evidence to the assertion that a stable net gain in negative-index gain medium is achievable, proposing a potential solution for the critical challenge current metamateiral technology faces in practical applications.

A Deeper Examination of Thorellius atrox Scorpion Venom Components with Omic Techonologies.

PubMed

Romero-Gutierrez, Teresa; Peguero-Sanchez, Esteban; Cevallos, Miguel A; Batista, Cesar V F; Ortiz, Ernesto; Possani, Lourival D

2017-12-12

This communication reports a further examination of venom gland transcripts and venom composition of the Mexican scorpion Thorellius atrox using RNA-seq and tandem mass spectrometry. The RNA-seq, which was performed with the Illumina protocol, yielded more than 20,000 assembled transcripts. Following a database search and annotation strategy, 160 transcripts were identified, potentially coding for venom components. A novel sequence was identified that potentially codes for a peptide with similarity to spider ω-agatoxins, which act on voltage-gated calcium channels, not known before to exist in scorpion venoms. Analogous transcripts were found in other scorpion species. They could represent members of a new scorpion toxin family, here named omegascorpins. The mass fingerprint by LC-MS identified 135 individual venom components, five of which matched with the theoretical masses of putative peptides translated from the transcriptome. The LC-MS/MS de novo sequencing allowed to reconstruct and identify 42 proteins encoded by assembled transcripts, thus validating the transcriptome analysis. Earlier studies conducted with this scorpion venom permitted the identification of only twenty putative venom components. The present work performed with more powerful and modern omic technologies demonstrates the capacity of accomplishing a deeper characterization of scorpion venom components and the identification of novel molecules with potential applications in biomedicine and the study of ion channel physiology.

A Deeper Examination of Thorellius atrox Scorpion Venom Components with Omic Techonologies

PubMed Central

Romero-Gutierrez, Teresa; Batista, Cesar V. F.

2017-01-01

This communication reports a further examination of venom gland transcripts and venom composition of the Mexican scorpion Thorellius atrox using RNA-seq and tandem mass spectrometry. The RNA-seq, which was performed with the Illumina protocol, yielded more than 20,000 assembled transcripts. Following a database search and annotation strategy, 160 transcripts were identified, potentially coding for venom components. A novel sequence was identified that potentially codes for a peptide with similarity to spider ω-agatoxins, which act on voltage-gated calcium channels, not known before to exist in scorpion venoms. Analogous transcripts were found in other scorpion species. They could represent members of a new scorpion toxin family, here named omegascorpins. The mass fingerprint by LC-MS identified 135 individual venom components, five of which matched with the theoretical masses of putative peptides translated from the transcriptome. The LC-MS/MS de novo sequencing allowed to reconstruct and identify 42 proteins encoded by assembled transcripts, thus validating the transcriptome analysis. Earlier studies conducted with this scorpion venom permitted the identification of only twenty putative venom components. The present work performed with more powerful and modern omic technologies demonstrates the capacity of accomplishing a deeper characterization of scorpion venom components and the identification of novel molecules with potential applications in biomedicine and the study of ion channel physiology. PMID:29231872

Moving on or digging deeper: Regulatory mode and interpersonal conflict resolution.

PubMed

Webb, Christine E; Coleman, Peter T; Rossignac-Milon, Maya; Tomasulo, Stephen J; Higgins, E Tory

2017-04-01

Conflict resolution, in its most basic sense, requires movement and change between opposing motivational states. Although scholars and practitioners have long acknowledged this point, research has yet to investigate whether individual differences in the motivation for movement from state-to-state influence conflict resolution processes. Regulatory Mode Theory (RMT) describes this fundamental motivation as locomotion. RMT simultaneously describes an orthogonal motivational emphasis on assessment, a tendency for critical evaluation and comparison. We argue that this tendency, in the absence of a stronger motivation for locomotion, can obstruct peoples' propensity to reconcile. Five studies, using diverse measures and methods, found that the predominance of an individual's locomotion over assessment facilitates interpersonal conflict resolution. The first two studies present participants with hypothetical conflict scenarios to examine how chronic (Study 1) and experimentally induced (Study 2) individual differences in locomotion predominance influence the motivation to reconcile. The next two studies investigate this relation by way of participants' own conflict experiences, both through essay recall of previous conflict events (Study 3) and verbal narratives of ongoing conflict issues (Study 4). We then explore this association in the context of real-world conflict discussions between roommates (Study 5). Lastly, we examine results across these studies meta-analytically (Study 6). Overall, locomotion and assessment can inform lay theories of individual variation in the motivation to "move on" or "dig deeper" in conflict situations. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of using RMT to go beyond instrumental approaches to conflict resolution to understand fundamental individual motivations underlying its occurrence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Propagating modes in gain-guided optical fibers.

PubMed

Siegman, A E

2003-08-01

Optical fibers in which gain-guiding effects are significant or even dominant compared with conventional index guiding may become of practical interest for future high-power single-mode fiber lasers. I derive the propagation characteristics of symmetrical slab waveguides and cylindrical optical fibers having arbitrary amounts of mixed gain and index guiding, assuming a single uniform transverse profile for both the gain and the refractive-index steps. Optical fibers of this type are best characterized by using a complex-valued v-squared parameter in place of the real-valued v parameter commonly used to describe conventional index-guided optical fibers.

Adequacy of Prenatal Care and Gestational Weight Gain

PubMed Central

Crandell, Jamie L.; Jones-Vessey, Kathleen

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: The goal of prenatal care is to maximize health outcomes for a woman and her fetus. We examined how prenatal care is associated with meeting the 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines for gestational weight gain. Sample: The study used deidentified birth certificate data supplied by the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics. The sample included 197,354 women (≥18 years) who delivered singleton full-term infants in 2011 and 2012. Methods: A generalized multinomial model was used to identify how adequate prenatal care was associated with the odds of gaining excessive or insufficient weight during pregnancy according to the 2009 IOM guidelines. The model adjusted for prepregnancy body size, sociodemographic factors, and birth weight. Results: A total of 197,354 women (≥18 years) delivered singleton full-term infants. The odds ratio (OR) for excessive weight gain was 2.44 (95% CI 2.37–2.50) in overweight and 2.33 (95% CI 2.27–2.40) in obese women compared with normal weight women. The OR for insufficient weight gain was 1.15 (95% CI 1.09–1.22) for underweight and 1.34 (95% CI 1.30–1.39) for obese women compared with normal weight women. Prenatal care at the inadequate or intermediate levels was associated with insufficient weight gain (OR: 1.32, 95% CI 1.27–1.38; OR: 1.15, 95% CI 1.09–1.21, respectively) compared with adequate prenatal care. Women with inadequate care were less likely to gain excessive weight (OR: 0.88, 95% CI 0.86–0.91). Conclusions: Whereas prenatal care was effective for preventing insufficient weight gain regardless of prepregnancy body size, educational background, and racial/ethnic group, there were no indications that adequate prenatal care was associated with reduced risk for excessive gestational weight gain. Further research is needed to improve prenatal care programs for preventing excess weight gain. PMID:26741198

The educational impact of assessment: A comparison of DOPS and MCQs

PubMed Central

Cobb, Kate A.; Brown, George; Jaarsma, Debbie A. D. C.; Hammond, Richard A.

2013-01-01

Aim To evaluate the impact of two different assessment formats on the approaches to learning of final year veterinary students. The relationship between approach to learning and examination performance was also investigated. Method An 18-item version of the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) was sent to 87 final year students. Each student responded to the questionnaire with regards to DOPS (Direct Observation of Procedural Skills) and a Multiple Choice Examination (MCQ). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 of the respondents to gain a deeper insight into the students’ perception of assessment. Results Students’ adopted a deeper approach to learning for DOPS and a more surface approach with MCQs. There was a positive correlation between an achieving approach to learning and examination performance. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that deep, surface and achieving approaches were reported by the students and seven major influences on their approaches to learning were identified: motivation, purpose, consequence, acceptability, feedback, time pressure and the individual difference of the students. Conclusions The format of DOPS has a positive influence on approaches to learning. There is a conflict for students between preparing for final examinations and preparing for clinical practice. PMID:23808609

Quantifying the mechanisms of domain gain in animal proteins.

PubMed

Buljan, Marija; Frankish, Adam; Bateman, Alex

2010-01-01

Protein domains are protein regions that are shared among different proteins and are frequently functionally and structurally independent from the rest of the protein. Novel domain combinations have a major role in evolutionary innovation. However, the relative contributions of the different molecular mechanisms that underlie domain gains in animals are still unknown. By using animal gene phylogenies we were able to identify a set of high confidence domain gain events and by looking at their coding DNA investigate the causative mechanisms. Here we show that the major mechanism for gains of new domains in metazoan proteins is likely to be gene fusion through joining of exons from adjacent genes, possibly mediated by non-allelic homologous recombination. Retroposition and insertion of exons into ancestral introns through intronic recombination are, in contrast to previous expectations, only minor contributors to domain gains and have accounted for less than 1% and 10% of high confidence domain gain events, respectively. Additionally, exonization of previously non-coding regions appears to be an important mechanism for addition of disordered segments to proteins. We observe that gene duplication has preceded domain gain in at least 80% of the gain events. The interplay of gene duplication and domain gain demonstrates an important mechanism for fast neofunctionalization of genes.

Effects of having a baby on weight gain.

PubMed

Brown, Wendy J; Hockey, Richard; Dobson, Annette J

2010-02-01

Women often blame weight gain in early adulthood on having a baby. The aim was to estimate the weight gain attributable to having a baby, after disentangling the effects of other factors that influence weight change at this life stage. A longitudinal study of a randomly selected cohort of 6458 Australian women, aged 18-23 years in 1996, was conducted. Self-report mailed surveys were completed in 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2006, and data were analyzed in 2008. On average, women gained weight at the rate of 0.93% per year (95% CI=0.89, 0.98) or 605 g/year (95% CI=580, 635) for a 65-kg woman. Over the 10-year study period, partnered women with one baby gained almost 4 kg more, and those with a partner but no baby gained 1.8 kg more, than unpartnered childless women (after adjustment for other significant factors: initial BMI and age; physical activity, sitting time, energy intake (2003); education level, hours in paid work, and smoking). Having a baby has a marked effect on 10-year weight gain, but there is also an effect attributable to getting married or living with a partner. Social and lifestyle as well as energy balance variables should be considered when developing strategies to prevent weight gain in young adult women. Copyright 2010 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Temporal Gain Correction for X-Ray Calorimeter Spectrometers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Porter, F. S.; Chiao, M. P.; Eckart, M. E.; Fujimoto, R.; Ishisaki, Y.; Kelley, R. L.; Kilbourne, C. A.; Leutenegger, M. A.; McCammon, D.; Mitsuda, K.

2016-01-01

Calorimetric X-ray detectors are very sensitive to their environment. The boundary conditions can have a profound effect on the gain including heat sink temperature, the local radiation temperature, bias, and the temperature of the readout electronics. Any variation in the boundary conditions can cause temporal variations in the gain of the detector and compromise both the energy scale and the resolving power of the spectrometer. Most production X-ray calorimeter spectrometers, both on the ground and in space, have some means of tracking the gain as a function of time, often using a calibration spectral line. For small gain changes, a linear stretch correction is often sufficient. However, the detectors are intrinsically non-linear and often the event analysis, i.e., shaping, optimal filters etc., add additional non-linearity. Thus for large gain variations or when the best possible precision is required, a linear stretch correction is not sufficient. Here, we discuss a new correction technique based on non-linear interpolation of the energy-scale functions. Using Astro-HSXS calibration data, we demonstrate that the correction can recover the X-ray energy to better than 1 part in 104 over the entire spectral band to above 12 keV even for large-scale gain variations. This method will be used to correct any temporal drift of the on-orbit per-pixel gain using on-board calibration sources for the SXS instrument on the Astro-H observatory.

Social media insights for sustainable development and humanitarian action in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amin, Imaduddin; Pramestri, Zakiya; Hodge, George; Lee, Jong Gun

2018-03-01

Tracking human development and humanitarian action has been enhanced by the growth of social media. Twitter is a data source with potential, when used alongside data from surveys, especially the national census, to understand the situation on the ground and track changes. In Indonesia, a country with one of the highest Twitter penetration rates, we seize this opportunity by using Twitter data to produce more timely insights and to enhance evidence-based decision-making. Despite social media’s limitations, namely representativeness and validity, we are able to show its potential by looking at case studies on five different topics; (a) food and agriculture, (b) public health (c) economic well-being (d) urban resilience and (e) humanitarian action. We observe that the insights gained by using Twitter data were derived not only from the content of posts such as understanding public opinion or sentiment, but also from activities related to it, for instance the location and time-stamp of the post, which furthers our real-time understanding of the situation and user behavior changes. In this paper, we also briefly explain “social listener”, a social media monitoring tool that used by Government of Indonesia to understand citizen opinions in social media related to government priorities.

Compensated gain control circuit for buck regulator command charge circuit

DOEpatents

Barrett, David M.

1996-01-01

A buck regulator command charge circuit includes a compensated-gain control signal for compensating for changes in the component values in order to achieve optimal voltage regulation. The compensated-gain control circuit includes an automatic-gain control circuit for generating a variable-gain control signal. The automatic-gain control circuit is formed of a precision rectifier circuit, a filter network, an error amplifier, and an integrator circuit.

Toward a Deeper Understanding of Student Interest or Lack of Interest in Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Li-Hsuan

2010-01-01

This study examined the nature of college students' interest or lack of interest in science and the factors to which they attributed their interest or lack of interest. Twenty-four college students were interviewed to gain an understanding of their ideas and experiences of science; their overall interest in science; their interest levels in four…

Assessment of learning gains in a flipped biochemistry classroom.

PubMed

Ojennus, Deanna Dahlke

2016-01-01

The flipped classroom has become an increasingly popular pedagogical approach to teaching and learning. In this study, learning gains were assessed in a flipped biochemistry course and compared to gains in a traditional lecture. Although measured learning gains were not significantly different between the two courses, student perception of learning gains did differ and indicates a higher level of satisfaction with the flipped lecture format. © 2015 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Ultra-high gain diffusion-driven organic transistor

PubMed Central

Torricelli, Fabrizio; Colalongo, Luigi; Raiteri, Daniele; Kovács-Vajna, Zsolt Miklós; Cantatore, Eugenio

2016-01-01

Emerging large-area technologies based on organic transistors are enabling the fabrication of low-cost flexible circuits, smart sensors and biomedical devices. High-gain transistors are essential for the development of large-scale circuit integration, high-sensitivity sensors and signal amplification in sensing systems. Unfortunately, organic field-effect transistors show limited gain, usually of the order of tens, because of the large contact resistance and channel-length modulation. Here we show a new organic field-effect transistor architecture with a gain larger than 700. This is the highest gain ever reported for organic field-effect transistors. In the proposed organic field-effect transistor, the charge injection and extraction at the metal–semiconductor contacts are driven by the charge diffusion. The ideal conditions of ohmic contacts with negligible contact resistance and flat current saturation are demonstrated. The approach is general and can be extended to any thin-film technology opening unprecedented opportunities for the development of high-performance flexible electronics. PMID:26829567

Ultra-high gain diffusion-driven organic transistor.

PubMed

Torricelli, Fabrizio; Colalongo, Luigi; Raiteri, Daniele; Kovács-Vajna, Zsolt Miklós; Cantatore, Eugenio

2016-02-01

Emerging large-area technologies based on organic transistors are enabling the fabrication of low-cost flexible circuits, smart sensors and biomedical devices. High-gain transistors are essential for the development of large-scale circuit integration, high-sensitivity sensors and signal amplification in sensing systems. Unfortunately, organic field-effect transistors show limited gain, usually of the order of tens, because of the large contact resistance and channel-length modulation. Here we show a new organic field-effect transistor architecture with a gain larger than 700. This is the highest gain ever reported for organic field-effect transistors. In the proposed organic field-effect transistor, the charge injection and extraction at the metal-semiconductor contacts are driven by the charge diffusion. The ideal conditions of ohmic contacts with negligible contact resistance and flat current saturation are demonstrated. The approach is general and can be extended to any thin-film technology opening unprecedented opportunities for the development of high-performance flexible electronics.

Ultra-high gain diffusion-driven organic transistor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torricelli, Fabrizio; Colalongo, Luigi; Raiteri, Daniele; Kovács-Vajna, Zsolt Miklós; Cantatore, Eugenio

2016-02-01

Emerging large-area technologies based on organic transistors are enabling the fabrication of low-cost flexible circuits, smart sensors and biomedical devices. High-gain transistors are essential for the development of large-scale circuit integration, high-sensitivity sensors and signal amplification in sensing systems. Unfortunately, organic field-effect transistors show limited gain, usually of the order of tens, because of the large contact resistance and channel-length modulation. Here we show a new organic field-effect transistor architecture with a gain larger than 700. This is the highest gain ever reported for organic field-effect transistors. In the proposed organic field-effect transistor, the charge injection and extraction at the metal-semiconductor contacts are driven by the charge diffusion. The ideal conditions of ohmic contacts with negligible contact resistance and flat current saturation are demonstrated. The approach is general and can be extended to any thin-film technology opening unprecedented opportunities for the development of high-performance flexible electronics.

InSight Liftoff

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-05

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. Liftoff was at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

InSight Lift & Mate

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-23

At Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a crane is used to lift NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander for mating atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

Compensated gain control circuit for buck regulator command charge circuit

DOEpatents

Barrett, D.M.

1996-11-05

A buck regulator command charge circuit includes a compensated-gain control signal for compensating for changes in the component values in order to achieve optimal voltage regulation. The compensated-gain control circuit includes an automatic-gain control circuit for generating a variable-gain control signal. The automatic-gain control circuit is formed of a precision rectifier circuit, a filter network, an error amplifier, and an integrator circuit. 5 figs.

24 CFR 3280.507 - Comfort heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Comfort heat gain. 3280.507 Section... DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.507 Comfort heat... part. (a) Transmission heat gains. Homes complying with this section shall meet the minimum heat loss...

24 CFR 3280.507 - Comfort heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Comfort heat gain. 3280.507 Section... DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.507 Comfort heat... part. (a) Transmission heat gains. Homes complying with this section shall meet the minimum heat loss...

24 CFR 3280.507 - Comfort heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Comfort heat gain. 3280.507 Section... DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.507 Comfort heat... part. (a) Transmission heat gains. Homes complying with this section shall meet the minimum heat loss...

24 CFR 3280.507 - Comfort heat gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Comfort heat gain. 3280.507 Section... DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Thermal Protection § 3280.507 Comfort heat... part. (a) Transmission heat gains. Homes complying with this section shall meet the minimum heat loss...

Insights into the sequence parameters for halophilic adaptation.

PubMed

Nath, Abhigyan

2016-03-01

The sequence parameters for halophilic adaptation are still not fully understood. To understand the molecular basis of protein hypersaline adaptation, a detailed analysis is carried out, and investigated the likely association of protein sequence attributes to halophilic adaptation. A two-stage strategy is implemented, where in the first stage a supervised machine learning classifier is build, giving an overall accuracy of 86 % on stratified tenfold cross validation and 90 % on blind testing set, which are better than the previously reported results. The second stage consists of statistical analysis of sequence features and possible extraction of halophilic molecular signatures. The results of this study showed that, halophilic proteins are characterized by lower average charge, lower K content, and lower S content. A statistically significant preference/avoidance list of sequence parameters is also reported giving insights into the molecular basis of halophilic adaptation. D, Q, E, H, P, T, V are significantly preferred while N, C, I, K, M, F, S are significantly avoided. Among amino acid physicochemical groups, small, polar, charged, acidic and hydrophilic groups are preferred over other groups. The halophilic proteins also showed a preference for higher average flexibility, higher average polarity and avoidance for higher average positive charge, average bulkiness and average hydrophobicity. Some interesting trends observed in dipeptide counts are also reported. Further a systematic statistical comparison is undertaken for gaining insights into the sequence feature distribution in different residue structural states. The current analysis may facilitate the understanding of the mechanism of halophilic adaptation clearer, which can be further used for rational design of halophilic proteins.

Recent Neurobiological Insights into the Concept of Insight in Psychosis

PubMed Central

Mythri, Starlin Vijay; Sanjay, Y

2016-01-01

The concept of insight in psychosis has been an interesting area in clinical psychiatry for well over a century with a surge in research interest over the past 25 years. Moreover, the past 5 years have been particularly fruitful in deciphering its neurobiological underpinnings. This article presents the development of the concept of insight in psychosis and reviews the current neurobiological research findings in this area. PMID:27335512

Structural insights into binding of inhibitors to soluble epoxide hydrolase gained by fragment screening and X-ray crystallography.

PubMed

Amano, Yasushi; Yamaguchi, Tomohiko; Tanabe, Eiki

2014-04-15

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is a component of the arachidonic acid cascade and is a candidate target for therapies for hypertension or inflammation. Although many sEH inhibitors are available, their scaffolds are not structurally diverse, and knowledge of their specific interactions with sEH is limited. To obtain detailed structural information about protein-ligand interactions, we conducted fragment screening of sEH, analyzed the fragments using high-throughput X-ray crystallography, and determined 126 fragment-bound structures at high resolution. Aminothiazole and benzimidazole derivatives were identified as novel scaffolds that bind to the catalytic triad of sEH with good ligand efficiency. We further identified fragment hits that bound to subpockets of sEH called the short and long branches. The water molecule conserved in the structure plays an important role in binding to the long branch, whereas Asp496 and the main chain of Phe497 form hydrogen bonds with fragment hits in the short branch. Fragment hits and their crystal structures provide structural insights into ligand binding to sEH that will facilitate the discovery of novel and potent inhibitors of sEH. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

InSight Spacecraft Arrival

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-28

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft arrives at the Astrotech processing facility. InSight was developed and built by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado, and is scheduled for liftoff is May 5, 2018. InSight is the first mission to land on Mars and explore the Red Planet's deep interior. It will investigate processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system including Earth.

Emerging structural insights into the function of ionotropic glutamate receptors

PubMed Central

Karakas, Erkan; Regan, Michael C.; Furukawa, Hiro

2015-01-01

Summary Ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate excitatory neurotransmission crucial for brain development and function including learning and memory formation. Recently a wealth of structural studies on iGluRs, including AMPA receptors (AMPARs), kainate receptors, and NMDA receptors (NMDARs) became available.. These studies showed structures of non-NMDARs including AMPAR and kainate receptor in various functional states, thereby providing the first visual sense of how non-NMDAR iGluRs may function in the context of homotetramers. Furthermore, they provided the first view of heterotetrameric NMDAR ion channels, which illuminated the similarities with and differences from non-NMDARs, thus raising a mechanistic distinction between the two groups of iGluRs. Here we review mechanistic insights into iGluR functions gained through structural studies of multiple groups. PMID:25941168

Emerging structural insights into the function of ionotropic glutamate receptors.

PubMed

Karakas, Erkan; Regan, Michael C; Furukawa, Hiro

2015-06-01

Ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate excitatory neurotransmission crucial for brain development and function, including learning and memory formation. Recently a wealth of structural studies on iGluRs including AMPA receptors (AMPARs), kainate receptors, and NMDA receptors (NMDARs) became available. These studies showed structures of non-NMDARs including AMPAR and kainate receptor in various functional states, thereby providing the first visual sense of how non-NMDAR iGluRs may function in the context of homotetramers. Furthermore, they provided the first view of heterotetrameric NMDAR ion channels, and this illuminated the similarities with and differences from non-NMDARs, thus raising a mechanistic distinction between the two groups of iGluRs. We review mechanistic insights into iGluR functions gained through structural studies of multiple groups. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanism of the metallic metamaterials coupled to the gain material

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

Huang, Zhixiang; Droulias, Sotiris; Koschny, Thomas

2014-11-10

In this study, we present evidence of strong coupling between the gain material and the metallic metamaterials. It is of vital importance to understand the mechanism of the coupling of metamaterials with the gain medium. Using a four-level gain system, the numerical pump-probe experiments are performed in several configurations (split–ring resonators (SRRs), inverse SRRs and fishnets) of metamaterials, demonstrating reduction of the resonator damping in all cases and hence the possibility for loss compensation. We find that the differential transmittance ΔT/T can be negative in different SRR configurations, such as SRRs on the top of the gain substrate, gain inmore » the SRR gap and gain covering the SRR structure, while in the fishnet metamaterial with gain ΔT/T is positive.« less

InSight Launch

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-05

The NASA InSight spacecraft launches onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket, Saturday, May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

InSight Prelaunch

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas-V rocket is seen with NASA's InSight spacecraft onboard, Thursday, May 3, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

20 CFR 416.910 - Meaning of substantial gainful activity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Meaning of substantial gainful activity. 416....910 Meaning of substantial gainful activity. Substantial gainful activity means work that— (a) Involves doing significant and productive physical or mental duties; and (b) Is done (or intended) for pay...

20 CFR 416.910 - Meaning of substantial gainful activity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Meaning of substantial gainful activity. 416....910 Meaning of substantial gainful activity. Substantial gainful activity means work that— (a) Involves doing significant and productive physical or mental duties; and (b) Is done (or intended) for pay...

InSight Liftoff

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-05

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander. Liftoff was at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. InSight will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created.

Focusing on Short-Term Achievement Gains Fails to Produce Long-Term Gains

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grissmer, David W.; Ober, David R.; Beekman, John A.

2014-01-01

The short-term emphasis engendered by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has focused research predominantly on unraveling the complexities and uncertainties in assessing short-term results, rather than developing methods and assessing results over the longer term. In this paper we focus on estimating long-term gains and address questions important to…

Serotonin Affects Movement Gain Control in the Spinal Cord

PubMed Central

Glaser, Joshua I.; Deng, Linna; Thompson, Christopher K.; Stevenson, Ian H.; Wang, Qining; Hornby, Thomas George; Heckman, Charles J.; Kording, Konrad P.

2014-01-01

A fundamental challenge for the nervous system is to encode signals spanning many orders of magnitude with neurons of limited bandwidth. To meet this challenge, perceptual systems use gain control. However, whether the motor system uses an analogous mechanism is essentially unknown. Neuromodulators, such as serotonin, are prime candidates for gain control signals during force production. Serotonergic neurons project diffusely to motor pools, and, therefore, force production by one muscle should change the gain of others. Here we present behavioral and pharmaceutical evidence that serotonin modulates the input–output gain of motoneurons in humans. By selectively changing the efficacy of serotonin with drugs, we systematically modulated the amplitude of spinal reflexes. More importantly, force production in different limbs interacts systematically, as predicted by a spinal gain control mechanism. Psychophysics and pharmacology suggest that the motor system adopts gain control mechanisms, and serotonin is a primary driver for their implementation in force production. PMID:25232107

Sleeve Push Technique: A Novel Method of Space Gaining.

PubMed

Verma, Sanjeev; Bhupali, Nameksh Raj; Gupta, Deepak Kumar; Singh, Sombir; Singh, Satinder Pal

2018-01-01

Space gaining is frequently required in orthodontics. Multiple loops were initially used for space gaining and alignment. The most common used mechanics for space gaining is the use of nickel-titanium open coil springs. The disadvantage of nickel-titanium coil spring is that they cannot be used until the arches are well aligned to receive the stiffer stainless steel wires. Therefore, a new method of gaining space during initial alignment and leveling has been developed and named as sleeve push technique (SPT). The nickel-titanium wires, i.e. 0.012 inches and 0.014 inches along with archwire sleeve (protective tubing) can be used in a modified way to gain space along with alignment. This method helps in gaining space right from day 1 of treatment. The archwire sleeve and nickel-titanium wire in this new SPT act as a mutually synergistic combination and provide the orthodontist with a completely new technique for space opening.

Towards a deeper understanding of parenting on farms: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Elliot, Valerie; Cammer, Allison; Pickett, William; Marlenga, Barbara; Lawson, Joshua; Dosman, James; Hagel, Louise; Koehncke, Niels; Trask, Catherine

2018-01-01

Children living on farms experience exceptionally high risks for traumatic injury. There is a large body of epidemiological research documenting this phenomenon, yet few complementary studies that have explored the deep underlying reasons for such trends. Fundamental to this is understanding the decision-making processes of parents surrounding their choice to bring children, or not, into the farm worksite. To (1) document farm parent views of the risks and benefits of raising children on a family farm, and, (2) understand more deeply why children are brought into the farm worksite. Interviews were conducted as part of a larger cohort study, The Saskatchewan Farm Injury Cohort. Subsequent to an initial mail-out question focused on parental decision-making, 11 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with rural Saskatchewan farm parents. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim, then thematically analyzed using interpretive description methodology. This parental decision-making process on farms fundamentally involves weighing the risks vs. benefits of bringing children into the worksite, as if on a balance scale. One side of this scale holds potential risks such as exposure to physical and chemical farm hazards, in the absence of full supervision. The other side holds potential benefits such as meeting family needs for childcare, labour, and family time; building work ethic and pride; and the positive impacts of involvement and responsibility. Decision-making 'tips the scales', in part dependent upon parental perceptions of the risk-benefit trade-off. This 'perceptual lens' is influenced by factors such as: the agricultural way of life, parents' prior knowledge and past experience, characteristics of children, and safety norms. This novel qualitative study provides deep insight into how Saskatchewan farm parents approach a fundamental decision-making process associated with their parenting. The proposed model provides insight into the

Towards a deeper understanding of parenting on farms: A qualitative study

PubMed Central

Elliot, Valerie; Cammer, Allison; Pickett, William; Marlenga, Barbara; Lawson, Joshua; Dosman, James; Hagel, Louise; Koehncke, Niels

2018-01-01

Background Children living on farms experience exceptionally high risks for traumatic injury. There is a large body of epidemiological research documenting this phenomenon, yet few complementary studies that have explored the deep underlying reasons for such trends. Fundamental to this is understanding the decision-making processes of parents surrounding their choice to bring children, or not, into the farm worksite. Objectives To (1) document farm parent views of the risks and benefits of raising children on a family farm, and, (2) understand more deeply why children are brought into the farm worksite. Methods Interviews were conducted as part of a larger cohort study, The Saskatchewan Farm Injury Cohort. Subsequent to an initial mail-out question focused on parental decision-making, 11 semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with rural Saskatchewan farm parents. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim, then thematically analyzed using interpretive description methodology. Findings This parental decision-making process on farms fundamentally involves weighing the risks vs. benefits of bringing children into the worksite, as if on a balance scale. One side of this scale holds potential risks such as exposure to physical and chemical farm hazards, in the absence of full supervision. The other side holds potential benefits such as meeting family needs for childcare, labour, and family time; building work ethic and pride; and the positive impacts of involvement and responsibility. Decision-making 'tips the scales', in part dependent upon parental perceptions of the risk-benefit trade-off. This 'perceptual lens' is influenced by factors such as: the agricultural way of life, parents' prior knowledge and past experience, characteristics of children, and safety norms. Conclusions This novel qualitative study provides deep insight into how Saskatchewan farm parents approach a fundamental decision-making process associated with their

The Association of Insight and Change in Insight with Clinical Symptoms in Depressed Inpatients.

PubMed

He, Hongbo; Chang, Qing; Ma, Yarong

2018-04-25

Lack of insight has been extensively studied and was found to be adversely correlated with impaired treatment compliance and worse long term clinical outcomes among patients with schizophrenia, while not much is known about this phenonmenon in patients with severe depression. To explore the correlates of insight and its relation to symptom changes among the most seriously ill patients with affective disorders, those who require hospitalization. Patients hospitalized in a large psychiatric hospital in south China with either major depressive disorder (MDD)(N=55) or bipolar depression (BD) (N=85) based on ICD-10 diagnostic criteria were assessed with the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire (ITAQ) one week after admission and at the time of discharge. Clinical symptoms were measured at the same time with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) and the Depression subscale of the Symptom Check list-90 (SCL-90). Length of stay (LOS), duration of illness, duration of untreated mood disorder, number of previous episodes of depression and previous admissions for depression were documented during interviews with patients and their families and from a review of medical records. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the relationship of sociodemographic characteristics, clinical symptomatology and clinical history, to insight at the time of admission. The relationships between change in clinical symptoms and change in insight from admission to discharge were also examined. Stepwise multiple regression models suggested that any previous admissions for depression and higher anxiety factor scores on the HAMD-17 are significant independent predictors of insight accounting for 22.9% of the variance. Multiple regression analysis residual change scores (change scores adjusted for baseline values) on the ITAQ showed that improved insight over average stays of 51 days were inversely related to the residual psychomotor

The Association of Insight and Change in Insight with Clinical Symptoms in Depressed Inpatients

PubMed Central

HE, Hongbo; CHANG, Qing; MA, Yarong

2018-01-01

Background Lack of insight has been extensively studied and was found to be adversely correlated with impaired treatment compliance and worse long term clinical outcomes among patients with schizophrenia, while not much is known about this phenonmenon in patients with severe depression. Aim To explore the correlates of insight and its relation to symptom changes among the most seriously ill patients with affective disorders, those who require hospitalization. Methods Patients hospitalized in a large psychiatric hospital in south China with either major depressive disorder (MDD)(N=55) or bipolar depression (BD) (N=85) based on ICD-10 diagnostic criteria were assessed with the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire (ITAQ) one week after admission and at the time of discharge. Clinical symptoms were measured at the same time with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) and the Depression subscale of the Symptom Check list-90 (SCL-90). Length of stay (LOS), duration of illness, duration of untreated mood disorder, number of previous episodes of depression and previous admissions for depression were documented during interviews with patients and their families and from a review of medical records. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the relationship of sociodemographic characteristics, clinical symptomatology and clinical history, to insight at the time of admission. The relationships between change in clinical symptoms and change in insight from admission to discharge were also examined. Results Stepwise multiple regression models suggested that any previous admissions for depression and higher anxiety factor scores on the HAMD-17 are significant independent predictors of insight accounting for 22.9% of the variance. Multiple regression analysis residual change scores (change scores adjusted for baseline values) on the ITAQ showed that improved insight over average stays of 51 days were inversely related to the

A variable-gain output feedback control design approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haylo, Nesim

1989-01-01

A multi-model design technique to find a variable-gain control law defined over the whole operating range is proposed. The design is formulated as an optimal control problem which minimizes a cost function weighing the performance at many operating points. The solution is obtained by embedding into the Multi-Configuration Control (MCC) problem, a multi-model robust control design technique. In contrast to conventional gain scheduling which uses a curve fit of single model designs, the optimal variable-gain control law stabilizes the plant at every operating point included in the design. An iterative algorithm to compute the optimal control gains is presented. The methodology has been successfully applied to reconfigurable aircraft flight control and to nonlinear flight control systems.

Perception, Cognition, and Effectiveness of Visualizations with Applications in Science and Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borkin, Michelle A.

Visualization is a powerful tool for data exploration and analysis. With data ever-increasing in quantity and becoming integrated into our daily lives, having effective visualizations is necessary. But how does one design an effective visualization? To answer this question we need to understand how humans perceive, process, and understand visualizations. Through visualization evaluation studies we can gain deeper insight into the basic perception and cognition theory of visualizations, both through domain-specific case studies as well as generalized laboratory experiments. This dissertation presents the results of four evaluation studies, each of which contributes new knowledge to the theory of perception and cognition of visualizations. The results of these studies include a deeper clearer understanding of how color, data representation dimensionality, spatial layout, and visual complexity affect a visualization's effectiveness, as well as how visualization types and visual attributes affect the memorability of a visualization. We first present the results of two domain-specific case study evaluations. The first study is in the field of biomedicine in which we developed a new heart disease diagnostic tool, and conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of 2D versus 3D data representations as well as color maps. In the second study, we developed a new visualization tool for filesystem provenance data with applications in computer science and the sciences more broadly. We additionally developed a new time-based hierarchical node grouping method. We then conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the new tool with its radial layout versus the conventional node-link diagram, and the new node grouping method. Finally, we discuss the results of two generalized studies designed to understand what makes a visualization memorable. In the first evaluation we focused on visualization memorability and conducted an online study using Amazon's Mechanical Turk with

Experimental system to displace radioisotopes from upper to deeper soil layers: chemical research

PubMed Central

Cazzola, Pietro; Cena, Agostino; Ghignone, Stefano; Abete, Maria C; Andruetto, Sergio

2004-01-01

Background Radioisotopes are introduced into the environment following nuclear power plant accidents or nuclear weapons tests. The immobility of these radioactive elements in uppermost soil layers represents a problem for human health, since they can easily be incorporated in the food chain. Preventing their assimilation by plants may be a first step towards the total recovery of contaminated areas. Methods The possibility of displacing radionuclides from the most superficial soil layers and their subsequent stabilisation at lower levels were investigated in laboratory trials. An experimental system reproducing the environmental conditions of contaminated areas was designed in plastic columns. A radiopolluted soil sample was treated with solutions containing ions normally used in fertilisation (NO3-, NH4+, PO4--- and K+). Results Contaminated soils treated with an acid solution of ions NO3-, PO4--- and K+, undergo a reduction of radioactivity up to 35%, after a series of washes which simulate one year's rainfall. The capacity of the deepest soil layers to immobilize the radionuclides percolated from the superficial layers was also confirmed. Conclusion The migration of radionuclides towards deeper soil layers, following chemical treatments, and their subsequent stabilization reduces bioavailability in the uppermost soil horizon, preventing at the same time their transfer into the water-bearing stratum. PMID:15132749

Retrieving Temperature Anomaly in the Global Subsurface and Deeper Ocean From Satellite Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Hua; Li, Wene; Yan, Xiao-Hai

2018-01-01

Retrieving the subsurface and deeper ocean (SDO) dynamic parameters from satellite observations is crucial for effectively understanding ocean interior anomalies and dynamic processes, but it is challenging to accurately estimate the subsurface thermal structure over the global scale from sea surface parameters. This study proposes a new approach based on Random Forest (RF) machine learning to retrieve subsurface temperature anomaly (STA) in the global ocean from multisource satellite observations including sea surface height anomaly (SSHA), sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA), sea surface salinity anomaly (SSSA), and sea surface wind anomaly (SSWA) via in situ Argo data for RF training and testing. RF machine-learning approach can accurately retrieve the STA in the global ocean from satellite observations of sea surface parameters (SSHA, SSTA, SSSA, SSWA). The Argo STA data were used to validate the accuracy and reliability of the results from the RF model. The results indicated that SSHA, SSTA, SSSA, and SSWA together are useful parameters for detecting SDO thermal information and obtaining accurate STA estimations. The proposed method also outperformed support vector regression (SVR) in global STA estimation. It will be a useful technique for studying SDO thermal variability and its role in global climate system from global-scale satellite observations.

InSight Spacecraft Arrival

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-28

After arrival at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, ground crews prepare NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft for transportation to the Astrotech processing facility. InSight was developed and built by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado, and is scheduled for liftoff is May 5, 2018. InSight is the first mission to explore the deep interior of Mars. It will investigate processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system including Earth.

Assessment of Learning Gains in a Flipped Biochemistry Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ojennus, Deanna Dahlke

2016-01-01

The flipped classroom has become an increasingly popular pedagogical approach to teaching and learning. In this study, learning gains were assessed in a flipped biochemistry course and compared to gains in a traditional lecture. Although measured learning gains were not significantly different between the two courses, student perception of…

20 CFR 404.1510 - Meaning of substantial gainful activity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Meaning of substantial gainful activity. 404... Meaning of substantial gainful activity. Substantial gainful activity means work that— (a) Involves doing significant and productive physical or mental duties; and (b) Is done (or intended) for pay or profit. (See...

20 CFR 404.1510 - Meaning of substantial gainful activity.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Meaning of substantial gainful activity. 404... Meaning of substantial gainful activity. Substantial gainful activity means work that— (a) Involves doing significant and productive physical or mental duties; and (b) Is done (or intended) for pay or profit. (See...

Immune responses to invasive aspergillosis: new understanding and therapeutic opportunities

PubMed Central

Hohl, Tobias M.

2017-01-01

Purpose of review Invasive aspergillosis is a worldwide disease that primarily affects immune-compromised patients, agricultural workers with corneal abrasions, individuals with structural lung disease, and patients with primary immune deficiency. The critical function of the immune system is to prevent the germination of airborne conidia into tissue-invasive hyphae. This review covers recent advances that shape our understanding of anti-Aspergillus immunity at the molecular and cellular level. Recent findings Host defense against conidia and hyphae occurs via distinct molecular mechanisms that involve intracellular and extracellular killing pathways, as well as cooperation between different myeloid cell subsets. The strength and efficacy of the host response is shaped by the tissue microenvironment. In preclinical models of disease, host immune augmentation strategies have yielded benefits, yet translating these insights into therapeutic strategies in humans remains challenging. Summary Although advances in early diagnostic strategies and in antifungal drugs have ameliorated clinical outcomes of invasive aspergillosis, further improvements depend on gaining deeper insight into and translating advances in anti-Aspergillus immunity. PMID:28509673

Single-molecule studies of multi-protein machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Oijen, Antoine

2010-03-01

Advances in optical imaging and molecular manipulation techniques have made it possible to observe individual enzymes and record molecular movies that provide new insight into their dynamics and reaction mechanisms. In a biological context, most of these enzymes function in concert with other enzymes in multi-protein complexes, so an important future direction will be the utilization of single-molecule techniques to unravel the orchestration of large macromolecular assemblies. Our group is developing the single-molecule tools that will make it possible to study biochemical pathways of arbitrary complexity at the single-molecule level. I will discuss results of single-molecule experiments on the replisome, the molecular machinery that is responsible for replication of DNA. We stretch individual DNA molecules and use their elastic properties to obtain dynamic information on the proteins that unwind the double helix and copy its genetic information. Furthermore, we visualize fluorescently labeled components of the replisome and thus obtain information on stochiometry and exchange kinetics. This simultaneous observation of catalytic activity and composition allows us to gain deeper insight into the structure-function relationship of the replisome.

Point of view filming and the elicitation interview.

PubMed

Skinner, Jonathan; Gormley, Gerard J

2016-08-01

Face-to-face interviews are a fundamental research tool in qualitative research. Whilst this form of data collection can provide many valuable insights, it can often fall short of providing a complete picture of a research subject's experiences. Point of view (PoV) interviewing is an elicitation technique used in the social sciences as a means of enriching data obtained from research interviews. Recording research subjects' first person perspectives, for example by wearing digital video glasses, can afford deeper insights into their experiences. PoV interviewing can promote making visible the unverbalizable and does not rely as much on memory as the traditional interview. The use of such relatively inexpensive technology is gaining interest in health profession educational research and pedagogy, such as dynamic simulation-based learning and research activities. In this interview, Dr Gerry Gormley (a medical education researcher) talks to Dr Jonathan Skinner (an anthropologist with an interest in PoV interviewing), exploring some of the many crossover implications with PoV interviewing for medical education research and practice.

Linear-parameter-varying gain-scheduled control of aerospace systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barker, Jeffrey Michael

The dynamics of many aerospace systems vary significantly as a function of flight condition. Robust control provides methods of guaranteeing performance and stability goals across flight conditions. In mu-syntthesis, changes to the dynamical system are primarily treated as uncertainty. This method has been successfully applied to many control problems, and here is applied to flutter control. More recently, two techniques for generating robust gain-scheduled controller have been developed. Linear fractional transformation (LFT) gain-scheduled control is an extension of mu-synthesis in which the plant and controller are explicit functions of parameters measurable in real-time. This LFT gain-scheduled control technique is applied to the Benchmark Active Control Technology (BACT) wing, and compared with mu-synthesis control. Linear parameter-varying (LPV) gain-scheduled control is an extension of Hinfinity control to parameter varying systems. LPV gain-scheduled control directly incorporates bounds on the rate of change of the scheduling parameters, and often reduces conservatism inherent in LFT gain-scheduled control. Gain-scheduled LPV control of the BACT wing compares very favorably with the LFT controller. Gain-scheduled LPV controllers are generated for the lateral-directional and longitudinal axes of the Innovative Control Effectors (ICE) aircraft and implemented in nonlinear simulations and real-time piloted nonlinear simulations. Cooper-Harper and pilot-induced oscillation ratings were obtained for an initial design, a reference aircraft and a redesign. Piloted simulation results for the initial LPV gain-scheduled control of the ICE aircraft are compared with results for a conventional fighter aircraft in discrete pitch and roll angle tracking tasks. The results for the redesigned controller are significantly better than both the previous LPV controller and the conventional aircraft.

Gain determination of optical active doped planar waveguides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Šmejcký, J.; Jeřábek, V.; Nekvindová, P.

2017-12-01

This paper summarizes the results of the gain transmission characteristics measurement carried out on the new ion exchange Ag+ - Na+ optical Er3+ and Yb3+ doped active planar waveguides realized on a silica based glass substrates. The results were used for optimization of the precursor concentration in the glass substrates. The gain measurements were performed by the time domain method using a pulse generator, as well as broadband measurement method using supercontinuum optical source in the wavelength domain. Both methods were compared and the results were graphically processed. It has been confirmed that pulse method is useful as it provides a very accurate measurement of the gain - pumping power characteristics for one wavelength. In the case of radiation spectral characteristics, our measurement exactly determined the maximum gain wavelength bandwidth of the active waveguide. The spectral characteristics of the pumped and unpumped waveguides were compared. The gain parameters of the reported silica-based glasses can be compared with the phosphate-based parameters, typically used for optical active devices application.

Bullying and Identity Development: Insights from Autistic and Non-autistic College Students.

PubMed

DeNigris, Danielle; Brooks, Patricia J; Obeid, Rita; Alarcon, Maria; Shane-Simpson, Christina; Gillespie-Lynch, Kristen

2018-03-01

Reduced cognitive empathy may put autistic people at risk for bullying. We compared interpretations of bullying provided by 22 autistic and 15 non-autistic college students. Autistic (and non-autistic) students reported less severe bullying in college relative to earlier in development. Chronic bullying was associated with improvements in self-descriptions and self-acceptance. Autistic students who were chronically bullied were more likely to self-identify as autistic when asked to explain their disability. Autistic and non-autistic students demonstrated similar levels of cognitive empathy, providing no evidence that a "double empathy problem" contributes to bullying for all autistic individuals. Findings suggest that recovery from bullying can contribute to resilience and that autistic people gain insights about bullying and how to overcome it with development.

Genetic correlates of insight in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Xavier, Rose Mary; Vorderstrasse, Allison; Keefe, Richard S E; Dungan, Jennifer R

2018-05-01

Insight in schizophrenia is clinically important as it is associated with several adverse outcomes. Genetic contributions to insight are unknown. We examined genetic contributions to insight by investigating if polygenic risk scores (PRS) and candidate regions were associated with insight. Schizophrenia case-only analysis of the Clinical Antipsychotics Trials of Intervention Effectiveness trial. Schizophrenia PRS was constructed using Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) leave-one out GWAS as discovery data set. For candidate regions, we selected 105 schizophrenia-associated autosomal loci and 11 schizophrenia-related oligodendrocyte genes. We used regressions to examine PRS associations and set-based testing for candidate analysis. We examined data from 730 subjects. Best-fit PRS at p-threshold of 1e-07 was associated with total insight (R 2 =0.005, P=0.05, empirical P=0.054) and treatment insight (R 2 =0.005, P=0.048, empirical P=0.048). For models that controlled for neurocognition, PRS significantly predicted treatment insight but at higher p-thresholds (0.1 to 0.5) but did not survive correction. Patients with highest polygenic burden had 5.9 times increased risk for poor insight compared to patients with lowest burden. PRS explained 3.2% (P=0.002, empirical P=0.011) of variance in poor insight. Set-based analyses identified two variants associated with poor insight- rs320703, an intergenic variant (within-set P=6e-04, FDR P=0.046) and rs1479165 in SOX2-OT (within-set P=9e-04, FDR P=0.046). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study examining genetic basis of insight. We provide evidence for genetic contributions to impaired insight. Relevance of findings and necessity for replication are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating realized genetic gains from tree improvement.

Treesearch

J.B. St. Clair

1993-01-01

Tree improvement has become an essential part of the management of forest lands for wood production, and predicting yields and realized gains from forests planted with genetically-improved trees will become increasingly important. This paper discusses concepts of tree improvement and genetic gain important to growth and yield modeling, and reviews previous studies of...

Pushing indium phosphide quantum dot emission deeper into the near infrared

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saeboe, A. M.; Kays, J.; Mahler, A. H.; Dennis, A. M.

2018-02-01

Cadmium-free near infrared (NIR) emitting quantum dots (QDs) have significant potential for multiplexed tissue-depth imaging applications in the first optical tissue window (i.e., 650 - 900 nm). Indium phosphide (InP) chemistry provides one of the more promising cadmium-free options for biomedical imaging, but the full tunability of this material has not yet been achieved. Specifically, InP QD emission has been tuned from 480 - 730 nm in previous literature reports, but examples of samples emitting from 730 nm to the InP bulk bandgap limit of 925 nm are lacking. We hypothesize that by generating inverted structures comprising ZnSe/InP/ZnS in a core/shell/shell heterostructure, optical emission from the InP shell can be tuned by changing the InP shell thickness, including pushing deeper into the NIR than current InP QDs. Colloidal synthesis methods including hot injection precipitation of the ZnSe core and a modified successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method for stepwise shell deposition were used to promote growth of core/shell/shell materials with varying thicknesses of the InP shell. By controlling the number of injections of indium and phosphorous precursor material, the emission peak was tuned from 515 nm to 845 nm (2.41 - 1.47 eV) with consistent full width half maximum (FWHM) values of the emission peak 0.32 eV. To confer water solubility, the nanoparticles were encapsulated in PEGylated phospholipid micelles, and multiplexing of NIR-emitting InP QDs was demonstrated using an IVIS imaging system. These materials show potential for multiplexed imaging of targeted QD contrast agents in the first optical tissue window.

Training Children in Pedestrian Safety: Distinguishing Gains in Knowledge from Gains in Safe Behavior

PubMed Central

McClure, Leslie A.

2014-01-01

Pedestrian injuries contribute greatly to child morbidity and mortality. Recent evidence suggests that training within virtual pedestrian environments may improve children’s street crossing skills, but may not convey knowledge about safety in street environments. We hypothesized that (a) children will gain pedestrian safety knowledge via videos/software/internet websites, but not when trained by virtual pedestrian environment or other strategies; (b) pedestrian safety knowledge will be associated with safe pedestrian behavior both before and after training; and (c) increases in knowledge will be associated with increases in safe behavior among children trained individually at streetside locations, but not those trained by means of other strategies. We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial evaluating pedestrian safety training. We randomly assigned 240 children ages 7–8 to one of four training conditions: videos/software/internet, virtual reality (VR), individualized streetside instruction, or a no-contact control. Both virtual and field simulations of street crossing at 2-lane bi-directional mid-block locations assessed pedestrian behavior at baseline, post-training, and 6-month follow-up. Pedestrian knowledge was assessed orally on all three occasions. Children trained by videos/software/internet, and those trained individually, showed increased knowledge following training relative to children in the other groups (ps < 0.01). Correlations between pedestrian safety knowledge and pedestrian behavior were mostly non-significant. Correlations between change in knowledge and change in behavior from pre- to post-intervention also were non-significant, both for the full sample and within conditions. Children trained using videos/software/internet gained knowledge but did not change their behavior. Children trained individually gained in both knowledge and safer behavior. Children trained virtually gained in safer behavior but not knowledge. If VR is used

[Insight, neurocognition and psychopathology in schizophrenia].

PubMed

Gil, D; Bengochea, R; Arrieta, M; Alvarez, A; Sánchez, R; Diego, M

2006-01-01

In recent years, research has been aimed at finding variables mediating between neurocognition and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia, proposing insight as one of these variables. Some authors have found associations between insight and functional outcome, and between insight and symptomatology, although these associations remain unclear. These different findings could be explained by the insight definition used. The current study evaluates insight unidimensionally and multidimensionally and studies its relationship with cognitive and psychopathological variables. The sample consisted of 94 subjects admitted to an outpatient Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program, all diagnosed of schizophrenia according to ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. A brief version of the Neuropsychology Battery Test Barcelona and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test were used to evaluate cognitive variables. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to evaluate psychopathology. Insight was assessed with the PANSS item ((lack of judgment and insight)), and with a semi-structured interview. Two insight factors were found, one including more specific knowledge about the disease and its consequences (cognitive factor), that is related to executive functions, and another referring to unspecific knowledge about suffering from an illness and the need for treatment (psychotic factor). Each factor was statistically related to positive symptoms and superior cognitive functions. These findings support a relationship between insight and low cognitive performance.

High-Gain High-Field Fusion Plasma

PubMed Central

Li, Ge

2015-01-01

A Faraday wheel (FW)—an electric generator of constant electrical polarity that produces huge currents—could be implemented in an existing tokamak to study high-gain high-field (HGHF) fusion plasma, such as the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). HGHF plasma can be realized in EAST by updating its pulsed-power system to compress plasma in two steps by induction fields; high gains of the Lawson trinity parameter and fusion power are both predicted by formulating the HGHF plasma. Both gain rates are faster than the decrease rate of the plasma volume. The formulation is checked by earlier ATC tests. Good agreement between theory and tests indicates that scaling to over 10 T at EAST may be possible by two-step compressions with a compression ratio of the minor radius of up to 3. These results point to a quick new path of fusion plasma study, i.e., simulating the Sun by EAST. PMID:26507314

Insight and psychopathology in never-treated schizophrenia.

PubMed

Tirupati, Srinivasan; Padmavati, Raman; Thara, Rangaswamy; McCreadie, Robin G

2007-01-01

Insight is a feature of schizophrenia related to psychopathology, which could be modified by treatment. The real relationship will be more evident in the never-treated state. This study compared insight and its relationship to psychopathology in 143 never-treated patients with chronic schizophrenia with 183 treated patients. The treated patients had not received any structured intervention for improvement of insight. The item on insight and judgment from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for schizophrenia was used as a measure of insight. Never-treated patients were more ill and poorer in insight than the TT group. Sex, age, duration of illness, negative symptoms related to insight only in the TT group. Positive symptoms score correlated with insight in both the groups, but negative symptoms correlated with insight only among the treated patients. Delusions, uncooperativeness, and poor attention predicted 27% of variation in the level of insight in the never-treated, whereas age; duration of illness; and symptoms of emotional withdrawal, difficulty in abstract thinking, and uncooperativeness predicted 30.3% of variation in insight of the TT group. The observed differences between the never-treated and treated subjects were due to influence of treatment on the association between insight and psychopathology. A subgroup of patients with a treatment-resistant trait of negative symptoms associated with poor insight was hypothesized.

Meaningful Reading Gains by Adult Literacy Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scarborough, Hollis S.; Sabatini, John P.; Shore, Jane; Cutting, Laurie E.; Pugh, Kenneth; Katz, Leonard

2013-01-01

To obtain a fuller picture of the efficacy of reading instruction programs for adult literacy learners, gains by individual students were examined in a sample (n = 148) in which weak to moderate gains at the group level had been obtained in response to tutoring interventions that focused on strengthening basic decoding and fluency skills of low…

Sudden gains in group cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder.

PubMed

Clerkin, Elise M; Teachman, Bethany A; Smith-Janik, Shannan B

2008-11-01

The current study investigates sudden gains (rapid symptom reduction) in group cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder. Sudden gains occurring after session 2 of treatment predicted overall symptom reduction at treatment termination and some changes in cognitive biases. Meanwhile, sudden gains occurring immediately following session 1 were not associated with symptom reduction or cognitive change. Together, this research points to the importance of examining sudden gains across the entire span of treatment, as well as the potential role of sudden gains in recovery from panic disorder.

InSight Prelaunch Overview

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-05-03

Members of the media and social media participants attended the NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, prelaunch briefing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The presentation focused on InSight Mars lander. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018, atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg. The spacecraft will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface studying the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes.

InSight Spacecraft Arrival

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-28

After a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, ground crews offload NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft designed to land on Mars. InSight was developed and built by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado, and is scheduled for liftoff is May 5, 2018. InSight is the first mission to explore the Red Planet's deep interior. It will investigate processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system including Earth.

InSight Spacecraft Arrival

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-02-28

A U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, spacecraft designed to land on Mars. InSight was developed and built by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado, and is scheduled for liftoff is May 5, 2018. InSight is the first mission to explore the Red Planet's deep interior. It will investigate processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner solar system including Earth.

Effects of Device on Video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) Gain.

PubMed

Janky, Kristen L; Patterson, Jessie N; Shepard, Neil T; Thomas, Megan L A; Honaker, Julie A

2017-10-01

Numerous video head impulse test (vHIT) devices are available commercially; however, gain is not calculated uniformly. An evaluation of these devices/algorithms in healthy controls and patients with vestibular loss is necessary for comparing and synthesizing work that utilizes different devices and gain calculations. Using three commercially available vHIT devices/algorithms, the purpose of the present study was to compare: (1) horizontal canal vHIT gain among devices/algorithms in normal control subjects; (2) the effects of age on vHIT gain for each device/algorithm in normal control subjects; and (3) the clinical performance of horizontal canal vHIT gain between devices/algorithms for differentiating normal versus abnormal vestibular function. Prospective. Sixty-one normal control adult subjects (range 20-78) and eleven adults with unilateral or bilateral vestibular loss (range 32-79). vHIT was administered using three different devices/algorithms, randomized in order, for each subject on the same day: (1) Impulse (Otometrics, Schaumberg, IL; monocular eye recording, right eye only; using area under the curve gain), (2) EyeSeeCam (Interacoustics, Denmark; monocular eye recording, left eye only; using instantaneous gain), and (3) VisualEyes (MicroMedical, Chatham, IL, binocular eye recording; using position gain). There was a significant mean difference in vHIT gain among devices/algorithms for both the normal control and vestibular loss groups. vHIT gain was significantly larger in the ipsilateral direction of the eye used to measure gain; however, in spite of the significant mean differences in vHIT gain among devices/algorithms and the significant directional bias, classification of "normal" versus "abnormal" gain is consistent across all compared devices/algorithms, with the exception of instantaneous gain at 40 msec. There was not an effect of age on vHIT gain up to 78 years regardless of the device/algorithm. These findings support that vHIT gain is

Weight gain in anorexia nervosa does not ameliorate the faecal microbiota, branched chain fatty acid profiles, and gastrointestinal complaints

PubMed Central

Mack, Isabelle; Cuntz, Ulrich; Grämer, Claudia; Niedermaier, Sabrina; Pohl, Charlotte; Schwiertz, Andreas; Zimmermann, Kurt; Zipfel, Stephan; Enck, Paul; Penders, John

2016-01-01

The gut microbiota not only influences host metabolism but can also affect brain function and behaviour through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. To explore the potential role of the intestinal microbiota in anorexia nervosa (AN), we comprehensively investigated the faecal microbiota and short-chain fatty acids in these patients before (n = 55) and after weight gain (n = 44) in comparison to normal-weight participants (NW, n = 55) along with dietary intake and gastrointestinal complaints. We show profound microbial perturbations in AN patients as compared to NW participants, with higher levels of mucin-degraders and members of Clostridium clusters I, XI and XVIII and reduced levels of the butyrate-producing Roseburia spp. Branched-chain fatty acid concentrations, being markers for protein fermentation, were elevated. Distinct perturbations in microbial community compositions were observed for individual restrictive and binge/purging AN-subtypes. Upon weight gain, microbial richness increased, however perturbations in intestinal microbiota and short chain fatty acid profiles in addition to several gastrointestinal symptoms did not recover. These insights provide new leads to modulate the intestinal microbiota in order to improve the outcomes of the standard therapy. PMID:27229737

Genomes in Turmoil: Frugality Drives Microbial Community Structure in Extremely Acidic Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holmes, D. S.

2016-12-01

Extremely acidic environments (To gain insight into these issues, we have conducted deep bioinformatic analyses, including metabolic reconstruction of key assimilatory pathways, phylogenomics and network scrutiny of >160 genomes of acidophiles, including representatives from Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya and at least ten metagenomes of acidic environments [Cardenas JP, et al. pp 179-197 in Acidophiles, eds R. Quatrini and D. B. Johnson, Caister Academic Press, UK (2016)]. Results yielded valuable insights into cellular processes, including carbon and nitrogen management and energy production, linking biogeochemical processes to organismal physiology. They also provided insight into the evolutionary forces that shape the genomic structure of members of acidophile communities. Niche partitioning can explain diversity patterns in rapidly changing acidic environments such as bioleaching heaps. However, in spatially and temporally homogeneous acidic environments genome flux appears to provide deeper insight into the composition and evolution of acidic consortia. Acidophiles have undergone genome streamlining by gene loss promoting mutual coexistence of species that exploit complementarity use of scarce resources consistent with the Black Queen hypothesis [Morris JJ et al. mBio 3: e00036-12 (2012)]. Acidophiles also have a large pool of accessory genes (the microbial super-genome) that can be accessed by horizontal gene transfer. This further promotes dependency relationships as drivers of community structure and the evolution of keystone species. Acknowledgements: Fondecyt 1130683; Basal CCTE PFB16

Inactive and active states and supramolecular organization of GPCRs: insights from computational modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanelli, Francesca; De Benedetti, Pier G.

2006-08-01

Herein we make an overview of the results of our computational experiments aimed at gaining insight into the molecular mechanisms of GPCR functioning either in their normal conditions or when hit by gain-of-function or loss-of-function mutations. Molecular simulations of a number of GPCRs in their wild type and mutated as well as free and ligand-bound forms were instrumental in inferring the structural features, which differentiate the mutation- and ligand-induced active from the inactive states. These features essentially reside in the interaction pattern of the E/DRY arginine and in the degree of solvent exposure of selected cytosolic domains. Indeed, the active states differ from the inactive ones in the weakening of the interactions made by the highly conserved arginine and in the increase in solvent accessibility of the cytosolic interface between helices 3 and 6. Where possible, the structural hallmarks of the active and inactive receptor states are translated into molecular descriptors useful for in silico functional screening of novel receptor mutants or ligands. Computational modeling of the supramolecular organization of GPCRs and their intracellular partners is the current challenge toward a deep understanding of their functioning mechanisms.

Implementation of a digital evaluation platform to analyze bifurcation based nonlinear amplifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feldkord, Sven; Reit, Marco; Mathis, Wolfgang

2016-09-01

Recently, nonlinear amplifiers based on the supercritical Andronov-Hopf bifurcation have become a focus of attention, especially in the modeling of the mammalian hearing organ. In general, to gain deeper insights in the input-output behavior, the analysis of bifurcation based amplifiers requires a flexible framework to exchange equations and adjust certain parameters. A DSP implementation is presented which is capable to analyze various amplifier systems. Amplifiers based on the Andronov-Hopf and Neimark-Sacker bifurcations are implemented and compared exemplarily. It is shown that the Neimark-Sacker system remarkably outperforms the Andronov-Hopf amplifier regarding the CPU usage. Nevertheless, both show a similar input-output behavior over a wide parameter range. Combined with an USB-based control interface connected to a PC, the digital framework provides a powerful instrument to analyze bifurcation based amplifiers.

Predicting the Poaceae pollen season: six month-ahead forecasting and identification of relevant features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Navares, Ricardo; Aznarte, José Luis

2017-04-01

In this paper, we approach the problem of predicting the concentrations of Poaceae pollen which define the main pollination season in the city of Madrid. A classification-based approach, based on a computational intelligence model (random forests), is applied to forecast the dates in which risk concentration levels are to be observed. Unlike previous works, the proposal extends the range of forecasting horizons up to 6 months ahead. Furthermore, the proposed model allows to determine the most influential factors for each horizon, making no assumptions about the significance of the weather features. The performace of the proposed model proves it as a successful tool for allergy patients in preventing and minimizing the exposure to risky pollen concentrations and for researchers to gain a deeper insight on the factors driving the pollination season.

Assortative mixing in functional brain networks during epileptic seizures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bialonski, Stephan; Lehnertz, Klaus

2013-09-01

We investigate assortativity of functional brain networks before, during, and after one-hundred epileptic seizures with different anatomical onset locations. We construct binary functional networks from multi-channel electroencephalographic data recorded from 60 epilepsy patients; and from time-resolved estimates of the assortativity coefficient, we conclude that positive degree-degree correlations are inherent to seizure dynamics. While seizures evolve, an increasing assortativity indicates a segregation of the underlying functional network into groups of brain regions that are only sparsely interconnected, if at all. Interestingly, assortativity decreases already prior to seizure end. Together with previous observations of characteristic temporal evolutions of global statistical properties and synchronizability of epileptic brain networks, our findings may help to gain deeper insights into the complicated dynamics underlying generation, propagation, and termination of seizures.

Predicting the Poaceae pollen season: six month-ahead forecasting and identification of relevant features.

PubMed

Navares, Ricardo; Aznarte, José Luis

2017-04-01

In this paper, we approach the problem of predicting the concentrations of Poaceae pollen which define the main pollination season in the city of Madrid. A classification-based approach, based on a computational intelligence model (random forests), is applied to forecast the dates in which risk concentration levels are to be observed. Unlike previous works, the proposal extends the range of forecasting horizons up to 6 months ahead. Furthermore, the proposed model allows to determine the most influential factors for each horizon, making no assumptions about the significance of the weather features. The performace of the proposed model proves it as a successful tool for allergy patients in preventing and minimizing the exposure to risky pollen concentrations and for researchers to gain a deeper insight on the factors driving the pollination season.

Anisotropic Exchange within Decoupled Tetrahedra in the Quantum Breathing Pyrochlore Ba 3 Yb 2 Zn 5 O 11

DOE PAGES

Rau, J. G.; Wu, L. S.; May, A. F.; ...

2016-06-24

Tmore » he low energy spin excitation spectrum of the breathing pyrochlore Ba 3 Yb 2 Zn 5 O 11 has been investigated with inelastic neutron scattering. Several nearly resolution limited modes with no observable dispersion are observed at 250 mK while, at elevated temperatures, transitions between excited levels become visible. o gain deeper insight, a theoretical model of isolated Yb 3+ tetrahedra parametrized by four anisotropic exchange constants is constructed. he model reproduces the inelastic neutron scattering data, specific heat, and magnetic susceptibility with high fidelity. he fitted exchange parameters reveal a Heisenberg antiferromagnet with a very large Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Ultimately, using this model, we predict the appearance of an unusual octupolar paramagnet at low temperatures and speculate on the development of inter-tetrahedron correlations.« less