High-Stakes Educational Testing and Democracy--Antagonistic or Symbiotic Relationship?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ydesen, Christian

2014-01-01

This article argues that high-stakes educational testing, along with the attendant questions of power, education access, education management and social selection, cannot be considered in isolation from society at large. Thus, high-stakes testing practices bear numerous implications for democratic conditions in society. For decades, advocates of…

Analysis of a Hybrid Wing Body Center Section Test Article

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Hsi-Yung T.; Shaw, Peter; Przekop, Adam

2013-01-01

The hybrid wing body center section test article is an all-composite structure made of crown, floor, keel, bulkhead, and rib panels utilizing the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) design concept. The primary goal of this test article is to prove that PRSEUS components are capable of carrying combined loads that are representative of a hybrid wing body pressure cabin design regime. This paper summarizes the analytical approach, analysis results, and failure predictions of the test article. A global finite element model of composite panels, metallic fittings, mechanical fasteners, and the Combined Loads Test System (COLTS) test fixture was used to conduct linear structural strength and stability analyses to validate the specimen under the most critical combination of bending and pressure loading conditions found in the hybrid wing body pressure cabin. Local detail analyses were also performed at locations with high stress concentrations, at Tee-cap noodle interfaces with surrounding laminates, and at fastener locations with high bearing/bypass loads. Failure predictions for different composite and metallic failure modes were made, and nonlinear analyses were also performed to study the structural response of the test article under combined bending and pressure loading. This large-scale specimen test will be conducted at the COLTS facility at the NASA Langley Research Center.

Defense AT&L. Volume 40, Number 4, July-August 2011

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

First Article Test First article testing ( FAT ) can ensure that the contractor can furnish a product that conforms to all contract requirements...for acceptance. It allows you to verify capability before com- mitting to a single vendor for a large quantity. On most occa- sions, FAT will increase...schedule and cost. To manufacture one item is usually very inefficient, so the cost to include FAT has to be considered. On the other hand, if you

Design and Execution of the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator Large-Article Wind Tunnel Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cassell, Alan M.

2013-01-01

The testing of 3- and 6-meter diameter Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) test articles was completed in the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex 40 ft x 80 ft Wind Tunnel test section. Both models were stacked tori, constructed as 60 degree half-angle sphere cones. The 3-meter HIAD was tested in two configurations. The first 3-meter configuration utilized an instrumented flexible aerodynamic skin covering the inflatable aeroshell surface, while the second configuration employed a flight-like flexible thermal protection system. The 6-meter HIAD was tested in two structural configurations (with and without an aft-mounted stiffening torus near the shoulder), both utilizing an instrumented aerodynamic skin.

Do Gains in Test Scores Explain Labor Market Outcomes?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Heather

2006-01-01

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this article investigates whether students who made relatively large test score gains during high school had larger earnings 7 years after high school compared to students whose scores improved little. In models that control for pre-high school test scores, family background, and…

Laminar flow control leading edge glove flight test article development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearce, W. E.; Mcnay, D. E.; Thelander, J. A.

1984-01-01

A laminar flow control (LFC) flight test article was designed and fabricated to fit into the right leading edge of a JetStar aircraft. The article was designed to attach to the front spar and fill in approx. 70 inches of the leading edge that are normally occupied by the large slipper fuel tank. The outer contour of the test article was constrained to align with an external fairing aft of the front spar which provided a surface pressure distribution over the test region representative of an LFC airfoil. LFC is achieved by applying suction through a finely perforated surface, which removes a small fraction of the boundary layer. The LFC test article has a retractable high lift shield to protect the laminar surface from contamination by airborne debris during takeoff and low altitude operation. The shield is designed to intercept insects and other particles that could otherwise impact the leading edge. Because the shield will intercept freezing rain and ice, a oozing glycol ice protection system is installed on the shield leading edge. In addition to the shield, a liquid freezing point depressant can be sprayed on the back of the shield.

Involving Diverse Communities of Practice to Minimize Unintended Consequences of Test-Based Accountability Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Behizadeh, Nadia; Engelhard, George, Jr.

2015-01-01

In his focus article, Koretz (this issue) argues that accountability has become the primary function of large-scale testing in the United States. He then points out that tests being used for accountability purposes are flawed and that the high-stakes nature of these tests creates a context that encourages score inflation. Koretz is concerned about…

Automated Simultaneous Assembly for Multistage Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Breithaupt, Krista; Ariel, Adelaide; Veldkamp, Bernard P.

2005-01-01

This article offers some solutions used in the assembly of the computerized Uniform Certified Public Accountancy (CPA) licensing examination as practical alternatives for operational programs producing large numbers of forms. The Uniform CPA examination was offered as an adaptive multistage test (MST) beginning in April of 2004. Examples of…

Space simulation facilities providing a stable thermal vacuum facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tellalian, Martin L.

1990-01-01

CBI has recently constructed the Intermediate Thermal Vacuum Facility. Built as a corporate facility, the installation will first be used on the Boost Surveillance and Tracking System (BSTS) program. It will also be used to develop and test other sensor systems. The horizontal chamber has a horseshoe shaped cross section and is supported on pneumatic isolators for vibration isolation. The chamber structure was designed to meet stability and stiffness requirements. The design process included measurement of the ambient ground vibrations, analysis of various foundation test article support configurations, design and analysis of the chamber shell and modal testing of the chamber shell. A detailed 3-D finite element analysis was made in the design stage to predict the lowest three natural frequencies and mode shapes and to identify local vibrating components. The design process is described and the results are compared of the finite element analysis to the results of the field modal testing and analysis for the 3 lowest natural frequencies and mode shapes. Concepts are also presented for stiffening large steel structures along with methods to improve test article stability in large space simulation facilities.

NASA/MSFC ground experiment for large space structure control verification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waites, H. B.; Seltzer, S. M.; Tollison, D. K.

1984-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center has developed a facility in which closed loop control of Large Space Structures (LSS) can be demonstrated and verified. The main objective of the facility is to verify LSS control system techniques so that on orbit performance can be ensured. The facility consists of an LSS test article which is connected to a payload mounting system that provides control torque commands. It is attached to a base excitation system which will simulate disturbances most likely to occur for Orbiter and DOD payloads. A control computer will contain the calibration software, the reference system, the alignment procedures, the telemetry software, and the control algorithms. The total system will be suspended in such a fashion that LSS test article has the characteristics common to all LSS.

Buckling Response of a Large-Scale, Seamless, Orthogrid-Stiffened Metallic Cylinder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rudd, Michelle Tillotson; Hilburger, Mark W.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Lindell, Michael C.; Gardner, Nathaniel W.; Schultz, Marc R.

2018-01-01

Results from the buckling test of a compression-loaded 8-ft-diameter seamless (i.e., without manufacturing joints), orthogrid-stiffened metallic cylinder are presented. This test was used to assess the buckling response and imperfection sensitivity characteristics of a seamless cylinder. In addition, the test article and test served as a technology demonstration to show the application of the flow forming manufacturing process to build more efficient buckling-critical structures by eliminating the welded joints that are traditionally used in the manufacturing of large metallic barrels. Pretest predictions of the cylinder buckling response were obtained using a finite-element model that included measured geometric imperfections. The buckling load predicted using this model was 697,000 lb, and the test article buckled at 743,000 lb (6% higher). After the test, the model was revised to account for measured variations in skin and stiffener geometry, nonuniform loading, and material properties. The revised model predicted a buckling load of 754,000 lb, which is within 1.5% of the tested buckling load. In addition, it was determined that the load carrying capability of the seamless cylinder is approximately 28% greater than a corresponding cylinder with welded joints.

Stress Behaviour in Compression of Contact-Monolithic Joint of Self-Supporting Wall of Large Panel Multi-Storey Building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derbentsev, I.; Karyakin, A. A.; Volodin, A.

2017-11-01

The article deals with the behaviour of a contact-monolithic joint of large-panel buildings under compression. It gives a detailed analysis and the descriptions of the stages of such joints failure based on the results of the tests and computational modelling. The article is of interest to specialists who deal with computational modelling or the research of large-panel multi-storey buildings. The text gives a valuable information on the values of their bearing capacity and flexibility, the eccentricity of load transfer from upper panel to lower, the value of thrust passed to a ceiling panel. Recommendations are given to estimate all the above-listed parameters.

Developing a Multimedia, Computer-Based Spanish Placement Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zabaleta, Francisco

2007-01-01

Placing students of a foreign language within a basic language program constitutes an ongoing problem, particularly for large university departments when they have many incoming freshmen and transfer students. This article outlines the author's experience designing and piloting a language placement test for a university level Spanish program. The…

Test Review: ACCESS for ELLs[R

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Janna; Fairbairn, Shelley

2011-01-01

This article reviews Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners ("ACCESS for ELLs"[R]), which is a large-scale, high-stakes, standards-based, and criterion-referenced English language proficiency test administered in the USA annually to more than 840,000 English Language Learners (ELLs), in…

Impact of Design Effects in Large-Scale District and State Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phillips, Gary W.

2015-01-01

This article proposes that sampling design effects have potentially huge unrecognized impacts on the results reported by large-scale district and state assessments in the United States. When design effects are unrecognized and unaccounted for they lead to underestimating the sampling error in item and test statistics. Underestimating the sampling…

Large Capacitance Measurement by Multiple Uses of MBL Charge Sensor

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jung Sook; Chae, Min; Kim, Jung Bog

2010-01-01

A recent article by Morse described interesting electrostatics experiments using an MBL charge sensor. In this application, the charge sensor has a large capacitance compared to the charged test object, so nearly all charges can be transferred to the sensor capacitor from the capacitor to be measured. However, the typical capacitance of commercial…

Giving Psychology Away: Implementation of Wikipedia Editing in an Introductory Human Development Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shane-Simpson, Christina; Che, Elizabeth; Brooks, Patricia J.

2016-01-01

To test the feasibility of Wikipedia editing in large undergraduate psychology classrooms, we engaged groups of students in a large introductory-level Human Development course (N = 110) in editing Wikipedia articles to improve psychology-related content. Students attended in-class workshops and received online support to develop skills. They…

Considering the Use of General and Modified Assessment Items in Computerized Adaptive Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wyse, Adam E.; Albano, Anthony D.

2015-01-01

This article used several data sets from a large-scale state testing program to examine the feasibility of combining general and modified assessment items in computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for different groups of students. Results suggested that several of the assumptions made when employing this type of mixed-item CAT may not be met for…

School Exits in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Evidence of a Marketplace?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ford, Michael

2011-01-01

This article examines whether the large number of school exits from the Milwaukee school voucher program is evidence of a marketplace. Two logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression models tested the relation between the inability to draw large numbers of voucher students and the ability for a private school to remain viable. Data on…

Testing Mediation Using Multiple Regression and Structural Equation Modeling Analyses in Secondary Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Spencer D.

2011-01-01

Mediation analysis in child and adolescent development research is possible using large secondary data sets. This article provides an overview of two statistical methods commonly used to test mediated effects in secondary analysis: multiple regression and structural equation modeling (SEM). Two empirical studies are presented to illustrate the…

The Adult Reading History Questionnaire (ARHQ) in Icelandic: Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bjornsdottir, Gyda; Halldorsson, Jonas G.; Steinberg, Stacy; Hansdottir, Ingunn; Kristjansson, Kristleifur; Stefansson, Hreinn; Stefansson, Kari

2014-01-01

This article describes psychometric testing of an Icelandic adaptation of the "Adult Reading History Questionnaire" (ARHQ), designed to detect a history of reading difficulties indicative of dyslexia. Tested in a large and diverse sample of 2,187 adults, the Icelandic adaptation demonstrated internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's…

Basics of Sterile Compounding: Particulate Matter.

PubMed

Akers, Michael J

2017-01-01

This article focuses on the requirements for particulate matter in sterile products. Topics include particles and quality, particulate matter standards (large- and small-volume injectables), development of the small-volume injectable test, electronic (light obscuration) and microscope testing, and special requirements for particulate matter in biopharmaceutical preparations. Copyright© by International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, Inc.

Initial Development and Validation of the BullyHARM: The Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, William J.

2016-01-01

This article describes the development and preliminary validation of the Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure (BullyHARM). The development of the BullyHARM involved a number of steps and methods, including a literature review, expert review, cognitive testing, readability testing, data collection from a large sample, reliability…

A Poor Harvest: North Carolina's Rural Schools. A Reprint of Articles Published in The Raleigh News and Observer, March 26-28, 1989.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graves, Bill; Bolch, Judy

This series of newspaper articles evaluates North Carolina's schools and establishes a relationship between the state's rural poverty and low student achievement levels. Test scores in 1988 are consistently low in all but four of the poorest rural counties. Small schools are disappearing from rural areas. Large schools can offer students more…

First Language Test Bias? Comparing French-Speaking and Polish-Speaking Participants' Performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lesniewska, Justyna; Pichette, François; Béland, Sébastien

2018-01-01

Cognates are known to facilitate second language acquisition and use, as learners tend to assign to a new L2 word the meaning of a similar L1 word. Consequently, for L2 tests that rely largely on lexical items, performance may prove inflated for examinees whose L1 shares many cognates with the language being tested. This article examines the…

Use of Item Models in a Large-Scale Admissions Test: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinharay, Sandip; Johnson, Matthew S.

2008-01-01

"Item models" (LaDuca, Staples, Templeton, & Holzman, 1986) are classes from which it is possible to generate items that are equivalent/isomorphic to other items from the same model (e.g., Bejar, 1996, 2002). They have the potential to produce large numbers of high-quality items at reduced cost. This article introduces data from an…

"Familias: Preparando La Nueva Generación": A Randomized Control Trial Testing the Effects on Positive Parenting Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsiglia, Flavio F.; Williams, Lela Rankin; Ayers, Stephanie L.; Booth, Jaime M.

2014-01-01

Objectives: This article reports the effects of a culturally grounded parenting intervention to strengthen positive parenting practices. Method: The intervention was designed and tested with primarily Mexican origin parents in a large urban setting of the southwestern United States using an ecodevelopmental approach. Parents (N = 393) were…

The media and access issues: content analysis of Canadian newspaper coverage of health policy decisions.

PubMed

Rachul, Christen; Caulfield, Timothy

2015-08-25

Previous studies have demonstrated how the media has an influence on policy decisions and healthcare coverage. Studies of Canadian media have shown that news coverage often emphasizes and hypes certain aspects of high profile health debates. We hypothesized that in Canadian media coverage of access to healthcare issues about therapies and technologies including for rare diseases, the media would be largely sympathetic towards patients, thus adding to public debate that largely favors increased access to healthcare-even in the face of equivocal evidence regarding efficacy. In order to test this hypothesis, we conducted a content analysis of 530 news articles about access to health therapies and technologies from 15 major Canadian newspapers over a 10-year period. Articles were analyzed for the perspectives presented in the articles and the types of reasons or arguments presented either for or against the particular access issue portrayed in the news articles. We found that news media coverage was largely sympathetic towards increasing healthcare funding and ease of access to healthcare (77.4 %). Rare diseases and orphan drugs were the most common issues raised (22.6 %). Patients perspectives were often highlighted in articles (42.3 %). 96.8 % of articles discussed why access to healthcare needs to increase, and discussion that questioned increased access was only included in 33.6 % articles. We found that news media favors a patient access ethos, which may contribute to a difficult policy-making environment.

Experimental Study of the Compression Response of Fluted-Core Composite Panels with Joints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schultz, Marc R.; Rose, Cheryl A.; Guzman, J. Carlos; McCarville, Douglas; Hilburger, Mark W.

2012-01-01

Fluted-core sandwich composites consist of integral angled web members spaced between laminate face sheets, and may have the potential to provide benefits over traditional sandwich composites for certain aerospace applications. However, fabrication of large autoclave-cured fluted-core cylindrical shells with existing autoclaves will require that the shells be fabricated in segments, and joined longitudinally to form a complete barrel. Two different longitudinal fluted-core joint designs were considered experimentally in this study. In particular, jointed fluted-core-composite panels were tested in longitudinal compression because longitudinal compression is the primary loading condition in dry launch-vehicle barrel sections. One of the joint designs performed well in comparison with unjointed test articles, and the other joint design failed at loads approximately 14% lower than unjointed test articles. The compression-after-impact (CAI) performance of jointed fluted-core composites was also investigated by testing test articles that had been subjected to 6 ft-lb impacts. It was found that such impacts reduced the load-carrying capability by 9% to 40%. This reduction is dependent on the joint concept, component flute size, and facesheet thickness.

High-Temperature Modal Survey of a Hot-Structure Control Surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Natalie D.

2011-01-01

Ground vibration tests are routinely conducted for supporting flutter analysis for subsonic and supersonic vehicles; however, for hypersonic vehicles, thermoelastic vibration testing techniques are neither well established nor routinely performed. New high-temperature material systems, fabrication technologies and high-temperature sensors expand the opportunities to develop advanced techniques for performing ground vibration tests at elevated temperatures. When high-temperature materials, which increase in stiffness when heated, are incorporated into a hot-structure that contains metallic components that decrease in stiffness when heated, the interaction between those materials can affect the hypersonic flutter analysis. A high-temperature modal survey will expand the research database for hypersonics and improve the understanding of this dual-material interaction. This report discusses the vibration testing of the carbon-silicon carbide Ruddervator Subcomponent Test Article, which is a truncated version of a full-scale hot-structure control surface. Two series of room-temperature modal test configurations were performed in order to define the modal characteristics of the test article during the elevated-temperature modal survey: one with the test article suspended from a bungee cord (free-free) and the second with it mounted on the strongback (fixed boundary). Testing was performed in the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Flight Loads Laboratory Large Nitrogen Test Chamber.

The Assessment of Reliability Under Range Restriction: A Comparison of [Alpha], [Omega], and Test-Retest Reliability for Dichotomous Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fife, Dustin A.; Mendoza, Jorge L.; Terry, Robert

2012-01-01

Though much research and attention has been directed at assessing the correlation coefficient under range restriction, the assessment of reliability under range restriction has been largely ignored. This article uses item response theory to simulate dichotomous item-level data to assess the robustness of KR-20 ([alpha]), [omega], and test-retest…

Do You Catch Undersized Fish? Let's Go Fishing to Learn Some Important Concepts in Multiple Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zheng, Qiujie; Lu, Yonggang

2016-01-01

In the era of Big Data, because of diminishing cost of data collection and storage, a large number of statistical tests may even possibly be conducted all together by a high school student to seek for some "exciting" new scientific findings. In this article, we propose an interesting approach to introduce students to some important…

Materials, Manufacturing and Test Development of a Composite Fan Blade Leading Edge Subcomponent for Improved Impact Resistance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Handschuh, Katherine M.; Miller, Sandi G.; Sinnott, Matthew J.; Kohlman, Lee W.; Roberts, Gary D.; Pereira, J. Michael; Ruggeri, Charles R.

2014-01-01

Application of polymer matrix composite materials for jet engine fan blades is becoming attractive as an alternative to metallic blades; particularly for large engines where significant weight savings are recognized on moving to a composite structure. However, the weight benefit of the composite of is offset by a reduction of aerodynamic efficiency resulting from a necessary increase in blade thickness; relative to the titanium blades. Blade dimensions are largely driven by resistance to damage on bird strike. Further development of the composite material is necessary to allow composite blade designs to approximate the dimensions of a metallic fan blade. The reduction in thickness over the state of the art composite blades is expected to translate into structural weight reduction, improved aerodynamic efficiency, and therefore reduced fuel consumption. This paper presents test article design, subcomponent blade leading edge fabrication, test method development, and initial results from ballistic impact of a gelatin projectile on the leading edge of composite fan blades. The simplified test article geometry was developed to realistically simulate a blade leading edge while decreasing fabrication complexity. Impact data is presented on baseline composite blades and toughened blades; where a considerable improvement to impact resistance was recorded.

Materials, Manufacturing, and Test Development of a Composite Fan Blade Leading Edge Subcomponent for Improved Impact Resistance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Sandi G.; Handschuh, Katherine; Sinnott, Matthew J.; Kohlman, Lee W.; Roberts, Gary D.; Martin, Richard E.; Ruggeri, Charles R.; Pereira, J. Michael

2015-01-01

Application of polymer matrix composite materials for jet engine fan blades is becoming attractive as an alternative to metallic blades; particularly for large engines where significant weight savings are recognized on moving to a composite structure. However, the weight benefit of the composite is offset by a reduction of aerodynamic efficiency resulting from a necessary increase in blade thickness; relative to the titanium blades. Blade dimensions are largely driven by resistance to damage on bird strike. Further development of the composite material is necessary to allow composite blade designs to approximate the dimensions of a metallic fan blade. The reduction in thickness over the state of the art composite blades is expected to translate into structural weight reduction, improved aerodynamic efficiency, and therefore reduced fuel consumption. This paper presents test article design, subcomponent blade leading edge fabrication, test method development, and initial results from ballistic impact of a gelatin projectile on the leading edge of composite fan blades. The simplified test article geometry was developed to realistically simulate a blade leading edge while decreasing fabrication complexity. Impact data is presented on baseline composite blades and toughened blades; where a considerable improvement to impact resistance was recorded.

Construction and Validation of SRA-FV Need Assessment.

PubMed

Thornton, David; Knight, Raymond A

2015-08-01

This article describes the construction and testing of a newly designed instrument to assess psychological factors associated with increased rates of sexual recidivism. The new instrument (Structured Risk Assessment-Forensic Version or SRA-FV) was based on previous research using the SRA framework. This article describes the results of testing SRA-FV with a large sample (N = 566) of sexual offenders being evaluated for an early civil commitment program. SRA-FV was found to significantly predict sexual recidivism for both child molesters and rapists and to have incremental predictive value relative to two widely used static actuarial instruments (Static-99R; Risk Matrix 2000/S). © The Author(s) 2013.

Analysis of swept-sine runs during modal identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gloth, G.; Sinapius, M.

2004-11-01

Experimental modal analysis of large aerospace structures in Europe combine nowadays the benefits of the very reliable but time-consuming phase resonance method and the application of phase separation techniques evaluating frequency response functions (FRF). FRFs of a test structure can be determined by a variety of means. Applied excitation signal waveforms include harmonic signals like stepped-sine excitation, periodic signals like multi-sine excitation, transient signals like impulse and swept-sine excitation, and stochastic signals like random. The current article focuses on slow swept-sine excitation which is a good trade-off between magnitude of excitation level needed for large aircraft and testing time. However, recent ground vibration tests (GVTs) brought up that reliable modal data from swept-sine test runs depend on a proper data processing. The article elucidates the strategy of modal analysis based on swept-sine excitation. The standards for the application of slowly swept sinusoids defined by the international organisation for standardisation in ISO 7626 part 2 are critically reviewed. The theoretical background of swept-sine testing is expounded with particular emphasis to the transition through structural resonances. The effect of different standard procedures of data processing like tracking filter, fast Fourier transform (FFT), and data reduction via averaging are investigated with respect to their influence on the FRFs and modal parameters. Particular emphasis is given to FRF distortions evoked by unsuitable data processing. All data processing methods are investigated on a numerical example. Their practical usefulness is demonstrated on test data taken from a recent GVT on a large aircraft. The revision of ISO 7626 part 2 is suggested regarding the application of slow swept-sine excitation. Recommendations about the proper FRF estimation from slow swept-sine excitation are given in order to enable the optimisation on these applications for future modal survey tests of large aerospace structures.

2012 NCME Election of Board of Directors Candidate Biographies (in Alphabetical Order According to Position)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 2012

2012-01-01

This article profiles the candidates for the 2012 NCME election of board of directors. This includes the candidates for the office of the vice president and positions representing testing organizations and members at-large.

Evaluation of Hardware and Procedures for Astronaut Assembly and Repair of Large Precision Reflectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lake, Mark S.; Heard, Walter L., Jr.; Watson, Judith J.; Collins, Timothy J.

2000-01-01

A detailed procedure is presented that enables astronauts in extravehicular activity (EVA) to efficiently assemble and repair large (i.e., greater than 10m-diameter) segmented reflectors, supported by a truss, for space-based optical or radio-frequency science instruments. The procedure, estimated timelines, and reflector hardware performance are verified in simulated 0-g (neutral buoyancy) assembly tests of a 14m-diameter, offset-focus, reflector test article. The test article includes a near-flight-quality, 315-member, doubly curved support truss and 7 mockup reflector panels (roughly 2m in diameter) representing a portion of the 37 total panels needed to fully populate the reflector. Data from the tests indicate that a flight version of the design (including all reflector panels) could be assembled in less than 5 hours - less than the 6 hours normally permitted for a single EVA. This assembly rate essentially matches pre-test predictions that were based on a vast amount of historical data on EVA assembly of structures produced by NASA Langley Research Center. Furthermore, procedures and a tool for the removal and replacement of a damaged reflector panel were evaluated, and it was shown that EVA repair of this type of reflector is feasible with the use of appropriate EVA crew aids.

Experimental Validation of the Dynamic Inertia Measurement Method to Find the Mass Properties of an Iron Bird Test Article

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Alexander W.; Herrera, Claudia Y.; Spivey, Natalie D.; Fladung, William A.; Cloutier, David

2015-01-01

The mass properties of an aerospace vehicle are required by multiple disciplines in the analysis and prediction of flight behavior. Pendulum oscillation methods have been developed and employed for almost a century as a means to measure mass properties. However, these oscillation methods are costly, time consuming, and risky. The NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center has been investigating the Dynamic Inertia Measurement, or DIM method as a possible alternative to oscillation methods. The DIM method uses ground test techniques that are already applied to aerospace vehicles when conducting modal surveys. Ground vibration tests would require minimal additional instrumentation and time to apply the DIM method. The DIM method has been validated on smaller test articles, but has not yet been fully proven on large aerospace vehicles.

Frequency Shift During Mass Properties Testing Using Compound Pendulum Method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfe, David; Regan, Chris

2012-01-01

During mass properties testing on the X-48B Blended Wing Body aircraft (The Boeing Company, Chicago, Illinois) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, large inertia measurement errors were observed in results from compound pendulum swings when compared to analytical models. By comparing periods of oscillations as measured from an average over the test period versus the period of each oscillation, it was noticed that the frequency of oscillation was shifting significantly throughout the test. This phenomenon was only noticed during compound pendulum swings, and not during bifilar pendulum swings. The frequency shift was only visible upon extensive data analysis of the frequency for each oscillation, and did not appear in averaged frequency data over the test period. Multiple test articles, test techniques, and hardware setups were used in attempts to eliminate or identify the cause of the frequency shift. Plotting the frequency of oscillation revealed a region of minimal shift that corresponded to a larger amplitude range. This region of minimal shift provided the most accurate results compared to a known test article; however, the amplitudes that produce accurate inertia measurements are amplitudes larger than those generally accepted in mass properties testing. This paper examines two case studies of the frequency shift, using mass properties testing performed on a dummy test article, and on the X-48B Blended Wing Body aircraft.

A gravitational puzzle.

PubMed

Caldwell, Robert R

2011-12-28

The challenge to understand the physical origin of the cosmic acceleration is framed as a problem of gravitation. Specifically, does the relationship between stress-energy and space-time curvature differ on large scales from the predictions of general relativity. In this article, we describe efforts to model and test a generalized relationship between the matter and the metric using cosmological observations. Late-time tracers of large-scale structure, including the cosmic microwave background, weak gravitational lensing, and clustering are shown to provide good tests of the proposed solution. Current data are very close to proving a critical test, leaving only a small window in parameter space in the case that the generalized relationship is scale free above galactic scales.

Pearson's chi-square test and rank correlation inferences for clustered data.

PubMed

Shih, Joanna H; Fay, Michael P

2017-09-01

Pearson's chi-square test has been widely used in testing for association between two categorical responses. Spearman rank correlation and Kendall's tau are often used for measuring and testing association between two continuous or ordered categorical responses. However, the established statistical properties of these tests are only valid when each pair of responses are independent, where each sampling unit has only one pair of responses. When each sampling unit consists of a cluster of paired responses, the assumption of independent pairs is violated. In this article, we apply the within-cluster resampling technique to U-statistics to form new tests and rank-based correlation estimators for possibly tied clustered data. We develop large sample properties of the new proposed tests and estimators and evaluate their performance by simulations. The proposed methods are applied to a data set collected from a PET/CT imaging study for illustration. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Accommodations for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Large-Scale, Standardized Assessments: Surveying the Landscape and Charting a New Direction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cawthon, Stephanie W.

2009-01-01

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing (SDHH) often use test accommodations when they participate in large-scale, standardized assessments. The purpose of this article is to present findings from the "Third Annual Survey of Assessment and Accommodations for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing". The "big five" accommodations were reported by…

"It's Important for Them to Know Who They Are": Teachers' Efforts to Sustain Students' Cultural Competence in an Age of High-Stakes Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zoch, Melody

2017-01-01

This article examines how four urban elementary teachers designed their literacy instruction in ways that sought to sustain students' cultural competence--maintaining their language and cultural practices while also gaining access to more dominant ones--amid expectations to prepare students for high-stakes testing. A large part of their teaching…

Accountability to Whom? Testing and Social Justice. A Response to "Imagining No Child Left Behind Freed from Neoliberal Hijackers"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kritt, David W.

2011-01-01

In response to Eugene Matusov's article in this journal, Kritt addresses assumptions of the large-scale testing central to NCLB. Discussion of studies of urban kindergarten children that examine cognitive variability, including the assertion of ability, focuses on how this affects the student as a learner, as well as as a teacher. In contrast,…

Verification of component mode techniques for flexible multibody systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiens, Gloria J.

1990-01-01

Investigations were conducted in the modeling aspects of flexible multibodies undergoing large angular displacements. Models were to be generated and analyzed through application of computer simulation packages employing the 'component mode synthesis' techniques. Multibody Modeling, Verification and Control Laboratory (MMVC) plan was implemented, which includes running experimental tests on flexible multibody test articles. From these tests, data was to be collected for later correlation and verification of the theoretical results predicted by the modeling and simulation process.

Influenza newspaper reports and the influenza epidemic: an observational study in Fukuoka City, Japan.

PubMed

Hagihara, Akihito; Onozuka, Daisuke; Miyazaki, Shougo; Abe, Takeru

2015-12-30

We examined whether the weekly number of newspaper articles reporting on influenza was related to the incidence of influenza in a large city. Prospective, non-randomised, observational study. Registry data of influenza cases in Fukuoka City, Japan. A total of 83,613 cases of influenza cases that occurred between October 1999 and March 2007 in Fukuoka City, Japan. A linear model with autoregressive time series errors was fitted to time series data on the incidence of influenza and the accumulated number of influenza-related newspaper articles with different time lags in Fukuoka City, Japan. In order to obtain further evidence that the number of newspaper articles a week with specific time lags is related to the incidence of influenza, Granger causality was also tested. Of the 16 models including 'number of newspaper articles' with different time lags between 2 and 17 weeks (xt-2 to t-17), the β coefficients of 'number of newspaper articles' at time lags between t-5 and t-13 were significant. However, the β coefficients of 'number of newspaper articles' that are significant with respect to the Granger causality tests (p<0.05) were the weekly number of newspaper articles at time lags between t-6 and t-10 (time shift of 10 weeks, β=-0.301, p<0.01; time shift of 9 weeks, β=-0.200, p<0.01; time shift of 8 weeks, β=-0.156, p<0.01; time shift of 7 weeks, β=-0.122, p<0.05; time shift of 6 weeks, β=-0.113, p<0.05). We found that the number of newspaper articles reporting on influenza in a week was related to the incidence of influenza 6-10 weeks after media coverage in a large city in Japan. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Critical joints in large composite primary aircraft structures. Volume 2: Technology demonstration test report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bunin, Bruce L.

1985-01-01

A program was conducted to develop the technology for critical structural joints in composite wing structure that meets all the design requirements of a 1990 commercial transport aircraft. The results of four large composite multirow bolted joint tests are presented. The tests were conducted to demonstrate the technology for critical joints in highly loaded composite structure and to verify the analytical methods that were developed throughout the program. The test consisted of a wing skin-stringer transition specimen representing a stringer runout and skin splice on the wing lower surface at the side of the fuselage attachment. All tests were static tension tests. The composite material was Toray T-300 fiber with Ciba-Geigy 914 resin in 10 mil tape form. The splice members were metallic, using combinations of aluminum and titanium. Discussions are given of the test article, instrumentation, test setup, test procedures, and test results for each of the four specimens. Some of the analytical predictions are also included.

Understanding protocol performance: impact of test performance.

PubMed

Turner, Robert G

2013-01-01

This is the second of two articles that examine the factors that determine protocol performance. The objective of these articles is to provide a general understanding of protocol performance that can be used to estimate performance, establish limits on performance, decide if a protocol is justified, and ultimately select a protocol. The first article was concerned with protocol criterion and test correlation. It demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of different criterion when all tests had the same performance. It also examined the impact of increasing test correlation on protocol performance and the characteristics of the different criteria. To examine the impact on protocol performance when individual tests in a protocol have different performance. This is evaluated for different criteria and test correlations. The results of the two articles are combined and summarized. A mathematical model is used to calculate protocol performance for different protocol criteria and test correlations when there are small to large variations in the performance of individual tests in the protocol. The performance of the individual tests that make up a protocol has a significant impact on the performance of the protocol. As expected, the better the performance of the individual tests, the better the performance of the protocol. Many of the characteristics of the different criteria are relatively independent of the variation in the performance of the individual tests. However, increasing test variation degrades some criteria advantages and causes a new disadvantage to appear. This negative impact increases as test variation increases and as more tests are added to the protocol. Best protocol performance is obtained when individual tests are uncorrelated and have the same performance. In general, the greater the variation in the performance of tests in the protocol, the more detrimental this variation is to protocol performance. Since this negative impact is increased as more tests are added to the protocol, greater test variation indicates using fewer tests in the protocol. American Academy of Audiology.

Hubble space telescope six-battery test bed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pajak, J. A.; Bush, J. R., Jr.; Lanier, J. R., Jr.

1990-01-01

A test bed for a large space power system breadboard for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was designed and built to test the system under simulated orbital conditions. A discussion of the data acquisition and control subsystems designed to provide for continuous 24 hr per day operation and a general overview of the test bed is presented. The data acquisition and control subsystems provided the necessary monitoring and protection to assure safe shutdown with protection of test articles in case of loss of power or equipment failure over the life of the test (up to 5 years).

Summary of the First High-Altitude, Supersonic Flight Dynamics Test for the Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Ian G.; Adler, Mark; Manning, Rob

2015-01-01

NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator Project is developing and testing the next generation of supersonic aerodynamic decelerators for planetary entry. A key element of that development is the testing of full-scale articles in conditions relevant to their intended use, primarily the tenuous Mars atmosphere. To achieve this testing, the LDSD project developed a test architecture similar to that used by the Viking Project in the early 1970's for the qualification of their supersonic parachute. A large, helium filled scientific balloon is used to hoist a 4.7 m blunt body test vehicle to an altitude of approximately 32 kilometers. The test vehicle is released from the balloon, spun up for gyroscopic stability, and accelerated to over four times the speed of sound and an altitude of 50 kilometers using a large solid rocket motor. Once at those conditions, the vehicle is despun and the test period begins. The first flight of this architecture occurred on June 28th of 2014. Though primarily a shake out flight of the new test system, the flight was also able to achieve an early test of two of the LDSD technologies, a large 6 m diameter Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) and a large, 30.5 m nominal diameter supersonic parachute. This paper summarizes this first flight.

Social marketing's unique contribution to mental health stigma reduction and HIV testing: two case studies.

PubMed

Thackeray, Rosemary; Keller, Heidi; Heilbronner, Jennifer Messenger; Dellinger, Laura K Lee

2011-03-01

Since its inception in 2005, articles in Health Promotion Practice's social marketing department have focused on describing social marketing's unique contributions and the application of each to the practice of health promotion. This article provides a brief review of six unique features (marketing mix, consumer orientation, segmentation, exchange, competition, and continuous monitoring) and then presents two case studies-one on reducing stigma related to mental health and the other a large-scale campaign focused on increasing HIV testing among African American youth. The two successful case studies show that social marketing principles can be applied to a wide variety of topics among various population groups.

Dynamic Identification for Control of Large Space Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ibrahim, S. R.

1985-01-01

This is a compilation of reports by the one author on one subject. It consists of the following five journal articles: (1) A Parametric Study of the Ibrahim Time Domain Modal Identification Algorithm; (2) Large Modal Survey Testing Using the Ibrahim Time Domain Identification Technique; (3) Computation of Normal Modes from Identified Complex Modes; (4) Dynamic Modeling of Structural from Measured Complex Modes; and (5) Time Domain Quasi-Linear Identification of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems.

Fabrication of Large YBCO Superconducting Disks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koczor, Ronald J.; Noever, David A.; Robertson, Glen A.

1999-01-01

We have undertaken fabrication of large bulk items to develop a repeatable process and to provide test articles in laboratory experiments investigating reported coupling of electromagnetic fields with the local gravity field in the presence of rotating superconducting disks. A successful process was developed which resulted in fabrication of 30 cm diameter annular disks. The disks were fabricated of the superconductor YBa2Cu3O(7-x). Various material parameters of the disks were measured.

Physical properties of VNTR data, and their impact on a test of allelic independence

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

Devlin, B.; Risch, N.

1993-08-01

In this article the authors describe the physical properties of VNTR data, as well as their effects on the two-dimensional distribution of fragment pairs. Tests of independence of alleles at a locus may confound those physical properties with allele independence. A recently proposed test by Geisser and Johnson is an example. The authors show that alleles can be strictly independent, yet the proposed test suggests large violations of allele independence because it is sensitive to well-known electrophoretic phenomena. 7 refs., 4 tabs.

Architecture for Variable Data Entry into a National Registry.

PubMed

Goossen, William

2017-01-01

The Dutch perinatal registry required a new architecture due to the large variability of the submitted data from midwives and hospitals. The purpose of this article is to describe the healthcare information architecture for the Dutch perinatal registry. requirements analysis, design, development and testing. The architecture is depicted for its components and preliminary test results. The data entry and storage work well, the Data Marts are under preparation.

Predictors of Sustainability of Social Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Savaya, Riki; Spiro, Shimon E.

2012-01-01

This article presents the findings of a large scale study that tested a comprehensive model of predictors of three manifestations of sustainability: continuation, institutionalization, and duration. Based on the literature the predictors were arrayed in four groups: variables pertaining to the project, the auspice organization, the community, and…

Economizing Education: Assessment Algorithms and Calculative Agencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Keeffe, Cormac

2017-01-01

International Large Scale Assessments have been producing data about educational attainment for over 60 years. More recently however, these assessments as tests have become digitally and computationally complex and increasingly rely on the calculative work performed by algorithms. In this article I first consider the coordination of relations…

Metrology of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baird, Jo-Anne; Andrich, David; Hopfenbeck, Therese N.; Stobart, Gordon

2017-01-01

In response to the commentaries to their original article, the authors thank the commentators for their remarks and note that there is some general consensus across the commentaries around some major themes: (1) the lack of articulation between assessment and learning theories, particularly in relation to large-scale testing used for…

Comparing Strategies for Health Information Dissemination: Messengers That Can Help or Hinder.

PubMed

Fishman, Jessica; Greenberg, Patricia; Bagga, Margy Barbieri; Casarett, David; Propert, Kathleen

2018-05-01

To test the effects of different messengers on the dissemination of health information. An experimental study exposed participants to 12 news articles pertaining to 1 of 3 health topics framed from the perspective of 4 generic messengers: religious figures, doctors, celebrity patients, or ordinary patients. Participants select as many of the 12 articles as desired. A cancer clinic within a large, urban hospital serving a sociodemographically diverse patient population. Eighty-nine patients with a history of cancer. The primary outcome was the frequency with which each news story was selected. Summary statistics and a general estimating equation model. For each health topic, news articles using celebrity messengers were the least likely to be selected; almost half of the participants (36 [41.4%] of 87) rejected all such articles. Articles linked to religious figures were equally unpopular ( P = .59). Articles that used doctors or ordinary patients as the messenger were very likely to be selected: Nearly all women (84 [96.6%] of 87) selected at least one of these. Furthermore, the odds of choosing articles linked to celebrities or religious leaders were statistically significantly lower than the odds of choosing those linked to ordinary patients or doctors ( P < .01). Commonly used generic messengers had large effects on the dissemination of information. Health materials linked to celebrities or religious figures were consistently less likely to be selected than those linked to ordinary patients, or doctors.

High-Temperature Modal Survey of a Hot-Structure Control Surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spivey, Natalie Dawn

2010-01-01

Ground vibration tests or modal surveys are routinely conducted for supporting flutter analysis for subsonic and supersonic vehicles; however, for hypersonic vehicle applications, thermoelastic vibration testing techniques are not well established and are not routinely performed for supporting hypersonic flutter analysis. New high-temperature material systems, fabrication technologies and high-temperature sensors expand the opportunities to develop advanced techniques for performing ground vibration tests at elevated temperatures. High-temperature materials have the unique property of increasing in stiffness when heated. When these materials are incorporated into a hot-structure, which includes metallic components that decrease in stiffness with increasing temperature, the interaction between the two materials systems needs to be understood because that interaction could ultimately affect the hypersonic flutter analysis. Performing a high-temperature modal survey will expand the research database for hypersonics and will help build upon the understanding of the dual material interaction. This paper will discuss the vibration testing of the Carbon-Silicon Carbide Ruddervator Subcomponent Test Article which is a truncated version of the full-scale X-37 hot-structure control surface. In order to define the modal characteristics of the test article during the elevated-temperature modal survey, two series of room-temperature modal test configurations had to be performed. The room-temperature test series included one with the test article suspended from a bungee cord (free-free) and the second with it mounted on the strongback (fixed boundary condition) in NASA Dryden's Flight Loads Lab large nitrogen test chamber.

Can Educationally Significant Learning Be Assessed?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stolz, Steven A.

2017-01-01

This article argues that assessment is a central feature of teaching, particularly as a means to determine whether what has been taught has been learnt. However, I take issue with the current trend in education which places a significant amount of emphasis upon large-scale public testing, which in turn has exacerbated the…

Scaffolding Assignments and Activities for Undergraduate Research Methods

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Sarah; Justwan, Florian

2018-01-01

This article details assignments and lessons created for and tested in research methods courses at two different universities, a large state school and a small liberal arts college. Each assignment or activity utilized scaffolding. Students were asked to push beyond their comfort zone while utilizing concrete and/or creative examples,…

Measuring Emotions in Students' Learning and Performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pekrun, Reinhard; Goetz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne C.; Barchfeld, Petra; Perry, Raymond P.

2011-01-01

Aside from test anxiety scales, measurement instruments assessing students' achievement emotions are largely lacking. This article reports on the construction, reliability, internal validity, and external validity of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) which is designed to assess various achievement emotions experienced by students in…

Matching Classroom Instruction with Reading Abilities: An Unmet Need.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durkin, Dolores

1990-01-01

This article discusses a widespread failure of schools to match reading instruction to children's needs, identifying large class sizes, dependence on basal reader programs and questionable testing practices as contributing factors. Basal materials are seen as contributing to standardized curricula and impeding efforts to shift teacher behavior…

Should direct-to-consumer personalized genomic medicine remain unregulated?: a rebuttal of the defenses.

PubMed

Valles, Sean A

2012-01-01

Direct-to-consumer personalized genomic medicine has recently grown into a small industry that sells mail-order DNA sample kits and then provides disease risk assessments, typically based upon results from genome-trait association studies. The companies selling these services have been largely exempted from FDA regulation in the United States. Testing kit companies and their supporters have defended the industry's unregulated status using two arguments. First, defenders have argued that mere absence of harm is all that must be proved for mail-order tests to be acceptable. Second, defenders of mail-order testing have argued that there is an individual right to the tests' information. This article rebuts these arguments. The article demonstrates that the direct-to-consumer market has resulted in the sidelining of clinical utility (medical value to patients), leading to the development of certain mail-order tests that do not promote customers' interests and to defenders' downplaying of a potentially damaging empirical study of mail-order genomic testing's effects on consumers. The article also shows that the notion of an individual right to these tests rests on a flawed reading of the key service provided by mail-order companies, which is the provision of medical interpretations, not simply genetic information. Absent these two justifications, there is no reason to exempt direct-to-consumer personalized genomic medicine from stringent federal oversight.

Study of stress-strain and volume change behavior of emplaced municipal solid waste using large-scale triaxial testing.

PubMed

Ramaiah, B J; Ramana, G V

2017-05-01

The article presents the stress-strain and volume change behavior, shear strength and stiffness parameters of landfilled municipal solid waste (MSW) collected from two dump sites located in Delhi, India. Over 30 drained triaxial compression (TXC) tests were conducted on reconstituted large-scale specimens of 150mm diameter to study the influence of fiber content, age, density and confining pressure on the shear strength of MSW. In addition, a few TXC tests were also conducted on 70mm diameter specimen to examine the effect of specimen size on the mobilized shear strength. It is observed that the fibrous materials such as textiles and plastics, and their percentage by weight have a significant effect on the stress-strain-volume change behavior, shear strength and stiffness of solid waste. The stress-strain-volume change behavior of MSW at Delhi is qualitatively in agreement with the behavior reported for MSW from different countries. Results of large-scale direct shear tests conducted on MSW with an identical composition used for TXC tests revealed the cross-anisotropic behavior as reported by previous researchers. Effective shear strength parameters of solid waste evaluated from this study is best characterized by ϕ'=39° and c'=0kPa for the limiting strain-based failure criteria of K 0 =0.3+5% axial strain and are in the range of the data reported for MSW from different countries. Data presented in this article is useful for the stress-deformation and stability analysis of the dump sites during their operation as well as closure plans. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Generalized Higher Criticism for Testing SNP-Set Effects in Genetic Association Studies

PubMed Central

Barnett, Ian; Mukherjee, Rajarshi; Lin, Xihong

2017-01-01

It is of substantial interest to study the effects of genes, genetic pathways, and networks on the risk of complex diseases. These genetic constructs each contain multiple SNPs, which are often correlated and function jointly, and might be large in number. However, only a sparse subset of SNPs in a genetic construct is generally associated with the disease of interest. In this article, we propose the generalized higher criticism (GHC) to test for the association between an SNP set and a disease outcome. The higher criticism is a test traditionally used in high-dimensional signal detection settings when marginal test statistics are independent and the number of parameters is very large. However, these assumptions do not always hold in genetic association studies, due to linkage disequilibrium among SNPs and the finite number of SNPs in an SNP set in each genetic construct. The proposed GHC overcomes the limitations of the higher criticism by allowing for arbitrary correlation structures among the SNPs in an SNP-set, while performing accurate analytic p-value calculations for any finite number of SNPs in the SNP-set. We obtain the detection boundary of the GHC test. We compared empirically using simulations the power of the GHC method with existing SNP-set tests over a range of genetic regions with varied correlation structures and signal sparsity. We apply the proposed methods to analyze the CGEM breast cancer genome-wide association study. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. PMID:28736464

Space Propulsion Research Facility (B-2): An Innovative, Multi-Purpose Test Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Gerald M.; Weaver, Harold F.; Kudlac, Maureen T.; Maloney, Christian T.; Evans, Richard K.

2011-01-01

The Space Propulsion Research Facility, commonly referred to as B-2, is designed to hot fire rocket engines or upper stage launch vehicles with up to 890,000 N force (200,000 lb force), after environmental conditioning of the test article in simulated thermal vacuum space environment. As NASA s third largest thermal vacuum facility, and the largest designed to store and transfer large quantities of propellant, it is uniquely suited to support developmental testing associated with large lightweight structures and Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) systems, as well as non-traditional propulsion test programs such as Electric and In-Space propulsion. B-2 has undergone refurbishment of key subsystems to support the NASA s future test needs, including data acquisition and controls, vacuum, and propellant systems. This paper details the modernization efforts at B-2 to support the Nation s thermal vacuum/propellant test capabilities, the unique design considerations implemented for efficient operations and maintenance, and ultimately to reduce test costs.

[The requirements of standard and conditions of interchangeability of medical articles].

PubMed

Men'shikov, V V; Lukicheva, T I

2013-11-01

The article deals with possibility to apply specific approaches under evaluation of interchangeability of medical articles for laboratory analysis. The development of standardized analytical technologies of laboratory medicine and formulation of requirements of standards addressed to manufacturers of medical articles the clinically validated requirements are to be followed. These requirements include sensitivity and specificity of techniques, accuracy and precision of research results, stability of reagents' quality in particular conditions of their transportation and storage. The validity of requirements formulated in standards and addressed to manufacturers of medical articles can be proved using reference system, which includes master forms and standard samples, reference techniques and reference laboratories. This approach is supported by data of evaluation of testing systems for measurement of level of thyrotrophic hormone, thyroid hormones and glycated hemoglobin HB A1c. The versions of testing systems can be considered as interchangeable only in case of results corresponding to the results of reference technique and comparable with them. In case of absence of functioning reference system the possibilities of the Joined committee of traceability in laboratory medicine make it possible for manufacturers of reagent sets to apply the certified reference materials under development of manufacturing of sets for large listing of analytes.

False Discovery Control in Large-Scale Spatial Multiple Testing

PubMed Central

Sun, Wenguang; Reich, Brian J.; Cai, T. Tony; Guindani, Michele; Schwartzman, Armin

2014-01-01

Summary This article develops a unified theoretical and computational framework for false discovery control in multiple testing of spatial signals. We consider both point-wise and cluster-wise spatial analyses, and derive oracle procedures which optimally control the false discovery rate, false discovery exceedance and false cluster rate, respectively. A data-driven finite approximation strategy is developed to mimic the oracle procedures on a continuous spatial domain. Our multiple testing procedures are asymptotically valid and can be effectively implemented using Bayesian computational algorithms for analysis of large spatial data sets. Numerical results show that the proposed procedures lead to more accurate error control and better power performance than conventional methods. We demonstrate our methods for analyzing the time trends in tropospheric ozone in eastern US. PMID:25642138

DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY HIGH-[TEMPERATURE GAS-COOLED TEST REACTOR

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

Sterbentz, James; Bayless, Paul; Strydom, Gerhard

A point design for a graphite-moderated, high-temperature, gas-cooled test reactor (HTG TR) has been developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) as part of a United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) initiative to explore and potentially expand the existing U.S. test reactor capabilities. This paper provides a summary of the design and its main attributes. The 200 MW HTG TR is a thermal-neutron spectrum reactor composed of hexagonal prismatic fuel and graphite reflector blocks. Twelve fuel columns (96 fuel blocks total and 6.34 m active core height) are arranged in two hexagonal rings to form a relatively compact, high-power density,more » annular core sandwiched between inner, outer, top, and bottom graphite reflectors. The HTG-TR is designed to operate at 7 MPa with a coolant inlet/outlet temperature of 325°C/650°C, and utilizes TRISO particle fuel from the DOE AGR Program with 425 ?m uranium oxycarbide (UCO) kernels and an enrichment of 15.5 wt% 235U. The primary mission of the HTG TR is material irradiation and therefore the core has been specifically designed and optimized to provide the highest possible thermal and fast neutron fluxes. The highest thermal neutron flux (3.90E+14 n/cm2s) occurs in the outer reflector, and the maximum fast flux levels (1.17E+14 n/cm2s) are produced in the central reflector column where most of the graphite has been removed. Due to high core temperatures under accident conditions, all the irradiation test facilities have been located in the inner and outer reflectors where fast flux levels decline. The core features a large number of irradiation positions with large test volumes and long test lengths, ideal for thermal neutron irradiation of large test articles. The total available test volume is more than 1100 liters. Up to four test loop facilities can be accommodated with pressure tube boundaries to isolate test articles and test fluids (e.g., liquid metal, liquid salt, light water) from the helium primary coolant system.« less

Tuberculin skin test, Interferon gamma release assays or just chest X-ray to study latent tuberculosis before solid organ transplantation?

PubMed

Guirao-Arrabal, Emilio; Torre-Cisneros, Julián

2018-05-24

We have read with great interest the article entitled 'Tuberculosis (TB) after liver transplantation in a large center in New York City: QuantiFERON ® -TB Gold-based pre-transplant screening performance and active TB post transplant' by Hand et al. 1 The authors' results are in accordance with our previously published data in lung transplantation, in which we reported that radiologic findings in pretransplant chest computed tomography (CT) compatible with residual TB are an independent risk factor for post-transplant TB. 2 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Fixed Base Modal Testing Using the NASA GRC Mechanical Vibration Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Staab, Lucas D.; Winkel, James P.; Suarez, Vicente J.; Jones, Trevor M.; Napolitano, Kevin L.

2016-01-01

The Space Power Facility at NASA's Plum Brook Station houses the world's largest and most powerful space environment simulation facilities, including the Mechanical Vibration Facility (MVF), which offers the world's highest-capacity multi-axis spacecraft shaker system. The MVF was designed to perform sine vibration testing of a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV)-class spacecraft with a total mass of 75,000 pounds, center of gravity (cg) height above the table of 284 inches, diameter of 18 feet, and capability of 1.25 gravity units peak acceleration in the vertical and 1.0 gravity units peak acceleration in the lateral directions. The MVF is a six-degree-of-freedom, servo-hydraulic, sinusoidal base-shake vibration system that has the advantage of being able to perform single-axis sine vibration testing of large structures in the vertical and two lateral axes without the need to reconfigure the test article for each axis. This paper discusses efforts to extend the MVF's capabilities so that it can also be used to determine fixed base modes of its test article without the need for an expensive test-correlated facility simulation.

National Testing: Gains or Strains? School Leaders' Responses to Policy Demands

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunnulfsen, Ann Elisabeth; Møller, Jorunn

2017-01-01

Studies have shown that principals are essential in successfully implementing large-scale policy reforms in schools. However, the issue of how school leaders interpret and transform reforms is understudied. This article explores how twelve Norwegian school leaders respond to external demands in a new policy context emphasizing national test…

Using Oral Exams to Assess Communication Skills in Business Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke-Smalley, Lisa A.

2014-01-01

Business, like many other fields in higher education, continues to rely largely on conventional testing methods for assessing student learning. In the current article, another evaluation approach--the oral exam--is examined as a means for building and evaluating the professional communication and oral dialogue skills needed and utilized by…

Multimodal Reading Comprehension: Curriculum Expectations and Large-Scale Literacy Testing Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Unsworth, Len

2014-01-01

Interpreting the image-language interface in multimodal texts is now well recognized as a crucial aspect of reading comprehension in a number of official school syllabi such as the recently published Australian Curriculum: English (ACE). This article outlines the relevant expected student learning outcomes in this curriculum and draws attention to…

Statistical Power of Psychological Research: What Have We Gained in 20 Years?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossi, Joseph S.

1990-01-01

Calculated power for 6,155 statistical tests in 221 journal articles published in 1982 volumes of "Journal of Abnormal Psychology,""Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology," and "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology." Power to detect small, medium, and large effects was .17, .57, and .83, respectively. Concluded that power of…

Diagnostic molecular microbiology: a 2013 snapshot.

PubMed

Fairfax, Marilynn Ransom; Salimnia, Hossein

2013-12-01

Molecular testing has a large and increasing role in the diagnosis of infectious diseases. It has evolved significantly since the first probe tests were FDA approved in the early 1990s. This article highlights the uses of molecular techniques in diagnostic microbiology, including "older," as well as innovative, probe techniques, qualitative and quantitative RT-PCR, highly multiplexed PCR panels, some of which use sealed microfluidic test cartridges, MALDI TOF, and nuclear magnetic resonance. Tests are grouped together by technique and target. Tests with similar roles for similar analytes are compared with respect to benefits, drawbacks, and possible problems. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Testing the accuracy of timing reports in visual timing tasks with a consumer-grade digital camera.

PubMed

Smyth, Rachael E; Oram Cardy, Janis; Purcell, David

2017-06-01

This study tested the accuracy of a visual timing task using a readily available and relatively inexpensive consumer grade digital camera. A visual inspection time task was recorded using short high-speed video clips and the timing as reported by the task's program was compared to the timing as recorded in the video clips. Discrepancies in these two timing reports were investigated further and based on display refresh rate, a decision was made whether the discrepancy was large enough to affect the results as reported by the task. In this particular study, the errors in timing were not large enough to impact the results of the study. The procedure presented in this article offers an alternative method for performing a timing test, which uses readily available hardware and can be used to test the timing in any software program on any operating system and display.

Fiber Optic Rosette Strain Gauge Development and Application on a Large-Scale Composite Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Jason P.; Przekop, Adam; Juarez, Peter D.; Roth, Mark C.

2015-01-01

A detailed description of the construction, application, and measurement of 196 FO rosette strain gauges that measured multi-axis strain across the outside upper surface of the forward bulkhead component of a multibay composite fuselage test article is presented. A background of the FO strain gauge and the FO measurement system as utilized in this application is given and results for the higher load cases of the testing sequence are shown.

Sharpen Your Skills: Large Type.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knisely, Phillis; Wickham, Marian

1984-01-01

Three short articles about large type transcribing are provided for braille transcribers and teachers of the visually handicapped. The first article lists general suggestions for simple typewriter maintenance. The second article reviews the guidelines for typing fractions in large type for mathematics exercises. The third article describes a…

Large-Scale 3D Printing: The Way Forward

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jassmi, Hamad Al; Najjar, Fady Al; Ismail Mourad, Abdel-Hamid

2018-03-01

Research on small-scale 3D printing has rapidly evolved, where numerous industrial products have been tested and successfully applied. Nonetheless, research on large-scale 3D printing, directed to large-scale applications such as construction and automotive manufacturing, yet demands a great a great deal of efforts. Large-scale 3D printing is considered an interdisciplinary topic and requires establishing a blended knowledge base from numerous research fields including structural engineering, materials science, mechatronics, software engineering, artificial intelligence and architectural engineering. This review article summarizes key topics of relevance to new research trends on large-scale 3D printing, particularly pertaining (1) technological solutions of additive construction (i.e. the 3D printers themselves), (2) materials science challenges, and (3) new design opportunities.

Human papillomavirus DNA testing as an adjunct to cytology in cervical screening programs.

PubMed

Lörincz, Attila T; Richart, Ralph M

2003-08-01

Our objective was to review current large studies of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing as an adjunct to the Papanicolaou test for cervical cancer screening programs. We analyzed 10 large screening studies that used the Hybrid Capture 2 test and 3 studies that used the polymerase chain reaction test in a manner that enabled reliable estimates of accuracy for detecting or predicting high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Most studies allowed comparison of HPV DNA and Papanicolaou testing and estimates of the performance of Papanicolaou and HPV DNA as combined tests. The studies were selected on the basis of a sufficient number of cases of high-grade CIN and cancer to provide meaningful statistical values. Investigators had to demonstrate the ability to generate reasonably reliable Hybrid Capture 2 or polymerase chain reaction data that were either minimally biased by nature of study design or that permitted analytical techniques for addressing issues of study bias to be applied. Studies had to provide data for the calculation of test sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, odds ratios, relative risks, confidence intervals, and other relevant measures. Final data were abstracted directly from published articles or estimated from descriptive statistics presented in the articles. In some studies, new analyses were performed from raw data supplied by the principal investigators. We concluded that HPV DNA testing was a more sensitive indicator for prevalent high-grade CIN than either conventional or liquid cytology. A combination of HPV DNA and Papanicolaou testing had almost 100% sensitivity and negative predictive value. The specificity of the combined tests was slightly lower than the specificity of the Papanicolaou test alone, but this decrease could potentially be offset by greater protection from neoplastic progression and cost savings available from extended screening intervals. One "double-negative" HPV DNA and Papanicolaou test indicated better prognostic assurance against risk of future CIN 3 than 3 subsequent negative conventional Papanicolaou tests and may safely allow 3-year screening intervals for such low-risk women.

Comparison of Force and Moment Coefficients for the Same Test Article in Multiple Wind Tunnels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deloach, Richard

2013-01-01

This paper compares the results of force and moment measurements made on the same test article and with the same balance in three transonic wind tunnels. Comparisons are made for the same combination of Reynolds number, Mach number, sideslip angle, control surface configuration, and angle of attack range. Between-tunnel force and moment differences are quantified. An analysis of variance was performed at four unique sites in the design space to assess the statistical significance of between-tunnel variation and any interaction with angle of attack. Tunnel to tunnel differences too large to attribute to random error were detected were observed for all forces and moments. In some cases these differences were independent of angle of attack and in other cases they changed with angle of attack.

Fuel containment and damage tolerance in large composite primary aircraft structures. Phase 2: Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sandifer, J. P.; Denny, A.; Wood, M. A.

1985-01-01

Technical issues associated with fuel containment and damage tolerance of composite wing structures for transport aircraft were investigated. Material evaluation tests were conducted on two toughened resin composites: Celion/HX1504 and Celion/5245. These consisted of impact, tension, compression, edge delamination, and double cantilever beam tests. Another test series was conducted on graphite/epoxy box beams simulating a wing cover to spar cap joint configuration of a pressurized fuel tank. These tests evaluated the effectiveness of sealing methods with various fastener types and spacings under fatigue loading and with pressurized fuel. Another test series evaluated the ability of the selected coatings, film, and materials to prevent fuel leakage through 32-ply AS4/2220-1 laminates at various impact energy levels. To verify the structural integrity of the technology demonstration article structural details, tests were conducted on blade stiffened panels and sections. Compression tests were performed on undamaged and impacted stiffened AS4/2220-1 panels and smaller element tests to evaluate stiffener pull-off, side load and failsafe properties. Compression tests were also performed on panels subjected to Zone 2 lightning strikes. All of these data were integrated into a demonstration article representing a moderately loaded area of a transport wing. This test combined lightning strike, pressurized fuel, impact, impact repair, fatigue and residual strength.

Analytical and Experimental Characterization of Gravity Induced Deformations In Subscale Gossamer Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnston, John D.; Blandino, Joseph R.; McEvoy, Kiley C.

2004-01-01

The development of gossamer space structures such as solar sails and sunshields presents many challenges due to their large size and extreme flexibility. The post-deployment structural geometry exhibited during ground testing may significantly depart from the in-space configuration due to the presence of gravity-induced deformations (gravity sag) of lightly preloaded membranes. This paper describes a study carried out to characterize gravity sag in two subscale gossamer structures: a single quadrant from a 2 m, 4 quadrant square solar sail and a 1.7 m membrane layer from a multi-layer sunshield The behavior of the test articles was studied over a range of preloads and in several orientations with respect to gravity. An experimental study was carried out to measure the global surface profiles using photogrammetry, and nonlinear finite element analysis was used to predict the behavior of the test articles. Comparison of measured and predicted surface profiles shows that the finite dement analysis qualitatively predicts deformed shapes comparable to those observed in the laboratory. Quantitatively, finite element analysis predictions for peak gravity-induced deformations in both test articles were within 10% of measured values. Results from this study provide increased insight into gravity sag behavior in gossamer structures, and demonstrates the potential to analytically predict gravity-induced deformations to within reasonable accuracy.

The new Medical College Admission Test: Implications for teaching psychology.

PubMed

Mitchell, Karen; Lewis, Richard S; Satterfield, Jason; Hong, Barry A

2016-01-01

This year's applicants to medical school took a newly revised version of the Medical College Admission Test. Unlike applicants in the past, they were asked to demonstrate their knowledge and use of concepts commonly taught in introductory psychology courses. The new Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior Test asked applicants to demonstrate the ways in which psychological, social, and biological factors influence perceptions and reactions to the world; behavior and behavior change; what people think about themselves and others; the cultural and social differences that influence well-being; and the relationships among social stratification, access to resources, and well-being. Building from the classic biopsychosocial model, this article provides the rationale for testing psychology concepts in application to medical school. It describes the concepts and skills that the new exam tests and shows how they lay the foundation for learning in medical school about the behavioral and sociocultural determinants of health. This article discusses the implications of these changes for undergraduate psychology faculty and psychology curricula as well as their importance to the profession of psychology at large. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

The New Medical College Admission Test: Implications for Teaching Psychology

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Karen; Satterfield, Jason; Lewis, Richard S.; Hong, Barry A.

2017-01-01

This year’s applicants to medical school took a newly revised version of the Medical College Admission Test. Unlike applicants in the past, they were asked to demonstrate their knowledge and use of concepts commonly taught in introductory psychology courses. The new Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior Test asked applicants to demonstrate the ways in which psychological, social, and biological factors influence perceptions and reactions to the world; behavior and behavior change; what people think about themselves and others; the cultural and social differences that influence well-being; and the relationships among social stratification, access to resources, and well-being. Building from the classic biopsychosocial model, this article provides the rationale for testing psychology concepts in application to medical school. It describes the concepts and skills that the new exam tests and shows how they lay the foundation for learning in medical school about the behavioral and sociocultural determinants of health. This article discusses the implications of these changes for undergraduate psychology faculty and psychology curricula as well as their importance to the profession of psychology at large. PMID:26866988

A collection of articles on S/X-band experiment zero delay ranging tests, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otoshi, T. Y. (Editor)

1975-01-01

Articles are presented which are concerned with the development of special test equipment and a dual-frequency zero delay device (ZDD) that were required for range tests and the measurement of ground station delays for the Mariner-Venus-Mercury 1973 S/X-band experiment. Test data obtained at DSS 14 after installation of the ZDD on the 64-m antenna are given. It is shown that large variations of range were observed as a function of antenna elevation angle and were sensitive to antenna location. A ranging calibration configuration that was subsequently developed and a technique for determining the appropriate Z-correction are described. Zero delay test data at DSS 14 during the Mariner 10 Venus-Mercury-Encounter periods (1974 days 12-150) are presented. The theoretical analysis and experimental verifications are included of the effects of multipath and effects of discontinuities on range delay measurements. A movable subreflector technique and the multipath theory were used to isolate principal multipath errors on the 64-m antenna and to enable a more accurate determination of the actual ground station range delay.

Tension and Bending Testing of an Integral T-Cap for Stitched Composite Airframe Joints

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Leone, Frank A., Jr.

2016-01-01

The Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) is a structural concept that was developed by The Boeing Company to address the complex structural design aspects associated with a pressurized hybrid wing body aircraft configuration. An important design feature required for assembly is the integrally stitched T-cap, which provides connectivity of the corner (orthogonal) joint between adjacent panels. A series of tests were conducted on T-cap test articles, with and without a rod stiffener penetrating the T-cap web, under tension (pull-off) and bending loads. Three designs were tested, including the baseline design used in large-scale test articles. The baseline had only the manufacturing stitch row adjacent to the fillet at the base of the T-cap web. Two new designs added stitching rows to the T-cap web at either 0.5- or 1.0-inch spacing along the height of the web. Testing was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center to determine the behavior of the T-cap region resulting from the applied loading. Results show that stitching arrests the initial delamination failures so that the maximum strength capability exceeds the load at which the initial delaminations develop. However, it was seen that the added web stitching had very little effect on the initial delamination failure load, but actually decreased the initial delamination failure load for tension loading of test articles without a stiffener passing through the web. Additionally, the added web stitching only increased the maximum load capability by between 1% and 12.5%. The presence of the stiffener, however, did increase the initial and maximum loads for both tension and bending loading as compared to the stringerless baseline design. Based on the results of the few samples tested, the additional stitching in the T-cap web showed little advantage over the baseline design in terms of structural failure at the T-cap web/skin junction for the current test articles.

Orbital construction support equipment - Manned remote work station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nassiff, S. H.

1978-01-01

The Manned Remote Work Station (MRWS) is a versatile piece of orbital construction support equipment which can support in-space construction in various modes of operation. Proposed near-term Space Shuttle mission support and future large orbiting systems support, along with the various construction modes of MRWS operation, are discussed. Preliminary flight subsystems requirements and configuration design are presented. Integration of the MRWS development test article with the JSC Mockup and Integration Facility, including ground-test objectives and techniques for zero-g simulations, is also presented.

Near patient testing in general practice: a review.

PubMed Central

Hilton, S

1990-01-01

Until recently, technological advances in general practice have generally been thought of as the applications of microcomputers in practice organization and record keeping. Advances in miniaturization and versatility of diagnostic technology will have a similarly large impact on the way general practitioners practice medicine in the next decade. This article reviews some of the newer tests that are already available to general practitioners, particularly in diagnostic biochemistry and microbiology. Preliminary evaluative work and research studies in general practice are also described. PMID:2107838

Filtering Essays by Means of a Software Tool: Identifying Poor Essays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seifried, Eva; Lenhard, Wolfgang; Spinath, Birgit

2017-01-01

Writing essays and receiving feedback can be useful for fostering students' learning and motivation. When faced with large class sizes, it is desirable to identify students who might particularly benefit from feedback. In this article, we tested the potential of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) for identifying poor essays. A total of 14 teaching…

Socio-Economic Status and Early Childhood Cognitive Skills: A Mediation Analysis Using the Young Lives Panel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez Boo, Florencia

2016-01-01

This article documents differences in cognitive development, as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), between children from households with high and low socioeconomic status (SES) in two different phases of early childhood in four developing countries. A large number of potential mediators, such as urban residence, preschool…

To What Extent Do Teachers in European Countries Differ in Their Professional Community Practices?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lomos, Catalina

2017-01-01

Within comparative school effectiveness research facilitated by large-scale data across countries, this article presents the results of the testing for measurement invariance of the latent concept of Professional Community (PC) across 23 European countries and more than 35,000 teachers in secondary schools. The newly proposed Multiple-Group Factor…

The Emergence of a Learning Progression in Middle School Chemistry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Philip; Tymms, Peter

2011-01-01

Previously, a small scale, interview-based, 3-year longitudinal study (ages 11-14) in one school had suggested a learning progression related to the concept of a substance. This article presents the results of a large-scale, cross-sectional study which used Rasch modeling to test the hypothesis of the learning progression. Data were collected from…

Boys Just Want to Have Fun? Masculinity, Sexual Behaviors, and Romantic Intentions of Gay and Straight Males in College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrios, R. J.; Lundquist, Jennifer Hickes

2012-01-01

Scholars studying college student sexual culture in the United States largely frame men as being detached from emotions, unconcerned with relationships, and in pursuit of sexual conquests. By expanding the examination of college sexual culture, an environment often associated with meaningless sexual encounters, this article tests those stereotypes…

On the Post Hoc Power in Testing Mean Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Ke-Hai; Maxwell, Scott

2005-01-01

Retrospective or post hoc power analysis is recommended by reviewers and editors of many journals. Little literature has been found that gave a serious study of the post hoc power. When the sample size is large, the observed effect size is a good estimator of the true power. This article studies whether such a power estimator provides valuable…

Item Difficulty in the Evaluation of Computer-Based Instruction: An Example from Neuroanatomy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chariker, Julia H.; Naaz, Farah; Pani, John R.

2012-01-01

This article reports large item effects in a study of computer-based learning of neuroanatomy. Outcome measures of the efficiency of learning, transfer of learning, and generalization of knowledge diverged by a wide margin across test items, with certain sets of items emerging as particularly difficult to master. In addition, the outcomes of…

An Anthropologist among the Psychometricians: Assessment Events, Ethnography, and Differential Item Functioning in the Mongolian Gobi

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maddox, Bryan; Zumbo, Bruno D.; Tay-Lim, Brenda; Qu, Demin

2015-01-01

This article explores the potential for ethnographic observations to inform the analysis of test item performance. In 2010, a standardized, large-scale adult literacy assessment took place in Mongolia as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Literacy Assessment and Monitoring Programme (LAMP). In a novel form…

Increasing Minority Children's Participation in Gifted Classes Using the NNAT: A Response to Lohman

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naglieri, Jack A.; Ford, Donna Y.

2005-01-01

In a previous article, we (Naglieri & Ford, 2003) provided evidence from a large-scale study that similar proportions of White, Black, and Hispanic children would be identified as gifted using the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; Naglieri, 1997). Lohman (2005) has taken issue with our conclusions and our methods. We provide several…

Rethinking Exams and Letter Grades: How Much Can Teachers Delegate to Students?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitchen, Elizabeth; King, Summer H.; Robison, Diane F.; Sudweeks, Richard R.; Bradshaw, William S.; Bell, John D.

2006-01-01

In this article we report a 3-yr study of a large-enrollment Cell Biology course focused on developing student skill in scientific reasoning and data interpretation. Specifically, the study tested the hypothesis that converting the role of exams from summative grading devices to formative tools would increase student success in acquiring those…

Japanese as a Second Language Assessment in Japan: Current Issues and Future Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatasa, Yukiko; Watanabe, Tomoko

2017-01-01

This article reviews assessment practices of Japanese as a second language as taught in Japan since the 1980s. It begins with an explanation of the social and political conditions that have impacted assessment practices in Japan and then addresses current assessment practices and issues. This analysis first examines large-scale tests developed in…

Online Assignments in Economics: A Test of Their Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennelly, Brendan; Considine, John; Flannery, Darragh

2011-01-01

This article compares the effectiveness of online and paper-based assignments and tutorials using summative assessment results. All of the students in a large managerial economics course at National University of Ireland, Galway were asked to do six assignments online using Aplia and to do two on paper. The authors examined whether a student's…

School Subtracts Math Texts to Add E-Lessons, Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trotter, Andrew

2007-01-01

This article discusses how math teachers at San Marcos High School turned to an online curriculum and in-class assessments to increase student achievement. Setting aside their 7-year-old textbooks, teachers filled the void largely with an online math curriculum, called Agile Mind, that comes equipped with an array of assessment tools. The idea was…

SLS Test Hardware Taken to Redstone Arsenal Airfield for Guppy Loading

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-07-10

A structural test article of the Orion Stage Adapter for NASA’s Space Launch System, built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, is transported and prepared to be loaded onto NASA's Super Guppy aircraft. With integrated structural testing complete at Marshall, the stage adapter will soon be transported to Lockheed Martin in Denver for further testing with NASA's Orion spacecraft. The Guppy -- a plane large enough to carry cargo weighing more than 26 tons -- arrived at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal Airfield July 10 to transport the stage adapter. On SLS's first integrated flight with Orion, the OSA will connect Orion to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage.

A systematic review of patient acceptance of consumer health information technology.

PubMed

Or, Calvin K L; Karsh, Ben-Tzion

2009-01-01

A systematic literature review was performed to identify variables promoting consumer health information technology (CHIT) acceptance among patients. The electronic bibliographic databases Web of Science, Business Source Elite, CINAHL, Communication and Mass Media Complete, MEDLINE, PsycArticles, and PsycInfo were searched. A cited reference search of articles meeting the inclusion criteria was also conducted to reduce misses. Fifty-two articles met the selection criteria. Among them, 94 different variables were tested for associations with acceptance. Most of those tested (71%) were patient factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, health- and treatment-related variables, and prior experience or exposure to computer/health technology. Only ten variables were related to human-technology interaction; 16 were organizational factors; and one was related to the environment. In total, 62 (66%) were found to predict acceptance in at least one study. Existing literature focused largely on patient-related factors. No studies examined the impact of social and task factors on acceptance, and few tested the effects of organizational or environmental factors on acceptance. Future research guided by technology acceptance theories should fill those gaps to improve our understanding of patient CHIT acceptance, which in turn could lead to better CHIT design and implementation.

FDTD method for laser absorption in metals for large scale problems.

PubMed

Deng, Chun; Ki, Hyungson

2013-10-21

The FDTD method has been successfully used for many electromagnetic problems, but its application to laser material processing has been limited because even a several-millimeter domain requires a prohibitively large number of grids. In this article, we present a novel FDTD method for simulating large-scale laser beam absorption problems, especially for metals, by enlarging laser wavelength while maintaining the material's reflection characteristics. For validation purposes, the proposed method has been tested with in-house FDTD codes to simulate p-, s-, and circularly polarized 1.06 μm irradiation on Fe and Sn targets, and the simulation results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions.

High-performance information search filters for acute kidney injury content in PubMed, Ovid Medline and Embase.

PubMed

Hildebrand, Ainslie M; Iansavichus, Arthur V; Haynes, R Brian; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Mehta, Ravindra L; Parikh, Chirag R; Garg, Amit X

2014-04-01

We frequently fail to identify articles relevant to the subject of acute kidney injury (AKI) when searching the large bibliographic databases such as PubMed, Ovid Medline or Embase. To address this issue, we used computer automation to create information search filters to better identify articles relevant to AKI in these databases. We first manually reviewed a sample of 22 992 full-text articles and used prespecified criteria to determine whether each article contained AKI content or not. In the development phase (two-thirds of the sample), we developed and tested the performance of >1.3-million unique filters. Filters with high sensitivity and high specificity for the identification of AKI articles were then retested in the validation phase (remaining third of the sample). We succeeded in developing and validating high-performance AKI search filters for each bibliographic database with sensitivities and specificities in excess of 90%. Filters optimized for sensitivity reached at least 97.2% sensitivity, and filters optimized for specificity reached at least 99.5% specificity. The filters were complex; for example one PubMed filter included >140 terms used in combination, including 'acute kidney injury', 'tubular necrosis', 'azotemia' and 'ischemic injury'. In proof-of-concept searches, physicians found more articles relevant to topics in AKI with the use of the filters. PubMed, Ovid Medline and Embase can be filtered for articles relevant to AKI in a reliable manner. These high-performance information filters are now available online and can be used to better identify AKI content in large bibliographic databases.

Preliminary Analysis of the 30-m UltraBoom Flight Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agnes, Gregory S.; Abelson, Robert D.; Miyake, Robert; Lin, John K. H.; Welsh, Joe; Watson, Judith J.

2005-01-01

Future NASA missions require long, ultra-lightweight booms to enable solar sails, large sunshields, and other gossamer-type spacecraft structures. The space experiment discussed in this paper will flight validate the non-traditional ultra lightweight rigidizable, inflatable, isogrid structure utilizing graphite shape memory polymer (GR/SMP) called UltraBoom(TradeMark). The focus of this paper is the analysis of the 3-m ground test article. The primary objective of the mission is to show that a combination of ground testing and analysis can predict the on-orbit performance of an ultra lightweight boom that is scalable, predictable, and thermomechanically stable.

Event construal and temporal distance in natural language.

PubMed

Bhatia, Sudeep; Walasek, Lukasz

2016-07-01

Construal level theory proposes that events that are temporally proximate are represented more concretely than events that are temporally distant. We tested this prediction using two large natural language text corpora. In study 1 we examined posts on Twitter that referenced the future, and found that tweets mentioning temporally proximate dates used more concrete words than those mentioning distant dates. In study 2 we obtained all New York Times articles that referenced U.S. presidential elections between 1987 and 2007. We found that the concreteness of the words in these articles increased with the temporal proximity to their corresponding election. Additionally the reduction in concreteness after the election was much greater than the increase in concreteness leading up to the election, though both changes in concreteness were well described by an exponential function. We replicated this finding with New York Times articles referencing US public holidays. Overall, our results provide strong support for the predictions of construal level theory, and additionally illustrate how large natural language datasets can be used to inform psychological theory. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Liquid Oxygen Propellant Densification Production and Performance Test Results With a Large-Scale Flight-Weight Propellant Tank for the X33 RLV

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tomsik, Thomas M.; Meyer, Michael L.

2010-01-01

This paper describes in-detail a test program that was initiated at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) involving the cryogenic densification of liquid oxygen (LO2). A large scale LO2 propellant densification system rated for 200 gpm and sized for the X-33 LO2 propellant tank, was designed, fabricated and tested at the GRC. Multiple objectives of the test program included validation of LO2 production unit hardware and characterization of densifier performance at design and transient conditions. First, performance data is presented for an initial series of LO2 densifier screening and check-out tests using densified liquid nitrogen. The second series of tests show performance data collected during LO2 densifier test operations with liquid oxygen as the densified product fluid. An overview of LO2 X-33 tanking operations and load tests with the 20,000 gallon Structural Test Article (STA) are described. Tank loading testing and the thermal stratification that occurs inside of a flight-weight launch vehicle propellant tank were investigated. These operations involved a closed-loop recirculation process of LO2 flow through the densifier and then back into the STA. Finally, in excess of 200,000 gallons of densified LO2 at 120 oR was produced with the propellant densification unit during the demonstration program, an achievement that s never been done before in the realm of large-scale cryogenic tests.

Maestro: an orchestration framework for large-scale WSN simulations.

PubMed

Riliskis, Laurynas; Osipov, Evgeny

2014-03-18

Contemporary wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have evolved into large and complex systems and are one of the main technologies used in cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things. Extensive research on WSNs has led to the development of diverse solutions at all levels of software architecture, including protocol stacks for communications. This multitude of solutions is due to the limited computational power and restrictions on energy consumption that must be accounted for when designing typical WSN systems. It is therefore challenging to develop, test and validate even small WSN applications, and this process can easily consume significant resources. Simulations are inexpensive tools for testing, verifying and generally experimenting with new technologies in a repeatable fashion. Consequently, as the size of the systems to be tested increases, so does the need for large-scale simulations. This article describes a tool called Maestro for the automation of large-scale simulation and investigates the feasibility of using cloud computing facilities for such task. Using tools that are built into Maestro, we demonstrate a feasible approach for benchmarking cloud infrastructure in order to identify cloud Virtual Machine (VM)instances that provide an optimal balance of performance and cost for a given simulation.

Maestro: An Orchestration Framework for Large-Scale WSN Simulations

PubMed Central

Riliskis, Laurynas; Osipov, Evgeny

2014-01-01

Contemporary wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have evolved into large and complex systems and are one of the main technologies used in cyber-physical systems and the Internet of Things. Extensive research on WSNs has led to the development of diverse solutions at all levels of software architecture, including protocol stacks for communications. This multitude of solutions is due to the limited computational power and restrictions on energy consumption that must be accounted for when designing typical WSN systems. It is therefore challenging to develop, test and validate even small WSN applications, and this process can easily consume significant resources. Simulations are inexpensive tools for testing, verifying and generally experimenting with new technologies in a repeatable fashion. Consequently, as the size of the systems to be tested increases, so does the need for large-scale simulations. This article describes a tool called Maestro for the automation of large-scale simulation and investigates the feasibility of using cloud computing facilities for such task. Using tools that are built into Maestro, we demonstrate a feasible approach for benchmarking cloud infrastructure in order to identify cloud Virtual Machine (VM)instances that provide an optimal balance of performance and cost for a given simulation. PMID:24647123

Antenna Technology Shuttle Experiment (ATSE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freeland, R. E.; Mettler, E.; Miller, L. J.; Rahmet-Samii, Y.; Weber, W. J., III

1987-01-01

Numerous space applications of the future will require mesh deployable antennas of 15 m in diameter or greater for frequencies up to 20 GHz. These applications include mobile communications satellites, orbiting very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) astrophysics missions, and Earth remote sensing missions. A Lockheed wrap rip antennas was used as the test article. The experiments covered a broad range of structural, control, and RF discipline objectives, which is fulfilled in total, would greatly reduce the risk of employing these antenna systems in future space applications. It was concluded that a flight experiment of a relatively large mesh deployable reflector is achievable with no major technological or cost drivers. The test articles and the instrumentation are all within the state of the art and in most cases rely on proven flight hardware. Every effort was made to design the experiments for low cost.

Outlier Removal and the Relation with Reporting Errors and Quality of Psychological Research

PubMed Central

Bakker, Marjan; Wicherts, Jelte M.

2014-01-01

Background The removal of outliers to acquire a significant result is a questionable research practice that appears to be commonly used in psychology. In this study, we investigated whether the removal of outliers in psychology papers is related to weaker evidence (against the null hypothesis of no effect), a higher prevalence of reporting errors, and smaller sample sizes in these papers compared to papers in the same journals that did not report the exclusion of outliers from the analyses. Methods and Findings We retrieved a total of 2667 statistical results of null hypothesis significance tests from 153 articles in main psychology journals, and compared results from articles in which outliers were removed (N = 92) with results from articles that reported no exclusion of outliers (N = 61). We preregistered our hypotheses and methods and analyzed the data at the level of articles. Results show no significant difference between the two types of articles in median p value, sample sizes, or prevalence of all reporting errors, large reporting errors, and reporting errors that concerned the statistical significance. However, we did find a discrepancy between the reported degrees of freedom of t tests and the reported sample size in 41% of articles that did not report removal of any data values. This suggests common failure to report data exclusions (or missingness) in psychological articles. Conclusions We failed to find that the removal of outliers from the analysis in psychological articles was related to weaker evidence (against the null hypothesis of no effect), sample size, or the prevalence of errors. However, our control sample might be contaminated due to nondisclosure of excluded values in articles that did not report exclusion of outliers. Results therefore highlight the importance of more transparent reporting of statistical analyses. PMID:25072606

A program for the investigation of the Multibody Modeling, Verification, and Control Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tobbe, Patrick A.; Christian, Paul M.; Rakoczy, John M.; Bulter, Marlon L.

1993-01-01

The Multibody Modeling, Verification, and Control (MMVC) Laboratory is under development at NASA MSFC in Huntsville, Alabama. The laboratory will provide a facility in which dynamic tests and analyses of multibody flexible structures representative of future space systems can be conducted. The purpose of the tests are to acquire dynamic measurements of the flexible structures undergoing large angle motions and use the data to validate the multibody modeling code, TREETOPS, developed under sponsorship of NASA. Advanced control systems design and system identification methodologies will also be implemented in the MMVC laboratory. This paper describes the ground test facility, the real-time control system, and the experiments. A top-level description of the TREETOPS code is also included along with the validation plan for the MMVC program. Dynamic test results from component testing are also presented and discussed. A detailed discussion of the test articles, which manifest the properties of large flexible space structures, is included along with a discussion of the various candidate control methodologies to be applied in the laboratory.

Inlet Duct being lowered into the Altitude Wind Tunnel Test Section

NASA Image and Video Library

1951-10-21

An inlet duct lowered into the 20-foot diameter test section of the Altitude Wind Tunnel at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. Engines and hardware were prepared in the facility’s shop area. The test articles were lifted by a two-rail Shaw box crane through the high-bay and the second-story test chamber before being lowered into the test section. Technicians then spent days or weeks hooking up the supply lines and data recording telemetry. The engines were mounted on wingspans that stretched across the test section. The wingtips attached to the balance frame’s trunnions, which could adjust the angle of attack. The balance frame included six devices that recorded data and controlled the engine. The measurements were visible in banks of manometer boards next to the control room. Photographs recorded the pressure levels in the manometer tubes, and the computing staff manually converted the data into useful measurements. A mechanical pulley system was used to raise and lower the tunnel’s large clamshell lid into place. The lid was sealed into place using hand-turned locks accessible from the viewing platform. The lid had viewing windows above and below the test article, which permitted the filming and visual inspection of the tests.

Partially Observed Mixtures of IRT Models: An Extension of the Generalized Partial-Credit Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Von Davier, Matthias; Yamamoto, Kentaro

2004-01-01

The generalized partial-credit model (GPCM) is used frequently in educational testing and in large-scale assessments for analyzing polytomous data. Special cases of the generalized partial-credit model are the partial-credit model--or Rasch model for ordinal data--and the two parameter logistic (2PL) model. This article extends the GPCM to the…

Quality Daily Physical Education for the Primary School Student: A Personal Account of the Trois-Rivieres Regional Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shephard, Roy J.; Trudeau, Francois

2013-01-01

This article offers a brief and personal account of the historical background, implementation and principal findings from the Trois-Rivieres regional project, a large-scale quasi-experimental intervention that tested the impact of providing a daily hour of specialist-taught quality physical education upon the physical and mental development of…

School Leaders' and Teachers' Work with National Test Results: Lost in Translation?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunnulfsen, Ann Elisabeth

2017-01-01

Studies have shown that school leaders are important in work with large-scale policy reforms in schools. However, the issue of how school leaders and teachers discuss and enact policy is under-studied. This article explores the discursive processes in school leaders' and teachers' policy enactment as they construct responses to policy. The data…

Using Data Mining to Predict K-12 Students' Performance on Large-Scale Assessment Items Related to Energy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Xiufeng; Ruiz, Miguel E.

2008-01-01

This article reports a study on using data mining to predict K-12 students' competence levels on test items related to energy. Data sources are the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1999 TIMSS-Repeat, 2003 Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the National Assessment of Educational…

Adopting a Blended Learning Approach: Challenges Encountered and Lessons Learned in an Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenney, Jane; Newcombe, Ellen

2011-01-01

Adopting a new teaching approach is often a daunting task especially if one is an early adopter in a limited-resource environment. This article describes the challenges encountered and the strategies used in pilot testing a blended instructional method in a large size class within the college of education at a medium-sized university. The main…

Promoting Reading Achievement and Countering the "Fourth-Grade Slump": The Impact of Direct Instruction on Reading Achievement in Fifth Grade

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stockard, Jean

2010-01-01

Previous research has documented a substantial decline of standardized test scores of children from low-income backgrounds, relative to more advantaged peers, in later elementary grades, the so-called "fourth-grade slump." This article examines changes in reading achievement from first to fifth grade for students in a large urban school…

Establishing a successful HIV counseling and testing service. A blueprint for preventing pediatric HIV infections and translating research into clinical practice.

PubMed

Rips, J

1997-12-01

The findings of ACTG 076 have already resulted in local, state, and federal legislative initiatives targeted at pregnant and post-partum women and their newborns. This article advises clinicians and administrations on setting up successful voluntary prenatal HIV counseling and testing programs for early detection of HIV infection, and complying with the burgeoning array of legislative directives. Over the past several years their have been attempts to optimize and evaluate testing programs--perinatal ZDV counseling and administration of ZDV--and to link HIV-infected women with care in academic, community, and municipal hospitals. The suggestions are, therefore, broad enough to be applicable to a full array of clinical practices, from a private single provider office to a large hospital-based prenatal clinic. It is hoped that the models presented in this article can be replicated in diverse settings, and that readers can avoid the pitfalls and barriers sometimes encountered.

The characterization of widespread fatigue damage in fuselage structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Piascik, Robert S.; Willard, Scott A.; Miller, Matthew

1994-01-01

The characteristics of widespread fatigue damage (WSFD) in fuselage riveted structure were established by detailed nondestructive and destructive examinations of fatigue damage contained in a full size fuselage test article. The objectives of this were to establish an experimental data base for validating emerging WSFD analytical prediction methodology and to identify first order effects that contribute to fatigue crack initiation and growth. Detailed examinations were performed on a test panel containing four bays of a riveted lap splice joint. The panel was removed from a full scale fuselage test article after receiving 60,000 full pressurization cycles. The results of in situ examinations document the progression of fuselage skin fatigue crack growth through crack linkup. Detailed tear down examinations and fractography of the lap splice joint region revealed fatigue crack initiation sites, crack morphology, and crack linkup geometry. From this large data base, distributions of crack size and locations are presented and discussions of operative damage mechanisms are offered.

The characterization of widespread fatigue damage in fuselage structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Piascik, Robert S.; Willard, Scott A.; Miller, Matthew

1994-01-01

The characteristics of widespread fatigue damage (WSFD) in fuselage riveted structure were established by detailed nondestructive and destructive examinations of fatigue damage contained in a full size fuselage test article. The objectives of this work were to establish an experimental data base for validating emerging WSFD analytical prediction methodology and to identify first order effects that contribute to fatigue crack initiation and growth. Detailed examinations were performed on a test panel containing four bays of a riveted lap splice joint. The panel was removed from a full scale fuselage test article after receiving 60,000 full pressurization cycles. The results of in situ examinations document the progression of fuselage skin fatigue crack growth through crack linkup. Detailed tear down examinations and fractography of the lap splice joint region revealed fatigue crack initiation sites, crack morphology and crack linkup geometry. From this large data base, distributions of crack size and locations are presented and discussions of operative damage mechanisms are offered.

In-house experiments in large space structures at the Air Force Wright Aeronautical Laboratories Flight Dynamics Laboratory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, Robert W.; Ozguner, Umit; Yurkovich, Steven

1989-01-01

The Flight Dynamics Laboratory is committed to an in-house, experimental investigation of several technical areas critical to the dynamic performance of future Air Force large space structures. The advanced beam experiment was successfully completed and provided much experience in the implementation of active control approaches on real hardware. A series of experiments is under way in evaluating ground test methods on the 12 meter trusses with significant passive damping. Ground simulated zero-g response data from the undamped truss will be compared directly with true zero-g flight test data. The performance of several leading active control approaches will be measured and compared on one of the trusses in the presence of significant passive damping. In the future, the PACOSS dynamic test article will be set up as a test bed for the evaluation of system identification and control techniques on a complex, representative structure with high modal density and significant passive damping.

Influenza newspaper reports and the influenza epidemic: an observational study in Fukuoka City, Japan

PubMed Central

Hagihara, Akihito; Onozuka, Daisuke; Miyazaki, Shougo; Abe, Takeru

2015-01-01

Objectives We examined whether the weekly number of newspaper articles reporting on influenza was related to the incidence of influenza in a large city. Design Prospective, non-randomised, observational study. Setting Registry data of influenza cases in Fukuoka City, Japan. Participants A total of 83 613 cases of influenza cases that occurred between October 1999 and March 2007 in Fukuoka City, Japan. Main outcome measure A linear model with autoregressive time series errors was fitted to time series data on the incidence of influenza and the accumulated number of influenza-related newspaper articles with different time lags in Fukuoka City, Japan. In order to obtain further evidence that the number of newspaper articles a week with specific time lags is related to the incidence of influenza, Granger causality was also tested. Results Of the 16 models including ‘number of newspaper articles’ with different time lags between 2 and 17 weeks (xt-2 to t-17), the β coefficients of ‘number of newspaper articles’ at time lags between t-5 and t-13 were significant. However, the β coefficients of ‘number of newspaper articles’ that are significant with respect to the Granger causality tests (p<0.05) were the weekly number of newspaper articles at time lags between t-6 and t-10 (time shift of 10 weeks, β=−0.301, p<0.01; time shift of 9 weeks, β=−0.200, p<0.01; time shift of 8 weeks, β=−0.156, p<0.01; time shift of 7 weeks, β=−0.122, p<0.05; time shift of 6 weeks, β=−0.113, p<0.05). Conclusions We found that the number of newspaper articles reporting on influenza in a week was related to the incidence of influenza 6–10 weeks after media coverage in a large city in Japan. PMID:26719323

Sample size determination for bibliographic retrieval studies

PubMed Central

Yao, Xiaomei; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Walter, Stephen D; Haynes, R Brian

2008-01-01

Background Research for developing search strategies to retrieve high-quality clinical journal articles from MEDLINE is expensive and time-consuming. The objective of this study was to determine the minimal number of high-quality articles in a journal subset that would need to be hand-searched to update or create new MEDLINE search strategies for treatment, diagnosis, and prognosis studies. Methods The desired width of the 95% confidence intervals (W) for the lowest sensitivity among existing search strategies was used to calculate the number of high-quality articles needed to reliably update search strategies. New search strategies were derived in journal subsets formed by 2 approaches: random sampling of journals and top journals (having the most high-quality articles). The new strategies were tested in both the original large journal database and in a low-yielding journal (having few high-quality articles) subset. Results For treatment studies, if W was 10% or less for the lowest sensitivity among our existing search strategies, a subset of 15 randomly selected journals or 2 top journals were adequate for updating search strategies, based on each approach having at least 99 high-quality articles. The new strategies derived in 15 randomly selected journals or 2 top journals performed well in the original large journal database. Nevertheless, the new search strategies developed using the random sampling approach performed better than those developed using the top journal approach in a low-yielding journal subset. For studies of diagnosis and prognosis, no journal subset had enough high-quality articles to achieve the expected W (10%). Conclusion The approach of randomly sampling a small subset of journals that includes sufficient high-quality articles is an efficient way to update or create search strategies for high-quality articles on therapy in MEDLINE. The concentrations of diagnosis and prognosis articles are too low for this approach. PMID:18823538

Cryogenic Design of the New High Field Magnet Test Facility at CERN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benda, V.; Pirotte, O.; De Rijk, G.; Bajko, M.; Craen, A. Vande; Perret, Ph.; Hanzelka, P.

In the framework of the R&D program related to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) upgrades, a new High Field Magnet (HFM) vertical test bench is required. This facility located in the SM18 cryogenic test hall shall allow testing of up to 15 tons superconducting magnets with energy up to 10 MJ in a temperature range between 1.9 K and 4.5 K. The article describes the cryogenic architecture to be inserted in the general infrastructure of SM18 including the process and instrumentation diagram, the different operating phases including strategy for magnet cool down and warm up at controlled speed and quench management as well as the design of the main components.

Simulating the Impact Response of Full-Scale Composite Airframe Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fasanella, Edwin L.; Jackson, Karen E.; Littell, Justin D.; Seal, Michael D.

2012-01-01

NASA Langley Research Center obtained a composite helicopter cabin structure in 2010 from the US Army's Survivable Affordable Repairable Airframe Program (SARAP) that was fabricated by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. The cabin had been subjected to a vertical drop test in 2008 to evaluate a tilting roof concept to limit the intrusion of overhead masses into the fuselage cabin. Damage to the cabin test article was limited primarily to the roof. Consequently, the roof area was removed and the remaining structure was cut into test specimens including a large subfloor section and a forward framed fuselage section. In 2011, NASA and Sikorsky entered into a cooperative research agreement to study the impact responses of composite airframe structures and to evaluate the capabilities of the explicit transient dynamic finite element code, LS-DYNA®, to simulate these responses including damage initiation and progressive failure. Most of the test articles were manufactured of graphite unidirectional tape composite with a thermoplastic resin system. However, the framed fuselage section was constructed primarily of a plain weave graphite fabric material with a thermoset resin system. Test data were collected from accelerometers and full-field photogrammetry. The focus of this paper will be to document impact testing and simulation results for the longitudinal impact of the subfloor section and the vertical drop test of the forward framed fuselage section.

Results of the NASP Ames Integrated Mixing Hypersonic Engine (AIMHYE) Scramjet Test Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cavolowsky, John A.; Loomis, Mark P.; Deiwert, George S.

1995-01-01

This paper describes the test techniques and results from the National Aerospace Plane Government Work Package 53, the Ames Integrated Mixing Hypersonic Engine (AIMHYE) Scramjet Test program conducted in the NASA Ames 16-Inch Combustion Driven Shock Tunnel. This was a series of near full-scale scramjet combustor tests with the objective to obtain high speed combustor and nozzle data from an engine with injector configurations similar to the NASP E21 and E22a designs. The experimental test approach was to use a large combustor model (80-100% throat height) designed and fabricated for testing in the semi-free jet mode. The conditions tested were similar to the "blue book" conditions at Mach 12, 14, and 16. GWP 53 validated use of large, long test time impulse facilities, specifically the Ames 16-Inch Shock Tunnel, for high Mach number scramjet propulsion testing an integrated test rig (inlet, combustor, and nozzle). Discussion of key features of the test program will include: effects of the 2-D combustor inlet pressure profile; performance of large injectors' fueling system that included nozzlettes, base injection, and film cooling; and heat transfer measurements to the combustor. Significant instrumentation development and application efforts include the following: combustor force balance application for measurement of combustor drag for comparison with integrated point measurements of skin friction; nozzle metric strip for measuring thrust with comparison to integrated pressure measurements; and nonintrusive optical fiber-based diode laser absorption measurements of combustion products for determination of combustor performance. Direct measurements will be reported for specific test article configurations and compared with CFD solutions.

A critique of Lilienfeld et al.'s (2000) "The scientific status of projective techniques".

PubMed

Hibbard, Stephen

2003-06-01

Lilienfeld, Wood, and Garb (2000) published a largely negative critique of the validity and reliability of projective methods, concentrating on the Comprehensive System for the Rorschach (Exner, 1993), 3 systems for coding the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) cards, and human figure drawings. This article is an effort to document and correct what I perceive as errors of omission and commission in the Lilienfeld et al. article. When projective measures are viewed in the light of these corrections, the evidence for the validity and clinical usefulness of the Rorschach and TAT methods is more robust than Lilienfeld et al. represented.

Space Construction Experiment Definition Study (SCEDS), part 2. Volume 2: Study results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The Space Construction Experiment (SCE) was defined for integration into the Space Shuttle. This included development of flight assignment data, revision and update of preliminary mission timelines and test plans, analysis of flight safety issues, and definition of ground operations scenarios. New requirements for the flight experiment and changes for a large space antenna feed mask test article were incorporated. The program plan and cost estimates were updated. Revised SCE structural dynamics characteristics were provided for simulation and analysis of experimental tests to define and verify control limits and interactions effects between the SCE and the Orbiter digital automatic pilot.

A Lesson Plan to Develop Structured Discussion of the Benefits and Disadvantages of Selected Plastics Using the Product-Testing Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burmeister, Mareike; Eilks, Ingo

2014-01-01

People use many different products made from plastics every day. But conventional plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) do not always have a good reputation in society at large. Bioplastics such as thermoplastic starch (TPS) promise to be better alternatives but are they really better than conventional plastics? This article presents a new…

Mini-mast CSI testbed user's guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tanner, Sharon E.; Pappa, Richard S.; Sulla, Jeffrey L.; Elliott, Kenny B.; Miserentino, Robert; Bailey, James P.; Cooper, Paul A.; Williams, Boyd L., Jr.; Bruner, Anne M.

1992-01-01

The Mini-Mast testbed is a 20 m generic truss highly representative of future deployable trusses for space applications. It is fully instrumented for system identification and active vibrations control experiments and is used as a ground testbed at NASA-Langley. The facility has actuators and feedback sensors linked via fiber optic cables to the Advanced Real Time Simulation (ARTS) system, where user defined control laws are incorporated into generic controls software. The object of the facility is to conduct comprehensive active vibration control experiments on a dynamically realistic large space structure. A primary goal is to understand the practical effects of simplifying theoretical assumptions. This User's Guide describes the hardware and its primary components, the dynamic characteristics of the test article, the control law implementation process, and the necessary safeguards employed to protect the test article. Suggestions for a strawman controls experiment are also included.

Semantic super networks: A case analysis of Wikipedia papers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostyuchenko, Evgeny; Lebedeva, Taisiya; Goritov, Alexander

2017-11-01

An algorithm for constructing super-large semantic networks has been developed in current work. Algorithm was tested using the "Cosmos" category of the Internet encyclopedia "Wikipedia" as an example. During the implementation, a parser for the syntax analysis of Wikipedia pages was developed. A graph based on list of articles and categories was formed. On the basis of the obtained graph analysis, algorithms for finding domains of high connectivity in a graph were proposed and tested. Algorithms for constructing a domain based on the number of links and the number of articles in the current subject area is considered. The shortcomings of these algorithms are shown and explained, an algorithm is developed on their joint use. The possibility of applying a combined algorithm for obtaining the final domain is shown. The problem of instability of the received domain was discovered when starting an algorithm from two neighboring vertices related to the domain.

First article test noise survey of the A/F32T-9 large turbo fan engine enclosed noise suppressor system, Sky Harbor IAP (International Airport), Phoenix, Arizona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, Jeffery C.; Fairman, Terry M.

1987-06-01

The A/F32T-9 Large Turbofan Engine, Enclosed Noise Suppressor System (T-9 NSS) at Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona was surveyed to determine noise levels at 100 meters. With an F101 engine operating at afterburner power the highest measured Overall Sound Level, A-Weighted (OASLA) was 88.7 dB(A). The measured OASLA values exceeded the 77 dB(A) criterion at all but five of the twenty-four sampling positions.

Testing and Analysis of a Composite Non-Cylindrical Aircraft Fuselage Structure . Part II; Severe Damage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekop, Adam; Jegley, Dawn C.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Rouse, Marshall; Wu, Hsi-Yung T.

2016-01-01

The Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project aimed to develop aircraft technologies enabling significant fuel burn and community noise reductions. Small incremental changes to the conventional metallic alloy-based 'tube and wing' configuration were not sufficient to achieve the desired metrics. One airframe concept identified by the project as having the potential to dramatically improve aircraft performance was a composite-based hybrid wing body configuration. Such a concept, however, presented inherent challenges stemming from, among other factors, the necessity to transfer wing loads through the entire center fuselage section which accommodates a pressurized cabin confined by flat or nearly flat panels. This paper discusses a finite element analysis and the testing of a large-scale hybrid wing body center section structure developed and constructed to demonstrate that the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure concept can meet these challenging demands of the next generation airframes. Part II of the paper considers the final test to failure of the test article in the presence of an intentionally inflicted severe discrete source damage under the wing up-bending loading condition. Finite element analysis results are compared with measurements acquired during the test and demonstrate that the hybrid wing body test article was able to redistribute and support the required design loads in a severely damaged condition.

Puzzle test: A tool for non-analytical clinical reasoning assessment.

PubMed

Monajemi, Alireza; Yaghmaei, Minoo

2016-01-01

Most contemporary clinical reasoning tests typically assess non-automatic thinking. Therefore, a test is needed to measure automatic reasoning or pattern recognition, which has been largely neglected in clinical reasoning tests. The Puzzle Test (PT) is dedicated to assess automatic clinical reasoning in routine situations. This test has been introduced first in 2009 by Monajemi et al in the Olympiad for Medical Sciences Students.PT is an item format that has gained acceptance in medical education, but no detailed guidelines exist for this test's format, construction and scoring. In this article, a format is described and the steps to prepare and administer valid and reliable PTs are presented. PT examines a specific clinical reasoning task: Pattern recognition. PT does not replace other clinical reasoning assessment tools. However, it complements them in strategies for assessing comprehensive clinical reasoning.

Development and pilot test of a new set of good practice indicators for chronic non-malignant pain management.

PubMed

Saturno, Pedro Jesus; Angel-García, Daniel; Martínez-Nicolás, Ismael; López Soriano, Francisco; Escolar Reina, Maria Pilar; Guerrero Díaz, María Beatriz; Ros Martínez, María Encarnación; Medina Mirapeix, Francesc; Saturno Marcos, Mayo

2018-06-08

This study was designed to address the current relative void of valid measures by developing evidence-based quality indicators for pain management of chronic non-malignant pain. We performed a 10-year literature search to identify guidelines and review articles on chronic pain management to identify evidence-based recommendations for the different conditions associated to chronic pain. A complementary search of indicators and indicator-related articles was also performed. Then, we built new indicators or adapted existing ones to cover all the evidence-based recommendations we found. The resulting set was pilot-tested for feasibility, reliability (kappa) and usefulness to identify quality problems, using the Lot Quality Acceptance method, α≤0.05 y β≤0.01, for 75% (40% threshold) and 95% (70% threshold) compliance standards, and estimates with binomial exact 95% confidence intervals. The study reviews clinical records from a primary-care centre, a medium-size hospital (250 beds) and a large hospital (500 beds). Forty-six indicators were developed (six general and forty condition-specific). Thirty-three were feasible in primary care and/or hospitals. Feasible indicators were also reliable (most kappa>0.7). Regarding compliance, four quality indicators obtained compliance levels over 60%, addressing pharmacological treatment, multimodal approach and appropriate use of neuro-image tests; while sixteen obtained compliance scores under 15% (six with 0% compliance). The created set has tested to be feasible, reliable, and useful, with the capacity to serve as the baseline for developing the necessary strategies to improve the management of chronic non-malignant pain, by monitoring and evaluating quality of care. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

AXAF-I Low Intensity-Low Temperature (LILT) Testing of the Development Verification Test (DVT) Solar Panel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, Doug; Edge, Ted; Willowby, Doug

1998-01-01

The planned orbit of the AXAF-I spacecraft will subject the spacecraft to both short, less than 30 minutes for solar and less than 2 hours for lunar, and long earth eclipses and lunar eclipses with combined conjunctive duration of up to 3 to 4 hours. Lack of proper Electrical Power System (EPS) conditioning prior to eclipse may cause loss of mission. To avoid this problem, for short eclipses, it is necessary to off-point the solar array prior to or at the beginning of the eclipse to reduce the battery state of charge (SOC). This yields less overcharge during the high charge currents at sun entry. For long lunar eclipses, solar array pointing and load scheduling must be tailored for the profile of the eclipse. The battery SOC, loads, and solar array current-voltage (I-V) must be known or predictable to maintain the bus voltage within acceptable range. To address engineering concerns about the electrical performance of the AXAF-I solar array under Low Intensity and Low Temperature (LILT) conditions, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) engineers undertook special testing of the AXAF-I Development Verification Test (DVT) solar panel in September-November 1997. In the test the DVT test panel was installed in a thermal vacuum chamber with a large view window with a mechanical "flapper door". The DVT test panel was "flash" tested with a Large Area Pulse Solar Simulator (LAPSS) at various fractional sun intensities and panel (solar cell) temperatures. The testing was unique with regards to the large size of the test article and type of testing performed. The test setup, results, and lessons learned from the testing will be presented.

Taurus II Stage Test Simulations: Using Large-Scale CFD Simulations to Provide Critical Insight into Plume Induced Environments During Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Struzenberg, L. L.; West, J. S.

2011-01-01

This paper describes the use of targeted Loci/CHEM CFD simulations to evaluate the effects of a dual-engine first-stage hot-fire test on an evolving integrated launch pad/test article design. This effort was undertaken as a part of the NESC Independent Assessment of the Taurus II Stage Test Series. The underlying conceptual model included development of a series of computational models and simulations to analyze the plume induced environments on the pad, facility structures and test article. A pathfinder simulation was first developed, capable of providing quick-turn around evaluation of plume impingement pressures on the flame deflector. Results from this simulation were available in time to provide data for an ongoing structural assessment of the deflector. The resulting recommendation was available in a timely manner and was incorporated into construction schedule for the new launch stand under construction at Wallops Flight Facility. A series of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) quasi-steady simulations representative of various key elements of the test profile was performed to identify potential concerns with the test configuration and test profile. As required, unsteady Hybrid-RANS/LES simulations were performed, to provide additional insight into critical aspects of the test sequence. Modifications to the test-specific hardware and facility structures thermal protection as well as modifications to the planned hot-fire test profile were implemented based on these simulation results.

Utility of Equations to Estimate Peak Oxygen Uptake and Work Rate From a 6-Minute Walk Test in Patients With COPD in a Clinical Setting.

PubMed

Kirkham, Amy A; Pauhl, Katherine E; Elliott, Robyn M; Scott, Jen A; Doria, Silvana C; Davidson, Hanan K; Neil-Sztramko, Sarah E; Campbell, Kristin L; Camp, Pat G

2015-01-01

To determine the utility of equations that use the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) results to estimate peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)o2) and peak work rate with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in a clinical setting. This study included a systematic review to identify published equations estimating peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 and peak work rate in watts in COPD patients and a retrospective chart review of data from a hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation program. The following variables were abstracted from the records of 42 consecutively enrolled COPD patients: measured peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 and peak work rate achieved during a cycle ergometer cardiopulmonary exercise test, 6MWT distance, age, sex, weight, height, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, forced vital capacity, and lung diffusion capacity. Estimated peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 and peak work rate were estimated from 6MWT distance using published equations. The error associated with using estimated peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 or peak work to prescribe aerobic exercise intensities of 60% and 80% was calculated. Eleven equations from 6 studies were identified. Agreement between estimated and measured values was poor to moderate (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.11-0.63). The error associated with using estimated peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 or peak work rate to prescribe exercise intensities of 60% and 80% of measured values ranged from mean differences of 12 to 35 and 16 to 47 percentage points, respectively. There is poor to moderate agreement between measured peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 and peak work rate and estimations from equations that use 6MWT distance, and the use of the estimated values for prescription of aerobic exercise intensity would result in large error. Equations estimating peak (Equation is included in full-text article.)o2 and peak work rate are of low utility for prescribing exercise intensity in pulmonary rehabilitation programs.

Probability as certainty: dichotomous thinking and the misuse of p values.

PubMed

Hoekstra, Rink; Finch, Sue; Kiers, Henk A L; Johnson, Addie

2006-12-01

Significance testing is widely used and often criticized. The Task Force on Statistical Inference of the American Psychological Association (TFSI, APA; Wilkinson & TFSI, 1999) addressed the use of significance testing and made recommendations that were incorporated in the fifth edition of the APA Publication Manual (APA, 2001). They emphasized the interpretation of significance testing and the importance of reporting confidence intervals and effect sizes. We examined whether 286 Psychonomic Bulletin & Review articles submitted before and after the publication of the TFSI recommendations by APA complied with these recommendations. Interpretation errors when using significance testing were still made frequently, and the new prescriptions were not yet followed on a large scale. Changing the practice of reporting statistics seems doomed to be a slow process.

Cluster analysis of novel isometric strength measures produces a valid and evidence-based classification structure for wheelchair track racing.

PubMed

Connick, Mark J; Beckman, Emma; Vanlandewijck, Yves; Malone, Laurie A; Blomqvist, Sven; Tweedy, Sean M

2017-11-25

The Para athletics wheelchair-racing classification system employs best practice to ensure that classes comprise athletes whose impairments cause a comparable degree of activity limitation. However, decision-making is largely subjective and scientific evidence which reduces this subjectivity is required. To evaluate whether isometric strength tests were valid for the purposes of classifying wheelchair racers and whether cluster analysis of the strength measures produced a valid classification structure. Thirty-two international level, male wheelchair racers from classes T51-54 completed six isometric strength tests evaluating elbow extensors, shoulder flexors, trunk flexors and forearm pronators and two wheelchair performance tests-Top-Speed (0-15 m) and Top-Speed (absolute). Strength tests significantly correlated with wheelchair performance were included in a cluster analysis and the validity of the resulting clusters was assessed. All six strength tests correlated with performance (r=0.54-0.88). Cluster analysis yielded four clusters with reasonable overall structure (mean silhouette coefficient=0.58) and large intercluster strength differences. Six athletes (19%) were allocated to clusters that did not align with their current class. While the mean wheelchair racing performance of the resulting clusters was unequivocally hierarchical, the mean performance of current classes was not, with no difference between current classes T53 and T54. Cluster analysis of isometric strength tests produced classes comprising athletes who experienced a similar degree of activity limitation. The strength tests reported can provide the basis for a new, more transparent, less subjective wheelchair racing classification system, pending replication of these findings in a larger, representative sample. This paper also provides guidance for development of evidence-based systems in other Para sports. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Rare b-hadron decays as probe of new physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lanfranchi, Gaia

2018-05-01

The unexpected absence of unambiguous signals of New Physics (NP) at the TeV scale at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) puts today flavor physics at the forefront. In particular, rare decays of b-hadrons represent a unique probe to challenge the Standard Model (SM) paradigm and test models of NP at a scale much higher than that accessible by direct searches. This article reviews the status of the field.

A Classroom Exercise for Testing Urban Myth: Does Wedding Rice Cause Birds to Explode or Were Ann Landers, Martha Stewart & Bart Simpson Wrong?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krupa, James J.

2005-01-01

In this article, the author first provides the history of the wedding rice myth. He then details an interactive class activity that involved students in his large, non-majors biology classes. These students developed a series of experiments that scientifically determined if rice could be harmful to birds. Finally, he provides suggestions on how…

Closing the feedback loop: engaging students in large first-year mathematics test revision sessions using pen-enabled screens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donovan, Diane; Loch, Birgit

2013-01-01

How can active learning, peer learning and prompt feedback be achieved in large first-year mathematics classes? Further, what technologies may support these aims? In this article, we assert that test revision sessions in first-year mathematics held in a technology-enhanced lecture theatre can be highly interactive with students solving problems, learning from each other and receiving immediate feedback. This is facilitated by pen-enabled screens and synchronization software. We argue that the educational benefits achievable through the technology do outweigh the technological distractions, and that these benefits can be achieved by focused, targeted one-off sessions and not only by a semester-long, regular approach. Repeat mid-semester test revision sessions were offered on a non-compulsory basis using pen-enabled screens for all students. Students worked practice test questions and marked solutions to mathematical problems on the screens. Students' work was then displayed anonymously for their peers to see. Answers were discussed with the whole class. We discuss outcomes from two offerings of these sessions using student feedback and lecturer reflections and show the impact of participation on self-reported student confidence. Pedagogical approaches that the technology allowed for the first time in a large class are highlighted. Students responded uniformly positively.

Development of a verification program for deployable truss advanced technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dyer, Jack E.

1988-01-01

Use of large deployable space structures to satisfy the growth demands of space systems is contingent upon reducing the associated risks that pervade many related technical disciplines. The overall objectives of this program was to develop a detailed plan to verify deployable truss advanced technology applicable to future large space structures and to develop a preliminary design of a deployable truss reflector/beam structure for use a a technology demonstration test article. The planning is based on a Shuttle flight experiment program using deployable 5 and 15 meter aperture tetrahedral truss reflections and a 20 m long deployable truss beam structure. The plan addresses validation of analytical methods, the degree to which ground testing adequately simulates flight and in-space testing requirements for large precision antenna designs. Based on an assessment of future NASA and DOD space system requirements, the program was developed to verify four critical technology areas: deployment, shape accuracy and control, pointing and alignment, and articulation and maneuvers. The flight experiment technology verification objectives can be met using two shuttle flights with the total experiment integrated on a single Shuttle Test Experiment Platform (STEP) and a Mission Peculiar Experiment Support Structure (MPESS). First flight of the experiment can be achieved 60 months after go-ahead with a total program duration of 90 months.

The role of mutation analysis of the APC gene in the management of FAP patients. A controversial issue.

PubMed

Dodaro, Concetta; Grifasi, Carlo; Florio, Jole; Santangelo, Michele L; Duraturo, Francesca; De Rosa, Marina; Izzo, Paola; Renda, Andrea

A correlation between the location of mutation in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene and clinical manifestations of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) has repeatedly been reported. Some Authors suggest the use of mutational analysis as a guide to select the best surgical option in FAP patients. However, data coming from studies on large series have raised questions on this issue. The aim of this study is to discuss the role of the genetic tests in the management of FAP. A literature review was performed considering only peer-reviewed articles published between 1991-2015. All the studies examined the role of genetic as a guide for surgical management of FAP. Of 363 articles identified, 21 were selected for full-text review. We found different positions with regard the use of genetic tests to determine surgical management of FAP. In particular, while consistent correlations between the APC mutation site and FAP phenotype were observed in large series, 8 studies reported a wide variation of genotypephenotype correlation in patients with the same mutation and they recommended that decisions regarding surgical strategy should be based not only on genotype but also on the clinical factors and the will of the patient who must be fully informed. The decision on the type and the timing of surgery should be based on the assessment of many factors and genotype assessment should be used in combination with clinical data. Disease severity, Familial adenomatous polyposis, Genetic tests, Genotype-phenotype correlations, Surgical management.

Photogrammetric Technique for Center of Gravity Determination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Thomas W.; Johnson, Thomas H.; Shemwell, Dave; Shreves, Christopher M.

2012-01-01

A new measurement technique for determination of the center of gravity (CG) for large scale objects has been demonstrated. The experimental method was conducted as part of an LS-DYNA model validation program for the Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) crew module. The test was conducted on the full scale crew module concept at NASA Langley Research Center. Multi-camera photogrammetry was used to measure the test article in several asymmetric configurations. The objective of these measurements was to provide validation of the CG as computed from the original mechanical design. The methodology, measurement technique, and measurement results are presented.

Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms.

PubMed

Mearns, Alan J; Reish, Donald J; Oshida, Philip S; Morrison, Ann Michelle; Rempel-Hester, Mary Ann; Arthur, Courtney; Rutherford, Nicolle; Pryor, Rachel

2017-10-01

This review covers selected 2016 articles on the biological effects of pollutants and human physical disturbances on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, dredging and disposal etc. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (ballast water and ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not pollutant fate and transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g.some bioaccumulation papers may be cited in other topical categories). Please use keyword searching of the text to locate related but distributed papers. Use this review only as a guide and please consult the original papers before citing them.

Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms.

PubMed

Mearns, Alan J; Reish, Donald J; Oshida, Philip S; Morrison, Ann Michelle; Rempel-Hester, Mary Ann; Arthur, Courtney; Rutherford, Nicolle; Pryor, Rachel

2016-10-01

This review covers selected 2015 articles on the biological effects of pollutants and human physical disturbances on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, dredging and disposal, etc. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (ballast water and ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not pollutant fate and transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g.some bioaccumulation papers may be cited in other topical categories). Please use keyword searching of the text to locate related but distributed papers. Use this review only as a guide and please consult the original papers before citing them.

Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Rearward Visibility Data for Agricultural Machinery: Hazard and/or Object Detectability.

PubMed

Ehlers, Shawn G; Field, William E; Ess, Daniel R

2017-01-26

Recent interest in rearward visibility for private, construction, and commercial vehicles and documentation of rearward runovers involving bystanders outside the field of vision of the vehicle operator led to an investigation into the need for enhanced methods of rearward visibility for large, off-highway, agricultural equipment. A review of the literature found limited relevant research and minimal data on incidents involving rearward runovers of bystanders and co-workers. This article reviews the findings regarding the methods identified and tested to collect and analyze rearward visibility data, from the operator's perspective, for large self-propelled agricultural equipment, including the four-wheel drive tractors, combines, agricultural sprayers, and skid-steer loaders that are increasingly found on agricultural production sites. The methods identified, largely drawn from research conducted on private and commercial vehicles, were tested to determine their application in identifying rearward blind spots. These methods are described, and the findings from field-testing of specific machines are provided. Recommendations include establishing an appropriate engineering standard regarding rearward visibility of agricultural equipment with limited rearward vision and the use of rearward alarm systems for warning bystanders of rearward movement. Copyright© by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.

Potential for pharmacological manipulation of human embryonic stem cells

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Stuart P; Lako, Majlinda; Armstrong, Lyle

2013-01-01

The therapeutic potential of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is vast, allowing disease modelling, drug discovery and testing and perhaps most importantly regenerative therapies. However, problems abound; techniques for cultivating self-renewing hESCs tend to give a heterogeneous population of self-renewing and partially differentiated cells and general include animal-derived products that can be cost-prohibitive for large-scale production, and effective lineage-specific differentiation protocols also still remain relatively undefined and are inefficient at producing large amounts of cells for therapeutic use. Furthermore, the mechanisms and signalling pathways that mediate pluripotency and differentiation are still to be fully appreciated. However, over the recent years, the development/discovery of a range of effective small molecule inhibitors/activators has had a huge impact in hESC biology. Large-scale screening techniques, coupled with greater knowledge of the pathways involved, have generated pharmacological agents that can boost hESC pluripotency/self-renewal and survival and has greatly increased the efficiency of various differentiation protocols, while also aiding the delineation of several important signalling pathways. Within this review, we hope to describe the current uses of small molecule inhibitors/activators in hESC biology and their potential uses in the future. LINKED ARTICLES This article is part of a themed section on Regenerative Medicine and Pharmacology: A Look to the Future. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2013.169.issue-2 PMID:22515554

Recent advances in diagnostic testing for gastroesophageal reflux disease.

PubMed

Naik, Rishi D; Vaezi, Michael F

2017-06-01

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has a large economic burden with important complications that include esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus, and adenocarcinoma. Despite endoscopy, validated patient questionnaires, and traditional ambulatory pH monitoring, the diagnosis of GERD continues to be challenging. Areas covered: This review will explore the difficulties in diagnosing GERD with a focus on new developments, ranging from basic fundamental changes (histology and immunohistochemistry) to direct patient care (narrow-band imaging, impedance, and response to anti-reflux surgery). We searched PubMed using the noted keywords. We included data from full-text articles published in English. Further relevant articles were identified from the reference lists of review articles. Expert commentary: Important advances in novel parameters in intraluminal impedance monitoring such as baseline impedance monitoring has created some insight into alternative diagnostic strategies in GERD. Recent advances in endoscopic assessment of esophageal epithelial integrity via mucosal impedance measurement is questioning the paradigm of prolonged ambulatory testing for GERD. The future of reflux diagnosis may very well be without the need for currently employed technologies and could be as simple as assessing changes in epithelia integrity as a surrogate marker for GERD. However, future studies must validate such an approach.

21 CFR 58.107 - Test and control article handling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Test and control article handling. 58.107 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.107 Test and control article handling. Procedures shall be established for a system for the handling of the test and...

21 CFR 58.107 - Test and control article handling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Test and control article handling. 58.107 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.107 Test and control article handling. Procedures shall be established for a system for the handling of the test and...

21 CFR 58.107 - Test and control article handling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Test and control article handling. 58.107 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.107 Test and control article handling. Procedures shall be established for a system for the handling of the test and...

21 CFR 58.107 - Test and control article handling.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Test and control article handling. 58.107 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.107 Test and control article handling. Procedures shall be established for a system for the handling of the test and...

The t-test: An Influential Inferential Tool in Chaplaincy and Other Healthcare Research.

PubMed

Jankowski, Katherine R B; Flannelly, Kevin J; Flannelly, Laura T

2018-01-01

The t-test developed by William S. Gosset (also known as Student's t-test and the two-sample t-test) is commonly used to compare one sample mean on a measure with another sample mean on the same measure. The outcome of the t-test is used to draw inferences about how different the samples are from each other. It is probably one of the most frequently relied upon statistics in inferential research. It is easy to use: a researcher can calculate the statistic with three simple tools: paper, pen, and a calculator. A computer program can quickly calculate the t-test for large samples. The ease of use can result in the misuse of the t-test. This article discusses the development of the original t-test, basic principles of the t-test, two additional types of t-tests (the one-sample t-test and the paired t-test), and recommendations about what to consider when using the t-test to draw inferences in research.

A boundary value approach for solving three-dimensional elliptic and hyperbolic partial differential equations.

PubMed

Biala, T A; Jator, S N

2015-01-01

In this article, the boundary value method is applied to solve three dimensional elliptic and hyperbolic partial differential equations. The partial derivatives with respect to two of the spatial variables (y, z) are discretized using finite difference approximations to obtain a large system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in the third spatial variable (x). Using interpolation and collocation techniques, a continuous scheme is developed and used to obtain discrete methods which are applied via the Block unification approach to obtain approximations to the resulting large system of ODEs. Several test problems are investigated to elucidate the solution process.

NASA Common Research Model Test Envelope Extension With Active Sting Damping at NTF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rivers, Melissa B.; Balakrishna, S.

2014-01-01

The NASA Common Research Model (CRM) high Reynolds number transonic wind tunnel testing program was established to generate an experimental database for applied Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) validation studies. During transonic wind tunnel tests, the CRM encounters large sting vibrations when the angle of attack approaches the second pitching moment break, which can sometimes become divergent. CRM transonic test data analysis suggests that sting divergent oscillations are related to negative net sting damping episodes associated with flow separation instability. The National Transonic Facility (NTF) has been addressing remedies to extend polar testing up to and beyond the second pitching moment break point of the test articles using an active piezoceramic damper system for both ambient and cryogenic temperatures. This paper reviews CRM test results to gain understanding of sting dynamics with a simple model describing the mechanics of a sting-model system and presents the performance of the damper under cryogenic conditions.

Thermal Performance Comparison of Glass Microsphere and Perlite Insulation Systems for Liquid Hydrogen Storage Tanks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sass, J. P.; Fesmire, J. E.; Nagy, Z. F.; Sojourner, S. J.; Morris, D. L.; Augustynowicz, S. D.

2008-03-01

A technology demonstration test project was conducted by the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to provide comparative thermal performance data for glass microspheres, referred to as bubbles, and perlite insulation for liquid hydrogen tank applications. Two identical 1/15th scale versions of the 3,200,000 liter spherical liquid hydrogen tanks at Launch Complex 39 at KSC were custom designed and built to serve as test articles for this test project. Evaporative (boil-off) calorimeter test protocols, including liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen, were established to provide tank test conditions characteristic of the large storage tanks that support the Space Shuttle launch operations. This paper provides comparative thermal performance test results for bubbles and perlite for a wide range of conditions. Thermal performance as a function of cryogenic commodity (nitrogen and hydrogen), vacuum pressure, insulation fill level, tank liquid level, and thermal cycles will be presented.

Build-Up Approach to Updating the Mock Quiet Spike Beam Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herrera, Claudia Y.; Pak, Chan-gi

2007-01-01

When a new aircraft is designed or a modification is done to an existing aircraft, the aeroelastic properties of the aircraft should be examined to ensure the aircraft is flight worthy. Evaluating the aeroelastic properties of a new or modified aircraft can include performing a variety of analyses, such as modal and flutter analyses. In order to produce accurate results from these analyses, it is imperative to work with finite element models (FEM) that have been validated by or correlated to ground vibration test (GVT) data, Updating an analytical model using measured data is a challenge in the area of structural dynamics. The analytical model update process encompasses a series of optimizations that match analytical frequencies and mode shapes to the measured modal characteristics of structure. In the past, the method used to update a model to test data was "trial and error." This is an inefficient method - running a modal analysis, comparing the analytical results to the GVT data, manually modifying one or more structural parameters (mass, CG, inertia, area, etc.), rerunning the analysis, and comparing the new analytical modal characteristics to the GVT modal data. If the match is close enough (close enough defined by analyst's updating requirements), then the updating process is completed. If the match does not meet updating-requirements, then the parameters are changed again and the process is repeated. Clearly, this manual optimization process is highly inefficient for large FEM's and/or a large number of structural parameters. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) has developed, in-house, a Mode Matching Code that automates the above-mentioned optimization process, DFRC's in-house Mode Matching Code reads mode shapes and frequencies acquired from GVT to create the target model. It also reads the current analytical model, as we11 as the design variables and their upper and lower limits. It performs a modal analysis on this model and modifies it to create an updated model that has similar mode shapes and frequencies as those of the target model. The Mode Matching Code output frequencies and modal assurance criteria (MAC) values that allow for the quantified comparison of the updated model versus the target model. A recent application of this code is the F453 supersonic flight testing platform, NASA DFRC possesses a modified F-15B that is used as a test bed aircraft for supersonic flight experiments. Traditionally, the finite element model of the test article is generated. A GVT is done on the test article ta validate and update its FEM. This FEM is then mated to the F-15B model, which was correlated to GVT data in fall of 2004, A GVT is conducted with the test article mated to the aircraft, and this mated F-15B/ test article FEM is correlated to this final GVT.

Structural Qualification Testing of the WindSat Payload Using Sine Bursts Near Structural Resonance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pontius, Jim; Barnes, Donald; Broduer, Steve (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Sine burst tests are often used for structural qualification of space flight hardware. In most instances, the driving frequency of the shaker is specified far below the structure's first resonant mode, such that the entire test article sees uniform acceleration. For large structures, this limits qualification testing to lower parts of the structure, or else it over-tests the lower structure to achieve qualification of the upper structure. The WindSat payload, a 10.5 foot tall graphite/epoxy, titanium, and aluminum radiometer, experiences accelerations at the six foot diameter reflector nearly four times that at the spacecraft interface. Due to size of the payload, the number of bonded joints, and the lightweight reflector support structure design and construction, using static pull testing to qualify all of the bonded joints in the upper structure would result in large, expensive, and extensive test fixturing. Sine burst testing near the first two structural resonant modes was performed on the WindSat payload to achieve the correct load factor distribution up the stack for structural qualification. In this presentation, how finite element method (FEM) sine burst predictions were used in conjunction with low level random and sine burst tests to achieve correct qualification test load factor distribution on the WindSat payload is discussed. Also presented is the risk mitigation approach for using the uncorrelated FEM in this procedure.

Initial Operation of the Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emrich, William J., Jr.; Pearson, J. Boise; Schoenfeld, Michael P.

2015-01-01

The Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator (NTREES) facility is designed to perform realistic non-nuclear testing of nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) fuel elements and fuel materials. Although the NTREES facility cannot mimic the neutron and gamma environment of an operating NTR, it can simulate the thermal hydraulic environment within an NTR fuel element to provide critical information on material performance and compatibility. The NTREES facility has recently been upgraded such that the power capabilities of the facility have been increased significantly. At its present 1.2 MW power level, more prototypical fuel element temperatures nay now be reached. The new 1.2 MW induction heater consists of three physical units consisting of a transformer, rectifier, and inverter. This multiunit arrangement facilitated increasing the flexibility of the induction heater by more easily allowing variable frequency operation. Frequency ranges between 20 and 60 kHz can accommodated in the new induction heater allowing more representative power distributions to be generated within the test elements. The water cooling system was also upgraded to so as to be capable of removing 100% of the heat generated during testing In this new higher power configuration, NTREES will be capable of testing fuel elements and fuel materials at near-prototypic power densities. As checkout testing progressed and as higher power levels were achieved, several design deficiencies were discovered and fixed. Most of these design deficiencies were related to stray RF energy causing various components to encounter unexpected heating. Copper shielding around these components largely eliminated these problems. Other problems encountered involved unexpected movement in the coil due to electromagnetic forces and electrical arcing between the coil and a dummy test article. The coil movement and arcing which were encountered during the checkout testing effectively destroyed the induction coil in use at the time and resulted in NTREES being out of commission for a couple of months while a new stronger coil was procured. The new coil includes several additional pieces of support structure to prevent coil movement in the future. In addition, new insulating test article support components have been fabricated to prevent unexpected arcing to the test articles. Additional activities are also now underway to address ways in which the radial temperature profiles across test articles may be controlled such that they are more prototypical of what they would encounter in an operating nuclear engine. The causes of the temperature distribution problem are twofold. First, the fuel element test article is isolated in NTREES as opposed to being in the midst of many other mostly identical fuel elements in a nuclear engine. As a result, the fuel element heat flux boundary conditions in NTREES are far from adiabatic as would normally be the case in a reactor. Second, induction heating skews the power distribution such that power is preferentially deposited near the outside of the fuel element. Nuclear heating, conversely, deposits its power much more uniformly throughout the fuel element. Current studies are now looking at various schemes to adjust the amount of thermal radiation emitted from the fuel element surface so as to essentially vary the thermal boundary conditions on the test article. It is hoped that by properly adjusting the thermal boundary conditions on the fuel element test article, it may be possible to substantially correct for the inappropriate radial power distributions resulting from the induction heating so as to yield a more nearly correct temperature distribution throughout the fuel element.

Highlighting the evidence gap: how cost-effective are interventions to improve early childhood nutrition and development?

PubMed Central

Batura, Neha; Hill, Zelee; Haghparast-Bidgoli, Hassan; Lingam, Raghu; Colbourn, Timothy; Kim, Sungwook; Sikander, Siham; Pulkki-Brannstrom, Anni-Maria; Rahman, Atif; Kirkwood, Betty; Skordis-Worrall, Jolene

2015-01-01

There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of early childhood interventions to improve the growth and development of children. Although, historically, nutrition and stimulation interventions may have been delivered separately, they are increasingly being tested as a package of early childhood interventions that synergistically improve outcomes over the life course. However, implementation at scale is seldom possible without first considering the relative cost and cost-effectiveness of these interventions. An evidence gap in this area may deter large-scale implementation, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. We conduct a literature review to establish what is known about the cost-effectiveness of early childhood nutrition and development interventions. A set of predefined search terms and exclusion criteria standardized the search across five databases. The search identified 15 relevant articles. Of these, nine were from studies set in high-income countries and six in low- and middle-income countries. The articles either calculated the cost-effectiveness of nutrition-specific interventions (n = 8) aimed at improving child growth, or parenting interventions (stimulation) to improve early childhood development (n = 7). No articles estimated the cost-effectiveness of combined interventions. Comparing results within nutrition or stimulation interventions, or between nutrition and stimulation interventions was largely prevented by the variety of outcome measures used in these analyses. This article highlights the need for further evidence relevant to low- and middle-income countries. To facilitate comparison of cost-effectiveness between studies, and between contexts where appropriate, a move towards a common outcome measure such as the cost per disability-adjusted life years averted is advocated. Finally, given the increasing number of combined nutrition and stimulation interventions being tested, there is a significant need for evidence of cost-effectiveness for combined programmes. This too would be facilitated by the use of a common outcome measure able to pool the impact of both nutrition and stimulation activities. PMID:24963156

Hardware math for the 6502 microprocessor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kissel, R.; Currie, J.

1985-01-01

A floating-point arithmetic unit is described which is being used in the Ground Facility of Large Space Structures Control Verification (GF/LSSCV). The experiment uses two complete inertial measurement units and a set of three gimbal torquers in a closed loop to control the structural vibrations in a flexible test article (beam). A 6502 (8-bit) microprocessor controls four AMD 9511A floating-point arithmetic units to do all the computation in 20 milliseconds.

Modern Advances in Genetic Testing: Ethical Challenges and Training Implications for Current and Future Psychologists

PubMed Central

Richmond-Rakerd, Leah S.

2014-01-01

The ethical implications for psychological practice of genetic testing are largely unexplored. Predictive testing can have a significant impact on health and well-being, and increasing numbers of individuals with knowledge of their risk for various disorders are likely to present for psychotherapy. In addition, more people will struggle with the decision of whether to obtain information regarding their genetic material. Psychologists will need to have the appropriate knowledge and clinical skills to effectively counsel this population. This article highlights the relevant ethical issues surrounding psychological treatment of individuals pursuing or considering undergoing genetic testing. These issues are extended to psychologists working in research, education, and policy domains. Recommendations for graduate training programs to facilitate current and future practitioner competence are also discussed. PMID:24707160

21 CFR 58.105 - Test and control article characterization.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Test and control article characterization. 58.105... GENERAL GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.105 Test and control article characterization. (a) The identity, strength, purity, and composition or other...

21 CFR 58.105 - Test and control article characterization.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Test and control article characterization. 58.105... GENERAL GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.105 Test and control article characterization. (a) The identity, strength, purity, and composition or other...

21 CFR 58.105 - Test and control article characterization.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Test and control article characterization. 58.105... GENERAL GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.105 Test and control article characterization. (a) The identity, strength, purity, and composition or other...

21 CFR 58.105 - Test and control article characterization.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Test and control article characterization. 58.105... GENERAL GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.105 Test and control article characterization. (a) The identity, strength, purity, and composition or other...

21 CFR 58.105 - Test and control article characterization.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Test and control article characterization. 58.105... GENERAL GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.105 Test and control article characterization. (a) The identity, strength, purity, and composition or other...

Imparting Barely Visible Impact Damage to a Stitched Composite Large-Scale Pressure Box

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Przekop, Adam

2016-01-01

The Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) is a concept that was developed by The Boeing Company to address the complex structural design aspects associated with a pressurized hybrid wing body (HWB) aircraft configuration, which has been a focus of the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project. The NASA-Boeing structural development for the HWB aircraft culminated in testing of the multi-bay box, which is an 80%-scale representation of the pressurized center-body section. This structure was tested in the NASA Langley Research Center Combined Loads Test System facility. As part of this testing, barely visible impact damage was imparted to the interior and exterior of the test article to demonstrate compliance with a condition representative of the requirements for Category 1 damaged composite structure as defined by the Federal Aviation Regulations. Interior impacts were imparted using an existing spring-loaded impactor, while the exterior impacts were imparted using a newly designed, gravity-driven impactor. This paper describes the impacts to the test article, and the design of the gravitydriven guided-weight impactor. The guided-weight impactor proved to be a very reliable method to impart barely visible impact damage in locations which are not easily accessible for a traditional drop-weight impactor, while at the same time having the capability to be highly configurable for use on other aircraft structures.

Screening tests for aphasia in patients with stroke: a systematic review.

PubMed

El Hachioui, Hanane; Visch-Brink, Evy G; de Lau, Lonneke M L; van de Sandt-Koenderman, Mieke W M E; Nouwens, Femke; Koudstaal, Peter J; Dippel, Diederik W J

2017-02-01

Aphasia has a large impact on the quality of life and adds significantly to the costs of stroke care. Early recognition of aphasia in stroke patients is important for prognostication and well-timed treatment planning. We aimed to identify available screening tests for differentiating between aphasic and non-aphasic stroke patients, and to evaluate test accuracy, reliability, and feasibility. We searched PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, and PsycINFO for published studies on screening tests aimed at assessing aphasia in stroke patients. The reference lists of the selected articles were scanned, and several experts were contacted to detect additional references. Of each screening test, we estimated the sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio of a positive test, likelihood ratio of a negative test, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and rated the degree of bias of the validation method. We included ten studies evaluating eight screening tests. There was a large variation across studies regarding sample size, patient characteristics, and reference tests used for validation. Many papers failed to report on the consecutiveness of patient inclusion, time between aphasia onset and administration of the screening test, and blinding. Of the three studies that were rated as having an intermediate or low risk of bias, the DOR was highest for the Language Screening Test and ScreeLing. Several screening tools for aphasia in stroke are available, but many tests have not been verified properly. Methodologically sound validation studies of aphasia screening tests are needed to determine their usefulness in clinical practice.

Flowfield Analysis of a Small Entry Probe (SPRITE) Tested in an Arc Jet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prabhu, Dinesh K.

2012-01-01

A novel concept of small size (diameter less than 15 inches) entry probes named SPRITE (Small Probe Re-entry Investigation for TPS Engineering) has been developed at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). These flight probes have on-board data acquisition systems that have also been developed in parallel at NASA ARC by Greg Swanson1. Flight probes of this size facilitate testing over a wide range of conditions in arc jets available at NASA ARC, thereby fulfilling a 'test what you fly' paradigm. As indicated by the acronym, these probes, with suitably tailored trajectories, are primarily meant to be robotic flight test beds for TPS materials, although the design is flexible enough to accommodate additional objectives of flight-testing other vehicle subsystems. A first step towards establishing the feasibility of the SPRITE concept is to arc-jet test fully instrumented models at flight scale. In a follow-on to the Large-Scale Article Tests (LSAT2) performed in the 60 MW Interaction Heating Facility (IHF) in late 2008/early 2009, a full-scale model of Deep Space-2 (DS23) made of red oak was tested in the 20 MW Aerodynamic Heating Facility (AHF). There were no issues with mass capture by the diffuser for blunt bodies of roughly 15 inches diameter tested in the 18-inch nozzle of the AHF. Building on this initial success, two identical test articles - SPRITE-T1-1 and SPRITE-T1-2 (T1 indicating the choice of back shell geometry) - were fabricated, and one of them, SPRITE-T1-1, was tested in the AHF recently. Both these test articles, 14 inches in diameter, have a 45deg sphere-cone (like DS2) made of PICA bonded on to a 1/8th inch thick aluminum shell using RTV. The aft portion of the test article is a conical frustum (15deg cone angle) with LI-2200 bonded on to the aluminum shell. Each model is fully instrumented with: (a) thermocouples imbedded in plugs in the heat shield, (b) thermocouples bonded to the aluminum substructure; the thermocouples are distributed over the entire shell, and (c) a few strain gages. Data from some of the thermocouples and gages are acquired by the on-board data acquisition system (DAS), while data from the others are routed to the facility-provided DAS, thereby enabling a cross check on the in situ measurement capability. as inputs to v2.6.1 of the in-house materials thermal response code, FIAT

Point-of-Care Test Equipment for Flexible Laboratory Automation.

PubMed

You, Won Suk; Park, Jae Jun; Jin, Sung Moon; Ryew, Sung Moo; Choi, Hyouk Ryeol

2014-08-01

Blood tests are some of the core clinical laboratory tests for diagnosing patients. In hospitals, an automated process called total laboratory automation, which relies on a set of sophisticated equipment, is normally adopted for blood tests. Noting that the total laboratory automation system typically requires a large footprint and significant amount of power, slim and easy-to-move blood test equipment is necessary for specific demands such as emergency departments or small-size local clinics. In this article, we present a point-of-care test system that can provide flexibility and portability with low cost. First, the system components, including a reagent tray, dispensing module, microfluidic disk rotor, and photometry scanner, and their functions are explained. Then, a scheduler algorithm to provide a point-of-care test platform with an efficient test schedule to reduce test time is introduced. Finally, the results of diagnostic tests are presented to evaluate the system. © 2014 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Nondestructive Evaluation Methods for the Ares I Common Bulkhead

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, James

2010-01-01

A large scale bonding demonstration test article was fabricated to prove out manufacturing techniques for the current design of the NASA Ares I Upper Stage common bulkhead. The common bulkhead serves as the single interface between the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen portions of the Upper Stage propellant tank. The bulkhead consists of spin-formed aluminum domes friction stir welded to Y-rings and bonded to a perforated phenolic honeycomb core. Nondestructive evaluation methods are being developed for assessing core integrity and the core-to-dome bond line of the common bulkhead. Detection of manufacturing defects such as delaminations between the core and face sheets as well as service life defects such as crushed or sheared core resulting from impact loading are all of interest. The focus of this work will be on the application of thermographic, shearographic, and phased array ultrasonic methods to the bonding demonstration article as well as various smaller test panels featuring design specific defect types and geometric features.

Search Filter Precision Can Be Improved By NOTing Out Irrelevant Content

PubMed Central

Wilczynski, Nancy L.; McKibbon, K. Ann; Haynes, R. Brian

2011-01-01

Background: Most methodologic search filters developed for use in large electronic databases such as MEDLINE have low precision. One method that has been proposed but not tested for improving precision is NOTing out irrelevant content. Objective: To determine if search filter precision can be improved by NOTing out the text words and index terms assigned to those articles that are retrieved but are off-target. Design: Analytic survey. Methods: NOTing out unique terms in off-target articles and testing search filter performance in the Clinical Hedges Database. Main Outcome Measures: Sensitivity, specificity, precision and number needed to read (NNR). Results: For all purpose categories (diagnosis, prognosis and etiology) except treatment and for all databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO), constructing search filters that NOTed out irrelevant content resulted in substantive improvements in NNR (over four-fold for some purpose categories and databases). Conclusion: Search filter precision can be improved by NOTing out irrelevant content. PMID:22195215

The effect of physical height on workplace success and income: preliminary test of a theoretical model.

PubMed

Judge, Timothy A; Cable, Daniel M

2004-06-01

In this article, the authors propose a theoretical model of the relationship between physical height and career success. We then test several linkages in the model based on a meta-analysis of the literature, with results indicating that physical height is significantly related to measures of social esteem (rho =.41), leader emergence (rho =.24), and performance (rho =.18). Height was somewhat more strongly related to success for men (rho =.29) than for women (rho =.21), although this difference was not significant. Finally, given that almost no research has examined the relationship between individuals' physical height and their incomes, we present four large-sample studies (total N = 8,590) showing that height is positively related to income (beta =.26) after controlling for sex, age, and weight. Overall, this article presents the most comprehensive analysis of the relationship of height to workplace success to date, and the results suggest that tall individuals have advantages in several important aspects of their careers and organizational lives. (c) 2004 APA

Breast Cyst Aspiration

MedlinePlus

... TestingRead Article >>Plasma Viral Load TestingInsulin TherapyRead Article >>Insulin Therapy Visit our interactive symptom checker Visit our interactive symptom checker Get Started Related ArticlesPlasma Viral Load TestingRead ... TherapyRead Article >>Drugs, Procedures & DevicesInsulin TherapyThe goal of ...

21 CFR 58.113 - Mixtures of articles with carriers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Mixtures of articles with carriers. 58.113 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.113 Mixtures of articles with carriers. (a) For each test or control article that is mixed with a carrier, tests...

21 CFR 58.113 - Mixtures of articles with carriers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Mixtures of articles with carriers. 58.113 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.113 Mixtures of articles with carriers. (a) For each test or control article that is mixed with a carrier, tests...

21 CFR 58.113 - Mixtures of articles with carriers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Mixtures of articles with carriers. 58.113 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.113 Mixtures of articles with carriers. (a) For each test or control article that is mixed with a carrier, tests...

21 CFR 58.113 - Mixtures of articles with carriers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Mixtures of articles with carriers. 58.113 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.113 Mixtures of articles with carriers. (a) For each test or control article that is mixed with a carrier, tests...

21 CFR 58.113 - Mixtures of articles with carriers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Mixtures of articles with carriers. 58.113 Section... GOOD LABORATORY PRACTICE FOR NONCLINICAL LABORATORY STUDIES Test and Control Articles § 58.113 Mixtures of articles with carriers. (a) For each test or control article that is mixed with a carrier, tests...

Utilization survey of prototype structural test article

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baber, S.; Mcdaniel, H. M.; Berry, M. J.

1974-01-01

A survey was conducted of six aerospace companies and two NASA agencies to determine how prototype structural test articles are used in flight operations. The prototype structures are airframes and similar devices which are used for testing and generally are not flown. The survey indicated the following: (1) prototype test articles are not being discarded after development testing is complete, but are used for other purposes, (2) only two cases of prototypes being refurbished and flown were identified, (3) protective devices and inspection techniques are available to prevent or minimize test article damage, (4) substitute programs from design verification are availabel in lieu of using prototype structural articles, and (5) there is a trend away from dedicated test articles. Four options based on these study results were identified to reduce test and hardware costs without compromising reliability of the flight program.

In-Flight Boundary-Layer Transition of a Large Flat Plate at Supersonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, D. W.; Frederick, M. A.; Tracy, R. R.; Matisheck, J. R.; Vanecek, N. D.

2012-01-01

A flight experiment was conducted to investigate the pressure distribution, local-flow conditions, and boundary-layer transition characteristics on a large flat plate in flight at supersonic speeds up to Mach 2.00. The tests used a NASA testbed aircraft with a bottom centerline mounted test fixture. The primary objective of the test was to characterize the local flow field in preparation for future tests of a high Reynolds number natural laminar flow test article. A second objective was to determine the boundary-layer transition characteristics on the flat plate and the effectiveness of using a simplified surface coating. Boundary-layer transition was captured in both analog and digital formats using an onboard infrared imaging system. Surface pressures were measured on the surface of the flat plate. Flow field measurements near the leading edge of the test fixture revealed the local flow characteristics including downwash, sidewash, and local Mach number. Results also indicated that the simplified surface coating did not provide sufficient insulation from the metallic structure, which likely had a substantial effect on boundary-layer transition compared with that of an adiabatic surface. Cold wall conditions were predominant during the acceleration to maximum Mach number, and warm wall conditions were evident during the subsequent deceleration.

Space station protective coating development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pippin, H. G.; Hill, S. G.

1989-01-01

A generic list of Space Station surfaces and candidate material types is provided. Environmental exposures and performance requirements for the different Space Station surfaces are listed. Coating materials and the processing required to produce a viable system, and appropriate environmental simulation test facilities are being developed. Mass loss data from the original version of the atomic oxygen test chamber and the improved facility; additional environmental exposures performed on candidate materials; and materials properties measurements on candidate coatings to determine the effects of the exposures are discussed. Methodologies of production, and coating materials, used to produce the large scale demonstration articles are described. The electronic data base developed for the contract is also described. The test chamber to be used for exposure of materials to atomic oxygen was built.

Flexible Ablators: Applications and Arcjet Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arnold, James O.; Venkatapathy, Ethiraj; Beck, Robin A S.; Mcguire, Kathy; Prabhu, Dinesh K.; Gorbunov, Sergey

2011-01-01

Flexible ablators were conceived in 2009 to meet the technology pull for large, human Mars Exploration Class, 23 m diameter hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerators. As described elsewhere, they have been recently undergoing initial technical readiness (TRL) advancement by NASA. The performance limits of flexible ablators in terms of maximum heat rates, pressure and shear remain to be defined. Further, it is hoped that this emerging technology will vastly expand the capability of future NASA missions involving atmospheric entry systems. This paper considers four topics of relevance to flexible ablators: (1) Their potential applications to near/far term human and robotic missions (2) Brief consideration of the balance between heat shield diameter, flexible ablator performance limits, entry vehicle controllability and aft-body shear layer impingement of interest to designers of very large entry vehicles, (3) The approach for developing bonding processes of flexible ablators for use on rigid entry bodies and (4) Design of large arcjet test articles that will enable the testing of flexible ablators in flight-like, combined environments (heat flux, pressure, shear and structural tensile loading). Based on a review of thermal protection system performance requirements for future entry vehicles, it is concluded that flexible ablators have broad applications to conventional, rigid entry body systems and are enabling to large deployable (both inflatable and mechanical) heat shields. Because of the game-changing nature of flexible ablators, it appears that NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) will fund a focused, 3-year TRL advancement of the new materials capable of performance in heat fluxes in the range of 200-600 W/sq. cm. This support will enable the manufacture and use of the large-scale arcjet test designs that will be a key element of this OCT funded activity.

Joint and Soft Tissue Injections

MedlinePlus

... TestingRead Article >>Plasma Viral Load TestingInsulin TherapyRead Article >>Insulin Therapy Visit our interactive symptom checker Visit our interactive symptom checker Get Started Related ArticlesPlasma Viral Load TestingRead ... TherapyRead Article >>Drugs, Procedures & DevicesInsulin TherapyThe goal of ...

Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: test of a model.

PubMed

Salvaggio, Amy Nicole; Schneider, Benjamin; Nishii, Lisa H; Mayer, David M; Ramesh, Anuradha; Lyon, Julie S

2007-11-01

This article conceptually and empirically explores the relationships among manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and climate for customer service. Data were collected from 1,486 employees and 145 managers in grocery store departments (N = 145) to test the authors' theoretical model. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that core self-evaluations were positively related to managers' service quality orientation, even after dimensions of the Big Five model of personality were controlled, and that service quality orientation fully mediated the relationship between personality and global service climate. Implications for personality and organizational climate research are discussed. (c) 2007 APA

A minimum distance estimation approach to the two-sample location-scale problem.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhiyi; Yu, Qiqing

2002-09-01

As reported by Kalbfleisch and Prentice (1980), the generalized Wilcoxon test fails to detect a difference between the lifetime distributions of the male and female mice died from Thymic Leukemia. This failure is a result of the test's inability to detect a distributional difference when a location shift and a scale change exist simultaneously. In this article, we propose an estimator based on the minimization of an average distance between two independent quantile processes under a location-scale model. Large sample inference on the proposed estimator, with possible right-censorship, is discussed. The mouse leukemia data are used as an example for illustration purpose.

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

Titus, A.C.

Since 1945 the U.S. government has conducted extensive atomic testing for purposes of protecting the national security and developing industrial uses of nuclear power. Newly available information indicates that many citizens were unwittingly harmed by exposure to radioactive fallout from this testing. The victims are pressuring the government to accept liability for its actions and offer compensation for the damages. To date, however, their efforts have been largely unsuccessful. This article analyzes the politics of the atomic compensation movement, from its beginnings through the 97th Congress. It concludes that, barring the enactment of specific legislation, atomic victims stand little chancemore » of gaining financial compensation or moral satisfaction.« less

Total control: a critical analysis of mandatory HIV testing in U.S. prisons.

PubMed

Gagnon, Marilou; Jacob, Jean Daniel; Cormier, Luc

2013-01-01

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between mandatory HIV testing and the institutional management of inmates in U.S. prisons. Mandatory HIV testing has been largely overlooked by the nursing community even though it has important human rights and ethical implications. Drawing on the work of Goffman (1990) on the inner workings of total institutions, the present article critically examines the deployment of mandatory HIV testing in U.S. prisons. To set the stage, we define mandatory HIV testing and describe the methods of HIV testing currently used in U.S. prison settings. Then, we provide a brief overview of the concept of total institution and the mortification process. Finally, we expand on the relationship between mandatory HIV testing and much larger institutional objectives of total control, total structuring, total isolation, and separation of inmates from society (as summarized by Farrington, 1992). And lastly, we provide a brief discussion on the implications of mandatory HIV testing (as a method of HIV testing) from a nursing perspective.

21 CFR 58.47 - Facilities for handling test and control articles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Facilities for handling test and control articles... for handling test and control articles. (a) As necessary to prevent contamination or mixups, there shall be separate areas for: (1) Receipt and storage of the test and control articles. (2) Mixing of the...

21 CFR 58.47 - Facilities for handling test and control articles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Facilities for handling test and control articles... for handling test and control articles. (a) As necessary to prevent contamination or mixups, there shall be separate areas for: (1) Receipt and storage of the test and control articles. (2) Mixing of the...

21 CFR 58.47 - Facilities for handling test and control articles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Facilities for handling test and control articles... for handling test and control articles. (a) As necessary to prevent contamination or mixups, there shall be separate areas for: (1) Receipt and storage of the test and control articles. (2) Mixing of the...

21 CFR 58.47 - Facilities for handling test and control articles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Facilities for handling test and control articles... for handling test and control articles. (a) As necessary to prevent contamination or mixups, there shall be separate areas for: (1) Receipt and storage of the test and control articles. (2) Mixing of the...

Large-scale online semantic indexing of biomedical articles via an ensemble of multi-label classification models.

PubMed

Papanikolaou, Yannis; Tsoumakas, Grigorios; Laliotis, Manos; Markantonatos, Nikos; Vlahavas, Ioannis

2017-09-22

In this paper we present the approach that we employed to deal with large scale multi-label semantic indexing of biomedical papers. This work was mainly implemented within the context of the BioASQ challenge (2013-2017), a challenge concerned with biomedical semantic indexing and question answering. Our main contribution is a MUlti-Label Ensemble method (MULE) that incorporates a McNemar statistical significance test in order to validate the combination of the constituent machine learning algorithms. Some secondary contributions include a study on the temporal aspects of the BioASQ corpus (observations apply also to the BioASQ's super-set, the PubMed articles collection) and the proper parametrization of the algorithms used to deal with this challenging classification task. The ensemble method that we developed is compared to other approaches in experimental scenarios with subsets of the BioASQ corpus giving positive results. In our participation in the BioASQ challenge we obtained the first place in 2013 and the second place in the four following years, steadily outperforming MTI, the indexing system of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The results of our experimental comparisons, suggest that employing a statistical significance test to validate the ensemble method's choices, is the optimal approach for ensembling multi-label classifiers, especially in contexts with many rare labels.

Low-stress mounting configuration design for large aperture laser transport mirror

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zheng; Quan, Xusong; Yao, Chao; Wang, Hui

2016-10-01

TM1-6S1 large aperture laser transport mirror is a crucial optical unit of high power solid-state laser in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) facility. This article focuses on the low-stress and precise mounting method of large-aperture mirror. Based on the engineering practice of SG-III, the state-of-the-art and key problems of current mounting configuration are clarified firstly. Subsequently, a brand new low-stress mounting configuration with flexure supports is proposed. Opto-mechanical model of the mirror under mounting force is built up with elastic mechanics theory. Further, numerical methods and field tests are employed to verify the favorable load uniform capacity and load adjust capacity of flexure supports. With FEM, the relation between the mounting force from new configuration and the mirror surface distortion (wavefront error) is clarified. The novel mounting method of large aperture optics could be not only used on this laser transport mirror, but also on the other transmission optics and large crystals in ICF facilities.

From path models to commands during additive printing of large-scale architectural designs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chepchurov, M. S.; Zhukov, E. M.; Yakovlev, E. A.; Matveykin, V. G.

2018-05-01

The article considers the problem of automation of the formation of large complex parts, products and structures, especially for unique or small-batch objects produced by a method of additive technology [1]. Results of scientific research in search for the optimal design of a robotic complex, its modes of operation (work), structure of its control helped to impose the technical requirements on the technological process for manufacturing and design installation of the robotic complex. Research on virtual models of the robotic complexes allowed defining the main directions of design improvements and the main goal (purpose) of testing of the the manufactured prototype: checking the positioning accuracy of the working part.

A hybrid algorithm for parallel molecular dynamics simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mangiardi, Chris M.; Meyer, R.

2017-10-01

This article describes algorithms for the hybrid parallelization and SIMD vectorization of molecular dynamics simulations with short-range forces. The parallelization method combines domain decomposition with a thread-based parallelization approach. The goal of the work is to enable efficient simulations of very large (tens of millions of atoms) and inhomogeneous systems on many-core processors with hundreds or thousands of cores and SIMD units with large vector sizes. In order to test the efficiency of the method, simulations of a variety of configurations with up to 74 million atoms have been performed. Results are shown that were obtained on multi-core systems with Sandy Bridge and Haswell processors as well as systems with Xeon Phi many-core processors.

Invited review article: Large ring lasers for rotation sensing.

PubMed

Schreiber, Karl Ulrich; Wells, Jon-Paul R

2013-04-01

Over the last two decades a series of large ring laser gyroscopes have been built having an unparalleled scale factor. These upscaled devices have improved the sensitivity and stability for rotation rate measurements by six orders of magnitude when compared to previous commercial developments. This progress has made possible entirely new applications of ring laser gyroscopes in the fields of geophysics, geodesy, and seismology. Ring lasers are currently the only viable measurement technology, which is directly referenced to the instantaneous rotation axis of the Earth. The sensor technology is rapidly developing. This is evidenced by the first experimentally viable proposals to make terrestrial tests of general relativistic effects such as the frame dragging of the rotating Earth.

Helicobacter pylori diagnostic tests in children: review of the literature from 1999 to 2009.

PubMed

Guarner, Jeannette; Kalach, Nicolas; Elitsur, Yoram; Koletzko, Sibylle

2010-01-01

The array of tests that can be used for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection is large, and it can be confusing to define which test to use particularly in children where results may not be comparable to those obtained in adult patients. Using PubMed, we reviewed the English literature from January 1999 to May 2009 to identify articles that determined sensitivity and specificity of H. pylori invasive and non-invasive diagnostic tests in children. We excluded articles that presented a review of the literature, abstracts, case reports, or series where children's results could not be separated from adult populations. Of the tissue based methods, rapid urease tests have better sensitivity than histology to detect presence of H. pylori; however, histology can detect the pathology associated with disease including gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, and other conditions that could be the cause of the child's symptoms. Culture of gastric tissues or stool has 100% specificity but sensitivity is low. Of the serologic tests, immunoblot has the best sensitivity. The urea breath tests have >75% sensitivity for detection of H. pylori before and after treatment. Immunoassays in stool using monoclonal antibodies have >95% sensitivity for detection of H. pylori before and after treatment. PCR testing can be performed in tissue and stool samples and can detect genes associated to antibiotic resistance. In summary, the current commercial non-invasive tests have adequate sensitivity and specificity for detecting the presence of H. pylori; however, endoscopy with histopathology is the only method that can detect H. pylori and lesions associated with the infection.

Educational testing validity and reliability in pharmacy and medical education literature.

PubMed

Hoover, Matthew J; Jung, Rose; Jacobs, David M; Peeters, Michael J

2013-12-16

To evaluate and compare the reliability and validity of educational testing reported in pharmacy education journals to medical education literature. Descriptions of validity evidence sources (content, construct, criterion, and reliability) were extracted from articles that reported educational testing of learners' knowledge, skills, and/or abilities. Using educational testing, the findings of 108 pharmacy education articles were compared to the findings of 198 medical education articles. For pharmacy educational testing, 14 articles (13%) reported more than 1 validity evidence source while 83 articles (77%) reported 1 validity evidence source and 11 articles (10%) did not have evidence. Among validity evidence sources, content validity was reported most frequently. Compared with pharmacy education literature, more medical education articles reported both validity and reliability (59%; p<0.001). While there were more scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) articles in pharmacy education compared to medical education, validity, and reliability reporting were limited in the pharmacy education literature.

Structural Element Testing in Support of the Design of the NASA Composite Crew Module

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellas, Sotiris; Jackson, Wade C.; Thesken, John C.; Schleicher, Eric; Wagner, Perry; Kirsch, Michael T.

2012-01-01

In January 2007, the NASA Administrator and Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate chartered the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) to design, build, and test a full-scale Composite Crew Module (CCM). For the design and manufacturing of the CCM, the team adopted the building block approach where design and manufacturing risks were mitigated through manufacturing trials and structural testing at various levels of complexity. Following NASA's Structural Design Verification Requirements, a further objective was the verification of design analysis methods and the provision of design data for critical structural features. Test articles increasing in complexity from basic material characterization coupons through structural feature elements and large structural components, to full-scale structures were evaluated. This paper discusses only four elements tests three of which include joints and one that includes a tapering honeycomb core detail. For each test series included are specimen details, instrumentation, test results, a brief analysis description, test analysis correlation and conclusions.

Results from an Independent View on The Validation of Safety-Critical Space Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, N.; Lopes, R.; Esper, A.; Barbosa, R.

2013-08-01

The Independent verification and validation (IV&V) has been a key process for decades, and is considered in several international standards. One of the activities described in the “ESA ISVV Guide” is the independent test verification (stated as Integration/Unit Test Procedures and Test Data Verification). This activity is commonly overlooked since customers do not really see the added value of checking thoroughly the validation team work (could be seen as testing the tester's work). This article presents the consolidated results of a large set of independent test verification activities, including the main difficulties, results obtained and advantages/disadvantages for the industry of these activities. This study will support customers in opting-in or opting-out for this task in future IV&V contracts since we provide concrete results from real case studies in the space embedded systems domain.

Analyzing a multimodal biometric system using real and virtual users

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheidat, Tobias; Vielhauer, Claus

2007-02-01

Three main topics of recent research on multimodal biometric systems are addressed in this article: The lack of sufficiently large multimodal test data sets, the influence of cultural aspects and data protection issues of multimodal biometric data. In this contribution, different possibilities are presented to extend multimodal databases by generating so-called virtual users, which are created by combining single biometric modality data of different users. Comparative tests on databases containing real and virtual users based on a multimodal system using handwriting and speech are presented, to study to which degree the use of virtual multimodal databases allows conclusions with respect to recognition accuracy in comparison to real multimodal data. All tests have been carried out on databases created from donations from three different nationality groups. This allows to review the experimental results both in general and in context of cultural origin. The results show that in most cases the usage of virtual persons leads to lower accuracy than the usage of real users in terms of the measurement applied: the Equal Error Rate. Finally, this article will address the general question how the concept of virtual users may influence the data protection requirements for multimodal evaluation databases in the future.

Whisker Formation on SAC305 Soldered Assemblies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meschter, S.; Snugovsky, P.; Bagheri, Z.; Kosiba, E.; Romansky, M.; Kennedy, J.; Snugovsky, L.; Perovic, D.

2014-11-01

This article describes the results of a whisker formation study on SAC305 assemblies, evaluating the effects of lead-frame materials and cleanliness in different environments: low-stress simulated power cycling (50-85°C thermal cycling), thermal shock (-55°C to 85°C), and high temperature/high humidity (85°C/85% RH). Cleaned and contaminated small outline transistors, large leaded quad flat packs (QFP), plastic leaded chip carrier packages, and solder balls with and without rare earth elements (REE) were soldered to custom designed test boards with Sn3Ag0.5Cu (SAC305) solder. After assembly, all the boards were cleaned, and half of them were recontaminated (1.56 µg/cm2 Cl-). Whisker length, diameter, and density were measured. Detailed metallurgical analysis on components before assembly and on solder joints before and after testing was performed. It was found that whiskers grow from solder joint fillets, where the thickness is less than 25 µm, unless REE was present. The influence of lead-frame and solder ball material, microstructure, cleanliness, and environment on whisker characteristics is discussed. This article provides detailed metallurgical observations and select whisker length data obtained during this multiyear testing program.

Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) Implementation in Rocket Engine Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Figueroa, Fernando; Morris, Jon; Turowski, Mark; Franzl, Richard; Walker, Mark; Kapadia, Ravi; Venkatesh, Meera

2010-01-01

A pilot operational ISHM capability has been implemented for the E-2 Rocket Engine Test Stand (RETS) and a Chemical Steam Generator (CSG) test article at NASA Stennis Space Center. The implementation currently includes an ISHM computer and a large display in the control room. The paper will address the overall approach, tools, and requirements. It will also address the infrastructure and architecture. Specific anomaly detection algorithms will be discussed regarding leak detection and diagnostics, valve validation, and sensor validation. It will also describe development and use of a Health Assessment Database System (HADS) as a repository for measurements, health, configuration, and knowledge related to a system with ISHM capability. It will conclude with a discussion of user interfaces, and a description of the operation of the ISHM system prior, during, and after testing.

Neutral buoyancy test evaluation of hardware and extravehicular activity procedures for on-orbit assembly of a 14 meter precision reflector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heard, Walter L., Jr.; Lake, Mark S.

1993-01-01

A procedure that enables astronauts in extravehicular activity (EVA) to perform efficient on-orbit assembly of large paraboloidal precision reflectors is presented. The procedure and associated hardware are verified in simulated Og (neutral buoyancy) assembly tests of a 14 m diameter precision reflector mockup. The test article represents a precision reflector having a reflective surface which is segmented into 37 individual panels. The panels are supported on a doubly curved tetrahedral truss consisting of 315 struts. The entire truss and seven reflector panels were assembled in three hours and seven minutes by two pressure-suited test subjects. The average time to attach a panel was two minutes and three seconds. These efficient assembly times were achieved because all hardware and assembly procedures were designed to be compatible with EVA assembly capabilities.

Horizontal gaze nystagmus: a review of vision science and application issues.

PubMed

Rubenzer, Steven J; Stevenson, Scott B

2010-03-01

The Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test is one component of the Standardized Field Sobriety Test battery. This article reviews the literature on smooth pursuit eye movement and gaze nystagmus with a focus on normative responses, the influence of alcohol on these behaviors, and stimulus conditions similar to those used in the HGN sobriety test. Factors such as age, stimulus and background conditions, medical conditions, prescription medications, and psychiatric disorder were found to affect the smooth pursuit phase of HGN. Much less literature is available for gaze nystagmus, but onset of nystagmus may occur in some sober subjects at 45 degrees or less. We conclude that HGN is limited by large variability in the underlying normative behavior, from methods and testing environments that are often poorly controlled, and from a lack of rigorous validation in laboratory settings.

Nozzle Side Load Testing and Analysis at Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ruf, Joseph H.; McDaniels, David M.; Brown, Andrew M.

2009-01-01

Realistic estimates of nozzle side loads, the off-axis forces that develop during engine start and shutdown, are important in the design cycle of a rocket engine. The estimated magnitude of the nozzle side loads has a large impact on the design of the nozzle shell and the engine s thrust vector control system. In 2004 Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) began developing a capability to quantify the relative magnitude of side loads caused by different types of nozzle contours. The MSFC Nozzle Test Facility was modified to measure nozzle side loads during simulated nozzle start. Side load results from cold flow tests on two nozzle test articles, one with a truncated ideal contour and one with a parabolic contour are provided. The experimental approach, nozzle contour designs and wall static pressures are also discussed

Implementation of Fiber Optic Sensing System on Sandwich Composite Cylinder Buckling Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pena, Francisco; Richards, W. Lance; Parker, Allen R.; Piazza, Anthony; Schultz, Marc R.; Rudd, Michelle T.; Gardner, Nathaniel W.; Hilburger, Mark W.

2018-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineering and Safety Center Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project is a multicenter project tasked with developing new analysis-based shell buckling design guidelines and design factors (i.e., knockdown factors) through high-fidelity buckling simulations and advanced test technologies. To validate these new buckling knockdown factors for future launch vehicles, the Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project is carrying out structural testing on a series of large-scale metallic and composite cylindrical shells at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama). A fiber optic sensor system was used to measure strain on a large-scale sandwich composite cylinder that was tested under multiple axial compressive loads up to more than 850,000 lb, and equivalent bending loads over 22 million in-lb. During the structural testing of the composite cylinder, strain data were collected from optical cables containing distributed fiber Bragg gratings using a custom fiber optic sensor system interrogator developed at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. A total of 16 fiber-optic strands, each containing nearly 1,000 fiber Bragg gratings, measuring strain, were installed on the inner and outer cylinder surfaces to monitor the test article global structural response through high-density real-time and post test strain measurements. The distributed sensing system provided evidence of local epoxy failure at the attachment-ring-to-barrel interface that would not have been detected with conventional instrumentation. Results from the fiber optic sensor system were used to further refine and validate structural models for buckling of the large-scale composite structures. This paper discusses the techniques employed for real-time structural monitoring of the composite cylinder for structural load introduction and distributed bending-strain measurements over a large section of the cylinder by utilizing unique sensing capabilities of fiber optic sensors.

48 CFR 52.209-3 - First Article Approval-Contractor Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-3 First Article Approval—Contractor Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-1 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Contractor Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-4 - First Article Approval-Government Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-4 First Article Approval—Government Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-2 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Government Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-4 - First Article Approval-Government Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-4 First Article Approval—Government Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-2 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Government Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-4 - First Article Approval-Government Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-4 First Article Approval—Government Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-2 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Government Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-4 - First Article Approval-Government Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-4 First Article Approval—Government Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-2 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Government Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-3 - First Article Approval-Contractor Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-3 First Article Approval—Contractor Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-1 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Contractor Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-3 - First Article Approval-Contractor Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-3 First Article Approval—Contractor Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-1 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Contractor Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-4 - First Article Approval-Government Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-4 First Article Approval—Government Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-2 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Government Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-3 - First Article Approval-Contractor Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-3 First Article Approval—Contractor Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-1 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Contractor Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

48 CFR 52.209-3 - First Article Approval-Contractor Testing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false First Article Approval... Clauses 52.209-3 First Article Approval—Contractor Testing. As prescribed in 9.308-1 (a) and (b), insert the following clause: First Article Approval—Contractor Testing (SEP 1989) [Contracting Officer shall...

Screening for childhood strabismus by primary care physicians.

PubMed Central

Weinstock, V. M.; Weinstock, D. J.; Kraft, S. P.

1998-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical classification of strabismus, to describe the timing and method of strabismus screening examinations, and to discuss the principles of treatment. QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: Current literature (1983 to 1995) was searched via MEDLINE using the MeSH headings strabismus, ocular motility disorders, and amblyopia. Articles were selected based on their date of publication, clinical relevance, and availability. Preference was given to more recent articles, articles with large numbers of subjects, and well-designed cohort studies. Official recommendations from academic groups were analyzed. Descriptions of clinical tests and their illustrations are based on classic texts. MAIN FINDINGS: Primary care physicians should screen all low-risk children. High-risk children (low birth weight, family history of strabismus, congenital ocular abnormality, or systemic conditions with vision-threatening ocular manifestations) should be referred to an ophthalmologist for screening. Screening should be performed in the neonatal period, at 6 months, and at 3 years (Grade A recommendation), as well as at 5 to 6 years (Grade B recommendation). Screening examination includes inspection, examining visual acuity, determining pupillary reactions, checking ocular alignment, testing eye movements, and ophthalmoscopy. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physicians are essential to early detection of strabismus and amblyopia. Early detection can help minimize visual dysfunction, allow for normal development of binocular vision and depth perception, and prevent psychosocial dysfunction. PMID:9512837

A numerical study of the string function using a primitive equation ocean model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyler, R. H.; Käse, R.

We use results from a primitive-equation ocean numerical model (SCRUM) to test a theoretical 'string function' formulation put forward by Tyler and Käse in another article in this issue. The string function acts as a stream function for the large-scale potential energy flow under the combined beta and topographic effects. The model results verify that large-scale anomalies propagate along the string function contours with a speed correctly given by the cross-string gradient. For anomalies having a scale similar to the Rossby radius, material rates of change in the layer mass following the string velocity are balanced by material rates of change in relative vorticity following the flow velocity. It is shown that large-amplitude anomalies can be generated when wind stress is resonant with the string function configuration.

Dual-axis resonance testing of wind turbine blades

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

Hughes, Scott; Musial, Walter; White, Darris

An apparatus (100) for fatigue testing test articles (104) including wind turbine blades. The apparatus (100) includes a test stand (110) that rigidly supports an end (106) of the test article (104). An actuator assembly (120) is attached to the test article (104) and is adapted for substantially concurrently imparting first and second forcing functions in first and second directions on the test article (104), with the first and second directions being perpendicular to a longitudinal axis. A controller (130) transmits first and second sets of displacement signals (160, 164) to the actuator assembly (120) at two resonant frequencies ofmore » the test system (104). The displacement signals (160, 164) initiate the actuator assembly (120) to impart the forcing loads to concurrently oscillate the test article (104) in the first and second directions. With turbine blades, the blades (104) are resonant tested concurrently for fatigue in the flapwise and edgewise directions.« less

Finite Element Analysis and Test Results Comparison for the Hybrid Wing Body Center Section Test Article

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Przekop, Adam; Jegley, Dawn C.; Rouse, Marshall; Lovejoy, Andrew E.

2016-01-01

This report documents the comparison of test measurements and predictive finite element analysis results for a hybrid wing body center section test article. The testing and analysis efforts were part of the Airframe Technology subproject within the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation project. Test results include full field displacement measurements obtained from digital image correlation systems and discrete strain measurements obtained using both unidirectional and rosette resistive gauges. Most significant results are presented for the critical five load cases exercised during the test. Final test to failure after inflicting severe damage to the test article is also documented. Overall, good comparison between predicted and actual behavior of the test article is found.

Biases in the production and reception of collective knowledge: the case of hindsight bias in Wikipedia.

PubMed

Oeberst, Aileen; von der Beck, Ina; D Back, Mitja; Cress, Ulrike; Nestler, Steffen

2017-04-17

The Web 2.0 enabled collaboration at an unprecedented level. In one of the flagships of mass collaboration-Wikipedia-a large number of authors socially negotiate the world's largest compendium of knowledge. Several guidelines in Wikipedia restrict contributions to verifiable information from reliable sources to ensure recognized knowledge. Much psychological research demonstrates, however, that individual information processing is biased. This poses the question whether individual biases translate to Wikipedia articles or whether they are prevented by its guidelines. The present research makes use of hindsight bias to examine this question. To this end, we analyzed foresight and hindsight versions of Wikipedia articles regarding a broad variety of events (Study 1). We found the majority of articles not to contain traces of hindsight bias-contrary to prior individual research. However, for a particular category of events-disasters-we found robust evidence for hindsight bias. In a lab experiment (Study 2), we then examined whether individuals' hindsight bias is translated into articles under controlled conditions and tested whether collaborative writing-as present in Wikipedia-affects the resultant bias (vs. individual writing). Finally, we investigated the impact of biased Wikipedia articles on readers (Study 3). As predicted, biased articles elicited a hindsight bias in readers, who had not known of the event previously. Moreover, biased articles also affected individuals who knew about the event already, and who had already developed a hindsight bias: biased articles further increased their hindsight.

Pursuing the Qualities of a "Good" Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coniam, David

2014-01-01

This article examines the issue of the quality of teacher-produced tests, limiting itself in the current context to objective, multiple-choice tests. The article investigates a short, two-part 20-item English language test. After a brief overview of the key test qualities of reliability and validity, the article examines the two subtests in terms…

Systematic review of the multidimensional fatigue symptom inventory-short form.

PubMed

Donovan, Kristine A; Stein, Kevin D; Lee, Morgan; Leach, Corinne R; Ilozumba, Onaedo; Jacobsen, Paul B

2015-01-01

Fatigue is a subjective complaint that is believed to be multifactorial in its etiology and multidimensional in its expression. Fatigue may be experienced by individuals in different dimensions as physical, mental, and emotional tiredness. The purposes of this study were to review and characterize the use of the 30-item Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form (MFSI-SF) in published studies and to evaluate the available evidence for its psychometric properties. A systematic review was conducted to identify published articles reporting results for the MFSI-SF. Data were analyzed to characterize internal consistency reliability of multi-item MFSI-SF scales and test-retest reliability. Correlation coefficients were summarized to characterize concurrent, convergent, and divergent validity. Standardized effect sizes were calculated to characterize the discriminative validity of the MFSI-SF and its sensitivity to change. Seventy articles were identified. Sample sizes reported ranged from 10 to 529 and nearly half consisted exclusively of females. More than half the samples were composed of cancer patients; of those, 59% were breast cancer patients. Mean alpha coefficients for MFSI-SF fatigue subscales ranged from 0.84 for physical fatigue to 0.93 for general fatigue. The MFSI-SF demonstrated moderate test-retest reliability in a small number of studies. Correlations with other fatigue and vitality measures were moderate to large in size and in the expected direction. The MFSI-SF fatigue subscales were positively correlated with measures of distress, depressive, and anxious symptoms. Effect sizes for discriminative validity ranged from medium to large, while effect sizes for sensitivity to change ranged from small to large. Findings demonstrate the positive psychometric properties of the MFSI-SF, provide evidence for its usefulness in medically ill and nonmedically ill individuals, and support its use in future studies.

Structural Benchmark Creep Testing for Microcast MarM-247 Advanced Stirling Convertor E2 Heater Head Test Article SN18

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krause, David L.; Brewer, Ethan J.; Pawlik, Ralph

2013-01-01

This report provides test methodology details and qualitative results for the first structural benchmark creep test of an Advanced Stirling Convertor (ASC) heater head of ASC-E2 design heritage. The test article was recovered from a flight-like Microcast MarM-247 heater head specimen previously used in helium permeability testing. The test article was utilized for benchmark creep test rig preparation, wall thickness and diametral laser scan hardware metrological developments, and induction heater custom coil experiments. In addition, a benchmark creep test was performed, terminated after one week when through-thickness cracks propagated at thermocouple weld locations. Following this, it was used to develop a unique temperature measurement methodology using contact thermocouples, thereby enabling future benchmark testing to be performed without the use of conventional welded thermocouples, proven problematic for the alloy. This report includes an overview of heater head structural benchmark creep testing, the origin of this particular test article, test configuration developments accomplished using the test article, creep predictions for its benchmark creep test, qualitative structural benchmark creep test results, and a short summary.

An overview of the BIOASQ large-scale biomedical semantic indexing and question answering competition.

PubMed

Tsatsaronis, George; Balikas, Georgios; Malakasiotis, Prodromos; Partalas, Ioannis; Zschunke, Matthias; Alvers, Michael R; Weissenborn, Dirk; Krithara, Anastasia; Petridis, Sergios; Polychronopoulos, Dimitris; Almirantis, Yannis; Pavlopoulos, John; Baskiotis, Nicolas; Gallinari, Patrick; Artiéres, Thierry; Ngomo, Axel-Cyrille Ngonga; Heino, Norman; Gaussier, Eric; Barrio-Alvers, Liliana; Schroeder, Michael; Androutsopoulos, Ion; Paliouras, Georgios

2015-04-30

This article provides an overview of the first BIOASQ challenge, a competition on large-scale biomedical semantic indexing and question answering (QA), which took place between March and September 2013. BIOASQ assesses the ability of systems to semantically index very large numbers of biomedical scientific articles, and to return concise and user-understandable answers to given natural language questions by combining information from biomedical articles and ontologies. The 2013 BIOASQ competition comprised two tasks, Task 1a and Task 1b. In Task 1a participants were asked to automatically annotate new PUBMED documents with MESH headings. Twelve teams participated in Task 1a, with a total of 46 system runs submitted, and one of the teams performing consistently better than the MTI indexer used by NLM to suggest MESH headings to curators. Task 1b used benchmark datasets containing 29 development and 282 test English questions, along with gold standard (reference) answers, prepared by a team of biomedical experts from around Europe and participants had to automatically produce answers. Three teams participated in Task 1b, with 11 system runs. The BIOASQ infrastructure, including benchmark datasets, evaluation mechanisms, and the results of the participants and baseline methods, is publicly available. A publicly available evaluation infrastructure for biomedical semantic indexing and QA has been developed, which includes benchmark datasets, and can be used to evaluate systems that: assign MESH headings to published articles or to English questions; retrieve relevant RDF triples from ontologies, relevant articles and snippets from PUBMED Central; produce "exact" and paragraph-sized "ideal" answers (summaries). The results of the systems that participated in the 2013 BIOASQ competition are promising. In Task 1a one of the systems performed consistently better from the NLM's MTI indexer. In Task 1b the systems received high scores in the manual evaluation of the "ideal" answers; hence, they produced high quality summaries as answers. Overall, BIOASQ helped obtain a unified view of how techniques from text classification, semantic indexing, document and passage retrieval, question answering, and text summarization can be combined to allow biomedical experts to obtain concise, user-understandable answers to questions reflecting their real information needs.

Experiments In Characterizing Vibrations Of A Structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yam, Yeung; Hadaegh, Fred Y.; Bayard, David S.

1993-01-01

Report discusses experiments conducted to test methods of identification of vibrational and coupled rotational/vibrational modes of flexible structure. Report one in series that chronicle development of integrated system of methods, sensors, actuators, analog and digital signal-processing equipment, and algorithms to suppress vibrations in large, flexible structure even when dynamics of structure partly unknown and/or changing. Two prior articles describing aspects of research, "Autonomous Frequency-Domain Indentification" (NPO-18099), and "Automated Characterization Of Vibrations Of A Structure" (NPO-18141).

Test of understanding of vectors: A reliable multiple-choice vector concept test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barniol, Pablo; Zavala, Genaro

2014-06-01

In this article we discuss the findings of our research on students' understanding of vector concepts in problems without physical context. First, we develop a complete taxonomy of the most frequent errors made by university students when learning vector concepts. This study is based on the results of several test administrations of open-ended problems in which a total of 2067 students participated. Using this taxonomy, we then designed a 20-item multiple-choice test [Test of understanding of vectors (TUV)] and administered it in English to 423 students who were completing the required sequence of introductory physics courses at a large private Mexican university. We evaluated the test's content validity, reliability, and discriminatory power. The results indicate that the TUV is a reliable assessment tool. We also conducted a detailed analysis of the students' understanding of the vector concepts evaluated in the test. The TUV is included in the Supplemental Material as a resource for other researchers studying vector learning, as well as instructors teaching the material.

Anomalous Thrust Production from an RF Test Device Measured on a Low-Thrust Torsion Pendulum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brady, David; White, Harold G.; March, Paul; Lawrence, James T.; Davies, Frank J.

2014-01-01

This paper describes the eight-day August 2013 test campaign designed to investigate and demonstrate viability of using classical magnetoplasmadynamics to obtain a propulsive momentum transfer via the quantum vacuum virtual plasma. This paper will not address the physics of the quantum vacuum plasma thruster, but instead will describe the test integration, test operations, and the results obtained from the test campaign. Approximately 30-50 micro-Newtons of thrust were recorded from an electric propulsion test article consisting primarily of a radio frequency (RF) resonant cavity excited at approximately 935 megahertz. Testing was performed on a low-thrust torsion pendulum that is capable of detecting force at a single-digit micronewton level, within a stainless steel vacuum chamber with the door closed but at ambient atmospheric pressure. Several different test configurations were used, including two different test articles as well as a reversal of the test article orientation. In addition, the test article was replaced by an RF load to verify that the force was not being generated by effects not associated with the test article. The two test articles were designed by Cannae LLC of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The torsion pendulum was designed, built, and operated by Eagleworks Laboratories at the NASA Johnson Space Center of Houston, Texas. Approximately six days of test integration were required, followed by two days of test operations, during which, technical issues were discovered and resolved. Integration of the two test articles and their supporting equipment was performed in an iterative fashion between the test bench and the vacuum chamber. In other words, the test article was tested on the bench, then moved to the chamber, then moved back as needed to resolve issues. Manual frequency control was required throughout the test. Thrust was observed on both test articles, even though one of the test articles was designed with the expectation that it would not produce thrust. Specifically, one test article contained internal physical modifications that were designed to produce thrust, while the other did not (with the latter being referred to as the "null" test article). Test data gathered includes torsion pendulum displacement measurements which are used to calculate generated force, still imagery in the visible spectrum to document the physical configuration, still imagery in the infrared spectrum to characterize the thermal environment, and video imagery. Post-test data includes static and animated graphics produced during RF resonant cavity characterization using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software application. Excerpts from all of the above are included and discussed in this paper. Lessons learned from test integration and operations include identification of the need to replace manual control of the resonant cavity target frequency with an automated frequency control capability. Future test plans include the development of an automatic frequency control circuit. Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma. Future test plans include independent verification and validation at other test facilities.

INTERIM CRYOGENIC PROPULSION STAGE TEST ARTICLE UNLOADED PRIOR T

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-06-20

TWO CRANES LIFT THE APPROXIMATELY 8,000-POUND INTERIM CRYOGENIC PROPULSION STAGE TEST ARTICLE OUT OF ITS CRATE AT MARSHALL. THE TEST ARTICLE ARRIVED AT MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER VIA BARGE ON THE TENNESSEE RIVER AND WAS TRANSPORTED TO BUILDING 4649 WHERE TESTING WILL BEGIN.

SLS Intertank Test Article, ITA, is attached to crosshead of loa

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-04

SLS Intertank Test Article, ITA, is attached to crosshead of load test Annex, Bldg. 4619, and removed from bed of KMAG transporter. Rob Ziegler, (L), and Roger Myrick (R), of Aerie Aerospace attach load lines to Aft Load Ring of Intertank Test Article.

Buckling Test Results from the 8-Foot-Diameter Orthogrid-Stiffened Cylinder Test Article TA01. [Test Dates: 19-21 November 2008

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilburger, Mark W.; Waters, W. Allen, Jr.; Haynie, Waddy T.

2015-01-01

Results from the testing of cylinder test article SBKF-P2-CYLTA01 (referred to herein as TA01) are presented. The testing was conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), November 19?21, 2008, in support of the Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor (SBKF) Project.i The test was used to verify the performance of a newly constructed buckling test facility at MSFC and to verify the test article design and analysis approach used by the SBKF project researchers. TA01 is an 8-foot-diameter (96-inches), 78.0-inch long, aluminum-lithium (Al-Li), orthogrid-stiffened cylindrical shell similar to those used in current state-of-the-art launch vehicle structures and was designed to exhibit global buckling when subjected to compression loads. Five different load sequences were applied to TA01 during testing and included four sub-critical load sequences, i.e., loading conditions that did not cause buckling or material failure, and one final load sequence to buckling and collapse. The sub-critical load sequences consisted of either uniform axial compression loading or combined axial compression and bending and the final load sequence subjected TA01 to uniform axial compression. Traditional displacement transducers and strain gages were used to monitor the test article response at nearly 300 locations and an advanced digital image correlation system was used to obtain low-speed and high-speed full-field displacement measurements of the outer surface of the test article. Overall, the test facility and test article performed as designed. In particular, the test facility successfully applied all desired load combinations to the test article and was able to test safely into the postbuckling range of loading, and the test article failed by global buckling. In addition, the test results correlated well with initial pretest predictions.

An Evaluation of the Additional Acoustic Power Needed to Overcome the Effects of a Test-Article's Absorption During Reverberant Chamber Acoustic Testing of Spaceflight Hardware

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hozman, Aron D.; Hughes, William O.

2014-01-01

The exposure of a customer's aerospace test-article to a simulated acoustic launch environment is typically performed in a reverberant acoustic test chamber. The acoustic pre-test runs that will ensure that the sound pressure levels of this environment can indeed be met by a test facility are normally performed without a test-article dynamic simulator of representative acoustic absorption and size. If an acoustic test facility's available acoustic power capability becomes maximized with the test-article installed during the actual test then the customer's environment requirement may become compromised. In order to understand the risk of not achieving the customer's in-tolerance spectrum requirement with the test-article installed, an acoustic power margin evaluation as a function of frequency may be performed by the test facility. The method for this evaluation of acoustic power will be discussed in this paper. This method was recently applied at the NASA Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Station's Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility for the SpaceX Falcon 9 Payload Fairing acoustic test program.

An Evaluation of the Additional Acoustic Power Needed to Overcome the Effects of a Test-Article's Absorption during Reverberant Chamber Acoustic Testing of Spaceflight Hardware

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hozman, Aron D.; Hughes, William O.

2014-01-01

The exposure of a customers aerospace test-article to a simulated acoustic launch environment is typically performed in a reverberant acoustic test chamber. The acoustic pre-test runs that will ensure that the sound pressure levels of this environment can indeed be met by a test facility are normally performed without a test-article dynamic simulator of representative acoustic absorption and size. If an acoustic test facilitys available acoustic power capability becomes maximized with the test-article installed during the actual test then the customers environment requirement may become compromised. In order to understand the risk of not achieving the customers in-tolerance spectrum requirement with the test-article installed, an acoustic power margin evaluation as a function of frequency may be performed by the test facility. The method for this evaluation of acoustic power will be discussed in this paper. This method was recently applied at the NASA Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Stations Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility for the SpaceX Falcon 9 Payload Fairing acoustic test program.

Testing flow diversion in animal models: a systematic review.

PubMed

Fahed, Robert; Raymond, Jean; Ducroux, Célina; Gentric, Jean-Christophe; Salazkin, Igor; Ziegler, Daniela; Gevry, Guylaine; Darsaut, Tim E

2016-04-01

Flow diversion (FD) is increasingly used to treat intracranial aneurysms. We sought to systematically review published studies to assess the quality of reporting and summarize the results of FD in various animal models. Databases were searched to retrieve all animal studies on FD from 2000 to 2015. Extracted data included species and aneurysm models, aneurysm and neck dimensions, type of flow diverter, occlusion rates, and complications. Articles were evaluated using a checklist derived from the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines. Forty-two articles reporting the results of FD in nine different aneurysm models were included. The rabbit elastase-induced aneurysm model was the most commonly used, with 3-month occlusion rates of 73.5%, (95%CI [61.9-82.6%]). FD of surgical sidewall aneurysms, constructed in rabbits or canines, resulted in high occlusion rates (100% [65.5-100%]). FD resulted in modest occlusion rates (15.4% [8.9-25.1%]) when tested in six complex canine aneurysm models designed to reproduce more difficult clinical contexts (large necks, bifurcation, or fusiform aneurysms). Adverse events, including branch occlusion, were rarely reported. There were no hemorrhagic complications. Articles complied with 20.8 ± 3.9 of 41 ARRIVE items; only a small number used randomization (3/42 articles [7.1%]) or a control group (13/42 articles [30.9%]). Preclinical studies on FD have shown various results. Occlusion of elastase-induced aneurysms was common after FD. The model is not challenging but standardized in many laboratories. Failures of FD can be reproduced in less standardized but more challenging surgical canine constructions. The quality of reporting could be improved.

A new golden age: testing general relativity with cosmology.

PubMed

Bean, Rachel; Ferreira, Pedro G; Taylor, Andy

2011-12-28

Gravity drives the evolution of the Universe and is at the heart of its complexity. Einstein's field equations can be used to work out the detailed dynamics of space and time and to calculate the emergence of large-scale structure in the distribution of galaxies and radiation. Over the past few years, it has become clear that cosmological observations can be used not only to constrain different world models within the context of Einstein gravity but also to constrain the theory of gravity itself. In this article, we look at different aspects of this new field in which cosmology is used to test theories of gravity with a wide range of observations.

An Overview of NASA Efforts on Zero Boiloff Storage of Cryogenic Propellants

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hastings, Leon J.; Plachta, D. W.; Salerno, L.; Kittel, P.; Haynes, Davy (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Future mission planning within NASA has increasingly motivated consideration of cryogenic propellant storage durations on the order of years as opposed to a few weeks or months. Furthermore, the advancement of cryocooler and passive insulation technologies in recent years has substantially improved the prospects for zero boiloff storage of cryogenics. Accordingly, a cooperative effort by NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), Glenn Research Center (GRC), and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been implemented to develop and demonstrate "zero boiloff" concepts for in-space storage of cryogenic propellants, particularly liquid hydrogen and oxygen. ARC is leading the development of flight-type cryocoolers, GRC the subsystem development and small scale testing, and MSFC the large scale and integrated system level testing. Thermal and fluid modeling involves a combined effort by the three Centers. Recent accomplishments include: 1) development of "zero boiloff" analytical modeling techniques for sizing the storage tankage, passive insulation, cryocooler, power source mass, and radiators; 2) an early subscale demonstration with liquid hydrogen 3) procurement of a flight-type 10 watt, 95 K pulse tube cryocooler for liquid oxygen storage and 4) assembly of a large-scale test article for an early demonstration of the integrated operation of passive insulation, destratification/pressure control, and cryocooler (commercial unit) subsystems to achieve zero boiloff storage of liquid hydrogen. Near term plans include the large-scale integrated system demonstration testing this summer, subsystem testing of the flight-type pulse-tube cryocooler with liquid nitrogen (oxygen simulant), and continued development of a flight-type liquid hydrogen pulse tube cryocooler.

Open Architecture Data System for NASA Langley Combined Loads Test System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lightfoot, Michael C.; Ambur, Damodar R.

1998-01-01

The Combined Loads Test System (COLTS) is a new structures test complex that is being developed at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to test large curved panels and cylindrical shell structures. These structural components are representative of aircraft fuselage sections of subsonic and supersonic transport aircraft and cryogenic tank structures of reusable launch vehicles. Test structures are subjected to combined loading conditions that simulate realistic flight load conditions. The facility consists of two pressure-box test machines and one combined loads test machine. Each test machine possesses a unique set of requirements or research data acquisition and real-time data display. Given the complex nature of the mechanical and thermal loads to be applied to the various research test articles, each data system has been designed with connectivity attributes that support both data acquisition and data management functions. This paper addresses the research driven data acquisition requirements for each test machine and demonstrates how an open architecture data system design not only meets those needs but provides robust data sharing between data systems including the various control systems which apply spectra of mechanical and thermal loading profiles.

Diagnosing schistosomiasis: where are we?

PubMed

Gomes, Luciana Inácia; Enk, Martin Johannes; Rabello, Ana

2014-01-01

In light of the World Health Organization's initiative to extend schistosomiasis morbidity and mortality control programs by including a disease elimination strategy in low endemic settings, this paper reviews diagnostic tools described during the last decades and provide an overview of ongoing efforts in making an efficient diagnostic tool available worldwide. A literature search on PubMed using the search criteria schistosomiasis and diagnosis within the period from 1978 to 2013 was carried out. Articles with abstract in English and that used laboratory techniques specifically developed for the detection of schistosomiasis in humans were included. Publications were categorized according to the methodology applied (parasitological, immunological, or molecular) and stage of development (in house development, limited field, or large scale field testing). The initial research generated 4,535 publications, of which only 643 met the inclusion criteria. The vast majority (537) of the publications focused on immunological techniques; 81 focused on parasitological diagnosis, and 25 focused on molecular diagnostic methods. Regarding the stage of development, 307 papers referred to in-house development, 202 referred to limited field tests, and 134 referred to large scale field testing. The data obtained show that promising new diagnostic tools, especially for Schistosoma antigen and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) detection, which are characterized by high sensitivity and specificity, are being developed. In combination with international funding initiatives these tools may result in a significant step forward in successful disease elimination and surveillance, which is to make efficient tests accessible and its large use self-sustainable for control programs in endemic countries.

Clinical, physiological and pathological characterisation of the sensory predominant peripheral neuropathy in copper deficiency.

PubMed

Taylor, Sean W; Laughlin, Ruple S; Kumar, Neeraj; Goodman, Brent; Klein, Christopher J; Dyck, Peter J; Dyck, P James B

2017-10-01

Myelopathy is considered the most common neurological complication of copper deficiency. Concurrent peripheral neuropathy has been recognised in association with copper deficiency but has not been well characterised. To characterise the clinical, physiological and pathological features of copper-deficient peripheral neuropathy. Patients with simultaneous copper deficiency (<0.78 μg/mL) and peripheral neuropathy seen at the Mayo Clinic from 1985 to 2005 were identified. 34 patients were identified (median age 55 years, range 36-78) including 24 women and 10 men. Myelopathy was found in 21 patients. Median serum copper level was 0.11 μg/mL (range 0-0.58). The most frequent clinical and electrophysiological pattern of neuropathy was a sensory predominant length-dependent peripheral neuropathy (71%). Somatosensory evoked potentials demonstrated central slowing supporting myelopathy (96%). Quantitative sensory testing demonstrated both small and large fibre involvement (100%). Autonomic reflex screens (77%) and thermoregulatory sweat test (67%) confirmed sudomotor dysfunction. 14 cutaneous nerve biopsies revealed loss of myelinated nerve fibres (86%), increased regenerative clusters (50%), increased rates of axonal degeneration (91%) and increased numbers of empty nerve strands (73%). 71% of biopsies demonstrated epineurial perivascular inflammation. An axonal, length-dependent sensory predominant peripheral neuropathy causing sensory ataxia is characteristic of copper deficiency usually co-occurring with myelopathy. Neurophysiological testing confirms involvement of large, greater than small fibres. The pathological findings suggest axonal degeneration and repair. Inflammatory infiltrates are common but are small and of doubtful pathological significance. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Test Characteristics of Point of Care Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of Retinal Detachment in the Emergency Department.

PubMed

Kim, Daniel J; Francispragasam, Mario; Docherty, Gavin; Silver, Byron; Prager, Ross; Lee, Donna; Maberley, David

2018-05-18

Previous studies of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) have reported high sensitivities and specificities for retinal detachment (RD). Our primary objective was to assess the test characteristics of POCUS performed by a large heterogeneous group of emergency physicians (EPs) for the diagnosis of RD. This was a prospective diagnostic test assessment of POCUS performed by EPs with varying ultrasound experience on a convenience sample of emergency department (ED) patients presenting with flashes or floaters in one or both eyes. After standard ED assessment, EPs performed an ocular POCUS scan targeted to detect the presence or absence of RD. After completing their ED visit, all patients were assessed by a retina specialist who was blinded to the results of the POCUS scan. We calculated sensitivity and specificity with associated exact binomial confidence intervals (CI) using the retina specialist's final diagnosis as the reference standard. A total of 30 EPs enrolled 115 patients, with median age of 60 years and 64% female. The retina specialist diagnosed RD in 16 (14%) cases. The sensitivity and specificity of POCUS for detecting RD was 75% (95% CI 48%-93%) and 94% (95% CI 87%-98%), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio was 12.4 (95% CI 5.4-28.3), and negative likelihood ratio was 0.27 (95% CI 0.11-0.62). A large heterogeneous group of EPs can perform POCUS with high specificity but only intermediate sensitivity for RD. A negative POCUS scan in the ED performed by a heterogeneous group of providers after a one-hour POCUS didactic is not sufficiently sensitive to rule out RD in a patient with new onset flashes or floaters. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Operation of molten carbonate fuel cells with different biogas sources: A challenging approach for field trials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trogisch, S.; Hoffmann, J.; Daza Bertrand, L.

In the past years research in the molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) area has been focusing its efforts on the utilisation of natural gas as fuel (S. Geitmann, Wasserstoff- & Brennstoffzellen-Projekte, 2002, ISBN 3-8311-3280-1). In order to increase the advantages of this technology, an international consortium has worked on the utilisation of biogas as fuel in MCFC. During the 4 years lasting RTD project EFFECTIVE two different gas upgrading systems have been developed and constructed together with two mobile MCFC test beds which were operated at different locations for approximately 2.000-5.000 h in each run with biogas from different origins and quality. The large variety of test locations has enabled to gather a large database for assessing the effect of the different biogas qualities on the complete system consisting of the upgrading and the fuel cell systems. The findings are challenging. This article also aims at giving an overview of the advantages of using biogas as fuel for fuel cells.

The Mini-Mast CSI testbed: Lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tanner, Sharon E.; Belvin, W. Keith; Horta, Lucas G.; Pappa, R. S.

1993-01-01

The Mini-Mast testbed was one of the first large scale Controls-Structure-Interaction (CSI) systems used to evaluate state-of-the-art methodology in flexible structure control. Now that all the testing at Langley Research Center has been completed, a look back is warranted to evaluate the program. This paper describes some of the experiences and technology development studies by NASA, university, and industry investigators. Lessons learned are presented from three categories: the testbed development, control methods, and the operation of a guest investigator program. It is shown how structural safety margins provided a realistic environment to simulate on-orbit CSI research, even though they also reduced the research flexibility afforded to investigators. The limited dynamic coupling between the bending and torsion modes of the cantilevered test article resulted in highly successful SISO and MIMO controllers. However, until accurate models were obtained for the torque wheel actuators, sensors, filters, and the structure itself, most controllers were unstable. Controls research from this testbed should be applicable to cantilevered appendages of future large space structures.

A mathematical problem and a Spacecraft Control Laboratory Experiment (SCOLE) used to evaluate control laws for flexible spacecraft. NASA/IEEE design challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, Lawrence W., Jr.; Balakrishnan, A. V.

1988-01-01

The problen of controlling large, flexible space systems has been evaluated using computer simulation. In several cases, ground experiments have also been used to validate system performance under more realistic conditions. There remains a need, however, to test additional control laws for flexible spacecraft and to directly compare competing design techniques. A program is discussed which has been initiated to make direct comparisons of control laws for, first, a mathematical problem, then and experimental test article being assembled under the cognizance of the Spacecraft Control Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center with the advice and counsel of the IEEE Subcommittee on Large Space Structures. The physical apparatus will consist of a softly supported dynamic model of an antenna attached to the Shuttle by a flexible beam. The control objective will include the task of directing the line-of-sight of the Shuttle antenna configuration toward a fixed target, under conditions of noisy data, control authority and random disturbances.

A leading edge heating array and a flat surface heating array: Final design. [for testing the thermal protection system of the space shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A heating array is described for testing full-scale sections of the leading edge and lower fuselage surfaces of the shuttle. The heating array was designed to provide a tool for development and acceptance testing of leading edge segments and large flat sections of the main body thermal protection system. The array was designed using a variable length module concept to meet test requirements using interchangeable components from one test configuration in another configuration. Heat generating modules and heat absorbing modules were employed to achieve the thermal gradient around the leading edge. A support was developed to hold the modules to form an envelope around a variety of leading edges; to supply coolant to each module; the support structure and to hold the modules in the flat surface heater configuration. An optical pyrometer system mounted within the array was designed to monitor specimen surface temperatures without altering the test article's surface.

Proficiency testing as a basis for estimating uncertainty of measurement: application to forensic alcohol and toxicology quantitations.

PubMed

Wallace, Jack

2010-05-01

While forensic laboratories will soon be required to estimate uncertainties of measurement for those quantitations reported to the end users of the information, the procedures for estimating this have been little discussed in the forensic literature. This article illustrates how proficiency test results provide the basis for estimating uncertainties in three instances: (i) For breath alcohol analyzers the interlaboratory precision is taken as a direct measure of uncertainty. This approach applies when the number of proficiency tests is small. (ii) For blood alcohol, the uncertainty is calculated from the differences between the laboratory's proficiency testing results and the mean quantitations determined by the participants; this approach applies when the laboratory has participated in a large number of tests. (iii) For toxicology, either of these approaches is useful for estimating comparability between laboratories, but not for estimating absolute accuracy. It is seen that data from proficiency tests enable estimates of uncertainty that are empirical, simple, thorough, and applicable to a wide range of concentrations.

A Review of Astronomy Education Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bailey, Janelle M.; Slater, Timothy F.

The field of astronomy education is rapidly growing beyond merely sharing effective activities or curriculum ideas. This paper categorizes and summarizes the literature in astronomy education research and contains more than 100 references to articles, books, and Web-based materials. Research into student understanding on a variety of topics now occupies a large part of the literature. Topics include the shape of Earth and gravity, lunar phases, seasons, astrobiology, and cosmology. The effectiveness of instructional methods is now being tested systematically, taking data beyond the anecdotal with powerful research designs and statistical analyses. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches have found their places in the researcher's toolbox. In all cases, the connection between the research performed and its effect on classroom instruction is largely lacking.

11 Foot Unitary Plan Tunnel Facility Optical Improvement Large Window Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hawke, Veronica M.

2015-01-01

The test section of the 11 by 11-foot Unitary Plan Transonic Wind Tunnel (11-foot UPWT) may receive an upgrade of larger optical windows on both the North and South sides. These new larger windows will provide better access for optical imaging of test article flow phenomena including surface and off body flow characteristics. The installation of these new larger windows will likely produce a change to the aerodynamic characteristics of the flow in the Test Section. In an effort understand the effect of this change, a computational model was employed to predict the flows through the slotted walls, in the test section and around the model before and after the tunnel modification. This report documents the solid CAD model that was created and the inviscid computational analysis that was completed as a preliminary estimate of the effect of the changes.

Highlighting the evidence gap: how cost-effective are interventions to improve early childhood nutrition and development?

PubMed

Batura, Neha; Hill, Zelee; Haghparast-Bidgoli, Hassan; Lingam, Raghu; Colbourn, Timothy; Kim, Sungwook; Sikander, Siham; Pulkki-Brannstrom, Anni-Maria; Rahman, Atif; Kirkwood, Betty; Skordis-Worrall, Jolene

2015-07-01

There is growing evidence of the effectiveness of early childhood interventions to improve the growth and development of children. Although, historically, nutrition and stimulation interventions may have been delivered separately, they are increasingly being tested as a package of early childhood interventions that synergistically improve outcomes over the life course. However, implementation at scale is seldom possible without first considering the relative cost and cost-effectiveness of these interventions. An evidence gap in this area may deter large-scale implementation, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. We conduct a literature review to establish what is known about the cost-effectiveness of early childhood nutrition and development interventions. A set of predefined search terms and exclusion criteria standardized the search across five databases. The search identified 15 relevant articles. Of these, nine were from studies set in high-income countries and six in low- and middle-income countries. The articles either calculated the cost-effectiveness of nutrition-specific interventions (n = 8) aimed at improving child growth, or parenting interventions (stimulation) to improve early childhood development (n = 7). No articles estimated the cost-effectiveness of combined interventions. Comparing results within nutrition or stimulation interventions, or between nutrition and stimulation interventions was largely prevented by the variety of outcome measures used in these analyses. This article highlights the need for further evidence relevant to low- and middle-income countries. To facilitate comparison of cost-effectiveness between studies, and between contexts where appropriate, a move towards a common outcome measure such as the cost per disability-adjusted life years averted is advocated. Finally, given the increasing number of combined nutrition and stimulation interventions being tested, there is a significant need for evidence of cost-effectiveness for combined programmes. This too would be facilitated by the use of a common outcome measure able to pool the impact of both nutrition and stimulation activities. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

Enhanced Large Solid Rocket Motor Understanding Through Performance Margin Testing: RSRM Five-Segment Engineering Test Motor (ETM-3)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huppi, Hal; Tobias, Mark; Seiler, James

2003-01-01

The Five-Segment Engineering Test Motor (ETM-3) is an extended length reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) intended to increase motor performance and internal environments above the current four-segment RSRM flight motor. The principal purpose of ETM-3 is to provide a test article for RSRM component margin testing. As the RSRM and Space Shuttle in general continue to age, replacing obsolete materials becomes an ever-increasing issue. Having a five-segment motor that provides environments in excess of normal opera- tion allows a mechanism to subject replacement materials to a more severe environment than experienced in flight. Additionally, ETM-3 offers a second design data point from which to develop and/or validate analytical models that currently have some level of empiricism associated with them. These enhanced models have the potential to further the understanding of RSRM motor performance and solid rocket motor (SRM) propulsion in general. Furthermore, these data could be leveraged to support a five-segment booster (FSB) development program should the Space Shuttle program choose to pursue this option for abort mode enhancements during the ascent phase. A tertiary goal of ETM-3 is to challenge both the ATK Thiokol Propulsion and NASA MSFC technical personnel through the design and analysis of a large solid rocket motor without the benefit of a well-established performance database such as the RSRM. The end result of this undertaking will be a more competent and experienced workforce for both organizations. Of particular interest are the motor design characteristics and the systems engineering approach used to conduct a complex yet successful large motor static test. These aspects of ETM-3 and more will be summarized.

Symptom validity issues in the psychological consultative examination for social security disability.

PubMed

Chafetz, Michael D

2010-08-01

This article is about Social Security Administration (SSA) policy with regard to the Psychological Consultative Examination (PCE) for Social Security Disability, particularly with respect to validation of the responses and findings. First, the nature of the consultation and the importance of understanding the boundaries and ethics of the psychologist's role are described. Issues particular to working with low-functioning claimants usually form a large part of these examinations. The psychologist must understand various forms of non-credible behavior during the PCE, and how malingering might be considered among other non-credible presentations. Issues pertaining to symptom validity testing in low-functioning claimants are further explored. SSA policy with respect to symptom validity testing is carefully examined, with an attempt to answer specific concerns and show how psychological science can be of assistance, particularly with evidence-based practice. Additionally, the nature and importance of techniques to avoid the mislabeling of claimants as malingerers are examined. SSA requires the use of accepted diagnostic techniques with which to establish impairment, and this article describes the implementation of that requirement, particularly with respect to validating the findings.

Results from SIM's Thermo-Opto-Mechanical (TOM3) Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goullioud, Renaud; Lindensmith, C. A.; Hahn, I.

2006-01-01

Future space-based optical interferometers, such as the Space Interferometer Mission Planet Quest (SIM), require thermal stability of the optical wavefront to the level of picometers in order to produce astrometric data at the micro-arc-second level. In SIM, the internal path of the interferometer will be measured with a small metrology beam whereas the starlight fringe position is estimated from a large concentric annular beam. To achieve the micro-arc-second observation goal for SIM, it is necessary to maintain the optical path difference between the central and the outer annulus portions of the wavefront of the front-end telescope optics to a few tens of picometers. The Thermo-Opto-Mecha nical testbed (TOM3) was developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to measure thermally induced optical deformations of a full-size flight-like beam compressor and siderostat, the two largest optics on SIM, in flight-like thermal environments. A Common Path Heterodyne Interferometer (COPHI) developed at JPL was used for the fine optical path difference measurement as the metrology sensor. The system was integrated inside a large vacuum chamber in order to mitigate the atmospheric and thermal disturbances. The siderostat was installed in a temperature-controlled thermal shroud inside the vacuum chamber, creating a flight-like thermal environment. Detailed thermal and structural models of the test articles (siderostat and compressor) were also developed for model prediction and correlation of the thermal deformations. Experimental data shows SIM required thermal stability of the test articles and good agreement with the model predictions.

A Large Motion Suspension System for Simulation of Orbital Deployment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Straube, T. M.; Peterson, L. D.

1994-01-01

This paper describes the design and implementation of a vertical degree of freedom suspension system which provides a constant force off-load condition to counter gravity over large displacements. By accommodating motions up to one meter for structures weighing up to 100 pounds, the system is useful for experiments which simulate the on-orbit deployment of spacecraft components. A unique aspect of this system is the combination of a large stroke passive off-load device augmented by electromotive torque actuated force feedback. The active force feedback has the effect of reducing breakaway friction by an order of magnitude over the passive system alone. The paper describes the development of the suspension hardware and the feedback control algorithm. Experiments were performed to verify the suspensions system's ability to provide a gravity off-load as well as its effect on the modal characteristics of a test article.

Design of 8-ft-Diameter Barrel Test Article Attachment Rings for Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Hilburger, Mark W.

2010-01-01

The Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor (SBKF) project includes the testing of sub-scale cylinders to validate new shell buckling knockdown factors for use in the design of the Ares-I and Ares-V launch vehicles. Test article cylinders represent various barrel segments of the Ares-I and Ares-V vehicles, and also include checkout test articles. Testing will be conducted at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for test articles having an eight-foot diameter outer mold line (OML) and having lengths that range from three to ten feet long. Both ends of the test articles will be connected to the test apparatus using attachment rings. Three multiple-piece and one single-piece design for the attachment rings were developed and analyzed. The single-piece design was chosen and will be fabricated from either steel or aluminum (Al) depending on the required safety factors (SF) for test hardware. This report summarizes the design and analysis of these attachment ring concepts.

An Evaluation of the Additional Acoustic Power Needed to Overcome the Effects of a Test-Articles Absorption During Reverberant Chamber Acoustic Testing of Spaceflight Hardware

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hozman, Aron D.; Hughes, William O.

2014-01-01

It is important to realize that some test-articles may have significant sound absorption that may challenge the acoustic power capabilities of a test facility. Therefore, to mitigate this risk of not being able to meet the customers target spectrum, it is prudent to demonstrate early-on an increased acoustic power capability which compensates for this test-article absorption. This paper describes a concise method to reduce this risk when testing aerospace test-articles which have significant absorption. This method was successfully applied during the SpaceX Falcon 9 Payload Fairing acoustic test program at the NASA Glenn Research Center Plum Brook Stations RATF.

Bioinspired legged-robot based on large deformation of flexible skeleton.

PubMed

Mayyas, Mohammad

2014-11-11

In this article we present STARbot, a bioinspired legged robot capable of multiple locomotion modalities by using large deformation of its skeleton. We construct STARbot by using origami-style folding of flexible laminates. The long-term goal is to provide a robotic platform with maximum mobility on multiple surfaces. This paper particularly studies the quasistatic model of STARbot's leg under different conditions. We describe the large elastic deformation of a leg under external force, payload, and friction by using a set of non-dimensional, nonlinear approximate equations. We developed a test mechanism that models the motion of a leg in STARbot. We augmented several foot shapes and then tested them on soft to rough grounds. Both simulation and experimental findings were in good agreement. We utilized the model to develop several scales of tri and quad STARbot. We demonstrated the capability of these robots to locomote by combining their leg deformations with their foot motions. The combination provided a design platform for an active suspension STARbot with controlled foot locomotion. This included the ability of STARbot to change size, run over obstacles, walk and slide. Furthermore, in this paper we discuss a cost effective manufacturing and production method for manufacturing STARbot.

Vent System Analysis for the Cryogenic Propellant Storage Transfer Ground Test Article

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hedayat, A

2013-01-01

To test and validate key capabilities and technologies required for future exploration elements such as large cryogenic propulsion stages and propellant depots, NASA is leading the efforts to develop and design the Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer (CPST) Cryogenic Fluid Management (CFM) payload. The primary objectives of CPST payload are to demonstrate: 1) in-space storage of cryogenic propellants for long duration applications; and 2) in-space transfer of cryogenic propellants. The Ground Test Article (GTA) is a technology development version of the CPST payload. The GTA consists of flight-sized and flight-like storage and transfer tanks, liquid acquisition devices, transfer, and pressurization systems with all of the CPST functionality. The GTA is designed to perform integrated passive and active thermal storage and transfer performance testing with liquid hydrogen (LH2) in a vacuum environment. The GTA storage tank is designed to store liquid hydrogen and the transfer tank is designed to be 5% of the storage tank volume. The LH2 transfer subsystem is designed to transfer propellant from one tank to the other utilizing pressure or a pump. The LH2 vent subsystem is designed to prevent over-pressurization of the storage and transfer tanks. An in-house general-purpose computer program was utilized to model and simulate the vent subsystem operation. The modeling, analysis, and the results will be presented in the final paper.

Testing of a Stitched Composite Large-Scale Multi-Bay Pressure Box

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jegley, Dawn; Rouse, Marshall; Przekop, Adam; Lovejoy, Andrew

2016-01-01

NASA has created the Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project to develop technologies to reduce aviation's impact on the environment. A critical aspect of this pursuit is the development of a lighter, more robust airframe to enable the introduction of unconventional aircraft configurations. NASA and The Boeing Company have worked together to develop a structural concept that is lightweight and an advancement beyond state-of-the-art composite structures. The Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) is an integrally stiffened panel design where elements are stitched together. The PRSEUS concept is designed to maintain residual load carrying capabilities under a variety of damage scenarios. A series of building block tests were evaluated to explore the fundamental assumptions related to the capability and advantages of PRSEUS panels. The final step in the building block series is an 80%-scale pressure box representing a portion of the center section of a Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) transport aircraft. The testing of this article under maneuver load and internal pressure load conditions is the subject of this paper. The experimental evaluation of this article, along with the other building block tests and the accompanying analyses, has demonstrated the viability of a PRSEUS center body for the HWB vehicle. Additionally, much of the development effort is also applicable to traditional tube-and-wing aircraft, advanced aircraft configurations, and other structures where weight and through-the-thickness strength are design considerations.

Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) Technology Development Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes, Stephen J.; Cheatwood, F. McNeil; Calomino, Anthony M.; Wright, Henry S.

2013-01-01

The successful flight of the Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE)-3 has further demonstrated the potential value of Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology. This technology development effort is funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Game Changing Development Program (GCDP). This paper provides an overview of a multi-year HIAD technology development effort, detailing the projects completed to date and the additional testing planned for the future. The effort was divided into three areas: Flexible Systems Development (FSD), Mission Advanced Entry Concepts (AEC), and Flight Validation. FSD consists of a Flexible Thermal Protection Systems (FTPS) element, which is investigating high temperature materials, coatings, and additives for use in the bladder, insulator, and heat shield layers; and an Inflatable Structures (IS) element which includes manufacture and testing (laboratory and wind tunnel) of inflatable structures and their associated structural elements. AEC consists of the Mission Applications element developing concepts (including payload interfaces) for missions at multiple destinations for the purpose of demonstrating the benefits and need for the HIAD technology as well as the Next Generation Subsystems element. Ground test development has been pursued in parallel with the Flight Validation IRVE-3 flight test. A larger scale (6m diameter) HIAD inflatable structure was constructed and aerodynamically tested in the National Full-scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) 40ft by 80ft test section along with a duplicate of the IRVE-3 3m article. Both the 6m and 3m articles were tested with instrumented aerodynamic covers which incorporated an array of pressure taps to capture surface pressure distribution to validate Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model predictions of surface pressure distribution. The 3m article also had a duplicate IRVE-3 Thermal Protection System (TPS) to test in addition to testing with the Aerocover configuration. Both the Aerocovers and the TPS were populated with high contrast targets so that photogrammetric solutions of the loaded surface could be created. These solutions both refined the aerodynamic shape for CFD modeling and provided a deformed shape to validate structural Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models. Extensive aerothermal testing has been performed on the TPS candidates. This testing has been conducted in several facilities across the country. The majority of the testing has been conducted in the Boeing Large Core Arc Tunnel (LCAT). HIAD is continuing to mature testing methodology in this facility and is developing new test sample fixtures and control methodologies to improve understanding and quality of the environments to which the samples are subjected. Additional testing has been and continues to be performed in the NASA LaRC 8ft High Temperature Tunnel, where samples up to 2ft by 2ft are being tested over representative underlying structures incorporating construction features such as sewn seams and through-thickness quilting. With the successful completion to the IRVE-3 flight demonstration, mission planning efforts are ramping up on the development of the HIAD Earth Atmospheric Reenty Test (HEART) which will demonstrate a relevant scale vehicle in relevant environments via a large-scale aeroshell (approximately 8.5m) entering at orbital velocity (approximately 7km/sec) with an entry mass on the order of 4MT. Also, the Build to Print (BTP) hardware built as a risk mitigation for the IRVE-3 project to have a "spare" ready to go in the event of a launch vehicle delivery failure is now available for an additional sub-orbital flight experiment. Mission planning is underway to define a mission that can utilize this existing hardware and help the HIAD project further mature this technology.

In response to the December 2016 article entitled "Vegetarian diet and all-cause mortality: Evidence from a large population-based Australian cohort - the 45 and Up Study".

PubMed

Taylor, Nathan G A

2017-07-01

In response to the December 2016 article entitled "Vegetarian diet and all-cause mortality: Evidence from a large population-based Australian cohort - the 45 and Up Study". A brief analysis of the article with suggestions for interpretation and considerations for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Diagnostic work-up of pulmonary nodules : Management of pulmonary nodules detected with low‑dose CT screening].

PubMed

Wormanns, D

2016-09-01

Pulmonary nodules are the most frequent pathological finding in low-dose computed tomography (CT) scanning for early detection of lung cancer. Early stages of lung cancer are often manifested as pulmonary nodules; however, the very commonly occurring small nodules are predominantly benign. These benign nodules are responsible for the high percentage of false positive test results in screening studies. Appropriate diagnostic algorithms are necessary to reduce false positive screening results and to improve the specificity of lung cancer screening. Such algorithms are based on some of the basic principles comprehensively described in this article. Firstly, the diameter of nodules allows a differentiation between large (>8 mm) probably malignant and small (<8 mm) probably benign nodules. Secondly, some morphological features of pulmonary nodules in CT can prove their benign nature. Thirdly, growth of small nodules is the best non-invasive predictor of malignancy and is utilized as a trigger for further diagnostic work-up. Non-invasive testing using positron emission tomography (PET) and contrast enhancement as well as invasive diagnostic tests (e.g. various procedures for cytological and histological diagnostics) are briefly described in this article. Different nodule morphology using CT (e.g. solid and semisolid nodules) is associated with different biological behavior and different algorithms for follow-up are required. Currently, no obligatory algorithm is available in German-speaking countries for the management of pulmonary nodules, which reflects the current state of knowledge. The main features of some international and American recommendations are briefly presented in this article from which conclusions for the daily clinical use are derived.

Spice allergy.

PubMed

Chen, James L; Bahna, Sami L

2011-09-01

To provide a review on spice allergy and its implementation in clinical practice. PubMed searches were performed using spice allergy as the keyword for original and review articles. Selected references were also procured from the reviewed articles' references list. Articles were selected based on their relevance to the topic. Spices are available in a large variety and are widely used, often as blends. Spice allergy seems to be rare, reportedly affecting between 4 and 13 of 10,000 adults and occurring more often in women because of cosmetic use. No figures were available on children. Most spice allergens are degraded by digestion; therefore, IgE sensitization is mostly through inhalation of cross-reacting pollens, particularly mugwort and birch. The symptoms are more likely to be respiratory when exposure is by inhalation and cutaneous if by contact. Studies on skin testing and specific IgE assays are limited and showed low reliability. The diagnosis primarily depends on a good history taking and confirmation with oral challenge. The common use of spice blends makes identifying the particular offending component difficult, particularly because their components are inconsistent. Spices are widely used and contain multiple allergens, yet spice allergy is probably markedly underdiagnosed. There is a need for reliable skin testing extracts and serum specific IgE assays. Currently, the diagnosis depends on a good history taking and well-designed titrated challenge testing. Until immunotherapy becomes developed, treatment is strict avoidance, which may be difficult because of incomplete or vague labeling. Copyright © 2011 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From High-Throughput Microarray-Based Screening to Clinical Application: The Development of a Second Generation Multigene Test for Breast Cancer Prognosis

PubMed Central

Brase, Jan C.; Kronenwett, Ralf; Petry, Christoph; Denkert, Carsten; Schmidt, Marcus

2013-01-01

Several multigene tests have been developed for breast cancer patients to predict the individual risk of recurrence. Most of the first generation tests rely on proliferation-associated genes and are commonly carried out in central reference laboratories. Here, we describe the development of a second generation multigene assay, the EndoPredict test, a prognostic multigene expression test for estrogen receptor (ER) positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) negative (ER+/HER2−) breast cancer patients. The EndoPredict gene signature was initially established in a large high-throughput microarray-based screening study. The key steps for biomarker identification are discussed in detail, in comparison to the establishment of other multigene signatures. After biomarker selection, genes and algorithms were transferred to a diagnostic platform (reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR)) to allow for assaying formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples. A comprehensive analytical validation was performed and a prospective proficiency testing study with seven pathological laboratories finally proved that EndoPredict can be reliably used in the decentralized setting. Three independent large clinical validation studies (n = 2,257) demonstrated that EndoPredict offers independent prognostic information beyond current clinicopathological parameters and clinical guidelines. The review article summarizes several important steps that should be considered for the development process of a second generation multigene test and offers a means for transferring a microarray signature from the research laboratory to clinical practice. PMID:27605191

Prototypic Development and Evaluation of a Medium Format Metric Camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hastedt, H.; Rofallski, R.; Luhmann, T.; Rosenbauer, R.; Ochsner, D.; Rieke-Zapp, D.

2018-05-01

Engineering applications require high-precision 3D measurement techniques for object sizes that vary between small volumes (2-3 m in each direction) and large volumes (around 20 x 20 x 1-10 m). The requested precision in object space (1σ RMS) is defined to be within 0.1-0.2 mm for large volumes and less than 0.01 mm for small volumes. In particular, focussing large volume applications the availability of a metric camera would have different advantages for several reasons: 1) high-quality optical components and stabilisations allow for a stable interior geometry of the camera itself, 2) a stable geometry leads to a stable interior orientation that enables for an a priori camera calibration, 3) a higher resulting precision can be expected. With this article the development and accuracy evaluation of a new metric camera, the ALPA 12 FPS add|metric will be presented. Its general accuracy potential is tested against calibrated lengths in a small volume test environment based on the German Guideline VDI/VDE 2634.1 (2002). Maximum length measurement errors of less than 0.025 mm are achieved with different scenarios having been tested. The accuracy potential for large volumes is estimated within a feasibility study on the application of photogrammetric measurements for the deformation estimation on a large wooden shipwreck in the German Maritime Museum. An accuracy of 0.2 mm-0.4 mm is reached for a length of 28 m (given by a distance from a lasertracker network measurement). All analyses have proven high stabilities of the interior orientation of the camera and indicate the applicability for a priori camera calibration for subsequent 3D measurements.

High-Flux, High-Temperature Thermal Vacuum Qualification Testing of a Solar Receiver Aperture Shield

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kerslake, Thomas W.; Mason, Lee S.; Strumpf, Hal J.

1997-01-01

As part of the International Space Station (ISS) Phase 1 program, NASA Lewis Research Center (LERC) and the Russian Space Agency (RSA) teamed together to design, build and flight test the world's first orbital Solar Dynamic Power System (SDPS) on the Russian space station Mir. The Solar Dynamic Flight Demonstration (SDFD) program was to operate a nominal 2 kWe SDPS on Mir for a period up to 1-year starting in late 1997. Unfortunately, the SDFD mission was demanifested from the ISS phase 1 shuttle program in early 1996. However, substantial flight hardware and prototypical flight hardware was built including a heat receiver and aperture shield. The aperture shield comprises the front face of the cylindrical cavity heat receiver and is located at the focal plane of the solar concentrator. It is constructed of a stainless steel plate with a 1-m outside diameter, a 0.24-m inside diameter and covered with high-temperature, refractory metal Multi-Foil Insulation (MFI). The aperture shield must minimize heat loss from the receiver cavity, provide a stiff, high strength structure to accommodate shuttle launch loads and protect receiver structures from highly concentrated solar fluxes during concentrator off-pointing events. To satisfy Mir operational safety protocols, the aperture shield was required to accommodate direct impingement of the intensely concentrated solar image for a 1-hour period. To verify thermal-structural durability under the anticipated high-flux, high-temperature loading, an aperture shield test article was constructed and underwent a series of two tests in a large thermal vacuum chamber configured with a reflective, point-focus solar concentrator and a solar simulator. The test article was positioned near the focal plane and exposed to concentrated solar flux for a period of 1-hour. In the first test, a near equilibrium temperature of 1862 K was attained in the center of the shield hot spot. In the second test, with increased incident flux, a near equilibrium temperature of 2072 K was achieved. The aperture shield sustained no visible damage as a result of the exposures. This paper describes the aperture shield thermal-vacuum qualification test program including the test article, test facility, procedures, data collection, test success criteria, results and conclusions.

Instrumentation for the Characterization of Inflatable Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swanson, Gregory T.; Cassell, Alan M.; Johnson, R. Keith

2012-01-01

Current entry, descent, and landing technologies are not practical for heavy payloads due to mass and volume constraints dictated by limitations imposed by launch vehicle fairings. Therefore, new technologies are now being explored to provide a mass- and volume-efficient solution for heavy payload capabilities, including Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (IAD) [1]. Consideration of IADs for space applications has prompted the development of instrumentation systems for integration with flexible structures to characterize system response to flight-like environment testing. This development opportunity faces many challenges specific to inflatable structures in extreme environments, including but not limited to physical flexibility, packaging, temperature, structural integration and data acquisition [2]. In the spring of 2012, two large scale Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators (HIAD) will be tested in the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex s 40 by 80 wind tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. The test series will characterize the performance of a 3.0 m and 6.0 m HIAD at various angles of attack and levels of inflation during flight-like loading. To analyze the performance of these inflatable test articles as they undergo aerodynamic loading, many instrumentation systems have been researched and developed. These systems will utilize new experimental sensing systems developed by the HIAD ground test campaign instrumentation team, in addition to traditional wind tunnel sensing techniques in an effort to improve test article characterization and model validation. During the 2012 test series the instrumentation systems will target inflatable aeroshell static and dynamic deformation, structural strap loading, surface pressure distribution, localized skin deflection, and torus inflation pressure. This paper will offer an overview of inflatable structure instrumentation, and provide detail into the design and implementation of the sensors systems that will be utilized during the 2012 HIAD ground test campaign.

Clark's nutcracker spatial memory: the importance of large, structural cues.

PubMed

Bednekoff, Peter A; Balda, Russell P

2014-02-01

Clark's nutcrackers, Nucifraga columbiana, cache and recover stored seeds in high alpine areas including areas where snowfall, wind, and rockslides may frequently obscure or alter cues near the cache site. Previous work in the laboratory has established that Clark's nutcrackers use spatial memory to relocate cached food. Following from aspects of this work, we performed experiments to test the importance of large, structural cues for Clark's nutcracker spatial memory. Birds were no more accurate in recovering caches when more objects were on the floor of a large experimental room nor when this room was subdivided with a set of panels. However, nutcrackers were consistently less accurate in this large room than in a small experimental room. Clark's nutcrackers probably use structural features of experimental rooms as important landmarks during recovery of cached food. This use of large, extremely stable cues may reflect the imperfect reliability of smaller, closer cues in the natural habitat of Clark's nutcrackers. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: CO3 2013. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

System Proposal for Mass Transit Service Quality Control Based on GPS Data

PubMed Central

Padrón, Gabino; Cristóbal, Teresa; Alayón, Francisco; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; García, Carmelo R.

2017-01-01

Quality is an essential aspect of public transport. In the case of regular public passenger transport by road, punctuality and regularity are criteria used to assess quality of service. Calculating metrics related to these criteria continuously over time and comprehensively across the entire transport network requires the handling of large amounts of data. This article describes a system for continuously and comprehensively monitoring punctuality and regularity. The system uses location data acquired continuously in the vehicles and automatically transferred for analysis. These data are processed intelligently by elements that are commonly used by transport operators: GPS-based tracking system, onboard computer and wireless networks for mobile data communications. The system was tested on a transport company, for which we measured the punctuality of one of the routes that it operates; the results are presented in this article. PMID:28621745

Tocilizumab (Actemra).

PubMed

Sheppard, Martin; Laskou, Faidra; Stapleton, Philip P; Hadavi, Shahryar; Dasgupta, Bhaskar

2017-09-02

Tocilizumab (TCZ), is a recombinant humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) monoclonal antibody which has a main use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA). This article provides an overview of TCZ including looking into the past at the discovery of interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a pro-inflammatory cytokine. It also looks at how tocilizumab was developed, manufactured and tested to ensure both safety and efficacy in a human population. The article then explores the advantages and disadvantages of using TCZ when compared to other biologics approved in RA, sJIA and pJIA and finally looks ahead to the future and the emerging role of IL-6 and its blockade by TCZ as a treatment for giant cell arteritis (GCA), polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and large vessel vasculitis (LVV).

System Proposal for Mass Transit Service Quality Control Based on GPS Data.

PubMed

Padrón, Gabino; Cristóbal, Teresa; Alayón, Francisco; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; García, Carmelo R

2017-06-16

Quality is an essential aspect of public transport. In the case of regular public passenger transport by road, punctuality and regularity are criteria used to assess quality of service. Calculating metrics related to these criteria continuously over time and comprehensively across the entire transport network requires the handling of large amounts of data. This article describes a system for continuously and comprehensively monitoring punctuality and regularity. The system uses location data acquired continuously in the vehicles and automatically transferred for analysis. These data are processed intelligently by elements that are commonly used by transport operators: GPS-based tracking system, onboard computer and wireless networks for mobile data communications. The system was tested on a transport company, for which we measured the punctuality of one of the routes that it operates; the results are presented in this article.

A knowledge engineering approach to recognizing and extracting sequences of nucleic acids from scientific literature.

PubMed

García-Remesal, Miguel; Maojo, Victor; Crespo, José

2010-01-01

In this paper we present a knowledge engineering approach to automatically recognize and extract genetic sequences from scientific articles. To carry out this task, we use a preliminary recognizer based on a finite state machine to extract all candidate DNA/RNA sequences. The latter are then fed into a knowledge-based system that automatically discards false positives and refines noisy and incorrectly merged sequences. We created the knowledge base by manually analyzing different manuscripts containing genetic sequences. Our approach was evaluated using a test set of 211 full-text articles in PDF format containing 3134 genetic sequences. For such set, we achieved 87.76% precision and 97.70% recall respectively. This method can facilitate different research tasks. These include text mining, information extraction, and information retrieval research dealing with large collections of documents containing genetic sequences.

48 CFR 9.308-2 - Testing performed by the Government.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-2 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... purchase material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall...

48 CFR 9.308-2 - Testing performed by the Government.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-2 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... purchase material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall...

48 CFR 9.308-2 - Testing performed by the Government.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-2 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... purchase material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall...

48 CFR 9.308-2 - Testing performed by the Government.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-2 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... purchase material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall...

48 CFR 9.308-2 - Testing performed by the Government.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-2 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... purchase material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall...

Effect of simulated sampling disturbance on creep behaviour of rock salt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guessous, Z.; Gill, D. E.; Ladanyi, B.

1987-10-01

This article presents the results of an experimental study of creep behaviour of a rock salt under uniaxial compression as a function of prestrain, simulating sampling disturbance. The prestrain was produced by radial compressive loading of the specimens prior to creep testing. The tests were conducted on an artifical salt to avoid excessive scattering of the results. The results obtained from several series of single-stage creep tests show that, at short-term, the creep response of salt is strongly affected by the preloading history of samples. The nature of this effect depends upon the intensity of radial compressive preloading, and its magnitude is a function of the creep stress level. The effect, however, decreases with increasing plastic deformation, indicating that large creep strains may eventually lead to a complete loss of preloading memory.

Hot-Fire Test Results of Liquid Oxygen/RP-2 Multi-Element Oxidizer-Rich Preburners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Protz, C. S.; Garcia, C. P.; Casiano, M. J.; Parton, J. A.; Hulka, J. R.

2016-01-01

As part of the Combustion Stability Tool Development project funded by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center was contracted to assemble and hot-fire test a multi-element integrated test article demonstrating combustion characteristics of an oxygen/hydrocarbon propellant oxidizer-rich staged-combustion engine thrust chamber. Such a test article simulates flow through the main injectors of oxygen/kerosene oxidizer-rich staged combustion engines such as the Russian RD-180 or NK-33 engines, or future U.S.-built engine systems such as the Aerojet-Rocketdyne AR-1 engine or the Hydrocarbon Boost program demonstration engine. To supply the oxidizer-rich combustion products to the main injector of the integrated test article, existing subscale preburner injectors from a previous NASA-funded oxidizer-rich staged combustion engine development program were utilized. For the integrated test article, existing and newly designed and fabricated inter-connecting hot gas duct hardware were used to supply the oxidizer-rich combustion products to the oxidizer circuit of the main injector of the thrust chamber. However, before one of the preburners was used in the integrated test article, it was first hot-fire tested at length to prove it could provide the hot exhaust gas mean temperature, thermal uniformity and combustion stability necessary to perform in the integrated test article experiment. This paper presents results from hot-fire testing of several preburner injectors in a representative combustion chamber with a sonic throat. Hydraulic, combustion performance, exhaust gas thermal uniformity, and combustion stability data are presented. Results from combustion stability modeling of these test results are described in a companion paper at this JANNAF conference, while hot-fire test results of the preburner injector in the integrated test article are described in another companion paper.

Hybrid Residual Flexibility/Mass-Additive Method for Structural Dynamic Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tinker, M. L.

2003-01-01

A large fixture was designed and constructed for modal vibration testing of International Space Station elements. This fixed-base test fixture, which weighs thousands of pounds and is anchored to a massive concrete floor, initially utilized spherical bearings and pendulum mechanisms to simulate Shuttle orbiter boundary constraints for launch of the hardware. Many difficulties were encountered during a checkout test of the common module prototype structure, mainly due to undesirable friction and excessive clearances in the test-article-to-fixture interface bearings. Measured mode shapes and frequencies were not representative of orbiter-constrained modes due to the friction and clearance effects in the bearings. As a result, a major redesign effort for the interface mechanisms was undertaken. The total cost of the fixture design, construction and checkout, and redesign was over $2 million. Because of the problems experienced with fixed-base testing, alternative free-suspension methods were studied, including the residual flexibility and mass-additive approaches. Free-suspension structural dynamics test methods utilize soft elastic bungee cords and overhead frame suspension systems that are less complex and much less expensive than fixed-base systems. The cost of free-suspension fixturing is on the order of tens of thousands of dollars as opposed to millions, for large fixed-base fixturing. In addition, free-suspension test configurations are portable, allowing modal tests to be done at sites without modal test facilities. For example, a mass-additive modal test of the ASTRO-1 Shuttle payload was done at the Kennedy Space Center launch site. In this Technical Memorandum, the mass-additive and residual flexibility test methods are described in detail. A discussion of a hybrid approach that combines the best characteristics of each method follows and is the focus of the study.

14 CFR 35.33 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... STANDARDS: PROPELLERS Tests and Inspections § 35.33 General. (a) Each applicant must furnish test article(s... nature of the test. If needed for substantiation, the applicant may test a different propeller...

14 CFR 35.33 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... STANDARDS: PROPELLERS Tests and Inspections § 35.33 General. (a) Each applicant must furnish test article(s... nature of the test. If needed for substantiation, the applicant may test a different propeller...

14 CFR 35.33 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... STANDARDS: PROPELLERS Tests and Inspections § 35.33 General. (a) Each applicant must furnish test article(s... nature of the test. If needed for substantiation, the applicant may test a different propeller...

14 CFR 35.33 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... STANDARDS: PROPELLERS Tests and Inspections § 35.33 General. (a) Each applicant must furnish test article(s... nature of the test. If needed for substantiation, the applicant may test a different propeller...

14 CFR 35.33 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... STANDARDS: PROPELLERS Tests and Inspections § 35.33 General. (a) Each applicant must furnish test article(s... nature of the test. If needed for substantiation, the applicant may test a different propeller...

Identification of Pure-Tone Audiologic Thresholds for Pediatric Cochlear Implant Candidacy: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

de Kleijn, Jasper L; van Kalmthout, Ludwike W M; van der Vossen, Martijn J B; Vonck, Bernard M D; Topsakal, Vedat; Bruijnzeel, Hanneke

2018-05-24

Although current guidelines recommend cochlear implantation only for children with profound hearing impairment (HI) (>90 decibel [dB] hearing level [HL]), studies show that children with severe hearing impairment (>70-90 dB HL) could also benefit from cochlear implantation. To perform a systematic review to identify audiologic thresholds (in dB HL) that could serve as an audiologic candidacy criterion for pediatric cochlear implantation using 4 domains of speech and language development as independent outcome measures (speech production, speech perception, receptive language, and auditory performance). PubMed and Embase databases were searched up to June 28, 2017, to identify studies comparing speech and language development between children who were profoundly deaf using cochlear implants and children with severe hearing loss using hearing aids, because no studies are available directly comparing children with severe HI in both groups. If cochlear implant users with profound HI score better on speech and language tests than those with severe HI who use hearing aids, this outcome could support adjusting cochlear implantation candidacy criteria to lower audiologic thresholds. Literature search, screening, and article selection were performed using a predefined strategy. Article screening was executed independently by 4 authors in 2 pairs; consensus on article inclusion was reached by discussion between these 4 authors. This study is reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. Title and abstract screening of 2822 articles resulted in selection of 130 articles for full-text review. Twenty-one studies were selected for critical appraisal, resulting in selection of 10 articles for data extraction. Two studies formulated audiologic thresholds (in dB HLs) at which children could qualify for cochlear implantation: (1) at 4-frequency pure-tone average (PTA) thresholds of 80 dB HL or greater based on speech perception and auditory performance subtests and (2) at PTA thresholds of 88 and 96 dB HL based on a speech perception subtest. In 8 of the 18 outcome measures, children with profound HI using cochlear implants performed similarly to children with severe HI using hearing aids. Better performance of cochlear implant users was shown with a picture-naming test and a speech perception in noise test. Owing to large heterogeneity in study population and selected tests, it was not possible to conduct a meta-analysis. Studies indicate that lower audiologic thresholds (≥80 dB HL) than are advised in current national and manufacturer guidelines would be appropriate as audiologic candidacy criteria for pediatric cochlear implantation.

Designing a ruggedisation lab to characterise materials for harsh environments.

PubMed

Frazzette, Nicholas; Jethva, Janak; Mehta, Khanjan; Stapleton, Joshua J; Randall, Clive

Designing products for use in developing countries presents a unique set of challenges including harsh operating environments, costly repairs and maintenance, and users with varying degrees of education and device familiarity. For products to be robust, adaptable and durable, they need to be ruggedised for environmental factors such as high temperature and humidity as well as different operational conditions such as shock and chemical exposure. The product characterisation and ruggedisation processes require specific expertise and resources that are seldom available outside of large corporations and elite national research labs. There is no standardised process since product needs strongly depend on the context and user base, making it particularly onerous for underfunded start-ups and academic groups. Standardised protocols that identify essential lab testing regimens for specific contexts and user groups can complement field-testing and accelerate the product development process while reducing costs. This article synthesises current methods and strategies for product testing employed by large corporations as well as defence-related entities. A technological and organisational framework for a service-for-fee product characterisation and ruggedisation lab that reduces costs and shortens the timespan from product invention to commercial launch in harsh settings is presented.

Prototype space erectable radiator system ground test article development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alario, Joseph P.

1988-01-01

A prototype heat rejecting system is being developed by NASA-JSC for possible space station applications. This modular system, the Space-Erectable Radiator System Ground Test Article (SERS-GTA) with high-capacity radiator panels, can be installed and replaced on-orbit. The design, fabrication and testing of a representative ground test article are discussed. Acceptance test data for the heat pipe radiator panel and the whiffletree clamping mechanism have been presented.

48 CFR 9.308-1 - Testing performed by the contractor.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-1 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall use the...

48 CFR 9.308-1 - Testing performed by the contractor.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-1 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall use the...

48 CFR 9.308-1 - Testing performed by the contractor.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-1 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall use the...

48 CFR 9.308-1 - Testing performed by the contractor.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-1 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall use the...

48 CFR 9.308-1 - Testing performed by the contractor.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ACQUISITION PLANNING CONTRACTOR QUALIFICATIONS First Article Testing and Approval 9.308-1 Testing performed by... produce the first article and the production quantity at the same facility, the contracting officer shall... material or to commence production before first article approval, the contracting officer shall use the...

Testing in Texas: Accountability for Bilingual Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porter, Rosalie Pedalino, Ed.

2000-01-01

This issue has a special, multi-article section on student testing in Texas and contains three additional and unrelated articles. "The Texas Testing Case Documents: G.I. Forum, et al. v. Texas Education Agency, et al." section has five articles: "Overview" (Roger Clegg); a copy of the "First Amended Complaint";…

Descriptive Statistics for Modern Test Score Distributions: Skewness, Kurtosis, Discreteness, and Ceiling Effects.

PubMed

Ho, Andrew D; Yu, Carol C

2015-06-01

Many statistical analyses benefit from the assumption that unconditional or conditional distributions are continuous and normal. More than 50 years ago in this journal, Lord and Cook chronicled departures from normality in educational tests, and Micerri similarly showed that the normality assumption is met rarely in educational and psychological practice. In this article, the authors extend these previous analyses to state-level educational test score distributions that are an increasingly common target of high-stakes analysis and interpretation. Among 504 scale-score and raw-score distributions from state testing programs from recent years, nonnormal distributions are common and are often associated with particular state programs. The authors explain how scaling procedures from item response theory lead to nonnormal distributions as well as unusual patterns of discreteness. The authors recommend that distributional descriptive statistics be calculated routinely to inform model selection for large-scale test score data, and they illustrate consequences of nonnormality using sensitivity studies that compare baseline results to those from normalized score scales.

Test Pricing and Reimbursement in Genomic Medicine: Towards a General Strategy.

PubMed

Vozikis, Athanassios; Cooper, David N; Mitropoulou, Christina; Kambouris, Manousos E; Brand, Angela; Dolzan, Vita; Fortina, Paolo; Innocenti, Federico; Lee, Ming Ta Michael; Leyens, Lada; Macek, Milan; Al-Mulla, Fahd; Prainsack, Barbara; Squassina, Alessio; Taruscio, Domenica; van Schaik, Ron H; Vayena, Effy; Williams, Marc S; Patrinos, George P

2016-01-01

This paper aims to provide an overview of the rationale and basic principles guiding the governance of genomic testing services, to clarify their objectives, and allocate and define responsibilities among stakeholders in a health-care system, with a special focus on the EU countries. Particular attention is paid to issues pertaining to pricing and reimbursement policies, the availability of essential genomic tests which differs between various countries owing to differences in disease prevalence and public health relevance, the prescribing and use of genomic testing services according to existing or new guidelines, budgetary and fiscal control, the balance between price and access to innovative testing, monitoring and evaluation for cost-effectiveness and safety, and the development of research capacity. We conclude that addressing the specific items put forward in this article will help to create a robust policy in relation to pricing and reimbursement in genomic medicine. This will contribute to an effective and sustainable health-care system and will prove beneficial to the economy at large. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Propulsion Flight-Test Fixture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palumbo, Nate; Vachon, M. Jake; Richwine, Dave; Moes, Tim; Creech, Gray

2003-01-01

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center s new Propulsion Flight Test Fixture (PFTF), designed in house, is an airborne engine-testing facility that enables engineers to gather flight data on small experimental engines. Without the PFTF, it would be necessary to obtain such data from traditional wind tunnels, ground test stands, or laboratory test rigs. Traditionally, flight testing is reserved for the last phase of engine development. Generally, engines that embody new propulsion concepts are not put into flight environments until their designs are mature: in such cases, either vehicles are designed around the engines or else the engines are mounted in or on missiles. However, a captive carry capability of the PFTF makes it possible to test engines that feature air-breathing designs (for example, designs based on the rocket-based combined cycle) economically in subscale experiments. The discovery of unknowns made evident through flight tests provides valuable information to engine designers early in development, before key design decisions are made, thereby potentially affording large benefits in the long term. This is especially true in the transonic region of flight (from mach 0.9 to around 1.2), where it can be difficult to obtain data from wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics. In January 2002, flight-envelope expansion to verify the design and capabilities of the PFTF was completed. The PFTF was flown on a specially equipped supersonic F-15B research testbed airplane, mounted on the airplane at a center-line attachment fixture, as shown in Figure 1. NASA s F-15B testbed has been used for several years as a flight-research platform. Equipped with extensive research air-data, video, and other instrumentation systems, the airplane carries externally mounted test articles. Traditionally, the majority of test articles flown have been mounted at the centerline tank-attachment fixture, which is a hard-point (essentially, a standardized weapon-mounting fixture). This hard-point has large weight margins, and, because it is located near the center of gravity of the airplane, the weight of equipment mounted there exerts a minimal effect on the stability and controllability of the airplane. The PFTF (see Figure 2) includes a one-piece aluminum structure that contains space for instrumentation, propellant tanks, and feed-system components. The PFTF also houses a force balance, on which is mounted the subscale engine or other experimental apparatus that is to be the subject of a flight test. The force balance measures a combination of inertial and aerodynamic forces and moments acting on the experimental apparatus.

Design and Analysis of Subscale and Full-Scale Buckling-Critical Cylinders for Launch Vehicle Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilburger, Mark W.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Thornburgh, Robert P.; Rankin, Charles

2012-01-01

NASA s Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor (SBKF) project has the goal of developing new analysis-based shell buckling design factors (knockdown factors) and design and analysis technologies for launch vehicle structures. Preliminary design studies indicate that implementation of these new knockdown factors can enable significant reductions in mass and mass-growth in these vehicles. However, in order to validate any new analysis-based design data or methods, a series of carefully designed and executed structural tests are required at both the subscale and full-scale levels. This paper describes the design and analysis of three different orthogrid-stiffeNed metallic cylindrical-shell test articles. Two of the test articles are 8-ft-diameter, 6-ft-long test articles, and one test article is a 27.5-ft-diameter, 20-ft-long Space Shuttle External Tank-derived test article.

Placing and preserving priorities: projects, productivity, progress and people

PubMed Central

Babiak, John

1998-01-01

High throughput screening (HTS) involves using automated equipment to test a large number of samples against a defined molecular target to identify a reasonable number of active molecules in a timely fashion. Major factors which can influence priorities for the limited resources of the HTS group are projects, productivity, progress and people. The challenge to the HTS group is to provide excellent and timely screening services, but still devote efforts to new technologies and personnel development. This article explains why these factors are so important. PMID:18924829

First Article Test Noise Survey of the A/F32T-9 Large Turbo Fan Engine Enclosed Noise Suppressor System, Sky Harbor IAP (International Airport), Phoenix, Arizona.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-06-01

21.6 **DOUERRLL LEUELS ɝ 1000Hz)* ORSPL - 68.8 dO ORSLR - 52.7 dB<R) ORSLC - 67.0 dB(C) C-R URLUE - *14.4 57 LEV’EL (Dec:i bels ~) 2.0- -4.0 8.0- N1 ...100.7 dO<C> C-A URLUE = 20.5 129 2. -󈨂 , : . ’ - . .. -. ;. _ . . . . .. . . ., ., ., , . . . . . . . . ..- .- - L.Et./EL ( DEec ’:ibels’)I .L. Ln

Quantitative measurement of piezoelectric coefficient of thin film using a scanning evanescent microwave microscope.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhenli; Luo, Zhenlin; Liu, Chihui; Wu, Wenbin; Gao, Chen; Lu, Yalin

2008-06-01

This article describes a new approach to quantitatively measure the piezoelectric coefficients of thin films at the microscopic level using a scanning evanescent microwave microscope. This technique can resolve 10 pm deformation caused by the piezoelectric effect and has the advantages of high scanning speed, large scanning area, submicron spatial resolution, and a simultaneous accessibility to many other related properties. Results from the test measurements on the longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient of PZT thin film agree well with those from other techniques listed in literatures.

Scaling and self-organized criticality in proteins I

PubMed Central

Phillips, J. C.

2009-01-01

The complexity of proteins is substantially simplified by regarding them as archetypical examples of self-organized criticality (SOC). To test this idea and elaborate on it, this article applies the Moret–Zebende SOC hydrophobicity scale to the large-scale scaffold repeat protein of the HEAT superfamily, PR65/A. Hydrophobic plasticity is defined and used to identify docking platforms and hinges from repeat sequences alone. The difference between the MZ scale and conventional hydrophobicity scales reflects long-range conformational forces that are central to protein functionality. PMID:19218446

Evaluating performance of biomedical image retrieval systems – an overview of the medical image retrieval task at ImageCLEF 2004–2013

PubMed Central

Kalpathy-Cramer, Jayashree; de Herrera, Alba García Seco; Demner-Fushman, Dina; Antani, Sameer; Bedrick, Steven; Müller, Henning

2014-01-01

Medical image retrieval and classification have been extremely active research topics over the past 15 years. With the ImageCLEF benchmark in medical image retrieval and classification a standard test bed was created that allows researchers to compare their approaches and ideas on increasingly large and varied data sets including generated ground truth. This article describes the lessons learned in ten evaluations campaigns. A detailed analysis of the data also highlights the value of the resources created. PMID:24746250

Missing data imputation and haplotype phase inference for genome-wide association studies

PubMed Central

Browning, Sharon R.

2009-01-01

Imputation of missing data and the use of haplotype-based association tests can improve the power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). In this article, I review methods for haplotype inference and missing data imputation, and discuss their application to GWAS. I discuss common features of the best algorithms for haplotype phase inference and missing data imputation in large-scale data sets, as well as some important differences between classes of methods, and highlight the methods that provide the highest accuracy and fastest computational performance. PMID:18850115

Veterinary Oncology Immunotherapies.

PubMed

Bergman, Philip J

2018-03-01

The ideal cancer immunotherapy agent should be able to discriminate between cancer and normal cells, be potent enough to kill small or large numbers of tumor cells, and be able to prevent recurrence of the tumor. Tumor immunology and immunotherapy are among the most exciting and rapidly expanding fields; cancer immunotherapy is now recognized as a pillar of treatment alongside traditional modalities. This article highlights approaches that seem to hold particular promise in human clinical trials and many that have been tested in veterinary medicine. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Political leaders and the media. Can we measure political leadership images in newspapers using computer-assisted content analysis?

PubMed

Aaldering, Loes; Vliegenthart, Rens

Despite the large amount of research into both media coverage of politics as well as political leadership, surprisingly little research has been devoted to the ways political leaders are discussed in the media. This paper studies whether computer-aided content analysis can be applied in examining political leadership images in Dutch newspaper articles. It, firstly, provides a conceptualization of political leader character traits that integrates different perspectives in the literature. Moreover, this paper measures twelve political leadership images in media coverage, based on a large-scale computer-assisted content analysis of Dutch media coverage (including almost 150.000 newspaper articles), and systematically tests the quality of the employed measurement instrument by assessing the relationship between the images, the variance in the measurement, the over-time development of images for two party leaders and by comparing the computer results with manual coding. We conclude that the computerized content analysis provides a valid measurement for the leadership images in Dutch newspapers. Moreover, we find that the dimensions political craftsmanship, vigorousness, integrity, communicative performances and consistency are regularly applied in discussing party leaders, but that portrayal of party leaders in terms of responsiveness is almost completely absent in Dutch newspapers.

Transient Pressure Test Article Test Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vibbart, Charles M.

1989-01-01

The Transient Pressure Test Article (TPTA) test program is being conducted at a new test facility located in the East Test Area at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. This facility, along with the special test equipment (STE) required for facility support, was constructed specifically to test and verify the sealing capability of the Redesigned Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) field, igniter, and nozzle joints. The test article consists of full scale RSRM hardware loaded with inert propellant and assembled in a short stack configuration. The TPTA is pressurized by igniting a propellant cartridge capable of inducing a pressure rise rate which stimulates the ignition transient that occurs during launch. Dynamic loads are applied during the pressure cycle to simulate external tank attach (ETA) strut loads present on the ETA ring. Sealing ability of the redesigned joints is evaluated under joint movement conditions produced by these combined loads since joint sealing ability depends on seal resilience velocity being greater than gap opening velocity. Also, maximum flight dynamic loads are applied to the test article which is either pressurized to 600 psia using gaseous nitrogen (GN2) or applied to the test article as the pressure decays inside the test article on the down cycle after the ignition transient cycle. This new test facility is examined with respect to its capabilities. In addition, both the topic of test effectiveness versus space vehicle flight performance and new aerospace test techniques, as well as a comparison between the old SRM design and the RSRM are presented.

Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior

PubMed Central

Axinn, William G.; Ghimire, Dirgha J.; Smith-Greenaway, Emily

2017-01-01

Emotional influences on fertility behaviors are an understudied topic that may offer a clear explanation of why many couples choose to have children even when childbearing is not economically rational. With setting-specific measures of the husband-wife emotional bond appropriate for large-scale population research matched with data from a long-term panel study, we have the empirical tools to provide a test of the influence of emotional factors on contraceptive use to limit fertility. This article presents those tests. We use long-term, multilevel community and family panel data to demonstrate that the variance in levels of husband-wife emotional bond is significantly associated with their subsequent use of contraception to avert births. We discuss the wide-ranging implications of this intriguing new result. PMID:28181103

The evaluation of the National Long Term Care Demonstration. 4. Case management under channeling.

PubMed Central

Phillips, B R; Kemper, P; Applebaum, R A

1988-01-01

The channeling demonstration involved provision of comprehensive case management and direct service expansion. This article considers the former. Under both models, comprehensive case management was implemented largely as intended; moreover, channeling substantially increased the receipt of comprehensive care management. However, channeling was not a pure test of the effect of comprehensive case management: roughly 10-20 percent of control group members received comparable case management services. This was particularly the case for the financial control model. Thus, the demonstration was not a test of case management compared to no case management; rather, it compared channeling case management to the existing community care system, which already was providing comprehensive case management to some of the population eligible for channeling. PMID:3130331

Emotional Variation and Fertility Behavior.

PubMed

Axinn, William G; Ghimire, Dirgha J; Smith-Greenaway, Emily

2017-04-01

Emotional influences on fertility behaviors are an understudied topic that may offer a clear explanation of why many couples choose to have children even when childbearing is not economically rational. With setting-specific measures of the husband-wife emotional bond appropriate for large-scale population research matched with data from a long-term panel study, we have the empirical tools to provide a test of the influence of emotional factors on contraceptive use to limit fertility. This article presents those tests. We use long-term, multilevel community and family panel data to demonstrate that the variance in levels of husband-wife emotional bond is significantly associated with their subsequent use of contraception to avert births. We discuss the wide-ranging implications of this intriguing new result.

Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Graphics Processing Board (GPB) Radiation Test Evaluation Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salazar, George A.; Steele, Glen F.

2013-01-01

Large round trip communications latency for deep space missions will require more onboard computational capabilities to enable the space vehicle to undertake many tasks that have traditionally been ground-based, mission control responsibilities. As a result, visual display graphics will be required to provide simpler vehicle situational awareness through graphical representations, as well as provide capabilities never before done in a space mission, such as augmented reality for in-flight maintenance or Telepresence activities. These capabilities will require graphics processors and associated support electronic components for high computational graphics processing. In an effort to understand the performance of commercial graphics card electronics operating in the expected radiation environment, a preliminary test was performed on five commercial offthe- shelf (COTS) graphics cards. This paper discusses the preliminary evaluation test results of five COTS graphics processing cards tested to the International Space Station (ISS) low earth orbit radiation environment. Three of the five graphics cards were tested to a total dose of 6000 rads (Si). The test articles, test configuration, preliminary results, and recommendations are discussed.

Wind turbine blade testing system using base excitation

DOEpatents

Cotrell, Jason; Thresher, Robert; Lambert, Scott; Hughes, Scott; Johnson, Jay

2014-03-25

An apparatus (500) for fatigue testing elongate test articles (404) including wind turbine blades through forced or resonant excitation of the base (406) of the test articles (404). The apparatus (500) includes a testing platform or foundation (402). A blade support (410) is provided for retaining or supporting a base (406) of an elongate test article (404), and the blade support (410) is pivotally mounted on the testing platform (402) with at least two degrees of freedom of motion relative to the testing platform (402). An excitation input assembly (540) is interconnected with the blade support (410) and includes first and second actuators (444, 446, 541) that act to concurrently apply forces or loads to the blade support (410). The actuator forces are cyclically applied in first and second transverse directions. The test article (404) responds to shaking of its base (406) by oscillating in two, transverse directions (505, 507).

21 CFR 58.47 - Facilities for handling test and control articles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Facilities for handling test and control articles. 58.47 Section 58.47 Food and Drugs FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN... for handling test and control articles. (a) As necessary to prevent contamination or mixups, there...

Conceptual Design and Dynamics Testing and Modeling of a Mars Tumbleweed Rover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Calhoun Philip C.; Harris, Steven B.; Raiszadeh, Behzad; Zaleski, Kristina D.

2005-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center has been developing a novel concept for a Mars planetary rover called the Mars Tumbleweed. This concept utilizes the wind to propel the rover along the Mars surface, bringing it the potential to cover vast distances not possible with current Mars rover technology. This vehicle, in its deployed configuration, must be large and lightweight to provide the ratio of drag force to rolling resistance necessary to initiate motion from rest on the Mars surface. One Tumbleweed design concept that satisfies these considerations is called the Eggbeater-Dandelion. This paper describes the basic design considerations and a proposed dynamics model of the concept for use in simulation studies. It includes a summary of rolling/bouncing dynamics tests that used videogrammetry to better understand, characterize, and validate the dynamics model assumptions, especially the effective rolling resistance in bouncing/rolling dynamic conditions. The dynamics test used cameras to capture the motion of 32 targets affixed to a test article s outer structure. Proper placement of the cameras and alignment of their respective fields of view provided adequate image resolution of multiple targets along the trajectory as the test article proceeded down the ramp. Image processing of the frames from multiple cameras was used to determine the target positions. Position data from a set of these test runs was compared with results of a three dimensional, flexible dynamics model. Model input parameters were adjusted to match the test data for runs conducted. This process presented herein provided the means to characterize the dynamics and validate the simulation of the Eggbeater-Dandelion concept. The simulation model was used to demonstrate full scale Tumbleweed motion from a stationary condition on a flat-sloped terrain using representative Mars environment parameters.

The Readability of Online Resources for Mastopexy Surgery.

PubMed

Vargas, Christina R; Chuang, Danielle J; Lee, Bernard T

2016-01-01

As more patients use Internet resources for health information, there is increasing interest in evaluating the readability of available online materials. The National Institutes of Health and American Medical Association recommend that patient educational content be written at a sixth-grade reading level. This study evaluates the most popular online resources for information about mastopexy relative to average adult literacy in the United States. The 12 most popular sites returned by the largest Internet search engine were identified using the search term "breast lift surgery." Relevant articles from the main sites were downloaded and formatted into text documents. Pictures, captions, links, and references were excluded. The readability of these 100 articles was analyzed overall and subsequently by site using 10 established readability tests. Subgroup analysis was performed for articles discussing the benefits of surgery and those focusing on risks. The overall average readability of online patient information was 13.3 (range, 11.1-15). There was a range of average readability scores overall across the 12 sites from 8.9 to 16.1, suggesting that some may be more appropriate than others for patient demographics with different health literacy levels. Subgroup analysis revealed that articles discussing the risks of mastopexy were significantly harder to read (mean, 14.1) than articles about benefits (11.6). Patient-directed articles from the most popular online resources for mastopexy information are uniformly above the recommended reading level and likely too difficult to be understood by a large number of patients in the United States.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

The Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, inside its transport container, is secured in NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

The Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured inside its transport container, is loaded into NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

The political economy of healthcare reform in China: negotiating public and private.

PubMed

Daemmrich, Arthur

2013-01-01

China's healthcare system is experiencing significant growth from expanded government-backed insurance, greater public-sector spending on hospitals, and the introduction of private insurance and for-profit clinics. An incremental reform process has sought to develop market incentives for medical innovation and liberalize physician compensation and hospital finance while continuing to keep basic care affordable to a large population that pays for many components of care out-of-pocket. Additional changes presently under consideration by policymakers are likely to further restructure insurance and the delivery of care and will alter competitive dynamics in major healthcare industries, notably pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostic testing. This article describes the institutional history of China's healthcare system and identifies dilemmas emerging as the country negotiates divisions between public and private in healthcare. Building on this analysis, the article considers opportunities for public-private partnerships and greater systems integration to reconcile otherwise incommensurable approaches to rewarding innovation and improving access. The article concludes with observations on the public function of health insurance and its significance to further development of China's healthcare system.

Dependence of calculated postshock thermodynamic variables on vibrational equilibrium and input uncertainty

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

Campbell, Matthew Frederick; Owen, Kyle G.; Davidson, David F.

The purpose of this article is to explore the dependence of calculated postshock thermodynamic properties in shock tube experiments upon the vibrational state of the test gas and upon the uncertainties inherent to calculation inputs. This paper first offers a comparison between state variables calculated according to a Rankine–Hugoniot–equation-based algorithm, known as FROSH, and those derived from shock tube experiments on vibrationally nonequilibrated gases. It is shown that incorrect vibrational relaxation assumptions could lead to errors in temperature as large as 8% for 25% oxygen/argon mixtures at 3500 K. Following this demonstration, this article employs the algorithm to show themore » importance of correct vibrational equilibration assumptions, noting, for instance, that errors in temperature of up to about 2% at 3500 K may be generated for 10% nitrogen/argon mixtures if vibrational relaxation is not treated properly. Lastly, this article presents an extensive uncertainty analysis, showing that postshock temperatures can be calculated with root-of-sum-of-square errors of better than ±1% given sufficiently accurate experimentally measured input parameters.« less

Dependence of calculated postshock thermodynamic variables on vibrational equilibrium and input uncertainty

DOE PAGES

Campbell, Matthew Frederick; Owen, Kyle G.; Davidson, David F.; ...

2017-01-30

The purpose of this article is to explore the dependence of calculated postshock thermodynamic properties in shock tube experiments upon the vibrational state of the test gas and upon the uncertainties inherent to calculation inputs. This paper first offers a comparison between state variables calculated according to a Rankine–Hugoniot–equation-based algorithm, known as FROSH, and those derived from shock tube experiments on vibrationally nonequilibrated gases. It is shown that incorrect vibrational relaxation assumptions could lead to errors in temperature as large as 8% for 25% oxygen/argon mixtures at 3500 K. Following this demonstration, this article employs the algorithm to show themore » importance of correct vibrational equilibration assumptions, noting, for instance, that errors in temperature of up to about 2% at 3500 K may be generated for 10% nitrogen/argon mixtures if vibrational relaxation is not treated properly. Lastly, this article presents an extensive uncertainty analysis, showing that postshock temperatures can be calculated with root-of-sum-of-square errors of better than ±1% given sufficiently accurate experimentally measured input parameters.« less

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) is secured on a test tool called the birdcage. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will undergo further testing in the high bay. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Extracting scientific articles from a large digital archive: BioStor and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

PubMed

Page, Roderic D M

2011-05-23

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a large digital archive of legacy biological literature, comprising over 31 million pages scanned from books, monographs, and journals. During the digitisation process basic metadata about the scanned items is recorded, but not article-level metadata. Given that the article is the standard unit of citation, this makes it difficult to locate cited literature in BHL. Adding the ability to easily find articles in BHL would greatly enhance the value of the archive. A service was developed to locate articles in BHL based on matching article metadata to BHL metadata using approximate string matching, regular expressions, and string alignment. This article locating service is exposed as a standard OpenURL resolver on the BioStor web site http://biostor.org/openurl/. This resolver can be used on the web, or called by bibliographic tools that support OpenURL. BioStor provides tools for extracting, annotating, and visualising articles from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. BioStor is available from http://biostor.org/.

Large photocathode 20-inch PMT testing methods for the JUNO experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anfimov, N.

2017-06-01

The 20 kt Liquid Scintillator (LS) JUNO detector is being constructed by the International Collaboration in China, with the primary goal of addressing the question of neutrino mass ordering (hierarchy). The main challenge for JUNO is to achieve a record energy resolution, ~ 3% at 1 MeV of energy released in the LS, which is required to perform the neutrino mass hierarchy determination. About 20 000 large 20'' PMTs with high Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE) and good photocathode uniformity will ensure an approximately 80% surface coverage of the JUNO detector. The JUNO collaboration is preparing equipment for the mass tests of all PMTs using 4 dedicated containers. Each container consists of 36 drawers. Each drawer will test a single PMT. This approach allows us to test 144 PMTs in parallel. The primary measurement in the container will be the PMT response to illumination of its photocathode by a low-intensity uniform light. Each of the 20000 PMTs will undergo the container test. Additionally, a dedicated scanning system was constructed for sampled tests of PMTs that allows us to study the variation of the PDE over the entire PMT photocathode surface. A sophisticated laboratory for PMT testing was recently built. It includes a dark room where the scanning station is housed. The core of the scanning station is a rotating frame with 7 LED sources of calibrated short light flashes that are placed along the photocathode surface covering zenith angles from the top of a PMT to its equator. It allows for the testing of individual PMTs in all relevant aspects by scanning the photocathode and identifying any potential problems. The collection efficiency of a large PMT is known to be very sensitive to the Earth Magnetic Field (EMF), therefore, understanding the necessary level of EMF suppression is crucial for the JUNO Experiment. A dark room with Helmholtz coils compensating the EMF components is available for these tests at a JUNO facility. The Hamamatsu R12860 20'' PMT is a candidate for the JUNO experiment. In this article the container design and mass-testing method, the scanning setup and scanning method are briefly described and preliminary results for performance test of this PMT are reported.

NASA Ares I Launch Vehicle First Stage Roll Control System Cold Flow Development Test Program Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butt, Adam; Popp, Christopher G.; Holt, Kimberly A.; Pitts, Hank M.

2010-01-01

The Ares I launch vehicle is the selected design, chosen to return humans to the moon, Mars, and beyond. It is configured in two inline stages: the First Stage is a Space Shuttle derived five-segment Solid Rocket Booster and the Upper Stage is powered by a Saturn V derived J-2X engine. During launch, roll control for the First Stage (FS) is handled by a dedicated Roll Control System (RoCS) located on the connecting Interstage. That system will provide the Ares I with the ability to counteract induced roll torque while any induced yaw or pitch moments are handled by vectoring of the booster nozzle. This paper provides an overview of NASA s Ares I FS RoCS cold flow development test program including detailed test objectives, types of tests run to meet those objectives, an overview of the results, and applicable lessons learned. The test article was built and tested at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. The FS RoCS System Development Test Article (SDTA) is a full scale, flight representative water flow test article whose primary objective was to obtain fluid system performance data to evaluate integrated system level performance characteristics and verify analytical models. Development testing and model correlation was deemed necessary as there is little historical precedent for similar large flow, pulsing systems such as the FS RoCS. The cold flow development test program consisted of flight-similar tanks, pressure regulators, and thruster valves, as well as plumbing simulating flight geometries, combined with other facility grade components and structure. Orifices downstream of the thruster valves were used to simulate the pressure drop through the thrusters. Additional primary objectives of this test program were to: evaluate system surge pressure (waterhammer) characteristics due to thruster valve operation over a range of mission duty cycles at various feed system pressures, evaluate temperature transients and heat transfer in the pressurization system, including regulator blowdown and propellant ullage performance, measure system pressure drops for comparison to analysis of tubing and components, and validate system activation and re-activation procedures for the helium pressurant system. Secondary objectives included: validating system processes for loading, unloading, and purging, validating procedures and system response for multiple failure scenarios, including relief valve operation, and evaluating system performance for contingency scenarios. The test results of the cold flow development test program are essential in validating the performance and interaction of the Roll Control System and anchoring analysis tools and results to a Critical Design Review level of fidelity.

Myriad and the mass media: the covering of a gene patent controversy.

PubMed

Caulfield, Timothy; Bubela, Tania; Murdoch, C J

2007-12-01

We explore how the print media in four jurisdictions framed the controversy surrounding Myriad Genetic's BRCA patents and consider the possible influence of media on public perceptions and policy reform. We used a broad search strategy to collect newspaper articles from Factiva and Lexis/Nexis on Myriad Genetics and the BRCA gene and identified the main triggers for those articles. We then selected articles on the BRCA gene patents for coding. The coding frame queried the presence or absence of either positive or negative statements about gene patenting and a subjective assessment of the tone of the article. We compared the differences in tone and number of positive and negative statements between jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States). Myriad Genetic's BRCA1/2 gene patents sparked significant international newspaper coverage in comparison to other stories on gene patenting controversies. Only 55.9% of 143 articles presented a variety of perspectives. The majority of articles (77.6%) had a negative overall tenor; only 6.29% had a positive overall tenor, whereas 16.1% were neutral. There were significant differences in the overall tenor between jurisdictions, with Canadian coverage being overwhelmingly negative in comparison with the other three jurisdictions. The main triggers for news coverage were largely local licensing deals, actions at regional patent offices, and statements and publications by prominent figures. Myriad's patents were largely portrayed as a negative story, except in Utah where Myriad Genetics is located, and as an example of the problems associated with gene patents. The story was primarily framed as a social dilemma that needed to be addressed. In Canada there was a disproportionate level of coverage of the political response to the threat of patent infringement action against government testing laboratories and potential impacts on public health care. In Europe and elsewhere in the United States, the opposition to gene patenting at the European Patent Office predominated. In these contexts, our data provide some support that the media coverage helped to drive the policy agenda, although the resultant policy response received almost no media attention.

Liquid oxygen (LO2) propellant conditioning concept testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perry, Gretchen L. E.; Orth, Michael S.; Mehta, Gopal K.

1993-01-01

Testing of a simplified LO2 propellant conditioning concept for future expendable launch vehicles is discussed. Four different concepts are being investigated: no-bleed, low-bleed, use of a recirculation line, and He bubbling. A full-scale test article, which is a facsimile of a propellant feed duct with an attached section to simulate heat input from an LO2 turbopump, is to be tested at the Cold Flow Facility of the Marshall Space Flight Center West Test Area. Work to date includes: design and fabrication of the test article, design of the test facility and initial fabrication, development of a test matrix and test procedures, initial predictions of test output, and heat leak calibration and heat exchanger tests on the test articles.

STRUCTURAL TEST ARTICLE

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-04-06

FROM RIGHT, KATHRYN GUELDE AND ASHLEY HOLLADAY OF AERIE AEROSPACE LLC IN HUNTSVILLE, INSTALL THE STRUCTURAL TEST ARTICLE FOR THE FIRST SERIES OF COMPOSITE TESTS FOR THE SHELL BUCKLING KNOCKDOWN FACTOR PROJECT.

Size and Strength: Do We Need Both to Measure Vocabulary Knowledge?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laufer, B.; Elder, C.; Hill, K.; Congdon, P.

2004-01-01

This article describes the development and validation of a test of vocabulary size and strength. The first part of the article sets out the theoretical rationale for the test, and describes how the size and strength constructs have been conceptualized and operationalized. The second part of the article focusses on the process of test validation,…

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

On the tarmac at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured in its transport container, is loaded into the agency's Super Guppy aircraft. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

On the tarmac at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft closes after the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, in its transport container, is secured inside. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Metrics for Analyzing Quantifiable Differentiation of Designs with Varying Integrity for Hardware Assurance

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

proposed. Expected profiles can incorporate a level of overdesign. Finally, the Design Integrity measuring techniques are applied to five Test Article ...Inserted into Test System Table 2 presents the results of the analysis applied to each of the test article designs. Each of the domains are...the lowest integrities. Based on the analysis, the DI metric shows measurable differentiation between all five Test Article Error Location Error

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

The Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured inside its transport container, arrives at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test article will be loaded into NASA's Super Guppy aircraft, in view at left, and transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Controlling uncertainty: a review of human behavior in complex dynamic environments.

PubMed

Osman, Magda

2010-01-01

Complex dynamic control (CDC) tasks are a type of problem-solving environment used for examining many cognitive activities (e.g., attention, control, decision making, hypothesis testing, implicit learning, memory, monitoring, planning, and problem solving). Because of their popularity, there have been many findings from diverse domains of research (economics, engineering, ergonomics, human-computer interaction, management, psychology), but they remain largely disconnected from each other. The objective of this article is to review theoretical developments and empirical work on CDC tasks, and to introduce a novel framework (monitoring and control framework) as a tool for integrating theory and findings. The main thesis of the monitoring and control framework is that CDC tasks are characteristically uncertain environments, and subjective judgments of uncertainty guide the way in which monitoring and control behaviors attempt to reduce it. The article concludes by discussing new insights into continuing debates and future directions for research on CDC tasks.

Les sondages électromagnétiques temporels comme outil de reconnaissance du gisement phosphaté de Sidi Chennane (Maroc) : apport à la résolution d'un problème d'exploitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kchikach, Azzouz; Andrieux, Pierre; Jaffal, Mohammed; Amrhar, Mostafa; Mchichi, Mohammed; Boya, Baadi; Amaghzaz, Mbarek; Veyrieras, Thierry; Iqizou, Khadija

2006-05-01

Exploitation of the phosphatic layers in Sidi Chennane deposit (Morocco) collides frequently with problems bound to the existence, in the phosphatic series, of sterile bodies qualified as derangements. Our study shows that these bodies, masked by the Quaternary cover can be mapped using the Time-Domain ElectroMagnetic Soundings method (TDEM). It is based on the acquisition and the interpretation of a series of tests carried out above a visible derangement in an old trench of exploitation and on 2500 TDEM soundings carried out in a virgin area of the deposit. The article concerns to the analysis of the results and of the proceeding for a possible large geophysics survey. To cite this article: A. Kchikach et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).

Cytomorphology of unusual infectious entities in the Pap test

PubMed Central

Khalbuss, Walid E.; Michelow, Pam; Benedict, Cynthia; Monaco, Sara E.; Pantanowitz, Liron

2012-01-01

Rare entities in the Pap test, including neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions, pose challenges due to their infrequent occurrence in the daily practice of cytology. Furthermore, these conditions give rise to important diagnostic pitfalls. Infections such as tuberculosis cervicitis may be erroneously diagnosed as carcinoma, whereas others, such as schistosomiasis, are associated with squamous cell carcinoma. These cases include granuloma inguinale (donovanosis), tuberculosis, coccidioidomycosis, schistosomiasis, taeniasis, and molluscum contagiosum diagnosed in Pap tests. Granuloma inguinale shows histiocytes that contain intracytoplasmic bacteria (Donovan bodies). Tuberculosis is characterized by necrotizing granulomatous inflammation with Langhans-multinucleated giant cells. Coccidioidomycosis may show large intact or ruptured fungal spherules associated with endospores. Schistosoma haematobium is diagnosed by finding characteristic ova with a terminal spine. Molluscum contagiosum is characterized by the appearance of squamous cells with molluscum bodies. This article reviews the cytomorphology of selected rare infections and focuses on their cytomorphology, differential diagnosis, and role of ancillary diagnostic studies. PMID:22919422

USC/AIAA student get away special project liquid droplet collector experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levesque, Raymond J., II

1987-01-01

This experimental payload was developed in order to observe, in a micro-gravity vacuum environment, the characteristics and stability of a thin fluid film flowing across a slightly curved surface. The test apparatus was designed based upon various ground-based thin film investigations, combined with the constraints imposed by the rigors of launch and the space environment. Testing of the fluid test article at atmospheric pressure and in vacuum verified the design provisions employed concerning ultra-low inlet pressure pump construction, as well as confirming expected pressure losses in the system. During the course of hardware development and construction modifications were required; however, the overall payload configuration remained largely unchanged. This will allow for modification and reflight of the apparatus based upon the findings of the initial flight. The specific applications of this experiment include Liquid Droplet Radiator development and various forms of material transport in vacuum.

Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snoddy, Cynthia

2010-01-01

Scope: The Main Propulsion Test Article integrated the main propulsion subsystem with the clustered Space Shuttle Main Engines, the External Tank and associated GSE. The test program consisted of cryogenic tanking tests and short- and long duration static firings including gimbaling and throttling. The test program was conducted on the S1-C test stand (Position B-2) at the National Space Technology Laboratories (NSTL)/Stennis Space Center. 3 tanking tests and 20 hot fire tests conducted between December 21 1 1977 and December 17, 1980 Configuration: The main propulsion test article consisted of the three space shuttle main engines, flightweight external tank, flightweight aft fuselage, interface section and a boilerplate mid/fwd fuselage truss structure.

A Lightweight, Precision-Deployable, Optical Bench for High Energy Astrophysics Missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danner, Rolf; Dailey, D.; Lillie, C.

2011-09-01

The small angle of total reflection for X-rays, forcing grazing incidence optics with large collecting areas to long focal lengths, has been a fundamental barrier to the advancement of high-energy astrophysics. Design teams around the world have long recognized that a significant increase in effective area beyond Chandra and XMM-Newton requires either a deployable optical bench or separate X-ray optics and instrument module on formation flying spacecraft. Here, we show that we have in hand the components for a lightweight, precision-deployable optical bench that, through its inherent design features, is the affordable path to the next generation of imaging high-energy astrophysics missions. We present our plans for a full-scale engineering model of a deployable optical bench for Explorer-class missions. We intend to use this test article to raise the technology readiness level (TRL) of the tensegrity truss for a lightweight, precision-deployable optical bench for high-energy astrophysics missions from TRL 3 to TRL 5 through a set of four well-defined technology milestones. The milestones cover the architecture's ability to deploy and control the focal point, characterize the deployed dynamics, determine long-term stability, and verify the stowed load capability. Our plan is based on detailed design and analysis work and the construction of a first prototype by our team. Building on our prior analysis and the high TRL of the architecture components we are ready to move on to the next step. The key elements to do this affordably are two existing, fully characterized, flight-quality, deployable booms. After integrating them into the test article, we will demonstrate that our architecture meets the deployment accuracy, adjustability, and stability requirements. The same test article can be used to further raise the TRL in the future.

Design and implementation of a controlled clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of routine opt-out rapid human immunodeficiency virus screening in the emergency department.

PubMed

Haukoos, Jason S; Hopkins, Emily; Byyny, Richard L; Conroy, Amy A; Silverman, Morgan; Eisert, Sheri; Thrun, Mark; Wilson, Michael; Boyett, Brian; Heffelfinger, James D

2009-08-01

In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released revised recommendations for performing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in health care settings, including implementing routine rapid HIV screening, the use of an integrated opt-out consent, and limited prevention counseling. Emergency departments (EDs) have been a primary focus of these efforts. These revised CDC recommendations were primarily based on feasibility studies and have not been evaluated through the application of rigorous research methods. This article describes the design and implementation of a large prospective controlled clinical trial to evaluate the CDC's recommendations in an ED setting. From April 15, 2007, through April 15, 2009, a prospective quasi-experimental equivalent time-samples clinical trial was performed to compare the clinical effectiveness and efficiency of routine (nontargeted) opt-out rapid HIV screening (intervention) to physician-directed diagnostic rapid HIV testing (control) in a high-volume urban ED. In addition, three nested observational studies were performed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and patient and staff acceptance of the two rapid HIV testing methods. This article describes the rationale, methodologies, and study design features of this program evaluation clinical trial. It also provides details regarding the integration of the principal clinical trial and its nested observational studies. Such ED-based trials are rare, but serve to provide valid comparisons between testing approaches. Investigators should consider similar methodology when performing future ED-based health services research.

Longitudinal timed function tests in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: ImagingDMD cohort natural history.

PubMed

Arora, Harneet; Willcocks, Rebecca J; Lott, Donovan J; Harrington, Ann T; Senesac, Claudia R; Zilke, Kirsten L; Daniels, Michael J; Xu, Dandan; Tennekoon, Gihan I; Finanger, Erika L; Russman, Barry S; Finkel, Richard S; Triplett, William T; Byrne, Barry J; Walter, Glenn A; Sweeney, H Lee; Vandenborne, Krista

2018-05-09

Tests of ambulatory function are common clinical trial endpoints in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The ImagingDMD study has generated a large data set using these tests, which can describe the contemporary natural history of DMD in 5-12.9 year olds. 92 corticosteroid treated boys with DMD and 45 controls participated in this longitudinal study. Subjects performed the 6 minute walk test (6MWT) and timed function tests (TFTs: 10m walk/run, 4 stairs, supine to stand). Boys with DMD had impaired functional performance even at 5-6.9 years. Boys older than 7 had significant declines in function over 1 year for 10m walk/run and 6MWT. 80% of subjects could perform all functional tests at 9 years old. TFTs appear to be slightly more responsive and predictive of disease progression than 6MWT in 7-12.9 year olds. This study provides insight into the contemporary natural history of key functional endpoints in DMD. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Testing the validity of preventing chronic regional pain syndrome with vitamin C after distal radius fracture. [Corrected].

PubMed

Malay, Sunitha; Chung, Kevin C

2014-11-01

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends the use of vitamin C to prevent complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) for patients with distal radius fractures (DRFs). We hypothesized that the evidence for supporting this recommendation is weak, based on epidemiological principles of association and causality. The specific aim of this project was to test the validity of this recommendation. We conducted a literature review to retrieve articles reporting on the use of vitamin C to prevent CRPS. Data collected included sample size, study design type, dose of vitamin C used, and outcome measures of association expressed as relative risk (RR) and odds ratio. We then applied Hill criteria to evaluate the relationship between vitamin C and CRPS. We obtained 225 articles from the database search. After the exclusion of duplicates, unrelated articles, editorial letters, and commentaries, we found 4 articles and 1 systematic review relevant to our topic. Six of the 9 Hill criteria were met, and an earlier meta-analysis showed a quantified reduction in CRPS risk. However, criteria like biological plausibility, specificity, and coherence were not met. The number of causal/association criteria met was adequate to support the scientific premise of the effect of vitamin C in preventing CRPS after DRF. Furthermore, vitamin C administration is of relatively low cost and has few complications unless administered in large doses. Owing to sufficient epidemiological evidence availability, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommendation of vitamin C to prevent CRPS has practical merit. Therapeutic II. Copyright © 2014 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improving Test-Taking Performance of Secondary At-Risk Youth and Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banks, Tachelle; Eaton, India

2014-01-01

Preparing at-risk youth and students with mild disabilities for state and district tests is important for improving their test performance, and basic instruction in test preparation can significantly improve student test performance. The article defines noncognitive variables that adversely affect test-taker performance. The article also describes…

How Reliable Is Laboratory Testing?

MedlinePlus

... laboratory testing. (See Who's Who in the Lab .) Post-Analytic Activities After the test is completed, the result must be delivered in ... View Sources NOTE: This article is based on research that ... of the Lab Tests Online Editorial Review Board . This article is periodically ...

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

A view from inside NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured inside its transport container, is loaded into the aircraft. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

A Testlet Assembly Design for Adaptive Multistage Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luecht, Richard; Brumfield, Terry; Breithaupt, Krista

2006-01-01

This article describes multistage tests and some practical test development considerations related to the design and implementation of a multistage test, using the Uniform CPA (certified public accountant) Examination as a case study. The article further discusses the use of automated test assembly procedures in an operational context to produce…

Simulating the Impact Response of Composite Airframe Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, Karen E.; Littell, Justin D.; Fasanella, Edwin L.

2014-01-01

In 2010, NASA Langley Research Center obtained residual hardware from the US Army's Survivable Affordable Repairable Airframe Program (SARAP). The hardware consisted of a composite fuselage section that was representative of the center section of a Black Hawk helicopter. The section was fabricated by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and designated the Test Validation Article (TVA). The TVA was subjected to a vertical drop test in 2008 to evaluate a tilting roof concept to limit the intrusion of overhead mass items, such as the rotor transmission, into the fuselage cabin. As a result of the 2008 test, damage to the hardware was limited primarily to the roof. Consequently, when the post-test article was obtained in 2010, the roof area was removed and the remaining structure was cut into six different types of test specimens including: (1) tension and compression coupons for material property characterization, (2) I-beam sections, (3) T-sections, (4) cruciform sections, (5) a large subfloor section, and (6) a forward framed fuselage section. In 2011, NASA and Sikorsky entered into a cooperative research agreement to study the impact responses of composite airframe structures and to evaluate the capabilities of the explicit transient dynamic finite element code, LS-DYNA®, to simulate these responses including damage initiation and progressive failure. Finite element models of the composite specimens were developed and impact simulations were performed. The properties of the composite material were represented using both a progressive in-plane damage model (Mat 54) and a continuum damage mechanics model (Mat 58) in LS-DYNA. This paper provides test-analysis comparisons of time history responses and the location and type of damage for representative I-beam, T-section, and cruciform section components.

Successful intelligence: finding a balance.

PubMed

Sternberg

1999-11-01

Human intelligence has long been on the borderline between a scientific and a quasi-scientific field within the scope of psychological science. This is partially because its study and measurement have been particularly susceptible to socio-political agendas, but also because empirical tests of theories of intelligence have too often ranged from inadequate to nonexistent. In this article it is argued that two extremes have prevailed in the study of intelligence. At one extreme are general-ability (g) theorists, who have collected large amounts of data to test the theory of general intelligence, but often using restricted ranges of participants, materials or situational contexts. They also show a tendency to limit their methods of data analysis (e.g. to exploratory factor analysis). At another extreme are theorists arguing for new, multiple intelligences, whose theories have been subjected to few or no empirical tests. I argue that a middle ground is needed that recognizes the multifarious nature of intelligence and of people's conceptions of it, but that also is subjected to rigorous empirical tests.

Testing the equivalence principle on cosmological scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonvin, Camille; Fleury, Pierre

2018-05-01

The equivalence principle, that is one of the main pillars of general relativity, is very well tested in the Solar system; however, its validity is more uncertain on cosmological scales, or when dark matter is concerned. This article shows that relativistic effects in the large-scale structure can be used to directly test whether dark matter satisfies Euler's equation, i.e. whether its free fall is characterised by geodesic motion, just like baryons and light. After having proposed a general parametrisation for deviations from Euler's equation, we perform Fisher-matrix forecasts for future surveys like DESI and the SKA, and show that such deviations can be constrained with a precision of order 10%. Deviations from Euler's equation cannot be tested directly with standard methods like redshift-space distortions and gravitational lensing, since these observables are not sensitive to the time component of the metric. Our analysis shows therefore that relativistic effects bring new and complementary constraints to alternative theories of gravity.

Initial Development and Validation of the BullyHARM: The Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure.

PubMed

Hall, William J

2016-11-01

This article describes the development and preliminary validation of the Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure (BullyHARM). The development of the BullyHARM involved a number of steps and methods, including a literature review, expert review, cognitive testing, readability testing, data collection from a large sample, reliability testing, and confirmatory factor analysis. A sample of 275 middle school students was used to examine the psychometric properties and factor structure of the BullyHARM, which consists of 22 items and 6 subscales: physical bullying, verbal bullying, social/relational bullying, cyber-bullying, property bullying, and sexual bullying. First-order and second-order factor models were evaluated. Results demonstrate that the first-order factor model had superior fit. Results of reliability testing indicate that the BullyHARM scale and subscales have very good internal consistency reliability. Findings indicate that the BullyHARM has good properties regarding content validation and respondent-related validation and is a promising instrument for measuring bullying victimization in school.

Initial Development and Validation of the BullyHARM: The Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure

PubMed Central

Hall, William J.

2017-01-01

This article describes the development and preliminary validation of the Bullying, Harassment, and Aggression Receipt Measure (BullyHARM). The development of the BullyHARM involved a number of steps and methods, including a literature review, expert review, cognitive testing, readability testing, data collection from a large sample, reliability testing, and confirmatory factor analysis. A sample of 275 middle school students was used to examine the psychometric properties and factor structure of the BullyHARM, which consists of 22 items and 6 subscales: physical bullying, verbal bullying, social/relational bullying, cyber-bullying, property bullying, and sexual bullying. First-order and second-order factor models were evaluated. Results demonstrate that the first-order factor model had superior fit. Results of reliability testing indicate that the BullyHARM scale and subscales have very good internal consistency reliability. Findings indicate that the BullyHARM has good properties regarding content validation and respondent-related validation and is a promising instrument for measuring bullying victimization in school. PMID:28194041

Testing Drugs and Attesting Cures: Pharmaceutical Monopolies and Military Contracts in Eighteenth-Century France.

PubMed

Rivest, Justin

2017-01-01

This article explores the role of testing in the allocation of royal monopoly privileges for drugs in eighteenth-century France by following the multi-generational fortunes of a single "secret remedy" from 1713 to 1776: the poudre fébrifuge of the Chevalier de Guiller. On at least five occasions, this drug was tested on patients in order to decide whether it should be protected by a privilege and whether or not its vendors should be awarded lucrative contracts to supply it in bulk to the French military. Although efforts were made early in the century to test the drug through large-scale hospital trials and to relegate privilege granting to a bureaucratic commission, the case of the poudre fébrifuge instead suggests that military expediency and relatively small-scale trials administered personally by royal practitioners remained decisive in determining whether or not a drug received a monopoly privilege or a military contract.

SLS Engine Section Test Article Moves From NASA Barge Pegasus To Test Stand at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-18

The NASA barge Pegasus made its first trip to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on May 15. It arrived carrying the first piece of Space Launch System hardware built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The barge left Michoud on April 28 with the core stage engine section test article, traveling 1,240 miles by river to Marshall. The rocket's engine section is the bottom of the core stage and houses the four RS-25 engines. The engine section test article was moved from the barge to Marshall’s Building 4619 where it will be tested. The bottom part of the test article is structurally the same as the engine section that will be flown as part of the SLS core stage. The shiny metal top part simulates the rocket's liquid hydrogen tank, which is the fuel tank that joins to the engine section. The test article will endure tests that pull, push, and bend it, subjecting it to millions of pounds of force. This ensures the structure can withstand the incredible stresses produced by the 8.8 million pounds of thrust during launch and ascent.

Application of survival analysis methodology to the quantitative analysis of LC-MS proteomics data.

PubMed

Tekwe, Carmen D; Carroll, Raymond J; Dabney, Alan R

2012-08-01

Protein abundance in quantitative proteomics is often based on observed spectral features derived from liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) or LC-MS/MS experiments. Peak intensities are largely non-normal in distribution. Furthermore, LC-MS-based proteomics data frequently have large proportions of missing peak intensities due to censoring mechanisms on low-abundance spectral features. Recognizing that the observed peak intensities detected with the LC-MS method are all positive, skewed and often left-censored, we propose using survival methodology to carry out differential expression analysis of proteins. Various standard statistical techniques including non-parametric tests such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney rank sum tests, and the parametric survival model and accelerated failure time-model with log-normal, log-logistic and Weibull distributions were used to detect any differentially expressed proteins. The statistical operating characteristics of each method are explored using both real and simulated datasets. Survival methods generally have greater statistical power than standard differential expression methods when the proportion of missing protein level data is 5% or more. In particular, the AFT models we consider consistently achieve greater statistical power than standard testing procedures, with the discrepancy widening with increasing missingness in the proportions. The testing procedures discussed in this article can all be performed using readily available software such as R. The R codes are provided as supplemental materials. ctekwe@stat.tamu.edu.

Long-term care for people with dementia: environmental design guidelines.

PubMed

Fleming, Richard; Purandare, Nitin

2010-11-01

A large and growing number of people with dementia are being cared for in long-term care. The empirical literature on the design of environments for people with dementia contains findings that can be helpful in the design of these environments. A schema developed by Marshall in 2001 provides a means of reviewing the literature against a set of recommendations. The aims of this paper are to assess the strength of the evidence for these recommendations and to identify those recommendations that could be used as the basis for guidelines to assist in the design of long term care facilities for people with dementia. The literature was searched for articles published after 1980, evaluating an intervention utilizing the physical environment, focused on the care of people with dementia and incorporating a control group, pre-test-post-test, cross sectional or survey design. A total of 156 articles were identified as relevant and subjected to an evaluation of their methodological strength. Of these, 57 articles were identified as being sufficiently strong to be reviewed. Designers may confidently use unobtrusive safety measures; vary ambience, size and shape of spaces; provide single rooms; maximize visual access; and control levels of stimulation. There is less agreement on the usefulness of signage, homelikeness, provision for engagement in ordinary activities, small size and the provision of outside space. There is sufficient evidence available to come to a consensus on guiding principles for the design of long term environments for people with dementia.

Early developments in gene-expression profiling of breast tumors: potential for increasing black-white patient disparities in breast cancer outcomes?

PubMed

Odierna, Donna H; Afable-Munsuz, Aimee; Ikediobi, Ogechi; Beattie, Mary; Knight, Sara; Ko, Michelle; Wilson, Adrienne; Ponce, Ninez A

2011-11-01

New prognostic tests, such as gene-expression profiling (GEP) of breast tumors, are expected to prolong survival and improve the quality of life for many breast cancer patients. In this article, we argue that GEP has not been adequately validated in minority populations, and that both biological and social factors might affect the broad utility of these tests in diverse populations. We suggest that the widespread use of this technology could potentially lead to suboptimal treatment for black women, resulting in a further increase in black-white patient disparities in treatment response, morbidity and mortality rates. We argue for the need to build a large and diverse evidence base for GEP and other emerging technologies in personalized medicine.

NASA Lewis Propulsion Systems Laboratory Customer Guide Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soeder, Ronald H.

1994-01-01

This manual describes the Propulsion Systems Laboratory (PSL) at NASA Lewis Research Center. The PSL complex supports two large engine test cells (PSL-3 and PSL-4) that are capable of providing flight simulation to altitudes of 70,000 ft. Facility variables at the engine or test-article inlet, such as pressure, temperature, and Mach number (up to 3.0 for PSL-3 and up to 6.0 planned for PSL-4), are discussed. Support systems such as the heated and cooled combustion air systems; the altitude exhaust system; the hydraulic system; the nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen systems; hydrogen burners; rotating screen assemblies; the engine exhaust gas-sampling system; the infrared imaging system; and single- and multiple-axis thrust stands are addressed. Facility safety procedures are also stated.

Inductive knowledge acquisition experience with commercial tools for space shuttle main engine testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Modesitt, Kenneth L.

1990-01-01

Since 1984, an effort has been underway at Rocketdyne, manufacturer of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), to automate much of the analysis procedure conducted after engine test firings. Previously published articles at national and international conferences have contained the context of and justification for this effort. Here, progress is reported in building the full system, including the extensions of integrating large databases with the system, known as Scotty. Inductive knowledge acquisition has proven itself to be a key factor in the success of Scotty. The combination of a powerful inductive expert system building tool (ExTran), a relational data base management system (Reliance), and software engineering principles and Computer-Assisted Software Engineering (CASE) tools makes for a practical, useful and state-of-the-art application of an expert system.

Data Characterization Using Artificial-Star Tests: Performance Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Yi; Deng, Licai; de Grijs, Richard; Liu, Qiang

2011-01-01

Traditional artificial-star tests are widely applied to photometry in crowded stellar fields. However, to obtain reliable binary fractions (and their uncertainties) of remote, dense, and rich star clusters, one needs to recover huge numbers of artificial stars. Hence, this will consume much computation time for data reduction of the images to which the artificial stars must be added. In this article, we present a new method applicable to data sets characterized by stable, well-defined, point-spread functions, in which we add artificial stars to the retrieved-data catalog instead of to the raw images. Taking the young Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 1818 as an example, we compare results from both methods and show that they are equivalent, while our new method saves significant computational time.

Efficient anharmonic vibrational spectroscopy for large molecules using local-mode coordinates

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

Cheng, Xiaolu; Steele, Ryan P., E-mail: ryan.steele@utah.edu

This article presents a general computational approach for efficient simulations of anharmonic vibrational spectra in chemical systems. An automated local-mode vibrational approach is presented, which borrows techniques from localized molecular orbitals in electronic structure theory. This approach generates spatially localized vibrational modes, in contrast to the delocalization exhibited by canonical normal modes. The method is rigorously tested across a series of chemical systems, ranging from small molecules to large water clusters and a protonated dipeptide. It is interfaced with exact, grid-based approaches, as well as vibrational self-consistent field methods. Most significantly, this new set of reference coordinates exhibits a well-behavedmore » spatial decay of mode couplings, which allows for a systematic, a priori truncation of mode couplings and increased computational efficiency. Convergence can typically be reached by including modes within only about 4 Å. The local nature of this truncation suggests particular promise for the ab initio simulation of anharmonic vibrational motion in large systems, where connection to experimental spectra is currently most challenging.« less

What resources are used in emergency departments in rural sub-Saharan Africa? A retrospective analysis of patient care in a district-level hospital in Uganda.

PubMed

Bitter, Cindy Carol; Rice, Brian; Periyanayagam, Usha; Dreifuss, Bradley; Hammerstedt, Heather; Nelson, Sara W; Bisanzo, Mark; Maling, Samuel; Chamberlain, Stacey

2018-02-24

To determine the most commonly used resources (provider procedural skills, medications, laboratory studies and imaging) needed to care for patients. A single emergency department (ED) of a district-level hospital in rural Uganda. 26 710 patient visits. Procedures were performed for 65.6% of patients, predominantly intravenous cannulation, wound care, bladder catheterisation and orthopaedic procedures. Medications were administered to 87.6% of patients, most often pain medications, antibiotics, intravenous fluids, antimalarials, nutritional supplements and vaccinations. Laboratory testing was used for 85% of patients, predominantly malaria smears, rapid glucose testing, HIV assays, blood counts, urinalyses and blood type. Radiology testing was performed for 17.3% of patients, including X-rays, point-of-care ultrasound and formal ultrasound. This study describes the skills and resources needed to care for a large prospective cohort of patients seen in a district hospital ED in rural sub-Saharan Africa. It demonstrates that the vast majority of patients were treated with a small formulary of critical medications and limited access to laboratories and imaging, but providers require a broad set of decision-making and procedural skills. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

The future of viral hepatitis testing: innovations in testing technologies and approaches.

PubMed

Peeling, Rosanna W; Boeras, Debrah I; Marinucci, Francesco; Easterbrook, Philippa

2017-11-01

A large burden of undiagnosed hepatitis virus cases remains globally. Despite the 257 million people living with chronic hepatitis B virus infection, and 71 million with chronic viraemic HCV infection, most people with hepatitis remain unaware of their infection. Advances in rapid detection technology have created new opportunities for enhancing access to testing and care, as well as monitoring of treatment. This article examines a range of other technological innovations that can be leveraged to provide more affordable and simplified approaches to testing for HBV and HCV infection and monitoring of treatment response. These include improved access to testing through alternative sampling methods (use of dried blood spots, oral fluids, self-testing) and combination rapid diagnostic tests for detection of HIV, HBV and HCV infection; more affordable options for confirmation of virological infection (HBV DNA and HCV RNA) such as point-of-care molecular assays, HCV core antigen and multi-disease polyvalent molecular platforms that make use of existing centralised laboratory based or decentralised TB and HIV instrumentation for viral hepatitis testing; and finally health system improvements such as integration of laboratory services for procurement and sample transportation and enhanced data connectivity to support quality assurance and supply chain management.

Multiple phenotype association tests using summary statistics in genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Liu, Zhonghua; Lin, Xihong

2018-03-01

We study in this article jointly testing the associations of a genetic variant with correlated multiple phenotypes using the summary statistics of individual phenotype analysis from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWASs). We estimated the between-phenotype correlation matrix using the summary statistics of individual phenotype GWAS analyses, and developed genetic association tests for multiple phenotypes by accounting for between-phenotype correlation without the need to access individual-level data. Since genetic variants often affect multiple phenotypes differently across the genome and the between-phenotype correlation can be arbitrary, we proposed robust and powerful multiple phenotype testing procedures by jointly testing a common mean and a variance component in linear mixed models for summary statistics. We computed the p-values of the proposed tests analytically. This computational advantage makes our methods practically appealing in large-scale GWASs. We performed simulation studies to show that the proposed tests maintained correct type I error rates, and to compare their powers in various settings with the existing methods. We applied the proposed tests to a GWAS Global Lipids Genetics Consortium summary statistics data set and identified additional genetic variants that were missed by the original single-trait analysis. © 2017, The International Biometric Society.

Orion Crew Module Adapter-Structural Test Article and European S

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-09

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, operations are underway to lower the Orion crew module adapter structural test article onto the European Space Agency's service module structural test article. After the hardware is attached, the structure will be packed and shipped to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility to undergo testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop the agency's Space Launch System rocket on Exploration Mission-1 in 2019.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Lift & Uncrating

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the cover has been removed from the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft has been opened and the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) is being offloaded. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft, carrying the Orion crew module structural test article, arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The unique aircraft has been opened to reveal the container holding the STA. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Unbagging

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians remove the protective covering from the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Unbagging

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the cover has been removed from the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft has been opened and the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) is being offloaded. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

New Technique for Cryogenically Cooling Small Test Articles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriquez, Karen M.; Henderson, Donald J.

2011-01-01

Convective heat removal techniques to rapidly cool small test articles to Earth-Moon L2 temperatures of 77 K were accomplished through the use of liquid nitrogen (LN2). By maintaining a selected pressure range on the saturation curve, test articles were cooled below the LN2 boiling point at ambient pressure in less than 30 min. Difficulties in achieving test pressures while maintaining the temperature tolerance necessitated a modification to the original system to include a closed loop conductive cold plate and cryogenic shroud

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

The Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured inside its transport container, is lifted up by crane from its transport vehicle at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test article will be loaded into NASA's Super Guppy aircraft, in view at left, and transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft, carrying the Orion crew module structural test article (STA), arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The unique aircraft is being opened to offload the STA. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft was opened and the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) was offloaded. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft, carrying the Orion crew module structural test article, arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The unique aircraft has been opened and the container holding the STA is being offloaded. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article loaded onto Guppy

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

On the tarmac at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA and contractor workers review procedures before beginning loading of the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article in its transport container into NASA's Super Guppy aircraft. The test article will be transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft, carrying the Orion crew module structural test article (STA), arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The front of the unique aircraft is being opened to offload the STA. The test article will be transported to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

PRSEUS Panel Fabrication Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Linton, Kim A.; Velicki, Alexander; Hoffman, Krishna; Thrash, Patrick; Pickell, Robert; Turley, Robert

2014-01-01

NASA and the Boeing Company have been working together under the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project to develop stitched unitized structure for reduced weight, reduced fuel burn and reduced pollutants in the next generation of commercial aircraft. The structural concept being evaluated is PRSEUS (Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure). In the PRSEUS concept, dry carbon fabric, pultruded carbon rods, and foam are stitched together into large preforms. Then these preforms are infused with an epoxy resin into large panels in an out-of-autoclave process. These panels have stiffeners in the length-wise and width-wise directions but contain no fasteners because all stiffeners are stitched to the panel skin. This document contains a description of the fabrication of panels for use in the 30-foot-long Multi-Bay Box test article to be evaluated at NASA LaRC.

Using Multivariate Base Rates to Interpret Low Scores on an Abbreviated Battery of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System.

PubMed

Karr, Justin E; Garcia-Barrera, Mauricio A; Holdnack, James A; Iverson, Grant L

2017-05-01

Executive function consists of multiple cognitive processes that operate as an interactive system to produce volitional goal-oriented behavior, governed in large part by frontal microstructural and physiological networks. Identification of deficits in executive function in those with neurological or psychiatric conditions can be difficult because the normal variation in executive function test scores, in healthy adults when multiple tests are used, is largely unknown. This study addresses that gap in the literature by examining the prevalence of low scores on a brief battery of executive function tests. The sample consisted of 1,050 healthy individuals (ages 16-89) from the standardization sample for the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). Seven individual test scores from the Trail Making Test, Color-Word Interference Test, and Verbal Fluency Test were analyzed. Low test scores, as defined by commonly used clinical cut-offs (i.e., ≤25th, 16th, 9th, 5th, and 2nd percentiles), occurred commonly among the adult portion of the D-KEFS normative sample (e.g., 62.8% of the sample had one or more scores ≤16th percentile, 36.1% had one or more scores ≤5th percentile), and the prevalence of low scores increased with lower intelligence and fewer years of education. The multivariate base rates (BR) in this article allow clinicians to understand the normal frequency of low scores in the general population. By use of these BRs, clinicians and researchers can improve the accuracy with which they identify executive dysfunction in clinical groups, such as those with traumatic brain injury or neurodegenerative diseases. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Subscale Carbon-Carbon Nozzle Extension Development and Hot Fire Testing in Support of Upper Stage Liquid Rocket Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gradl, Paul; Valentine, Peter; Crisanti, Matthew; Greene, Sandy Elam

2016-01-01

Upper stage and in-space liquid rocket engines are optimized for performance through the use of high area ratio nozzles to fully expand combustion gases to low exit pressures increasing exhaust velocities. Due to the large size of such nozzles and the related engine performance requirements, carbon-carbon (C/C) composite nozzle extensions are being considered for use in order to reduce weight impacts. NASA and industry partner Carbon-Carbon Advanced Technologies (C-CAT) are working towards advancing the technology readiness level of large-scale, domestically-fabricated, C/C nozzle extensions. These C/C extensions have the ability to reduce the overall costs of extensions relative to heritage metallic and composite extensions and to decrease weight by 50%. Material process and coating developments have advanced over the last several years, but hot fire testing to fully evaluate C/C nozzle extensions in relevant environments has been very limited. NASA and C-CAT have designed, fabricated and hot fire tested multiple subscale nozzle extension test articles of various C/C material systems, with the goal of assessing and advancing the manufacturability of these domestically producible materials as well as characterizing their performance when subjected to the typical environments found in a variety of liquid rocket and scramjet engines. Testing at the MSFC Test Stand 115 evaluated heritage and state-of-the-art C/C materials and coatings, demonstrating the capabilities of the high temperature materials and their fabrication methods. This paper discusses the design and fabrication of the 1.2k-lbf sized carbon-carbon nozzle extensions, provides an overview of the test campaign, presents results of the hot fire testing, and discusses potential follow-on development work.

Distributed digital signal processors for multi-body structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Gordon K.

1990-01-01

Several digital filter designs were investigated which may be used to process sensor data from large space structures and to design digital hardware to implement the distributed signal processing architecture. Several experimental tests articles are available at NASA Langley Research Center to evaluate these designs. A summary of some of the digital filter designs is presented, an evaluation of their characteristics relative to control design is discussed, and candidate hardware microcontroller/microcomputer components are given. Future activities include software evaluation of the digital filter designs and actual hardware inplementation of some of the signal processor algorithms on an experimental testbed at NASA Langley.

Planning an effective anti-smoking mass media campaign targeting adolescents.

PubMed

Pechmann, C; Reibling, E T

2000-05-01

This article addresses the following issues: Can an anti-smoking campaign that depends largely on mass media vehicles effectively reduce adolescent tobacco use? Why is an integrated campaign recommended and what are the steps in designing such a campaign? How should the campaign be evaluated? Specific topics include recommended campaign expenditures, target audience identification, selection of persuasive message content, executional (stylistic) considerations, media buying decisions, the use of focus group research and advertising copy-testing research, and outcome evaluations. It is concluded that comprehensive strategic planning and extensive research at all phases of the campaign are essential to success.

Developing Practice Guidelines for Psychoanalysis

PubMed Central

GRAY, SHEILA HAFTER

1996-01-01

Consensus-based practice guidelines codify clinical intelligence and the rich oral tradition in medicine. Because they reflect actual practice, they are readily accepted by clinicians as a basis for external review. This article illustrates the development of guidelines for a psychoanalytic approach to the large pool of patients who present with a depression. It suggests an integrated biopsychosocial approach to these individuals that is useful in current practice, and it offers propositions that may be tested in future research undertakings. Eventually, practice guidelines such as these may form the basis of economical systems of health care that avoid arbitrary, clinically untenable limitations on services. PMID:22700290

Future Directions for Space Transportation and Propulsion at NASA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sackheim, Robert L.

2005-01-01

Contents include the following: Oxygen Compatible Materials. Manufacturing Technology Demonstrations. Turbopump Inducer Waterflow Test. Turbine Damping "Whirligig" Test. Single Element Preburner and Main Injector Test. 40K Multi-Element Preburner and MI. Full-Scale Battleship Preburner. Prototype Preburner Test Article. Full-Scale Prototype TCA. Turbopump Hot-Fire Test Article. Prototype Engine. Validated Analytical Models.

Boeing CST-100 Heat Shield Testing

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-31

A heat shield is used during separation test activities with Boeing's Starliner structural test article. The test article is undergoing rigorous qualification testing at the company's Huntington Beach Facility in California. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner will launch on the Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Likelihood Ratio Tests for Special Rasch Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hessen, David J.

2010-01-01

In this article, a general class of special Rasch models for dichotomous item scores is considered. Although Andersen's likelihood ratio test can be used to test whether a Rasch model fits to the data, the test does not differentiate between special Rasch models. Therefore, in this article, new likelihood ratio tests are proposed for testing…

Extracting scientific articles from a large digital archive: BioStor and the Biodiversity Heritage Library

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a large digital archive of legacy biological literature, comprising over 31 million pages scanned from books, monographs, and journals. During the digitisation process basic metadata about the scanned items is recorded, but not article-level metadata. Given that the article is the standard unit of citation, this makes it difficult to locate cited literature in BHL. Adding the ability to easily find articles in BHL would greatly enhance the value of the archive. Description A service was developed to locate articles in BHL based on matching article metadata to BHL metadata using approximate string matching, regular expressions, and string alignment. This article locating service is exposed as a standard OpenURL resolver on the BioStor web site http://biostor.org/openurl/. This resolver can be used on the web, or called by bibliographic tools that support OpenURL. Conclusions BioStor provides tools for extracting, annotating, and visualising articles from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. BioStor is available from http://biostor.org/. PMID:21605356

Time-Lapse Video of SLS Engine Section Test Article Being Stacked at Michoud

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

This time-lapse video shows the Space Launch System engine section structural qualification test article being stacked at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The rocket's engine section is the bottom of the core stage and houses the four RS-25 engines. The engine section test article was moved to Michoud's Cell A in Building 110 for vertical stacking with hardware that simulates the rocket's liquid hydrogen tank, which is the fuel tank that joins to the engine section. Once stacked, the entire test article will load onto the barge Pegasus and ship to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. There, it will be subjected to millions of pounds of force during testing to ensure the hardware can withstand the incredible stresses of launch.

SLS Engine Section Test Article Moved for Stacking at Michoud

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-25

Stacking is underway for the Space Launch System core stage engine section structural qualification test article at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The rocket's engine section is the bottom of the core stage and houses the four RS-25 engines. The engine section test article was moved to Michoud's Cell A in Building 110 for vertical stacking with hardware that simulates the rocket's liquid hydrogen tank, which is the fuel tank that joins to the engine section. Once stacked, the entire test article will load onto the barge Pegasus and ship to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. There, it will be subjected to millions of pounds of force during testing to ensure the hardware can withstand the incredible stresses of launch.

Evaluation of the Steris Sensitive Equipment Decontamination (SED) Apparatus on a 463L Pallet

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

to decontaminate representative articles of sensitive equipment and operationally relevant materials for biological-warfare agent surrogate... Articles of Sensitive Equipment .................................................................. 25 2.9 Sensitive Equipment Inspection...45 3.6.2 Test Article Initial Inspection .............................................................. 47 3.6.3 Test

NON-DESTRUCTIVE METHOD AND MEANS FOR FLAW DETECTION

DOEpatents

Hochschild, R.

1959-03-10

BS>An improved method is presented for the nondestructive detection of flaws in olectrictilly conductivc articles using magnetic field. According to thc method a homogoneous mignetic field is established in the test article;it right angle" to the artyicle. A probe is aligned with its axis transverse to the translates so hat th4 probe scans the surface of the test article while the axis of the robe is transverse to the direction of translation of the article. In this manner any output current obtained in thc probe is an indication of the size and location of a flaw in the article under test, with a miiiimum of signal pick- up in the probe from the established magnetic field.

Mind as Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinstry, Chris

The present article describes a possible method for the automatic discovery of a universal human semantic-affective hyperspatial approximation of the human subcognitive substrate - the associative network which French (1990) asserts is the ultimate foundation of the human ability to pass the Turing Test - that does not require a machine to have direct human experience or a physical human body. This method involves automatic programming - such as Koza's genetic programming (1992) - guided in the discovery of the proposed universal hypergeometry by feedback from a Minimum Intelligent Signal Test or MIST (McKinstry, 1997) constructed from a very large number of human validated probabilistic propositions collected from a large population of Internet users. It will be argued that though a lifetime of human experience is required to pass a rigorous Turing Test, a probabilistic propositional approximation of this experience can be constructed via public participation on the Internet, and then used as a fitness function to direct the artificial evolution of a universal hypergeometry capable of classifying arbitrary propositions. A model of this hypergeometry will be presented; it predicts Miller's "Magical Number Seven" (1956) as the size of human short-term memory from fundamental hypergeometric properties. A system that can lead to the generation of novel propositions or "artificial thoughts" will also be described.

Quality of reporting statistics in two Indian pharmacology journals.

PubMed

Jaykaran; Yadav, Preeti

2011-04-01

To evaluate the reporting of the statistical methods in articles published in two Indian pharmacology journals. All original articles published since 2002 were downloaded from the journals' (Indian Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) and Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (IJPP)) website. These articles were evaluated on the basis of appropriateness of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics was evaluated on the basis of reporting of method of description and central tendencies. Inferential statistics was evaluated on the basis of fulfilling of assumption of statistical methods and appropriateness of statistical tests. Values are described as frequencies, percentage, and 95% confidence interval (CI) around the percentages. Inappropriate descriptive statistics was observed in 150 (78.1%, 95% CI 71.7-83.3%) articles. Most common reason for this inappropriate descriptive statistics was use of mean ± SEM at the place of "mean (SD)" or "mean ± SD." Most common statistical method used was one-way ANOVA (58.4%). Information regarding checking of assumption of statistical test was mentioned in only two articles. Inappropriate statistical test was observed in 61 (31.7%, 95% CI 25.6-38.6%) articles. Most common reason for inappropriate statistical test was the use of two group test for three or more groups. Articles published in two Indian pharmacology journals are not devoid of statistical errors.

The Effect of Mobile Messaging Apps on Cardiac Patient Knowledge of CAD Risk Factors and Adherence to a Healthy Lifestyle.

PubMed

Tang, Yea Hung; Chong, Mei Chan; Chua, Yan Piaw; Chui, Ping Lei; Tang, Li Yoong; Rahmat, Norsiah

2018-05-18

This study aimed to determine the effect mobile messaging apps on coronary artery disease patient knowledge of and adherence to a healthy lifestyle. Due to the increasing incidence of coronary artery disease in recent years, interventions targeting coronary artery disease risk factors are urgent public priorities. The use of mobile technology in healthcare services and medical education is relatively new with promising future prospects. This study used a quasi-experimental design that included pre- and post-test for intervention and control groups. The study was conducted from January to April 2017 with both intervention and control group, in a teaching hospital in Klang Valley. Convenience sampling was used with inclusive criteria in choosing the 94 patients with coronary artery disease (intervention group: 47 patients; control group: 47 patients). The pre-test was conducted as a baseline measurement for both groups before they were given standard care from a hospital. However, only the intervention group was given a daily information update via WhatsApp for one month. After one month, both groups were assessed with a post-test. The split-plot ANOVA analysis indicates that there is a significant and positive effect of the intervention on coronary artery disease patients' knowledge on CAD risk factors [F(1, 92) = 168.15, p < .001] with a large effect size (η p 2 = .65). The mobile messaging apps also significantly improve the patients' adherence to a healthy lifestyle [F(1, 92) = 83.75, p < .001] with a large effect size (η p 2 = .48). This study concluded that WhatsApp was an effective health intervention in increasing coronary artery disease patient's knowledge and subsequently increasing their adherence to healthy lifestyles. In clinical setting, mobile messaging apps is useful in information delivery and efficient patient monitory. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A Complex Story: Universal Preference vs. Individual Differences Shaping Aesthetic Response to Fractals Patterns.

PubMed

Street, Nichola; Forsythe, Alexandra M; Reilly, Ronan; Taylor, Richard; Helmy, Mai S

2016-01-01

Fractal patterns offer one way to represent the rough complexity of the natural world. Whilst they dominate many of our visual experiences in nature, little large-scale perceptual research has been done to explore how we respond aesthetically to these patterns. Previous research (Taylor et al., 2011) suggests that the fractal patterns with mid-range fractal dimensions (FDs) have universal aesthetic appeal. Perceptual and aesthetic responses to visual complexity have been more varied with findings suggesting both linear (Forsythe et al., 2011) and curvilinear (Berlyne, 1970) relationships. Individual differences have been found to account for many of the differences we see in aesthetic responses but some, such as culture, have received little attention within the fractal and complexity research fields. This two-study article aims to test preference responses to FD and visual complexity, using a large cohort (N = 443) of participants from around the world to allow universality claims to be tested. It explores the extent to which age, culture and gender can predict our preferences for fractally complex patterns. Following exploratory analysis that found strong correlations between FD and visual complexity, a series of linear mixed-effect models were implemented to explore if each of the individual variables could predict preference. The first tested a linear complexity model (likelihood of selecting the more complex image from the pair of images) and the second a mid-range FD model (likelihood of selecting an image within mid-range). Results show that individual differences can reliably predict preferences for complexity across culture, gender and age. However, in fitting with current findings the mid-range models show greater consistency in preference not mediated by gender, age or culture. This article supports the established theory that the mid-range fractal patterns appear to be a universal construct underlying preference but also highlights the fragility of universal claims by demonstrating individual differences in preference for the interrelated concept of visual complexity. This highlights a current stalemate in the field of empirical aesthetics.

SLS INTERTANK TEST ARTICLE IS ATTACHED TO CROSSHEAD OF LOAD TEST ANNEX, BLDG. 4619, AND REMOVED FROM BED OF KMAG TRANSPORTER

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-03-28

SLS INTERTANK TEST ARTICLE IS ATTACHED TO CROSSHEAD OF LOAD TEST ANNEX, BLDG. 4619, AND REMOVED FROM BED OF KMAG TRANSPORTER. Matt Cash conducts tag up meeting before lift of ITA from KMAG transporter

SLS Intertank Test Article, ITA, is attached to crosshead of loa

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-04

SLS Intertank Test Article, ITA, is attached to crosshead of load test Annex, Bldg. 4619, and removed from bed of KMAG transporter. Rob Ziegler, L, and Roger Myrick, R, of Aerie Aerospace attach load lines to Aft Load Ring of Intertank Test Articlle

13.1 Foot Diameter Fluted-Core Sandwich Composite Test Article

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-26

White light shape and measurement of a 13.1 Foot diameter fluted-core sandwich composite test article designed by LaRC and fabricated by Boeing Under Space Act Agreement SAA1-737, Annex 14. to be tested in LaRC's combined Loads Testing System (COLTS).

13.1 Foot Diameter Fluted-Core Sandwich Composite Test Article

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-09-25

White light shape and measurement of a 13.1 Foot diameter fluted-core sandwich composite test article designed by LaRC and fabricated by Boeing Under Space Act Agreement SAA1-737, Annex 14. to be tested in LaRC's combined Loads Testing System (COLTS).

Clinical Application of Platelet-Rich Fibrin in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Yu, Panxi; Zhai, Zhen; Jin, Xiaolei; Yang, Xiaonan; Qi, Zuoliang

2018-04-01

Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) has been applied in the clinical field for more than a decade, but largely in oral surgery and implant dentistry. Its utilization in plastic and reconstructive surgery is limited and lacking a comprehensive review. Hence, this article focuses on the various clinical applications of PRF pertaining to the plastic and reconstructive field through a systematic review. In this review, articles describing the clinical application of PRF in plastic and reconstructive surgery were screened using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The articles were summarized and divided into groups based on the utilization of PRF. The effects and complications of PRF were analyzed and concluded. Among the 634 articles searched, 7 articles describing 151 cases are eligible. PRF was applied on 116 (76.8%) wounds to facilitate tissue healing, and the complete wound closure rate was 91.4% (106/116). Otherwise, PRF was applied in 10 (6.6%) cases of zygomaticomaxillary fracture to reconstruct orbital floor defects and in 25 (16.6%) cases of facial autologous fat grafts to increase the fat retention rate successfully. There is no report of PRF-related complications. PRF could facilitate wound healing, including the healing of soft tissues and bony tissues, and facilitate fat survival rate. Further studies are needed to test the mechanism of PRF and expand its scope of application in plastic and reconstructive surgery. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Collecting Samples for Testing

MedlinePlus

... one or more hours to avoid a potential post-test spinal headache. The lumbar puncture procedure usually takes ... View sources NOTE: This article is based on research that ... of the Lab Tests Online Editorial Review Board . This article is periodically ...

Test and Analysis of a Hyper-X Carbon-Carbon Leading Edge Chine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Russell W.; Sikora, Joseph G.; Lindell, Michael C.

2005-01-01

During parts production for the X43A Mach 10 hypersonic vehicle nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of a leading edge chine detected on imbedded delamination near the lower surface of the part. An ultimate proof test was conducted to verify the ultimate strength of this leading edge chine part. The ultimate proof test setup used a pressure bladder design to impose a uniform distributed pressure field over the bi-planar surface of the chine test article. A detailed description of the chine test article and experimental test setup is presented. Analysis results from a linear status model of the test article are also presented and discussed. Post-test inspection of the specimen revealed no visible failures or areas of delamination.

Manned remote work station development article. Volume 1, book 1: Flight article requirements. Appendix A: Mission requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

The requirements for several configurations of flight articles are presented. These requirements provide the basis to design manned remote work station development test articles and establish tests and simulation objectives for the resolution of development issues. Mission system and subsystem requirements for four MRWS configurations included: open cherry picker; closed cherry picker; crane turret; and free flyer.

SLS Engine Section Test Article Arrives at Marshall on NASA Barge Pegasus

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-05-16

The NASA barge Pegasus made it’s first trip to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on May 15. It arrived carrying the first piece of Space Launch System hardware built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The barge left Michoud on April 28 with the core stage engine section test article, traveling 1,240 miles by river to Marshall. The rocket's engine section is the bottom of the core stage and houses the four RS-25 engines. The engine section test article will be moved to Marshall’s Building 4619 where it will be tested. The bottom part of the test article is structurally the same as the engine section that will be flown as part of the SLS core stage. The shiny metal top part simulates the rocket's liquid hydrogen tank, which is the fuel tank that joins to the engine section. The test article will endure tests that pull, push, and bend it, subjecting it to millions of pounds of force. This ensures the structure can withstand the incredible stresses produced by the 8.8 million pounds of thrust during launch and ascent.

75 FR 1179 - Passenger Equipment Safety Standards; Front End Strength of Cab Cars and Multiple-Unit Locomotives

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-08

... Dynamic and Quasi-Static Testing in 2008 a. Test Article Design b. Dynamic Testing of a Collision Post c... requirements concerning structural deformation and energy absorption by collision posts and corner posts at the... Testing in 2002 a. Test Article Designs b. Dynamic Impact Testing c. Analysis 2. Industry-Sponsored Quasi...

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians attach lines from a crane to the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be lifted out of its container and moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians prepare to attach lines from a crane to the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be lifted out of its container and moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane begins to lift the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) up from the base of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane moves the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) along the center aisle of the high bay. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane lowers the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) toward a test tool called the birdcage. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be secured on the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane lowers the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) onto a test tool called the birdcage. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be secured on the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane lifts the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) up from the base of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians check the lines attached from a crane to the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be lifted out of its container and moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Move to Birdcage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-16

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lockheed Martin technicians monitor the progress as a crane lifts the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) away from the base of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved to a test tool called the birdcage for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

21 CFR 320.38 - Retention of bioavailability samples.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... safety and effectiveness for the test article's claimed indications, a reserve sample of the test article...(s) used in the clinical studies demonstrating substantial evidence of safety and effectiveness for... or ester of an active drug ingredient or therapeutic moiety that has been approved for marketing, a...

Status of DSMT research program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcgowan, Paul E.; Javeed, Mehzad; Edighoffer, Harold H.

1991-01-01

The status of the Dynamic Scale Model Technology (DSMT) research program is presented. DSMT is developing scale model technology for large space structures as part of the Control Structure Interaction (CSI) program at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). Under DSMT a hybrid-scale structural dynamics model of Space Station Freedom was developed. Space Station Freedom was selected as the focus structure for DSMT since the station represents the first opportunity to obtain flight data on a complex, three-dimensional space structure. Included is an overview of DSMT including the development of the space station scale model and the resulting hardware. Scaling technology was developed for this model to achieve a ground test article which existing test facilities can accommodate while employing realistically scaled hardware. The model was designed and fabricated by the Lockheed Missile and Space Co., and is assembled at LaRc for dynamic testing. Also, results from ground tests and analyses of the various model components are presented along with plans for future subassembly and matted model tests. Finally, utilization of the scale model for enhancing analysis verification of the full-scale space station is also considered.

Military chemical warfare agent human subjects testing: part 1--history of six-decades of military experiments with chemical warfare agents.

PubMed

Brown, Mark

2009-10-01

Military chemical warfare agent testing from World War I to 1975 produced thousands of veterans with concerns of possible long-term health consequences. Clinical and research evaluation of potential long-term health effects has been difficult because the exposures occurred decades ago, the identity of troops exposed and exposure magnitudes are uncertain, and acute effects during experiments poorly documented. In contrast, a companion article describes the large amount of information available about the specific agents tested and their long-term health effects. This short history describes U.S. military chemical-agent experiments with human subjects and identifies tested agents. Finally, the demonstrated need to anticipate future health concerns from military personnel involved in such military testing suggests current and future military researchers should be required, by law and regulation, to fully record the identity of those exposed, relevant exposure magnitude, and complete medical information for all subjects. New study protocols and institutional review board approvals for research involving military personnel should reflect this need.

Testing homogeneity of proportion ratios for stratified correlated bilateral data in two-arm randomized clinical trials.

PubMed

Pei, Yanbo; Tian, Guo-Liang; Tang, Man-Lai

2014-11-10

Stratified data analysis is an important research topic in many biomedical studies and clinical trials. In this article, we develop five test statistics for testing the homogeneity of proportion ratios for stratified correlated bilateral binary data based on an equal correlation model assumption. Bootstrap procedures based on these test statistics are also considered. To evaluate the performance of these statistics and procedures, we conduct Monte Carlo simulations to study their empirical sizes and powers under various scenarios. Our results suggest that the procedure based on score statistic performs well generally and is highly recommended. When the sample size is large, procedures based on the commonly used weighted least square estimate and logarithmic transformation with Mantel-Haenszel estimate are recommended as they do not involve any computation of maximum likelihood estimates requiring iterative algorithms. We also derive approximate sample size formulas based on the recommended test procedures. Finally, we apply the proposed methods to analyze a multi-center randomized clinical trial for scleroderma patients. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Initial Flight Tests of the NASA F-15B Propulsion Flight Test Fixture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palumbo, Nathan; Moes, Timothy R.; Vachon, M. Jake

2002-01-01

Flights of the F-15B/Propulsion Flight Test Fixture (PFTF) with a Cone Drag Experiment (CDE) attached have been accomplished at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Mounted underneath the fuselage of an F-15B airplane, the PFTF provides volume for experiment systems and attachment points for propulsion experiments. A unique feature of the PFTF is the incorporation of a six-degree-of-freedom force balance. The force balance mounts between the PFTF and experiment and measures three forces and moments. The CDE has been attached to the force balance for envelope expansion flights. This experiment spatially and inertially simulates a large propulsion test article. This report briefly describes the F-15B airplane, the PFTF, and the force balance. A detailed description of the CDE is provided. Force-balance ground testing and stiffness modifications are described. Flight profiles and selected flight data from the envelope expansion flights are provided and discussed, including force-balance data, the internal PFTF thermal and vibration environment, a handling qualities assessment, and performance capabilities of the F-15B airplane with the PFTF installed.

"Playing It Like a Professional": Approaches to Ensemble Direction in Tertiary Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Scott; O'Bryan, Jessica; Lebler, Don

2013-01-01

This article reports on a case study of three directors of large ensembles within a large conservatoire and the ways in which they attempted to scaffold their students into professional music careers. The core aim in this article is to respond to the question "What is the role and function of the ensemble experience on the training of the…

Process for fabrication of large titanium diboride ceramic bodies

DOEpatents

Moorhead, Arthur J.; Bomar, E. S.; Becher, Paul F.

1989-01-01

A process for manufacturing large, fully dense, high purity TiB.sub.2 articles by pressing powders with a sintering aid at relatively low temperatures to reduce grain growth. The process requires stringent temperature and pressure applications in the hot-pressing step to ensure maximum removal of sintering aid and to avoid damage to the fabricated article or the die.

Testing: Let's Put It to the Test.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Phyllis, Ed.

2000-01-01

In this journal issue, articles examine various aspects of testing intelligence, creativity, and psychopathology. Featured articles include: (1) "Monglottosis: What's Wrong with the Idea of IQ Meritocracy and Its Racy Cousins?" (Johan W. Oller, Jr.), which shows empirically and theoretically that even nonverbal IQ tests mainly measure powers of…

LFC leading edge glove flight: Aircraft modification design, test article development and systems integration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Etchberger, F. R.

1983-01-01

Reduction of skin friction drag by suction of boundary layer air to maintain laminar flow has been known since Prandtl's published work in 1904. The dramatic increases in fuel costs and the potential for periods of limited fuel availability provided the impetus to explore technologies to reduce transport aircraft fuel consumption. NASA sponsored the Aircraft Energy Efficiency (ACEE) program in 1976 to develop technologies to improve fuel efficiency. This report documents the Lockheed-Georgia Company accomplishments in designing and fabricating a leading-edge flight test article incorporating boundary layer suction slots to be flown by NASA on their modified JetStar aircraft. Lockheed-Georgia Company performed as the integration contractor to design the JetStar aircraft modification to accept both a Lockheed and a McDonnell Douglas flight test article. McDonnell Douglas uses a porous skin concept. The report describes aerodynamic analyses, fabrication techniques, JetStar modifications, instrumentation requirements, and structural analyses and testing for the Lockheed test article. NASA will flight test the two LFC leading-edge test articles in a simulated commercial environment over a 6 to 8 month period in 1984. The objective of the flight test program is to evaluate the effectiveness of LFC leading-edge systems in reducing skin friction drag and consequently improving fuel efficiency.

Development and Simulation Testing of a Computerized Adaptive Version of the Philadelphia Naming Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hula, William D.; Kellough, Stacey; Fergadiotis, Gerasimos

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a computerized adaptive test (CAT) version of the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT; Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996), to reduce test length while maximizing measurement precision. This article is a direct extension of a companion article (Fergadiotis, Kellough, & Hula, 2015),…

Test Usage in Published Research and the Practice of Counseling: A Comparative Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hogan, Thomas P.; Rengert, Colleen

2008-01-01

The authors studied test usage defined by test appearance in research articles in counseling journals and test usage self-reported by counselors in previous studies. Many tests used by counselors according to self-report rarely appear in research studies. Absence of research articles using mental ability and projective measures was especially…

SLS Intertank Test Article, ITA, is attached to crosshead of loa

NASA Image and Video Library

2018-04-04

SLS Intertank Test Article, ITA, is attached to crosshead of load test Annex, Bldg. 4619, and removed from bed of KMAG transporter. ITA is slowly raised from bed of KMAG transporter and KMAG is removed.

Psychometric evaluation of commonly used game-specific skills tests in rugby: A systematic review

PubMed Central

Oorschot, Sander; Chiwaridzo, Matthew; CM Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien

2017-01-01

Objectives To (1) give an overview of commonly used game-specific skills tests in rugby and (2) evaluate available psychometric information of these tests. Methods The databases PubMed, MEDLINE CINAHL and Africa Wide information were systematically searched for articles published between January 1995 and March 2017. First, commonly used game-specific skills tests were identified. Second, the available psychometrics of these tests were evaluated and the methodological quality of the studies assessed using the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments checklist. Studies included in the first step had to report detailed information on the construct and testing procedure of at least one game-specific skill, and studies included in the second step had additionally to report at least one psychometric property evaluating reliability, validity or responsiveness. Results 287 articles were identified in the first step, of which 30 articles met the inclusion criteria and 64 articles were identified in the second step of which 10 articles were included. Reactive agility, tackling and simulated rugby games were the most commonly used tests. All 10 studies reporting psychometrics reported reliability outcomes, revealing mainly strong evidence. However, all studies scored poor or fair on methodological quality. Four studies reported validity outcomes in which mainly moderate evidence was indicated, but all articles had fair methodological quality. Conclusion Game-specific skills tests indicated mainly high reliability and validity evidence, but the studies lacked methodological quality. Reactive agility seems to be a promising domain, but the specific tests need further development. Future high methodological quality studies are required in order to develop valid and reliable test batteries for rugby talent identification. Trial registration number PROSPERO CRD42015029747. PMID:29259812

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft was opened and the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) was offloaded. A crane has lifted the container for placement on a transporter. The test article will be moved to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Prepped for Trans

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-24

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians secure the transport container with the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article onto a transport vehicle for the move to the Shuttle Landing Facility. The test article will be loaded in NASA's Super Guppy airplane and transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft was opened and the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) was offloaded. A crane was used to lower the container onto a transporter. The test article will be moved to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Transport from SLF to

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

A transporter carrying the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) in its container arrives at the low bay entrance of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Unbagging

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the protective covering was removed from the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). It remains secured on the bottom of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Prepped for Trans

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-24

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article inside its transport container, is secured onto a transport vehicle for the move to the Shuttle Landing Facility. The test article will be loaded in NASA's Super Guppy airplane and transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Offload

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

After arriving at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency's Super Guppy aircraft was opened and the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) was offloaded. A crane is used to lower the container for placement on a transporter. The test article will be moved to the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Lift & Uncrating

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians with Lockheed Martin assist as a crane lifts the cover away from the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Prepped for Trans

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-24

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians secure the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article in its transport container onto a transport vehicle for the move to the Shuttle Landing Facility. The test article will be loaded in NASA's Super Guppy airplane and transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion EM-1 Crew Module Structural Test Article Prepped for Trans

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-04-24

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Orion Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) structural test article, secured inside its transport container, is lowered onto a transport vehicle for the move to the Shuttle Landing Facility. The test article will be loaded in NASA's Super Guppy airplane and transported to Lockheed Martin's Denver facility for testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Transport from SLF to

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

A transporter carrying the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) in its container arrives inside the low bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article will be moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Lift & Uncrating

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane lifts the cover up from the container holding the Orion crew module structural test article (STA). The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Orion Crew Module Structural Test Article Unbagging

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-11-15

Inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians with Lockheed Martin look over the Orion crew module structural test article (STA) secured on the bottom of its transport container. The STA arrived aboard NASA's Super Guppy aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida. The test article was moved inside the facility's high bay for further testing. The Orion spacecraft will launch atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket on EM-1, its first deep space mission, in late 2018.

Ares I Integrated Test Approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, Jim

2008-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the testing approach that NASA is developing for the Ares I launch vehicle. NASA is planning a complete series of development, qualification and verification tests. These include: (1) Upper stage engine sea-level and altitude testing (2) First stage development and qualification motors (3) Upper stage structural and thermal development and qualification test articles (4) Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA) (5) Upper stage green run testing (6) Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing (IVGVT) and (7) Aerodynamic characterization testing.

X-ray monitoring optical elements

DOEpatents

Stoupin, Stanislav; Shvydko, Yury; Katsoudas, John; Blank, Vladimir D.; Terentyev, Sergey A.

2016-12-27

An X-ray article and method for analyzing hard X-rays which have interacted with a test system. The X-ray article is operative to diffract or otherwise process X-rays from an input X-ray beam which have interacted with the test system and at the same time provide an electrical circuit adapted to collect photoelectrons emitted from an X-ray optical element of the X-ray article to analyze features of the test system.

In-Flight Boundary-Layer Transition on a Large Flat Plate at Supersonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, Daniel W.; Fredericks, Michael Alan; Tracy, Richard R.; Matisheck, Jason R.; Vanecek, Neal D.

2012-01-01

A flight experiment was conducted to investigate the pressure distribution, local flow conditions, and boundary-layer transition characteristics on a large flat plate in flight at supersonic speeds up to Mach 2.0. The primary objective of the test was to characterize the local flow field in preparation for future tests of a high Reynolds number natural laminar flow test article. The tests used a F-15B testbed aircraft with a bottom centerline mounted test fixture. A second objective was to determine the boundary-layer transition characteristics on the flat plate and the effectiveness of using a simplified surface coating for future laminar flow flight tests employing infrared thermography. Boundary-layer transition was captured using an onboard infrared imaging system. The infrared imagery was captured in both analog and digital formats. Surface pressures were measured with electronically scanned pressure modules connected to 60 surface-mounted pressure orifices. The local flow field was measured with five 5-hole conical probes mounted near the leading edge of the test fixture. Flow field measurements revealed the local flow characteristics including downwash, sidewash, and local Mach number. Results also indicated that the simplified surface coating did not provide sufficient insulation from the metallic structure, which likely had a substantial effect on boundary-layer transition compared with that of an adiabatic surface. Cold wall conditions were predominant during the acceleration to maximum Mach number, and warm wall conditions were evident during the subsequent deceleration. The infrared imaging system was able to capture shock wave impingement on the surface of the flat plate in addition to indicating laminar-to-turbulent boundary-layer transition.

Computerised working memory based cognitive remediation therapy does not affect Reading the Mind in the Eyes test performance or neural activity during a Facial Emotion Recognition test in psychosis.

PubMed

Mothersill, David; Dillon, Rachael; Hargreaves, April; Castorina, Marco; Furey, Emilia; Fagan, Andrew J; Meaney, James F; Fitzmaurice, Brian; Hallahan, Brian; McDonald, Colm; Wykes, Til; Corvin, Aiden; Robertson, Ian H; Donohoe, Gary

2018-05-27

Working memory based cognitive remediation therapy (CT) for psychosis has recently been associated with broad improvements in performance on untrained tasks measuring working memory, episodic memory and IQ, and changes in associated brain regions. However, it is unclear if these improvements transfer to the domain of social cognition and neural activity related to performance on social cognitive tasks. We examined performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (Eyes test) in a large sample of participants with psychosis who underwent working memory based CT (N = 43) compared to a Control Group of participants with psychosis (N = 35). In a subset of this sample, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine changes in neural activity during a facial emotion recognition task in participants who underwent CT (N = 15) compared to a Control Group (N = 15). No significant effects of CT were observed on Eyes test performance or on neural activity during facial emotion recognition, either at p<0.05 family-wise error, or at a p<0.001 uncorrected threshold, within a priori social cognitive regions of interest. This study suggests that working memory based CT does not significantly impact an aspect of social cognition which was measured behaviourally and neurally. It provides further evidence that deficits in the ability to decode mental state from facial expressions are dissociable from working memory deficits, and suggests that future CT programs should target social cognition in addition to working memory for the purposes of further enhancing social function. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Commercial perspective in THz spectroscopy, sensing and imaging (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouyé, Clémentine; Taoudi, Sarah; Cochard, Jacques; d'Humières, Benoît

2017-02-01

For their ability to be transmitted by materials opaque in the visible and IR ranges (clothes, plastic, …), for being non-ionizing, for providing sub-mm resolution imaging, for the specific signatures of numerous materials, Terahertz waves - ranging from 200 GHz to 10 THz - have been raising the interest of industrials for about fifteen years. This study focuses on the penetration of THz technologies into the industrial applications driving the THz market growth at short and long term: Non Destructive testing (NDT), Defense and Security, Biomedical. For 15 years, Terahertz technologies have been continuously tested on a wide variety of applications. Thanks to these ongoing feasibility studies, manufacturers and end-users gained a deeper knowledge about the abilities and the limitations of the different Terahertz systems (Time-Domain spectroscopy, Frequency-Domain spectroscopy, Time-Domain reflectometry, etc). The demand from end-users is more qualified and is segmented as follows: 1. Detection of objects and defects on large areas 2. Thickness measurement on large areas 3. Chemical and Structural characterization of small objects and defects on small areas (2D) or volumes (3D) Each of these 3 functions leads to a specific family of THz systems with distinct requirements in terms of performance and cost: 1. Detection: cheap and compact imaging systems. 2. Thickness measurement: cost-effective and high speed systems. 3. Characterization: high resolution, high reliability and real-time sensing systems. This article will present the existing and incoming THz systems and components addressing each function. Terahertz technologies are currently finding their place on the market, outside research and scientific applications. The objective of this article is to identify the industrial applications where THz techniques will be adopted and to provide market growth perspectives.

LLE review. Quarterly report, January 1994--March 1994, Volume 58

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

Simon, A.

1994-07-01

This volume of the LLE Review, covering the period Jan - Mar 1994, contains articles on backlighting diagnostics; the effect of electron collisions on ion-acoustic waves and heat flow; using PIC code simulations for analysis of ultrashort laser pulses interacting with solid targets; creating a new instrument for characterizing thick cryogenic layers; and a description of a large-aperture ring amplifier for laser-fusion drivers. Three of these articles - backlighting diagnostics; characterizing thick cryogenic layers; and large-aperture ring amplifier - are directly related to the OMEGA Upgrade, now under construction. Separate abstracts have been prepared for articles from this report.

Fabrication of Large Bulk High Temperature Superconducting Articles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Koczor, Ronald (Inventor); Hiser, Robert A. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A method of fabricating large bulk high temperature superconducting articles which comprises the steps of selecting predetermined sizes of crystalline superconducting materials and mixing these specific sizes of particles into a homogeneous mixture which is then poured into a die. The die is placed in a press and pressurized to predetermined pressure for a predetermined time and is heat treated in the furnace at predetermined temperatures for a predetermined time. The article is left in the furnace to soak at predetermined temperatures for a predetermined period of time and is oxygenated by an oxygen source during the soaking period.

A Framework for Policies and Practices to Improve Test Security Programs: Prevention, Detection, Investigation, and Resolution (PDIR)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrara, Steve

2017-01-01

Test security is not an end in itself; it is important because we want to be able to make valid interpretations from test scores. In this article, I propose a framework for comprehensive test security systems: prevention, detection, investigation, and resolution. The article discusses threats to test security, roles and responsibilities, rigorous…

Evolution of a Test Item

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spaan, Mary

2007-01-01

This article follows the development of test items (see "Language Assessment Quarterly", Volume 3 Issue 1, pp. 71-79 for the article "Test and Item Specifications Development"), beginning with a review of test and item specifications, then proceeding to writing and editing of items, pretesting and analysis, and finally selection of an item for a…

Understanding the properties of diagnostic tests - Part 2: Likelihood ratios.

PubMed

Ranganathan, Priya; Aggarwal, Rakesh

2018-01-01

Diagnostic tests are used to identify subjects with and without disease. In a previous article in this series, we examined some attributes of diagnostic tests - sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values. In this second article, we look at likelihood ratios, which are useful for the interpretation of diagnostic test results in everyday clinical practice.

Descriptive and inferential statistical methods used in burns research.

PubMed

Al-Benna, Sammy; Al-Ajam, Yazan; Way, Benjamin; Steinstraesser, Lars

2010-05-01

Burns research articles utilise a variety of descriptive and inferential methods to present and analyse data. The aim of this study was to determine the descriptive methods (e.g. mean, median, SD, range, etc.) and survey the use of inferential methods (statistical tests) used in articles in the journal Burns. This study defined its population as all original articles published in the journal Burns in 2007. Letters to the editor, brief reports, reviews, and case reports were excluded. Study characteristics, use of descriptive statistics and the number and types of statistical methods employed were evaluated. Of the 51 articles analysed, 11(22%) were randomised controlled trials, 18(35%) were cohort studies, 11(22%) were case control studies and 11(22%) were case series. The study design and objectives were defined in all articles. All articles made use of continuous and descriptive data. Inferential statistics were used in 49(96%) articles. Data dispersion was calculated by standard deviation in 30(59%). Standard error of the mean was quoted in 19(37%). The statistical software product was named in 33(65%). Of the 49 articles that used inferential statistics, the tests were named in 47(96%). The 6 most common tests used (Student's t-test (53%), analysis of variance/co-variance (33%), chi(2) test (27%), Wilcoxon & Mann-Whitney tests (22%), Fisher's exact test (12%)) accounted for the majority (72%) of statistical methods employed. A specified significance level was named in 43(88%) and the exact significance levels were reported in 28(57%). Descriptive analysis and basic statistical techniques account for most of the statistical tests reported. This information should prove useful in deciding which tests should be emphasised in educating burn care professionals. These results highlight the need for burn care professionals to have a sound understanding of basic statistics, which is crucial in interpreting and reporting data. Advice should be sought from professionals in the fields of biostatistics and epidemiology when using more advanced statistical techniques. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

The right wing of the LEFT airplane

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powell, Arthur G.

1987-01-01

The NASA Leading-Edge Flight Test (LEFT) program addressed the environmental issues which were potential problems in the application of Laminar Flow Control (LFC) to transport aircraft. These included contamination of the LFC surface due to dirt, rain, insect remains, snow, and ice, in the critical leading-edge region. Douglas Aircraft Company designed and built a test article which was mounted on the right wing of the C-140 JetStar aircraft. The test article featured a retractable leading-edge high-lift shield for contamination protection and suction through perforations on the upper surface for LFC. Following a period of developmental flight testing, the aircraft entered simulated airline service, which included exposure to airborne insects, heavy rain, snow, and icing conditions both in the air and on the ground. During the roughly 3 years of flight testing, the test article has consistently demonstrated laminar flow in cruising flight. The experience with the LEFT experiment was summarized with emphasis on significant test findings. The following items were discussed: test article design and features; suction distribution; instrumentation and transition point reckoning; problems and fixes; system performance and maintenance requirements.

KSC-07pd1491

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-06-13

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- United Space Alliance employees prepared three test articles that will be used in wind tunnel testing by NASA to collect data for analysis of the detached Flexible Insulation Blanket, or FIB, on Atlantis. The test articles each feature three tiles (Low Temperature Reusable Surface Insulation, or LRSI) affixed next to two FIB blankets, simulating the thermal protection system set-up on Atlantis' OMS pod in the vicinity of the in-flight anomaly. These test articles were flown to Texas the morning of June 14. The TPS team at KSC has also provided a total of 22 FIB samples for other testing and analysis. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Quality of reporting statistics in two Indian pharmacology journals

PubMed Central

Jaykaran; Yadav, Preeti

2011-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the reporting of the statistical methods in articles published in two Indian pharmacology journals. Materials and Methods: All original articles published since 2002 were downloaded from the journals’ (Indian Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) and Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (IJPP)) website. These articles were evaluated on the basis of appropriateness of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics was evaluated on the basis of reporting of method of description and central tendencies. Inferential statistics was evaluated on the basis of fulfilling of assumption of statistical methods and appropriateness of statistical tests. Values are described as frequencies, percentage, and 95% confidence interval (CI) around the percentages. Results: Inappropriate descriptive statistics was observed in 150 (78.1%, 95% CI 71.7–83.3%) articles. Most common reason for this inappropriate descriptive statistics was use of mean ± SEM at the place of “mean (SD)” or “mean ± SD.” Most common statistical method used was one-way ANOVA (58.4%). Information regarding checking of assumption of statistical test was mentioned in only two articles. Inappropriate statistical test was observed in 61 (31.7%, 95% CI 25.6–38.6%) articles. Most common reason for inappropriate statistical test was the use of two group test for three or more groups. Conclusion: Articles published in two Indian pharmacology journals are not devoid of statistical errors. PMID:21772766

Geolocalisation of athletes for out-of-competition drug testing: ethical considerations. Position statement by the WADA Ethics Panel.

PubMed

Borry, Pascal; Caulfield, Timothy; Estivill, Xavier; Loland, Sigmund; McNamee, Michael; Knoppers, Bartha Maria

2018-04-01

Through the widespread availability of location-identifying devices, geolocalisation could potentially be used to place athletes during out-of-competition testing. In light of this debate, the WADA Ethics Panel formulated the following questions: (1) should WADA and/or other sponsors consider funding such geolocalisation research projects?, (2) if successful, could they be proposed to athletes as a complementary device to Anti-Doping Administration and Management System to help geolocalisation and reduce the risk of missed tests? and (3) should such devices be offered on a voluntary basis, or is it conceivable that they would be made mandatory for all athletes in registered testing pools? In this position paper, the WADA Ethics Panel concludes that the use of geolocalisation could be useful in a research setting with the goal of understanding associations between genotype, phenotype and environment; however, it recognises that the use of geolocalisation as part of or as replacement of whereabouts rules is replete with ethical concerns. While benefits remain largely hypothetical and minimal, the potential invasion of privacy and the data security threats are real. Considering the impact on privacy, data security issues, the societal ramifications of offering such services and various pragmatic considerations, the WADA Ethics Panel concludes that at this time, the use of geolocalisation should neither be mandated as a tool for disclosing whereabouts nor implemented on a voluntary basis. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Buckling Test Results and Preliminary Test and Analysis Correlation from the 8-Foot-Diameter Orthogrid-Stiffened Cylinder Test Article TA02

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilburger, Mark W.; Waters, W. Allen, Jr.; Haynie, Waddy T.; Thornburgh, Robert P

2017-01-01

Results from the testing of cylinder test article SBKF-P2-CYL-TA02 (referred to herein as TA02) are presented. TA02 is an 8-foot-diameter (96-inches), 78.0-inch-long, aluminum-lithium (Al-Li), orthogrid-stiffened cylindrical shell similar to those used in current state-of-the-art launch-vehicle structures and was designed to exhibit global buckling when subjected to combined compression and bending loads. The testing was conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), February 3-6, 2009, in support of the Shell Buckling Knockdown Factor Project (SBKF). The test was used to verify the performance of a newly constructed buckling test facility at MSFC and to verify the test article design and analysis approach used by the SBKF researchers.

Finite Element Simulations for Investigating the Effects of Specimen Geometry in Superplastic Tensile Tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nazzal, Mohammad; Abu-Farha, Fadi; Curtis, Richard

2011-08-01

Characterizing the behavior of superplastic materials is largely based on the uniaxial tensile test; yet the unique nature of these materials requires a particularly tailored testing methodology, different to that used with conventional materials. One of the crucial testing facets is the specimen geometry, which has a great impact on the outcome of a superplastic tensile test, as a result of the associated extreme conditions. And while researchers agree that it should take a notably different form than the typical dog-bone shape; there is no universal agreement on the specimen's particular size and dimensions, as evident by the disparities in test specimens used in the various superplastic testing efforts found throughout the literature. In view of that, this article is dedicated to understanding the effects of specimen geometry on the superplastic behavior of the material during tensile testing. Deformation of the Ti6Al4V titanium alloy is FE simulated based on a multitude of specimen geometries, covering a wide range of gauge length, gauge width, grip length, and grip width values. The study provides key insights on the influences of each geometrical parameter as well as their interactions, and provides recommendations on selecting the specimen's proportions for accurate and unified tensile testing of superplastic materials.

Proportional and Integral Thermal Control System for Large Scale Heating Tests

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fleischer, Van Tran

2015-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Armstrong Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) Flight Loads Laboratory is a unique national laboratory that supports thermal, mechanical, thermal/mechanical, and structural dynamics research and testing. A Proportional Integral thermal control system was designed and implemented to support thermal tests. A thermal control algorithm supporting a quartz lamp heater was developed based on the Proportional Integral control concept and a linearized heating process. The thermal control equations were derived and expressed in terms of power levels, integral gain, proportional gain, and differences between thermal setpoints and skin temperatures. Besides the derived equations, user's predefined thermal test information generated in the form of thermal maps was used to implement the thermal control system capabilities. Graphite heater closed-loop thermal control and graphite heater open-loop power level were added later to fulfill the demand for higher temperature tests. Verification and validation tests were performed to ensure that the thermal control system requirements were achieved. This thermal control system has successfully supported many milestone thermal and thermal/mechanical tests for almost a decade with temperatures ranging from 50 F to 3000 F and temperature rise rates from -10 F/s to 70 F/s for a variety of test articles having unique thermal profiles and test setups.

Large for gestational age (LGA)

MedlinePlus

... gov/ency/article/002248.htm Large for gestational age (LGA) To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. Large for gestational age means that a fetus or infant is larger ...

Diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of primary ciliary dyskinesia: PCD foundation consensus recommendations based on state of the art review.

PubMed

Shapiro, Adam J; Zariwala, Maimoona A; Ferkol, Thomas; Davis, Stephanie D; Sagel, Scott D; Dell, Sharon D; Rosenfeld, Margaret; Olivier, Kenneth N; Milla, Carlos; Daniel, Sam J; Kimple, Adam J; Manion, Michele; Knowles, Michael R; Leigh, Margaret W

2016-02-01

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a genetically heterogeneous, rare lung disease resulting in chronic oto-sino-pulmonary disease in both children and adults. Many physicians incorrectly diagnose PCD or eliminate PCD from their differential diagnosis due to inexperience with diagnostic testing methods. Thus far, all therapies used for PCD are unproven through large clinical trials. This review article outlines consensus recommendations from PCD physicians in North America who have been engaged in a PCD centered research consortium for the last 10 years. These recommendations have been adopted by the governing board of the PCD Foundation to provide guidance for PCD clinical centers for diagnostic testing, monitoring, and appropriate short and long-term therapeutics in PCD patients. © 2015 The Authors. Pediatric Pulmonology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Enabling communication in emergency response environments.

PubMed

Aldunate, Roberto G; Schmidt, Klaus Nicholas; Herrera, Oriel

2012-01-01

Effective communication among first responders during response to natural and human-made large-scale catastrophes has increased tremendously during the last decade. However, most efforts to achieve a higher degree of effectiveness in communication lack synergy between the environment and the technology involved to support first responders operations. This article presents a natural and intuitive interface to support Stigmergy; or communication through the environment, based on intuitively marking and retrieving information from the environment with a pointer. A prototype of the system was built and tested in the field, however the pointing activity revealed challenges regarding accuracy due to limitations of the sensors used. The results obtained from these field tests were the basis for this research effort and will have the potential to enable communication through the environment for first responders operating in highly dynamical and inhospitable disaster relief environments.

An automated environment for multiple spacecraft engineering subsystem mission operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bahrami, K. A.; Hioe, K.; Lai, J.; Imlay, E.; Schwuttke, U.; Hsu, E.; Mikes, S.

1990-01-01

Flight operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are now performed by teams of specialists, each team dedicated to a particular spacecraft. Certain members of each team are responsible for monitoring the performances of their respective spacecraft subsystems. Ground operations, which are very complex, are manual, labor-intensive, slow, and tedious, and therefore costly and inefficient. The challenge of the new decade is to operate a large number of spacecraft simultaneously while sharing limited human and computer resources, without compromising overall reliability. The Engineering Analysis Subsystem Environment (EASE) is an architecture that enables fewer controllers to monitor and control spacecraft engineering subsystems. A prototype of EASE has been installed in the JPL Space Flight Operations Facility for on-line testing. This article describes the underlying concept, development, testing, and benefits of the EASE prototype.

Integra-based Reconstruction of Large Scalp Wounds: A Case Report and Systematic Review of the Literature

PubMed Central

Johnson, Maxwell B.

2016-01-01

Background: Large complex scalp wounds that have traditionally required free vascularized tissue transfer have been successfully reconstructed with skin substitutes such as Integra. Although there are multiple reports of Integra-based reconstructions of scalp wounds, there has not been a comprehensive assessment of this body of literature that critically examines this method. Our goal was to conduct a systematic review to determine the effectiveness of Integra-based reconstructions of scalp wounds, with emphasis on large defects. Methods: A comprehensive systematic review was completed using key search terms, including Integra, dermal regeneration template, bovine collagen, skin substitute, forehead, and scalp. Selected articles reported characteristics of patients and their reconstructions. The primary outcome measures were wound complications and percent graft take. Results: Thirty-four articles were included in this systematic review. Wound sizes ranged from 5.7 to 610 cm2, with 35.3% of articles reporting a mean defect size >100 cm2. Thirty-two articles reported mean percent take of skin graft ≥90%. Sixteen articles reported a minor complication. There were no major complications associated with the reconstructions. Conclusions: There is a substantial evidence base for the use of Integra to reconstruct scalp wounds. To date, the dermal regeneration template is generally reserved for salvage procedures or when the patient cannot tolerate free tissue transfer. Based on the findings of this systematic review and the authors’ clinical experience, Integra can be used to achieve predictable results in large complex scalp defects. PMID:27826471

Boeing's CST-100 Structural Test Article Arrival - Boeing's Faci

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-12-08

Boeing’s Structural Test Article of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft arrives at the company’s Huntington Beach, California, facilities for evaluations. Built to the specifications of an operational spacecraft, the STA is intended to be evaluated through a series of thorough testing conditions.

Evaluation of cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties of breast cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires: a systematic review.

PubMed

Oliveira, Indiara Soares; da Cunha Menezes Costa, Lucíola; Fagundes, Felipe Ribeiro Cabral; Cabral, Cristina Maria Nunes

2015-05-01

To assess the procedures of translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and measurement properties of breast cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires. Searches were conducted in the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and SciELO using the keywords: "Questionnaires," "Quality of life," and "Breast cancer." The studies were analyzed in terms of methodological quality according to the guidelines for the procedure of cross-cultural adaptation and the quality criteria for measurement properties of questionnaires. We found 24 eligible studies. Most of the articles assessed the translation and measurement properties of the instrument EORTC QLQ-BR23. Description about translation and cross-cultural adaptation was incomplete in 11 studies. Translation and back translation were the most tested phases, and synthesis of the translation was the most omitted phase in the articles. Information on assessing measurement properties was provided incompletely in 23 articles. Internal consistency was the most tested property in all of the eligible articles, but none of them provided information on agreement. Construct validity was adequately tested in only three studies that used the FACT-B and QLQ-BR23. Eight articles provided information on reliability; however, only four found positive classification. Responsiveness was tested in four articles, and ceiling and floor effects were tested in only three articles. None of the instruments showed fully adequate quality. There is limited evidence on cross-cultural adaptations and measurement properties; therefore, it is recommended that caution be exercised when using breast cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires that have been translated, adapted, and tested.

Promoting HIV Testing for Gay and Bisexual Men: An Evaluation of the 2011-2012 Campaign in Toronto and Ottawa.

PubMed

Adam, Barry D; Gardner, Sandra; Major, Carol; Campbell, Diana; Light, Lucia; Globerman, Jason

2016-01-01

This article reports on a social marketing campaign directed toward high-risk men who have sex with men in Toronto and Ottawa to encourage testing for HIV and syphilis; improve knowledge about HIV transmission, seroconversion symptoms, and the HIV window period; and heighten awareness of syphilis transmission and its relationship to facilitating HIV transmission. Evaluation data were collected from a large-scale online pre-and postcampaign survey of sexually active men who have sex with men and from laboratory testing data. Men who turned up to be tested also filled out an exit survey. The campaign websites attracted some 15,000 unique visitors, 54% of whom had an IP address in Toronto or Ottawa. Laboratory data showed a 20% increase in HIV testing in Toronto over the campaign compared to the previous year. The overall rate of HIV-positive tests remained relatively constant. Knowledge levels about seroconversion symptoms, sexually transmitted infection and HIV transmission, and the HIV window period were significantly better among postcampaign survey respondents aware of the campaign compared to postcampaign respondents who were not aware and compared to precampaign respondents. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Social welfare as small-scale help: evolutionary psychology and the deservingness heuristic.

PubMed

Petersen, Michael Bang

2012-01-01

Public opinion concerning social welfare is largely driven by perceptions of recipient deservingness. Extant research has argued that this heuristic is learned from a variety of cultural, institutional, and ideological sources. The present article provides evidence supporting a different view: that the deservingness heuristic is rooted in psychological categories that evolved over the course of human evolution to regulate small-scale exchanges of help. To test predictions made on the basis of this view, a method designed to measure social categorization is embedded in nationally representative surveys conducted in different countries. Across the national- and individual-level differences that extant research has used to explain the heuristic, people categorize welfare recipients on the basis of whether they are lazy or unlucky. This mode of categorization furthermore induces people to think about large-scale welfare politics as its presumed ancestral equivalent: small-scale help giving. The general implications for research on heuristics are discussed.

Promoting, building and sustaining a regional laboratory network in a changing environment.

PubMed

More, J D; Sengupta, S K; Manley, P N

2000-01-01

The Queen's University Department of Pathology and its affiliated hospital laboratories (Kingston, Canada) have operated a successful laboratory outreach program for more than a decade in Southeastern Ontario. The outreach program provides high quality reference testing and technical and professional expertise in laboratory medicine to largely rural and small urban community hospitals. As a consequence of dramatic cuts to the publicly funded health-care system in the Province of Ontario, the environment in which laboratory medicine is practiced has altered irrevocably. This article discusses some of the difficult internal and external challenges faced by the outreach program within the region and how they were effectively managed, not only to maintain but to enhance the program's services. The result has been a continued improvement in the quality of laboratory services in the region with significantly increased cost-effectiveness, largely through reengineering and consolidation.

Computational Cosmology: From the Early Universe to the Large Scale Structure.

PubMed

Anninos, Peter

2001-01-01

In order to account for the observable Universe, any comprehensive theory or model of cosmology must draw from many disciplines of physics, including gauge theories of strong and weak interactions, the hydrodynamics and microphysics of baryonic matter, electromagnetic fields, and spacetime curvature, for example. Although it is difficult to incorporate all these physical elements into a single complete model of our Universe, advances in computing methods and technologies have contributed significantly towards our understanding of cosmological models, the Universe, and astrophysical processes within them. A sample of numerical calculations (and numerical methods applied to specific issues in cosmology are reviewed in this article: from the Big Bang singularity dynamics to the fundamental interactions of gravitational waves; from the quark-hadron phase transition to the large scale structure of the Universe. The emphasis, although not exclusively, is on those calculations designed to test different models of cosmology against the observed Universe.