Axiological Role of English Adjectives in English Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zerkina, Natalya N.; Kostina, Nataliia N.; Urazayeva, Nailya R.; Lomakina, Yekaterina A.; Emets, Tatiana V.; Gallyamova, Maria S.; Melnikova, Elena P.; Trutnev, Alexey Yu.; Lukina, Oksana A.

2016-01-01

The article focuses on peculiarities of English adjective teaching as one of main and important lexicological basis. As the English language nowadays is important and universal as a native language of worldwide society, exactly that's why process of learning must include wide range of techniques not only as a process of learning theories but also…

Computer Task Application Use by Professional Health Educators: Implications for Professional Preparation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanks, Walter A.; Barnes, Michael D.; Merrill, Ray M.; Neiger, Brad L.

2000-01-01

Investigated how health educators currently used computers and how they expected to use them in the future. Surveys of practicing health educators at many types of sites indicated that important current abilities included Internet, word processing, and electronic presentation skills. Important future tasks and skills included developing computer…

Plausibility and Perspective Influence the Processing of Counterfactual Narratives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Heather J.; Jayes, Lewis T.

2018-01-01

Previous research has established that readers' eye movements are sensitive to the difficulty with which a word is processed. One important factor that influences processing is the fit of a word within the wider context, including its plausibility. Here we explore the influence of plausibility in counterfactual language processing. Counterfactuals…

Regulated transport into the nucleus of herpesviridae DNA replication core proteins.

PubMed

Gualtiero, Alvisi; Jans, David A; Camozzi, Daria; Avanzi, Simone; Loregian, Arianna; Ripalti, Alessandro; Palù, Giorgio

2013-09-16

The Herpesvirdae family comprises several major human pathogens belonging to three distinct subfamilies. Their double stranded DNA genome is replicated in the nuclei of infected cells by a number of host and viral products. Among the latter the viral replication complex, whose activity is strictly required for viral replication, is composed of six different polypeptides, including a two-subunit DNA polymerase holoenzyme, a trimeric primase/helicase complex and a single stranded DNA binding protein. The study of herpesviral DNA replication machinery is extremely important, both because it provides an excellent model to understand processes related to eukaryotic DNA replication and it has important implications for the development of highly needed antiviral agents. Even though all known herpesviruses utilize very similar mechanisms for amplification of their genomes, the nuclear import of the replication complex components appears to be a heterogeneous and highly regulated process to ensure the correct spatiotemporal localization of each protein. The nuclear transport process of these enzymes is controlled by three mechanisms, typifying the main processes through which protein nuclear import is generally regulated in eukaryotic cells. These include cargo post-translational modification-based recognition by the intracellular transporters, piggy-back events allowing coordinated nuclear import of multimeric holoenzymes, and chaperone-assisted nuclear import of specific subunits. In this review we summarize these mechanisms and discuss potential implications for the development of antiviral compounds aimed at inhibiting the Herpesvirus life cycle by targeting nuclear import of the Herpesvirus DNA replicating enzymes.

Comparing and Managing the Relative Importance and Ranking of Reasons for Selecting the Masters' of Business Administration Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Ronald L.; Kizer, Lee E.; Mutjaba, Bahaudin G.; Khanfar, Nile M.

2009-01-01

This paper reports the findings of a study involving the selection process that adult graduate students used when choosing to pursue and attain an advanced business degree at Southern Wesleyan University. This study includes a comparison of the initial priorities used in the selection process to priorities that remain important in retrospect. The…

7 CFR 319.59-2 - General import prohibitions; exceptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... prohibition does not include seed. (b) Triticum spp. plants, articles listed in § 319.59-3 as prohibited... Germplasm Inspction Station; (3) Imported under conditions of treatment, processing, growing, shipment, or...

7 CFR 319.59-2 - General import prohibitions; exceptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... prohibition does not include seed. (b) Triticum spp. plants, articles listed in § 319.59-3 as prohibited... of treatment, processing, growing, shipment, or disposal specified on the controlled import permit...

7 CFR 319.59-2 - General import prohibitions; exceptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... prohibition does not include seed. (b) Triticum spp. plants, articles listed in § 319.59-3 as prohibited... Germplasm Inspction Station; (3) Imported under conditions of treatment, processing, growing, shipment, or...

7 CFR 319.59-2 - General import prohibitions; exceptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... prohibition does not include seed. (b) Triticum spp. plants, articles listed in § 319.59-3 as prohibited... Germplasm Inspction Station; (3) Imported under conditions of treatment, processing, growing, shipment, or...

7 CFR 319.59-2 - General import prohibitions; exceptions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... prohibition does not include seed. (b) Triticum spp. plants, articles listed in § 319.59-3 as prohibited... Germplasm Inspction Station; (3) Imported under conditions of treatment, processing, growing, shipment, or...

Proposal for a Security Management in Cloud Computing for Health Care

PubMed Central

Dzombeta, Srdan; Brandis, Knud

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is actually one of the most popular themes of information systems research. Considering the nature of the processed information especially health care organizations need to assess and treat specific risks according to cloud computing in their information security management system. Therefore, in this paper we propose a framework that includes the most important security processes regarding cloud computing in the health care sector. Starting with a framework of general information security management processes derived from standards of the ISO 27000 family the most important information security processes for health care organizations using cloud computing will be identified considering the main risks regarding cloud computing and the type of information processed. The identified processes will help a health care organization using cloud computing to focus on the most important ISMS processes and establish and operate them at an appropriate level of maturity considering limited resources. PMID:24701137

Proposal for a security management in cloud computing for health care.

PubMed

Haufe, Knut; Dzombeta, Srdan; Brandis, Knud

2014-01-01

Cloud computing is actually one of the most popular themes of information systems research. Considering the nature of the processed information especially health care organizations need to assess and treat specific risks according to cloud computing in their information security management system. Therefore, in this paper we propose a framework that includes the most important security processes regarding cloud computing in the health care sector. Starting with a framework of general information security management processes derived from standards of the ISO 27000 family the most important information security processes for health care organizations using cloud computing will be identified considering the main risks regarding cloud computing and the type of information processed. The identified processes will help a health care organization using cloud computing to focus on the most important ISMS processes and establish and operate them at an appropriate level of maturity considering limited resources.

Magnetic Field Satellite (Magsat) data processing system specifications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berman, D.; Gomez, R.; Miller, A.

1980-01-01

The software specifications for the MAGSAT data processing system (MDPS) are presented. The MDPS is divided functionally into preprocessing of primary input data, data management, chronicle processing, and postprocessing. Data organization and validity, and checks of spacecraft and instrumentation are dicussed. Output products of the MDPS, including various plots and data tapes, are described. Formats for important tapes are presented. Dicussions and mathematical formulations for coordinate transformations and field model coefficients are included.

Electron Driven Processes in Atmospheric Behaviour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, L.; Brunger, M. J.; Teubner, P. J. O.

2006-11-01

Electron impact plays an important role in many atmospheric processes. Calculation of these is important for basic understanding, atmospheric modeling and remote sensing. Accurate atomic and molecular data, including electron impact cross sections, are required for such calculations. Five electron-driven processes are considered: auroral and dayglow emissions, the reduction of atmospheric electron density by vibrationally excited N2, NO production and infrared emission from NO. In most cases the predictions are compared with measurements. The dependence on experimental atomic and molecular data is also investigated.

Polyamine interactions with plant hormones: crosstalk at several levels

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Polyamines play important roles in diverse plant growth and development processes including seed germination, tissue lignification, organogenesis, flowering, pollination, embryogenesis, fruit development, ripening, abscission, senescence and stress responses. In all these processes, synergistic and ...

Genomic evolution of the ascomycetous yeasts

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Yeasts are important for industrial and biotechnological processes and show remarkable metabolic and phylogenetic diversity despite morphological similarities. We have sequenced the genomes of 16 ascomycete yeasts of taxonomic and industrial importance including members of Saccharomycotina and Taphr...

A new process sensitivity index to identify important system processes under process model and parametric uncertainty

DOE PAGES

Dai, Heng; Ye, Ming; Walker, Anthony P.; ...

2017-03-28

A hydrological model consists of multiple process level submodels, and each submodel represents a process key to the operation of the simulated system. Global sensitivity analysis methods have been widely used to identify important processes for system model development and improvement. The existing methods of global sensitivity analysis only consider parametric uncertainty, and are not capable of handling model uncertainty caused by multiple process models that arise from competing hypotheses about one or more processes. To address this problem, this study develops a new method to probe model output sensitivity to competing process models by integrating model averaging methods withmore » variance-based global sensitivity analysis. A process sensitivity index is derived as a single summary measure of relative process importance, and the index includes variance in model outputs caused by uncertainty in both process models and their parameters. Here, for demonstration, the new index is used to assign importance to the processes of recharge and geology in a synthetic study of groundwater reactive transport modeling. The recharge process is simulated by two models that convert precipitation to recharge, and the geology process is simulated by two models of hydraulic conductivity. Each process model has its own random parameters. Finally, the new process sensitivity index is mathematically general, and can be applied to a wide range of problems in hydrology and beyond.« less

A new process sensitivity index to identify important system processes under process model and parametric uncertainty

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

Dai, Heng; Ye, Ming; Walker, Anthony P.

A hydrological model consists of multiple process level submodels, and each submodel represents a process key to the operation of the simulated system. Global sensitivity analysis methods have been widely used to identify important processes for system model development and improvement. The existing methods of global sensitivity analysis only consider parametric uncertainty, and are not capable of handling model uncertainty caused by multiple process models that arise from competing hypotheses about one or more processes. To address this problem, this study develops a new method to probe model output sensitivity to competing process models by integrating model averaging methods withmore » variance-based global sensitivity analysis. A process sensitivity index is derived as a single summary measure of relative process importance, and the index includes variance in model outputs caused by uncertainty in both process models and their parameters. Here, for demonstration, the new index is used to assign importance to the processes of recharge and geology in a synthetic study of groundwater reactive transport modeling. The recharge process is simulated by two models that convert precipitation to recharge, and the geology process is simulated by two models of hydraulic conductivity. Each process model has its own random parameters. Finally, the new process sensitivity index is mathematically general, and can be applied to a wide range of problems in hydrology and beyond.« less

Introduction of male circumcision for HIV prevention in Uganda: analysis of the policy process.

PubMed

Odoch, Walter Denis; Kabali, Kenneth; Ankunda, Racheal; Zulu, Joseph Mumba; Tetui, Moses

2015-06-20

Health policy analysis is important for all health policies especially in fields with ever changing evidence-based interventions such as HIV prevention. However, there are few published reports of health policy analysis in sub-Saharan Africa in this field. This study explored the policy process of the introduction of male circumcision (MC) for HIV prevention in Uganda in order to inform the development processes of similar health policies. Desk review of relevant documents was conducted between March and May 2012. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Conceptual frameworks that demonstrate the interrelationship within the policy development processes and influence of actors in the policy development processes guided the analysis. Following the introduction of MC on the national policy agenda in 2007, negotiation and policy formulation preceded its communication and implementation. Policy proponents included academic researchers in the early 2000s and development partners around 2007. Favourable contextual factors that supported the development of the policy included the rising HIV prevalence, adoption of MC for HIV prevention in other sub-Saharan African countries, and expertise on MC. Additionally, the networking capability of proponents facilitated the change in position of non-supportive or neutral actors. Non-supportive and neutral actors in the initial stages of the policy development process included the Ministry of Health, traditional and Muslim leaders, and the Republican President. Using political authority, legitimacy, and charisma, actors who opposed the policy tried to block the policy development process. Researchers' initial disregard of the Ministry of Health in the research process of MC and the missing civil society advocacy arm contributed to delays in the policy development process. This study underscores the importance of securing top political leadership as well as key implementing partners' support in policy development processes. Equally important is the appreciation of the various forms of actors' power and how such power shapes the policy agenda, development process, and content.

Therapy was not what I expected: a preliminary qualitative analysis of concordance between client expectations and experience of cognitive-behavioural therapy.

PubMed

Westra, Henny Alice; Aviram, Adi; Barnes, Marissa; Angus, Lynne

2010-07-01

Expectancy violations have generally been neglected in psychotherapy research but may have important implications for therapy process and outcome. A qualitative approach was used to examine discrepancies between actual experience and expectations in client posttreatment accounts of cognitive-behavioural therapy. Nine good- and nine poor-outcome cases were included. Good-outcome clients frequently reported disconfirmation of process expectations, including surprise that therapy was collaborative, that they had the freedom to direct therapy, and that they were comfortable and could trust the process. Poor-outcome clients generally failed to report such experiences. Good-outcome clients also reported gaining more from treatment than expected, whereas poor-outcome clients reported being disappointed. These findings suggest an important role for expectancy disconfirmation in therapy.

Characterization of subvisible particle formation during the filling pump operation of a monoclonal antibody solution.

PubMed

Nayak, Arpan; Colandene, James; Bradford, Victor; Perkins, Melissa

2011-10-01

Characterization and control of aggregate and subvisible particle formation during fill-finish process steps are important for biopharmaceutical products. The filling step is of key importance as there is no further filtration of the drug product beyond sterile filtration. Filling processes can impact product quality by introducing physical stresses such as shear, friction, and cavitation. Other detrimental factors include temperature generated in the process of filling, foaming, and contact with filling system materials, including processing aids such as silicone oil. Certain pumps may shed extrinsic particles that may lead to heterogeneous nucleation-induced aggregation. In this work, microflow imaging, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and turbidimetry were utilized to quantify subvisible particles, aggregation, and opalescence, respectively. The filling process was performed using several commonly used filling systems, including rotary piston pump, rolling diaphragm pump, peristaltic pump, and time-pressure filler. The rolling diaphragm pump, peristaltic pump, and time-pressure filler generated notably less protein subvisible particles than the rotary piston pump, although no change in aggregate content by SEC was observed by any pump. An extreme increase in subvisible particles was also reflected in an increase in turbidity. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Processing and analysis of cardiac optical mapping data obtained with potentiometric dyes

PubMed Central

Laughner, Jacob I.; Ng, Fu Siong; Sulkin, Matthew S.; Arthur, R. Martin

2012-01-01

Optical mapping has become an increasingly important tool to study cardiac electrophysiology in the past 20 years. Multiple methods are used to process and analyze cardiac optical mapping data, and no consensus currently exists regarding the optimum methods. The specific methods chosen to process optical mapping data are important because inappropriate data processing can affect the content of the data and thus alter the conclusions of the studies. Details of the different steps in processing optical imaging data, including image segmentation, spatial filtering, temporal filtering, and baseline drift removal, are provided in this review. We also provide descriptions of the common analyses performed on data obtained from cardiac optical imaging, including activation mapping, action potential duration mapping, repolarization mapping, conduction velocity measurements, and optical action potential upstroke analysis. Optical mapping is often used to study complex arrhythmias, and we also discuss dominant frequency analysis and phase mapping techniques used for the analysis of cardiac fibrillation. PMID:22821993

Alpha particles diffusion due to charge changes

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

Clauser, C. F., E-mail: cesar.clauser@ib.edu.ar; Farengo, R.

2015-12-15

Alpha particles diffusion due to charge changes in a magnetized plasma is studied. Analytical calculations and numerical simulations are employed to show that this process can be very important in the pedestal-edge-SOL regions. This is the first study that presents clear evidence of the importance of atomic processes on the diffusion of alpha particles. A simple 1D model that includes inelastic collisions with plasma species, “cold” neutrals, and partially ionized species was employed. The code, which follows the exact particle orbits and includes the effect of inelastic collisions via a Monte Carlo type random process, runs on a graphic processormore » unit (GPU). The analytical and numerical results show excellent agreement when a uniform background (plasma and cold species) is assumed. The simulations also show that the gradients in the density of the plasma and cold species, which are large and opposite in the edge region, produce an inward flux of alpha particles. Calculations of the alpha particles flux reaching the walls or divertor plates should include these processes.« less

International and Interdisciplinary Identification of Health Care Transition Outcomes.

PubMed

Fair, Cynthia; Cuttance, Jessica; Sharma, Niraj; Maslow, Gary; Wiener, Lori; Betz, Cecily; Porter, Jerlym; McLaughlin, Suzanne; Gilleland-Marchak, Jordan; Renwick, Amy; Naranjo, Diana; Jan, Sophia; Javalkar, Karina; Ferris, Maria

2016-03-01

There is a lack of agreement on what constitutes successful outcomes for the process of health care transition (HCT) among adolescent and young adults with special health care needs. To present HCT outcomes identified by a Delphi process with an interdisciplinary group of participants. A Delphi method involving 3 stages was deployed to refine a list of HCT outcomes. This 18-month study (from January 5, 2013, of stage 1 to July 3, 2014, of stage 3) included an initial literature search, expert interviews, and then 2 waves of a web-based survey. On this survey, 93 participants from outpatient, community-based, and primary care clinics rated the importance of the top HCT outcomes identified by the Delphi process. Analyses were performed from July 5, 2014, to December 5, 2014. Health care transition outcomes of adolescents and young adults with special health care needs. Importance ratings of identified HCT outcomes rated on a Likert scale from 1 (not important) to 9 (very important). The 2 waves of surveys included 117 and 93 participants as the list of outcomes was refined. Transition outcomes were refined by the 3 waves of the Delphi process, with quality of life being the highest-rated outcome with broad agreement. The 10 final outcomes identified included individual outcomes (quality of life, understanding the characteristics of conditions and complications, knowledge of medication, self-management, adherence to medication, and understanding health insurance), health services outcomes (attending medical appointments, having a medical home, and avoidance of unnecessary hospitalization), and a social outcome (having a social network). Participants indicated that different outcomes were likely needed for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Quality of life is an important construct relevant to HCT. Future research should identify valid measures associated with each outcome and further explore the role that quality of life plays in the HCT process. Achieving consensus is a critical step toward the development of reliable and objective comparisons of HCT outcomes across clinical conditions and care delivery locations.

Mouse Models for Unraveling the Importance of Diet in Colon Cancer Prevention

PubMed Central

Tammariello, Alexandra E.; Milner, John A.

2010-01-01

Diet and genetics are both considered important risk determinants for colorectal cancer, a leading cause of death worldwide. Several genetically engineered mouse models have been created, including the ApcMin mouse, to aid in the identification of key cancer related processes and to assist with the characterization of environmental factors, including the diet, which influence risk. Current research using these models provides evidence that several bioactive food components can inhibit genetically predisposed colorectal cancer, while others increase risk. Specifically, calorie restriction or increased exposure to n-3 fatty acids, sulforaphane, chafuroside, curcumin, and dibenzoylmethane were reported protective. Total fat, calories and all-trans retinoic acid are associated with an increased risk. Unraveling the importance of specific dietary components in these models is complicated by the basal diet used, the quantity of test components provided, and interactions among food components. Newer models are increasingly available to evaluate fundamental cellular processes, including DNA mismatch repair, immune function and inflammation as markers for colon cancer risk. Unfortunately, these models have been used infrequently to examine the influence of specific dietary components. The enhanced use of these models can shed mechanistic insights about the involvement of specific bioactive food and components and energy as determinants of colon cancer risk. However, the use of available mouse models to exactly represent processes important to human gastrointestinal cancers will remain a continued scientific challenge. PMID:20122631

Sleep, Off-Line Processing, and Vocal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Margoliash, Daniel; Schmidt, Marc F.

2010-01-01

The study of song learning and the neural song system has provided an important comparative model system for the study of speech and language acquisition. We describe some recent advances in the bird song system, focusing on the role of off-line processing including sleep in processing sensory information and in guiding developmental song…

Low-cost high purity production

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kapur, V. K.

1978-01-01

Economical process produces high-purity silicon crystals suitable for use in solar cells. Reaction is strongly exothermic and can be initiated at relatively low temperature, making it potentially suitable for development into low-cost commercial process. Important advantages include exothermic character and comparatively low process temperatures. These could lead to significant savings in equipment and energy costs.

Cognitive Components of a Mathematical Processing Network in 9-Year-Old Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szucs, Dénes; Devine, Amy; Soltesz, Fruzsina; Nobes, Alison; Gabriel, Florence

2014-01-01

We determined how various cognitive abilities, including several measures of a proposed domain-specific number sense, relate to mathematical competence in nearly 100 9-year-old children with normal reading skill. Results are consistent with an extended number processing network and suggest that important processing nodes of this network are…

Uterine Artery Embolization: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Proposal for Research.

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-01-01

examined the literature review. Using a modified Delphi process, the panelists rated a comprehensive list of outcomes with regard to their importance...accounts for the bulk of symptoms) is medical, and includes the use of hormonal agents such as progestins, combined oral contraceptives , and (less...leiomyomata. At the meeting, panelists used a modified Delphi process, to independently and anonymously rate the importance of measuring each of these

Organellar proteomics reveals hundreds of novel nuclear proteins in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The post-genomic era of malaria research provided unprecedented insights into the biology of Plasmodium parasites. Due to the large evolutionary distance to model eukaryotes, however, we lack a profound understanding of many processes in Plasmodium biology. One example is the cell nucleus, which controls the parasite genome in a development- and cell cycle-specific manner through mostly unknown mechanisms. To study this important organelle in detail, we conducted an integrative analysis of the P. falciparum nuclear proteome. Results We combined high accuracy mass spectrometry and bioinformatic approaches to present for the first time an experimentally determined core nuclear proteome for P. falciparum. Besides a large number of factors implicated in known nuclear processes, one-third of all detected proteins carry no functional annotation, including many phylum- or genus-specific factors. Importantly, extensive experimental validation using 30 transgenic cell lines confirmed the high specificity of this inventory, and revealed distinct nuclear localization patterns of hitherto uncharacterized proteins. Further, our detailed analysis identified novel protein domains potentially implicated in gene transcription pathways, and sheds important new light on nuclear compartments and processes including regulatory complexes, the nucleolus, nuclear pores, and nuclear import pathways. Conclusion Our study provides comprehensive new insight into the biology of the Plasmodium nucleus and will serve as an important platform for dissecting general and parasite-specific nuclear processes in malaria parasites. Moreover, as the first nuclear proteome characterized in any protist organism, it will provide an important resource for studying evolutionary aspects of nuclear biology. PMID:23181666

Working conditions and effects of ISO 9000 in six furniture-making companies: implementation and processes.

PubMed

Karltun, J; Axelsson, J; Eklund, J

1998-08-01

What effects will the implementation of the quality standard ISO 9000 have regarding working conditions and competitive advantages? Which are the most important change process characteristics for assuring improved working conditions and other desired effects? These are the main questions behind this study of six furniture-making companies which implemented ISO 9000 during the period 1991-1994. The results show that customer requirement was the dominant goal to implement ISO 9000. Five of the six companies succeeded in gaining certification. The influence on working conditions was limited, but included better order and housekeeping, more positive attitudes towards discussing quality shortcomings, a few workplace improvements, work enrichment caused by additional tasks within the quality system and a better understanding of external customer demands. Among the negative effects were new, apparently meaningless, tasks for individual workers as well as more stress and more physically strenuous work. The effects on the companies included a decrease in external quality-related costs and improved delivery precision. The study confirms the importance for efficient change of the design of the change process, and identifies 'improvement methodology' as the most important process characteristic. Improved working conditions are enhanced by added relevant strategic goals and by a participative implementation process.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

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

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate modelsmore » typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. Our review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We also highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.« less

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

DOE PAGES

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen; ...

2017-06-15

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate modelsmore » typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. Our review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We also highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.« less

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen; Goldstein, Allen H.; Guenther, Alex B.; Jimenez, Jose L.; Kuang, Chongai; Laskin, Alexander; Martin, Scot T.; Ng, Nga Lee; Petaja, Tuukka; Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Rasch, Philip J.; Roldin, Pontus; Seinfeld, John H.; Shilling, John; Smith, James N.; Thornton, Joel A.; Volkamer, Rainer; Wang, Jian; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Zaveri, Rahul A.; Zelenyuk, Alla; Zhang, Qi

2017-06-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. This review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.

Bacillus mojavensis biofilm formation and biosurfactant production using a Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization System

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biofilms are important extracellular polymeric compounds produced by bacteria that are useful for developmental phases including motility, swarming, signaling processes, and for hydrophobic nutrient utilization, all of which are important attributes for endophytic bacteria with biocontrol potential....

Bio-based methacrylic acid via catalytic decarboxylation of itaconic and citric acids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Methacrylic acid is an important commodity monomer for the plastics industry that is produced industrially from acetone, hydrogen cyanide and concentrated sulfuric acid via the acetone cyanohydrin (ACH) process. Disadvantages to the ACH process include nonrenewable starting materials, stoichiometric...

Relational Knowledge in Higher Cognitive Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halford, Graeme S.

Explicit representation of relations plays some role in virtually all higher cognitive processes, but relational knowledge has seldom been investigated systematically. This paper considers how relational knowledge is involved in some tasks that have been important to cognitive development, including transitivity, the balance scale, classification…

ARSENIC TRANSPORT AND FATE IN SULFIDIC ENVIRONMENTS: AS(III) - FES INTERACTIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Arsenic mobility in groundwater and retention in aquifer materials at contaminated sites is often linked to redox processes, especially iron and sulfur cycling at redox boundaries. Important processes include adsorption or co-precipitation reactions of arsenate, arsenite, or th...

Due Process and Higher Education: A Systemic Approach to Fair Decision Making. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report, Volume 27, Number 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Ed

Due process has become an important principle in higher education as a result of many new legal issues, including dismissals of students from campus, firings of staff members, faculty tenure and promotion, sexual harassment, discrimination, and substance abuse. This volume defines due process; explains when due process procedures are required;…

How is physiology relevant to behavior analysis?

PubMed Central

Reese, Hayne W.

1996-01-01

Physiology is an important biological science; but behavior analysis is not a biological science, and behavior analysts can safely ignore biological processes. However, ignoring products of biological processes might be a serious mistake. The important products include behavior, instinctive drift, behavior potentials, hunger, and many developmental milestones and events. Physiology deals with the sources of such products; behavior analysis can deal with how the products affect behavior, which can be understood without understanding their sources. PMID:22478240

Review of Solids Handling. Student Manual. Biological Treatment Process Control.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnegie, John W.

This student manual contains the textual material for a single-lesson unit which summarizes and reviews most of the solids handling processes in common use in municipal treatment plants. No attempt is made to detail the theory and operation of the processes. Topics discussed include: (1) sources of sludge; (2) the importance of sludge management;…

77 FR 19861 - Certain Polybrominated Diphenylethers; Significant New Use Rule and Test Rule

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-02

...The Agency is proposing to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 5(a) Significant New Use Rule (SNUR), for certain polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) by: Designating processing of six PBDEs, or any combination of these chemical substances resulting from a chemical reaction, as a significant new use; designating manufacturing, importing, and processing of a seventh PBDE, decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) for any use which is not ongoing after December 31, 2013, as a significant new use; and making inapplicable the article exemption for SNURs for this action. A person who intends to import or process any of the seven PBDEs included in the proposed SNUR, as part of an article for a significant new use would be required to notify EPA at least 90 days in advance to ensure that the Agency has an opportunity to review and, if necessary, restrict or prohibit a new use before it begins. EPA is also proposing a test rule under TSCA that would require any person who manufactures or processes commercial pentabromodiphenyl ether (c-pentaBDE), commercial octabromodiphenyl ether (c-octaBDE), or commercial decaBDE (c-decaBDE), including in articles, for any use after December 31, 2013, to conduct testing on their effects on health and the environment. EPA is proposing to designate all discontinued uses of PBDEs as significant new uses. The test rule would be promulgated if EPA determines that there are persons who intend to manufacture, import, or process c-pentaBDE, c-octaBDE, or c-decaBDE, for any use, including in articles, after December 31, 2013.

The underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small scale.

PubMed

Dong, Chengxu; Gao, Meixiang; Guo, Chuanwei; Lin, Lin; Wu, Donghui; Zhang, Limin

2017-01-01

Metacommunity theory provides an understanding of how ecological processes regulate local community assemblies. However, few field studies have evaluated the underlying mechanisms of a metacommunity on a small scale through revealing the relative roles of spatial and environmental filtering in structuring local community composition. Based on a spatially explicit sampling design in 2012 and 2013, this study aims to evaluate the underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small spatial scale (50 m) in a temperate deciduous forest located at the Maoershan Ecosystem Research Station, Northeast China. Moran's eigenvector maps (MEMs) were used to model independent spatial variables. The relative importance of spatial (including trend variables, i.e., geographical coordinates, and broad- and fine-scale spatial variables) and environmental factors in driving the soil mite metacommunity was determined by variation partitioning. Mantel and partial Mantel tests and a redundancy analysis (RDA) were also used to identify the relative contributions of spatial and environmental variables. The results of variation partitioning suggested that the relatively large and significant variance was a result of spatial variables (including broad- and fine-scale spatial variables and trend), indicating the importance of dispersal limitation and autocorrelation processes. The significant contribution of environmental variables was detected in 2012 based on a partial Mantel test, and soil moisture and soil organic matter were especially important for the soil mite metacommunity composition in both years. The study suggested that the soil mite metacommunity was primarily regulated by dispersal limitation due to broad-scale and neutral biotic processes at a fine-scale and that environmental filtering might be of subordinate importance. In conclusion, a combination of metacommunity perspectives between neutral and species sorting theories was suggested to be important in the observed structure of the soil mite metacommunity at the studied small scale.

The underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small scale

PubMed Central

Guo, Chuanwei; Lin, Lin; Wu, Donghui; Zhang, Limin

2017-01-01

Metacommunity theory provides an understanding of how ecological processes regulate local community assemblies. However, few field studies have evaluated the underlying mechanisms of a metacommunity on a small scale through revealing the relative roles of spatial and environmental filtering in structuring local community composition. Based on a spatially explicit sampling design in 2012 and 2013, this study aims to evaluate the underlying processes of a soil mite metacommunity on a small spatial scale (50 m) in a temperate deciduous forest located at the Maoershan Ecosystem Research Station, Northeast China. Moran’s eigenvector maps (MEMs) were used to model independent spatial variables. The relative importance of spatial (including trend variables, i.e., geographical coordinates, and broad- and fine-scale spatial variables) and environmental factors in driving the soil mite metacommunity was determined by variation partitioning. Mantel and partial Mantel tests and a redundancy analysis (RDA) were also used to identify the relative contributions of spatial and environmental variables. The results of variation partitioning suggested that the relatively large and significant variance was a result of spatial variables (including broad- and fine-scale spatial variables and trend), indicating the importance of dispersal limitation and autocorrelation processes. The significant contribution of environmental variables was detected in 2012 based on a partial Mantel test, and soil moisture and soil organic matter were especially important for the soil mite metacommunity composition in both years. The study suggested that the soil mite metacommunity was primarily regulated by dispersal limitation due to broad-scale and neutral biotic processes at a fine-scale and that environmental filtering might be of subordinate importance. In conclusion, a combination of metacommunity perspectives between neutral and species sorting theories was suggested to be important in the observed structure of the soil mite metacommunity at the studied small scale. PMID:28481906

A review of reward processing and motivational impairment in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Strauss, Gregory P; Waltz, James A; Gold, James M

2014-03-01

This article reviews and synthesizes research on reward processing in schizophrenia, which has begun to provide important insights into the cognitive and neural mechanisms associated with motivational impairments. Aberrant cortical-striatal interactions may be involved with multiple reward processing abnormalities, including: (1) dopamine-mediated basal ganglia systems that support reinforcement learning and the ability to predict cues that lead to rewarding outcomes; (2) orbitofrontal cortex-driven deficits in generating, updating, and maintaining value representations; (3) aberrant effort-value computations, which may be mediated by disrupted anterior cingulate cortex and midbrain dopamine functioning; and (4) altered activation of the prefrontal cortex, which is important for generating exploratory behaviors in environments where reward outcomes are uncertain. It will be important for psychosocial interventions targeting negative symptoms to account for abnormalities in each of these reward processes, which may also have important interactions; suggestions for novel behavioral intervention strategies that make use of external cues, reinforcers, and mobile technology are discussed.

Development of Targeting UAVs Using Electric Helicopters and Yamaha RMAX

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-05-17

including the QNX real - time operating system . The video overlay board is useful to display the onboard camera’s image with important information such as... real - time operating system . Fully utilizing the built-in multi-processing architecture with inter-process synchronization and communication

Process Evaluation of an Effective Church-Based Diet Intervention: Body & Soul

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Marci Kramish; Resnicow, Ken; Carr, Carol; Wang, Terry; Williams, Alexis

2007-01-01

Body & Soul has demonstrated effectiveness as a dietary intervention among African American church members. The process evaluation assessed relationships between program exposure and implementation factors and study outcomes and characterized factors important for adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Data sources included participant surveys…

How to Conduct Ethnographic Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sangasubana, Nisaratana

2011-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of conducting ethnographic research. Methodology definition and key characteristics are given. The stages of the research process are described including preparation, data gathering and recording, and analysis. Important issues such as reliability and validity are also discussed.

Top 40 priorities for science to inform conservation and management policy in the United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fleishman, Erica; Blockstein, David E.; Hall, John A.; Mascia, Michael B.; Rudd, Murray A.; Scott, J. Michael; Sutherland, William J.; Bartuska, Ann M.; Brown, A. Gordon; Christen, Catherine A.; Clement, Joel P.; DellaSala, Dominick; Duke, Clifford D.; Fiske, Shirley J.; Gosnell, Hannah; Haney, J. Christopher; Hutchins, Michael; Klein, Mary L.; Marqusee, Jeffrey; Noon, Barry R.; Nordgren, John R.; Orbuch, Paul M.; Powell, Jimmie; Quarles, Steven P.; Saterson, Kathryn A.; Stein, Bruce A.; Webster, Michael S.; Vedder, Amy

2011-01-01

To maximize the utility of research to decisionmaking, especially given limited financial resources, scientists must set priorities for their efforts. We present a list of the top 40 high-priority, multidisciplinary research questions directed toward informing some of the most important current and future decisions about management of species, communities, and ecological processes in the United States. The questions were generated by an open, inclusive process that included personal interviews with decisionmakers, broad solicitation of research needs from scientists and policymakers, and an intensive workshop that included scientifically oriented individuals responsible for managing and developing policy related to natural resources. The process differed from previous efforts to set priorities for conservation research in its focus on the engagement of decisionmakers in addition to researchers. The research priorities emphasized the importance of addressing societal context and exploration of trade-offs among alternative policies and actions, as well as more traditional questions related to ecological processes and functions.

The role of impact cratering for Mars sample return

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schultz, P. H.

1988-01-01

The preserved cratering record of Mars indicates that impacts play an important role in deciphering Martian geologic history, whether as a mechanism to modify the lithosphere and atmosphere or as a tool to sample the planet. The various roles of impact cratering in adding a broader understanding of Mars through returned samples are examined. Five broad roles include impact craters as: (1) a process in response to a different planetary localizer environment; (2) a probe for excavating crustal/mantle materials; (3) a possible localizer of magmatic and hydrothermal processes; (4) a chronicle of changes in the volcanic, sedimentary, atmospheric, and cosmic flux history; and (5) a chronometer for extending the geologic time scale to unsampled regions. The evidence for Earth-like processes and very nonlunar styles of volcanism and tectonism may shift the emphasis of a sampling strategy away from equally fundamental issues including crustal composition, unit ages, and climate history. Impact cratering not only played an important active role in the early Martian geologic history, it also provides an important tool for addressing such issues.

Processed foods available in the Pacific Islands

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background There is an increasing reliance on processed foods globally, yet food composition tables include minimal information on their nutrient content. The Pacific Islands share common trade links and are heavily reliant on imported foods. The objective was to develop a dataset for the Pacific Islands on nutrient composition of processed foods sold and their sources. Methods Information on the food labels, including country of origin, nutrient content and promotional claims were recorded into a standardised dataset. Data were cleaned, converted to per 100 g data as needed and then checked for anomalies and recording errors. Setting: Five representative countries were selected for data collection, based on their trading patterns: Fiji, Guam, Nauru, New Caledonia, and Samoa. Data were collected in the capitals, in larger stores which import their own foods. Subjects: Processed foods in stores. Results The data from 6041 foods and drinks were recorded. Fifty four countries of origin were identified, with the main provider of food for each Pacific Island country being that with which it was most strongly linked politically. Nutrient data were not provided for 6% of the foods, imported from various countries. Inaccurate labels were found on 132 products. Over one-quarter of the foods included some nutrient or health-related claims. Conclusions The globalisation of the food supply is having considerable impacts on diets in the Pacific Islands. While nutrient labels can be informative for consumers looking for healthier options, difficulties still exist with poor labelling and interpretation can be challenging. PMID:24160249

The behavioural immune system and the psychology of human sociality.

PubMed

Schaller, Mark

2011-12-12

Because immunological defence against pathogens is costly and merely reactive, human anti-pathogen defence is also characterized by proactive behavioural mechanisms that inhibit contact with pathogens in the first place. This behavioural immune system comprises psychological processes that infer infection risk from perceptual cues, and that respond to these perceptual cues through the activation of aversive emotions, cognitions and behavioural impulses. These processes are engaged flexibly, producing context-contingent variation in the nature and magnitude of aversive responses. These processes have important implications for human social cognition and social behaviour-including implications for social gregariousness, person perception, intergroup prejudice, mate preferences, sexual behaviour and conformity. Empirical evidence bearing on these many implications is reviewed and discussed. This review also identifies important directions for future research on the human behavioural immune system--including the need for enquiry into underlying mechanisms, additional behavioural consequences and implications for human health and well-being.

The behavioural immune system and the psychology of human sociality

PubMed Central

Schaller, Mark

2011-01-01

Because immunological defence against pathogens is costly and merely reactive, human anti-pathogen defence is also characterized by proactive behavioural mechanisms that inhibit contact with pathogens in the first place. This behavioural immune system comprises psychological processes that infer infection risk from perceptual cues, and that respond to these perceptual cues through the activation of aversive emotions, cognitions and behavioural impulses. These processes are engaged flexibly, producing context–contingent variation in the nature and magnitude of aversive responses. These processes have important implications for human social cognition and social behaviour—including implications for social gregariousness, person perception, intergroup prejudice, mate preferences, sexual behaviour and conformity. Empirical evidence bearing on these many implications is reviewed and discussed. This review also identifies important directions for future research on the human behavioural immune system—including the need for enquiry into underlying mechanisms, additional behavioural consequences and implications for human health and well-being. PMID:22042918

A biopolymer transistor: electrical amplification by microtubules.

PubMed

Priel, Avner; Ramos, Arnolt J; Tuszynski, Jack A; Cantiello, Horacio F

2006-06-15

Microtubules (MTs) are important cytoskeletal structures engaged in a number of specific cellular activities, including vesicular traffic, cell cyto-architecture and motility, cell division, and information processing within neuronal processes. MTs have also been implicated in higher neuronal functions, including memory and the emergence of "consciousness". How MTs handle and process electrical information, however, is heretofore unknown. Here we show new electrodynamic properties of MTs. Isolated, taxol-stabilized MTs behave as biomolecular transistors capable of amplifying electrical information. Electrical amplification by MTs can lead to the enhancement of dynamic information, and processivity in neurons can be conceptualized as an "ionic-based" transistor, which may affect, among other known functions, neuronal computational capabilities.

Natural Language Processing: Toward Large-Scale, Robust Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haas, Stephanie W.

1996-01-01

Natural language processing (NLP) is concerned with getting computers to do useful things with natural language. Major applications include machine translation, text generation, information retrieval, and natural language interfaces. Reviews important developments since 1987 that have led to advances in NLP; current NLP applications; and problems…

Industrial benefits and future expectations in materials and processes resulting from space technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, J. D.

1977-01-01

Space technology transfer is discussed as applied to the field of materials science. Advances made in processing include improved computer techniques, and structural analysis. Technology transfer is shown to have an important impact potential in the overall productivity of the United States.

How Do Primary School Students Acquire the Skill of Making Hypothesis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Darus, Faridah Binti; Saat, Rohaida Mohd

2014-01-01

Science education in Malaysia emphasizes three components: namely knowledge, scientific skills which include science process skills and manipulative skills; scientific attitudes; and noble values. The science process skills are important in enhancing students' cognitive development and also to facilitate students' active participation during the…

Principal Evaluation in Catholic Elementary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vincent, Kathleen B.

2013-01-01

Research on school leadership speaks to the importance of evaluating school administrators. Evidence suggests that involving school leaders in the design of the evaluation process as well as including feedback from stakeholders in the school community as part of the evaluation process can positively impact administrators' professional…

Laboratory Studies of Heterogeneous Chemical Processes of Atmospheric Importance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molina, Mario J.

2004-01-01

The objective of this study is to conduct measurements of chemical kinetics parameters for heterogeneous reactions of importance in the stratosphere and the troposphere. It involves the elucidation of the mechanism of the interaction of HCl vapor with ice surfaces, which is the first step in the heterogeneous chlorine activation processes, as well as the investigation of the atmospheric oxidation mechanism of soot particles emitted by biomass and fossil fuels. The techniques being employed include turbulent flow-chemical ionization mass spectrometry and optical ellipsometry, among others.

Potentially Prebiotic Syntheses of Condensed Phosphates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keefe, Anthony D.; Miller, Stanley L.

1996-01-01

In view of the importance of a prebiotic source of high energy phosphates, we have investigated a number of potentially prebiotic processes to produce condensed phosphates from orthophosphate and cyclic trimetaphosphate from tripolyphosphate. The reagents investigated include polymerizing nitriles, acid anhydrides, lactones, hexamethylene tetramine and carbon suboxide. A number of these processes give substantial yields of pyrophosphate from orthophosphate and trimetaphosphate from tripolyphosphate. Although these reactions may have been applicable in local areas, they are not sufficiently robust to have been of importance in the prebiotic open ocean.

A Method for Extracting Important Segments from Documents Using Support Vector Machines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suzuki, Daisuke; Utsumi, Akira

In this paper we propose an extraction-based method for automatic summarization. The proposed method consists of two processes: important segment extraction and sentence compaction. The process of important segment extraction classifies each segment in a document as important or not by Support Vector Machines (SVMs). The process of sentence compaction then determines grammatically appropriate portions of a sentence for a summary according to its dependency structure and the classification result by SVMs. To test the performance of our method, we conducted an evaluation experiment using the Text Summarization Challenge (TSC-1) corpus of human-prepared summaries. The result was that our method achieved better performance than a segment-extraction-only method and the Lead method, especially for sentences only a part of which was included in human summaries. Further analysis of the experimental results suggests that a hybrid method that integrates sentence extraction with segment extraction may generate better summaries.

It's Time to Revamp the Parent-Teacher Conference Process: Let's Include the Child!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boazman, Janette

2014-01-01

This article focuses on the fact that very often the traditional parent-teacher conference process is missing the most important stake holder, the child. The author asks the reader to clear the traditional image of parent-teacher conferences from their mind and imagine a conference process and setting that has the potential to bring together…

15 CFR 400.31 - Manufacturing and processing activity; criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... value-added activity; (v) Overall effect on import levels of relevant products, including import... consistent with trade policy and programs, and whether its net economic effect is positive. (b) Evaluation... undertaking a review of the economic factors enumerated in § 400.31(b)(2), the Board shall deny or restrict...

15 CFR 400.31 - Manufacturing and processing activity; criteria.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... value-added activity; (v) Overall effect on import levels of relevant products, including import... consistent with trade policy and programs, and whether its net economic effect is positive. (b) Evaluation... undertaking a review of the economic factors enumerated in § 400.31(b)(2), the Board shall deny or restrict...

10 CFR 63.112 - Requirements for preclosure safety analysis of the geologic repository operations area.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... emergency power to instruments, utility service systems, and operating systems important to safety if there... include: (a) A general description of the structures, systems, components, equipment, and process... of the performance of the structures, systems, and components to identify those that are important to...

10 CFR 63.112 - Requirements for preclosure safety analysis of the geologic repository operations area.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... emergency power to instruments, utility service systems, and operating systems important to safety if there... include: (a) A general description of the structures, systems, components, equipment, and process... of the performance of the structures, systems, and components to identify those that are important to...

10 CFR 63.112 - Requirements for preclosure safety analysis of the geologic repository operations area.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... emergency power to instruments, utility service systems, and operating systems important to safety if there... include: (a) A general description of the structures, systems, components, equipment, and process... of the performance of the structures, systems, and components to identify those that are important to...

10 CFR 63.112 - Requirements for preclosure safety analysis of the geologic repository operations area.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... emergency power to instruments, utility service systems, and operating systems important to safety if there... include: (a) A general description of the structures, systems, components, equipment, and process... of the performance of the structures, systems, and components to identify those that are important to...

A new process sensitivity index to identify important system processes under process model and parametric uncertainty

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

Dai, Heng; Ye, Ming; Walker, Anthony P.

Hydrological models are always composed of multiple components that represent processes key to intended model applications. When a process can be simulated by multiple conceptual-mathematical models (process models), model uncertainty in representing the process arises. While global sensitivity analysis methods have been widely used for identifying important processes in hydrologic modeling, the existing methods consider only parametric uncertainty but ignore the model uncertainty for process representation. To address this problem, this study develops a new method to probe multimodel process sensitivity by integrating the model averaging methods into the framework of variance-based global sensitivity analysis, given that the model averagingmore » methods quantify both parametric and model uncertainty. A new process sensitivity index is derived as a metric of relative process importance, and the index includes variance in model outputs caused by uncertainty in both process models and model parameters. For demonstration, the new index is used to evaluate the processes of recharge and geology in a synthetic study of groundwater reactive transport modeling. The recharge process is simulated by two models that converting precipitation to recharge, and the geology process is also simulated by two models of different parameterizations of hydraulic conductivity; each process model has its own random parameters. The new process sensitivity index is mathematically general, and can be applied to a wide range of problems in hydrology and beyond.« less

The Diagnostic Challenges of Autoimmune Pancreatitis

PubMed Central

Papp, Kata; Angst, Eliane; Seidel, Stefan; Flury-Frei, Renata; Hetzer, Franc Heinrich

2015-01-01

Autoimmune pancreatitis is a rare but important differential diagnosis from pancreatic cancer. This autoimmune disease can mimic pancreatic cancer by its clinical symptoms, including weight loss and jaundice. Furthermore imaging findings may include a mass of the pancreas. Here we present the case of a 67-year-old male patient diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis but showing the well-known symptoms of pancreatic cancer. This emphasizes the difficulties of histological findings and the importance of the correct diagnostic process. PMID:25802499

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosols: implications for global climate forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shrivastava, Manish

2017-04-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding pre-industrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features 1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and 2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g. the 'climate sensitivity'). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, often represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. This presentation is based on a US Department of Energy Atmospheric Systems Research sponsored workshop, which highlighted key SOA processes overlooked in climate models that could greatly affect climate forcing estimates. We will highlight the importance of processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including: formation of extremely low-volatility organics in the gas-phase; isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) multi-phase chemistry; particle-phase oligomerization; and physical properties such as viscosity. We also highlight some of the recently discovered important processes that involve interactions between natural biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions such as effects of sulfur and NOx emissions on SOA. We will present examples of integrated model-measurement studies that relate the observed evolution of organic aerosol mass and number with knowledge of particle properties such as volatility and viscosity. We will also highlight the importance of continuing efforts to rank the most influential SOA processes that affect climate forcing, but are often missing in climate models. Ultimately, gas- and particle-phase chemistry processes that capture the dynamic evolution of number and mass concentrations of SOA particles need to be accurately and efficiently represented in regional and global atmospheric chemistry-climate models.

The talent process of successful academic women scientists at elite research universities in New York state

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaenzig, Lisa M.

The importance of science in our society continues to increase, as the needs of the global culture and the problems of the world's growing populations affect resources internationally (DeLisi, 2008; Fischman, 2007; Park, 2008). The need for qualified and experienced scientists to solve complex problems is important to the future of the United States. Models of success for women in STEM disciplines are important to improve the recruitment and retention of women in academic science. This study serves as an examination of the facilitators and barriers---including external factors and internal characteristics---on the talent development process of successful women academic scientists. Since there are few studies relating specifically to the career experiences of successful women in academic science careers (Ceci & Williams, 2007; Wasserman, 2000; Xie & Shauman, 2003), a literature review was conducted that examined the (1) the gifted literature on women, including the eminence literature; (2) the higher education literature on women faculty and academic science, and (3) the literature related to the internal characteristics and external factors that influence the talent development process. The final section of the literature review includes a literature map (Creswell, 2009) outlining the major studies cited in this chapter. The conclusion, based on a critical analysis of the literature review, outlines the need for this study. The current study utilizes the framework of Gagne's differentiated talent development model for gifted individuals (Gagne, 1985, 1991) to examine the themes cited in multiple studies that influence the talent development process. Through a mixed-design methodology (Creswell, 2009) that incorporates quantitative and qualitative analysis using a survey and follow-up interviews with selected participants, this study seeks to explore the effects of internal characteristics, external influences, significant events, and experiences on the success of women scientists at elite research universities in New York. A criterion sample (n=94) was selected resulting in forty-one successful academic women scientists as the study participants, representing a response rate of 43.6%. Findings include the important roles of parents, teachers, mentors and collaborators on the talent development process of the participants. The perception of the study participants was that there were multiple facilitators to their talent development process, while few barriers were acknowledged. The most important barriers cited by participants were perceptions of institutional culture and sexism. Implications for practice in both gifted and higher education are suggested, based on the findings of the study. For gifted education, these suggestions include the need to provide parental education programs emphasizing the importance of intellectual engagement at home, providing dedicated time for science in primary education, and fostering science and mathematics opportunities, particularly for girls and young women. Stressing the importance of hard work, persistence and intelligent risk-taking are also important for encouraging girls in science. For higher education, the study provides models of success of academic women scientists, outlines the importance of mentors and collaborators, and emphasizes the critical role that institutions and departments play in facilitating or impeding women's career development as academics. The current study suggests several areas for further research to continue the exploration of the talent development influences on academic women scientists. Based on the findings of this study, recommended studies include examining the differences of generational cohorts; probing the roles of collaborators/mentor colleagues; exploring differences for women from various ethnic and racial backgrounds; replicating the current study with larger populations of women scientists; investigating the role of facilitative school environments; examining the patterns of influence of first generation successful academic women, and evaluating matched pairs of male and female successful academics.

Terrestrial species viability assessments for national forests in northeastern Washington

Treesearch

William L. Gaines; Barbara C. Wales; Lowell H. Suring; James S. Begley; Kim Mellen-McLean; Shawne. Mohoric

2017-01-01

We developed a process to address terrestrial wildlife species for which management for ecosystem diversity may be inadequate for providing ecological conditions capable of sustaining viable populations. The process includes (1) identifying species of conservation concern, (2) describing source habitats, and other important ecological factors, (3) organizing species...

Non-Logical Discourse: Key to the Composing Process?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulsen, Richard C.

One niche in which scholars have not looked for keys to the composing process is the sometimes illusory but vital area of nonlogical discourse, which includes fantasy, hallucination, dream, reverie, vision, trance, and meditation. Abundant evidence exists about the genesis, importance, and use of nonlogical discourse, but this evidence comes…

Natural disturbance and stand development principles for ecological forestry

Treesearch

Jerry F. Franklin; Robert J. Mitchell; Brian J. Palik

2007-01-01

Foresters use natural disturbances and stand development processes as models for silvicultural practices in broad conceptual ways. Incorporating an understanding of natural disturbance and stand development processes more fully into silvicultural practice is the basis for an ecological forestry approach. Such an approach must include 1) understanding the importance of...

Exploring Students' Reflective Thinking Practice, Deep Processing Strategies, Effort, and Achievement Goal Orientations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phan, Huy Phuong

2009-01-01

Recent research indicates that study processing strategies, effort, reflective thinking practice, and achievement goals are important factors contributing to the prediction of students' academic success. Very few studies have combined these theoretical orientations within one conceptual model. This study tested a conceptual model that included, in…

76 FR 621 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-05

... establish a process for stakeholder input and involvement in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Highways for LIFE Pilot Program. The process may include participation by representatives of... own that a particular innovation was important, yet never actually determined whether States would...

75 FR 54417 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-07

... technology transfer program.'' It further states that ``The Secretary shall establish a process for... Pilot Program. The process may include participation by representatives of the State departments of... particular innovation was important, yet never actually determined whether States would value such an...

Brain Network Interactions in Auditory, Visual and Linguistic Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horwitz, Barry; Braun, Allen R.

2004-01-01

In the paper, we discuss the importance of network interactions between brain regions in mediating performance of sensorimotor and cognitive tasks, including those associated with language processing. Functional neuroimaging, especially PET and fMRI, provide data that are obtained essentially simultaneously from much of the brain, and thus are…

Latent heat sink in soil heat flux measurements

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The surface energy balance includes a term for soil heat flux. Soil heat flux is difficult to measure because it includes conduction and convection heat transfer processes. Accurate representation of soil heat flux is an important consideration in many modeling and measurement applications. Yet, the...

Latent Heat in Soil Heat Flux Measurements

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The surface energy balance includes a term for soil heat flux. Soil heat flux is difficult to measure because it includes conduction and convection heat transfer processes. Accurate representation of soil heat flux is an important consideration in many modeling and measurement applications. Yet, the...

Boundary conditions for the paleoenvironment: Chemical and Physical Processes in dense interstellar clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Irvine, W. M.; Schloerb, F. P.; Ziurys, L. M.

1986-01-01

The present research includes searches for important new interstellar constituents; observations relevant to differentiating between different models for the chemical processes that are important in the interstellar environment; and coordinated studies of the chemistry, physics, and dynamics of molecular clouds which are the sites or possible future sites of star formation. Recent research has included the detection and study of four new interstellar molecules; searches which have placed upper limits on the abundance of several other potential constituents of interstellar clouds; quantitative studies of comparative molecular abundances in different types of interstellar clouds; investigation of reaction pathways for astrochemistry from a comparison of theory and the observed abundance of related species such as isomers and isotopic variants; studies of possible tracers of energenic events related to star formation, including silicon and sulfur containing molecules; and mapping of physical, chemical, and dynamical properties over extended regions of nearby cold molecular clouds.

[Children in family mediation: A practice model].

PubMed

Mayer, Stefan; Normann, Katrin

2006-01-01

The authors briefly describe the history of family mediation under the perspective of the role of the children in the process of mediation. They state that originally children were not directly included. But through empirical studies and different higher escalated families asking for help by mediation, the inclusion of children got an important issue in theory and practice. The discussion began with the question in which phases of the mediation process the children should be included - it went to the issue of the age of the children - and the authors propose to take the amount of escalation in the family as the most important point of reference to decide if and how the children should be included. They suggest to diagnose the loss of responsibility and autonomy of the parents on a nine level scale (from F. Glasl) with the parents and to decide and negotiate with them how the children will be included. They describe five different settings of inclusion of the children.

A qualitative assessment of a random process proposed as an atmospheric turbulence model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sidwell, K.

1977-01-01

A random process is formed by the product of two Gaussian processes and the sum of that product with a third Gaussian process. The resulting total random process is interpreted as the sum of an amplitude modulated process and a slowly varying, random mean value. The properties of the process are examined, including an interpretation of the process in terms of the physical structure of atmospheric motions. The inclusion of the mean value variation gives an improved representation of the properties of atmospheric motions, since the resulting process can account for the differences in the statistical properties of atmospheric velocity components and their gradients. The application of the process to atmospheric turbulence problems, including the response of aircraft dynamic systems, is examined. The effects of the mean value variation upon aircraft loads are small in most cases, but can be important in the measurement and interpretation of atmospheric turbulence data.

Concept Generation Process for Patient Transferring Device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dandavate, A. L.; Sarje, S. H.

2012-07-01

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop concepts for patient transferring tasks. The concept generation process of patient transferring device (PTD), which includes interviews of the customers, interpretation of the needs, organizing the needs into a hierarchy, establishing relative importance of the needs, establishing target specifications, and conceptualization has been discussed in this paper. The authors conducted the interviews of customers at Mobilink NGO, St. John's Hospital, Bangalore in order to know the needs and wants for the PTD. AHP technique was used for establishing and evaluating relative importance of needs, and based on the importance of the customer needs, concepts were developed through brainstorming.

A Conceptual Model of the Cognitive Processing of Environmental Distance Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montello, Daniel R.

I review theories and research on the cognitive processing of environmental distance information by humans, particularly that acquired via direct experience in the environment. The cognitive processes I consider for acquiring and thinking about environmental distance information include working-memory, nonmediated, hybrid, and simple-retrieval processes. Based on my review of the research literature, and additional considerations about the sources of distance information and the situations in which it is used, I propose an integrative conceptual model to explain the cognitive processing of distance information that takes account of the plurality of possible processes and information sources, and describes conditions under which particular processes and sources are likely to operate. The mechanism of summing vista distances is identified as widely important in situations with good visual access to the environment. Heuristics based on time, effort, or other information are likely to play their most important role when sensory access is restricted.

QM/MM MD and Free Energy Simulation Study of Methyl Transfer Processes Catalyzed by PKMTs and PRMTs.

PubMed

Chu, Yuzhuo; Guo, Hong

2015-09-01

Methyl transfer processes catalyzed by protein lysine methyltransferases (PKMTs) and protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) control important biological events including transcriptional regulation and cell signaling. One important property of these enzymes is that different PKMTs and PRMTs catalyze the formation of different methylated product (product specificity). These different methylation states lead to different biological outcomes. Here, we review the results of quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics molecular dynamics and free energy simulations that have been performed to study the reaction mechanism of PKMTs and PRMTs and the mechanism underlying the product specificity of the methyl transfer processes.

QM/MM MD and free energy simulation study of methyl transfer processes catalyzed by PKMTs and PRMTs.

PubMed

Chu, Yuzhuo; Guo, Hong

2015-01-16

Methyl transfer processes catalyzed by protein lysine methyltransferases (PKMTs) and protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) control important biological events including transcriptional regulation and cell signaling. One important property of these enzymes is that different PKMTs and PRMTs catalyze the formation of different methylated product (product specificity). These different methylation states lead to different biological outcomes. Here we review the results of quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) and free energy simulations that have been performed to study the reaction mechanism of PKMTs and PRMTs and the mechanism underlying the product specificity of the methyl transfer processes.

Process-oriented Observational Metrics for CMIP6 Climate Model Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, J. H.; Su, H.

2016-12-01

Observational metrics based on satellite observations have been developed and effectively applied during post-CMIP5 model evaluation and improvement projects. As new physics and parameterizations continue to be included in models for the upcoming CMIP6, it is important to continue objective comparisons between observations and model results. This talk will summarize the process-oriented observational metrics and methodologies for constraining climate models with A-Train satellite observations and support CMIP6 model assessments. We target parameters and processes related to atmospheric clouds and water vapor, which are critically important for Earth's radiative budget, climate feedbacks, and water and energy cycles, and thus reduce uncertainties in climate models.

Microarray gene-expression study in fibroblast and lymphoblastoid cell lines from antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Gassó, Patricia; Mas, Sergi; Rodríguez, Natalia; Boloc, Daniel; García-Cerro, Susana; Bernardo, Miquel; Lafuente, Amalia; Parellada, Eduard

2017-12-01

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a chronic psychiatric disorder whose onset of symptoms occurs in late adolescence and early adulthood. The etiology is complex and involves important gene-environment interactions. Microarray gene-expression studies on SZ have identified alterations in several biological processes. The heterogeneity in the results can be attributed to the use of different sample types and other important confounding factors including age, illness chronicity and antipsychotic exposure. The aim of the present microarray study was to analyze, for the first time to our knowledge, differences in gene expression profiles in 18 fibroblast (FCLs) and 14 lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and healthy controls. We used an analytical approach based on protein-protein interaction network construction and functional annotation analysis to identify the biological processes that are altered in SZ. Significant differences in the expression of 32 genes were found when LCLs were assessed. The network and gene set enrichment approach revealed the involvement of similar biological processes in FCLs and LCLs, including apoptosis and related biological terms such as cell cycle, autophagy, cytoskeleton organization and response to stress and stimulus. Metabolism and other processes, including signal transduction, kinase activity and phosphorylation, were also identified. These results were replicated in two independent cohorts using the same analytical approach. This provides more evidence for altered apoptotic processes in antipsychotic-naïve FES patients and other important biological functions such as cytoskeleton organization and metabolism. The convergent results obtained in both peripheral cell models support their usefulness for transcriptome studies on SZ. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Processing of metal and oxygen from lunar deposits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acton, Constance F.

1992-01-01

On the moon, some whole rocks may be ores for abundant elements, such as oxygen, but beneficiation will be important if metallic elements are sought from raw lunar dirt. In the extraction process, a beneficiated metallic ore, such as an oxide, sulfide, carbonate, or silicate mineral, is converted to reduced metal. A variety of plausible processing technologies, which includes recovery of meteoritic iron, and processing of lunar ilmenite, are described in this report.

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

Manteufel, R.D.; Ahola, M.P.; Turner, D.R.

A literature review has been conducted to determine the state of knowledge available in the modeling of coupled thermal (T), hydrologic (H), mechanical (M), and chemical (C) processes relevant to the design and/or performance of the proposed high-level waste (HLW) repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The review focuses on identifying coupling mechanisms between individual processes and assessing their importance (i.e., if the coupling is either important, potentially important, or negligible). The significance of considering THMC-coupled processes lies in whether or not the processes impact the design and/or performance objectives of the repository. A review, such as reported here, is usefulmore » in identifying which coupled effects will be important, hence which coupled effects will need to be investigated by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in order to assess the assumptions, data, analyses, and conclusions in the design and performance assessment of a geologic reposit``. Although this work stems from regulatory interest in the design of the geologic repository, it should be emphasized that the repository design implicitly considers all of the repository performance objectives, including those associated with the time after permanent closure. The scope of this review is considered beyond previous assessments in that it attempts with the current state-of-knowledge) to determine which couplings are important, and identify which computer codes are currently available to model coupled processes.« less

Healthcare software assurance.

PubMed

Cooper, Jason G; Pauley, Keith A

2006-01-01

Software assurance is a rigorous, lifecycle phase-independent set of activities which ensure completeness, safety, and reliability of software processes and products. This is accomplished by guaranteeing conformance to all requirements, standards, procedures, and regulations. These assurance processes are even more important when coupled with healthcare software systems, embedded software in medical instrumentation, and other healthcare-oriented life-critical systems. The current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory requirements and guidance documentation do not address certain aspects of complete software assurance activities. In addition, the FDA's software oversight processes require enhancement to include increasingly complex healthcare systems such as Hospital Information Systems (HIS). The importance of complete software assurance is introduced, current regulatory requirements and guidance discussed, and the necessity for enhancements to the current processes shall be highlighted.

Healthcare Software Assurance

PubMed Central

Cooper, Jason G.; Pauley, Keith A.

2006-01-01

Software assurance is a rigorous, lifecycle phase-independent set of activities which ensure completeness, safety, and reliability of software processes and products. This is accomplished by guaranteeing conformance to all requirements, standards, procedures, and regulations. These assurance processes are even more important when coupled with healthcare software systems, embedded software in medical instrumentation, and other healthcare-oriented life-critical systems. The current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory requirements and guidance documentation do not address certain aspects of complete software assurance activities. In addition, the FDA’s software oversight processes require enhancement to include increasingly complex healthcare systems such as Hospital Information Systems (HIS). The importance of complete software assurance is introduced, current regulatory requirements and guidance discussed, and the necessity for enhancements to the current processes shall be highlighted. PMID:17238324

Thin Film Deposition Using Energetic Ions

PubMed Central

Manova, Darina; Gerlach, Jürgen W.; Mändl, Stephan

2010-01-01

One important recent trend in deposition technology is the continuous expansion of available processes towards higher ion assistance with the subsequent beneficial effects to film properties. Nowadays, a multitude of processes, including laser ablation and deposition, vacuum arc deposition, ion assisted deposition, high power impulse magnetron sputtering and plasma immersion ion implantation, are available. However, there are obstacles to overcome in all technologies, including line-of-sight processes, particle contaminations and low growth rates, which lead to ongoing process refinements and development of new methods. Concerning the deposited thin films, control of energetic ion bombardment leads to improved adhesion, reduced substrate temperatures, control of intrinsic stress within the films as well as adjustment of surface texture, phase formation and nanotopography. This review illustrates recent trends for both areas; plasma process and solid state surface processes. PMID:28883323

The formation and fate of chlorinated organic substances in temperate and boreal forest soils.

PubMed

Clarke, Nicholas; Fuksová, Kvetoslava; Gryndler, Milan; Lachmanová, Zora; Liste, Hans-Holger; Rohlenová, Jana; Schroll, Reiner; Schröder, Peter; Matucha, Miroslav

2009-03-01

Chlorine is an abundant element, commonly occurring in nature either as chloride ions or as chlorinated organic compounds (OCls). Chlorinated organic substances were long considered purely anthropogenic products; however, they are, in addition, a commonly occurring and important part of natural ecosystems. Formation of OCls may affect the degradation of soil organic matter (SOM) and thus the carbon cycle with implications for the ability of forest soils to sequester carbon, whilst the occurrence of potentially toxic OCls in groundwater aquifers is of concern with regard to water quality. It is thus important to understand the biogeochemical cycle of chlorine, both inorganic and organic, to get information about the relevant processes in the forest ecosystem and the effects on these from human activities, including forestry practices. A survey is given of processes in the soil of temperate and boreal forests, predominantly in Europe, including the participation of chlorine, and gaps in knowledge and the need for further work are discussed. Chlorine is present as chloride ion and/or OCls in all compartments of temperate and boreal forest ecosystems. It contributes to the degradation of SOM, thus also affecting carbon sequestration in the forest soil. The most important source of chloride to coastal forest ecosystems is sea salt deposition, and volcanoes and coal burning can also be important sources. Locally, de-icing salt can be an important chloride input near major roads. In addition, anthropogenic sources of OCls are manifold. However, results also indicate the formation of chlorinated organics by microorganisms as an important source, together with natural abiotic formation. In fact, the soil pool of OCls seems to be a result of the balance between chlorination and degradation processes. Ecologically, organochlorines may function as antibiotics, signal substances and energy equivalents, in descending order of significance. Forest management practices can affect the chlorine cycle, although little is at present known about how. The present data on the apparently considerable size of the pool of OCls indicate its importance for the functioning of the forest soil system and its stability, but factors controlling their formation, degradation and transport are not clearly understood. It would be useful to estimate the significance and rates of key processes to be able to judge the importance of OCls in SOM and litter degradation. Effects of forest management processes affecting SOM and chloride deposition are likely to affect OCls as well. Further standardisation and harmonisation of sampling and analytical procedures is necessary. More work is necessary in order to understand and, if necessary, develop strategies for mitigating the environmental impact of OCls in temperate and boreal forest soils. This includes both intensified research, especially to understand the key processes of formation and degradation of chlorinated compounds, and monitoring of the substances in question in forest ecosystems. It is also important to understand the effect of various forest management techniques on OCls, as management can be used to produce desired effects.

Measuring Subordinate Perceptions of Supervisor Feedback Intentions: Some Unsettling Results.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fedor, Donald B.; And Others

1990-01-01

Two studies were conducted to demonstrate the importance of subordinates' perceptions of superiors' intentions in the feedback process. Study 1 included 49 undergraduates, graduates, or professors; and Study 2 included 220 undergraduates. Results indicate that subordinates make fine distinctions concerning their perceptions of supervisors'…

An Overview of the MSFC Electrostatic Levitation Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, J. R.; Robinson, M. B.; Hyers, R. W.; Savage, L.; Rathz, T.

2000-01-01

Electrostatic levitation (ESL) provides a means to study molten materials in a contamination-free environment, including no contact with a container. Many phenomena important to materials science can be studied in the ESL. Solidification of metals, alloys and undercooled materials represent an important topic for research in the ESL. Recent studies of metals and alloys during solidification in the ESL are reported. Measurements include time, temperature and transformation of metallic glass-forming alloys, solidification velocities, and microstructure. This multimedia report includes a video clip showing processing in the ESL, with descriptions of the different segments in the text.

Expert study to select indicators of the occurrence of emerging mycotoxin hazards.

PubMed

Kandhai, M C; Booij, C J H; Van der Fels-Klerx, H J

2011-01-01

This article describes a Delphi-based expert judgment study aimed at the selection of indicators to identify the occurrence of emerging mycotoxin hazards related to Fusarium spp. in wheat supply chains. A panel of 29 experts from 12 European countries followed a holistic approach to evaluate the most important indicators for different chain stages (growth, transport and storage, and processing) and their relative importance. After three e-mailing rounds, the experts reached consensus on the most important indicators for each of the three stages: wheat growth, transport and storage, and processing. For wheat growth, these indicators include: relative humidity/rainfall, crop rotation, temperature, tillage practice, water activity of the kernels, and crop variety/cultivar. For the transport and storage stage, they include water activity in the kernels, relative humidity, ventilation, temperature, storage capacity, and logistics. For wheat processing, indicators include quality data, fraction of the cereal used, water activity in the kernels, quality management and traceability systems, and carryover of contamination. The indicators selected in this study can be used in an identification system for the occurrence of emerging mycotoxin hazards in wheat supply chains. Such a system can be used by risk managers within governmental (related) organizations and/or the food and feed industry in order to react proactively to the occurrence of these emerging mycotoxins. © 2010 Society for Risk Analysis.

The Importance of Object Memories for Older Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phenice, Lillian A.; Griffore, Robert J.

2013-01-01

The memories of treasured objects are essential in giving life meaning. In the process of development in later adulthood, most changes involve significant loss including loss of physical and mental ability, loss of family and friends, and loss of possessions. Objects and their associated memories are especially important in maintaining an internal…

The Effect of Learning Environments Based on Problem Solving on Students' Achievements of Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karatas, Ilhan; Baki, Adnan

2013-01-01

Problem solving is recognized as an important life skill involving a range of processes including analyzing, interpreting, reasoning, predicting, evaluating and reflecting. For that reason educating students as efficient problem solvers is an important role of mathematics education. Problem solving skill is the centre of mathematics curriculum.…

Pressure Sensitive Paints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Tianshu; Bencic, T.; Sullivan, J. P.

1999-01-01

This article reviews new advances and applications of pressure sensitive paints in aerodynamic testing. Emphasis is placed on important technical aspects of pressure sensitive paint including instrumentation, data processing, and uncertainty analysis.

From pediatric history. Important personalities in relation to some genetic defects - "trisomies".

PubMed

Brucknerova, Ingrid; Holomanova, Anna; Mach, Mojmir; Ujhazy, Eduard

2012-01-01

The aim of this study is to present a short biography of some important physicians and describe the most prominent differences between trisomy 13, 18 and 21. The authors present the most prominent differences between trisomy 13, 18 and 21. The work of many important physicians, geneticists, has helped in the process of recognition of congenital anomalies. This group of famous persons includes Patau, Edwards and Down.

Imports and exports of roundwood in the upper Midwestern United States. Chapter 2.

Treesearch

Charles H. Perry; Mark D. Nelson; Ronald J. Piva

2010-01-01

Industrial roundwood is the raw material produced from harvested trees that is used to manufacture a wide range of wood products. Roundwood is harvested from the forest and is transported to primary manufacturing facilities to be processed into primary and secondary wood products. Roundwood includes sawlogs that are processed into...

Laboratory simulation of organic geochemical processes.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eglinton, G.

1972-01-01

Discussion of laboratory simulations that are important to organic geochemistry in that they provide direct evidence relating to geochemical cycles involving carbon. Reviewed processes and experiments include reactions occurring in the geosphere, particularly, short-term diagenesis of biolipids and organochlorine pesticides in estuarine muds, as well as maturation of organic matter in ancient sediments.

Impacts of fire on hydrology and erosion in steep mountain big sagebrush communities

Treesearch

Frederick B. Pierson; Peter R. Robichaud; Kenneth E. Spaeth; Corey A. Moffet

2003-01-01

Wildfire is an important ecological process and management issue on western rangelands. Major unknowns associated with wildfire are its affects on vegetation and soil conditions that influence hydrologic processes including infiltration, surface runoff, erosion, sediment transport, and flooding. Post wildfire hydrologic response was studied in big sagebrush plant...

The Importance of Mars Samples in Constraining the Geological and Geophysical Processes on Mars and the Nature of its Crust, Mantle, and Core

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

iMOST Team; Herd, C. D. K.; Ammannito, E.; Anand, M.; Debaille, V.; Hallis, L. J.; McCubbin, F. M.; Schmitz, N.; Usui, T.; Weiss, B. P.; Altieri, F.; Amelin, Y.; Beaty, D. W.; Benning, L. G.; Bishop, J. L.; Borg, L. E.; Boucher, D.; Brucato, J. R.; Busemann, H.; Campbell, K. A.; Carrier, B. L.; Czaja, A. D.; Des Marais, D. J.; Dixon, M.; Ehlmann, B. L.; Farmer, J. D.; Fernandez-Remolar, D. C.; Fogarty, J.; Glavin, D. P.; Goreva, Y. S.; Grady, M. M.; Harrington, A. D.; Hausrath, E. M.; Horgan, B.; Humayun, M.; Kleine, T.; Kleinhenz, J.; Mangold, N.; Mackelprang, R.; Mayhew, L. E.; McCoy, J. T.; McLennan, S. M.; McSween, H. Y.; Moser, D. E.; Moynier, F.; Mustard, J. F.; Niles, P. B.; Ori, G. G.; Raulin, F.; Rettberg, P.; Rucker, M. A.; Sefton-Nash, E.; Sephton, M. A.; Shaheen, R.; Shuster, D. L.; Siljestrom, S.; Smith, C. L.; Spry, J. A.; Steele, A.; Swindle, T. D.; ten Kate, I. L.; Tosca, N. J.; Van Kranendonk, M. J.; Wadhwa, M.; Werner, S. C.; Westall, F.; Wheeler, R. M.; Zipfel, J.; Zorzano, M. P.

2018-04-01

We present the main sample types from any potential Mars Sample Return landing site that would be required to constrain the geological and geophysical processes on Mars, including the origin and nature of its crust, mantle, and core.

Spontaneous but Not Explicit Processing of Positive Sentences Impaired in Asperger's Syndrome: Pupillometric Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuchinke, Lars; Schneider, Dana; Kotz, Sonja A.; Jacobs, Arthur M.

2011-01-01

Emotional prosody provides important cues for understanding the emotions of others in every day communication. Asperger's syndrome (AS) is a developmental disorder characterised by pronounced deficits in socio-emotional communication, including difficulties in the domain of prosody processing. We measured pupillary responses as an index of…

Using the Internet and Computer Technologies in Learning/Teaching Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geladze, Darejan

2015-01-01

According to the new national curriculum innovations are in a successful outcome for the introduction of many factors, the most important things are learning environment, which includes the suitable equipment, place, space utilization, and the selection of learning resources to support teaching and learning problem solving process, by creating the…

Wolf Creek Research Basin Cold REgion Process Studies - 1992-2003

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janowicz, R.; Hedstrom, N.; Pomeroy, J.; Granger, R.; Carey, S.

2004-12-01

The development of hydrological models in northern regions are complicated by cold region processes. Sparse vegetation influences snowpack accumulation, redistribution and melt, frozen ground effects infiltration and runoff and cold soils in the summer effect evapotranspiration rates. Situated in the upper Yukon River watershed, the 195 km2 Wolf Creek Research Basin was instrumented in 1992 to calibrate hydrologic flow models, and has since evolved into a comprehensive study of cold region processes and linkages, contributing significantly to hydrological and climate change modelling. Studies include those of precipitation distribution, snowpack accumulation and redistribution, energy balance, snowmelt infiltration, and water balance. Studies of the spatial variability of hydrometeorological data demonstrate the importance of physical parameters on their distribution and control on runoff processes. Many studies have also identified the complex interaction of several of the physical parameters, including topography, vegetation and frozen ground (seasonal or permafrost) as important. They also show that there is a fundamental, underlying spatial structure to the watershed that must be adequately represented in parameterization schemes for scaling and watershed modelling. The specific results of numerous studies are presented.

The Noticing of Physical Education Teachers: A Comparison of Groups with Different Expertise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reuker, Sabine

2017-01-01

Background: Teachers' important diagnostic abilities include noticing and interpreting students' behaviors and learning processes. By focusing on noticing, I refer to the theoretical framework of professional vision. Professional vision includes the ability to notice what is occurring in complex classroom situations (selective attention) and the…

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

Elliott, C.

The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) has initiated a major work process improvement campaign using the tools of formalized benchmarking and streamlining. This paper provides insights into some of the process improvement activities performed at Rocky Flats from November 1995 through December 1996. It reviews the background, motivation, methodology, results, and lessons learned from this ongoing effort. The paper also presents important gains realized through process analysis and improvement including significant cost savings, productivity improvements, and an enhanced understanding of site work processes.

7 CFR 944.312 - Orange import regulation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... preserved by any commercial process, including canning, freezing, dehydrating, drying, and the addition of chemical substances, or by fermentation. (d) Terms and tolerances pertaining to grade and size requirements...

Coordination and organization of security software process for power information application environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qiang

2017-09-01

As an important part of software engineering, the software process decides the success or failure of software product. The design and development feature of security software process is discussed, so is the necessity and the present significance of using such process. Coordinating the function software, the process for security software and its testing are deeply discussed. The process includes requirement analysis, design, coding, debug and testing, submission and maintenance. In each process, the paper proposed the subprocesses to support software security. As an example, the paper introduces the above process into the power information platform.

Enacting Sustainable School-Based Health Initiatives: A Communication-Centered Approach to Policy and Practice

PubMed Central

Canary, Heather E.

2011-01-01

Communication plays an important role in all aspects of the development and use of policy. We present a communication-centered perspective on the processes of enacting public health policies. Our proposed conceptual framework comprises 4 communication frames: orientation, amplification, implementation, and integration. Empirical examples from 2 longitudinal studies of school-based health policies show how each frame includes different communication processes that enable sustainable public health policy practices in school-based health initiatives. These 4 frames provide unique insight into the capacity of school-based public health policy to engage youths, parents, and a broader community of stakeholders. Communication is often included as an element of health policy; however, our framework demonstrates the importance of communication as a pivotal resource in sustaining changes in public health practices. PMID:21233442

The relationships between the amount of spared tissue, percent signal change, and accuracy in semantic processing in aphasia.

PubMed

Sims, Jordyn A; Kapse, Kushal; Glynn, Peter; Sandberg, Chaleece; Tripodis, Yorghos; Kiran, Swathi

2016-04-01

Recovery from aphasia, loss of language following a cerebrovascular incident (stroke), is a complex process involving both left and right hemispheric regions. In our study, we analyzed the relationships between semantic processing behavioral data, lesion size and location, and percent signal change from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. This study included 14 persons with aphasia in the chronic stage of recovery (six or more months post stroke), along with normal controls, who performed semantic processing tasks of determining whether a written semantic feature matched a picture or whether two written words were related. Using region of interest (ROI) analysis, we found that left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis and pars triangularis, despite significant damage, were the only regions to correlate with behavioral accuracy. Additionally, bilateral frontal regions including superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate appear to serve as an assistive network in the case of damage to traditional language regions that include inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and angular gyrus. Right hemisphere posterior regions including right middle temporal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, and right angular gyrus are engaged in the case of extensive damage to left hemisphere language regions. Additionally, right inferior frontal gyrus pars orbitalis is presumed to serve a monitoring function. These results reinforce the importance of the left hemisphere in language processing in aphasia, and provide a framework for the relative importance of left and right language regions in the brain. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nonrational processes in ethical decision making.

PubMed

Rogerson, Mark D; Gottlieb, Michael C; Handelsman, Mitchell M; Knapp, Samuel; Younggren, Jeffrey

2011-10-01

Most current ethical decision-making models provide a logical and reasoned process for making ethical judgments, but these models are empirically unproven and rely upon assumptions of rational, conscious, and quasilegal reasoning. Such models predominate despite the fact that many nonrational factors influence ethical thought and behavior, including context, perceptions, relationships, emotions, and heuristics. For example, a large body of behavioral research has demonstrated the importance of automatic intuitive and affective processes in decision making and judgment. These processes profoundly affect human behavior and lead to systematic biases and departures from normative theories of rationality. Their influence represents an important but largely unrecognized component of ethical decision making. We selectively review this work; provide various illustrations; and make recommendations for scientists, trainers, and practitioners to aid them in integrating the understanding of nonrational processes with ethical decision making.

Resist process optimization for further defect reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Keiichi; Iseki, Tomohiro; Marumoto, Hiroshi; Takayanagi, Koji; Yoshida, Yuichi; Uemura, Ryouichi; Yoshihara, Kosuke

2012-03-01

Defect reduction has become one of the most important technical challenges in device mass-production. Knowing that resist processing on a clean track strongly impacts defect formation in many cases, we have been trying to improve the track process to enhance customer yield. For example, residual type defect and pattern collapse are strongly related to process parameters in developer, and we have reported new develop and rinse methods in the previous papers. Also, we have reported the optimization method of filtration condition to reduce bridge type defects, which are mainly caused by foreign substances such as gels in resist. Even though we have contributed resist caused defect reduction in past studies, defect reduction requirements continue to be very important. In this paper, we will introduce further process improvements in terms of resist defect reduction, including the latest experimental data.

Intensification of the Learning Process: Gross Motor Performance Scale. A Series of Reports Designed for Classroom Use.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bucks County Public Schools, Doylestown, PA.

The Gross Motor Performance Screening Test was designed to aid the classroom teacher in obtaining specific information about the child's physical abilities. The test includes items which have been found to measure the various factors of physical fitness. It also includes items to measure skills important to the child and adult. Included also are…

A method for developing outcome measures in the clinical laboratory.

PubMed

Jones, J

1996-01-01

Measuring and reporting outcomes in health care is becoming more important for quality assessment, utilization assessment, accreditation standards, and negotiating contracts in managed care. How does one develop an outcome measure for the laboratory to assess the value of the services? A method is described which outlines seven steps in developing outcome measures for a laboratory service or process. These steps include the following: 1. Identify the process or service to be monitored for performance and outcome assessment. 2. If necessary, form an multidisciplinary team of laboratory staff, other department staff, physicians, and pathologists. 3. State the purpose of the test or service including a review of published data for the clinical pathological correlation. 4. Prepare a process cause and effect diagram including steps critical to the outcome. 5. Identify key process variables that contribute to positive or negative outcomes. 6. Identify outcome measures that are not process measures. 7. Develop an operational definition, identify data sources, and collect data. Examples, including a process cause and effect diagram, process variables, and outcome measures, are given using the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring service (TDM). A summary of conclusions and precautions for outcome measurement is then provided.

A 15 year legacy of cloud and atmosphere observations in Barrow, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shupe, M.

2012-12-01

For the past 15 years, the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program has operated the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) atmospheric observatory in Barrow, Alaska. Barrow offers many valuable perspectives on the Arctic environment that complement observations at lower latitudes. Unique features of the Arctic region include cold and dry atmospheric conditions, strong annual variability in sun light, a seasonally high-reflective surface, and persistent clouds that involve mixed-phase processes. ARM's ultimate objective with its flagship observatory at the northernmost point in U.S. territory is to provide measurements that can be used to improve the understanding of these atmospheric physical and radiative properties and processes such that they can be better represented in climate models. The NSA is the most detailed and long-lasting cloud-radiation-atmosphere observatory in the Arctic, providing continuous, sophisticated measurements of climate-relevant parameters. Instrument suites include active radars and lidars at various frequencies, passive radiometers monitoring radiation in microwave, infrared, visible and ultraviolet wavelengths, meteorological towers, and sounding systems. Together these measurements are used to characterize many of the important properties of clouds, aerosols, atmospheric radiation, dynamics, thermodynamics, and the surface. The coordinated nature of these measurements offers important multi-dimensional insight into many fundamental processes linking these different elements of the climate system. Moreover, the continuous operations of the facility support these observations over the full diurnal cycle and in all seasons of the year. This presentation will highlight a number of important studies and key findings that have been facilitated by the NSA observations during the first 15 years in operation. Some of these include: a thorough documentation of clouds, their occurrence frequency, phase, microphysical properties, and impacts on surface radiation; the indirect effect of aerosols on the surface longwave radiative effects of Arctic clouds; improved measurements of low amounts of atmospheric water vapor and their impacts on atmospheric radiation; dynamical and microphysical processes that are responsible for long-lived Arctic stratiform clouds; evaluation of satellite observations in extreme and observationally-difficult regimes; and assessment of model performance for models ranging from very high resolution to climate model simulations in the Arctic. The observational legacy at Barrow continues as ARM works to expand and enhance its impact. Plans are underway to install observational capabilities at a sister location in Oliktok Point to the east of Barrow, including enhanced capabilities of tethered balloon profiling and flying unmanned aerial vehicles over the adjacent Arctic Ocean. A new set of scanning cloud and precipitation radars have recently come online at Barrow that will allow for new insights on the spatial context of measurements at Barrow, including important information on the variability of atmospheric processes associated with the coastline. And lastly, there are many opportunities for the intensive observations at Barrow to inform important regional research on permafrost and sea-ice loss, while also serving as an unmatched, long-term record for evaluating atmospheric processes in regional and global climate models.

Counting the peaks in the excitation function for precompound processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonetti, R.; Hussein, M. S.; Mello, P. A.

1983-08-01

The "counting of maxima" method of Brink and Stephen, conventionally used for the extraction of the correlation width of statistical (compound nucleus) reactions, is generalized to include precompound processes as well. It is found that this method supplies an important independent check of the results obtained from autocorrelation studies. An application is made to the reaction 25Mg(3He,p). NUCLEAR REACTIONS Statistical multistep compound processes discussed.

Changes in canopy processes following whole-forest canopy nitrogen fertilization of a mature spruce-hemlock forest

Treesearch

E. Gaige; D.B. Dail; D.Y. Hollinger; E.A. Davidson; I.J. Fernandez; H. Sievering; A. White; W. Halteman

2007-01-01

Most experimental additions of nitrogen to forest ecosystems apply the N to the forest floor, bypassing important processes taking place in the canopy, including canopy retention of N and/or conversion of N from one form to another. To quantify these processes, we carried out a large-scale experiment and determined the fate of nitrogen applied directly to a mature...

Process Definition and Modeling Guidebook. Version 01.00.02

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-12-01

material (and throughout the guidebook)process defnition is considered to be the act of representing the important characteristics of a process in a...characterized by software standards and guidelines, software inspections and reviews, and more formalized testing (including test plans, test sup- port tools...paper-based approach works well for training, examples, and possibly even small pilot projects and case studies. However, large projects will benefit from

Selective enrichment of metal-binding proteins based on magnetic core/shell microspheres functionalized with metal cations.

PubMed

Fang, Caiyun; Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Xiaoqin; Lu, Haojie

2015-06-21

Metal binding proteins play many important roles in a broad range of biological processes. Characterization of metal binding proteins is important for understanding their structure and biological functions, thus leading to a clear understanding of metal associated diseases. The present study is the first to investigate the effectiveness of magnetic microspheres functionalized with metal cations (Ca(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+) and Fe(3+)) as the absorbent matrix in IMAC technology to enrich metal containing/binding proteins. The putative metal binding proteins in rat liver were then globally characterized by using this strategy which is very easy to handle and can capture a number of metal binding proteins effectively. In total, 185 putative metal binding proteins were identified from rat liver including some known less abundant and membrane-bound metal binding proteins such as Plcg1, Acsl5, etc. The identified proteins are involved in many important processes including binding, catalytic activity, translation elongation factor activity, electron carrier activity, and so on.

Encouraging more women into computer science: Initiating a single-sex intervention program in Sweden

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandell, Gerd; Carlsson, Svante; Ekblom, Håkan; Nord, Ann-Charlotte

1997-11-01

The process of starting a new program in computer science and engineering, heavily based on applied mathematics and only open to women, is described in this paper. The program was introduced into an educational system without any tradition in single-sex education. Important observations made during the process included the considerable interest in mathematics and curiosity about computer science found among female students at the secondary school level, and the acceptance of the single-sex program by the staff, administration, and management of the university as well as among male and female students. The process described highlights the importance of preparing the environment for a totally new type of educational program.

Electrostatic coating technologies for food processing.

PubMed

Barringer, Sheryl A; Sumonsiri, Nutsuda

2015-01-01

The application of electrostatics in both powder and liquid coating can improve the quality of food, such as its appearance, aroma, taste, and shelf life. Coatings can be found most commonly in the snack food industry, as well as in confectionery, bakery, meat and cheese processing. In electrostatic powder coating, the most important factors influencing coating quality are powder particle size, density, flowability, charge, and resistivity, as well as the surface properties and characteristics of the target. The most important factors during electrostatic liquid coating, also known as electrohydrodynamic coating, include applied voltage and electrical resistivity and viscosity of the liquid. A good understanding of these factors is needed for the design of optimal coating systems for food processing.

[Working verbally and non-verbally within the psychotherapeutic process].

PubMed

Weber-Steinbach, Reinhard; Tasche, Jens

2012-01-01

Patients in paediatric and adolescent psychiatry frequently suffer from both a categorical psychiatric disorder and structural deficits. Within the scope of a competence profile--which is subdivided into three areas: knowledge, skills, and a method--this article describes the term "structure" as used in the Operationalised Psychodynamic Diagnostics for Children and Adolescents (German abbreviation: OPD-KJ) as well as the deficits of self-esteem regulation. In this context, the development and importance of affects and their regulation for, as well as within, the therapeutic relationship are discussed, including the bodily processes associated with them. Finally, the article demonstrates how we as practitioners in the areas of therapeutic mental health and education can compensate for structural deficits of our patients by using our knowledge of psychological structures and of affect regulation and its importance for the therapeutic process; we can also use our own structural competences and competences to perceive the patients' affects as revealed by their bodies. For this purpose, we introduce methods that include body-psychotherapeutic interventions, among others.

Pollination and seed dispersal are the most threatened processes of plant regeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neuschulz, Eike Lena; Mueller, Thomas; Schleuning, Matthias; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin

2016-07-01

Plant regeneration is essential for maintaining forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, which are globally threatened by human disturbance. Here we present the first integrative meta-analysis on how forest disturbance affects multiple ecological processes of plant regeneration including pollination, seed dispersal, seed predation, recruitment and herbivory. We analysed 408 pairwise comparisons of these processes between near-natural and disturbed forests. Human impacts overall reduced plant regeneration. Importantly, only processes early in the regeneration cycle that often depend on plant-animal interactions, i.e. pollination and seed dispersal, were negatively affected. Later processes, i.e. seed predation, recruitment and herbivory, showed overall no significant response to human disturbance. Conserving pollination and seed dispersal, including the animals that provide these services to plants, should become a priority in forest conservation efforts globally.

Valorization of Proteins from Co- and By-Products from the Fish and Meat Industry.

PubMed

Aspevik, Tone; Oterhals, Åge; Rønning, Sissel Beate; Altintzoglou, Themistoklis; Wubshet, Sileshi Gizachew; Gildberg, Asbjørn; Afseth, Nils Kristian; Whitaker, Ragnhild Dragøy; Lindberg, Diana

2017-06-01

Large volumes of protein-rich residual raw materials, such as heads, bones, carcasses, blood, skin, viscera, hooves and feathers, are created as a result of processing of animals from fisheries, aquaculture, livestock and poultry sectors. These residuals contain proteins and other essential nutrients with potentially bioactive properties, eligible for recycling and upgrading for higher-value products, e.g. for human, pet food and feed purposes. Here, we aim to cover all the important aspects of achieving optimal utilization of proteins in such residual raw materials, identifying those eligible for human consumption as co-products and for feed applications as by-products. Strict legislation regulates the utilization of various animal-based co- and by-products, representing a major hurdle if not addressed properly. Thorough understanding and optimization of all parts of the production chain, including conservation and processing, are important prerequisites for successful upgrading and industrial implementation of such products. This review includes industrially applied technologies such as freezing/cooling, acid preservation, salting, rendering and protein hydrolysis. In this regard, it is important to achieve stable production and quality through all the steps in the manufacturing chain, preferably supported by at- or online quality control points in the actual processing step. If aiming for the human market, knowledge of consumer trends and awareness are important for production and successful introduction of new products and ingredients.

Microbial Community Structures and Dynamics in the O3/BAC Drinking Water Treatment Process

PubMed Central

Tian, Jian; Lu, Jun; Zhang, Yu; Li, Jian-Cheng; Sun, Li-Chen; Hu, Zhang-Li

2014-01-01

Effectiveness of drinking water treatment, in particular pathogen control during the water treatment process, is always a major public health concern. In this investigation, the application of PCR-DGGE technology to the analysis of microbial community structures and dynamics in the drinking water treatment process revealed several dominant microbial populations including: α-Proteobacteria, β-Proteobacteria, γ-Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria Firmicutes and Cyanobacteria. α-Proteobacteria and β-Proteobacteria were the dominant bacteria during the whole process. Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant bacteria before and after treatment, respectively. Firmicutes showed season-dependent changes in population dynamics. Importantly, γ-Proteobacteria, which is a class of medically important bacteria, was well controlled by the O3/biological activated carbon (BAC) treatment, resulting in improved effluent water bio-safety. PMID:24937529

Clinical perspective: creating an effective practice peer review process-a primer.

PubMed

Gandhi, Manisha; Louis, Frances S; Wilson, Shae H; Clark, Steven L

2017-03-01

Peer review serves as an important adjunct to other hospital quality and safety programs. Despite its importance, the available literature contains virtually no guidance regarding the structure and function of effective peer review committees. This Clinical Perspective provides a summary of the purposes, structure, and functioning of effective peer review committees. We also discuss important legal considerations that are a necessary component of such processes. This discussion includes useful templates for case selection and review. Proper committee structure, membership, work flow, and leadership as well as close cooperation with the hospital medical executive committee and legal representatives are essential to any effective peer review process. A thoughtful, fair, systematic, and organized approach to creating a peer review process will lead to confidence in the committee by providers, hospital leadership, and patients. If properly constructed, such committees may also assist in monitoring and enforcing compliance with departmental protocols, thus reducing harm and promoting high-quality practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modelling of additive manufacturing processes: a review and classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stavropoulos, Panagiotis; Foteinopoulos, Panagis

2018-03-01

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a very promising technology; however, there are a number of open issues related to the different AM processes. The literature on modelling the existing AM processes is reviewed and classified. A categorization of the different AM processes in process groups, according to the process mechanism, has been conducted and the most important issues are stated. Suggestions are made as to which approach is more appropriate according to the key performance indicator desired to be modelled and a discussion is included as to the way that future modelling work can better contribute to improving today's AM process understanding.

Corporate Structure Events Involving Regulated Utilities: The Need for a Multidisciplinary, Multijurisdictional Approach

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

Hempling, Scott

2006-08-15

The repeal of PUHCA has occasioned important questions on the appropriate role for regulation in the area of utility corporate structure, including complex process and jurisdictional issues. There is a disproportionality between the importance of these questions and the lack of attention that has been given them by our regulatory and political communities. (author)

Important parameters for smoke plume rise simulation with Daysmoke

Treesearch

L. Liu; G.L. Achtemeier; S.L. Goodrick; W. Jackson

2010-01-01

Daysmoke is a local smoke transport model and has been used to provide smoke plume rise information. It includes a large number of parameters describing the dynamic and stochastic processes of particle upward movement, fallout, fluctuation, and burn emissions. This study identifies the important parameters for Daysmoke simulations of plume rise and seeks to understand...

Generalizations Related to Concepts Important for Youth Orientation to the World of Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Mary A.; And Others

A basic first step in building a curriculum contributing to the orientation of youth to world of work is identification of concepts important to that orientation. In this study, the generalizations within the concept framework were identified through a developmental process of analysis and synthesis, including a review of current literature, a…

Five Important Lessons I Learned during the Process of Creating New Child Care Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitehead, R. Ann

2005-01-01

In this article, the author describes her experiences of developing new child care sites and offers five important lessons that she learned through her experiences which helped her to create successful child care centers. These lessons include: (1) Finding an appropriate area and location; (2) Creating realistic financial projections based on real…

The importance of 'global meaning' for people rehabilitating from spinal cord injury.

PubMed

Littooij, E; Leget, C J W; Stolwijk-Swüste, J M; Doodeman, S; Widdershoven, G A M; Dekker, J

2016-11-01

Qualitative study. To explore whether aspects of global meaning (that is, fundamental beliefs and life goals concerning core values, relationships, worldview, identity and inner posture) are associated with processes and outcomes in rehabilitation, as experienced by people with spinal cord injury (SCI). People living in the community receiving outpatient rehabilitation in a Dutch rehabilitation center. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 people with SCI. Interviews were analyzed using qualitative research methods: structural and provisional coding. Core values, relationships, worldview, identity and inner posture (that is, the way in which people relate to the facts of life) were associated with various processes and outcomes of rehabilitation. Elements of the rehabilitation process included motivation, regulation of emotion, making decisions and handling stress. Elements of the outcome of rehabilitation included physical functioning, emotional functioning, social functioning and subjective sense of meaning. The influence was positive, with the exception of one case in which worldview and inner posture were negatively associated with motivation. Besides that, respondents emphasized the importance of rehabilitation professionals attuning to their global meaning. All aspects of global meaning were positively associated with various processes and outcomes of rehabilitation. It is recommended that rehabilitation professionals are aware of the importance of global meaning to people with SCI and that they take people's fundamental beliefs and life goals into account.

Enzymes from Extreme Environments and Their Industrial Applications

PubMed Central

Littlechild, Jennifer A.

2015-01-01

This article will discuss the importance of specific extremophilic enzymes for applications in industrial biotechnology. It will specifically address those enzymes that have applications in the area of biocatalysis. Such enzymes now play an important role in catalyzing a variety of chemical conversions that were previously carried out by traditional chemistry. The biocatalytic process is carried out under mild conditions and with greater specificity. The enzyme process does not result in the toxic waste that is usually produced in a chemical process that would require careful disposal. In this sense, the biocatalytic process is referred to as carrying out “green chemistry” which is considered to be environmentally friendly. Some of the extremophilic enzymes to be discussed have already been developed for industrial processes such as an l-aminoacylase and a γ-lactamase. The industrial applications of other extremophilic enzymes, including transaminases, carbonic anhydrases, dehalogenases, specific esterases, and epoxide hydrolases, are currently being assessed. Specific examples of these industrially important enzymes that have been studied in the authors group will be presented in this review. PMID:26528475

Process for the physical segregation of minerals

DOEpatents

Yingling, Jon C.; Ganguli, Rajive

2004-01-06

With highly heterogeneous groups or streams of minerals, physical segregation using online quality measurements is an economically important first stage of the mineral beneficiation process. Segregation enables high quality fractions of the stream to bypass processing, such as cleaning operations, thereby reducing the associated costs and avoiding the yield losses inherent in any downstream separation process. The present invention includes various methods for reliably segregating a mineral stream into at least one fraction meeting desired quality specifications while at the same time maximizing yield of that fraction.

The tug-of-war: fidelity versus adaptation throughout the health promotion program life cycle.

PubMed

Bopp, Melissa; Saunders, Ruth P; Lattimore, Diana

2013-06-01

Researchers across multiple fields have described the iterative and nonlinear phases of the translational research process from program development to dissemination. This process can be conceptualized within a "program life cycle" framework that includes overlapping and nonlinear phases: development, adoption, implementation, maintenance, sustainability or termination, and dissemination or diffusion, characterized by tensions between fidelity to the original plan and adaptation for the setting and population. In this article, we describe the life cycle (phases) for research-based health promotion programs, the key influences at each phase, and the issues related to the tug-of-war between fidelity and adaptation throughout the process using a fictionalized case study based on our previous research. This article suggests the importance of reconceptualizing intervention design, involving stakeholders, and monitoring fidelity and adaptation throughout all phases to maintain implementation fidelity and completeness. Intervention fidelity should be based on causal mechanisms to ensure effectiveness, while allowing for appropriate adaption to ensure maximum implementation and sustainability. Recommendations for future interventions include considering the determinants of implementation including contextual factors at each phase, the roles of stakeholders, and the importance of developing a rigorous, adaptive, and flexible definition of implementation fidelity and completeness.

75 FR 8968 - Draft Guidance for Industry on Adaptive Design Clinical Trials for Drugs and Biologics; Availability

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-26

... the drug development process, it is particularly important to protect study blinding of an adaptive...) and including a description of the responsibilities of each entity involved in the process. Based on... that each SOP will take approximately 30 minutes to document and maintain. B. Perform Simulations and...

Building a Reference Resolution System Using Human Language Processing for Inspiration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watters, Shana Kay

2010-01-01

For over 30 years, reference resolution, the process of determining what a noun phrase including a pronoun refers to in written and spoken language, has been an important and on-going area of research. Most existing pronominal reference resolution algorithms and systems are designed to use syntactic information and surface features (e.g. number…

Application of Contact Mode AFM to Manufacturing Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordano, Michael A.; Schmid, Steven R.

A review of the application of contact mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) to manufacturing processes is presented. A brief introduction to common experimental techniques including hardness, scratch, and wear testing is presented, with a discussion of challenges in the extension of manufacturing scale investigations to the AFM. Differences between the macro- and nanoscales tests are discussed, including indentation size effects and their importance in the simulation of processes such as grinding. The basics of lubrication theory are presented and friction force microscopy is introduced as a method of investigating metal forming lubrication on the nano- and microscales that directly simulates tooling/workpiece asperity interactions. These concepts are followed by a discussion of their application to macroscale industrial manufacturing processes and direct correlations are made.

Biodesign process and culture to enable pediatric medical technology innovation.

PubMed

Wall, James; Wynne, Elizabeth; Krummel, Thomas

2015-06-01

Innovation is the process through which new scientific discoveries are developed and promoted from bench to bedside. In an effort to encourage young entrepreneurs in this area, Stanford Biodesign developed a medical device innovation training program focused on need-based innovation. The program focuses on teaching systematic evaluation of healthcare needs, invention, and concept development. This process can be applied to any field of medicine, including Pediatric Surgery. Similar training programs have gained traction throughout the United States and beyond. Equally important to process in the success of these programs is an institutional culture that supports transformative thinking. Key components of this culture include risk tolerance, patience, encouragement of creativity, management of conflict, and networking effects. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Impact of Model Parameter Uncertainty in Simulating Grass Biomass Using a Hybrid Carbon Allocation Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes, J. J.; Adam, J. C.; Tague, C.

2016-12-01

Grasslands play an important role in agricultural production as forage for livestock; they also provide a diverse set of ecosystem services including soil carbon (C) storage. The partitioning of C between above and belowground plant compartments (i.e. allocation) is influenced by both plant characteristics and environmental conditions. The objectives of this study are to 1) develop and evaluate a hybrid C allocation strategy suitable for grasslands, and 2) apply this strategy to examine the importance of various parameters related to biogeochemical cycling, photosynthesis, allocation, and soil water drainage on above and belowground biomass. We include allocation as an important process in quantifying the model parameter uncertainty, which identifies the most influential parameters and what processes may require further refinement. For this, we use the Regional Hydro-ecologic Simulation System, a mechanistic model that simulates coupled water and biogeochemical processes. A Latin hypercube sampling scheme was used to develop parameter sets for calibration and evaluation of allocation strategies, as well as parameter uncertainty analysis. We developed the hybrid allocation strategy to integrate both growth-based and resource-limited allocation mechanisms. When evaluating the new strategy simultaneously for above and belowground biomass, it produced a larger number of less biased parameter sets: 16% more compared to resource-limited and 9% more compared to growth-based. This also demonstrates its flexible application across diverse plant types and environmental conditions. We found that higher parameter importance corresponded to sub- or supra-optimal resource availability (i.e. water, nutrients) and temperature ranges (i.e. too hot or cold). For example, photosynthesis-related parameters were more important at sites warmer than the theoretical optimal growth temperature. Therefore, larger values of parameter importance indicate greater relative sensitivity in adequately representing the relevant process to capture limiting resources or manage atypical environmental conditions. These results may inform future experimental work by focusing efforts on quantifying specific parameters under various environmental conditions or across diverse plant functional types.

Titan's plasma interaction: photoelectrons and negative ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coates, Coates; Welbrock, Anne; Desai, Ravi; Waite, Hunter

2016-06-01

We present a review of some of the most important results from the CAPS electron spectrometer.These include the role of photoelectrons and polar wind escape processes, and remarkable negative ion observations.

Biosciences | Argonne National Laboratory

Science.gov Websites

understanding of the fundamental molecular mechanisms of life. Our goal is to enable important advances in processes at the molecular level. As a division, our goals include gaining predictive understanding of

AgMIP: Next Generation Models and Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenzweig, C.

2014-12-01

Next steps in developing next-generation crop models fall into several categories: significant improvements in simulation of important crop processes and responses to stress; extension from simplified crop models to complex cropping systems models; and scaling up from site-based models to landscape, national, continental, and global scales. Crop processes that require major leaps in understanding and simulation in order to narrow uncertainties around how crops will respond to changing atmospheric conditions include genetics; carbon, temperature, water, and nitrogen; ozone; and nutrition. The field of crop modeling has been built on a single crop-by-crop approach. It is now time to create a new paradigm, moving from 'crop' to 'cropping system.' A first step is to set up the simulation technology so that modelers can rapidly incorporate multiple crops within fields, and multiple crops over time. Then the response of these more complex cropping systems can be tested under different sustainable intensification management strategies utilizing the updated simulation environments. Model improvements for diseases, pests, and weeds include developing process-based models for important diseases, frameworks for coupling air-borne diseases to crop models, gathering significantly more data on crop impacts, and enabling the evaluation of pest management strategies. Most smallholder farming in the world involves integrated crop-livestock systems that cannot be represented by crop modeling alone. Thus, next-generation cropping system models need to include key linkages to livestock. Livestock linkages to be incorporated include growth and productivity models for grasslands and rangelands as well as the usual annual crops. There are several approaches for scaling up, including use of gridded models and development of simpler quasi-empirical models for landscape-scale analysis. On the assessment side, AgMIP is leading a community process for coordinated contributions to IPCC AR6 that involves the key modeling groups from around the world including North America, Europe, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Australia and Oceania. This community process will lead to mutually agreed protocols for coordinated global and regional assessments.

40 CFR 720.45 - Information that must be included in the notice form.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... relating to the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, use, and disposal of the new chemical substance: (a)(1) The specific chemical identity of the substance that the person intends to manufacture or import, which includes the following: (i) The currently correct Chemical Abstracts (CA) name for the...

40 CFR 720.45 - Information that must be included in the notice form.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... relating to the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, use, and disposal of the new chemical substance: (a)(1) The specific chemical identity of the substance that the person intends to manufacture or import, which includes the following: (i) The currently correct Chemical Abstracts (CA) name for the...

40 CFR 720.45 - Information that must be included in the notice form.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... relating to the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, use, and disposal of the new chemical substance: (a)(1) The specific chemical identity of the substance that the person intends to manufacture or import, which includes the following: (i) The currently correct Chemical Abstracts (CA) name for the...

40 CFR 720.45 - Information that must be included in the notice form.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... relating to the manufacture, processing, distribution in commerce, use, and disposal of the new chemical substance: (a)(1) The specific chemical identity of the substance that the person intends to manufacture or import, which includes the following: (i) The currently correct Chemical Abstracts (CA) name for the...

Non-terrestrial resources of economic importance to earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, John S.

1991-01-01

The status of research on the importation of energy and nonterrestrial materials is reviewed, and certain specific directions for new research are proposed. New technologies which are to be developed include aerobraking, in situ propellant production, mining and beneficiation of extraterresrrial minerals, nuclear power systems, electromagnetic launch, and solar thermal propulsion. Topics discussed include the system architecture for solar power satellite constellations, the return of nonterrestrial He-3 to earth for use as a clean fusion fuel, and the return to earth of platinum-group metal byproducts from processing of nonterrestrial native ferrous metals.

Platform for Post-Processing Waveform-Based NDE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roth, Don J.

2010-01-01

Signal- and image-processing methods are commonly needed to extract information from the waves, improve resolution of, and highlight defects in an image. Since some similarity exists for all waveform-based nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods, it would seem that a common software platform containing multiple signal- and image-processing techniques to process the waveforms and images makes sense where multiple techniques, scientists, engineers, and organizations are involved. NDE Wave & Image Processor Version 2.0 software provides a single, integrated signal- and image-processing and analysis environment for total NDE data processing and analysis. It brings some of the most useful algorithms developed for NDE over the past 20 years into a commercial-grade product. The software can import signal/spectroscopic data, image data, and image series data. This software offers the user hundreds of basic and advanced signal- and image-processing capabilities including esoteric 1D and 2D wavelet-based de-noising, de-trending, and filtering. Batch processing is included for signal- and image-processing capability so that an optimized sequence of processing operations can be applied to entire folders of signals, spectra, and images. Additionally, an extensive interactive model-based curve-fitting facility has been included to allow fitting of spectroscopy data such as from Raman spectroscopy. An extensive joint-time frequency module is included for analysis of non-stationary or transient data such as that from acoustic emission, vibration, or earthquake data.

Development and pilot test of a process to identify research needs from a systematic review.

PubMed

Saldanha, Ian J; Wilson, Lisa M; Bennett, Wendy L; Nicholson, Wanda K; Robinson, Karen A

2013-05-01

To ensure appropriate allocation of research funds, we need methods for identifying high-priority research needs. We developed and pilot tested a process to identify needs for primary clinical research using a systematic review in gestational diabetes mellitus. We conducted eight steps: abstract research gaps from a systematic review using the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, and Settings (PICOS) framework; solicit feedback from the review authors; translate gaps into researchable questions using the PICOS framework; solicit feedback from multidisciplinary stakeholders at our institution; establish consensus among multidisciplinary external stakeholders on the importance of the research questions using the Delphi method; prioritize outcomes; develop conceptual models to highlight research needs; and evaluate the process. We identified 19 research questions. During the Delphi method, external stakeholders established consensus for 16 of these 19 questions (15 with "high" and 1 with "medium" clinical benefit/importance). We pilot tested an eight-step process to identify clinically important research needs. Before wider application of this process, it should be tested using systematic reviews of other diseases. Further evaluation should include assessment of the usefulness of the research needs generated using this process for primary researchers and funders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sleep, offline processing, and vocal learning

PubMed Central

Margoliash, Daniel; Schmidt, Marc F

2009-01-01

The study of song learning and the neural song system has provided an important comparative model system for the study of speech and language acquisition. We describe some recent advances in the bird song system, focusing on the role of offline processing including sleep in processing sensory information and in guiding developmental song learning. These observations motivate a new model of the organization and role of the sensory memories in vocal learning. PMID:19906416

Valley plugs, land use, and phytogeomorphic response: Chapter 14

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pierce, Aaron R.; King, Sammy L.; Shroder, John F.

2013-01-01

Anthropogenic alteration of fluvial systems can disrupt functional processes that provide valuable ecosystem services. Channelization alters fluvial parameters and the connectivity of river channels to their floodplains which is critical for productivity, nutrient cycling, flood control, and biodiversity. The effects of channelization can be exacerbated by local geology and land-use activities, resulting in dramatic geomorphic readjustments including the formation of valley plugs. Considerable variation in the response of abiotic processes, including surface hydrology, subsurface hydrology, and sedimentation dynamics, to channelization and the formation of valley plugs. Altered abiotic processes associated with these geomorphic features and readjustments influence biotic processes including species composition, abundance, and successional processes. Considerable interest exists for restoring altered fluvial systems and their floodplains because of their social and ecological importance. Understanding abiotic and biotic responses of channelization and valley-plug formation within the context of the watershed is essential to successful restoration. This chapter focuses on the primary causes of valley-plug formation, resulting fluvial-geomorphic responses, vegetation responses, and restoration and research needs for these systems.

An emerging link between LIM domain proteins and nuclear receptors.

PubMed

Sala, Stefano; Ampe, Christophe

2018-06-01

Nuclear receptors are ligand-activated transcription factors that partake in several biological processes including development, reproduction and metabolism. Over the last decade, evidence has accumulated that group 2, 3 and 4 LIM domain proteins, primarily known for their roles in actin cytoskeleton organization, also partake in gene transcription regulation. They shuttle between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, amongst other as a consequence of triggering cells with ligands of nuclear receptors. LIM domain proteins act as important coregulators of nuclear receptor-mediated gene transcription, in which they can either function as coactivators or corepressors. In establishing interactions with nuclear receptors, the LIM domains are important, yet pleiotropy of LIM domain proteins and nuclear receptors frequently occurs. LIM domain protein-nuclear receptor complexes function in diverse physiological processes. Their association is, however, often linked to diseases including cancer.

Chronic Kidney Disease and Sleeping Disordered Breathing (SDB).

PubMed

Santos, Roberto Sávio Silva; Motwani, Shveta S; Elias, Rosilene Motta

2016-01-01

The outlines of the current manuscript are: 1. Re-establish the link between hypertension and SDB including prevalence, mechanism, and reversal of process (i.e. improvement in hypertension with improvement in SDB), why it is important-cardiovascular mortality with numbers. 2. Re-establish the link between hypertension and CKD including same points as above. Then ask if both CKD and SDB are combined, what happens to hypertension and cardiovascular mortality. 3. Lastly, talk about links between CKD and SDB on how each process feeds on the other and is a growing, common problem.

Instructions included? Make safety training part of medical device procurement process.

PubMed

Keller, James P

2010-04-01

Before hospitals embrace new technologies, it's important that medical personnel agree on how best to use them. Likewise, hospitals must provide the support to operate these sophisticated devices safely. With this in mind, it's wise for hospitals to include medical device training in the procurement process. Moreover, purchasing professionals can play a key role in helping to increase the amount of user training for medical devices and systems. What steps should you take to help ensure that new medical devices are implemented safely? Here are some tips.

77 FR 37287 - Implementation of Statutory Amendments Requiring the Qualification of Manufacturers and Importers...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-21

...The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is making permanent, with some changes, temporary regulatory amendments promulgated in response to certain changes that the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 made to the tobacco provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The regulatory amendments adopted in this final rule include permit and related requirements for manufacturers and importers of processed tobacco, requirements for manufacturers of tobacco products who also manufacture processed tobacco, and regulations related to the expansion of the definition of roll-your-own tobacco.

The Influence of Software Complexity on the Maintenance Effort: Case Study on Software Developed within Educational Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Radulescu, Iulian Ionut

2006-01-01

Software complexity is the most important software quality attribute and a very useful instrument in the study of software quality. Is one of the factors that affect most of the software quality characteristics, including maintainability. It is very important to quantity this influence and identify the means to keep it under control; by using…

Impact of Group Development Knowledge on Students' Perceived Importance and Confidence of Group Work Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coers, Natalie; Williams, Jennifer

2010-01-01

This study explored the impact of emphasis on the group development process on the perceived importance of and confidence in group work skills and students' perception of group work use in the collegiate classroom as developed by Tuckman and Jensen (1977). The purposive sample utilized in this study included 33 undergraduate students enrolled in…

The Digital Skills Paradox: How Do Digitally Excluded Youth Develop Skills to Use the Internet?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eynon, Rebecca; Geniets, Anne

2016-01-01

Digital skills are an important aspect of ensuring that all young people are digitally included. Yet, there tends to be an assumption in popular discourse that young people can simply learn these skills by themselves. While experience of technologies forms an important part of the learning process, other resources (i.e., access to technology and…

Implementing Lean Six Sigma to achieve inventory control in supply chain management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Chen

2017-11-01

The inventory cost has important impact on the production cost. In order to get the maximum circulation of funds of enterprise with minimum inventory cost, the inventory control with Lean Six Sigma is presented in supply chain management. The inventory includes both the raw material and the semi-finished parts in manufacturing process. Though the inventory is often studied, the inventory control in manufacturing process is seldom mentioned. This paper reports the inventory control from the perspective of manufacturing process by using statistical techniques including DMAIC, Control Chart, and Statistical Process Control. The process stability is evaluated and the process capability is verified with Lean Six Sigma philosophy. The demonstration in power meter production shows the inventory is decreased from 25% to 0.4%, which indicates the inventory control can be achieved with Lean Six Sigma philosophy and the inventory cost in production can be saved for future sustainable development in supply chain management.

Overlap of Spoilage-Associated Microbiota between Meat and the Meat Processing Environment in Small-Scale and Large-Scale Retail Distributions

PubMed Central

Stellato, Giuseppina; La Storia, Antonietta; De Filippis, Francesca; Borriello, Giorgia; Villani, Francesco

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Microbial contamination in food processing plants can play a fundamental role in food quality and safety. The aims of this study were to learn more about the possible influence of the meat processing environment on initial fresh meat contamination and to investigate the differences between small-scale retail distribution (SD) and large-scale retail distribution (LD) facilities. Samples were collected from butcheries (n = 20), including LD (n = 10) and SD (n = 10) facilities, over two sampling campaigns. Samples included fresh beef and pork cuts and swab samples from the knife, the chopping board, and the butcher's hand. The microbiota of both meat samples and environmental swabs were very complex, including more than 800 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) collapsed at the species level. The 16S rRNA sequencing analysis showed that core microbiota were shared by 80% of the samples and included Pseudomonas spp., Streptococcus spp., Brochothrix spp., Psychrobacter spp., and Acinetobacter spp. Hierarchical clustering of the samples based on the microbiota showed a certain separation between meat and environmental samples, with higher levels of Proteobacteria in meat. In particular, levels of Pseudomonas and several Enterobacteriaceae members were significantly higher in meat samples, while Brochothrix, Staphylococcus, lactic acid bacteria, and Psychrobacter prevailed in environmental swab samples. Consistent clustering was also observed when metabolic activities were considered by predictive metagenomic analysis of the samples. An increase in carbohydrate metabolism was predicted for the environmental swabs and was consistently linked to Firmicutes, while increases in pathways related to amino acid and lipid metabolism were predicted for the meat samples and were positively correlated with Proteobacteria. Our results highlighted the importance of the processing environment in contributing to the initial microbial levels of meat and clearly showed that the type of retail facility (LD or SD) did not apparently affect the contamination. IMPORTANCE The study provides an in-depth description of the microbiota of meat and meat processing environments. It highlights the importance of the environment as a contamination source of spoilage bacteria, and it shows that the size of the retail facility does not affect the level and type of contamination. PMID:27129965

Altered miRNA processing disrupts brown/white adipocyte determination and associates with lipodystrophy

PubMed Central

Mori, Marcelo A.; Thomou, Thomas; Boucher, Jeremie; Lee, Kevin Y.; Lallukka, Susanna; Kim, Jason K.; Torriani, Martin; Yki-Järvinen, Hannele; Grinspoon, Steven K.; Cypess, Aaron M.; Kahn, C. Ronald

2014-01-01

miRNAs are important regulators of biological processes in many tissues, including the differentiation and function of brown and white adipocytes. The endoribonuclease dicer is a major component of the miRNA-processing pathway, and in adipose tissue, levels of dicer have been shown to decrease with age, increase with caloric restriction, and influence stress resistance. Here, we demonstrated that mice with a fat-specific KO of dicer develop a form of lipodystrophy that is characterized by loss of intra-abdominal and subcutaneous white fat, severe insulin resistance, and enlargement and “whitening” of interscapular brown fat. Additionally, KO of dicer in cultured brown preadipocytes promoted a white adipocyte–like phenotype and reduced expression of several miRNAs. Brown preadipocyte whitening was partially reversed by expression of miR-365, a miRNA known to promote brown fat differentiation; however, introduction of other miRNAs, including miR-346 and miR-362, also contributed to reversal of the loss of the dicer phenotype. Interestingly, fat samples from patients with HIV-related lipodystrophy exhibited a substantial downregulation of dicer mRNA expression. Together, these findings indicate the importance of miRNA processing in white and brown adipose tissue determination and provide a potential link between this process and HIV-related lipodystrophy. PMID:24983316

An Annotated Bibliography of Literature Showing the Importance of the Process of Writing in the Language Arts Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hook, Julie C.

This bibliography contains lengthy annotations of 29 sources which address the issues of prewriting; revision; the emotions involved in the writing process; different methods of writing instruction; and the relationships among reading, writing, and reasoning. Also included are a glossary of terms, a summary of the issues raised by the works cited,…

Changing Perspectives on Research in Reading/Language Processing and Instruction. Thirty-Third Yearbook of the National Reading Conference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niles, Jerome A., Ed.; Harris, Larry A., Ed.

Reflecting current themes that researchers, by their selective attention, have indicated are important in the field of reading/language processing and instruction, this yearbook presents a collection of 51 selected research articles from the National Reading Conference for 1983. Included are the following articles, listed with their authors: (1)…

Social Support and Heart Failure: Differing Effects by Race

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-11

responses. These compensatory physiologic responses include increased sympathetic nervous system activity, inflammation, and constriction of blood vessels... physiological differences between African Americans and Caucasians. For instance the process by which sodium is processed in the body may vary between...associated cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases (76). One important hormone at work in the cardiovascular system is aldosterone and it may have a

Does the Constitution Protect Your Right to Fair Play?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Update on Law-Related Education, 1989

1989-01-01

Involves upper elementary students in a problem-solving activity that raises questions about who should have the right to a lawyer in a criminal case. Students discuss the importance of the right to due process in a criminal proceeding as well as in other situations. Defines due process and includes a handout on protections in the Bill of Rights.…

Perceptions Concerning Visual Culture Dialogues of Visual Art Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mamur, Nuray

2012-01-01

The visual art which is commented by the visual art teachers to help processing of the visual culture is important. In this study it is tried to describe the effect of visual culture based on the usual aesthetic experiences to be included in the learning process art education. The action research design, which is a qualitative study, is conducted…

Optimizing biomass feedstock logistics for forest residue processing and transportation on a tree-shaped road network

Treesearch

Hee Han; Woodam Chung; Lucas Wells; Nathaniel Anderson

2018-01-01

An important task in forest residue recovery operations is to select the most cost-efficient feedstock logistics system for a given distribution of residue piles, road access, and available machinery. Notable considerations include inaccessibility of treatment units to large chip vans and frequent, long-distance mobilization of forestry equipment required to process...

Highly Non-Linear Optical (NLO) organic crystals and films. Electrooptical organic materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcmanus, Samuel P.; Rosenberger, Franz; Matthews, John

1987-01-01

Devices employing nonlinear optics (NLO) hold great promise for important applications in integrated optics, optical information processing and telecommunications. Properly designed organics possess outstanding optical and electrooptical properties which will substantially advance many technologies including electrooptical switching, optical amplification for communications, and parallel processing for hybrid optical computers. A brief comparison of organic and inorganic materials is given.

A Review of Sex Differences in Peer Relationship Processes: Potential Trade-Offs for the Emotional and Behavioral Development of Girls and Boys

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Amanda J.; Rudolph, Karen D.

2006-01-01

Theory and research on sex differences in adjustment focus largely on parental, societal, and biological influences. However, it also is important to consider how peers contribute to girls' and boys' development. This article provides a critical review of sex differences in several peer relationship processes, including behavioral and…

Processing Speed, Inhibitory Control, and Working Memory: Three Important Factors to Account for Age-Related Cognitive Decline

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pereiro Rozas, Arturo X.; Juncos-Rabadan, Onesimo; Gonzalez, Maria Soledad Rodriguez

2008-01-01

Processing speed, inhibitory control and working memory have been identified as the main possible culprits of age-related cognitive decline. This article describes a study of their interrelationships and dependence on age, including exploration of whether any of them mediates between age and the others. We carried out a LISREL analysis of the…

The chemical basis for the origin of the genetic code and the process of protein synthesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The major thrust is to understand just how the process of protein synthesis, including that very important aspect, genetic coding, came to be. Two aspects of the problem: the chemistry of active aminoacyl species; and affinities between amino acids and nucleotides, and specifically, how these affinities might affect the chemistry between the two are stressed.

Characterization and value-added utilization of proteins extracted from the by-products from catfish fillet processing plant

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Channel catfish farming is the most important warm water aquaculture in the Southeastern United States. The by-products, including heads, skin, bone frame and viscera, account for 55-65% of the whole fish mass after fillet processing. The by-products contain 35% of protein on a dry basis, and may be...

Motivation related to work: A century of progress.

PubMed

Kanfer, Ruth; Frese, Michael; Johnson, Russell E

2017-03-01

Work motivation is a topic of crucial importance to the success of organizations and societies and the well-being of individuals. We organize the work motivation literature over the last century using a meta-framework that clusters theories, findings, and advances in the field according to their primary focus on (a) motives, traits, and motivation orientations (content); (b) features of the job, work role, and broader environment (context); or (c) the mechanisms and processes involved in choice and striving (process). Our integrative review reveals major achievements in the field, including more precise mapping of the psychological inputs and operations involved in motivation and broadened conceptions of the work environment. Cross-cutting trends over the last century include the primacy of goals, the importance of goal striving processes, and a more nuanced conceptualization of work motivation as a dynamic, goal-directed, resource allocation process that unfolds over the related variables of time, experience, and place. Across the field, advances in methodology and measurement have improved the match between theory and research. Ten promising directions for future research are described and field experiments are suggested as a useful means of bridging the research-practice gap. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Chain Reaction Polymerization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGrath, James E.

1981-01-01

The salient features and importance of chain-reaction polymerization are discussed, including such topics as the thermodynamics of polymerization, free-radical polymerization kinetics, radical polymerization processes, copolymers, and free-radical chain, anionic, cationic, coordination, and ring-opening polymerizations. (JN)

Improving Walkability Through Control Strategies at Signalized Intersections

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-01-01

As cities and communities nationwide seek to develop Complete Streets that foster livability and accommodate all modes, signal timing control strategies that include pedestrians in the operational decision process are gaining importance. This researc...

[Language Functions in the Frontal Association Area: Brain Mechanisms That Create Language].

PubMed

Yamamoto, Kayako; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

2016-11-01

Broca's area is known to be critically involved in language processing for more than 150 years. Recent neuroimaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion MRI, enabled the subdivision of Broca's area based on both functional and anatomical aspects. Networks among the frontal association areas, especially the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and other cortical regions in the temporal/parietal association areas, are also important for language-related information processing. Here, we review how neuroimaging studies, combined with research paradigms based on theoretical linguistics, have contributed to clarifying the critical roles of the left IFG in syntactic processing and those of language-related networks, including cortical and cerebellar regions.

House log drying rates in southeast Alaska for covered and uncovered softwood logs

Treesearch

David Nicholls; Allen Brackley

2009-01-01

Log moisture content has an important impact on many aspects of log home construction, including log processing, transportation costs, and dimensional stability in use. Air-drying times for house logs from freshly harvested trees can depend on numerous factors including initial moisture content, log diameter, bark condition, and environmental conditions during drying....

Assessing the Importance of Treatment Goals in Patients with Psoriasis: Analytic Hierarchy Process vs. Likert Scales.

PubMed

Gutknecht, Mandy; Danner, Marion; Schaarschmidt, Marthe-Lisa; Gross, Christian; Augustin, Matthias

2018-02-15

To define treatment benefit, the Patient Benefit Index contains a weighting of patient-relevant treatment goals using the Patient Needs Questionnaire, which includes a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 0 ("not important at all") to 4 ("very important"). These treatment goals have been assigned to five health dimensions. The importance of each dimension can be derived by averaging the importance ratings on the Likert scales of associated treatment goals. As the use of a Likert scale does not allow for a relative assessment of importance, the objective of this study was to estimate relative importance weights for health dimensions and associated treatment goals in patients with psoriasis by using the analytic hierarchy process and to compare these weights with the weights resulting from the Patient Needs Questionnaire. Furthermore, patients' judgments on the difficulty of the methods were investigated. Dimensions of the Patient Benefit Index and their treatment goals were mapped into a hierarchy of criteria and sub-criteria to develop the analytic hierarchy process questionnaire. Adult patients with psoriasis starting a new anti-psoriatic therapy in the outpatient clinic of the Institute for Health Services Research in Dermatology and Nursing at the University Medical Center Hamburg (Germany) were recruited and completed both methods (analytic hierarchy process, Patient Needs Questionnaire). Ratings of treatment goals on the Likert scales (Patient Needs Questionnaire) were summarized within each dimension to assess the importance of the respective health dimension/criterion. Following the analytic hierarchy process approach, consistency in judgments was assessed using a standardized measurement (consistency ratio). At the analytic hierarchy process level of criteria, 78 of 140 patients achieved the accepted consistency. Using the analytic hierarchy process, the dimension "improvement of physical functioning" was most important, followed by "improvement of social functioning". Concerning the Patient Needs Questionnaire results, these dimensions were ranked in second and fifth position, whereas "strengthening of confidence in the therapy and in a possible healing" was ranked most important, which was least important in the analytic hierarchy process ranking. In both methods, "improvement of psychological well-being" and "reduction of impairments due to therapy" were equally ranked in positions three and four. In contrast to this, on the level of sub-criteria, predominantly a similar ranking of treatment goals could be observed between the analytic hierarchy process and the Patient Needs Questionnaire. From the patients' point of view, the Likert scales (Patient Needs Questionnaire) were easier to complete than the analytic hierarchy process pairwise comparisons. Patients with psoriasis assign different importance to health dimensions and associated treatment goals. In choosing a method to assess the importance of health dimensions and/or treatment goals, it needs to be considered that resulting importance weights may differ in dependence on the used method. However, in this study, observed discrepancies in importance weights of the health dimensions were most likely caused by the different methodological approaches focusing on treatment goals to assess the importance of health dimensions on the one hand (Patient Needs Questionnaire) or directly assessing health dimensions on the other hand (analytic hierarchy process).

Numerical simulation of hydrogen fluorine overtone chemical lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jinbao; Jiang, Zhongfu; Hua, Weihong; Liu, Zejin; Shu, Baihong

1998-08-01

A two-dimensional program was applied to simulate the chemical dynamic process, gas dynamic process and lasing process of a combustion-driven CW HF overtone chemical lasers. Some important parameters in the cavity were obtained. The calculated results included HF molecule concentration on each vibration energy level while lasing, averaged pressure and temperature, zero power gain coefficient of each spectral line, laser spectrum, the averaged laser intensity, output power, chemical efficiency and the length of lasing zone.

Complexity and performance of on-chip biochemical assays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kopf-Sill, Anne R.; Nikiforov, Theo; Bousse, Luc J.; Nagle, Rob; Parce, J. W.

1997-03-01

The use of microchips for performing biochemical processes has the potential to reduce reagent use and thus assay costs, increase throughput, and automate complex processes. We are building a multifunctional platform that provides sensing and actuation functions for a variety of microchip- based biochemical and analytical processes. Here we describe recent experiments that include on-chip dilution, reagent mixing, reaction, separation, and detection for important classes of biochemical assays. Issues in chip design and control are discussed.

Surgical process improvement tools: defining quality gaps and priority areas in gastrointestinal cancer surgery.

PubMed

Wei, A C; Devitt, K S; Wiebe, M; Bathe, O F; McLeod, R S; Urbach, D R

2014-04-01

Surgery is a cornerstone of cancer treatment, but significant differences in the quality of surgery have been reported. Surgical process improvement tools (spits) modify the processes of care as a means to quality improvement (qi). We were interested in developing spits in the area of gastrointestinal (gi) cancer surgery. We report the recommendations of an expert panel held to define quality gaps and establish priority areas that would benefit from spits. The present study used the knowledge-to-action cycle was as a framework. Canadian experts in qi and in gi cancer surgery were assembled in a nominal group workshop. Participants evaluated the merits of spits, described gaps in current knowledge, and identified and ranked processes of care that would benefit from qi. A qualitative analysis of the workshop deliberations using modified grounded theory methods identified major themes. The expert panel consisted of 22 participants. Experts confirmed that spits were an important strategy for qi. The top-rated spits included clinical pathways, electronic information technology, and patient safety tools. The preferred settings for use of spits included preoperative and intraoperative settings and multidisciplinary contexts. Outcomes of interest were cancer-related outcomes, process, and the technical quality of surgery measures. Surgical process improvement tools were confirmed as an important strategy. Expert panel recommendations will be used to guide future research efforts for spits in gi cancer surgery.

Surgical process improvement tools: defining quality gaps and priority areas in gastrointestinal cancer surgery

PubMed Central

Wei, A.C.; Devitt, K.S.; Wiebe, M.; Bathe, O.F.; McLeod, R.S.; Urbach, D.R.

2014-01-01

Background Surgery is a cornerstone of cancer treatment, but significant differences in the quality of surgery have been reported. Surgical process improvement tools (spits) modify the processes of care as a means to quality improvement (qi). We were interested in developing spits in the area of gastrointestinal (gi) cancer surgery. We report the recommendations of an expert panel held to define quality gaps and establish priority areas that would benefit from spits. Methods The present study used the knowledge-to-action cycle was as a framework. Canadian experts in qi and in gi cancer surgery were assembled in a nominal group workshop. Participants evaluated the merits of spits, described gaps in current knowledge, and identified and ranked processes of care that would benefit from qi. A qualitative analysis of the workshop deliberations using modified grounded theory methods identified major themes. Results The expert panel consisted of 22 participants. Experts confirmed that spits were an important strategy for qi. The top-rated spits included clinical pathways, electronic information technology, and patient safety tools. The preferred settings for use of spits included preoperative and intraoperative settings and multidisciplinary contexts. Outcomes of interest were cancer-related outcomes, process, and the technical quality of surgery measures. Conclusions Surgical process improvement tools were confirmed as an important strategy. Expert panel recommendations will be used to guide future research efforts for spits in gi cancer surgery. PMID:24764704

Neutron Capture Rates and the r-Process Abundance Pattern in Shocked Neutrino-Driven Winds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barringer, Daniel; Surman, Rebecca

2009-10-01

The r-process is an important process in nucleosynthesis in which nuclei will undergo rapid neutron captures. Models of the r-process require nuclear data such as neutron capture rates for thousands of individual nuclei, many of which lie far from stability. Among the potential sites for the r-process, and the one that we investigate, is the shocked neutrino-driven wind in core-collapse supernovae. Here we examine the importance of the neutron capture rates of specific, individual nuclei in the second r-process abundance peak occurring at A ˜ 130 for a range of parameterized neutrino-driven wind trajectories. Of specific interest are the nuclei whose capture rates affect the abundances of nuclei outside of the A ˜ 130 peak. We found that increasing the neutron capture rate for a number of nuclei including ^135In, ^132Sn, ^133Sb, ^137Sb, and ^136Te can produce changes in the resulting abundance pattern of up to 13%.

Life on the outside: role of biofilms in environmental persistence of Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Vogeleer, Philippe; Tremblay, Yannick D. N.; Mafu, Akier A.; Jacques, Mario; Harel, Josée

2014-01-01

Escherichia coli is a heterogeneous species that can be part of the normal flora of humans but also include strains of medical importance. Among pathogenic members, Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) are some of the more prominent pathogenic E. coli within the public sphere. STEC disease outbreaks are typically associated with contaminated beef, contaminated drinking water, and contaminated fresh produce. These water- and food-borne pathogens usually colonize cattle asymptomatically; cows will shed STEC in their feces and the subsequent fecal contamination of the environment and processing plants is a major concern for food and public safety. This is especially important because STEC can survive for prolonged periods of time outside its host in environments such as water, produce, and farm soil. Biofilms are hypothesized to be important for survival in the environment especially on produce, in rivers, and in processing plants. Several factors involved in biofilm formation such as curli, cellulose, poly-N-acetyl glucosamine, and colanic acid are involved in plant colonization and adherence to different surfaces often found in meat processing plants. In food processing plants, contamination of beef carcasses occurs at different stages of processing and this is often caused by the formation of STEC biofilms on the surface of several pieces of equipment associated with slaughtering and processing. Biofilms protect bacteria against several challenges, including biocides used in industrial processes. STEC biofilms are less sensitive than planktonic cells to several chemical sanitizers such as quaternary ammonium compounds, peroxyacetic acid, and chlorine compounds. Increased resistance to sanitizers by STEC growing in a biofilm is likely to be a source of contamination in the processing plant. This review focuses on the role of biofilm formation by STEC as a means of persistence outside their animal host and factors associated with biofilm formation. PMID:25071733

Developing a practice guideline for the occupational health services by using a community of practice approach: a process evaluation of the development process.

PubMed

Kwak, Lydia; Wåhlin, Charlotte; Stigmar, Kjerstin; Jensen, Irene

2017-01-18

One way to facilitate the translation of research into the occupational health service practice is through clinical practice guidelines. To increase the implementability of guidelines it is important to include the end-users in the development, for example by a community of practice approach. This paper describes the development of an occupational health practice guideline aimed at the management of non-specific low back pain (LBP) by using a community of practice approach. The paper also includes a process evaluation of the development providing insight into the feasibility of the process. A multidisciplinary community of practice group (n = 16) consisting of occupational nurses, occupational physicians, ergonomists/physical therapists, health and safety engineers, health educators, psychologists and researchers from different types of occupational health services and geographical regions within Sweden met eleven times (June 2012-December 2013) to develop the practice guideline following recommendations of guideline development handbooks. Process-outcomes recruitment, reach, context, satisfaction, feasibility and fidelity were assessed by questionnaire, observations and administrative data. Group members attended on average 7.5 out of 11 meetings. Half experienced support from their workplace for their involvement. Feasibility was rated as good, except for time-scheduling. Most group members were satisfied with the structure of the process (e.g. presentations, multidisciplinary group). Fidelity was rated as fairly high. The described development process is a feasible process for guideline development. For future guideline development expectations of the work involved should be more clearly communicated, as well as the purpose and tasks of the CoP-group. Moreover, possibilities to improve support from managers and colleagues should be explored. This paper has important implications for future guideline development; it provides valuable information on how practitioners can be included in the development process, with the aim of increasing the implementability of the developed guidelines.

Design alternatives for process group membership and multicast

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birman, Kenneth P.; Cooper, Robert; Gleeson, Barry

1991-01-01

Process groups are a natural tool for distributed programming, and are increasingly important in distributed computing environments. However, there is little agreement on the most appropriate semantics for process group membership and group communication. These issues are of special importance in the Isis system, a toolkit for distributed programming. Isis supports several styles of process group, and a collection of group communication protocols spanning a range of atomicity and ordering properties. This flexibility makes Isis adaptable to a variety of applications, but is also a source of complexity that limits performance. This paper reports on a new architecture that arose from an effort to simplify Isis process group semantics. Our findings include a refined notion of how the clients of a group should be treated, what the properties of a multicast primitive should be when systems contain large numbers of overlapping groups, and a new construct called the casuality domain. As an illustration, we apply the architecture to the problem of converting processes into fault-tolerant process groups in a manner that is 'transparent' to other processes in the system.

Effect of processing on phenolic antioxidants of fruits, vegetables, and grains--a review.

PubMed

Nayak, Balunkeswar; Liu, Rui Hai; Tang, Juming

2015-01-01

Understanding the influence of processing operations such as drying/dehydration, canning, extrusion, high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric field, and ohmic heating on the phytochemicals of fruits, vegetables, and grains is important in retaining the health benefiting properties of these antioxidative compounds in processed food products. Most of the previous investigations in the literature on the antioxidants of fruits, vegetables, and grains have shown that food-processing operations reduced the antioxidants of the processed foods, which is also the usual consumer perception. However, in the last decade some articles in the literature reported that the evaluation of nutritional quality of processed fruits and vegetables not only depend on the quantity of vitamin C but should include analyses of other antioxidant phytochemicals and antioxidant activity. Thermal processing increased the total antioxidant activity of tomato and sweet corn. Most importantly, analysis also depends on the condition, type, and mechanism of antioxidant assays used. This review aims to provide concise information on the influence of various thermal and nonthermal food-processing operations on the stability and kinetics of health beneficial phenolic antioxidants of fruits, vegetables, and grains.

Mixture and odorant processing in the olfactory systems of insects: a comparative perspective.

PubMed

Clifford, Marie R; Riffell, Jeffrey A

2013-11-01

Natural olfactory stimuli are often complex mixtures of volatiles, of which the identities and ratios of constituents are important for odor-mediated behaviors. Despite this importance, the mechanism by which the olfactory system processes this complex information remains an area of active study. In this review, we describe recent progress in how odorants and mixtures are processed in the brain of insects. We use a comparative approach toward contrasting olfactory coding and the behavioral efficacy of mixtures in different insect species, and organize these topics around four sections: (1) Examples of the behavioral efficacy of odor mixtures and the olfactory environment; (2) mixture processing in the periphery; (3) mixture coding in the antennal lobe; and (4) evolutionary implications and adaptations for olfactory processing. We also include pertinent background information about the processing of individual odorants and comparative differences in wiring and anatomy, as these topics have been richly investigated and inform the processing of mixtures in the insect olfactory system. Finally, we describe exciting studies that have begun to elucidate the role of the processing of complex olfactory information in evolution and speciation.

Role of RNase Y in Clostridium perfringens mRNA Decay and Processing.

PubMed

Obana, Nozomu; Nakamura, Kouji; Nomura, Nobuhiko

2017-01-15

RNase Y is a major endoribonuclease that plays a crucial role in mRNA degradation and processing. We study the role of RNase Y in the Gram-positive anaerobic pathogen Clostridium perfringens, which until now has not been well understood. Our study implies an important role for RNase Y-mediated RNA degradation and processing in virulence gene expression and the physiological development of the organism. We began by constructing an RNase Y conditional knockdown strain in order to observe the importance of RNase Y on growth and virulence. Our resulting transcriptome analysis shows that RNase Y affects the expression of many genes, including toxin-producing genes. We provide data to show that RNase Y depletion repressed several toxin genes in C. perfringens and involved the virR-virS two-component system. We also observe evidence that RNase Y is indispensable for processing and stabilizing the transcripts of colA (encoding a major toxin collagenase) and pilA2 (encoding a major pilin component of the type IV pili). Posttranscriptional regulation of colA is known to be mediated by cleavage in the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR), and we observe that RNase Y depletion diminishes colA 5'UTR processing. We show that RNase Y is also involved in the posttranscriptional stabilization of pilA2 mRNA, which is thought to be important for host cell adherence and biofilm formation. RNases have important roles in RNA degradation and turnover in all organisms. C. perfringens is a Gram-positive anaerobic spore-forming bacterial pathogen that produces numerous extracellular enzymes and toxins, and it is linked to digestive disorders and disease. A highly conserved endoribonuclease, RNase Y, affects the expression of hundreds of genes, including toxin genes, and studying these effects is useful for understanding C. perfringens specifically and RNases generally. Moreover, RNase Y is involved in processing specific transcripts, and we observed that this processing in C. perfringens results in the stabilization of mRNAs encoding a toxin and bacterial extracellular apparatus pili. Our study shows that RNase activity is associated with gene expression, helping to determine the growth, proliferation, and virulence of C. perfringens. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Microbiology.

Process Monitoring Evaluation and Implementation for the Wood Abrasive Machining Process

PubMed Central

Saloni, Daniel E.; Lemaster, Richard L.; Jackson, Steven D.

2010-01-01

Wood processing industries have continuously developed and improved technologies and processes to transform wood to obtain better final product quality and thus increase profits. Abrasive machining is one of the most important of these processes and therefore merits special attention and study. The objective of this work was to evaluate and demonstrate a process monitoring system for use in the abrasive machining of wood and wood based products. The system developed increases the life of the belt by detecting (using process monitoring sensors) and removing (by cleaning) the abrasive loading during the machining process. This study focused on abrasive belt machining processes and included substantial background work, which provided a solid base for understanding the behavior of the abrasive, and the different ways that the abrasive machining process can be monitored. In addition, the background research showed that abrasive belts can effectively be cleaned by the appropriate cleaning technique. The process monitoring system developed included acoustic emission sensors which tended to be sensitive to belt wear, as well as platen vibration, but not loading, and optical sensors which were sensitive to abrasive loading. PMID:22163477

Nutritional programming of disease: unravelling the mechanism

PubMed Central

Langley-Evans, Simon C

2009-01-01

Nutritional programming is the process through which variation in the quality or quantity of nutrients consumed during pregnancy exerts permanent effects upon the developing fetus. Programming of fetal development is considered to be an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases of adulthood, including coronary heart disease and other disorders related to insulin resistance. The study of programming in relation to disease processes has been advanced by development of animal models, which have utilized restriction or over-feeding of specific nutrients in either rodents or sheep. These consistently demonstrate the biological plausibility of the nutritional programming hypothesis and, importantly, provide tools with which to examine the mechanisms through which programming may occur. Studies of animals subject to undernutrition in utero generally exhibit changes in the structure of key organs such as the kidney, heart and brain. These appear consistent with remodelling of development, associated with disruption of cellular proliferation and differentiation. Whilst the causal pathways which extend from this tissue remodelling to disease can be easily understood, the processes which lead to this disordered organ development are poorly defined. Even minor variation in maternal nutritional status is capable of producing important shifts in the fetal environment. It is suggested that these environmental changes are associated with altered expression of key genes, which are responsible for driving the tissue remodelling response and future disease risk. Nutrition-related factors may drive these processes by disturbing placental function, including control of materno-fetal endocrine exchanges, or the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. PMID:19175805

Letter processing and font information during reading: beyond distinctiveness, where vision meets design.

PubMed

Sanocki, Thomas; Dyson, Mary C

2012-01-01

Letter identification is a critical front end of the reading process. In general, conceptualizations of the identification process have emphasized arbitrary sets of distinctive features. However, a richer view of letter processing incorporates principles from the field of type design, including an emphasis on uniformities across letters within a font. The importance of uniformities is supported by a small body of research indicating that consistency of font increases letter identification efficiency. We review design concepts and the relevant literature, with the goal of stimulating further thinking about letter processing during reading.

Microstructure, Morphology, and Nanomechanical Properties Near Fine Holes Produced by Electro-Discharge Machining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blau, P. J.; Howe, J. Y.; Coffey, D. W.; Trejo, R. M.; Kenik, E. D.; Jolly, B. C.; Yang, N.

2012-08-01

Fine holes in metal alloys are employed for many important technological purposes, including cooling and the precise atomization of liquids. For example, they play an important role in the metering and delivery of fuel to the combustion chambers in energy-efficient, low-emission diesel engines. Electro-discharge machining (EDM) is one process employed to produce such holes. Since the hole shape and bore morphology can affect fluid flow, and holes also represent structural discontinuities in the tips of the spray nozzles, it is important to understand the microstructures adjacent to these holes, the features of the hole walls, and the nanomechanical properties of the material that was in some manner altered by the EDM hole-making process. Several techniques were used to characterize the structure and properties of spray-holes in a commercial injector nozzle. These include scanning electron microscopy, cross sectioning and metallographic etching, bore surface roughness measurements by optical interferometry, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy of recast EDM layers extracted with the help of a focused ion beam.

FLUORESCENT IN SITU HYBRIDIZATION AND MICROAUTORADIOGRAPHY APPLIED TO ECOPHYSIOLOGY IN SOIL

EPA Science Inventory

Soil microbial communities perform many important processes, including nutrient cycling, plant-microorganism interactions, and degradation of xenobiotics. The study of microbial communities, however, has been limited by cultural methods, which may greatly underestimate diversity....

40 CFR 1068.20 - May EPA enter my facilities for inspections?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., manufacturing processes, storage facilities (including port facilities for imported engines and equipment or... inspect if we learn that local law prohibits it, but we may suspend your certificate if we are not allowed...

Selecting the Administrative Computing Executive.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bielec, John A.

1985-01-01

Important steps in the computing administrator selection process are outlined, including: reviewing the administrative computing organization, determining a search methodology, selecting a search or screening committee, narrowing the candidate pool, scheduling interviews and evaluating candidates, and conducting negotiations. (MSE)

Modelling and intepreting the isotopic composition of water vapour in convective updrafts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolot, M.; Legras, B.; Moyer, E. J.

2012-08-01

The isotopic compositions of water vapour and its condensates have long been used as tracers of the global hydrological cycle, but may also be useful for understanding processes within individual convective clouds. We review here the representation of processes that alter water isotopic compositions during processing of air in convective updrafts and present a unified model for water vapour isotopic evolution within undiluted deep convective cores, with a special focus on the out-of-equilibrium conditions of mixed phase zones where metastable liquid water and ice coexist. We use our model to show that a combination of water isotopologue measurements can constrain critical convective parameters including degree of supersaturation, supercooled water content and glaciation temperature. Important isotopic processes in updrafts include kinetic effects that are a consequence of diffusive growth or decay of cloud particles within a supersaturated or subsaturated environment; isotopic re-equilibration between vapour and supercooled droplets, which buffers isotopic distillation; and differing mechanisms of glaciation (droplet freezing vs. the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process). As all of these processes are related to updraft strength, droplet size distribution and the retention of supercooled water, isotopic measurements can serve as a probe of in-cloud conditions of importance to convective processes. We study the sensitivity of the profile of water vapour isotopic composition to differing model assumptions and show how measurements of isotopic composition at cloud base and cloud top alone may be sufficient to retrieve key cloud parameters.

Modelling and interpreting the isotopic composition of water vapour in convective updrafts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolot, M.; Legras, B.; Moyer, E. J.

2013-08-01

The isotopic compositions of water vapour and its condensates have long been used as tracers of the global hydrological cycle, but may also be useful for understanding processes within individual convective clouds. We review here the representation of processes that alter water isotopic compositions during processing of air in convective updrafts and present a unified model for water vapour isotopic evolution within undiluted deep convective cores, with a special focus on the out-of-equilibrium conditions of mixed-phase zones where metastable liquid water and ice coexist. We use our model to show that a combination of water isotopologue measurements can constrain critical convective parameters, including degree of supersaturation, supercooled water content and glaciation temperature. Important isotopic processes in updrafts include kinetic effects that are a consequence of diffusive growth or decay of cloud particles within a supersaturated or subsaturated environment; isotopic re-equilibration between vapour and supercooled droplets, which buffers isotopic distillation; and differing mechanisms of glaciation (droplet freezing vs. the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process). As all of these processes are related to updraft strength, particle size distribution and the retention of supercooled water, isotopic measurements can serve as a probe of in-cloud conditions of importance to convective processes. We study the sensitivity of the profile of water vapour isotopic composition to differing model assumptions and show how measurements of isotopic composition at cloud base and cloud top alone may be sufficient to retrieve key cloud parameters.

The hyper-sentient addict: an exteroception model of addiction

PubMed Central

DeWitt, Samuel J.; Ketcherside, Ariel; McQueeny, Tim M.; Dunlop, Joseph P.; Filbey, Francesca M.

2016-01-01

Background Exteroception involves processes related to the perception of environmental stimuli important for an organism's ability to adapt to its environment. As such, exteroception plays a critical role in conditioned response. In addiction, behavioral and neuroimaging studies show that the conditioned response to drug-related cues is often associated with alterations in brain regions including the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, an important node within the default mode network dedicated to processes such as self-monitoring. Objective This review aimed to summarize the growing, but largely fragmented, literature that supports a central role of exteroceptive processes in addiction. Methods We performed a systematic review of empirical research via PubMed and Google Scholar with keywords including ‘addiction’, ‘exteroception’, ‘precuneus’, and ‘self-awareness’, to identify human behavioral and neuroimaging studies that report mechanisms of self-awareness in healthy populations, and altered selfawareness processes, specifically exteroception, in addicted populations. Results Results demonstrate that exteroceptive processes play a critical role in conditioned cue response in addiction and serve as targets for interventions such as mindfulness training. Further, a hub of the default mode network, namely, the precuneus, is (i) consistently implicated in exteroceptive processes, and (ii) widely demonstrated to have increased activation and connectivity in addicted populations. Conclusion Heightened exteroceptive processes may underlie cue-elicited craving, which in turn may lead to the maintenance and worsening of substance use disorders. An exteroception model of addiction provides a testable framework from which novel targets for interventions can be identified. PMID:26154169

The hyper-sentient addict: an exteroception model of addiction.

PubMed

DeWitt, Samuel J; Ketcherside, Ariel; McQueeny, Tim M; Dunlop, Joseph P; Filbey, Francesca M

2015-01-01

Exteroception involves processes related to the perception of environmental stimuli important for an organism's ability to adapt to its environment. As such, exteroception plays a critical role in conditioned response. In addiction, behavioral and neuroimaging studies show that the conditioned response to drug-related cues is often associated with alterations in brain regions including the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, an important node within the default mode network dedicated to processes such as self-monitoring. This review aimed to summarize the growing, but largely fragmented, literature that supports a central role of exteroceptive processes in addiction. We performed a systematic review of empirical research via PubMed and Google Scholar with keywords including 'addiction', 'exteroception', 'precuneus', and 'self-awareness', to identify human behavioral and neuroimaging studies that report mechanisms of self-awareness in healthy populations, and altered self-awareness processes, specifically exteroception, in addicted populations. Results demonstrate that exteroceptive processes play a critical role in conditioned cue response in addiction and serve as targets for interventions such as mindfulness training. Further, a hub of the default mode network, namely, the precuneus, is (i) consistently implicated in exteroceptive processes, and (ii) widely demonstrated to have increased activation and connectivity in addicted populations. Heightened exteroceptive processes may underlie cue-elicited craving, which in turn may lead to the maintenance and worsening of substance use disorders. An exteroception model of addiction provides a testable framework from which novel targets for interventions can be identified.

Patient Outcomes in Association With Significant Other Responses to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Systematic Review of the Literature

PubMed Central

Band, Rebecca; Wearden, Alison; Barrowclough, Christine

2015-01-01

Social processes have been suggested as important in the maintenance of chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis; CFS/ME), but the specific role of close interpersonal relationships remains unclear. We reviewed 14 articles investigating significant other responses to close others with CFS/ME and the relationships between these responses and patient outcomes. Significant other beliefs attributing patient responsibility for the onset and ongoing symptoms of CFS/ME were associated with increased patient distress. Increased symptom severity, disability, and distress were also associated with both solicitous and negative significant other responses. Specific aspects of dyadic relationship quality, including high Expressed Emotion, were identified as important. We propose extending current theoretical models of CFS/ME to include two potential perpetuating interpersonal processes; the evidence reviewed suggests that the development of significant other–focused interventions may also be beneficial. PMID:26617440

Dietary Intervention by Phytochemicals and Their Role in Modulating Coding and Non-Coding Genes in Cancer

PubMed Central

Budisan, Liviuta; Gulei, Diana; Zanoaga, Oana Mihaela; Irimie, Alexandra Iulia; Chira, Sergiu; Braicu, Cornelia; Gherman, Claudia Diana; Berindan-Neagoe, Ioana

2017-01-01

Phytochemicals are natural compounds synthesized as secondary metabolites in plants, representing an important source of molecules with a wide range of therapeutic applications. These natural agents are important regulators of key pathological processes/conditions, including cancer, as they are able to modulate the expression of coding and non-coding transcripts with an oncogenic or tumour suppressor role. These natural agents are currently exploited for the development of therapeutic strategies alone or in tandem with conventional treatments for cancer. The aim of this paper is to review the recent studies regarding the role of these natural phytochemicals in different processes related to cancer inhibition, including apoptosis activation, angiogenesis and metastasis suppression. From the large palette of phytochemicals we selected epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), genistein, morin and kaempferol, due to their increased activity in modulating multiple coding and non-coding genes, targeting the main hallmarks of cancer. PMID:28587155

Dietary Intervention by Phytochemicals and Their Role in Modulating Coding and Non-Coding Genes in Cancer.

PubMed

Budisan, Liviuta; Gulei, Diana; Zanoaga, Oana Mihaela; Irimie, Alexandra Iulia; Sergiu, Chira; Braicu, Cornelia; Gherman, Claudia Diana; Berindan-Neagoe, Ioana

2017-06-01

Phytochemicals are natural compounds synthesized as secondary metabolites in plants, representing an important source of molecules with a wide range of therapeutic applications. These natural agents are important regulators of key pathological processes/conditions, including cancer, as they are able to modulate the expression of coding and non-coding transcripts with an oncogenic or tumour suppressor role. These natural agents are currently exploited for the development of therapeutic strategies alone or in tandem with conventional treatments for cancer. The aim of this paper is to review the recent studies regarding the role of these natural phytochemicals in different processes related to cancer inhibition, including apoptosis activation, angiogenesis and metastasis suppression. From the large palette of phytochemicals we selected epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), genistein, morin and kaempferol, due to their increased activity in modulating multiple coding and non-coding genes, targeting the main hallmarks of cancer.

Influence of moisture regime and tree species composition on nitrogen cycling dynamics in hardwood forests of Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, USA

Treesearch

Eric S. Fabio; Mary A. Arthur; Charles C. Rhoades

2009-01-01

Understanding how natural factors interact across the landscape to influence nitrogen (N) cycling is an important focus in temperate forests because of the great inherent variability in these forests. Site-specific attributes, including local topography, soils, and vegetation, can exert important controls on N processes and retention. Seasonal monitoring of N cycling...

Evaluation of potential effects of federal land management alternatives on trends of salmonids and their habitats in the interior Columbia River basin.

Treesearch

Bruce Rieman; James T. Peterson; James Clayton; Philip Howell; Russell Thurow; William Thompson; Danny Lee

2001-01-01

Aquatic species throughout the interior Columbia River basin are at risk. Evaluation of the potential effects of federal land management on aquatic ecosystems across this region is an important but challenging task. Issues include the size and complexity of the systems, uncertainty in important processes and existing states, flexibility and consistency in the...

Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter's perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment.

PubMed

Larkin, Paul; O'Connor, Donna

2017-01-01

Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess and identify these attributes in youth players. Australian regional youth technical directors and coaches (n = 20) completed a three stage process, including an initial interview and two subsequent questionnaires, whereby attributes and qualities associated with talent identification were rated and justified according to the importance for youth player performance and talent identification. Results indicate a hierarchy of attributes recruiters perceive as important for Under 13 soccer performance, including technical (i.e., first touch, striking the ball, one-versus-one ability, and technical ability under pressure), tactical (i.e., decision-making ability) and psychological attributes (i.e., coachability and positive attitude). In addition, the findings indicated attributes and qualities not emphasised within the talent identification process including, physiological, anthropometrical, sociological and several psychological attributes. It is suggested talent recruiters apply a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, with the current findings potentially providing initial evidence to suggest recruiters do consider numerous attributes when selecting and identifying youth players.

Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter’s perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess and identify these attributes in youth players. Australian regional youth technical directors and coaches (n = 20) completed a three stage process, including an initial interview and two subsequent questionnaires, whereby attributes and qualities associated with talent identification were rated and justified according to the importance for youth player performance and talent identification. Results indicate a hierarchy of attributes recruiters perceive as important for Under 13 soccer performance, including technical (i.e., first touch, striking the ball, one-versus-one ability, and technical ability under pressure), tactical (i.e., decision-making ability) and psychological attributes (i.e., coachability and positive attitude). In addition, the findings indicated attributes and qualities not emphasised within the talent identification process including, physiological, anthropometrical, sociological and several psychological attributes. It is suggested talent recruiters apply a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, with the current findings potentially providing initial evidence to suggest recruiters do consider numerous attributes when selecting and identifying youth players. PMID:28419175

Expression profiling of ascorbic acid-related genes during tomato fruit development and ripening and in response to stress conditions.

PubMed

Ioannidi, Eugenia; Kalamaki, Mary S; Engineer, Cawas; Pateraki, Irene; Alexandrou, Dimitris; Mellidou, Ifigeneia; Giovannonni, James; Kanellis, Angelos K

2009-01-01

L-ascorbate (the reduced form of vitamin C) participates in diverse biological processes including pathogen defence mechanisms, and the modulation of plant growth and morphology, and also acts as an enzyme cofactor and redox status indicator. One of its chief biological functions is as an antioxidant. L-ascorbate intake has been implicated in the prevention/alleviation of varied human ailments and diseases including cancer. To study the regulation of accumulation of this important nutraceutical in fruit, the expression of 24 tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) genes involved in the biosynthesis, oxidation, and recycling of L-ascorbate during the development and ripening of fruit have been characterized. Taken together with L-ascorbate abundance data, the results show distinct changes in the expression profiles for these genes, implicating them in nodal regulatory roles during the process of L-ascorbate accumulation in tomato fruit. The expression of these genes was further studied in the context of abiotic and post-harvest stress, including the effects of heat, cold, wounding, oxygen supply, and ethylene. Important aspects of the hypoxic and post-anoxic response in tomato fruit are discussed. The data suggest that L-galactose-1-phosphate phosphatase could play an important role in regulating ascorbic acid accumulation during tomato fruit development and ripening.

Optimizing laser beam profiles using micro-lens arrays for efficient material processing: applications to solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hauschild, Dirk; Homburg, Oliver; Mitra, Thomas; Ivanenko, Mikhail; Jarczynski, Manfred; Meinschien, Jens; Bayer, Andreas; Lissotschenko, Vitalij

2009-02-01

High power laser sources are used in various production tools for microelectronic products and solar cells, including the applications annealing, lithography, edge isolation as well as dicing and patterning. Besides the right choice of the laser source suitable high performance optics for generating the appropriate beam profile and intensity distribution are of high importance for the right processing speed, quality and yield. For industrial applications equally important is an adequate understanding of the physics of the light-matter interaction behind the process. In advance simulations of the tool performance can minimize technical and financial risk as well as lead times for prototyping and introduction into series production. LIMO has developed its own software founded on the Maxwell equations taking into account all important physical aspects of the laser based process: the light source, the beam shaping optical system and the light-matter interaction. Based on this knowledge together with a unique free-form micro-lens array production technology and patented micro-optics beam shaping designs a number of novel solar cell production tool sub-systems have been built. The basic functionalities, design principles and performance results are presented with a special emphasis on resilience, cost reduction and process reliability.

Attention-like processes in insects

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Attention is fundamentally important for sensory systems to focus on behaviourally relevant stimuli. It has therefore been an important field of study in human psychology and neuroscience. Primates, however, are not the only animals that might benefit from attention-like processes. Other animals, including insects, also have to use their senses and select one among many stimuli to forage, avoid predators and find mates. They have evolved different mechanisms to reduce the information processed by their brains to focus on only relevant stimuli. What are the mechanisms used by insects to selectively attend to visual and auditory stimuli? Do these attention-like mechanisms achieve the same functions as they do in primates? To investigate these questions, I use an established framework for investigating attention in non-human animals that proposes four fundamental components of attention: salience filters, competitive selection, top-down sensitivity control and working memory. I discuss evidence for each of these component processes in insects and compare the characteristics of these processes in insects to what we know from primates. Finally, I highlight important outstanding questions about insect attention that need to be addressed for us to understand the differences and similarities between vertebrate and insect attention. PMID:27852803

Attention-like processes in insects.

PubMed

Nityananda, Vivek

2016-11-16

Attention is fundamentally important for sensory systems to focus on behaviourally relevant stimuli. It has therefore been an important field of study in human psychology and neuroscience. Primates, however, are not the only animals that might benefit from attention-like processes. Other animals, including insects, also have to use their senses and select one among many stimuli to forage, avoid predators and find mates. They have evolved different mechanisms to reduce the information processed by their brains to focus on only relevant stimuli. What are the mechanisms used by insects to selectively attend to visual and auditory stimuli? Do these attention-like mechanisms achieve the same functions as they do in primates? To investigate these questions, I use an established framework for investigating attention in non-human animals that proposes four fundamental components of attention: salience filters, competitive selection, top-down sensitivity control and working memory. I discuss evidence for each of these component processes in insects and compare the characteristics of these processes in insects to what we know from primates. Finally, I highlight important outstanding questions about insect attention that need to be addressed for us to understand the differences and similarities between vertebrate and insect attention. © 2016 The Author(s).

Fundamentals handbook of electrical and computer engineering. Volume 1 Circuits fields and electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, S. S. L.

State of the art technology in circuits, fields, and electronics is discussed. The principles and applications of these technologies to industry, digital processing, microwave semiconductors, and computer-aided design are explained. Important concepts and methodologies in mathematics and physics are reviewed, and basic engineering sciences and associated design methods are dealt with, including: circuit theory and the design of magnetic circuits and active filter synthesis; digital signal processing, including FIR and IIR digital filter design; transmission lines, electromagnetic wave propagation and surface acoustic wave devices. Also considered are: electronics technologies, including power electronics, microwave semiconductors, GaAs devices, and magnetic bubble memories; digital circuits and logic design.

Gingival wound healing: an essential response disturbed by aging?

PubMed

Smith, P C; Cáceres, M; Martínez, C; Oyarzún, A; Martínez, J

2015-03-01

Gingival wound healing comprises a series of sequential responses that allow the closure of breaches in the masticatory mucosa. This process is of critical importance to prevent the invasion of microbes or other agents into tissues, avoiding the establishment of a chronic infection. Wound healing may also play an important role during cell and tissue reaction to long-term injury, as it may occur during inflammatory responses and cancer. Recent experimental data have shown that gingival wound healing is severely affected by the aging process. These defects may alter distinct phases of the wound-healing process, including epithelial migration, granulation tissue formation, and tissue remodeling. The cellular and molecular defects that may explain these deficiencies include several biological responses such as an increased inflammatory response, altered integrin signaling, reduced growth factor activity, decreased cell proliferation, diminished angiogenesis, reduced collagen synthesis, augmented collagen remodeling, and deterioration of the proliferative and differentiation potential of stem cells. In this review, we explore the cellular and molecular basis of these defects and their possible clinical implications. © International & American Associations for Dental Research 2014.

Anticancer activity of seaweeds.

PubMed

Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, Anllely G; Juárez-Portilla, Claudia; Olivares-Bañuelos, Tatiana; Zepeda, Rossana C

2018-02-01

Cancer is a major health problem worldwide and still lacks fully effective treatments. Therefore, alternative therapies, using natural products, have been proposed. Marine algae are an important component of the marine environment, with high biodiversity, and contain a huge number of functional compounds, including terpenes, polyphenols, phlorotannins, and polysaccharides, among others. These compounds have complex structures that have shown several biological activities, including anticancer activity, using in vitro and in vivo models. Moreover, seaweed-derived compounds target important molecules that regulate cancer processes. Here, we review our current understanding of the anticancer activity of seaweeds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Complex Relationships Between Food, Diet, and the Microbiome.

PubMed

Pace, Laura A; Crowe, Sheila E

2016-06-01

Diet is a risk factor in several medically important disease states, including obesity, celiac disease, and functional gastrointestinal disorders. Modification of diet can prevent, treat, or alleviate some of the symptoms associated with these diseases and improve general health. It is important to provide patients with simple dietary recommendations to increase the probability of successful implementation. These recommendations include increasing vegetable, fruit, and fiber intake, consuming lean protein sources to enhance satiety, avoiding or severely limiting highly processed foods, and reducing portion sizes for overweight and obese patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extrapolation of space weathering processes to other small solar system bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaffey, M. J.

A diverse range of processes were invoked as the dominant factor or as important contributory factors in the modification of the optical surface and regolith of the moon. These include impact vitrification by large and small projectiles, solar wind implantation and the reduction of oxidized iron during energetic events, sputtering and crystal lattice damage by energetic cosmic rays, shock metamorphism of minerals, mixing of diverse lithologies by impacts, and contamination by external materials. These processes are also potentially important on the rocky surfaces of other small solar system bodies. For icy bodies, several additional processes are also possible, including formation of complex organic compounds from methane and ammonia-bearing ices by ultraviolet irradiation and the condensation of vapor species to form frost layers in the polar or cooler regions of objects at appropriate heliocentric distances. The lunar case, even when completely understood, will not extend in a simple linear fashion to other small rocky objects, nor will the optical surfaces of those objects all be affected to the same degree by each process. The major factors that will control the relative efficacy of a possible mechanism include the efficiency of ejecta retention and the degree to which the regolith materials experience multiple events (primarily a function of body size, escape velocity, and impactor velocities); the mean duration of typical regolith particle exposure at the optical surface and within reach of the micrometeorite, cosmic ray, solar wind, or UV fluxes (a function of the rate and scale of regolith mixing, production, and removal processes); the incident flux of solar (low energy) cosmic rays, solar wind, or UV radiation (inverse square of heliocentric distance) or of galactic (high energy) cosmic rays (slowly increasing flux with heliocentric distance); and the compositional and mineralogical nature of the surface being affected. In general, those processes that depend upon either the retention of impact ejecta or on the presence of multigenerational regoliths should be substantially less effective on smaller bodies with lower escape velocities. However, there are important exceptions to this generalization. For example, a process that involves the hypervelocity impact of small particles into a fine-grained regolith may be able to effectively retain highly shocked or melted material due to the nature of shock wave propagation in such a heterogeneous material.

Extrapolation of space weathering processes to other small solar system bodies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaffey, M. J.

1993-01-01

A diverse range of processes were invoked as the dominant factor or as important contributory factors in the modification of the optical surface and regolith of the moon. These include impact vitrification by large and small projectiles, solar wind implantation and the reduction of oxidized iron during energetic events, sputtering and crystal lattice damage by energetic cosmic rays, shock metamorphism of minerals, mixing of diverse lithologies by impacts, and contamination by external materials. These processes are also potentially important on the rocky surfaces of other small solar system bodies. For icy bodies, several additional processes are also possible, including formation of complex organic compounds from methane and ammonia-bearing ices by ultraviolet irradiation and the condensation of vapor species to form frost layers in the polar or cooler regions of objects at appropriate heliocentric distances. The lunar case, even when completely understood, will not extend in a simple linear fashion to other small rocky objects, nor will the optical surfaces of those objects all be affected to the same degree by each process. The major factors that will control the relative efficacy of a possible mechanism include the efficiency of ejecta retention and the degree to which the regolith materials experience multiple events (primarily a function of body size, escape velocity, and impactor velocities); the mean duration of typical regolith particle exposure at the optical surface and within reach of the micrometeorite, cosmic ray, solar wind, or UV fluxes (a function of the rate and scale of regolith mixing, production, and removal processes); the incident flux of solar (low energy) cosmic rays, solar wind, or UV radiation (inverse square of heliocentric distance) or of galactic (high energy) cosmic rays (slowly increasing flux with heliocentric distance); and the compositional and mineralogical nature of the surface being affected. In general, those processes that depend upon either the retention of impact ejecta or on the presence of multigenerational regoliths should be substantially less effective on smaller bodies with lower escape velocities. However, there are important exceptions to this generalization. For example, a process that involves the hypervelocity impact of small particles into a fine-grained regolith may be able to effectively retain highly shocked or melted material due to the nature of shock wave propagation in such a heterogeneous material.

The Drug Reimbursement Decision-Making System in Iran.

PubMed

Ansaripour, Amir; Uyl-de Groot, Carin A; Steenhoek, Adri; Redekop, William K

2014-05-01

Previous studies of health policies in Iran have not focused exclusively on the drug reimbursement process. The aim of this study was to describe the entire drug reimbursement process and the stakeholders, and discuss issues faced by policymakers. Review of documents describing the administrative rules and directives of stakeholders, supplemented by published statistics and interviews with experts and policymakers. Iran has a systematic process for the assessment, appraisal, and judgment of drug reimbursements. The two most important organizations in this process are the Food and Drug Organization, which considers clinical effectiveness, safety, and economic issues, and the Supreme Council of Health Insurance, which considers various criteria, including budget impact and cost-effectiveness. Ultimately, the Iranian Cabinet approves a drug and recommends its use to all health insurance organizations. Reimbursed drugs account for about 53.5% of all available drugs and 77.3% of drug expenditures. Despite its strengths, the system faces various issues, including conflicting stakeholder aims, lengthy decision-making duration, limited access to decision-making details, and rigidity in the assessment process. The Iranian drug reimbursement system uses decision-making criteria and a structured approach similar to those in other countries. Important shortcomings in the system include out-of-pocket contributions due to lengthy decision making, lack of transparency, and conflicting interests among stakeholders. Iranian policymakers should consider a number of ways to remedy these problems, such as case studies of individual drugs and closer examination of experiences in other countries. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electron molecular ion recombination: product excitation and fragmentation.

PubMed

Adams, Nigel G; Poterya, Viktoriya; Babcock, Lucia M

2006-01-01

Electron-ion dissociative recombination is an important ionization loss process in any ionized gas containing molecular ions. This includes the interstellar medium, circumstellar shells, cometary comae, planetary ionospheres, fusion plasma boundaries, combustion flames, laser plasmas and chemical deposition and etching plasmas. In addition to controlling the ionization density, the process generates many radical species, which can contribute to a parallel neutral chemistry. Techniques used to obtain rate data and product information (flowing afterglows and storage rings) are discussed and recent data are reviewed including diatomic to polyatomic ions and cluster ions. The data are divided into rate coefficients and cross sections, including their temperature/energy dependencies, and quantitative identification of neutral reaction products. The latter involve both ground and electronically excited states and including vibrational excitation. The data from the different techniques are compared and trends in the data are examined. The reactions are considered in terms of the basic mechanisms (direct and indirect processes including tunneling) and recent theoretical developments are discussed. Finally, new techniques are mentioned (for product identification; electrostatic storage rings, including single and double rings; Coulomb explosion) and new ways forward are suggested.

Intelligent alarming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Braden, W. B.

1992-01-01

This talk discusses the importance of providing a process operator with concise information about a process fault including a root cause diagnosis of the problem, a suggested best action for correcting the fault, and prioritization of the problem set. A decision tree approach is used to illustrate one type of approach for determining the root cause of a problem. Fault detection in several different types of scenarios is addressed, including pump malfunctions and pipeline leaks. The talk stresses the need for a good data rectification strategy and good process models along with a method for presenting the findings to the process operator in a focused and understandable way. A real time expert system is discussed as an effective tool to help provide operators with this type of information. The use of expert systems in the analysis of actual versus predicted results from neural networks and other types of process models is discussed.

Quantitative microbiological risk assessment in food industry: Theory and practical application.

PubMed

Membré, Jeanne-Marie; Boué, Géraldine

2018-04-01

The objective of this article is to bring scientific background as well as practical hints and tips to guide risk assessors and modelers who want to develop a quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA) in an industrial context. MRA aims at determining the public health risk associated with biological hazards in a food. Its implementation in industry enables to compare the efficiency of different risk reduction measures, and more precisely different operational settings, by predicting their effect on the final model output. The first stage in MRA is to clearly define the purpose and scope with stakeholders, risk assessors and modelers. Then, a probabilistic model is developed; this includes schematically three important phases. Firstly, the model structure has to be defined, i.e. the connections between different operational processing steps. An important step in food industry is the thermal processing leading to microbial inactivation. Growth of heat-treated surviving microorganisms and/or post-process contamination during storage phase is also important to take into account. Secondly, mathematical equations are determined to estimate the change of microbial load after each processing step. This phase includes the construction of model inputs by collecting data or eliciting experts. Finally, the model outputs are obtained by simulation procedures, they have to be interpreted and communicated to targeted stakeholders. In this latter phase, tools such as what-if scenarios provide an essential added value. These different MRA phases are illustrated through two examples covering important issues in industry. The first one covers process optimization in a food safety context, the second one covers shelf-life determination in a food quality context. Although both contexts required the same methodology, they do not have the same endpoint: up to the human health in the foie gras case-study illustrating here a safety application, up to the food portion in the brioche case-study illustrating here a quality application. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ga- and N-polar GaN Growths on SiC Substrate

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-15

a transition process of a two-section NR are formulated and numerically studied to show the consistent results with experimental data. The relative...contributions of the VLS and VS growths in such a transition process are also numerically illustrated. Besides, the experimentally observed decrease... experimental data, a few important kinetic parameters can be determined. The anti-reflection functions of a surface nanostructure, including

Inclusive Political Settlements: New Insights from Yemen’s National Dialogue

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

1990s, negotiated settlements have become important vehicles to renegotiate the social contract of countries. More recently, negotiation processes...inclusive negotiation format, involving large segments of civil society, politicians, and experts, and are usually convened in order to negotiate major...practice of inclusive negotiations . We then describe briefly the context and process of the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference (NDC), including the

Command Process Modeling & Risk Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meshkat, Leila

2011-01-01

Commanding Errors may be caused by a variety of root causes. It's important to understand the relative significance of each of these causes for making institutional investment decisions. One of these causes is the lack of standardized processes and procedures for command and control. We mitigate this problem by building periodic tables and models corresponding to key functions within it. These models include simulation analysis and probabilistic risk assessment models.

A review of blepharochalasis and other causes of the lax, wrinkled eyelid.

PubMed

Held, J L; Schneiderman, P

1990-02-01

Cosmetically unappealing lax, wrinkled eyelid skin may result from various processes including connective tissue diseases, natural aging, and blepharochalasis. Since the end-stage eyelid changes due to several different processes are similar, the presence or absence of prior chronic or recurrent eyelid edema is an important differentiating point. We review blepharochalasis and provide a logical approach to its differential diagnosis.

Advances in the Development of Processing - Microstructure Relations for Titanium Alloys (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-06

10.1002/9781119296126.ch29 14. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) Advances in the fundamental understanding of microstructure evolution and plastic flow during...Abstract Advances in the fundamental understanding of microstructure evolution and plastic flow during primary and secondary processing of titanium...generation of rolling-direction secondary tension stresses. Important factors in such failures have been deduced to include the plastic properties and the

Interagency Exchanges at Military Universities: Do Concerns About Finances, Career Progression and Assignments Affect Foreign Service Officers and Specialists’ Willingness to Participate?

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-12

benefits as well as its drawbacks , the results to this partition of the survey are extremely important to answering the primary research question. Are...Responses include: Too political. In my opinion, the assignment process is far from transparent. The assignment’s process sucks and the pendulum has... pendulum has swung back to “who you know”. Experience and prior work history is not taking into consideration when making assignments. And the process

Supporting decision-making processes for evidence-based mental health promotion.

PubMed

Jané-Llopis, Eva; Katschnig, Heinz; McDaid, David; Wahlbeck, Kristian

2011-12-01

The use of evidence is critical in guiding decision-making, but evidence from effect studies will be only one of a number of factors that will need to be taken into account in the decision-making processes. Equally important for policymakers will be the use of different types of evidence including implementation essentials and other decision-making principles such as social justice, political, ethical, equity issues, reflecting public attitudes and the level of resources available, rather than be based on health outcomes alone. This paper, aimed to support decision-makers, highlights the importance of commissioning high-quality evaluations, the key aspects to assess levels of evidence, the importance of supporting evidence-based implementation and what to look out for before, during and after implementation of mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention programmes.

Extension materials for meat-borne parasitic diseases in developing countries.

PubMed

Rimm, Mogens

2003-06-01

In support of a project on porcine cysticercosis in Tanzania, an educational video was prepared to inform the rural communities on the health risks and prevention of the parasitic disease. This paper describes the process involved in making the video, especially the importance of establishing a good understanding between veterinary public health officials and the video producer. Important steps in the process include determining the target audience, the film's core message, the construction of the "story", script development, the filming and editing activities, and, importantly, the development of strategies for production and use of the film as extension material. Suggestions on logistical and technical aspects of filming and viewing are also discussed. The experience gained in Tanzania will be of value to others planning similar projects elsewhere.

Mathematics, anxiety, and the brain.

PubMed

Moustafa, Ahmed A; Tindle, Richard; Ansari, Zaheda; Doyle, Margery J; Hewedi, Doaa H; Eissa, Abeer

2017-05-24

Given that achievement in learning mathematics at school correlates with work and social achievements, it is important to understand the cognitive processes underlying abilities to learn mathematics efficiently as well as reasons underlying the occurrence of mathematics anxiety (i.e. feelings of tension and fear upon facing mathematical problems or numbers) among certain individuals. Over the last two decades, many studies have shown that learning mathematical and numerical concepts relies on many cognitive processes, including working memory, spatial skills, and linguistic abilities. In this review, we discuss the relationship between mathematical learning and cognitive processes as well as the neural substrates underlying successful mathematical learning and problem solving. More importantly, we also discuss the relationship between these cognitive processes, mathematics anxiety, and mathematics learning disabilities (dyscalculia). Our review shows that mathematical cognition relies on a complex brain network, and dysfunction to different segments of this network leads to varying manifestations of mathematical learning disabilities.

Elements of an algorithm for optimizing a parameter-structural neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mrówczyńska, Maria

2016-06-01

The field of processing information provided by measurement results is one of the most important components of geodetic technologies. The dynamic development of this field improves classic algorithms for numerical calculations in the aspect of analytical solutions that are difficult to achieve. Algorithms based on artificial intelligence in the form of artificial neural networks, including the topology of connections between neurons have become an important instrument connected to the problem of processing and modelling processes. This concept results from the integration of neural networks and parameter optimization methods and makes it possible to avoid the necessity to arbitrarily define the structure of a network. This kind of extension of the training process is exemplified by the algorithm called the Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH), which belongs to the class of evolutionary algorithms. The article presents a GMDH type network, used for modelling deformations of the geometrical axis of a steel chimney during its operation.

A bibliography of dunes: Earth, Mars, and Venus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lancaster, N.

1988-01-01

Dunes are important depositional landforms and sedimentary environments on Earth and Mars, and may be important on Venus. The similarity of dune forms on Earth and Mars, together with the dynamic similarity of aeolian processes on the terrestrial planets indicates that it is appropriate to interpret dune forms and processes on Mars and Venus by using analog studies. However, the literature on dune studies is large and scattered. The aim of this bibliography is to assist investigators by providing a literature resource on techniques which have proved successful in elucidating dune characteristics and processes on Earth, Mars, and Venus. This bibliography documents the many investigations of dunes undertaken in the last century. It concentrates on studies of inland dunes in both hot and cold desert regions on Earth and includes investigations of coastal dunes only if they discuss matters of general significance for dune sediments, processes, or morphology.

Impact of supersonic and subsonic aircraft on ozone: Including heterogeneous chemical reaction mechanisms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kinnison, Douglas E.; Wuebbles, Donald J.

1994-01-01

Preliminary calculations suggest that heterogeneous reactions are important in calculating the impact on ozone from emissions of trace gases from aircraft fleets. In this study, three heterogeneous chemical processes that occur on background sulfuric acid aerosols are included and their effects on O3, NO(x), Cl(x), HCl, N2O5, ClONO2 are calculated.

Algorithms and programming tools for image processing on the MPP:3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reeves, Anthony P.

1987-01-01

This is the third and final report on the work done for NASA Grant 5-403 on Algorithms and Programming Tools for Image Processing on the MPP:3. All the work done for this grant is summarized in the introduction. Work done since August 1986 is reported in detail. Research for this grant falls under the following headings: (1) fundamental algorithms for the MPP; (2) programming utilities for the MPP; (3) the Parallel Pascal Development System; and (4) performance analysis. In this report, the results of two efforts are reported: region growing, and performance analysis of important characteristic algorithms. In each case, timing results from MPP implementations are included. A paper is included in which parallel algorithms for region growing on the MPP is discussed. These algorithms permit different sized regions to be merged in parallel. Details on the implementation and peformance of several important MPP algorithms are given. These include a number of standard permutations, the FFT, convolution, arbitrary data mappings, image warping, and pyramid operations, all of which have been implemented on the MPP. The permutation and image warping functions have been included in the standard development system library.

Integrated circuits for accurate linear analogue electric signal processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huijsing, J. H.

1981-11-01

The main lines in the design of integrated circuits for accurate analog linear electric signal processing in a frequency range including DC are investigated. A categorization of universal active electronic devices is presented on the basis of the connections of one of the terminals of the input and output ports to the common ground potential. The means for quantifying the attributes of four types of universal active electronic devices are included. The design of integrated operational voltage amplifiers (OVA) is discussed. Several important applications in the field of general instrumentation are numerically evaluated, and the design of operatinal floating amplifiers is presented.

Including Emotional Intelligence in Pharmacy Curricula to Help Achieve CAPE Outcomes

PubMed Central

Fierke, Kerry K.; Sucher, Brandon J.; Janke, Kristin K.

2015-01-01

The importance of emotional intelligence (EI) for effective teamwork and leadership within the workplace is increasingly apparent. As suggested by the 2013 CAPE Outcomes, we recommend that colleges and schools of pharmacy consider EI-related competencies to build self-awareness and professionalism among students. In this Statement, we provide two examples of the introduction of EI into pharmacy curricula. In addition, we provide a 4-phase process based on recommendations developed by EI experts for structuring and planning EI development. Finally, we make 9 recommendations’ to inform the process of including EI in pharmacy curricula. PMID:26089557

Piezo Proteins: Regulators of Mechanosensation and Other Cellular Processes*

PubMed Central

Bagriantsev, Sviatoslav N.; Gracheva, Elena O.; Gallagher, Patrick G.

2014-01-01

Piezo proteins have recently been identified as ion channels mediating mechanosensory transduction in mammalian cells. Characterization of these channels has yielded important insights into mechanisms of somatosensation, as well as other mechano-associated biologic processes such as sensing of shear stress, particularly in the vasculature, and regulation of urine flow and bladder distention. Other roles for Piezo proteins have emerged, some unexpected, including participation in cellular development, volume regulation, cellular migration, proliferation, and elongation. Mutations in human Piezo proteins have been associated with a variety of disorders including hereditary xerocytosis and several syndromes with muscular contracture as a prominent feature. PMID:25305018

Dual personality of Mad1: regulation of nuclear import by a spindle assembly checkpoint protein.

PubMed

Cairo, Lucas V; Ptak, Christopher; Wozniak, Richard W

2013-01-01

Nuclear transport is a dynamic process that can be modulated in response to changes in cellular physiology. We recently reported that the transport activity of yeast nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) is altered in response to kinetochore-microtubule (KT-MT) interaction defects. Specifically, KT detachment from MTs activates a signaling pathway that prevents the nuclear import of cargos by the nuclear transport factor Kap121p. This loss of Kap121p-mediated import is thought to influence the nuclear environment, including the phosphorylation state of nuclear proteins. A key regulator of this process is the spindle assembly checkpoint protein Mad1p. In response to unattached KTs, Mad1p dynamically cycles between NPCs and KTs. This cycling appears to induce NPC molecular rearrangements that prevent the nuclear import of Kap121p-cargo complexes. Here, we discuss the underlying mechanisms and the physiological relevance of Mad1p cycling and the inhibition of Kap121p-mediated nuclear import, focusing on outstanding questions within the pathway.

The process of exiting vegetarianism: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Menzies, Kenneth; Sheeshka, Judy

2012-01-01

The experience, reasons, and contexts associated with leaving vegetarianism were explored. Interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 19 ex-vegetarians and 15 continuing vegetarians. Exiting vegetarianism is similar to the process of leaving other important individual identities, including exiting diets containing meat. It is a process, not an event, and partially a response to inconvenience, particularly when the person's table companions were not vegetarians. Major life changes and declines in self-perceived health provided occasions to reassess life choices, including the vegetarian commitment. Ex-vegetarians interpreted their vegetarianism as a transition to a new, healthier diet. Including a comparison group of continuing vegetarians revealed that the ex-vegetarians were more likely to have become vegetarians as a result of concern about the well-being of animals and the environment, not animal rights, a value more difficult to compromise. Exiting processes show the five central food values of taste, health, time, cost, and social relationships undermine people's commitment to a diet chosen largely for moral reasons.

The tropopause inversion layer in baroclinic life cycles experiments: the role of diabatic and mixing processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunkel, D.; Hoor, P.; Wirth, V.

2015-08-01

Recent studies on the formation of a quasi-permanent layer of enhanced static stability above the thermal tropopause revealed the contributions of dynamical and radiative processes. Dry dynamics lead to the evolution of a tropopause inversion layer (TIL) which is, however, too weak compared to observations and thus diabatic contributions are required. In this study we aim to assess the importance of diabatic as well as mixing processes in the understanding of TIL formation at midlatitudes. The non-hydrostatic model COSMO is applied in an idealized mid-latitude channel configuration to simulate baroclinic life cycles. The effect of individual diabatic, i.e. related to humidity and radiation, and turbulent processes is studied first to estimate the additional contribution of these processes to dry dynamics. In a second step these processes are stepwise included in the model to increase the complexity and finally estimate the relative importance of each process. The results suggest that including turbulence leads to a weaker TIL than in a dry reference simulation. In contrast, the TIL evolves stronger when radiation is included but the temporal occurrence is still comparable to the reference. Using various cloud schemes in the model shows that latent heat release and consecutive increased vertical motions foster an earlier and stronger appearance of the TIL than in all other life cycles. Furthermore, updrafts moisten the upper troposphere and as such increase the radiative effect from water vapor. Particularly, this process becomes more relevant for maintaining the TIL during later stages of the life cycles. Increased convergence of the vertical wind induced by updrafts and by propagating and potentially dissipating inertia-gravity waves further contributes to the enhanced stability of the lower stratosphere. Furthermore, radiative feedback of ice clouds reaching up to the tropopause is identified to potentially further affect the strength of the TIL in the region of the cloud.

The tropopause inversion layer in baroclinic life-cycle experiments: the role of diabatic processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunkel, D.; Hoor, P.; Wirth, V.

2016-01-01

Recent studies on the formation of a quasi-permanent layer of enhanced static stability above the thermal tropopause revealed the contributions of dynamical and radiative processes. Dry dynamics leads to the evolution of a tropopause inversion layer (TIL), which is, however, too weak compared to observations and thus diabatic contributions are required. In this study we aim to assess the importance of diabatic processes in the understanding of TIL formation at midlatitudes. The non-hydrostatic model COSMO (COnsortium for Small-scale MOdelling) is applied in an idealized midlatitude channel configuration to simulate baroclinic life cycles. The effect of individual diabatic processes related to humidity, radiation, and turbulence is studied first to estimate the contribution of each of these processes to the TIL formation in addition to dry dynamics. In a second step these processes are stepwise included in the model to increase the complexity and finally estimate the relative importance of each process. The results suggest that including turbulence leads to a weaker TIL than in a dry reference simulation. In contrast, the TIL evolves stronger when radiation is included but the temporal evolution is still comparable to the reference. Using various cloud schemes in the model shows that latent heat release and consecutive increased vertical motions foster an earlier and stronger appearance of the TIL than in all other life cycles. Furthermore, updrafts moisten the upper troposphere and as such increase the radiative effect from water vapor. Particularly, this process becomes more relevant for maintaining the TIL during later stages of the life cycles. Increased convergence of the vertical wind induced by updrafts and by propagating inertia-gravity waves, which potentially dissipate, further contributes to the enhanced stability of the lower stratosphere. Finally, radiative feedback of ice clouds reaching up to the tropopause is identified to potentially further affect the strength of the TIL in the region of the clouds.

Ecosystem Services Provided by Stream Fishes

EPA Science Inventory

Stream fish provide important services to people, including recreation and food, regulation of ecosystem processes, and aesthetic benefits. If the services provided by fish in different streams can be measured, then they can be valued and considered in restoration decisions. We...

ORES - Objective Referenced Evaluation in Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Terry

Science process skills considered important in making decisions and solving problems include: observing, classifying, measuring, using numbers, using space/time relationships, communicating, predicting, inferring, manipulating variables, making operational definitions, forming hypotheses, interpreting data, and experimenting. This 60-item test,…

Evidence on public policy: methodological issues, political issues and examples.

PubMed

Attanasio, Orazio P

2014-03-01

In this paper I discuss how evidence on public policy is generated and in particular the issue of evaluation of public policies. In economics, the issue of attribution and the identification of causal links has recently received considerable attention. Important methodological issues have been tackled and new techniques have been proposed and used. Randomized Control Trials have become some sort of gold standard. However, they are not exempt from problems and have important limitations: in some case they cannot be constructed and, more generally, problems of external validity and transferability of results can be important. The paper then moves on to discuss the political economy of policy evaluations for policy evaluations to have an impact for the conduct of actual policy, it is important that the demand for evaluation comes directly from the policy making process and is generated endogenously within it. In this sense it is important that the institutional design of policy making is such that policy making institutions are incentivized to use rigorous evaluation in the process of designing policies and allocating resources to alternative options. Economists are currently involved in the design and evaluation of many policies, including policies about health, nutrition and education. The role they can play in these fields is not completely obvious. The paper argues that their main contribution is in the modelling of how individual reacts to incentives (including those provided by public policies).

Recovery Processes of Organic Acids from Fermentation Broths in the Biomass-Based Industry.

PubMed

Li, Qian-Zhu; Jiang, Xing-Lin; Feng, Xin-Jun; Wang, Ji-Ming; Sun, Chao; Zhang, Hai-Bo; Xian, Mo; Liu, Hui-Zhou

2016-01-01

The new movement towards green chemistry and renewable feedstocks makes microbial production of chemicals more competitive. Among the numerous chemicals, organic acids are more attractive targets for process development efforts in the renewable-based biorefinery industry. However, most of the production costs in microbial processes are higher than that in chemical processes, among which over 60% are generated by separation processes. Therefore, the research of separation and purification processes is important for a promising biorefinery industry. This review highlights the progress of recovery processes in the separation and purification of organic acids, including their advantages and disadvantages, current situation, and future prospects in terms of recovery yields and industrial application.

Pervasive randomness in physics: an introduction to its modelling and spectral characterisation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, Roy

2017-10-01

An introduction to the modelling and spectral characterisation of random phenomena is detailed at a level consistent with a first exposure to the subject at an undergraduate level. A signal framework for defining a random process is provided and this underpins an introduction to common random processes including the Poisson point process, the random walk, the random telegraph signal, shot noise, information signalling random processes, jittered pulse trains, birth-death random processes and Markov chains. An introduction to the spectral characterisation of signals and random processes, via either an energy spectral density or a power spectral density, is detailed. The important case of defining a white noise random process concludes the paper.

Epigenetic modification of the oxytocin receptor gene influences the perception of anger and fear in the human brain

PubMed Central

Puglia, Meghan H.; Lillard, Travis S.; Morris, James P.; Connelly, Jessica J.

2015-01-01

In humans, the neuropeptide oxytocin plays a critical role in social and emotional behavior. The actions of this molecule are dependent on a protein that acts as its receptor, which is encoded by the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). DNA methylation of OXTR, an epigenetic modification, directly influences gene transcription and is variable in humans. However, the impact of this variability on specific social behaviors is unknown. We hypothesized that variability in OXTR methylation impacts social perceptual processes often linked with oxytocin, such as perception of facial emotions. Using an imaging epigenetic approach, we established a relationship between OXTR methylation and neural activity in response to emotional face processing. Specifically, high levels of OXTR methylation were associated with greater amounts of activity in regions associated with face and emotion processing including amygdala, fusiform, and insula. Importantly, we found that these higher levels of OXTR methylation were also associated with decreased functional coupling of amygdala with regions involved in affect appraisal and emotion regulation. These data indicate that the human endogenous oxytocin system is involved in attenuation of the fear response, corroborating research implicating intranasal oxytocin in the same processes. Our findings highlight the importance of including epigenetic mechanisms in the description of the endogenous oxytocin system and further support a central role for oxytocin in social cognition. This approach linking epigenetic variability with neural endophenotypes may broadly explain individual differences in phenotype including susceptibility or resilience to disease. PMID:25675509

Energetics of protein-DNA interactions.

PubMed

Donald, Jason E; Chen, William W; Shakhnovich, Eugene I

2007-01-01

Protein-DNA interactions are vital for many processes in living cells, especially transcriptional regulation and DNA modification. To further our understanding of these important processes on the microscopic level, it is necessary that theoretical models describe the macromolecular interaction energetics accurately. While several methods have been proposed, there has not been a careful comparison of how well the different methods are able to predict biologically important quantities such as the correct DNA binding sequence, total binding free energy and free energy changes caused by DNA mutation. In addition to carrying out the comparison, we present two important theoretical models developed initially in protein folding that have not yet been tried on protein-DNA interactions. In the process, we find that the results of these knowledge-based potentials show a strong dependence on the interaction distance and the derivation method. Finally, we present a knowledge-based potential that gives comparable or superior results to the best of the other methods, including the molecular mechanics force field AMBER99.

The importance of therapeutic processes in school-based psychosocial treatment of homework problems in adolescents with ADHD.

PubMed

Breaux, Rosanna P; Langberg, Joshua M; McLeod, Bryce D; Molitor, Stephen J; Smith, Zoe R; Bourchtein, Elizaveta; Green, Cathrin D

2018-05-01

To evaluate the importance of therapeutic processes in two brief school-based psychosocial treatments targeting homework problems in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as delivered by school mental health professionals. A sample of 222 middle school students (72% male; M age = 12.00 years, SD = 1.02) diagnosed with ADHD was randomized to receive either a contingency-management or a skills-based treatment for homework problems. Both treatments included 16 individual sessions (20-min each) and 2 parent/family meetings. Adolescents and school mental health professionals reported on the working alliance in the middle of the treatment; professionals rated adolescent involvement at each of the 16 sessions, parent involvement during both parent meetings, and parent commitment to carry out the established homework plan. Attendance at parent meetings was also recorded. Therapeutic processes predicted objective, parent-reported, and teacher-reported academic outcomes. Parent engagement was particularly important for the contingency-based treatment, whereas working alliance and adolescent involvement were most important for the skills-based treatment. Therapeutic processes such as developing a strong working alliance and engaging parents and students are key elements of treatment delivery and receipt in school-based mental health programming and should be explicitly trained and monitored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

[Fibroblast growth factors and their effects in pancreas organogenesis].

PubMed

Gnatenko, D A; Kopantzev, E P; Sverdlov, E D

2017-05-01

Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) - growth factors that regulate many important biological processes, including proliferation and differentiation of embryonic cells during organogenesis. In this review, we will summarize current information about the involvement of FGFs in the pancreas organogenesis. Pancreas organogenesis is a complex process, which involves constant signaling from mesenchymal tissue. This orchestrates the activation of various regulator genes at specific stages, determining the specification of progenitor cells. Alterations in FGF/FGFR signaling pathway during this process lead to incorrect activation of the master genes, which leads to different pathologies during pancreas development. Understanding the full picture about role of FGF factors in pancreas development will make it possible to more accurately understand their role in other pathologies of this organ, including carcinogenesis.

Characteristics of the postcounseling reproductive decision-making process: an explorative study.

PubMed

Frets, P G; Verhage, F; Niermeijer, M F

1991-09-01

An in-depth, recorded interview of 30 couples 2-3 years after genetic counseling explored the characteristics of the postcounseling decision-making process, including the role of guilt feelings towards the proband. The study concerned couples with an affected child, sib, or spouse. Results were evaluated by 2 to 4 judges. In contrast to other studies, a generally unstructured decision-making process was found whereby guilt feelings played a significant role in more than half the couples. Guilt feelings were more predominant in couples with an affected sib than in those with an affected spouse. Lack of structure did not seem to complicate the decision-making process. Therefore, authors do not advocate promotion of structuring the decision-making process. Genetic counselors might focus on understanding counselees' feelings concerning the reproductive decision. Acceptance of apparently irrational considerations is particularly important, because these feelings indicate the influence of unconscious motives. Another important aspect of supporting counselees is to understand the role played by guilt feelings toward parents or an affected sib.

Emphasizing the only character: emphasis, attention and contrast.

PubMed

Chen, Lijing; Yang, Yufang

2015-03-01

In conversations, pragmatic information such as emphasis is important for identifying the speaker's/writer's intention. The present research examines the cognitive processes involved in emphasis processing. Participants read short discourses that introduced one or two character(s), with the character being emphasized or non-emphasized in subsequent texts. Eye movements showed that: (1) early processing of the emphasized word was facilitated, which may have been due to increased attention allocation, whereas (2) late integration of the emphasized character was inhibited when the discourse involved only this character. These results indicate that it is necessary to include other characters as contrastive characters to facilitate the integration of an emphasized character, and support the existence of a relationship between Emphasis and Contrast computation. Taken together, our findings indicate that both attention allocation and contrast computation are involved in emphasis processing, and support the incremental nature of sentence processing and the importance of contrast in discourse comprehension. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Role of G-protein alpha sub-units in the morphogenic processes of filamentous Ascomycota fungi].

PubMed

García-Rico, Ramón O; Fierro, Francisco

The phylum Ascomycota comprises about 75% of all the fungal species described, and includes species of medical, phytosanitary, agricultural, and biotechnological importance. The ability to spread, explore, and colonise new substrates is a feature of critical importance for this group of organisms. In this regard, basic processes such as conidial germination, the extension of hyphae and sporulation, make up the backbone of development in most filamentous fungi. These processes require specialised morphogenic machinery, coordinated and regulated by mechanisms that are still being elucidated. In recent years, substantial progress has been made in understanding the role of the signalling pathway mediated by heterotrimericG proteins in basic biological processes of many filamentous fungi. This review focuses on the role of the alpha subunits of heterotrimericG proteins in the morphogenic processes of filamentous Ascomycota. Copyright © 2016 Asociación Española de Micología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Basin-scale hydrogeologic modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Person, Mark; Raffensperger, Jeff P.; Ge, Shemin; Garven, Grant

1996-02-01

Mathematical modeling of coupled groundwater flow, heat transfer, and chemical mass transport at the sedimentary basin scale has been increasingly used by Earth scientists studying a wide range of geologic processes including the formation of excess pore pressures, infiltration-driven metamorphism, heat flow anomalies, nuclear waste isolation, hydrothermal ore genesis, sediment diagenesis, basin tectonics, and petroleum generation and migration. These models have provided important insights into the rates and pathways of groundwater migration through basins, the relative importance of different driving mechanisms for fluid flow, and the nature of coupling between the hydraulic, thermal, chemical, and stress regimes. The mathematical descriptions of basin transport processes, the analytical and numerical solution methods employed, and the application of modeling to sedimentary basins around the world are the subject of this review paper. The special considerations made to represent coupled transport processes at the basin scale are emphasized. Future modeling efforts will probably utilize three-dimensional descriptions of transport processes, incorporate greater information regarding natural geological heterogeneity, further explore coupled processes, and involve greater field applications.

Intrinsic and extrinsic influences on children's acceptance of new foods.

PubMed

Blissett, Jackie; Fogel, Anna

2013-09-10

The foods that tend to be rejected by children include those which may have greatest importance for later health. This paper reviews some of the intrinsic and extrinsic influences on preschool children's eating behavior, with particular reference to their acceptance of new foods into their diet. Factors conceptualized as intrinsic to the child in this review include sensory processing, taste perception, neophobia, and temperament. The important extrinsic determinants of children's food acceptance which are reviewed include parental and peer modeling, the family food environment, infant feeding practices including breastfeeding and age at weaning, concurrent feeding practices including restriction, pressure to eat, prompting and reward, and the taste & energy content of foods. Children's willingness to accept new foods is influenced by a wide range of factors that likely have individual and also interactive effects on children's willingness to taste, and then continue to eat, new foods. The literature lacks longitudinal and experimental studies, which will be particularly important in determining interventions most likely to be effective in facilitating children's acceptance of healthy foods. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Properties of TiNi intermetallic compound industrially produced by combustion synthesis

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

Kaieda, Yoshinari

Most TiNi shape memory intermetallic compounds are conventionally produced by the process including high frequency induction vacuum melting and casting. A gravity segregation occurs in a cast TiNi ingot because of the big difference in the specific gravity between Ti and Ni. It is difficult to control accurately the phase transformation temperature of TiNi shape memory intermetallic compound produced by the conventional process, because the martensitic transformation temperature shifts by 10K due to the change in 0.1 % of Ni content. Homogeneous TiNi intermetallic compound is produced by the industrial process including combustion synthesis method, which is a newly developedmore » manufacturing process. In the new process, phase transformation temperatures of TiNi can be controlled accurately by controlling the ratio of Ti and Ni elemental starting powders. The chemical component, the impurities and the phase transformation temperatures of the TiNi products industrially produced by the process are revealed. These properties are vitally important when combustion synthesis method is applied to an industrial mass production process for producing TiNi shape memory intermetallic compounds. TiNi shape memory products are industrially and commercially produced today the industrial process including combustion synthesis. The total production weight in a year is 30 tins in 1994.« less

Optimization of the Switch Mechanism in a Circuit Breaker Using MBD Based Simulation

PubMed Central

Jang, Jin-Seok; Yoon, Chang-Gyu; Ryu, Chi-Young; Kim, Hyun-Woo; Bae, Byung-Tae; Yoo, Wan-Suk

2015-01-01

A circuit breaker is widely used to protect electric power system from fault currents or system errors; in particular, the opening mechanism in a circuit breaker is important to protect current overflow in the electric system. In this paper, multibody dynamic model of a circuit breaker including switch mechanism was developed including the electromagnetic actuator system. Since the opening mechanism operates sequentially, optimization of the switch mechanism was carried out to improve the current breaking time. In the optimization process, design parameters were selected from length and shape of each latch, which changes pivot points of bearings to shorten the breaking time. To validate optimization results, computational results were compared to physical tests with a high speed camera. Opening time of the optimized mechanism was decreased by 2.3 ms, which was proved by experiments. Switch mechanism design process can be improved including contact-latch system by using this process. PMID:25918740

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

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

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen

Anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding pre-industrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features 1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and 2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g. the ‘climate sensitivity’). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through a combinationmore » of laboratory and field measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important SOA-relevant processes. Therefore, major gaps exist at present between current measurement-based knowledge on the one hand and model implementation of organic aerosols on the other. The critical review herein summarizes some of the important developments in understanding SOA formation that could potentially have large impacts on our understanding of aerosol radiative forcing and climate. We highlight the importance of some recently discovered processes and properties that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including: formation of extremely low-volatility organics in the gas-phase; isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) multi-phase chemistry; particle-phase oligomerization; and physical properties such as viscosity. In addition, this review also highlights some of the important processes that involve interactions between natural biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions, such as the role of sulfate and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) on SOA formation from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Studies that relate the observed evolution of organic aerosol mass and number with knowledge of particle properties such as volatility and viscosity are crucial for improving understanding of non-linear SOA-related processes. For example, useful insights can be attained by combining bottom-up information related to the molecular speciation of gas- and particle-phase precursors with top-down insights on size evolution dynamics of SOA. Continuing efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes affecting SOA lifecycle, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.« less

The 50 Most Important Questions Relating to the Maintenance and Restoration of an Ecological Continuum in the European Alps

PubMed Central

Walzer, Chris; Kowalczyk, Christine; Alexander, Jake M.; Baur, Bruno; Bogliani, Giuseppe; Brun, Jean-Jacques; Füreder, Leopold; Guth, Marie-Odile; Haller, Ruedi; Holderegger, Rolf; Kohler, Yann; Kueffer, Christoph; Righetti, Antonio; Spaar, Reto; Sutherland, William J.; Ullrich-Schneider, Aurelia; Vanpeene-Bruhier, Sylvie N.; Scheurer, Thomas

2013-01-01

The European Alps harbour a unique and species-rich biodiversity, which is increasingly impacted by habitat fragmentation through land-use changes, urbanization and expanding transport infrastructure. In this study, we identified the 50 most important questions relating to the maintenance and restoration of an ecological continuum – the connectedness of ecological processes across many scales including trophic relationship and disturbance processes and hydro-ecological flows in the European Alps. We initiated and implemented a trans-national priority setting exercise, inviting 48 institutions including researchers, conservation practitioners, NGOs, policymakers and administrators from the Alpine region. The exercise was composed of an initial call for pertinent questions, a first online evaluation of the received questions and a final discussion and selection process during a joint workshop. The participating institutions generated 484 initial questions, which were condensed to the 50 most important questions by 16 workshop participants. We suggest new approaches in tackling the issue of an ecological continuum in the Alps by analysing and classifying the characteristics of the resulting questions in a non-prioritized form as well as in a visual conceptualisation of the inter-dependencies among these questions. This priority setting exercise will support research and funding institutions in channelling their capacities and resources towards questions that need to be urgently addressed in order to facilitate significant progress in biodiversity conservation in the European Alps. PMID:23341928

Disciplinary Literacy in Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson-Lopez, Amy; Minichiello, Angela

2017-01-01

People who practice engineering can make a difference through designing products, procedures, and systems that improve people's quality of life. Literacy, including the interpretation, evaluation, critique, and production of texts and representations, is important throughout the engineering design process. In this commentary, the authors outline…

Test Marketing Exemption (TME) for New Chemical Review under TSCA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Under section 5 of TSCA, EPA established an exemption for certain chemicals that are manufactured (including imported) for test marketing. You can learn more here about the requirements of this exemption, along with the review and submission process.

The Importance of Environment in Educational and Psychological Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tedesco, Lisa A.

Research treatments of home environment in studies of intellectual development and school performance are reviewed. The conceptualizations of home environment include variables specifying family status and deprivational conditions, child-rearing techniques, educational and intellectual process variables, and transactional experience. Psychological…

The micronutrient genomics project: a community-driven knowledge base for micronutrient research

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Micronutrients influence multiple metabolic pathways including oxidative and inflammatory processes. Optimum micronutrient supply is important for the maintenance of homeostasis in metabolism and, ultimately, for maintaining good health. With advances in systems biology and genomics technologies, it...

Coastal Algorithms and On-Demand Processing- The Lessons Learnt from CoastColour for Sentinel 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brockmann, Carsten; Doerffer, Roland; Boettcher, Martin; Kramer, Uwe; Zuhlke, Marco; Pinnock, Simon

2015-12-01

The ESA DUE CoastColour Project has been initiated to provide water quality products for important costal zones globally. A new 5 component bio-optical model was developed and used in a 3-step approach for regional processing of ocean colour data. The L1P step consists of radiometric and geometric system corrections, and top-of-atmosphere pixel classification including cloud screening, sun glint risk masking or detection of floating vegetation. The second step includes the atmospheric correction and is providing the L2R product, which comprises marine reflectances with error characterisation and normalisation. The third step is the in-water processing which produces IOPs, attenuation coefficient and water constituent concentrations. Each of these steps will benefit from the additional bands on OLCI. The 5 component bio-optical model will already be used in the standard ESA processing of OLCI, and also part of the pixel classification methods will be part of the standard products. Other algorithm adaptation are in preparation. Another important advantage of the CoastColour approach is the highly configurable processing chain which allows adaptation to the individual characteristics of the area of interest, temporal window, algorithm parametrisation and processing chain configuration. This flexibility is made available to data users through the CoastColour on-demand processing service. The complete global MERIS Full and Reduced Resolution data archive is accessible, covering the time range from 17. May 2002 until 08. April 2012, which is almost 200TB of in-put data available online. The CoastColour on-demand processing service can serve as a model for hosted processing, where the software is moved to the data instead of moving the data to the users, which will be a challenge with the large amount of data coming from Sentinel 3.

Stochastic Nature in Cellular Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bo; Liu, Sheng-Jun; Wang, Qi; Yan, Shi-Wei; Geng, Yi-Zhao; Sakata, Fumihiko; Gao, Xing-Fa

2011-11-01

The importance of stochasticity in cellular processes is increasingly recognized in both theoretical and experimental studies. General features of stochasticity in gene regulation and expression are briefly reviewed in this article, which include the main experimental phenomena, classification, quantization and regulation of noises. The correlation and transmission of noise in cascade networks are analyzed further and the stochastic simulation methods that can capture effects of intrinsic and extrinsic noise are described.

Implications of Technology Transfers for the USSR

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-01-01

process is primarily a people-process. Technology is best transferred from firm to firm and from country to country by people (managers, engineers, sales ... sales engineers, etc.) rather than by publications (including blueprints) or products themselves. In the postwar period, the Soviets have concentrated on...determined as the residual category of end-use, and Soviet gold sales and imports of grain from the Developed West are exogenous rather than determined

Proceedings of a Workshop on Research Needs in Heterogeneous Tropospheric Chemistry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The role of heterogeneous reactions and processes in the troposphere is critically assessed. The results of this assessment, including identification and prioritization of a number of important and scientifically tractable processes, as well as recommendations of ways in which they can be incorporated into the existing NASA tropospheric chemistry program are presented. Also presented is a detailed summary of the considerations that led to the group's recommendations.

Potato Production, Usage, and Nutrition--A Review.

PubMed

Zaheer, Khalid; Akhtar, M Humayoun

2016-01-01

Potato is an economically important staple crop prevailing all across the world with successful large-scale production, consumption, and affordability with easy availability in the open market. Potatoes provide basic nutrients such as-carbohydrates, dietary fiber (skin), several vitamins, and minerals (e.g., potassium, magnesium, iron). On occasion exposures to raw and cooked potatoes impart allergic reactions. Dietary intake of potatoes, especially colored potatoes, play an important role in the production of antioxidant defense system by providing essential nutrient antioxidants, such as vitamins, β-carotene, polyphenols, and minerals. This may help lower the incidence of wide range of chronic and acute disease processes (like hypertension, heart diseases, cancer, neurodegenerative, and other diseases). However, retention of nutrients in potatoes is affected by various cooking and processing methods. Cooking at elevated temperature also produces acrylamide-a suspected carcinogen. Independent and/or collaborative studies have been conducted and reported on the various pathways leading to the formation of acrylamide in heat processed foods. This article reviews the latest research on potato production, consumption, nature of phytochemicals and their health benefits, and allergic reactions to children. Also included is the discovery of acrylamide in processed starch-rich foods including potatoes, mechanism of formation, detection methodologies, and mitigation steps to reduce acrylamide content in food.

Concepts and procedures required for successful reduction of tensor magnetic gradiometer data obtained from an unexploded ordnance detection demonstration at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bracken, Robert E.; Brown, Philip J.

2006-01-01

On March 12, 2003, data were gathered at Yuma Proving Grounds, in Arizona, using a Tensor Magnetic Gradiometer System (TMGS). This report shows how these data were processed and explains concepts required for successful TMGS data reduction. Important concepts discussed include extreme attitudinal sensitivity of vector measurements, low attitudinal sensitivity of gradient measurements, leakage of the common-mode field into gradient measurements, consequences of thermal drift, and effects of field curvature. Spatial-data collection procedures and a spin-calibration method are addressed. Discussions of data-reduction procedures include tracking of axial data by mathematically matching transfer functions among the axes, derivation and application of calibration coefficients, calculation of sensor-pair gradients, thermal-drift corrections, and gradient collocation. For presentation, the magnetic tensor at each data station is converted to a scalar quantity, the I2 tensor invariant, which is easily found by calculating the determinant of the tensor. At important processing junctures, the determinants for all stations in the mapped area are shown in shaded relief map-view. Final processed results are compared to a mathematical model to show the validity of the assumptions made during processing and the reasonableness of the ultimate answer obtained.

IMAGES: An interactive image processing system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jensen, J. R.

1981-01-01

The IMAGES interactive image processing system was created specifically for undergraduate remote sensing education in geography. The system is interactive, relatively inexpensive to operate, almost hardware independent, and responsive to numerous users at one time in a time-sharing mode. Most important, it provides a medium whereby theoretical remote sensing principles discussed in lecture may be reinforced in laboratory as students perform computer-assisted image processing. In addition to its use in academic and short course environments, the system has also been used extensively to conduct basic image processing research. The flow of information through the system is discussed including an overview of the programs.

Geologic research in support of sustainable agriculture

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gough, L.P.; Herring, J.R.

1993-01-01

The importance and role of the geosciences in studies of sustainable agriculture include such traditional research areas as, agromineral resource assessments, the mapping and classification of soils and soil amendments, and the evaluation of landscapes for their vulnerability to physical and chemical degradation. Less traditional areas of study, that are increasing in societal importance because of environmental concerns and research into sustainable systems in general, include regional geochemical studies of plant and animal trace element deficiencies and toxicities, broad-scale water quality investigations, agricultural chemicals and the hydrogeologic interface, and minimally processed and ion-exchange agrominerals. We discuss the importance and future of phosphate in the US and world based on human population growth, projected agromineral demands in general, and the unavailability of new, high-quality agricultural lands. We also present examples of studies that relate geochemistry and the hydrogeologic characteristics of a region to the bioavailability and cycling of trace elements important to sustainable agricultural systems. ?? 1993.

Complex Relationships Between Food, Diet and the Microbiome

PubMed Central

Pace, Laura A.; Crowe, Sheila E.

2018-01-01

Diet is a risk factor in a number of medically important disease states including obesity, celiac disease and functional gastrointestinal disorders. Modification of diet can prevent, treat or alleviate some of the symptoms associated with these diseases and improve general health. It is important to provide patients with simple dietary recommendations in order to increase the probability of successful implementation. These include increasing vegetable, fruit and fiber intake, consuming lean protein sources to enhance satiety, avoiding or severely limiting highly processed foods, and reducing portion sizes for overweight and obese patients. Women can play an important role in maintaining family health by making more informed dietary decisions. The gut microbiome may play a role in some gastrointestinal disorders. However better designed studies are required to differentiate correlation from causation in this emerging area. PMID:27261897

How to successfully select and implement electronic health records (EHR) in small ambulatory practice settings.

PubMed

Lorenzi, Nancy M; Kouroubali, Angelina; Detmer, Don E; Bloomrosen, Meryl

2009-02-23

Adoption of EHRs by U.S. ambulatory practices has been slow despite the perceived benefits of their use. Most evaluations of EHR implementations in the literature apply to large practice settings. While there are similarities relating to EHR implementation in large and small practice settings, the authors argue that scale is an important differentiator. Focusing on small ambulatory practices, this paper outlines the benefits and barriers to EHR use in this setting, and provides a "field guide" for these practices to facilitate successful EHR implementation. The benefits of EHRs in ambulatory practices include improved patient care and office efficiency, and potential financial benefits. Barriers to EHRs include costs; lack of standardization of EHR products and the design of vendor systems for large practice environments; resistance to change; initial difficulty of system use leading to productivity reduction; and perceived accrual of benefits to society and payers rather than providers. The authors stress the need for developing a flexible change management strategy when introducing EHRs that is relevant to the small practice environment; the strategy should acknowledge the importance of relationship management and the role of individual staff members in helping the entire staff to manage change. Practice staff must create an actionable vision outlining realistic goals for the implementation, and all staff must buy into the project. The authors detail the process of implementing EHRs through several stages: decision, selection, pre-implementation, implementation, and post-implementation. They stress the importance of identifying a champion to serve as an advocate of the value of EHRs and provide direction and encouragement for the project. Other key activities include assessing and redesigning workflow; understanding financial issues; conducting training that is well-timed and meets the needs of practice staff; and evaluating the implementation process. The EHR implementation experience depends on a variety of factors including the technology, training, leadership, the change management process, and the individual character of each ambulatory practice environment. Sound processes must support both technical and personnel-related organizational components. Additional research is needed to further refine recommendations for the small physician practice and the nuances of specific medical specialties.

Technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials.

PubMed

Vearrier, David; Curtis, John A; Greenberg, Michael I

2009-05-01

Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) are ubiquitous throughout the earth's crust. Human manipulation of NORM for economic ends, such as mining, ore processing, fossil fuel extraction, and commercial aviation, may lead to what is known as "technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials," often called TENORM. The existence of TENORM results in an increased risk for human exposure to radioactivity. Workers in TENORM-producing industries may be occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation. TENORM industries may release significant amounts of radioactive material into the environment resulting in the potential for widespread exposure to ionizing radiation. These industries include mining, phosphate processing, metal ore processing, heavy mineral sand processing, titanium pigment production, fossil fuel extraction and combustion, manufacture of building materials, thorium compounds, aviation, and scrap metal processing. A search of the PubMed database ( www.pubmed.com ) and Ovid Medline database ( ovidsp.tx.ovid.com ) was performed using a variety of search terms including NORM, TENORM, and occupational radiation exposure. A total of 133 articles were identified, retrieved, and reviewed. Seventy-three peer-reviewed articles were chosen to be cited in this review. A number of studies have evaluated the extent of ionizing radiation exposure both among workers and the general public due to TENORM. Quantification of radiation exposure is limited because of modeling constraints. In some occupational settings, an increased risk of cancer has been reported and postulated to be secondary to exposure to TENORM, though these reports have not been validated using toxicological principles. NORM and TENORM have the potential to cause important human health effects. It is important that these adverse health effects are evaluated using the basic principles of toxicology, including the magnitude and type of exposure, as well as threshold and dose response.

Modeling coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical processes including plastic deformation in geological porous media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelkar, S.; Karra, S.; Pawar, R. J.; Zyvoloski, G.

2012-12-01

There has been an increasing interest in the recent years in developing computational tools for analyzing coupled thermal, hydrological and mechanical (THM) processes that occur in geological porous media. This is mainly due to their importance in applications including carbon sequestration, enhanced geothermal systems, oil and gas production from unconventional sources, degradation of Arctic permafrost, and nuclear waste isolation. Large changes in pressures, temperatures and saturation can result due to injection/withdrawal of fluids or emplaced heat sources. These can potentially lead to large changes in the fluid flow and mechanical behavior of the formation, including shear and tensile failure on pre-existing or induced fractures and the associated permeability changes. Due to this, plastic deformation and large changes in material properties such as permeability and porosity can be expected to play an important role in these processes. We describe a general purpose computational code FEHM that has been developed for the purpose of modeling coupled THM processes during multi-phase fluid flow and transport in fractured porous media. The code uses a continuum mechanics approach, based on control volume - finite element method. It is designed to address spatial scales on the order of tens of centimeters to tens of kilometers. While large deformations are important in many situations, we have adapted the small strain formulation as useful insight can be obtained in many problems of practical interest with this approach while remaining computationally manageable. Nonlinearities in the equations and the material properties are handled using a full Jacobian Newton-Raphson technique. Stress-strain relationships are assumed to follow linear elastic/plastic behavior. The code incorporates several plasticity models such as von Mises, Drucker-Prager, and also a large suite of models for coupling flow and mechanical deformation via permeability and stresses/deformations. In this work we present several example applications of such models.

Effects of agriculture upon the air quality and climate: research, policy, and regulations.

PubMed

Aneja, Viney P; Schlesinger, William H; Erisman, Jan Willem

2009-06-15

Scientific assessments of agricultural air quality, including estimates of emissions and potential sequestration of greenhouse gases, are an important emerging area of environmental science that offers significant challenges to policy and regulatory authorities. Improvements are needed in measurements, modeling, emission controls, and farm operation management. Controlling emissions of gases and particulate matter from agriculture is notoriously difficult as this sector affects the most basic need of humans, i.e., food. Current policies combine an inadequate science covering a very disparate range of activities in a complex industry with social and political overlays. Moreover, agricultural emissions derive from both area and point sources. In the United States, agricultural emissions play an important role in several atmospherically mediated processes of environmental and public health concerns. These atmospheric processes affect local and regional environmental quality, including odor, particulate matter (PM) exposure, eutrophication, acidification, exposure to toxics, climate, and pathogens. Agricultural emissions also contribute to the global problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural emissions are variable in space and time and in how they interact within the various processes and media affected. Most important in the U.S. are ammonia (where agriculture accounts for approximately 90% of total emissions), reduced sulfur (unquantified), PM25 (approximately 16%), PM110 (approximately 18%), methane (approximately 29%), nitrous oxide (approximately 72%), and odor and emissions of pathogens (both unquantified). Agriculture also consumes fossil fuels for fertilizer production and farm operations, thus emitting carbon dioxide (CO2), oxides of nitrogen (NO(x)), sulfur oxides (SO(x)), and particulates. Current research priorities include the quantification of point and nonpoint sources, the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of ammonia, reduced sulfur compounds, volatile organic compounds, greenhouse gases, odor and pathogens, the quantification of landscape processes, and the primary and secondary emissions of PM. Given the serious concerns raised regarding the amount and the impacts of agricultural air emissions, policies must be pursued and regulations must be enacted in orderto make real progress in reducing these emissions and their associated environmental impacts.

Parents' perspectives on transition and postsecondary outcomes for their children who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing.

PubMed

Cawthon, Stephanie W; Caemmerer, Jacqueline M

2014-01-01

Parent involvement and parent expectations are important factors in successful academic and career outcomes for students who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing. Parental roles are particularly important during the transition planning process for students with disabilities. Results are presented from an exploratory study of 56 parents that measured their involvement, perceptions, and expectations during the transition process. Parents positively rated their experiences with the individualized education program (IEP) process and held high expectations for both their child's educational attainment and employment. However, differences in expectations and perceptions emerged among parents whose children had co-occurring disabilities. Future directions for research and practice are discussed, including the implications of the demographics of the study sample and the relationship between parental demographics and parents' expectations for their children.

NITRATE RELEASE BY SALT MARSH PLANTS: AN OVERLOOKED NUTRIENT FLUX MECHANISM

EPA Science Inventory

Salt marshes provide water purification as an important ecosystem service in part by storing, transforming and releasing nutrients. This service can be quantified by measuring nutrient fluxes between marshes and surface waters. Many processes drive these fluxes, including photosy...

Peace Education and Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lombardo, Lucien X.; Polonko, Karen A.

2015-01-01

Peace studies and peace education are multifaceted processes focusing on diverse audiences from children in elementary grades to those involved in political negotiations at the highest levels. This paper addresses the foundational importance of including conflict embedded in adult-child relationships in peace education. It conceptually grounds…

Antimatter/HiPAT Support Services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, Raymond A.

2001-01-01

Techniques were developed for trapping normal matter in the High Performance Antiproton Trap (HiPAT). Situations encountered included discharge phenomena, charge exchange and radial diffusion processes. It is important to identify these problems, since they will also limit the performance in trapping antimatter next year.

Draft Guidance on EPA’s Section 8(a) Information Gathering Rule on Nanomaterials in Commerce

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This guidance provides answers to questions the Agency has received from manufacturers (includes importers) and processors of certain chemical substances when they are manufactured or processed at the nanoscale as described in the final rule.

Developing an economical and reliable test for measuring the resilient modulus and Poisson's ratio of subgrade.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-11-01

The resilient modulus and Poissons ratio of base and sublayers in highway use are : important parameters in design and quality control process. The currently used techniques : include CBR (California Bearing Ratio) test, resilient modulus test,...

Instructional Improvement Listening Handbook. Secondary Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crapse, Larry

Stressing that the importance of listening carefully cannot be underestimated, this handbook describes the process of listening (including the five components--previous knowledge, listening material, physiological activity, attention, and intellectual activity), some barriers to efficient listening, and bad and good listening habits. It also…

A Re-Examination of Educational Issues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitano, Margie

This paper suggests how an anthropological perspective can help educators rethink important educational issues, including multicultural education, leadership training, and educational processes. Opening sections of the paper define anthropology (the study of human beings and their ways of life), and identify anthropological concepts and principles…

Laser processing for manufacturing nanocarbon materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van, Hai Hoang

CNTs have been considered as the excellent candidate to revolutionize a broad range of applications. There have been many method developed to manipulate the chemistry and the structure of CNTs. Laser with non-contact treatment capability exhibits many processing advantages, including solid-state treatment, extremely fast processing rate, and high processing resolution. In addition, the outstanding monochromatic, coherent, and directional beam generates the powerful energy absorption and the resultant extreme processing conditions. In my research, a unique laser scanning method was developed to process CNTs, controlling the oxidation and the graphitization. The achieved controllability of this method was applied to address the important issues of the current CNT processing methods for three applications. The controllable oxidation of CNTs by laser scanning method was applied to cut CNT films to produce high-performance cathodes for FE devices. The production method includes two important self-developed techniques to produce the cold cathodes: the production of highly oriented and uniformly distributed CNT sheets and the precise laser trimming process. Laser cutting is the unique method to produce the cathodes with remarkable features, including ultrathin freestanding structure (~200 nm), greatly high aspect ratio, hybrid CNT-GNR emitter arrays, even emitter separation, and directional emitter alignment. This unique cathode structure was unachievable by other methods. The developed FE devices successfully solved the screening effect issue encounter by current FE devices. The laser-control oxidation method was further developed to sequentially remove graphitic walls of CNTs. The laser oxidation process was directed to occur along the CNT axes by the laser scanning direction. Additionally, the oxidation was further assisted by the curvature stress and the thermal expansion of the graphitic nanotubes, ultimately opening (namely unzipping) the tubular structure to produce GNRs. Therefore the developed laser scanning method optimally exploited the thermal laser-CNT interaction, successfully transforming CNTs into 2D GNRs. The solid-state laser unzipping process effectively addressed the issues of contamination and scalability encountered by the current unzipping methods. Additionally, the produced GNRs were uniquely featured with the freestanding structure and the smooth surfaces. If the scanning process was performed in an inert environment without the appearance of oxygen, the oxidation of CNTs would not happen. Instead, the greatly mobile carbon atoms of the heated CNTs would reorganize the crystal structure, inducing the graphitization process to improve the crystallinity. Many observations showing the structural improvement of CNTs under laser irradiation has been reported, confirming the capability of laser to heal graphitic defects. Laser methods were more time-efficient and energy-efficient than other annealing methods because laser can quickly heat CNTs to generate graphitization in less than one second. This subsecond heating process of laser irradiation was more effective than other heating methods because it avoided the undesired coalescence of CNTs. In my research, the laser scanning method was applied to generate the graphitization, healing the structural defects of CNTs. Different from the reported laser methods, the laser scanning directed the locally annealed areas to move along the CNT axes, migrating and coalescencing the graphitic defects to achieve better healing results. The critical information describing the CNT structural transformation caused by the moving laser irradiation was explored from the successful applications of the developed laser method. This knowledge inspires an important method to modifiy the general graphitic structure for important applications, such as carbon fiber production, CNT self-assembly process and CNT welding. This method will be effective, facile, versatile, and adaptable for laboratory and industrial facilities.

Laboratory Studies of Heterogeneous Chemical Processes of Atmospheric Importance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molina, Mario J.

2003-01-01

The objective of this study is to conduct measurements of chemical kinetics parameters for heterogeneous reactions of importance in the stratosphere and the troposphere. It involves the elucidation of the mechanism of the interaction of HC1 vapor with ice surfaces, which is the first step in the heterogeneous chlorine activation processes, as well as the investigation of the atmospheric oxidation mechanism of soot particles emitted by biomass and fossil fuels. The techniques being employed include turbulent flow- chemical ionization mass spectrometry and optical ellipsometry, among others. The next section summarizes our research activities during the first year of the project, and the section that follows consists of the statement of work for the second year.

Combined processing of lead concentrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubasov, V. L.; Paretskii, V. M.; Sidorin, G. N.; Travkin, V. F.

2013-06-01

A combined scheme of processing of lead concentrates with the production of pure metallic lead and the important components containing in these concentrates is considered. This scheme includes sulfating roasting of the lead concentrates and two-stage leaching of the formed cinder with the formation of a sulfate solution and lead sulfate. When transformed into a carbonate form, lead sulfate is used for the production of pure metallic lead. Silver, indium, copper, cadmium, nickel, cobalt, and other important components are separately extracted from a solution. At the last stage, zinc is extracted by either extraction followed by electrolytic extraction of a metal or the return of the forming solution of sulfuric acid to cinder leaching.

Parkinson disease: a role for autophagy?

PubMed

Yang, Qian; Mao, Zixu

2010-08-01

Autophagy is a term used to describe the process by which lysosomes degrade intracellular components. Known originally as an adaptive response to nutrient deprivation, autophagy has now been recognized to play important roles in several human disorders including neurodegenerative diseases. Experimental results from genetic, cellular, and toxicological studies indicate that many of the etiological factors associated with Parkinson disease (PD) can perturb the autophagic process in various model systems. Thus, the emerging data support the view that dysregulation of autophagy may play a critical role in the pathogenic process of PD.

Programming with process groups: Group and multicast semantics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birman, Kenneth P.; Cooper, Robert; Gleeson, Barry

1991-01-01

Process groups are a natural tool for distributed programming and are increasingly important in distributed computing environments. Discussed here is a new architecture that arose from an effort to simplify Isis process group semantics. The findings include a refined notion of how the clients of a group should be treated, what the properties of a multicast primitive should be when systems contain large numbers of overlapping groups, and a new construct called the causality domain. A system based on this architecture is now being implemented in collaboration with the Chorus and Mach projects.

Evolutionary biology through the lens of budding yeast comparative genomics.

PubMed

Marsit, Souhir; Leducq, Jean-Baptiste; Durand, Éléonore; Marchant, Axelle; Filteau, Marie; Landry, Christian R

2017-10-01

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a highly advanced model system for studying genetics, cell biology and systems biology. Over the past decade, the application of high-throughput sequencing technologies to this species has contributed to this yeast also becoming an important model for evolutionary genomics. Indeed, comparative genomic analyses of laboratory, wild and domesticated yeast populations are providing unprecedented detail about many of the processes that govern evolution, including long-term processes, such as reproductive isolation and speciation, and short-term processes, such as adaptation to natural and domestication-related environments.

Composition and process for making an insulating refractory material

DOEpatents

Pearson, A.; Swansiger, T.G.

1998-04-28

A composition and process are disclosed for making an insulating refractory material. The composition includes calcined alumina powder, flash activated alumina powder, an organic polymeric binder and a liquid vehicle which is preferably water. Starch or modified starch may also be added. A preferred insulating refractory material made with the composition has a density of about 2.4--2.6 g/cm{sup 3} with reduced thermal conductivity, compared with tabular alumina. Of importance, the formulation has good abrasion resistance and crush strength during intermediate processing (commercial sintering) to attain full strength and refractoriness.

β-decay studies of r-process nuclei at NSCL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, J.; Aprahamian, A.; Arndt, O.; Becerril, A.; Elliot, T.; Estrade, A.; Galaviz, D.; Hennrich, S.; Hosmer, P.; Schnorrenberger, L.; Kessler, R.; Kratz, K.-L.; Lorusso, G.; Mantica, P. F.; Matos, M.; Montes, F.; Pfeiffer, B.; Quinn, M.; Santi, P.; Schatz, H.; Schertz, F.; Smith, E.; Tomlin, B. E.; Walters, W. B.; Wöhr, A.

2008-06-01

Observed neutron-capture elemental abundances in metal-poor stars, along with ongoing analysis of the extremely metal-poor Eu-enriched sub-class provide new guidance for astrophysical models aimed at finding the r-process sites. The present paper emphasizes the importance of nuclear physics parameters entering in these models, particularly β-decay properties of neutron-rich nuclei. In this context, several r-process motivated β-decay experiments performed at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) are presented, including a summary of results and impact on model calculations.

Recent Theoretical Studies On Excitation and Recombination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pradhan, Anil K.

2000-01-01

New advances in the theoretical treatment of atomic processes in plasmas are described. These enable not only an integrated, unified, and self-consistent treatment of important radiative and collisional processes, but also large-scale computation of atomic data with high accuracy. An extension of the R-matrix work, from excitation and photoionization to electron-ion recombination, includes a unified method that subsumes both the radiative and the di-electronic recombination processes in an ab initio manner. The extensive collisional calculations for iron and iron-peak elements under the Iron Project are also discussed.

Don't break the chain: importance of supply chain management in the operating room setting.

PubMed

Bilyk, Candis

2008-09-01

Management of supplies within the operating room (OR) has considerable implications for decreasing healthcare costs while maintaining high-quality patient care. This area of healthcare therefore requires more monitoring by end-users including OR management, physicians, and nursing staff. This article is based on understanding supply chain management in the OR setting. Information provided throughout the article can be applied to small or large health care centers. It defines supply chain management and contains a brief overview of supply chain processes. It reviews the benefits of following these processes. The article also includes recommendations for improving the supply chain in the OR.

Representing biophysical landscape interactions in soil models by bridging disciplines and scales.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Ploeg, M. J.; Carranza, C.; Teixeira da Silva, R.; te Brake, B.; Baartman, J.; Robinson, D.

2017-12-01

The combination of climate change, population growth and soil threats including carbon loss, biodiversity decline and erosion, increasingly confront the global community (Schwilch et al., 2016). One major challenge in studying processes involved in soil threats, landscape resilience, ecosystem stability, sustainable land management and resulting economic consequences, is that it is an interdisciplinary field (Pelletier et al., 2012). Less stringent scientific disciplinary boundaries are therefore important (Liu et al., 2007), because as a result of disciplinary focus, ambiguity may arise on the understanding of landscape interactions. This is especially true in the interaction between a landscape's physical and biological processes (van der Ploeg et al. 2012). Biophysical landscape interactions are those biotic and abiotic processes in a landscape that have an influence on the developments within and evolution of a landscape. An important aspect in biophysical landscape interactions is the differences in scale related to the various processes that play a role in these systems. Moreover, the interplay between the physical landscape and the occurring vegetation, which often co-evolve, and the resulting heterogeneity and emerging patterns are the reason why it is so challenging to establish a theoretical basis to describe biophysical processes in landscapes (e.g. te Brake et al. 2013, Robinson et al. 2016). Another complicating factor is the response of vegetation to changing environmental conditions, including a possible, and often unknown, time-lag (e.g. Metzger et al., 2009). An integrative description for modelling biophysical interactions has been a long standing goal in soil science (Vereecken et al., 2016). We need the development of soil models that are more focused on networks, connectivity and feedbacks incorporating the most important aspects of our detailed mechanistic modelling (Paola & Leeder, 2011). Additionally, remote sensing measurement techniques facilitate non-interfering observation of biophysical interactions on a landscape scale. A joint effort to connect Earth's (sub)surface processes by a combination of innovative big data-assimilation, measurement and modelling techniques will enable the scientific community to accurately address vital issues.

Brassica napus seed endosperm - metabolism and signaling in a dead end tissue.

PubMed

Lorenz, Christin; Rolletschek, Hardy; Sunderhaus, Stephanie; Braun, Hans-Peter

2014-08-28

Oilseeds are an important element of human nutrition and of increasing significance for the production of industrial materials. The development of the seeds is based on a coordinated interplay of the embryo and its surrounding tissue, the endosperm. This study aims to give insights into the physiological role of endosperm for seed development in the oilseed crop Brassica napus. Using protein separation by two-dimensional (2D) isoelectric focusing (IEF)/SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and protein identification by mass spectrometry three proteome projects were carried out: (i) establishment of an endosperm proteome reference map, (ii) proteomic characterization of endosperm development and (iii) comparison of endosperm and embryo proteomes. The endosperm proteome reference map comprises 930 distinct proteins, including enzymes involved in genetic information processing, carbohydrate metabolism, environmental information processing, energy metabolism, cellular processes and amino acid metabolism. To investigate dynamic changes in protein abundance during seed development, total soluble proteins were extracted from embryo and endosperm fractions at defined time points. Proteins involved in sugar converting and recycling processes, ascorbate metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis and redox balancing were found to be of special importance for seed development in B. napus. Implications for the seed filling process and the function of the endosperm for seed development are discussed. The endosperm is of key importance for embryo development during seed formation in plants. We present a broad study for characterizing endosperm proteins in the oilseed plant B. napus. Furthermore, a project on the biochemical interplay between the embryo and the endosperm during seed development is presented. We provide evidence that the endosperm includes a complete set of enzymes necessary for plant primary metabolism. Combination of our results with metabolome data will further improve systems-level understanding of the seed filling process and provide rational strategies for plant bioengineering. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SEDPAK—A comprehensive operational system and data-processing package in APPLESOFT BASIC for a settling tube, sediment analyzer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldbery, R.; Tehori, O.

SEDPAK provides a comprehensive software package for operation of a settling tube and sand analyzer (2-0.063 mm) and includes data-processing programs for statistical and graphic output of results. The programs are menu-driven and written in APPLESOFT BASIC, conforming with APPLE 3.3 DOS. Data storage and retrieval from disc is an important feature of SEDPAK. Additional features of SEDPAK include condensation of raw settling data via standard size-calibration curves to yield statistical grain-size parameters, plots of grain-size frequency distributions and cumulative log/probability curves. The program also has a module for processing of grain-size frequency data from sieved samples. An addition feature of SEDPAK is the option for automatic data processing and graphic output of a sequential or nonsequential array of samples on one side of a disc.

Solutions for acceleration measurement in vehicle crash tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dima, D. S.; Covaciu, D.

2017-10-01

Crash tests are useful for validating computer simulations of road traffic accidents. One of the most important parameters measured is the acceleration. The evolution of acceleration versus time, during a crash test, form a crash pulse. The correctness of the crash pulse determination depends on the data acquisition system used. Recommendations regarding the instrumentation for impact tests are given in standards, which are focused on the use of accelerometers as impact sensors. The goal of this paper is to present the device and software developed by authors for data acquisition and processing. The system includes two accelerometers with different input ranges, a processing unit based on a 32-bit microcontroller and a data logging unit with SD card. Data collected on card, as text files, is processed with a dedicated software running on personal computers. The processing is based on diagrams and includes the digital filters recommended in standards.

The Landscape of Graduate Admissions: Surveying Physics Programs about Doctoral Admissions Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potvin, Geoff

2014-03-01

Sustaining or improving the best graduate programs as well as increasing the diversity of the physics community requires us to better understand the critical gatekeeping role played by graduate admissions. Admissions processes determine not only who is allowed to begin graduate study but can also influence who chooses to even consider applying. Recently, in concert with some of the activities of the APS Bridge Program, a survey was conducted of directors of graduate admissions and associated faculty in doctoral-granting departments about their admissions practices. Receiving responses from over 75% of departments that award PhDs in physics, respondents were probed about their admissions decisions with special attention on the criteria used in admissions and their relative importance, and how student representation considerations are dealt with in the admissions process (if at all). Results indicate a number of important issues for future students, faculty, and administrators to consider including the importance placed on GRE scores. Results also indicate a sizable number of departments express a latent demand for greater numbers of students from traditionally-underrepresented backgrounds (including women) but simultaneously report a dearth of such students who even apply to their doctoral programs. Implications of these and other findings will be discussed.

Provenance information as a tool for addressing engineered nanoparticle reproducibility challenges

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

Baer, Donald R.; Munusamy, Prabhakaran; Thrall, Brian D.

Nanoparticles of various types are of increasing research and technological importance in biological and other applications. Difficulties in the production and delivery of nanoparticles with consistent and well defined properties appear in many forms and have a variety of causes. Among several issues are those associated with incomplete information about the history of particles involved in research studies including the synthesis method, sample history after synthesis including time and nature of storage and the detailed nature of any sample processing or modification. In addition, the tendency of particles to change with time or environmental condition suggests that the time betweenmore » analysis and application is important and some type of consistency or verification process can be important. The essential history of a set of particles can be identified as provenance information tells the origin or source of a batch of nano-objects along with information related to handling and any changes that may have taken place since it was originated. A record of sample provenance information for a set of particles can play a useful role in identifying some of the sources and decreasing the extent of particle variability and the observed lack of reproducibility observed by many researchers.« less

Proteolytic processing and activation of Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin by caprine small intestinal contents.

PubMed

Freedman, John C; Li, Jihong; Uzal, Francisco A; McClane, Bruce A

2014-10-21

Epsilon toxin (ETX), a pore-forming toxin produced by type B and D strains of Clostridium perfringens, mediates severe enterotoxemia in livestock and possibly plays a role in human disease. During enterotoxemia, the nearly inactive ETX prototoxin is produced in the intestines but then must be activated by proteolytic processing. The current study sought to examine ETX prototoxin processing and activation ex vivo using the intestinal contents of a goat, a natural host species for ETX-mediated disease. First, this study showed that the prototoxin has a KEIS N-terminal sequence with a molecular mass of 33,054 Da. When the activation of ETX prototoxin ex vivo by goat small intestinal contents was assessed by SDS-PAGE, the prototoxin was processed in a stepwise fashion into an ~27-kDa band or higher-molecular-mass material that could be toxin oligomers. Purified ETX corresponding to the ~27-kDa band was cytotoxic. When it was biochemically characterized by mass spectrometry, the copresence of three ETX species, each with different C-terminal residues, was identified in the purified ~27-kDa ETX preparation. Cytotoxicity of each of the three ETX species was then demonstrated using recombinant DNA approaches. Serine protease inhibitors blocked the initial proteotoxin processing, while carboxypeptidase inhibitors blocked further processing events. Taken together, this study provides important new insights indicating that, in the intestinal lumen, serine protease (including trypsin and possibly chymotrypsin) initiates the processing of the prototoxin but other proteases, including carboxypeptidases, then process the prototoxin into multiple active and stable species. Importance: Processing and activation by intestinal proteases is a prerequisite for ETX-induced toxicity. Previous studies had characterized the activation of ETX using only arbitrarily chosen amounts of purified trypsin and/or chymotrypsin. Therefore, the current study examined ETX activation ex vivo by natural host intestinal contents. These analyses demonstrated that (i) ETX processing in host intestinal contents occurs in an ordered, stepwise fashion, (ii) processing of prototoxin by host intestinal contents results in higher-molecular-mass material and 3 distinct ~27-kDa ETX species, and (iii) serine proteases, such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, and other proteases, including carboxypeptidases, play a role in the activation of ETX by intestinal contents. These studies provide new insights into the activation and processing of ETX and demonstrate that this process is more complicated than previously appreciated. Copyright © 2014 Freedman et al.

Speech perception as an active cognitive process

PubMed Central

Heald, Shannon L. M.; Nusbaum, Howard C.

2014-01-01

One view of speech perception is that acoustic signals are transformed into representations for pattern matching to determine linguistic structure. This process can be taken as a statistical pattern-matching problem, assuming realtively stable linguistic categories are characterized by neural representations related to auditory properties of speech that can be compared to speech input. This kind of pattern matching can be termed a passive process which implies rigidity of processing with few demands on cognitive processing. An alternative view is that speech recognition, even in early stages, is an active process in which speech analysis is attentionally guided. Note that this does not mean consciously guided but that information-contingent changes in early auditory encoding can occur as a function of context and experience. Active processing assumes that attention, plasticity, and listening goals are important in considering how listeners cope with adverse circumstances that impair hearing by masking noise in the environment or hearing loss. Although theories of speech perception have begun to incorporate some active processing, they seldom treat early speech encoding as plastic and attentionally guided. Recent research has suggested that speech perception is the product of both feedforward and feedback interactions between a number of brain regions that include descending projections perhaps as far downstream as the cochlea. It is important to understand how the ambiguity of the speech signal and constraints of context dynamically determine cognitive resources recruited during perception including focused attention, learning, and working memory. Theories of speech perception need to go beyond the current corticocentric approach in order to account for the intrinsic dynamics of the auditory encoding of speech. In doing so, this may provide new insights into ways in which hearing disorders and loss may be treated either through augementation or therapy. PMID:24672438

Information Theory Broadens the Spectrum of Molecular Ecology and Evolution.

PubMed

Sherwin, W B; Chao, A; Jost, L; Smouse, P E

2017-12-01

Information or entropy analysis of diversity is used extensively in community ecology, and has recently been exploited for prediction and analysis in molecular ecology and evolution. Information measures belong to a spectrum (or q profile) of measures whose contrasting properties provide a rich summary of diversity, including allelic richness (q=0), Shannon information (q=1), and heterozygosity (q=2). We present the merits of information measures for describing and forecasting molecular variation within and among groups, comparing forecasts with data, and evaluating underlying processes such as dispersal. Importantly, information measures directly link causal processes and divergence outcomes, have straightforward relationship to allele frequency differences (including monotonicity that q=2 lacks), and show additivity across hierarchical layers such as ecology, behaviour, cellular processes, and nongenetic inheritance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving TOGAF ADM 9.1 Migration Planning Phase by ITIL V3 Service Transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanum Harani, Nisa; Akhmad Arman, Arry; Maulana Awangga, Rolly

2018-04-01

Modification planning of business transformation involving technological utilization required a system of transition and migration planning process. Planning of system migration activity is the most important. The migration process is including complex elements such as business re-engineering, transition scheme mapping, data transformation, application development, individual involvement by computer and trial interaction. TOGAF ADM is the framework and method of enterprise architecture implementation. TOGAF ADM provides a manual refer to the architecture and migration planning. The planning includes an implementation solution, in this case, IT solution, but when the solution becomes an IT operational planning, TOGAF could not handle it. This paper presents a new model framework detail transitions process of integration between TOGAF and ITIL. We evaluated our models in field study inside a private university.

The Expression of Emotion Through Nonverbal Behavior in Medical Visits

PubMed Central

Roter, Debra L; Frankel, Richard M; Hall, Judith A; Sluyter, David

2006-01-01

Relationship-centered care reflects both knowing and feeling: the knowledge that physician and patient bring from their respective domains of expertise, and the physician's and patient's experience, expression, and perception of emotions during the medical encounter. These processes are conveyed and reciprocated in the care process through verbal and nonverbal communication. We suggest that the emotional context of care is especially related to nonverbal communication and that emotion-related communication skills, including sending and receiving nonverbal messages and emotional self-awareness, are critical elements of high-quality care. Although nonverbal behavior has received far less study than other care processes, the current review argues that it holds significance for the therapeutic relationship and influences important outcomes including satisfaction, adherence, and clinical outcomes of care. PMID:16405706

Methods of Measurement for Semiconductor Materials, Process Control, and Devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bullis, W. M. (Editor)

1973-01-01

The development of methods of measurement for semiconductor materials, process control, and devices is reported. Significant accomplishments include: (1) Completion of an initial identification of the more important problems in process control for integrated circuit fabrication and assembly; (2) preparations for making silicon bulk resistivity wafer standards available to the industry; and (3) establishment of the relationship between carrier mobility and impurity density in silicon. Work is continuing on measurement of resistivity of semiconductor crystals; characterization of generation-recombination-trapping centers, including gold, in silicon; evaluation of wire bonds and die attachment; study of scanning electron microscopy for wafer inspection and test; measurement of thermal properties of semiconductor devices; determination of S-parameters and delay time in junction devices; and characterization of noise and conversion loss of microwave detector diodes.

Materials Safety - Not just Flammability and Toxic Offgassing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pedley, Michael D.

2007-01-01

For many years, the safety community has focused on a limited subset of materials and processes requirements as key to safety: Materials flammability, Toxic offgassing, Propellant compatibility, Oxygen compatibility, and Stress-corrosion cracking. All these items are important, but the exclusive focus on these items neglects many other items that are equally important to materials safety. Examples include (but are not limited to): 1. Materials process control -- proper qualification and execution of manufacturing processes such as structural adhesive bonding, welding, and forging are crucial to materials safety. Limitation of discussions on materials process control to an arbitrary subset of processes, known as "critical processes" is a mistake, because any process where the quality of the product cannot be verified by inspection can potentially result in unsafe hardware 2 Materials structural design allowables -- development of valid design allowables when none exist in the literature requires extensive testing of multiple lots of materials and is extremely expensive. But, without valid allowables, structural analysis cannot verify structural safety 3. Corrosion control -- All forms of corrosion, not just stress corrosion, can affect structural integrity of hardware 4. Contamination control during ground processing -- contamination control is critical to manufacturing processes such as adhesive bonding and also to elimination foreign objects and debris (FOD) that are hazardous to the crew of manned spacecraft in microgravity environments. 5. Fasteners -- Fastener design, the use of verifiable secondary locking features, and proper verification of fastener torque are essential for proper structural performance This presentation discusses some of these key factors and the importance of considering them in ensuring the safety of space hardware.

Healthy aging and disease: role for telomere biology?

PubMed Central

Zhu, Haidong; Belcher, Matthew; van der Harst, Pim

2011-01-01

Aging is a biological process that affects most cells, organisms and species. Human aging is associated with increased susceptibility to a variety of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, neurological diseases and cancer. Despite the remarkable progress made during the last two decades, our understanding of the biology of aging remains incomplete. Telomere biology has recently emerged as an important player in the aging and disease process. PMID:21271986

Modelling the role of fires in the terrestrial carbon balance by incorporating SPITFIRE into the global vegetation modelORCHIDEE - Part 1: Simulating historical global burned area and fire regimes

Treesearch

C. Yue; P. Ciais; P. Cadule; K. Thonicke; S. Archibald; B. Poulter; W. M. Hao; S. Hantson; F. Mouillot; P. Friedlingstein; F. Maignan; N. Viovy

2014-01-01

Fire is an important global ecological process that influences the distribution of biomes, with consequences for carbon, water, and energy budgets. Therefore it is impossible to appropriately model the history and future of the terrestrial ecosystems and the climate system without including fire. This study incorporates the process-based prognostic fire module SPITFIRE...

Comparison between Atlantic and Pacific Tropical Marine Coastal Ecosystems: Community Structure, Ecological Processes, and Productivity. Results and Scientific Papers of a Unesco/COMAR Workshop (Suva, Fiji, March 24-29, 1986). Unesco Reports in Marine Science 46.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birkeland, Charles, Ed.

This report presents the Unesco workshop conclusions concerning important differences among tropical seas in terms of ecological processes in coastal marine ecosystems, and the corresponding implications for resource management guidelines. The conclusions result from the presentation and discussion of eight review papers which are included in this…

Accelerating Molecular Dynamic Simulation on Graphics Processing Units

PubMed Central

Friedrichs, Mark S.; Eastman, Peter; Vaidyanathan, Vishal; Houston, Mike; Legrand, Scott; Beberg, Adam L.; Ensign, Daniel L.; Bruns, Christopher M.; Pande, Vijay S.

2009-01-01

We describe a complete implementation of all-atom protein molecular dynamics running entirely on a graphics processing unit (GPU), including all standard force field terms, integration, constraints, and implicit solvent. We discuss the design of our algorithms and important optimizations needed to fully take advantage of a GPU. We evaluate its performance, and show that it can be more than 700 times faster than a conventional implementation running on a single CPU core. PMID:19191337

Aggregation of the rhizospheric bacterium Azospirillum brasilense in response to oxygen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdoun, Hamid; McMillan, Mary; Pereg, Lily

2016-04-01

Azospirillum brasilense spp. have ecological, scientific and agricultural importance. As model plant growth promoting rhizobacteria they interact with a large variety of plants, including important food and cash crops. Azospirillum strains are known for their production of plant growth hormones that enhance root systems and for their ability to fix nitrogen. Azospirillum cells transform in response to environmental cues. The production of exopolysaccharides and cell aggregation during cellular transformation are important steps in the attachment of Azospirillum to roots. We investigate signals that induce cellular transformation and aggregation in the Azospirillum and report on the importance of oxygen to the process of aggregation in this rhizospheric bacterium.

Workflows and the Role of Images for Virtual 3d Reconstruction of no Longer Extant Historic Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Münster, S.

2013-07-01

3D reconstruction technologies have gained importance as tools for the research and visualization of no longer extant historic objects during the last decade. Within such reconstruction processes, visual media assumes several important roles: as the most important sources especially for a reconstruction of no longer extant objects, as a tool for communication and cooperation within the production process, as well as for a communication and visualization of results. While there are many discourses about theoretical issues of depiction as sources and as visualization outcomes of such projects, there is no systematic research about the importance of depiction during a 3D reconstruction process and based on empirical findings. Moreover, from a methodological perspective, it would be necessary to understand which role visual media plays during the production process and how it is affected by disciplinary boundaries and challenges specific to historic topics. Research includes an analysis of published work and case studies investigating reconstruction projects. This study uses methods taken from social sciences to gain a grounded view of how production processes would take place in practice and which functions and roles images would play within them. For the investigation of these topics, a content analysis of 452 conference proceedings and journal articles related to 3D reconstruction modeling in the field of humanities has been completed. Most of the projects described in those publications dealt with data acquisition and model building for existing objects. Only a small number of projects focused on structures that no longer or never existed physically. Especially that type of project seems to be interesting for a study of the importance of pictures as sources and as tools for interdisciplinary cooperation during the production process. In the course of the examination the authors of this paper applied a qualitative content analysis for a sample of 26 previously published project reports to depict strategies and types and three case studies of 3D reconstruction projects to evaluate evolutionary processes during such projects. The research showed that reconstructions of no longer existing historic structures are most commonly used for presentation or research purposes of large buildings or city models. Additionally, they are often realized by interdisciplinary workgroups using images as the most important source for reconstruction as far as important media for communication and quality control during the reconstruction process.

"America Responds to AIDS": its content, development process, and outcome.

PubMed

Woods, D R; Davis, D; Westover, B J

1991-01-01

During the 1987-90 period, five phases of new AIDS information materials were released to the general public in the ARTA campaign, including a national mailer. The five were "General Awareness: Humanizing AIDS" in October 1987, "Understanding AIDS," the national mailout, April 1988, "Women at Risk/Multiple Partner, Sexually Active Adults," October 1988, "Parents and Youth," May 1989, and "Preventing HIV Infection and AIDS: Taking The Next Steps," July 1990. From planning to implementation to evaluation, ARTA is based on well-established theory and practice. Initially, the campaign was a response to an immediate crisis. It has evolved into the deliberate and systematic development of objectives to combat a chronic problem. ARTA represents one of the most comprehensive formative research processes in the history of public service campaigns. The dynamic process of carefully developing each new phase to include such important entities as State and local health agencies and community-based organizations is at least as important as the quality of the end materials. The objectives of each new phase are based on the needs of the public and of specific audiences. Maximum input from all relevant constituencies is obtained to ensure that they support the campaign's objectives and implementation strategy.

Complement in the Initiation and Evolution of Rheumatoid Arthritis

PubMed Central

Holers, V. Michael; Banda, Nirmal K.

2018-01-01

The complement system is a major component of the immune system and plays a central role in many protective immune processes, including circulating immune complex processing and clearance, recognition of foreign antigens, modulation of humoral and cellular immunity, removal of apoptotic and dead cells, and engagement of injury resolving and tissue regeneration processes. In stark contrast to these beneficial roles, however, inadequately controlled complement activation underlies the pathogenesis of human inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) where the cartilage, bone, and synovium are targeted. Recent studies of this disease have demonstrated that the autoimmune response evolves over time in an asymptomatic preclinical phase that is associated with mucosal inflammation. Notably, experimental models of this disease have demonstrated that each of the three major complement activation pathways plays an important role in recognition of injured joint tissue, although the lectin and amplification pathways exhibit particularly impactful roles in the initiation and amplification of damage. Herein, we review the complement system and focus on its multi-factorial role in human patients with RA and experimental murine models. This understanding will be important to the successful integration of the emerging complement therapeutics pipeline into clinical care for patients with RA. PMID:29892280

High speed micromachining with high power UV laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Rajesh S.; Bovatsek, James M.

2013-03-01

Increasing demand for creating fine features with high accuracy in manufacturing of electronic mobile devices has fueled growth for lasers in manufacturing. High power, high repetition rate ultraviolet (UV) lasers provide an opportunity to implement a cost effective high quality, high throughput micromachining process in a 24/7 manufacturing environment. The energy available per pulse and the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of diode pumped solid state (DPSS) nanosecond UV lasers have increased steadily over the years. Efficient use of the available energy from a laser is important to generate accurate fine features at a high speed with high quality. To achieve maximum material removal and minimal thermal damage for any laser micromachining application, use of the optimal process parameters including energy density or fluence (J/cm2), pulse width, and repetition rate is important. In this study we present a new high power, high PRF QuasarR 355-40 laser from Spectra-Physics with TimeShiftTM technology for unique software adjustable pulse width, pulse splitting, and pulse shaping capabilities. The benefits of these features for micromachining include improved throughput and quality. Specific example and results of silicon scribing are described to demonstrate the processing benefits of the Quasar's available power, PRF, and TimeShift technology.

Resource Allocation Planning Helper (RALPH): Lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Durham, Ralph; Reilly, Norman B.; Springer, Joe B.

1990-01-01

The current task of Resource Allocation Process includes the planning and apportionment of JPL's Ground Data System composed of the Deep Space Network and Mission Control and Computing Center facilities. The addition of the data driven, rule based planning system, RALPH, has expanded the planning horizon from 8 weeks to 10 years and has resulted in large labor savings. Use of the system has also resulted in important improvements in science return through enhanced resource utilization. In addition, RALPH has been instrumental in supporting rapid turn around for an increased volume of special what if studies. The status of RALPH is briefly reviewed and important lessons learned from the creation of an highly functional design team are focused on through an evolutionary design and implementation period in which an AI shell was selected, prototyped, and ultimately abandoned, and through the fundamental changes to the very process that spawned the tool kit. Principal topics include proper integration of software tools within the planning environment, transition from prototype to delivered to delivered software, changes in the planning methodology as a result of evolving software capabilities and creation of the ability to develop and process generic requirements to allow planning flexibility.

Environmental performance of wastewater reuse systems: impact of system boundaries and external conditions.

PubMed

Baresel, Christian; Dalgren, Lena; Almemark, Mats; Lazic, Aleksandra

2016-01-01

Wastewater reclamation will be a significant part of future water management and the environmental assessment of various treatment systems to reuse wastewater has become an important research field. The secondary treatment process and sludge handling on-site are, especially, electricity demanding processes due to aeration, pumping, mixing, dewatering, etc. used for operation and are being identified as the main contributor for many environmental impacts. This study discusses how the environmental performance of reuse treatment systems may be influenced by surrounding conditions. This article illustrates and discusses the importance of factors commonly treated as externalities and as such not being included in optimization strategies of reuse systems, but that are necessary to environmentally assess wastewater reclamation systems. This is illustrated by two up-stream and downstream processes; electricity supply and the use of sludge as fertilizer commonly practiced in regions considered for wastewater reclamation. The study shows that external conditions can have a larger impact on the overall environmental performance of reuse treatment systems than internal optimizations could compensate for. These results imply that a more holistic environmental assessment of reuse schemes could provide less environmental impacts as externalities could be included in measures to reduce the overall impacts.

Including hydrological self-regulating processes in peatland models: Effects on peatmoss drought projections.

PubMed

Nijp, Jelmer J; Metselaar, Klaas; Limpens, Juul; Teutschbein, Claudia; Peichl, Matthias; Nilsson, Mats B; Berendse, Frank; van der Zee, Sjoerd E A T M

2017-02-15

The water content of the topsoil is one of the key factors controlling biogeochemical processes, greenhouse gas emissions and biosphere - atmosphere interactions in many ecosystems, particularly in northern peatlands. In these wetland ecosystems, the water content of the photosynthetic active peatmoss layer is crucial for ecosystem functioning and carbon sequestration, and is sensitive to future shifts in rainfall and drought characteristics. Current peatland models differ in the degree in which hydrological feedbacks are included, but how this affects peatmoss drought projections is unknown. The aim of this paper was to systematically test whether the level of hydrological detail in models could bias projections of water content and drought stress for peatmoss in northern peatlands using downscaled projections for rainfall and potential evapotranspiration in the current (1991-2020) and future climate (2061-2090). We considered four model variants that either include or exclude moss (rain)water storage and peat volume change, as these are two central processes in the hydrological self-regulation of peatmoss carpets. Model performance was validated using field data of a peatland in northern Sweden. Including moss water storage as well as peat volume change resulted in a significant improvement of model performance, despite the extra parameters added. The best performance was achieved if both processes were included. Including moss water storage and peat volume change consistently reduced projected peatmoss drought frequency with >50%, relative to the model excluding both processes. Projected peatmoss drought frequency in the growing season was 17% smaller under future climate than current climate, but was unaffected by including the hydrological self-regulating processes. Our results suggest that ignoring these two fine-scale processes important in hydrological self-regulation of northern peatlands will have large consequences for projected climate change impact on ecosystem processes related to topsoil water content, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the facilitative effects of face motion on face recognition and its development

PubMed Central

Xiao, Naiqi G.; Perrotta, Steve; Quinn, Paul C.; Wang, Zhe; Sun, Yu-Hao P.; Lee, Kang

2014-01-01

For the past century, researchers have extensively studied human face processing and its development. These studies have advanced our understanding of not only face processing, but also visual processing in general. However, most of what we know about face processing was investigated using static face images as stimuli. Therefore, an important question arises: to what extent does our understanding of static face processing generalize to face processing in real-life contexts in which faces are mostly moving? The present article addresses this question by examining recent studies on moving face processing to uncover the influence of facial movements on face processing and its development. First, we describe evidence on the facilitative effects of facial movements on face recognition and two related theoretical hypotheses: the supplementary information hypothesis and the representation enhancement hypothesis. We then highlight several recent studies suggesting that facial movements optimize face processing by activating specific face processing strategies that accommodate to task requirements. Lastly, we review the influence of facial movements on the development of face processing in the first year of life. We focus on infants' sensitivity to facial movements and explore the facilitative effects of facial movements on infants' face recognition performance. We conclude by outlining several future directions to investigate moving face processing and emphasize the importance of including dynamic aspects of facial information to further understand face processing in real-life contexts. PMID:25009517

Context matters: the experience of 14 research teams in systematically reporting contextual factors important for practice change.

PubMed

Tomoaia-Cotisel, Andrada; Scammon, Debra L; Waitzman, Norman J; Cronholm, Peter F; Halladay, Jacqueline R; Driscoll, David L; Solberg, Leif I; Hsu, Clarissa; Tai-Seale, Ming; Hiratsuka, Vanessa; Shih, Sarah C; Fetters, Michael D; Wise, Christopher G; Alexander, Jeffrey A; Hauser, Diane; McMullen, Carmit K; Scholle, Sarah Hudson; Tirodkar, Manasi A; Schmidt, Laura; Donahue, Katrina E; Parchman, Michael L; Stange, Kurt C

2013-01-01

We aimed to advance the internal and external validity of research by sharing our empirical experience and recommendations for systematically reporting contextual factors. Fourteen teams conducting research on primary care practice transformation retrospectively considered contextual factors important to interpreting their findings (internal validity) and transporting or reinventing their findings in other settings/situations (external validity). Each team provided a table or list of important contextual factors and interpretive text included as appendices to the articles in this supplement. Team members identified the most important contextual factors for their studies. We grouped the findings thematically and developed recommendations for reporting context. The most important contextual factors sorted into 5 domains: (1) the practice setting, (2) the larger organization, (3) the external environment, (4) implementation pathway, and (5) the motivation for implementation. To understand context, investigators recommend (1) engaging diverse perspectives and data sources, (2) considering multiple levels, (3) evaluating history and evolution over time, (4) looking at formal and informal systems and culture, and (5) assessing the (often nonlinear) interactions between contextual factors and both the process and outcome of studies. We include a template with tabular and interpretive elements to help study teams engage research participants in reporting relevant context. These findings demonstrate the feasibility and potential utility of identifying and reporting contextual factors. Involving diverse stakeholders in assessing context at multiple stages of the research process, examining their association with outcomes, and consistently reporting critical contextual factors are important challenges for a field interested in improving the internal and external validity and impact of health care research.

Time Analysis: Still an Important Accountability Tool.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fairchild, Thomas N.; Seeley, Tracey J.

1994-01-01

Reviews benefits to school counselors of conducting a time analysis. Describes time analysis system that authors have used, including case illustration of how authors used data to effect counseling program changes. System described followed process outlined by Fairchild: identifying services, devising coding system, keeping records, synthesizing…

Simulation-Based Mission Rehearsal as a Human Activity System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-09-01

explain this demonstrated importance of the people involved in MR, a human activity system model of simulation-based rehearsal was developed. It provides...Implications of this human activity system view are discussed, including: places in the mission preparation process where simulation can benefit operations

15 CFR 721.2 - Recordkeeping.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... production, processing, consumption, export or import of chemicals. Each facility subject to inspection under... recognized as complete words or numbers. (iv) The system must preserve the initial image (including both... the system. (3) Requirements applicable to a system based on digital images. For systems based on the...

15 CFR 721.2 - Recordkeeping.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... production, processing, consumption, export or import of chemicals. Each facility subject to inspection under... recognized as complete words or numbers. (iv) The system must preserve the initial image (including both... the system. (3) Requirements applicable to a system based on digital images. For systems based on the...

15 CFR 721.2 - Recordkeeping.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... production, processing, consumption, export or import of chemicals. Each facility subject to inspection under... recognized as complete words or numbers. (iv) The system must preserve the initial image (including both... the system. (3) Requirements applicable to a system based on digital images. For systems based on the...

15 CFR 721.2 - Recordkeeping.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... production, processing, consumption, export or import of chemicals. Each facility subject to inspection under... recognized as complete words or numbers. (iv) The system must preserve the initial image (including both... the system. (3) Requirements applicable to a system based on digital images. For systems based on the...

15 CFR 721.2 - Recordkeeping.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... production, processing, consumption, export or import of chemicals. Each facility subject to inspection under... recognized as complete words or numbers. (iv) The system must preserve the initial image (including both... the system. (3) Requirements applicable to a system based on digital images. For systems based on the...

Strategic Avoidance: Can Universities Learn from Other Sectors?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Greg; Hosie, Peter

2013-01-01

Universities live in interesting times. For instance, government policies in Australia are allowing for more deregulation of the student market while overseas universities are entering the Australian domestic market. In an environment of increasing uncertainty, sound strategic planning is important. Processes including benchmarking, environmental…

Hydrogenase activity of mineral-associated and suspended populations of Desulfovibrio Desulfuricans Essex 6

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The interactions between sulfate-reducing microorganisms and iron oxides influence a number of important redox-sensitive biogeochemical processes including the formation of iron sulfides. Enzymes, such as hydrogenase which catalyze the reversible oxidation of molecular hydrogen, are known to mediate...

Leading Factors Determining Lateral Transfer Success

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

leadership. Officers in the URL communities, and especially SWO JOs, are overworked and lack the resources to succeed. Their morale is low and they are...transfer process and potential community health including end strength in the RL and Staff Corps communities. This line of research is important

A Preview of Coming Attractions: Classroom Teacher's Idea Notebook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morin, Joy Ann

1995-01-01

Contends that it is important for students to be motivated and well prepared for class units and activities. Describes a "previews of coming attractions" instructional strategy that uses advance organizers to increase information processing efficiency. Includes a sample unit outline illustrating this approach. (CFR)

Newman Unit 1 advanced solar repowering. Final report

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

None

1982-04-01

The five appendices give the selection process and system specification of the Newman Unit 1 solar repowering system, including the conceptual design drawings and diagrams; input data for the simulation program; and a review of the most important characteristics of the existing plant. (LEW)

Planning for Curriculum Development in Independent Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleiber, Pamela B.; Zhu, Lillian

1995-01-01

The strategic planning process of the University System of Georgia Independent Study program includes assessment of undergraduate curriculum, credit equivalency, and enrollment rate; nationwide, faculty, and student surveys on technology in course delivery; and environmental scanning. Negotiation of various interests is an important part. (SK)

Modeling of the nearshore marine ecosystem with the AQUATOX model

EPA Science Inventory

Process-based models can be used to forecast the responses of coastal ecosystems to changes under future scenarios. However, most models applied to coastal systems do not include higher trophic levels, which are important providers of ecosystem services. AQUATOX is a mechanistic...

Mechanism-based testing strategy using in vitro approaches for identification of thyroid hormone disrupting chemicals

EPA Science Inventory

The thyroid hormone (TH) system is involved in several important physiological processes, including regulation of energy metabolism, growth and differentiation, development and maintenance of brain function, thermo-regulation, osmo-regulation, and axis of regulation of other endo...

10 CFR 110.1 - Purpose and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... zirconium, rotor and bellows equipment, maraging steel, nuclear reactor related equipment, including process... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Purpose and scope. 110.1 Section 110.1 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (CONTINUED) EXPORT AND IMPORT OF NUCLEAR EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL General Provisions...

Investigating the Relative Contributions of Secondary Ice Formation Processes to Ice Crystal Number Concentrations Within Mixed-Phase Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sullivan, S.; Nenes, A.

2015-12-01

Measurements of the in-cloud ice nuclei concentration can be three or four orders of magnitude less than those of the in-cloud ice crystal number concentration. Different secondary formation processes, active after initial ice nucleation, have been proposed to explain this discrepancy, but their relative importance, and even the exact physics of each mechanism, are still unclear. We construct a simple bin microphysics model (2IM) including depositional growth, the Hallett-Mossop process, ice-ice collisions, and ice-ice aggregation, with temperature- and supersaturation-dependent efficiencies for each process. 2IM extends the time-lag collision model of Yano and Phillips to additional bins and incorporates the aspect ratio evolution of Jensen and Harrington. Model output and measured ice crystal size distributions are compared to answer three questions: (1) how important is ice-ice aggregation relative to ice-ice collision around -15°C, where the Hallett-Mossop process is no longer active; (2) what process efficiencies lead to the best reproduction of observed ice crystal size distributions; and (3) does ice crystal aspect ratio affect the dominant secondary formation process. The resulting parameterization is intended for eventual use in larger-scale mixed-phase cloud schemes.

A descriptivist approach to trait conceptualization and inference.

PubMed

Jonas, Katherine G; Markon, Kristian E

2016-01-01

In their recent article, How Functionalist and Process Approaches to Behavior Can Explain Trait Covariation, Wood, Gardner, and Harms (2015) underscore the need for more process-based understandings of individual differences. At the same time, the article illustrates a common error in the use and interpretation of latent variable models: namely, the misuse of models to arbitrate issues of causation and the nature of latent variables. Here, we explain how latent variables can be understood simply as parsimonious summaries of data, and how statistical inference can be based on choosing those summaries that minimize information required to represent the data using the model. Although Wood, Gardner, and Harms acknowledge this perspective, they underestimate its significance, including its importance to modeling and the conceptualization of psychological measurement. We believe this perspective has important implications for understanding individual differences in a number of domains, including current debates surrounding the role of formative versus reflective latent variables. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Genome-wide CRISPR screen identifies HNRNPL as a prostate cancer dependency regulating RNA splicing.

PubMed

Fei, Teng; Chen, Yiwen; Xiao, Tengfei; Li, Wei; Cato, Laura; Zhang, Peng; Cotter, Maura B; Bowden, Michaela; Lis, Rosina T; Zhao, Shuang G; Wu, Qiu; Feng, Felix Y; Loda, Massimo; He, Housheng Hansen; Liu, X Shirley; Brown, Myles

2017-06-27

Alternative RNA splicing plays an important role in cancer. To determine which factors involved in RNA processing are essential in prostate cancer, we performed a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screen to identify the genes that are required for prostate cancer growth. Functional annotation defined a set of essential spliceosome and RNA binding protein (RBP) genes, including most notably heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L (HNRNPL). We defined the HNRNPL-bound RNA landscape by RNA immunoprecipitation coupled with next-generation sequencing and linked these RBP-RNA interactions to changes in RNA processing. HNRNPL directly regulates the alternative splicing of a set of RNAs, including those encoding the androgen receptor, the key lineage-specific prostate cancer oncogene. HNRNPL also regulates circular RNA formation via back splicing. Importantly, both HNRNPL and its RNA targets are aberrantly expressed in human prostate tumors, supporting their clinical relevance. Collectively, our data reveal HNRNPL and its RNA clients as players in prostate cancer growth and potential therapeutic targets.

Biotechnological production of enantiomerically pure d-lactic acid.

PubMed

Klotz, Silvia; Kaufmann, Norman; Kuenz, Anja; Prüße, Ulf

2016-11-01

The fermentation process of l-lactic acid is well known. Little importance was attached to d-lactic acid, but in the past 10 years, d-lactic acid gained significantly in importance. d-Lactic acid is an interesting precursor for manufacturing heat-resistant polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastics which can be widely used, for example as packaging material, coatings, for textiles or in the automotive industry.This review provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent developments, including a spectrum of studied microorganisms and their capabilities for the production of d-lactic acid. Additionally, the technological achievements in biotechnological d-lactic acid production including fermentation techniques like fed batch, simultaneous saccharification, and fermentation and continuous techniques are presented. Attention is also turned to suitable alternative substrates and their applicability in fermentation processes. Furthermore, advantages and disadvantages of product recovery and purification are discussed. Economic aspects of PLA are pointed out, and the present industrial producers of lactic acid are briefly introduced.

The assessment of cognitive errors using an observer-rated method.

PubMed

Drapeau, Martin

2014-01-01

Cognitive Errors (CEs) are a key construct in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Integral to CBT is that individuals with depression process information in an overly negative or biased way, and that this bias is reflected in specific depressotypic CEs which are distinct from normal information processing. Despite the importance of this construct in CBT theory, practice, and research, few methods are available to researchers and clinicians to reliably identify CEs as they occur. In this paper, the author presents a rating system, the Cognitive Error Rating Scale, which can be used by trained observers to identify and assess the cognitive errors of patients or research participants in vivo, i.e., as they are used or reported by the patients or participants. The method is described, including some of the more important rating conventions to be considered when using the method. This paper also describes the 15 cognitive errors assessed, and the different summary scores, including valence of the CEs, that can be derived from the method.

Petroleum Market Model of the National Energy Modeling System. Part 1

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

NONE

The purpose of this report is to define the objectives of the Petroleum Market Model (PMM), describe its basic approach, and provide detail on how it works. This report is intended as a reference document for model analysts, users, and the public. The PMM models petroleum refining activities, the marketing of petroleum products to consumption regions, the production of natural gas liquids in gas processing plants, and domestic methanol production. The PMM projects petroleum product prices and sources of supply for meeting petroleum product demand. The sources of supply include crude oil, both domestic and imported; other inputs including alcoholsmore » and ethers; natural gas plant liquids production; petroleum product imports; and refinery processing gain. In addition, the PMM estimates domestic refinery capacity expansion and fuel consumption. Product prices are estimated at the Census division level and much of the refining activity information is at the Petroleum Administration for Defense (PAD) District level.« less

Processes contributing to resilience of coastal wetlands to sea-level rise

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stagg, Camille L.; Krauss, Ken W.; Cahoon, Donald R.; Cormier, Nicole; Conner, William H.; Swarzenski, Christopher M.

2016-01-01

The objectives of this study were to identify processes that contribute to resilience of coastal wetlands subject to rising sea levels and to determine whether the relative contribution of these processes varies across different wetland community types. We assessed the resilience of wetlands to sea-level rise along a transitional gradient from tidal freshwater forested wetland (TFFW) to marsh by measuring processes controlling wetland elevation. We found that, over 5 years of measurement, TFFWs were resilient, although some marginally, and oligohaline marshes exhibited robust resilience to sea-level rise. We identified fundamental differences in how resilience is maintained across wetland community types, which have important implications for management activities that aim to restore or conserve resilient systems. We showed that the relative importance of surface and subsurface processes in controlling wetland surface elevation change differed between TFFWs and oligohaline marshes. The marshes had significantly higher rates of surface accretion than the TFFWs, and in the marshes, surface accretion was the primary contributor to elevation change. In contrast, elevation change in TFFWs was more heavily influenced by subsurface processes, such as root zone expansion or compaction, which played an important role in determining resilience of TFFWs to rising sea level. When root zone contributions were removed statistically from comparisons between relative sea-level rise and surface elevation change, sites that previously had elevation rate deficits showed a surplus. Therefore, assessments of wetland resilience that do not include subsurface processes will likely misjudge vulnerability to sea-level rise.

Soil Methane Sink Capacity Response to a Long-Term Wildfire Chronosequence in Northern Sweden.

PubMed

McNamara, Niall P; Gregg, Ruth; Oakley, Simon; Stott, Andy; Rahman, Md Tanvir; Murrell, J Colin; Wardle, David A; Bardgett, Richard D; Ostle, Nick J

2015-01-01

Boreal forests occupy nearly one fifth of the terrestrial land surface and are recognised as globally important regulators of carbon (C) cycling and greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon sequestration processes in these forests include assimilation of CO2 into biomass and subsequently into soil organic matter, and soil microbial oxidation of methane (CH4). In this study we explored how ecosystem retrogression, which drives vegetation change, regulates the important process of soil CH4 oxidation in boreal forests. We measured soil CH4 oxidation processes on a group of 30 forested islands in northern Sweden differing greatly in fire history, and collectively representing a retrogressive chronosequence, spanning 5000 years. Across these islands the build-up of soil organic matter was observed to increase with time since fire disturbance, with a significant correlation between greater humus depth and increased net soil CH4 oxidation rates. We suggest that this increase in net CH4 oxidation rates, in the absence of disturbance, results as deeper humus stores accumulate and provide niches for methanotrophs to thrive. By using this gradient we have discovered important regulatory controls on the stability of soil CH4 oxidation processes that could not have not been explored through shorter-term experiments. Our findings indicate that in the absence of human interventions such as fire suppression, and with increased wildfire frequency, the globally important boreal CH4 sink could be diminished.

Soil Methane Sink Capacity Response to a Long-Term Wildfire Chronosequence in Northern Sweden

PubMed Central

McNamara, Niall P.; Gregg, Ruth; Oakley, Simon; Stott, Andy; Rahman, Md. Tanvir; Murrell, J. Colin; Wardle, David A.; Bardgett, Richard D.; Ostle, Nick J.

2015-01-01

Boreal forests occupy nearly one fifth of the terrestrial land surface and are recognised as globally important regulators of carbon (C) cycling and greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon sequestration processes in these forests include assimilation of CO2 into biomass and subsequently into soil organic matter, and soil microbial oxidation of methane (CH4). In this study we explored how ecosystem retrogression, which drives vegetation change, regulates the important process of soil CH4 oxidation in boreal forests. We measured soil CH4 oxidation processes on a group of 30 forested islands in northern Sweden differing greatly in fire history, and collectively representing a retrogressive chronosequence, spanning 5000 years. Across these islands the build-up of soil organic matter was observed to increase with time since fire disturbance, with a significant correlation between greater humus depth and increased net soil CH4 oxidation rates. We suggest that this increase in net CH4 oxidation rates, in the absence of disturbance, results as deeper humus stores accumulate and provide niches for methanotrophs to thrive. By using this gradient we have discovered important regulatory controls on the stability of soil CH4 oxidation processes that could not have not been explored through shorter-term experiments. Our findings indicate that in the absence of human interventions such as fire suppression, and with increased wildfire frequency, the globally important boreal CH4 sink could be diminished. PMID:26372346

Planetary Evolution, Habitability and Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilman, Spohn; Breuer, Doris; de Vera, Jean-Pierre; Jaumann, Ralf; Kuehrt, Ekkehard; Möhlmann, Diedrich; Rauer, Heike; Richter, Lutz

A Helmholtz Alliance has been established to study the interactions between life and the evo-lution of planets. The approach goes beyond current studies in Earth-System Sciences by including the entire planet from the atmosphere to the deep interior, going beyond Earth to include other Earth-like planets such as Mars and Venus and satellites in the solar system where ecosystems may exist underneath thick ice shells,considering other solar systems. The approach includes studies of the importance of plate tectonics and other tectonic regimes such as single plate tectonics for the development and for sustaining life and asks the question: If life can adapt to a planet, can a planet adapt to life? Can life be seen as a geological process and if so, can life shape the conditions on a planet such that life can flourish? The vision goes beyond the solar system by including the challenges that life would face in other solar systems. The Alliance uses theoretical modelling of feedback cycles and coupled planetary atmosphere and interior processes. These models are based on the results of remote sensing of planetary surfaces and atmospheres, laboratory studies on (meteorite) samples from other planets and on studies of life under extreme conditions. The Alliance uses its unique capabilities in remote sensing and in-situ exploration to prepare for empirical studies of the parameters affecting habitability. The Alliance aims to establish a network infrastructure in Germany to enable the most ad-vanced research in planetary evolution studies by including life as a planetary process. Finding extraterrestrial life is a task of fundamental importance to mankind, and its fulfilment will be philosophically profound. Evaluating the interactions between planetary evolution and life will help to put the evolution of our home planet (even anthropogenic effects) into perspective.

The Function of V-ATPases in Cancer

PubMed Central

Stransky, Laura; Cotter, Kristina

2016-01-01

The vacuolar ATPases (V-ATPases) are a family of proton pumps that couple ATP hydrolysis to proton transport into intracellular compartments and across the plasma membrane. They function in a wide array of normal cellular processes, including membrane traffic, protein processing and degradation, and the coupled transport of small molecules, as well as such physiological processes as urinary acidification and bone resorption. The V-ATPases have also been implicated in a number of disease processes, including viral infection, renal disease, and bone resorption defects. This review is focused on the growing evidence for the important role of V-ATPases in cancer. This includes functions in cellular signaling (particularly Wnt, Notch, and mTOR signaling), cancer cell survival in the highly acidic environment of tumors, aiding the development of drug resistance, as well as crucial roles in tumor cell invasion, migration, and metastasis. Of greatest excitement is evidence that at least some tumors express isoforms of V-ATPase subunits whose disruption is not lethal, leading to the possibility of developing anti-cancer therapeutics that selectively target V-ATPases that function in cancer cells. PMID:27335445

Quality and noise measurements in mobile phone video capture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrescu, Doina; Pincenti, John

2011-02-01

The quality of videos captured with mobile phones has become increasingly important particularly since resolutions and formats have reached a level that rivals the capabilities available in the digital camcorder market, and since many mobile phones now allow direct playback on large HDTVs. The video quality is determined by the combined quality of the individual parts of the imaging system including the image sensor, the digital color processing, and the video compression, each of which has been studied independently. In this work, we study the combined effect of these elements on the overall video quality. We do this by evaluating the capture under various lighting, color processing, and video compression conditions. First, we measure full reference quality metrics between encoder input and the reconstructed sequence, where the encoder input changes with light and color processing modifications. Second, we introduce a system model which includes all elements that affect video quality, including a low light additive noise model, ISP color processing, as well as the video encoder. Our experiments show that in low light conditions and for certain choices of color processing the system level visual quality may not improve when the encoder becomes more capable or the compression ratio is reduced.

Biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock: from strains to biodiesel.

PubMed

Gong, Yangmin; Jiang, Mulan

2011-07-01

Due to negative environmental influence and limited availability, petroleum-derived fuels need to be replaced by renewable biofuels. Biodiesel has attracted intensive attention as an important biofuel. Microalgae have numerous advantages for biodiesel production over many terrestrial plants. There are a series of consecutive processes for biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock, including selection of adequate microalgal strains, mass culture, cell harvesting, oil extraction and transesterification. To reduce the overall production cost, technology development and process optimization are necessary. Genetic engineering also plays an important role in manipulating lipid biosynthesis in microalgae. Many approaches, such as sequestering carbon dioxide from industrial plants for the carbon source, using wastewater for the nutrient supply, and maximizing the values of by-products, have shown a potential for cost reduction. This review provides a brief overview of the process of biodiesel production with microalgae as feedstock. The methods associated with this process (e.g. lipid determination, mass culture, oil extraction) are also compared and discussed.

Neural bases of eye and gaze processing: The core of social cognition

PubMed Central

Itier, Roxane J.; Batty, Magali

2014-01-01

Eyes and gaze are very important stimuli for human social interactions. Recent studies suggest that impairments in recognizing face identity, facial emotions or in inferring attention and intentions of others could be linked to difficulties in extracting the relevant information from the eye region including gaze direction. In this review, we address the central role of eyes and gaze in social cognition. We start with behavioral data demonstrating the importance of the eye region and the impact of gaze on the most significant aspects of face processing. We review neuropsychological cases and data from various imaging techniques such as fMRI/PET and ERP/MEG, in an attempt to best describe the spatio-temporal networks underlying these processes. The existence of a neuronal eye detector mechanism is discussed as well as the links between eye gaze and social cognition impairments in autism. We suggest impairments in processing eyes and gaze may represent a core deficiency in several other brain pathologies and may be central to abnormal social cognition. PMID:19428496

The search for a topographic signature of life.

PubMed

Dietrich, William E; Perron, J Taylor

2006-01-26

Landscapes are shaped by the uplift, deformation and breakdown of bedrock and the erosion, transport and deposition of sediment. Life is important in all of these processes. Over short timescales, the impact of life is quite apparent: rock weathering, soil formation and erosion, slope stability and river dynamics are directly influenced by biotic processes that mediate chemical reactions, dilate soil, disrupt the ground surface and add strength with a weave of roots. Over geologic time, biotic effects are less obvious but equally important: biota affect climate, and climatic conditions dictate the mechanisms and rates of erosion that control topographic evolution. Apart from the obvious influence of humans, does the resulting landscape bear an unmistakable stamp of life? The influence of life on topography is a topic that has remained largely unexplored. Erosion laws that explicitly include biotic effects are needed to explore how intrinsically small-scale biotic processes can influence the form of entire landscapes, and to determine whether these processes create a distinctive topography.

Crossover fungal pathogens: the biology and pathogenesis of fungi capable of crossing kingdoms to infect plants and humans.

PubMed

Gauthier, Gregory M; Keller, Nancy P

2013-12-01

The outbreak of fungal meningitis associated with contaminated methylprednisolone acetate has thrust the importance of fungal infections into the public consciousness. The predominant pathogen isolated from clinical specimens, Exserohilum rostratum (teleomorph: Setosphaeria rostrata), is a dematiaceous fungus that infects grasses and rarely humans. This outbreak highlights the potential for fungal pathogens to infect both plants and humans. Most crossover or trans-kingdom pathogens are soil saprophytes and include fungi in Ascomycota and Mucormycotina phyla. To establish infection, crossover fungi must overcome disparate, host-specific barriers, including protective surfaces (e.g. cuticle, skin), elevated temperature, and immune defenses. This review illuminates the underlying mechanisms used by crossover fungi to cause infection in plants and mammals, and highlights critical events that lead to human infection by these pathogens. Several genes including veA, laeA, and hapX are important in regulating biological processes in fungi important for both invasive plant and animal infections. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Secretome analysis of the thermophilic xylanase hyper-producer Thermomyces lanuginosus SSBP cultivated on corn cobs.

PubMed

Winger, A M; Heazlewood, J L; Chan, L J G; Petzold, C J; Permaul, K; Singh, S

2014-11-01

Thermomyces lanuginosus is a thermophilic fungus known for its ability to produce industrially important enzymes including large amounts of xylanase, the key enzyme in hemicellulose hydrolysis. The secretome of T. lanuginosus SSBP was profiled by shotgun proteomics to elucidate important enzymes involved in hemicellulose saccharification and to characterise the presence of other industrially interesting enzymes. This study reproducibly identified a total of 74 proteins in the supernatant following growth on corn cobs. An analysis of proteins revealed nine glycoside hydrolase (GH) enzymes including xylanase GH11, β-xylosidase GH43, β-glucosidase GH3, α-galactosidase GH36 and trehalose hydrolase GH65. Two commercially produced Thermomyces enzymes, lipase and amylase, were also identified. In addition, other industrially relevant enzymes not currently explored in Thermomyces were identified including glutaminase, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase and cyanate hydratase. Overall, these data provide insight into the novel ability of a cellulase-free fungus to utilise lignocellulosic material, ultimately producing a number of enzymes important to various industrial processes.

Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming

PubMed Central

Malinowski, Josie E.; Horton, Caroline L.

2015-01-01

In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep, including consolidation into long term memory structures and integration into pre-existing memory networks; that dreaming reflects these emotion assimilation processes; and that the associations between memory fragments activated during sleep give rise to measureable elements of dream metaphor and hyperassociativity. The latter are a direct reflection, and the phenomenological experience, of emotional memory assimilation processes occurring during sleep. While many theories previously have posited a role for emotion processing and/or emotional memory consolidation during sleep and dreaming, sleep theories often do not take enough account of important dream science data, yet dream research, when conducted systematically and under ideal conditions, can greatly enhance theorizing around the functions of sleep. Similarly, dream theories often fail to consider the implications of sleep-dependent memory research, which can augment our understanding of dream functioning. Here, we offer a synthesized view, taking detailed account of both sleep and dream data and theories. We draw on extensive literature from sleep and dream experiments and theories, including often-overlooked data from dream science which we believe reflects sleep phenomenology, to bring together important ideas and findings from both domains. PMID:26347669

Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming.

PubMed

Malinowski, Josie E; Horton, Caroline L

2015-01-01

In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep, including consolidation into long term memory structures and integration into pre-existing memory networks; that dreaming reflects these emotion assimilation processes; and that the associations between memory fragments activated during sleep give rise to measureable elements of dream metaphor and hyperassociativity. The latter are a direct reflection, and the phenomenological experience, of emotional memory assimilation processes occurring during sleep. While many theories previously have posited a role for emotion processing and/or emotional memory consolidation during sleep and dreaming, sleep theories often do not take enough account of important dream science data, yet dream research, when conducted systematically and under ideal conditions, can greatly enhance theorizing around the functions of sleep. Similarly, dream theories often fail to consider the implications of sleep-dependent memory research, which can augment our understanding of dream functioning. Here, we offer a synthesized view, taking detailed account of both sleep and dream data and theories. We draw on extensive literature from sleep and dream experiments and theories, including often-overlooked data from dream science which we believe reflects sleep phenomenology, to bring together important ideas and findings from both domains.

Beyond Homophily: A Decade of Advances in Understanding Peer Influence Processes.

PubMed

Brechwald, Whitney A; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2011-03-01

This article reviews empirical and theoretical contributions to a multidisciplinary understanding of peer influence processes in adolescence over the past decade. Five themes of peer influence research from this decade were identified, including a broadening of the range of behaviors for which peer influence occurs, distinguishing the sources of influence, probing the conditions under which influence is amplified/attenuated (moderators), testing theoretically based models of peer influence processes (mechanisms), and preliminary exploration of behavioral neuroscience perspectives on peer influence. This review highlights advances in each of these areas, underscores gaps in current knowledge of peer influence processes, and outlines important challenges for future research.

Beyond Homophily: A Decade of Advances in Understanding Peer Influence Processes

PubMed Central

Brechwald, Whitney A.; Prinstein, Mitchell J.

2013-01-01

This article reviews empirical and theoretical contributions to a multidisciplinary understanding of peer influence processes in adolescence over the past decade. Five themes of peer influence research from this decade were identified, including a broadening of the range of behaviors for which peer influence occurs, distinguishing the sources of influence, probing the conditions under which influence is amplified/attenuated (moderators), testing theoretically based models of peer influence processes (mechanisms), and preliminary exploration of behavioral neuroscience perspectives on peer influence. This review highlights advances in each of these areas, underscores gaps in current knowledge of peer influence processes, and outlines important challenges for future research. PMID:23730122

Different stages and status of vertical transporting process of Cu in Jiaozhou Bay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Dongfang; Li, Haixia; Wang, Qi; Zhang, Xiaolong; Ding, Jun

2017-12-01

Understanding the stages and status of vertical transporting process of pollutant in marine bay is essential to pollution control. This paper analyzed the stages and status of Cu’s vertical transporting process in waters in Jiaozhou Bay. Results showed that the vertical transporting process in waters in Jiaozhou Bay included four stages of 1) Cu was imported to the bay by major sources, 2) Cu was transported to surface waters, 3) Cu was transported from surface waters to sediment in sea bottom, and 4) Cu was fixed and buried in sediment. Furthermore, Cu’s vertical transporting process could be divided into seven status in detail, and he characteristics of the vertical transport process of Cu were also analyzed.

The roles of Microphthalmia Transcription Factor and pigmentation in melanoma

PubMed Central

Hsiao, Jennifer J; Fisher, David E

2014-01-01

MITF and pigmentation play important roles in both normal melanocyte and transformed melanoma cell biology. MITF is regulated by many pathways and it also regulates many targets, some of which are still being discovered and functionally validated. MITF is involved in a wide range of processes in melanocytes, including pigment synthesis and lineage survival. Pigmentation itself plays an important role as the interface between genetic and environmental factors that contribute to melanoma. PMID:25111671

Quantum Tunnelling to the Origin and Evolution of Life

PubMed Central

Trixler, Frank

2013-01-01

Quantum tunnelling is a phenomenon which becomes relevant at the nanoscale and below. It is a paradox from the classical point of view as it enables elementary particles and atoms to permeate an energetic barrier without the need for sufficient energy to overcome it. Tunnelling might seem to be an exotic process only important for special physical effects and applications such as the Tunnel Diode, Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy (electron tunnelling) or Near-field Optical Microscopy operating in photon tunnelling mode. However, this review demonstrates that tunnelling can do far more, being of vital importance for life: physical and chemical processes which are crucial in theories about the origin and evolution of life can be traced directly back to the effects of quantum tunnelling. These processes include the chemical evolution in stellar interiors and within the cold interstellar medium, prebiotic chemistry in the atmosphere and subsurface of planetary bodies, planetary habitability via insolation and geothermal heat as well as the function of biomolecular nanomachines. This review shows that quantum tunnelling has many highly important implications to the field of molecular and biological evolution, prebiotic chemistry and astrobiology. PMID:24039543

Sustaining leaders of cancer support groups: the role, needs, and difficulties of leaders.

PubMed

Butow, Phyllis; Ussher, Jane; Kirsten, Laura; Hobbs, Kim; Smith, Katharine; Wain, Gerald; Sandoval, Mirjana; Stenlake, Annie

2005-01-01

Cancer support groups are an important source of support for cancer patients, yet little is known about the characteristics of, and barriers to, effective leadership, and the training needs of both professionally trained and untrained leaders. This study explored the views of 179 leaders of 184 cancer support groups in NSW, Australia, regarding these issues. Four hundred and sixteen members of 50 groups selected from the larger cohort completed questionnaires eliciting the importance of group processes, including leader qualities, and satisfaction with group leadership. Finally, members of nine groups participated in focus groups regarding effective group processes. The importance of the leader(s) was emphasized in all stages of the research. Fifty-nine percent of group leaders were currently experiencing a difficulty, primarily related to infrastructure or group process. Three characteristics of effective leaders were identified: educational qualities, facilitation skills, and personal qualities. There is clearly a need to develop and evaluate effective interventions to maintain leaders in these roles, if the proven benefits for cancer patients are to be protected.

Evolution of Interstellar Ices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allamandola, Louis J.; Bernstein, Max P.; Sandford, Scott A.; Walker, Robert L.

1999-10-01

Infrared observations, combined with realistic laboratory simulations, have revolutionized our understanding of interstellar ice and dust, the building blocks of comets. Ices in molecular clouds are dominated by the very simple molecules H2O, CH3OH, NH3, CO, CO2, and probably H2CO and H2. More complex species including nitriles, ketones, and esters are also present, but at lower concentrations. The evidence for these, as well as the abundant, carbon-rich, interstellar, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is reviewed. Other possible contributors to the interstellar/pre-cometary ice composition include accretion of gas-phase molecules and in situ photochemical processing. By virtue of their low abundance, accretion of simple gas-phase species is shown to be the least important of the processes considered in determining ice composition. On the other hand, photochemical processing does play an important role in driving dust evolution and the composition of minor species. Ultraviolet photolysis of realistic laboratory analogs readily produces H2, H2CO, CO2, CO, CH4, HCO, and the moderately complex organic molecules: CH3CH2OH (ethanol), HC(=O)NH2 (formamide), CH3C(=O)NH2 (acetamide), R-CN (nitriles), and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT, C6H12N4), as well as more complex species including amides, ketones, and polyoxymethylenes (POMs). Inclusion of PAHs in the ices produces many species similar to those found in meteorites including aromatic alcohols, quinones and ethers. Photon assisted PAH-ice deuterium exchange also occurs. All of these species are readily formed and are therefore likely cometary constituents.

Biogenesis of iron-sulfur clusters in mammalian cells: new insights and relevance to human disease

PubMed Central

Rouault, Tracey A.

2012-01-01

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are ubiquitous cofactors composed of iron and inorganic sulfur. They are required for the function of proteins involved in a wide range of activities, including electron transport in respiratory chain complexes, regulatory sensing, photosynthesis and DNA repair. The proteins involved in the biogenesis of Fe-S clusters are evolutionarily conserved from bacteria to humans, and many insights into the process of Fe-S cluster biogenesis have come from studies of model organisms, including bacteria, fungi and plants. It is now clear that several rare and seemingly dissimilar human diseases are attributable to defects in the basic process of Fe-S cluster biogenesis. Although these diseases –which include Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA), ISCU myopathy, a rare form of sideroblastic anemia, an encephalomyopathy caused by dysfunction of respiratory chain complex I and multiple mitochondrial dysfunctions syndrome – affect different tissues, a feature common to many of them is that mitochondrial iron overload develops as a secondary consequence of a defect in Fe-S cluster biogenesis. This Commentary outlines the basic steps of Fe-S cluster biogenesis as they have been defined in model organisms. In addition, it draws attention to refinements of the process that might be specific to the subcellular compartmentalization of Fe-S cluster biogenesis proteins in some eukaryotes, including mammals. Finally, it outlines several important unresolved questions in the field that, once addressed, should offer important clues into how mitochondrial iron homeostasis is regulated, and how dysfunction in Fe-S cluster biogenesis can contribute to disease. PMID:22382365

Parallel Computing for Brain Simulation.

PubMed

Pastur-Romay, L A; Porto-Pazos, A B; Cedron, F; Pazos, A

2017-01-01

The human brain is the most complex system in the known universe, it is therefore one of the greatest mysteries. It provides human beings with extraordinary abilities. However, until now it has not been understood yet how and why most of these abilities are produced. For decades, researchers have been trying to make computers reproduce these abilities, focusing on both understanding the nervous system and, on processing data in a more efficient way than before. Their aim is to make computers process information similarly to the brain. Important technological developments and vast multidisciplinary projects have allowed creating the first simulation with a number of neurons similar to that of a human brain. This paper presents an up-to-date review about the main research projects that are trying to simulate and/or emulate the human brain. They employ different types of computational models using parallel computing: digital models, analog models and hybrid models. This review includes the current applications of these works, as well as future trends. It is focused on various works that look for advanced progress in Neuroscience and still others which seek new discoveries in Computer Science (neuromorphic hardware, machine learning techniques). Their most outstanding characteristics are summarized and the latest advances and future plans are presented. In addition, this review points out the importance of considering not only neurons: Computational models of the brain should also include glial cells, given the proven importance of astrocytes in information processing. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Cognitive correlates of performance in advanced mathematics.

PubMed

Wei, Wei; Yuan, Hongbo; Chen, Chuansheng; Zhou, Xinlin

2012-03-01

Much research has been devoted to understanding cognitive correlates of elementary mathematics performance, but little such research has been done for advanced mathematics (e.g., modern algebra, statistics, and mathematical logic). To promote mathematical knowledge among college students, it is necessary to understand what factors (including cognitive factors) are important for acquiring advanced mathematics. We recruited 80 undergraduates from four universities in Beijing. The current study investigated the associations between students' performance on a test of advanced mathematics and a battery of 17 cognitive tasks on basic numerical processing, complex numerical processing, spatial abilities, language abilities, and general cognitive processing. The results showed that spatial abilities were significantly correlated with performance in advanced mathematics after controlling for other factors. In addition, certain language abilities (i.e., comprehension of words and sentences) also made unique contributions. In contrast, basic numerical processing and computation were generally not correlated with performance in advanced mathematics. Results suggest that spatial abilities and language comprehension, but not basic numerical processing, may play an important role in advanced mathematics. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical significance and practical implications. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

The impact of recent improvements in cryo-electron microscopy technology on the understanding of bacterial ribosome assembly

PubMed Central

Razi, Aida; Britton, Robert A.

2017-01-01

Abstract Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) had played a central role in the study of ribosome structure and the process of translation in bacteria since the development of this technique in the mid 1980s. Until recently cryo-EM structures were limited to ∼10 Å in the best cases. However, the recent advent of direct electron detectors has greatly improved the resolution of cryo-EM structures to the point where atomic resolution is now achievable. This improved resolution will allow cryo-EM to make groundbreaking contributions in essential aspects of ribosome biology, including the assembly process. In this review, we summarize important insights that cryo-EM, in combination with chemical and genetic approaches, has already brought to our current understanding of the ribosomal assembly process in bacteria using previous detector technology. More importantly, we discuss how the higher resolution structures now attainable with direct electron detectors can be leveraged to propose precise testable models regarding this process. These structures will provide an effective platform to develop new antibiotics that target this fundamental cellular process. PMID:28180306

Enrolling adolescents in HIV vaccine trials: reflections on legal complexities from South Africa.

PubMed

Slack, Catherine; Strode, Ann; Fleischer, Theodore; Gray, Glenda; Ranchod, Chitra

2007-05-13

South Africa is likely to be the first country in the world to host an adolescent HIV vaccine trial. Adolescents may be enrolled in late 2007. In the development and review of adolescent HIV vaccine trial protocols there are many complexities to consider, and much work to be done if these important trials are to become a reality. This article sets out essential requirements for the lawful conduct of adolescent research in South Africa including compliance with consent requirements, child protection laws, and processes for the ethical and regulatory approval of research. This article outlines likely complexities for researchers and research ethics committees, including determining that trial interventions meet current risk standards for child research. Explicit recommendations are made for role-players in other jurisdictions who may also be planning such trials. This article concludes with concrete steps for implementing these important trials in South Africa and other jurisdictions, including planning for consent processes; delineating privacy rights; compiling information necessary for ethics committees to assess risks to child participants; training trial site staff to recognize when disclosures trig mandatory reporting response; networking among relevant ethics committees; and lobbying the National Regulatory Authority for guidance.

Enrolling adolescents in HIV vaccine trials: reflections on legal complexities from South Africa

PubMed Central

Slack, Catherine; Strode, Ann; Fleischer, Theodore; Gray, Glenda; Ranchod, Chitra

2007-01-01

Background South Africa is likely to be the first country in the world to host an adolescent HIV vaccine trial. Adolescents may be enrolled in late 2007. In the development and review of adolescent HIV vaccine trial protocols there are many complexities to consider, and much work to be done if these important trials are to become a reality. Discussion This article sets out essential requirements for the lawful conduct of adolescent research in South Africa including compliance with consent requirements, child protection laws, and processes for the ethical and regulatory approval of research. Summary This article outlines likely complexities for researchers and research ethics committees, including determining that trial interventions meet current risk standards for child research. Explicit recommendations are made for role-players in other jurisdictions who may also be planning such trials. This article concludes with concrete steps for implementing these important trials in South Africa and other jurisdictions, including planning for consent processes; delineating privacy rights; compiling information necessary for ethics committees to assess risks to child participants; training trial site staff to recognize when disclosures trig mandatory reporting response; networking among relevant ethics commitees; and lobbying the National Regulatory Authority for guidance. PMID:17498316

MDCT evaluation of potential living renal donor, prior to laparoscopic donor nephrectomy: What the transplant surgeon wants to know?

PubMed Central

Ghonge, Nitin P; Gadanayak, Satyabrat; Rajakumari, Vijaya

2014-01-01

As Laparoscopic Donor Nephrectomy (LDN) offers several advantages for the donor such as lesser post-operative pain, fewer cosmetic concerns and faster recovery time, there is growing global trend towards LDN as compared to open nephrectomy. Comprehensive pre-LDN donor evaluation includes assessment of renal morphology including pelvi-calyceal and vascular system. Apart from donor selection, evaluation of the regional anatomy allows precise surgical planning. Due to limited visualization during laparoscopic renal harvesting, detailed pre-transplant evaluation of regional anatomy, including the renal venous anatomy is of utmost importance. MDCT is the modality of choice for pre-LDN evaluation of potential renal donors. Apart from appropriate scan protocol and post-processing methods, detailed understanding of surgical techniques is essential for the Radiologist for accurate image interpretation during pre-LDN MDCT evaluation of potential renal donors. This review article describes MDCT evaluation of potential living renal donor, prior to LDN with emphasis on scan protocol, post-processing methods and image interpretation. The article laid special emphasis on surgical perspectives of pre-LDN MDCT evaluation and addresses important points which transplant surgeons want to know. PMID:25489130

Using patient values and preferences to inform the importance of health outcomes in practice guideline development following the GRADE approach.

PubMed

Zhang, Yuan; Coello, Pablo Alonso; Brożek, Jan; Wiercioch, Wojtek; Etxeandia-Ikobaltzeta, Itziar; Akl, Elie A; Meerpohl, Joerg J; Alhazzani, Waleed; Carrasco-Labra, Alonso; Morgan, Rebecca L; Mustafa, Reem A; Riva, John J; Moore, Ainsley; Yepes-Nuñez, Juan José; Cuello-Garcia, Carlos; AlRayees, Zulfa; Manja, Veena; Falavigna, Maicon; Neumann, Ignacio; Brignardello-Petersen, Romina; Santesso, Nancy; Rochwerg, Bram; Darzi, Andrea; Rojas, Maria Ximena; Adi, Yaser; Bollig, Claudia; Waziry, Reem; Schünemann, Holger J

2017-05-02

There are diverse opinions and confusion about defining and including patient values and preferences (i.e. the importance people place on the health outcomes) in the guideline development processes. This article aims to provide an overview of a process for systematically incorporating values and preferences in guideline development. In 2013 and 2014, we followed the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach to adopt, adapt and develop 226 recommendations in 22 guidelines for the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To collect context-specific values and preferences for each recommendation, we performed systematic reviews, asked clinical experts to provide feedback according to their clinical experience, and consulted patient representatives. We found several types of studies addressing the importance of outcomes, including those reporting utilities, non-utility measures of health states based on structured questionnaires or scales, and qualitative studies. Guideline panels used the relative importance of outcomes based on values and preferences to weigh the balance of desirable and undesirable consequences of alternative intervention options. However, we found few studies addressing local values and preferences. Currently there are different but no firmly established processes for integrating patient values and preferences in healthcare decision-making of practice guideline development. With GRADE Evidence-to-Decision (EtD) frameworks, we provide an empirical strategy to find and incorporate values and preferences in guidelines by performing systematic reviews and eliciting information from guideline panel members and patient representatives. However, more research and practical guidance are needed on how to search for relevant studies and grey literature, assess the certainty of this evidence, and best summarize and present the findings.

A Review of Metacognition in Psychological Models of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rees, Clare S.; Anderson, Rebecca A.

2013-01-01

Cognitive-behavioural models and interventions for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have always included some metacognitive elements but until recently these have been predominantly construed of as cognitive as opposed to metacognitive processes. Increasingly, psychological models of OCD are now recognising the importance of metacognitive…

40 CFR 372.25 - Thresholds for reporting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... PLANNING, AND COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW PROGRAMS TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING: COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW... threshold amounts for purposes of reporting under § 372.30 for toxic chemicals are as follows: (a) With respect to a toxic chemical manufactured (including imported) or processed at a facility during the...

40 CFR 372.25 - Thresholds for reporting.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... PLANNING, AND COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW PROGRAMS TOXIC CHEMICAL RELEASE REPORTING: COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW... threshold amounts for purposes of reporting under § 372.30 for toxic chemicals are as follows: (a) With respect to a toxic chemical manufactured (including imported) or processed at a facility during the...

Matching Expectations for Successful University Student Volunteering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paull, Megan; Omari, Maryam; MacCallum, Judith; Young, Susan; Walker, Gabrielle; Holmes, Kirsten; Haski-Leventha, Debbie; Scott, Rowena

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of expectation formation and matching for university student volunteers and their hosts. Design/methodology/approach: This research involved a multi-stage data collection process including interviews with student volunteers, and university and host representatives from six…

Estimation of plant disease severity visually, by digital photography and image analysis, and by hyperspectral imaging

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Reliable, precise and accurate estimates of disease severity are important for predicting yield loss, monitoring and forecasting epidemics, for assessing crop germplasm for disease resistance, and for understanding fundamental biological processes including co-evolution. In some situations poor qual...

Materials for Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robertson, Luke B.; Williams, Martha

2010-01-01

Topics include a lab overview, testing and processing equipment, hemochromic hydrogen sensors, antimicrobial materials, wire system materials, CNT ink formulations, CNT ink dust screens, CNT ink printed circuitry, cryogenic materials development, fire and polymers, the importance of lighting, electric lighting systems, LED for plant growth, and carbon nanotube fiber filaments.

Collaboration in national forest management

Treesearch

Susan Charnley; Jonathan W. Long; Frank K. Lake

2014-01-01

National forest management efforts have generally moved toward collaborative and participatory approaches at a variety of scales. This includes, at a larger scale, greater public participation in transparent and inclusive democratic processes and, at a smaller scale, more engagement with local communities. Participatory approaches are especially important for an all-...

Chromosome engineering techniques for targeted introgression of rust resistance from wild wheat relatives

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hexaploid wheat has relatively narrow genetic diversity due to its evolution and domestication processes compared to its wild relatives that often carry agronomically important traits including resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Many genes have been introgressed into wheat from wild relative...

Emotional Intelligence Tests: Potential Impacts on the Hiring Process for Accounting Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholls, Shane; Wegener, Matt; Bay, Darlene; Cook, Gail Lynn

2012-01-01

Emotional intelligence is increasingly recognized as being important for professional career success. Skills related to emotional intelligence (e.g. organizational commitment, public speaking, teamwork, and leadership) are considered essential. Human resource professionals have begun including tests of emotional intelligence (EI) in job applicant…

Multidimensional Model of Trauma and Correlated Antisocial Personality Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martens, Willem H. J.

2005-01-01

Many studies have revealed an important relationship between psychosocial trauma and antisocial personality disorder. A multidimensional model is presented which describes the psychopathological route from trauma to antisocial development. A case report is also included that can illustrate the etiological process from trauma to severe antisocial…

Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech Mechanism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheets, Boyd V.

This monograph on the anatomical and physiological aspects of the speech mechanism stresses the importance of a general understanding of the process of verbal communication. Contents include "Positions of the Body,""Basic Concepts Linked with the Speech Mechanism,""The Nervous System,""The Respiratory System--Sound-Power Source,""The…

Lessons from Alternative Grading: Essential Qualities of Teacher Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Percell, Jay C.

2017-01-01

One critically important step in the instructional process is providing feedback to students, and yet, providing timely and thorough feedback is often lacking due attention. Reasons for this oversight could range from several factors including increased class sizes, vast content coverage requirements, extracurricular responsibilities, and the…

Great E-xpectations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klinger, Donna

2000-01-01

Discusses issues raised in a May 2000 forum on the growing investment by colleges and universities in various electronic businesses, including offering distance education, providing a portal to the Internet, and marketing. Discusses issues concerning the importance of business process redesign, use of E-business as a strategic tool, brand value…

Transpersonal Counseling as a Form of Transcendental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Astor, Martin H.

1975-01-01

Transpersonal counseling is relevant to school counselors; it stresses attainment of ultimate goals for the healthy individual. Activities of the transpersonal counselor are discussed. The process of achieving transcendence is described, and includes being, becoming, belonging and befitting. The importance of deep and intimate relationships is…

A rapid method to determine starch damage in sorghum

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

As a major component of cereal grains including sorghum, starch plays an important role not only in grain development but also post-maturation processing and end-product quality. Because milling can result in the inadvertent disruption of starch granules, in turn negatively affecting dough rheology...

Evaluate Yourself. Evaluation: Research-Based Decision Making Series, Number 9304.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetterman, David M.

This document considers both self-examination and external evaluation of gifted and talented education programs. Principles of the self-examination process are offered, noting similarities to external evaluation models. Principles of self-evaluation efforts include the importance of maintaining a nonjudgmental orientation, soliciting views from…

40 CFR 80.92 - Baseline auditor requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... total of more than 10 percent of its net worth with the refiner or importer; nor (iii) Receive... determination. It shall have personnel familiar with petroleum refining processes, including associated... worked at least five (5) years in either refinery operations or as a consultant for the refining industry...

40 CFR 80.92 - Baseline auditor requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... total of more than 10 percent of its net worth with the refiner or importer; nor (iii) Receive... determination. It shall have personnel familiar with petroleum refining processes, including associated... worked at least five (5) years in either refinery operations or as a consultant for the refining industry...

40 CFR 80.92 - Baseline auditor requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... total of more than 10 percent of its net worth with the refiner or importer; nor (iii) Receive... determination. It shall have personnel familiar with petroleum refining processes, including associated... worked at least five (5) years in either refinery operations or as a consultant for the refining industry...

Heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunit controls growth, stress response, extracellular protease activity, and cyclopiazonic acid production in Penicillium camemberti.

PubMed

García-Rico, Ramón O; Gil-Durán, Carlos; Rojas-Aedo, Juan F; Vaca, Inmaculada; Figueroa, Luis; Levicán, Gloria; Chávez, Renato

2017-09-01

The fungus Penicillium camemberti is widely used in the ripening of various bloomy-rind cheeses. Several properties of P. camemberti are important in cheese ripening, including conidiation, growth and enzyme production, among others. However, the production of mycotoxins such as cyclopiazonic acid during the ripening process by P. camemberti has raised concerns among consumers that demand food with minimal contamination. Here we show that overexpressing an α-subunit from the subgroup I of the heterotrimeric G protein (Gαi) influences several of these processes: it negatively affects growth in a media-dependent manner, triggers conidial germination, reduces the rate of sporulation, affects thermal and osmotic stress resistance, and also extracellular protease and cyclopiazonic acid production. Our results contribute to understanding the biological determinants underlying these biological processes in the economically important fungus P. camemberti. Copyright © 2017 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PLACE: an open-source python package for laboratory automation, control, and experimentation.

PubMed

Johnson, Jami L; Tom Wörden, Henrik; van Wijk, Kasper

2015-02-01

In modern laboratories, software can drive the full experimental process from data acquisition to storage, processing, and analysis. The automation of laboratory data acquisition is an important consideration for every laboratory. When implementing a laboratory automation scheme, important parameters include its reliability, time to implement, adaptability, and compatibility with software used at other stages of experimentation. In this article, we present an open-source, flexible, and extensible Python package for Laboratory Automation, Control, and Experimentation (PLACE). The package uses modular organization and clear design principles; therefore, it can be easily customized or expanded to meet the needs of diverse laboratories. We discuss the organization of PLACE, data-handling considerations, and then present an example using PLACE for laser-ultrasound experiments. Finally, we demonstrate the seamless transition to post-processing and analysis with Python through the development of an analysis module for data produced by PLACE automation. © 2014 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

(On)line dancing: choosing an appropriate distance education partner.

PubMed

Menn, Mindy; Don Chaney, J

2014-05-01

Online-delivered distance education is a burgeoning component of professional development and continuing education. Distance education programs allow individuals to learn in a different location and/or at a different time from fellow learners, thereby increasing the flexibility and number of learning options. Selecting the "right" program for personal development from the ever-growing body of online-delivered education is an individualized decision that can become an overwhelming and challenging process. This Tool presents four important definitions for navigating distance education program description materials and outlines a five-step process to assist in identifying an appropriate program for personal development. The five-step process includes key questions and points to consider while conducting a candid self-assessment, identifying and investigating distance education programs, and then compiling information, comparing programs, and prioritizing a list of programs suitable for application. Furthermore, this Tool highlights important websites for distance education degree program reviews, accreditation information, and open educational resources.

Roles of Diffusion Dynamics in Stem Cell Signaling and Three-Dimensional Tissue Development.

PubMed

McMurtrey, Richard J

2017-09-15

Recent advancements in the ability to construct three-dimensional (3D) tissues and organoids from stem cells and biomaterials have not only opened abundant new research avenues in disease modeling and regenerative medicine but also have ignited investigation into important aspects of molecular diffusion in 3D cellular architectures. This article describes fundamental mechanics of diffusion with equations for modeling these dynamic processes under a variety of scenarios in 3D cellular tissue constructs. The effects of these diffusion processes and resultant concentration gradients are described in the context of the major molecular signaling pathways in stem cells that both mediate and are influenced by gas and nutrient concentrations, including how diffusion phenomena can affect stem cell state, cell differentiation, and metabolic states of the cell. The application of these diffusion models and pathways is of vital importance for future studies of developmental processes, disease modeling, and tissue regeneration.

NDSI products system based on Hadoop platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yan; Jiang, He; Yang, Xiaoxia; Geng, Erhui

2015-12-01

Snow is solid state of water resources on earth, and plays an important role in human life. Satellite remote sensing is significant in snow extraction with the advantages of cyclical, macro, comprehensiveness, objectivity, timeliness. With the continuous development of remote sensing technology, remote sensing data access to the trend of multiple platforms, multiple sensors and multiple perspectives. At the same time, in view of the remote sensing data of compute-intensive applications demand increase gradually. However, current the producing system of remote sensing products is in a serial mode, and this kind of production system is used for professional remote sensing researchers mostly, and production systems achieving automatic or semi-automatic production are relatively less. Facing massive remote sensing data, the traditional serial mode producing system with its low efficiency has been difficult to meet the requirements of mass data timely and efficient processing. In order to effectively improve the production efficiency of NDSI products, meet the demand of large-scale remote sensing data processed timely and efficiently, this paper build NDSI products production system based on Hadoop platform, and the system mainly includes the remote sensing image management module, NDSI production module, and system service module. Main research contents and results including: (1)The remote sensing image management module: includes image import and image metadata management two parts. Import mass basis IRS images and NDSI product images (the system performing the production task output) into HDFS file system; At the same time, read the corresponding orbit ranks number, maximum/minimum longitude and latitude, product date, HDFS storage path, Hadoop task ID (NDSI products), and other metadata information, and then create thumbnails, and unique ID number for each record distribution, import it into base/product image metadata database. (2)NDSI production module: includes the index calculation, production tasks submission and monitoring two parts. Read HDF images related to production task in the form of a byte stream, and use Beam library to parse image byte stream to the form of Product; Use MapReduce distributed framework to perform production tasks, at the same time monitoring task status; When the production task complete, calls remote sensing image management module to store NDSI products. (3)System service module: includes both image search and DNSI products download. To image metadata attributes described in JSON format, return to the image sequence ID existing in the HDFS file system; For the given MapReduce task ID, package several task output NDSI products into ZIP format file, and return to the download link (4)System evaluation: download massive remote sensing data and use the system to process it to get the NDSI products testing the performance, and the result shows that the system has high extendibility, strong fault tolerance, fast production speed, and the image processing results with high accuracy.

Prognostics using Engineering and Environmental Parameters as Applied to State of Health (SOH) Radionuclide Aerosol Sampler Analyzer (RASA) Real-Time Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutchenson, K. D.; Hartley-McBride, S.; Saults, T.; Schmidt, D. P.

2006-05-01

The International Monitoring System (IMS) is composed in part of radionuclide particulate and gas monitoring systems. Monitoring the operational status of these systems is an important aspect of nuclear weapon test monitoring. Quality data, process control techniques, and predictive models are necessary to detect and predict system component failures. Predicting failures in advance provides time to mitigate these failures, thus minimizing operational downtime. The Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) requires IMS radionuclide systems be operational 95 percent of the time. The United States National Data Center (US NDC) offers contributing components to the IMS. This effort focuses on the initial research and process development using prognostics for monitoring and predicting failures of the RASA two (2) days into the future. The predictions, using time series methods, are input to an expert decision system, called SHADES (State of Health Airflow and Detection Expert System). The results enable personnel to make informed judgments about the health of the RASA system. Data are read from a relational database, processed, and displayed to the user in a GIS as a prototype GUI. This procedure mimics the real time application process that could be implemented as an operational system, This initial proof-of-concept effort developed predictive models focused on RASA components for a single site (USP79). Future work shall include the incorporation of other RASA systems, as well as their environmental conditions that play a significant role in performance. Similarly, SHADES currently accommodates specific component behaviors at this one site. Future work shall also include important environmental variables that play an important part of the prediction algorithms.

NPTool: Towards Scalability and Reliability of Business Process Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braghetto, Kelly Rosa; Ferreira, João Eduardo; Pu, Calton

Currently one important challenge in business process management is provide at the same time scalability and reliability of business process executions. This difficulty becomes more accentuated when the execution control assumes complex countless business processes. This work presents NavigationPlanTool (NPTool), a tool to control the execution of business processes. NPTool is supported by Navigation Plan Definition Language (NPDL), a language for business processes specification that uses process algebra as formal foundation. NPTool implements the NPDL language as a SQL extension. The main contribution of this paper is a description of the NPTool showing how the process algebra features combined with a relational database model can be used to provide a scalable and reliable control in the execution of business processes. The next steps of NPTool include reuse of control-flow patterns and support to data flow management.

Intracellular response to process optimization and impact on productivity and product aggregates for a high-titer CHO cell process.

PubMed

Handlogten, Michael W; Lee-O'Brien, Allison; Roy, Gargi; Levitskaya, Sophia V; Venkat, Raghavan; Singh, Shailendra; Ahuja, Sanjeev

2018-01-01

A key goal in process development for antibodies is to increase productivity while maintaining or improving product quality. During process development of an antibody, titers were increased from 4 to 10 g/L while simultaneously decreasing aggregates. Process development involved optimization of media and feed formulations, feed strategy, and process parameters including pH and temperature. To better understand how CHO cells respond to process changes, the changes were implemented in a stepwise manner. The first change was an optimization of the feed formulation, the second was an optimization of the medium, and the third was an optimization of process parameters. Multiple process outputs were evaluated including cell growth, osmolality, lactate production, ammonium concentration, antibody production, and aggregate levels. Additionally, detailed assessment of oxygen uptake, nutrient and amino acid consumption, extracellular and intracellular redox environment, oxidative stress, activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) expression, and heavy and light chain mRNA expression provided an in-depth understanding of the cellular response to process changes. The results demonstrate that mRNA expression and UPR activation were unaffected by process changes, and that increased PDI expression and optimized nutrient supplementation are required for higher productivity processes. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate the role of extra- and intracellular redox environment on productivity and antibody aggregation. Processes using the optimized medium, with increased concentrations of redox modifying agents, had the highest overall specific productivity, reduced aggregate levels, and helped cells better withstand the high levels of oxidative stress associated with increased productivity. Specific productivities of different processes positively correlated to average intracellular values of total glutathione. Additionally, processes with the optimized media maintained an oxidizing intracellular environment, important for correct disulfide bond pairing, which likely contributed to reduced aggregate formation. These findings shed important understanding into how cells respond to process changes and can be useful to guide future development efforts to enhance productivity and improve product quality. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Including information technology project management in the nursing informatics curriculum.

PubMed

Sockolow, Paulina; Bowles, Kathryn H

2008-01-01

Project management is a critical skill for nurse informaticists who are in prominent roles developing and implementing clinical information systems. It should be included in the nursing informatics curriculum, as evidenced by its inclusion in informatics competencies and surveys of important skills for informaticists. The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing includes project management in two of the four courses in the master's level informatics minor. Course content includes the phases of the project management process; the iterative unified process methodology; and related systems analysis and project management skills. During the introductory course, students learn about the project plan, requirements development, project feasibility, and executive summary documents. In the capstone course, students apply the system development life cycle and project management skills during precepted informatics projects. During this in situ experience, students learn, the preceptors benefit, and the institution better prepares its students for the real world.

Mean first-passage times of non-Markovian random walkers in confinement.

PubMed

Guérin, T; Levernier, N; Bénichou, O; Voituriez, R

2016-06-16

The first-passage time, defined as the time a random walker takes to reach a target point in a confining domain, is a key quantity in the theory of stochastic processes. Its importance comes from its crucial role in quantifying the efficiency of processes as varied as diffusion-limited reactions, target search processes or the spread of diseases. Most methods of determining the properties of first-passage time in confined domains have been limited to Markovian (memoryless) processes. However, as soon as the random walker interacts with its environment, memory effects cannot be neglected: that is, the future motion of the random walker does not depend only on its current position, but also on its past trajectory. Examples of non-Markovian dynamics include single-file diffusion in narrow channels, or the motion of a tracer particle either attached to a polymeric chain or diffusing in simple or complex fluids such as nematics, dense soft colloids or viscoelastic solutions. Here we introduce an analytical approach to calculate, in the limit of a large confining volume, the mean first-passage time of a Gaussian non-Markovian random walker to a target. The non-Markovian features of the dynamics are encompassed by determining the statistical properties of the fictitious trajectory that the random walker would follow after the first-passage event takes place, which are shown to govern the first-passage time kinetics. This analysis is applicable to a broad range of stochastic processes, which may be correlated at long times. Our theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations for several examples of non-Markovian processes, including the case of fractional Brownian motion in one and higher dimensions. These results reveal, on the basis of Gaussian processes, the importance of memory effects in first-passage statistics of non-Markovian random walkers in confinement.

Mean first-passage times of non-Markovian random walkers in confinement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guérin, T.; Levernier, N.; Bénichou, O.; Voituriez, R.

2016-06-01

The first-passage time, defined as the time a random walker takes to reach a target point in a confining domain, is a key quantity in the theory of stochastic processes. Its importance comes from its crucial role in quantifying the efficiency of processes as varied as diffusion-limited reactions, target search processes or the spread of diseases. Most methods of determining the properties of first-passage time in confined domains have been limited to Markovian (memoryless) processes. However, as soon as the random walker interacts with its environment, memory effects cannot be neglected: that is, the future motion of the random walker does not depend only on its current position, but also on its past trajectory. Examples of non-Markovian dynamics include single-file diffusion in narrow channels, or the motion of a tracer particle either attached to a polymeric chain or diffusing in simple or complex fluids such as nematics, dense soft colloids or viscoelastic solutions. Here we introduce an analytical approach to calculate, in the limit of a large confining volume, the mean first-passage time of a Gaussian non-Markovian random walker to a target. The non-Markovian features of the dynamics are encompassed by determining the statistical properties of the fictitious trajectory that the random walker would follow after the first-passage event takes place, which are shown to govern the first-passage time kinetics. This analysis is applicable to a broad range of stochastic processes, which may be correlated at long times. Our theoretical predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations for several examples of non-Markovian processes, including the case of fractional Brownian motion in one and higher dimensions. These results reveal, on the basis of Gaussian processes, the importance of memory effects in first-passage statistics of non-Markovian random walkers in confinement.

The role of non-epistemic values in engineering models.

PubMed

Diekmann, Sven; Peterson, Martin

2013-03-01

We argue that non-epistemic values, including moral ones, play an important role in the construction and choice of models in science and engineering. Our main claim is that non-epistemic values are not only "secondary values" that become important just in case epistemic values leave some issues open. Our point is, on the contrary, that non-epistemic values are as important as epistemic ones when engineers seek to develop the best model of a process or problem. The upshot is that models are neither value-free, nor depend exclusively on epistemic values or use non-epistemic values as tie-breakers.

PLEXOS Input Data Generator

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

The PLEXOS Input Data Generator (PIDG) is a tool that enables PLEXOS users to better version their data, automate data processing, collaborate in developing inputs, and transfer data between different production cost modeling and other power systems analysis software. PIDG can process data that is in a generalized format from multiple input sources, including CSV files, PostgreSQL databases, and PSS/E .raw files and write it to an Excel file that can be imported into PLEXOS with only limited manual intervention.

The Importance of Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis in Process-based Models of Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in Terrestrial Ecosystems with Particular Emphasis on Forest Ecosystems — Selected Papers from a Workshop Organized by the International Society for Ecological Modelling (ISEM) at the Third Biennal Meeting of the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (IEMSS) in Burlington, Vermont, USA, August 9-13, 2006

USGS Publications Warehouse

Larocque, Guy R.; Bhatti, Jagtar S.; Liu, Jinxun; Ascough, James C.; Gordon, Andrew M.

2008-01-01

Many process-based models of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles have been developed for terrestrial ecosystems, including forest ecosystems. They address many basic issues of ecosystems structure and functioning, such as the role of internal feedback in ecosystem dynamics. The critical factor in these phenomena is scale, as these processes operate at scales from the minute (e.g. particulate pollution impacts on trees and other organisms) to the global (e.g. climate change). Research efforts remain important to improve the capability of such models to better represent the dynamics of terrestrial ecosystems, including the C, nutrient, (e.g. N) and water cycles. Existing models are sufficiently well advanced to help decision makers develop sustainable management policies and planning of terrestrial ecosystems, as they make realistic predictions when used appropriately. However, decision makers must be aware of their limitations by having the opportunity to evaluate the uncertainty associated with process-based models (Smith and Heath, 2001 and Allen et al., 2004). The variation in scale of issues currently being addressed by modelling efforts makes the evaluation of uncertainty a daunting task.

More Analytical Tools for Fluids Management in Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weislogel, Mark

Continued advances during the 2000-2010 decade in the analysis of a class of capillary-driven flows relevant to materials processing and fluids management aboard spacecraft have been made. The class of flows addressed concern combined forced and spontaneous capillary flows in complex containers with interior edges. Such flows are commonplace in space-based fluid systems and arise from the particular container geometry and wetting properties of the system. Important applications for this work include low-g liquid fill and/or purge operations and passive fluid phase separation operations, where the container (i.e. fuel tank, water processer, etc.) geometry possesses interior edges, and where quantitative information of fluid location, transients, flow rates, and stability is critical. Examples include the storage and handling of liquid propellants and cryogens, water conditioning for life support, fluid phase-change thermal systems, materials processing in the liquid state, on-orbit biofluids processing, among others. For a growing number of important problems, closed-form expressions to transient three-dimensional flows are possible that, as design tools, replace difficult, time-consuming, and rarely performed numerical calculations. An overview of a selection of solutions in-hand is presented with example problems solved. NASA drop tower, low-g aircraft, and ISS flight ex-periment results are employed where practical to buttress the theoretical findings. The current review builds on a similar review presented at COSPAR, 2002, for the approximate decade 1990-2000.

Anisotropic and Hierarchical Porosity in Multifunctional Ceramics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lichtner, Aaron Zev

The performance of multifunctional porous ceramics is often hindered by the seemingly contradictory effects of porosity on both mechanical and non-structural properties and yet a sufficient body of knowledge linking microstructure to these properties does not exist. Using a combination of tailored anisotropic and hierarchical materials, these disparate effects may be reconciled. In this project, a systematic investigation of the processing, characterization and properties of anisotropic and isotropic hierarchically porous ceramics was conducted. The system chosen was a composite ceramic intended as the cathode for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Comprehensive processing investigations led to the development of approaches to make hierarchical, anisotropic porous microstructures using directional freeze-casting of well dispersed slurries. The effect of all the important processing parameters was investigated. This resulted in an ability to tailor and control the important microstructural features including the scale of the microstructure, the macropore size and total porosity. Comparable isotropic porous ceramics were also processed using fugitive pore formers. A suite of characterization techniques including x-ray tomography and 3-D sectional scanning electron micrographs (FIB-SEM) was used to characterize and quantify the green and partially sintered microstructures. The effect of sintering temperature on the microstructure was quantified and discrete element simulations (DEM) were used to explain the experimental observations. Finally, the comprehensive mechanical properties, at room temperature, were investigated, experimentally and using DEM, for the different microstructures.

Multiple Export Mechanisms for mRNAs

PubMed Central

Delaleau, Mildred; Borden, Katherine L. B.

2015-01-01

Nuclear mRNA export plays an important role in gene expression. We describe the mechanisms of mRNA export including the importance of mRNP assembly, docking with the nuclear basket of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), transit through the central channel of the NPC and cytoplasmic release. We describe multiple mechanisms of mRNA export including NXF1 and CRM1 mediated pathways. Selective groups of mRNAs can be preferentially transported in order to respond to cellular stimuli. RNAs can be selected based on the presence of specific cis-acting RNA elements and binding of specific adaptor proteins. The role that dysregulation of this process plays in human disease is also discussed. PMID:26343730

Chromatin Dynamics in Genome Stability: Roles in Suppressing Endogenous DNA Damage and Facilitating DNA Repair

PubMed Central

Nair, Nidhi; Shoaib, Muhammad

2017-01-01

Genomic DNA is compacted into chromatin through packaging with histone and non-histone proteins. Importantly, DNA accessibility is dynamically regulated to ensure genome stability. This is exemplified in the response to DNA damage where chromatin relaxation near genomic lesions serves to promote access of relevant enzymes to specific DNA regions for signaling and repair. Furthermore, recent data highlight genome maintenance roles of chromatin through the regulation of endogenous DNA-templated processes including transcription and replication. Here, we review research that shows the importance of chromatin structure regulation in maintaining genome integrity by multiple mechanisms including facilitating DNA repair and directly suppressing endogenous DNA damage. PMID:28698521

Waste Characterization Process

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

Lambert, Patrick E.

2014-11-01

The purpose is to provide guidance to the Radiological Characterization Reviewer to complete the radiological characterization of waste items. This information is used for Department of Transportation (DOT) shipping and disposal, typically at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Complete characterization ensures compliance with DOT shipping laws and NNSS Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). The fines for noncompliance can be extreme. This does not include possible bad press, and endangerment to the public, employees and the environment. A Radiological Characterization Reviewer has an important role in the organization. The scope is to outline the characterization process, but does not to includemore » every possible situation. The Radiological Characterization Reviewer position requires a strong background in Health Physics; therefore, these concepts are minimally addressed. The characterization process includes many Excel spreadsheets that were developed by Michael Enghauser known as the WCT software suite. New Excel spreadsheets developed as part of this project include the Ra- 226 Decider and the Density Calculator by Jesse Bland, MicroShield Density Calculator and Molecular Weight Calculator by Pat Lambert.« less

Evaluation of the Effect of the Volume Throughput and Maximum Flux of Low-Surface-Tension Fluids on Bacterial Penetration of 0.2 Micron-Rated Filters during Process-Specific Filter Validation Testing.

PubMed

Folmsbee, Martha

2015-01-01

Approximately 97% of filter validation tests result in the demonstration of absolute retention of the test bacteria, and thus sterile filter validation failure is rare. However, while Brevundimonas diminuta (B. diminuta) penetration of sterilizing-grade filters is rarely detected, the observation that some fluids (such as vaccines and liposomal fluids) may lead to an increased incidence of bacterial penetration of sterilizing-grade filters by B. diminuta has been reported. The goal of the following analysis was to identify important drivers of filter validation failure in these rare cases. The identification of these drivers will hopefully serve the purpose of assisting in the design of commercial sterile filtration processes with a low risk of filter validation failure for vaccine, liposomal, and related fluids. Filter validation data for low-surface-tension fluids was collected and evaluated with regard to the effect of bacterial load (CFU/cm(2)), bacterial load rate (CFU/min/cm(2)), volume throughput (mL/cm(2)), and maximum filter flux (mL/min/cm(2)) on bacterial penetration. The data set (∼1162 individual filtrations) included all instances of process-specific filter validation failures performed at Pall Corporation, including those using other filter media, but did not include all successful retentive filter validation bacterial challenges. It was neither practical nor necessary to include all filter validation successes worldwide (Pall Corporation) to achieve the goals of this analysis. The percentage of failed filtration events for the selected total master data set was 27% (310/1162). Because it is heavily weighted with penetration events, this percentage is considerably higher than the actual rate of failed filter validations, but, as such, facilitated a close examination of the conditions that lead to filter validation failure. In agreement with our previous reports, two of the significant drivers of bacterial penetration identified were the total bacterial load and the bacterial load rate. In addition to these parameters, another three possible drivers of failure were also identified: volume throughput, maximum filter flux, and pressure. Of the data for which volume throughput information was available, 24% (249/1038) of the filtrations resulted in penetration. However, for the volume throughput range of 680-2260 mL/cm(2), only 9 out of 205 bacterial challenges (∼4%) resulted in penetration. Of the data for which flux information was available, 22% (212/946) resulted in bacterial penetration. However, in the maximum filter flux range from 7 to 18 mL/min/cm(2), only one out of 121 filtrations (0.6%) resulted in penetration. A slight increase in filter failure was observed in filter bacterial challenges with a differential pressure greater than 30 psid. When designing a commercial process for the sterile filtration of a low-surface-tension fluid (or any other potentially high-risk fluid), targeting the volume throughput range of 680-2260 mL/cm(2) or flux range of 7-18 mL/min/cm(2), and maintaining the differential pressure below 30 psid, could significantly decrease the risk of validation filter failure. However, it is important to keep in mind that these are general trends described in this study and some test fluids may not conform to the general trends described here. Ultimately, it is important to evaluate both filterability and bacterial retention of the test fluid under proposed process conditions prior to finalizing the manufacturing process to ensure successful process-specific filter validation of low-surface-tension fluids. An overwhelming majority of process-specific filter validation (qualification) tests result in the demonstration of absolute retention of test bacteria by sterilizing-grade membrane filters. As such, process-specific filter validation failure is rare. However, while bacterial penetration of sterilizing-grade filters during process-specific filter validation is rarely detected, some fluids (such as vaccines and liposomal fluids) have been associated with an increased incidence of bacterial penetration. The goal of the following analysis was to identify important drivers of process-specific filter validation failure. The identification of these drivers will possibly serve to assist in the design of commercial sterile filtration processes with a low risk of filter validation failure. Filter validation data for low-surface-tension fluids was collected and evaluated with regard to bacterial concentration and rates, as well as filtered fluid volume and rate (Pall Corporation). The master data set (∼1160 individual filtrations) included all recorded instances of process-specific filter validation failures but did not include all successful filter validation bacterial challenge tests. This allowed for a close examination of the conditions that lead to process-specific filter validation failure. As previously reported, two significant drivers of bacterial penetration were identified: the total bacterial load (the total number of bacteria per filter) and the bacterial load rate (the rate at which bacteria were applied to the filter). In addition to these parameters, another three possible drivers of failure were also identified: volumetric throughput, filter flux, and pressure. When designing a commercial process for the sterile filtration of a low-surface-tension fluid (or any other penetrative-risk fluid), targeting the identified bacterial challenge loads, volume throughput, and corresponding flux rates could decrease, and possibly eliminate, the risk of validation filter failure. However, it is important to keep in mind that these are general trends described in this study and some test fluids may not conform to the general trends described here. Ultimately, it is important to evaluate both filterability and bacterial retention of the test fluid under proposed process conditions prior to finalizing the manufacturing process to ensure successful filter validation of low-surface-tension fluids. © PDA, Inc. 2015.

United States import safety, environmental health, and food safety regulation in China.

PubMed

Nyambok, Edward O; Kastner, Justin J

2012-01-01

China boasts a rapidly growing economy and is a leading food exporter. Since China has dominated world export markets in food, electronics, and toys, many safety concerns about Chinese exports have emerged. For example, many countries have had problems with Chinese food products and food-processing ingredients. Factors behind food safety and environmental health problems in China include poor industrial waste management, the use of counterfeit agricultural inputs, inadequate training of farmers on good farm management practices, and weak food safety laws and poor enforcement. In the face of rising import safety problems, the U.S. is now requiring certification of products and foreign importers, pursuing providing incentives to importers who uphold good safety practices, and considering publicizing the names of certified importers.

Co-Creativity and Interactive Repair: Commentary on Berta Bornstein's "The Analysis of a Phobic Child".

PubMed

Harrison, Alexandra

2014-01-01

My comments focus on a consideration of three issues central to child psychoanalysis stimulated by rereading the classic paper by Berta Bornstein, "The Analysis of a Phobic Child: Some Problems of Theory and Technique in Child Analysis": (1) the importance of "co-creativity" and its use in analysis to repair disruptions in the mother-child relationship; (2) working analytically with the "inner world of the child "; and (3) the fundamental importance of multiple simultaneous meaning-making processes. I begin with a discussion of current thinking about the importance of interactive processes in developmental and therapeutic change and then lead to the concepts of "co-creativity" and interactive repair, elements that are missing in the "Frankie" paper. The co-creative process that I outline includes multiple contributions that Frankie and his caregivers brought to their relationships--his mother, his father, his nurse, and even his analyst. I then address the question of how child analysts can maintain a central focus on the inner world of the child while still taking into account the complex nature of co-creativity in the change process. Finally, I discuss insights into the multiple simultaneous meaning-making processes in the analytic relationship to effect therapeutic change, including what I call the "sandwich model," an attempt to organize this complexity so that is more accessible to the practicing clinician. In terms of the specific case of Frankie, my reading of the case suggests that failure to repair disruptions in the mother-child relationship from infancy through the time of the analytic treatment was central to Frankie's problems. My hypothesis is that, rather than the content of his analyst's interpretations, what was helpful to Frankie in the analysis was the series of attempts at interactive repair in the analytic process. Unfortunately, the case report does not offer data to test this hypothesis. Indeed, one concluding observation from my reading of this classic case is how useful it would be for the contemporary analyst to pay attention to the multifaceted co-creative process in order to explain and foster the therapeutic change that can occur in analysis.

Review of conventional and novel food processing methods on food allergens.

PubMed

Vanga, Sai Kranthi; Singh, Ashutosh; Raghavan, Vijaya

2017-07-03

With the turn of this century, novel food processing techniques have become commercially very important because of their profound advantages over the traditional methods. These novel processing methods tend to preserve the characteristic properties of food including their organoleptic and nutritional qualities better when compared with the conventional food processing methods. During the same period of time, there is a clear rise in the populations suffering from food allergies, especially infants and children. Though, this fact is widely attributed to the changing livelihood of population in both developed and developing nations and to the introduction of new food habits with advent of novel foods and new processing techniques, their complete role is still uncertain. Under the circumstance, it is very important to understand the structural changes in the protein as food is processed to comprehend whether the specific processing technique (conventional and novel) is increasing or mitigating the allergenicity. Various modern means are now being employed to understand the conformational changes in the protein which can affect the allergenicity. In this review, the processing effects on protein structure and allergenicity are discussed along with the insinuations of recent studies and techniques for establishing a platform to investigate future pathway to reduce or eliminate allergenicity in the population.

HIPPOCAMPAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROCESSING OF SOCIAL EMOTIONS

PubMed Central

Immordino-Yang, Mary Helen; Singh, Vanessa

2012-01-01

Inducing and experiencing emotions about others’ mental and physical circumstances is thought to involve self-relevant processing and personal memories of similar experiences. The hippocampus is important for self-referential processing during recall and prospection; however, its contributions during social emotions have not been systematically investigated. We use event-related averaging and Granger causal connectivity mapping to investigate hippocampal contributions during the processing of varieties of admiration and compassion pertaining to protagonists’ mental versus physical circumstances (admiration for virtue, AV, versus for skill; compassion for social/psychological pain, CSP, versus for physical pain). Data were collected using a multistep emotion induction paradigm that included psychosocial interviews, BOLD fMRI and simultaneous psychophysiological recording. Given that mnemonic demands were equivalent among conditions, we tested whether: (1) the hippocampi would be recruited more strongly and for a longer duration during the processing of AV and CSP; (2) connectivity between the hippocampi and cortical systems involved in visceral somatosensation/emotional feeling, social cognitive, and self-related processing would be more extensive during AV and CSP. Results elucidate the hippocampus’ facilitative role in inducing and sustaining appropriate emotional reactions, the importance of self-related processing during social emotions, and corroborate the conception that varieties of emotional processing pertaining to others’ mental and physical situations engage at least partially distinct neural mechanisms. PMID:22012639

Technology Estimating: A Process to Determine the Cost and Schedule of Space Technology Research and Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cole, Stuart K.; Reeves, John D.; Williams-Byrd, Julie A.; Greenberg, Marc; Comstock, Doug; Olds, John R.; Wallace, Jon; DePasquale, Dominic; Schaffer, Mark

2013-01-01

NASA is investing in new technologies that include 14 primary technology roadmap areas, and aeronautics. Understanding the cost for research and development of these technologies and the time it takes to increase the maturity of the technology is important to the support of the ongoing and future NASA missions. Overall, technology estimating may help provide guidance to technology investment strategies to help improve evaluation of technology affordability, and aid in decision support. The research provides a summary of the framework development of a Technology Estimating process where four technology roadmap areas were selected to be studied. The framework includes definition of terms, discussion for narrowing the focus from 14 NASA Technology Roadmap areas to four, and further refinement to include technologies, TRL range of 2 to 6. Included in this paper is a discussion to address the evaluation of 20 unique technology parameters that were initially identified, evaluated and then subsequently reduced for use in characterizing these technologies. A discussion of data acquisition effort and criteria established for data quality are provided. The findings obtained during the research included gaps identified, and a description of a spreadsheet-based estimating tool initiated as a part of the Technology Estimating process.

Laboratory Studies of Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Chemical Processes of Importance in the Upper Atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molina, Mario J.

2001-01-01

The objective of this study is to conduct measurements of chemical kinetics parameters for reactions of importance in the stratosphere and upper troposphere, and to study the interaction of trace gases such as HCl with ice surfaces in order to elucidate the mechanism of heterogeneous chlorine activation processes, using both a theoretical and an experimental approach. The measurements will be carried out under temperature and pressure conditions covering those applicable to the stratosphere and upper troposphere. The techniques to be employed include turbulent flow - chemical ionization mass spectrometry, and optical ellipsometry. The next section summarizes our research activities during the second year of the project, and the section that follows consists of the statement of work for the third year.

Building the Hot Intra-Group Medium in Spiral-Rich Compact Groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Sullivan, Ewan

2014-11-01

Galaxy groups provide a natural laboratory for investigating the formation of the hot intergalactic medium (IGM). While galaxy clusters gain most of their hot gas through accretion and gravitational shocks, in groups the processes of galaxy evolution (stripping, collisions, star formation) play an important role in the initial build up of the hot halo. We present Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of groups still in the process of forming their IGM, including the well known compact groups HCG 16 and Stephan's Quintet (HCG 92). We show that starburst winds and shock-heating of stripped HI provide important contributions of gas and metals to the IGM, and discuss the impact of gas stripping, enhanced star formation and nuclear activity in the group member galaxies.

First-principles quantum-mechanical investigations of biomass conversion at the liquid-solid interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dang, Hongli; Xue, Wenhua; Liu, Yingdi; Jentoft, Friederike; Resasco, Daniel; Wang, Sanwu

2014-03-01

We report first-principles density-functional calculations and ab initio molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for the reactions involving furfural, which is an important intermediate in biomass conversion, at the catalytic liquid-solid interfaces. The different dynamic processes of furfural at the water-Cu(111) and water-Pd(111) interfaces suggest different catalytic reaction mechanisms for the conversion of furfural. Simulations for the dynamic processes with and without hydrogen demonstrate the importance of the liquid-solid interface as well as the presence of hydrogen in possible catalytic reactions including hydrogenation and decarbonylation of furfural. Supported by DOE (DE-SC0004600). This research used the supercomputer resources of the XSEDE, the NERSC Center, and the Tandy Supercomputing Center.

Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Personal Identity: Ethical Considerations

PubMed Central

Iwry, Jonathan; Yaden, David B.; Newberg, Andrew B.

2017-01-01

As noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technology advances, these methods may become increasingly capable of influencing complex networks of mental functioning. We suggest that these might include cognitive and affective processes underlying personality and belief systems, which would raise important questions concerning personal identity and autonomy. We give particular attention to the relationship between personal identity and belief, emphasizing the importance of respecting users' personal values. We posit that research participants and patients should be encouraged to take an active approach to considering the personal implications of altering their own cognition, particularly in cases of neurocognitive “enhancement.” We suggest that efforts to encourage careful consideration through the informed consent process would contribute usefully to studies and treatments that use NIBS. PMID:28638327

Computational Models of Neuron-Astrocyte Interactions Lead to Improved Efficacy in the Performance of Neural Networks

PubMed Central

Alvarellos-González, Alberto; Pazos, Alejandro; Porto-Pazos, Ana B.

2012-01-01

The importance of astrocytes, one part of the glial system, for information processing in the brain has recently been demonstrated. Regarding information processing in multilayer connectionist systems, it has been shown that systems which include artificial neurons and astrocytes (Artificial Neuron-Glia Networks) have well-known advantages over identical systems including only artificial neurons. Since the actual impact of astrocytes in neural network function is unknown, we have investigated, using computational models, different astrocyte-neuron interactions for information processing; different neuron-glia algorithms have been implemented for training and validation of multilayer Artificial Neuron-Glia Networks oriented toward classification problem resolution. The results of the tests performed suggest that all the algorithms modelling astrocyte-induced synaptic potentiation improved artificial neural network performance, but their efficacy depended on the complexity of the problem. PMID:22649480

Computational Analysis and Simulation of Empathic Behaviors: a Survey of Empathy Modeling with Behavioral Signal Processing Framework.

PubMed

Xiao, Bo; Imel, Zac E; Georgiou, Panayiotis; Atkins, David C; Narayanan, Shrikanth S

2016-05-01

Empathy is an important psychological process that facilitates human communication and interaction. Enhancement of empathy has profound significance in a range of applications. In this paper, we review emerging directions of research on computational analysis of empathy expression and perception as well as empathic interactions, including their simulation. We summarize the work on empathic expression analysis by the targeted signal modalities (e.g., text, audio, and facial expressions). We categorize empathy simulation studies into theory-based emotion space modeling or application-driven user and context modeling. We summarize challenges in computational study of empathy including conceptual framing and understanding of empathy, data availability, appropriate use and validation of machine learning techniques, and behavior signal processing. Finally, we propose a unified view of empathy computation and offer a series of open problems for future research.

Extracellular Matrix Degradation and Remodeling in Development and Disease

PubMed Central

Lu, Pengfei; Takai, Ken; Weaver, Valerie M.; Werb, Zena

2011-01-01

The extracellular matrix (ECM) serves diverse functions and is a major component of the cellular microenvironment. The ECM is a highly dynamic structure, constantly undergoing a remodeling process where ECM components are deposited, degraded, or otherwise modified. ECM dynamics are indispensible during restructuring of tissue architecture. ECM remodeling is an important mechanism whereby cell differentiation can be regulated, including processes such as the establishment and maintenance of stem cell niches, branching morphogenesis, angiogenesis, bone remodeling, and wound repair. In contrast, abnormal ECM dynamics lead to deregulated cell proliferation and invasion, failure of cell death, and loss of cell differentiation, resulting in congenital defects and pathological processes including tissue fibrosis and cancer. Understanding the mechanisms of ECM remodeling and its regulation, therefore, is essential for developing new therapeutic interventions for diseases and novel strategies for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. PMID:21917992

Computational models of neuron-astrocyte interactions lead to improved efficacy in the performance of neural networks.

PubMed

Alvarellos-González, Alberto; Pazos, Alejandro; Porto-Pazos, Ana B

2012-01-01

The importance of astrocytes, one part of the glial system, for information processing in the brain has recently been demonstrated. Regarding information processing in multilayer connectionist systems, it has been shown that systems which include artificial neurons and astrocytes (Artificial Neuron-Glia Networks) have well-known advantages over identical systems including only artificial neurons. Since the actual impact of astrocytes in neural network function is unknown, we have investigated, using computational models, different astrocyte-neuron interactions for information processing; different neuron-glia algorithms have been implemented for training and validation of multilayer Artificial Neuron-Glia Networks oriented toward classification problem resolution. The results of the tests performed suggest that all the algorithms modelling astrocyte-induced synaptic potentiation improved artificial neural network performance, but their efficacy depended on the complexity of the problem.

Mitochondrial Fission and Autophagy in the Normal and Diseased Heart

PubMed Central

Iglewski, Myriam; Hill, Joseph A.; Lavandero, Sergio; Rothermel, Beverly A.

2011-01-01

Sustained hypertension promotes structural, functional and metabolic remodeling of cardiomyocyte mitochondria. As long-lived, postmitotic cells, cardiomyocytes turn over mitochondria continuously to compensate for changes in energy demands and to remove damaged organelles. This process involves fusion and fission of existing mitochondria to generate new organelles and separate old ones for degradation via autophagy. Autophagy is a lysosome-dependent proteolytic pathway capable of processing cellular components, including organelles and protein aggregates. Autophagy can be either nonselective or selective and contributes to remodeling of the myocardium under stress. Fission of mitochondria, loss of membrane potential, and ubiquitination are emerging as critical steps that direct selective autophagic degradation of mitochondria. This review discusses the molecular mechanisms controlling mitochondrial dynamics, including fission, fusion, transport, and degradation. Furthermore, it examines recent studies revealing the importance of these processes in normal and diseased heart. PMID:20865352

Industrial production of acetone and butanol by fermentation-100 years later.

PubMed

Sauer, Michael

2016-07-01

Microbial production of acetone and butanol was one of the first large-scale industrial fermentation processes of global importance. During the first part of the 20th century, it was indeed the second largest fermentation process, superseded in importance only by the ethanol fermentation. After a rapid decline after the 1950s, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation has recently gained renewed interest in the context of biorefinery approaches for the production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources. The availability of new methods and knowledge opens many new doors for industrial microbiology, and a comprehensive view on this process is worthwhile due to the new interest. This thematic issue of FEMS Microbiology Letters, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the first industrial exploitation of Chaim Weizmann's ABE fermentation process, covers the main aspects of old and new developments, thereby outlining a model development in biotechnology. All major aspects of industrial microbiology are exemplified by this single process. This includes new technologies, such as the latest developments in metabolic engineering, the exploitation of biodiversity and discoveries of new regulatory systems such as for microbial stress tolerance, as well as technological aspects, such as bio- and down-stream processing. © FEMS 2016.

Selecting an Architecture for a Safety-Critical Distributed Computer System with Power, Weight and Cost Considerations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Torres-Pomales, Wilfredo

2014-01-01

This report presents an example of the application of multi-criteria decision analysis to the selection of an architecture for a safety-critical distributed computer system. The design problem includes constraints on minimum system availability and integrity, and the decision is based on the optimal balance of power, weight and cost. The analysis process includes the generation of alternative architectures, evaluation of individual decision criteria, and the selection of an alternative based on overall value. In this example presented here, iterative application of the quantitative evaluation process made it possible to deliberately generate an alternative architecture that is superior to all others regardless of the relative importance of cost.

Autism, Asthma, Inflammation, and the Hygiene Hypothesis

PubMed Central

Becker, Kevin G.

2007-01-01

Inflammation and the genes, molecules, and biological pathways that lead to inflammatory processes influence many important and disparate biological processes and disease states that are quite often not generally considered classical inflammatory or autoimmune disorders. These include development, reproduction, aging, tumor development and tumor rejection, cardiovascular pathologies, metabolic disorders, as well as neurological and psychiatric disorders. This paper compares parallel aspects of autism and inflammatory disorders with an emphasis on asthma. These comparisons include epidemiological, morphometric, molecular, and genetic aspects of both disease types, contributing to a hypothesis of autism in the context of the immune based hygiene hypothesis. This hypothesis is meant to address the apparent rise in the prevalence of autism in the population. PMID:17412520

Piezo proteins: regulators of mechanosensation and other cellular processes.

PubMed

Bagriantsev, Sviatoslav N; Gracheva, Elena O; Gallagher, Patrick G

2014-11-14

Piezo proteins have recently been identified as ion channels mediating mechanosensory transduction in mammalian cells. Characterization of these channels has yielded important insights into mechanisms of somatosensation, as well as other mechano-associated biologic processes such as sensing of shear stress, particularly in the vasculature, and regulation of urine flow and bladder distention. Other roles for Piezo proteins have emerged, some unexpected, including participation in cellular development, volume regulation, cellular migration, proliferation, and elongation. Mutations in human Piezo proteins have been associated with a variety of disorders including hereditary xerocytosis and several syndromes with muscular contracture as a prominent feature. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Perspectives on Home Care Quality

PubMed Central

Kane, Rosalie A.; Kane, Robert L.; Illston, Laurel H.; Eustis, Nancy N.

1994-01-01

Home care quality assurance (QA) must consider features inherent in home care, including: multiple goals, limited provider control, and unique family roles. Successive panels of stakeholders were asked to rate the importance of selected home care outcomes. Most highly rated outcomes were freedom from exploitation, satisfaction with care, physical safety, affordability, and physical functioning. Panelists preferred outcome indicators to process and structure, and all groups emphasized “enabling” criteria. Themes highlighted included: interpersonal components of care; normalizing life for clientele; balancing quality of life with safety; developing flexible, negotiated care plans; mechanisms for accountability and case management. These themes were formulated differently according to the stakeholders' role. Providers preferred intermediate outcomes, akin to process. PMID:10140158

Autism, asthma, inflammation, and the hygiene hypothesis.

PubMed

Becker, Kevin G

2007-01-01

Inflammation and the genes, molecules, and biological pathways that lead to inflammatory processes influence many important and disparate biological processes and disease states that are quite often not generally considered classical inflammatory or autoimmune disorders. These include development, reproduction, aging, tumor development and tumor rejection, cardiovascular pathologies, metabolic disorders, as well as neurological and psychiatric disorders. This paper compares parallel aspects of autism and inflammatory disorders with an emphasis on asthma. These comparisons include epidemiological, morphometric, molecular, and genetic aspects of both disease types, contributing to a hypothesis of autism in the context of the immune based hygiene hypothesis. This hypothesis is meant to address the apparent rise in the prevalence of autism in the population.

The elements of a commercial human spaceflight safety reporting system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christensen, Ian

2017-10-01

In its report on the SpaceShipTwo accident the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) included in its recommendations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ;in collaboration with the commercial spaceflight industry, continue work to implement a database of lessons learned from commercial space mishap investigations and encourage commercial space industry members to voluntarily submit lessons learned.; In its official response to the NTSB the FAA supported this recommendation and indicated it has initiated an iterative process to put into place a framework for a cooperative safety data sharing process including the sharing of lessons learned, and trends analysis. Such a framework is an important element of an overall commercial human spaceflight safety system.

[Experience of importation of equipment for research in the ELSA-Brasil].

PubMed

Almeida, Cristiana Paula Matos de; Aquino, Estela M L; Mota, Eduardo L A; Mota, Fábio Batista; Braga, Valéria Cerqueira Campos; Ladeira, Roberto Marini; Silva, Gabriela Feiden; Souza, Angelita Gomes de; Oliveira, Rosalba

2013-06-01

Policies that promote research in health were established in the last decade, developing the Brazilian scientific production. This development has not been accompanied by an improvement in the legal-institutional framework, thus hindering the development of research projects, including equipment importation activities. The present study aimed to analyze the equipment importation process for the Brazilian Longitudinal Study for Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). A case study was performed with data collected from internal ELSA-Brasil documents in five Investigation Centers and their respective supporting foundations. The following importation documents were analyzed: pulse wave velocity, bioimaging and retinography. Additionally, non-structured interviews with researchers and key informers were conducted in the foundations. Data were treated and organized into three stages: administrative-operational, exchange rate, and fiscal. Lengths of duration of these stages were calculated comparatively among centers. The need to standardize equipment in a multicenter study required a joint action of implementing institutions and foundations. Of all pieces of equipment analyzed, the first stage was administrative-operational, with a varying duration (minimum of eight, maximum of 101, and mean of 55 days) which was longer when legal opinions were included. The second stage was the exchange rate, which was longer than the former and did not pose any obstacles to the process (minimum of 11, maximum of 381, and mean of 196 days). The third stage was fiscal, which was the longest one (minimum of 43, maximum of 388, and mean of 215.5 days), due to the release of equipment without registration into the country. There were other factors that posed obstacles: inexperience of investigation centers and institutions in networking; inadequacy of the national legislation on scientific research particularities; and the lack of specialized professionals in scientific project management. The results show the slowness of the equipment importation process in Brazil, especially due to legal, bureaucratic and managerial obstacles.

Developing a Large Lexical Database for Information Retrieval, Parsing, and Text Generation Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conlon, Sumali Pin-Ngern; And Others

1993-01-01

Important characteristics of lexical databases and their applications in information retrieval and natural language processing are explained. An ongoing project using various machine-readable sources to build a lexical database is described, and detailed designs of individual entries with examples are included. (Contains 66 references.) (EAM)

The Solutions of the Agricultural Land Use Monitoring Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vershinin, Valentin V.; Murasheva, Alla A.; Shirokova, Vera A.; Khutorova, Alla O.; Shapovalov, Dmitriy A.; Tarbaev, Vladimir A.

2016-01-01

Modern landscape--it's a holistic system of interconnected and interacting components. To questions of primary importance belongs evaluation of stability of modern landscape (including agrarian) and its optimization. As a main complex characteristic and landscape inhomogeneity in a process of agricultural usage serves materials of quantitative and…

Challenging Popular Media's Control by Teaching Critical Viewing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Couch, Richard A.

The purpose of this paper is to express the importance of visual/media literacy and the teaching of critical television viewing. An awareness of the properties and characteristics of television--including camera angles and placement, editing, and emotionally involving subject matter--aids viewers in the critical viewing process. The knowledge of…

Adolescents' Conscious Processes of Developing Regulation: Learning to Appraise Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Reed W.

2011-01-01

To understand regulation and agency, it important to consider the nature of the regulatory challenges that adolescents must deal with. These include emotional, motivation, interpersonal, and other obstacles and problems. In this chapter, the author discusses the challenges reported by youth working on arts, technology, and social justice projects…

Implementing Coordinative Acquisition as a Viable Streamlined Acquisition Process in the Department of Defense (DoD): Will Contractors Participate?

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

These include equitable estoppel , fair competition, appearance of conflict of interests (government and contractor relationship), and most...importantly, intellectually property rights. Regarding equitable estoppel , one legal definition defines it as follows: “A type of estoppel that bars a

78 FR 55632 - Significant New Use Rule on Certain Chemical Substances

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-11

... 2070-AB27 Significant New Use Rule on Certain Chemical Substances AGENCY: Environmental Protection... finalizing the significant new use rule (SNUR) for three chemical substances which were the subject of... requires persons who intend to manufacture (including import) or process any of these three chemical...

Proposed key characteristics of male reproductive toxicants as a method for organizing and screening mechanistic evidence for non-cancer outcomes.

EPA Science Inventory

The adoption of systematic review practices for risk assessment includes integration of evidence obtained from experimental, epidemiological, and mechanistic studies. Although mechanistic evidence plays an important role in mode of action analysis, the process of sorting and anal...

Technological Competence: Training Educational Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bozeman, William C.; Spuck, Dennis W.

1991-01-01

Discussion of the competence of school administrators in the use of technology focuses on the results of a survey of data processing specialists in 165 school districts that was conducted to determine the importance of various educational computer applications. It is recommended that educational applications of computers be included in preservice…

27 CFR 27.11 - Meaning of terms.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine. The terms “includes” and “including” do not... operations defined in 26 U.S.C. 5002 are authorized to be conducted. Bulk container. Any container having a..., storage, or processing of spirits, or for authorized combinations of such operations. District director of...

27 CFR 27.11 - Meaning of terms.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine. The terms “includes” and “including” do not... operations defined in 26 U.S.C. 5002 are authorized to be conducted. Bulk container. Any container having a..., storage, or processing of spirits, or for authorized combinations of such operations. District director of...

27 CFR 27.11 - Meaning of terms.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine. The terms “includes” and “including” do not... operations defined in 26 U.S.C. 5002 are authorized to be conducted. Bulk container. Any container having a..., storage, or processing of spirits, or for authorized combinations of such operations. District director of...

27 CFR 27.11 - Meaning of terms.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine. The terms “includes” and “including” do not... operations defined in 26 U.S.C. 5002 are authorized to be conducted. Bulk container. Any container having a..., storage, or processing of spirits, or for authorized combinations of such operations. District director of...

Central America's "Peace Parks" and Regional Conflict Resolution.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weed, Timothy J.

1994-01-01

Examines the development of transborder conservation zones, known as "peace parks," in terms of their potential importance as proving grounds for international cooperation and sustainable development, and then in their role as symbols and outright manifestations of the peace process. Includes case studies of La Amistad Biosphere Reserve,…

Building Squares and Discovering Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitin, David J.; Whitin, Phyllis

2014-01-01

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) (CCSSI 2010) define what children should understand and be able to do in K-grade 12. This document also includes a description of key mathematical processes and proficiencies, the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMPs), which provide an important overview for the kind of robust thinking…

Balancing Openness and Interpretation in Active Listening

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Topornycky, Joseph; Golparian, Shaya

2016-01-01

Active listening is an important communication skill in a variety of disciplines and professions, including the profession of Educational Development. In our roles as educational developers, we engage in a variety of processes, all of which rely heavily on the practice of active listening. Emerging strategies of active listening praxis have…

Biodiversity of Total Phenolics, Antioxidant Capacity, and Juice Quality in Apple Cider Taxa

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Apples are known to contain antioxidants that may play an important role in human health by providing protection against reactive free radicals affecting a wide range of biological molecules including nucleic acids, lipids, and proteins. While fresh apple juice is a main product of processed apples,...

Aging and neurodegeneration: Importance of quantifying thermoregulatory stability in a rodent model of aging

EPA Science Inventory

Over our lives, we are exposed to a multitude of insults including heat and cold stress, toxicants, radiation, drugs, oxidative stress, and many others. The cumulative impact of these insults may ultimately be responsible for the etiology of many diseases. Since all life processe...

What Can Local Foundations Do to Support Youth Service System Change Efforts?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weah, Wokie; Pope, Marcus

2013-01-01

Making sound decisions in funding youth-serving organizations can be greatly enhanced by implementing a comprehensive and inclusive learning process that embraces the perspectives of and input from a variety of stakeholders, including program staff and leadership, various community partners, and, most important, the youth. Youthprise effectively…

Public transportation : better data needed to assess length of New Starts process, and options exist to expedite project development.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-08-01

The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. To be eligible for federal funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternati...

Children and Stress: Indications, Implications and Interventions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Joshua M.

Stress is a part of the normal process of growing and developing for children. A stress situation is composed of anxiety and stress. If coping strategies are inadequate, depression can result. Four categories of stress include time, anticipatory, situational, and encounter stress. It is important to recognize unsuccessful defense mechanisms…

Cooperative Buying for New Associates: Some Assembly Required. Important Safety Instructions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talarico, Scott

1998-01-01

A guide for using cooperative buying to block-book campus activities or attractions through a campus activities convention provides a step-by-step process and outlines some specific considerations, including forms, pricing, preparation for the conference, follow-up approaches, and hints for new users of the system. (MSE)

Effective Communication: A Key to Successful Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Joseph P.

1991-01-01

This paper points out the importance of special educators' communication skills in effective collaboration. The basic components of face-to-face communication are discussed, emphasizing the role of the speaker and listener. An explanation of the process of active listening is also included, noting possible verbal and nonverbal listener responses.…

Culture-centered Career Intervention. [and] Diversity, Flexibility, and Career Interventions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spokane, Arnold R.; Fouad, Nadya A.; Swanson, Jane L.; Walsh, W. Bruce

2003-01-01

Includes two commentaries on the special section. Spokane, Fouad, and Swanson emphasize the importance of two dimensions of clients' cultural context: dominant/subordinate and individual/collective. Walsh highlights research needs related to career intervention and personality, culture, process, and socioeconomic status. (Contains 15 and 11…

Collaborative Learning: Increasing Students' Engagement Outside the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hernandez, Rosario

2012-01-01

Several factors, including the Bologna process, the embargo on university posts, and a larger student population pursuing degrees, have contributed to radical changes in teaching, learning, and assessment in Irish higher education in the last few years. Challenges to academics have resulted in curriculum reform, and most importantly, in innovative…

Towards a Pedagogical Framework for Global Citizenship Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackmore, Chloe

2016-01-01

Amidst growing recognition of the importance of the learning process within global citizenship education, this paper develops a pedagogical framework including dimensions of critical thinking, dialogue, reflection, and responsible being/action. It draws on a variety of critical literatures to identify characteristics of each of these dimensions.…

Including "Everyone" in Outdoor Play.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flynn, Lynda L.; Kieff, Judith

2002-01-01

Presents guidelines for outdoor play that are important when young children have special needs. Details a decision-making process for planning adaptations and practical strategies for making adaptations and interventions to enhance outdoor play for children with special needs. Lists adaptations for a child who is blind, is deaf, has physical…

Quality Assurance in Distance and Open Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahafzah, Mohammed Hasan

2012-01-01

E-learning has become an increasingly important teaching and learning mode in educational institutions and corporate training. The evaluation of E-learning, however, is essential for the quality assurance of E-learning courses. This paper constructs a three-phase evaluation model for E-learning courses, which includes development, process, and…

The Rural World: Education and Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malassis, Louis

Calling for an international educational policy that would relate all education to the rural world and agriculture, this book is directed toward the developing nations and maintains: all citizens must be made aware of the importance of agriculture in the process of socioeconomic development; rural subjects should be included in education in…

Proper Installation Improves Carpet Life.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grogan, Ralph

1998-01-01

Explains how proper carpet installation can add to carpet life; includes tips to consider before signing a carpet-installation purchasing agreement that can make the new carpet a better investment. Topics cover how color selection lengthens appearance life, the need for moisture testing, the importance of carpet seams in the purchasing process,…

The Changing Business Environment: Implications for Vocational Curricula. State-of-the-Art Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, E. Ray; Stallard, John J.

The widespread use of the micro/personal computer and related technological advancements are having important impacts on information management in the modern electronic office. Some of the most common software applications include word processing, spread sheet analysis, data management, graphics, and communications. Ancillary hardware/software…

Identification of the Gifted Redefined with Ethics and Equity in Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCluskey, Ken W.

2017-01-01

Throughout his focus article, Robert Sternberg discusses the theoretical underpinnings and rationale behind his emerging Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership (ACCEL) model. In the process, he raises several critically important issues, including the misuse of IQ testing as the major method for identifying gifted students, the need…

Making Performance Assessments a Part of Accountability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haun, Billy

2018-01-01

The purpose of this commentary is to describe recent efforts in Virginia to develop and use performance assessments, including the challenges that emerged during this process and key considerations for states that integrate performance assessment into their systems. Performance assessments can play an important role in preparing students for…

Exploring the Relationship between Undergraduate Service-Learning Experiences and Global Perspective-Taking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Engberg, Mark E.; Fox, Katherine

2011-01-01

This study examines the relationship between service-learning participation and global perspective-taking. A global perspective is broadly defined to include both the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, and skills important to intercultural communication and the development of more complex epistemological processes, identities, and interpersonal…

EVALUATING THE SENSITIVITY OF A SUBSURFACE MULTICOMPONENT REACTIVE TRANSPORT MODEL WITH RESPECT TO TRANSPORT AND REACTION PARAMETERS

EPA Science Inventory

The input variables for a numerical model of reactive solute transport in groundwater include both transport parameters, such as hydraulic conductivity and infiltration, and reaction parameters that describe the important chemical and biological processes in the system. These pa...

How Visual Displays Affect Cognitive Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCrudden, Matthew T.; Rapp, David N.

2017-01-01

We regularly consult and construct visual displays that are intended to communicate important information. The power of these displays and the instructional messages we attempt to comprehend when using them emerge from the information included in the display and by their spatial arrangement. In this article, we identify common types of visual…

Disciplinary Counseling: The First Step toward Due Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cunningham, Patrick J.

1980-01-01

The oral reprimand is seen as the most important step in a corrective discipline procedure. Steps of disciplinary counseling include: always counsel in a private place; identify the problem; identify the desired behavior; define the consequences; get commitment from employee; identify session as oral reprimand; and monitor and follow up.(MLW)

Shhhh! Don't Tell: Advertising Design Impacts Sales.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaub, Laura; Kelsey, Roy

2000-01-01

Discusses the creation of an advertisement to catch the attention of the target audience: student readers. Notes the consideration of several important factors including: the product, the audience, the positioning, the principles, and the ingredients. Describes ways to get started and several points in approaching the design process. (SC)

Workplace Learning: Dilemmas for the European Steel Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroud, Dean; Fairbrother, Peter

2006-01-01

The focus in recent studies of workplace learning has been on "communities of practice" and the ways that learning is shaped by such communities. In the process, there has been a downplaying of the importance of broader institutional arrangements, including the impact of organisational structures and management practice, as well as…

Knowledge and Power: The Global Research and Development Budget. Worldwatch Paper 31.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norman, Colin

This monograph explores the aims, priorities, and international dimensions of the world's research and development (R&D) enterprise. Global R&D priorities in order of importance include military technology, basic research, space, energy, health, information processing, transportation, pollution control, and agriculture. The majority of R&D efforts…

The Complete Playground Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brett, Arlene; And Others

This book examines the history and purpose of outdoor play areas. Chapter 1 of the book discusses the importance of play in children's lives and the role of playgrounds in the play process. The historical development and evolution of playgrounds is recounted in chapter 2, while chapter 3 reviews research on playgrounds, including research…

Positioning Design Epistemology and Its Applications in Education Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Chin-Chung; Chai, Ching Sing; Wong, Benjamin Koon Siak; Hong, Huang-Yao; Tan, Seng Chee

2013-01-01

This position paper proposes to broaden the conception of personal epistemology to include design epistemology that foregrounds the importance of creativity, collaboration, and design thinking. Knowledge creation process, we argue, can be explicated using Popper's ontology of three worlds of objects. In short, conceptual artifacts (World 3)…