A compelling desire for deafness.

PubMed

Veale, David

2006-01-01

A case is described of a patient who has a compelling and persistent desire to become deaf. She often kept cotton wool moistened with oil in her ears and was learning sign language. Living without sound appeared to be a severe form of avoidance behavior from hyperacusis and misophonia. She had a borderline personality disorder that was associated with a poor sense of self. Her desire to be deaf may be one aspect of gaining an identity for herself and to compensate for feeling like an alien and gaining acceptance in the Deaf community. Will a compelling desire for deafness ever become a recognized mental disorder one day for which hearing patients may be offered elective deafness after a period of assessment and living like a deaf person? Those working in the field of deafness should be aware that individuals may occasionally be seeking elective deafness or self-inflicting deafness to obtain a hearing aid.

Daylighting in the workplace: Two new buildings offer a guiding light

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

Jackaway, A.; Littler, J.

1996-10-01

As environmental pressures intensify and energy efficiency remains paramount, there has been renewed interest in daylighting the workplace. Interestingly, daylighting`s resurgence is being furthered by mounting evidence of occupant dissatisfaction with predominantly electrically-lit offices, and two recent reports support growing concern that the lack of daylighting in these interiors has led not only to unhappy workers, but to potentially significant reductions in workplace productivity. Clearly pressure is mounting on designers to produce buildings responding to these concerns, and as the role of precedents in the evolution of design practice is unquestioned, demand has been increasing for publication of office-based daylightingmore » case studies. In an attempt to address this need, this paper examines two recently completed British buildings in which daylight has explicitly informed the architecture, and although data concerning the resulting energy savings is not yet available, these projects currently offer the design community two excellent examples of workplace daylighting where compelling visual environments are generating noteworthy occupant satisfaction.« less

29 CFR 575.5 - Supporting data to accompany application.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... REGULATIONS WAIVER OF CHILD LABOR PROVISIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT OF 10 AND 11 YEAR OLD MINORS IN HAND... to the consequences of not meeting a compelling need for the employment of 10- and 11-year olds to... above, this would ordinarily demonstrate the compelling need for the employment of 10 and 11 year olds...

Eight Issues for Learning Scientists about Education and the Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roschelle, Jeremy; Bakia, Marianne; Toyama, Yukie; Patton, Charles

2011-01-01

Linking research to a compelling societal interest can build financial commitments to research, bring increased attention to findings, and grow support for scaling up impacts. Among many compelling societal interests that learning scientists can cite--such as increasing the quality of life, preparing citizens to make decisions in a complex world,…

Children Rule, or Do They (as Far as Innovations Are Concerned)?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Brian D.

2011-01-01

Meisel (hereafter, M) has offered a well-argued and tightly structured piece, discussing in a clear and compelling way a crucial topic in the understanding of language change. I applaud him for both the content and the presentation.

Vulcan Planitia, Type Example of Outer Solar System Ammonia-Water Cryovolcanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinnon, W. B.; Beyer, R. A.; Schenk, P. M.; Moore, J. M.; Singer, K. N.; White, O. L.; Spencer, J. R.; Cook, J. C.; Grundy, W. M.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Weaver, H. A.; Young, L. A.; Olkin, C. B.; Stern, S. A.; Robbins, S. J.; New Horizons GGI Team; New Horizons Composition Team

2018-06-01

Pluto's moon Charon offered the first clear (ground-based) evidence for the ammonia-water volcanism predicted long ago by J.S. Lewis. New Horizons then obtained compelling evidence for an ammonia-bearing cryovolcanic plain. But how did it get there?

K-12 School Diversity and Social Cohesion: Evidence in Support of a Compelling State Interest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikulyuk, Ashley B.; Braddock, Jomills H.

2018-01-01

Despite existing research that demonstrates the benefits of racial diversity in education, the Court has become increasingly disinclined to allow the use of race or ethnicity in education policy targeted to increase race/ethnic diversity, absent a compelling state interest. The debate over the merits of educational diversity has almost exclusively…

Familiarity breeds: incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

PubMed

Ager, Sheila L

2005-01-01

This paper examines the problem of Ptolemaic incest from a variety of cross-disciplinary perspectives. Specifically, it seeks to establish the following: that there is little in the ancient record to support the common claim that the Ptolemies suffered extensively from the deleterious genetic effects of inbreeding; that the various theories so far put forward as explanations for Ptolemaic incest offer at best only a partial rationale for this dynastic practice; that the most compelling rationale for Ptolemaic incest is to be found in complex, and perhaps unconscious, symbolic motivations analogous to those observed by anthropologists in other cultures; and finally, that, for the Ptolemies, incest was, like the "truphê" for which they were so notorious, a dynastic signature which highlighted their singularity and above all, their power.

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

Powers, Andrew R.; Ghiviriga, Ion; Abboud, Khalil A.

This report outlines the investigation of the iClick mechanism between gold(I)-azides and gold(I)-acetylides to yield digold triazolates. Isolation of digold triazolate complexes offer compelling support for the role of two copper(I) ions in CuAAC. In addition, a kinetic investigation reveals the reaction is first order in both Au(I)-N 3 and Au(I)-C≡C-R equivalent to C-R, thus second order overall. A Hammett plot with a ρ = 1.02(5) signifies electron-withdrawing groups accelerate the cycloaddition by facilitating the coordination of the second gold ion in a π-complex. Rate inhibition by the addition of free triphenylphosphine to the reaction indicates that ligand dissociation ismore » a prerequisite for the reaction. The mechanistic conclusions mirror those proposed for the CuAAC reaction.« less

Manufacturing the Horns of Dilemma: A Theory of Operational Initiative

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-21

Tsung offers insight, and offers the second compelling component to a theory of initiative. According to Mao, “Freedom of action is the very life of...unphased advances that might lead to entrapment by a numerically superior foe.”81 By conducting coordinated operations across the width of its front...doubtful whether firepower-based operations alone can in all cases unsettle an enemy and cause it to experience distress and defeat to the extent that it

Interactive Storytelling: Opportunities for Online Course Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, Sally; Ching, Yu-Hui

2017-01-01

Compelling interactive stories can be used to get and keep learners' interest in online courses. Interactive storytelling presents information in a manner that involves learners by allowing them to connect with the content. Incorporating interactive storytelling into online education offers the potential to increase student interest and knowledge…

Limited Characters Spell Austerity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harney, John O.

2018-01-01

This article discusses the various ways in which tweets, if connected wisely, can offer a compelling narrative of what is important in New England and how the "New England Journal of Higher Education" ("NEJHE") uses Twitter to disseminate interesting news or opinion pieces from elsewhere that are often juxtaposed with something…

Transformative Learning as an "Inter-Practice" Phenomenon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodge, Steven

2014-01-01

Transformative learning theory and practice-based theory both offer compelling but distinct accounts of adult learning. The vicissitudes of individual meaning-making is the focus of transformative learning theory whereas practice-based accounts view participation in social practices as the key to understanding learning. Despite their differing…

Learning To Teach Reading: Setting the Research Agenda.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roller, Cathy M., Ed.

The reading-focused reform environment of the new millennium is fertile ground for strengthening the link between research and public policy. This compilation of papers by presenters at International Reading Association's Reading Research 2000 Conference offers a compelling case for increased investment in teacher preparation for reading…

Application of Stable Isotope Analysis to Understand Behavior of Chlorinated Solvents

EPA Science Inventory

The traditional approach of monitoring a reduction in the concentrations of contaminants at sites does not always offer compelling documentation that the contaminants are actually being degraded. When data on concentrations are the only data available, it is may be difficult or i...

Concepts for manned lunar habitats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hypes, W. D.; Butterfield, A. J.; King, C. B.; Qualls, G. D.; Davis, W. T.; Gould, M. J.; Nealy, J. E.; Simonsen, L. C.

1991-01-01

The design philosophy that will guide the design of early lunar habitats will be based on a compromise between the desired capabilities of the base and the economics of its development and implantation. Preferred design will be simple, make use of existing technologies, require the least amount of lunar surface preparation, and minimize crew activity. Three concepts for an initial habitat supporting a crew of four for 28 to 30 days are proposed. Two of these are based on using Space Station Freedom structural elements modified for use in a lunar-gravity environment. A third concept is proposed that is based on an earlier technology based on expandable modules. The expandable modules offer significant advantages in launch mass and packaged volume reductions. It appears feasible to design a transport spacecraft lander that, once landed, can serve as a habitat and a stand-off for supporting a regolith environmental shield. A permanent lunar base habitat supporting a crew of twelve for an indefinite period can be evolved by using multiple initial habitats. There appears to be no compelling need for an entirely different structure of larger volume and increased complexity of implantation.

Preserving the Finger Lakes for the Future: A Prototype Decision Support System for Water Resource Management, Open Space, and Agricultural Protection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brower, Robert

2003-01-01

As described herein, this project has progressed well, with the initiation or completion of a number of program facets at programmatic, technical, and inter-agency levels. The concept of the Virtual Management Operations Center has taken shape, grown, and has been well received by parties from a wide variety of agencies and organizations in the Finger Lakes region and beyond. As it has evolved in design and functionality, and to better illustrate its current focus for this project, it has been given the expanded name of Watershed Virtual Management Operations Center (W-VMOC). It offers the advanced, compelling functionality of interactive 3D visualization interfaced with 2D mapping, all accessed via Internet or virtually any kind of distributed computer network. This strong foundation will allow the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) with anticipated enhanced functionality to be applied to the myriad issues involved in the wise management of the Finger Lakes region.

The financial and economic feasibility of rural household biodigesters for poor communities in South Africa.

PubMed

Smith, Michael T; Goebel, Jessica Schroenn; Blignaut, James N

2014-02-01

Given the persistence of systemic poverty in, most notably, the rural parts of South Africa, the question is whether the use of biodigesters as a source of energy offers potential solutions to some of the difficulties and development needs faced by people in these areas. At the core, this translates into whether this technology would be financially and economically feasible for installation and use by rural households. Here we conduct both a financial and an economic cost-benefit analysis in one such community based on survey data from 120 households. Analysis of these data and supporting literature reveals that a biodigester is not a financially feasible investment for a rural household. Substantial economic benefits are, however, found to make a biodigester a worthwhile investment from a broader societal perspective. This is a compelling argument for further study and the consideration of government support in the light of broader economy-wide benefits. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing Multiple Literacies in Academic English through Service-Learning and Community Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Askildson, Lance R.; Kelly, Annie Cahill; Mick, Connie Snyder

2013-01-01

Research on service-learning offers compelling evidence of the advances student learners make in moral development, orientation to prosocial behavior, and curricular content retention. But who are those student learners? Most studies focus on native, dominant-culture, dominant-language students serving marginalized populations. Studies of the…

Asian American Youth Language Use: Perspectives across Schools and Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shankar, Shalini

2011-01-01

Recent studies of Asian American youth language practices have presented compelling insights about the identities and migration experiences of young people of Asian descent. This article offers a detailed examination of the relationship between language use and select issues concerning Asian American youth, including social life, schooling,…

The Challenge of Assessing Project-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boss, Suzie

2012-01-01

For their ambitious project, called America at War, high school juniors at Da Vinci Charter Academy in the Davis (California) Joint Unified School District didn't just study history. They became historians. Their project offers compelling evidence of what students can accomplish through project-based learning (PBL), an instructional approach that…

Positive Psychologists on Positive Constructs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyubomirsky, Sonja

2012-01-01

Comments on the original article by McNulty and Fincham (see record 2011-15476-001). In their article, the authors offered compelling evidence that constructs such as forgiveness and optimism can have both beneficial and adverse consequences, depending on the context. Their caution about labeling particular psychological processes as "positive" is…

Using Action Research to Engage Youth in Improving OST Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hubbard, Brian

2015-01-01

Youth are often portrayed as apathetic, uninvolved, and reluctant to participate in their communities (Baizerman, Hildreth, & Roholt, 2013). Ironically, however, communities offer few opportunities for youth to address issues that are compelling to their interests and that engage their commitment and action (Bradford & Cullen, 2012;…

The New Literacies: Multiple Perspectives on Research and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Elizabeth A., Ed.

2010-01-01

With contributions from leading scholars, this compelling volume offers fresh insights into literacy teaching and learning--and the changing nature of literacy itself--in today's K-12 classrooms. The focus is on varied technologies and literacies such as social networking sites, text messaging, and online communities. Cutting-edge approaches to…

Compelled weightbearing in persons with hemiparesis following stroke: the effect of a lift insert and goal-directed balance exercise.

PubMed

Aruin, A S; Hanke, T; Chaudhuri, G; Harvey, R; Rao, N

2000-01-01

The hypotheses have been tested that 1) symmetry of weightbearing in persons who have sustained a stroke could be improved by the addition of a lift to the shoe on the non-paretic lower limb and 2) compelled weightbearing resulting from the addition of a lift in conjunction with targeted exercise helps to overcome the learned disuse of the paretic limb. Weightbearing on the paretic side was measured in eight persons with hemiparesis during quiet standing and in conditions of compelled weight shift. Compelled weight shifts were applied with special lifts to the shoe on the non-paretic limb of the subjects. An increase in symmetrical weightbearing was recorded in conditions of compelled weight shifts: 10-mm lift provided the best symmetry of bipedal standing. We suggest that improved symmetry of bipedal standing obtained with the lift of the non-paretic limb would help in overcoming the learned disuse of the affected limb. Pre- and post-test results of a person with hemiparesis who was wearing a shoe lift on the non-paretic limb during a 6-week physical therapy program showed statistically significant improvement of walking speed, stride length, and weightbearing. Such findings support the idea of using compelled weightbearing via lifting and targeted exercise during treatment.

Ethics in Teaching for Democracy and Social Justice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hytten, Kathy

2015-01-01

In this essay, I offer provocations toward an ethics of teaching for democracy and social justice. I argue that while driven by compelling macro social and political visions, social justice teachers do not pay sufficient attention to the moral dimensions of micro, classroom-level interactions in their work. I begin by describing social justice…

Peirce, Pragmatism, and Religious Education: Participating More Deeply in God's Imagination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falcone, John P.

2016-01-01

Approaching Christian education in light of Charles Sanders Peirce's Classical Pragmatism can help catechists make Christian tradition more intelligible to present-day North Americans; it can provide them with a rich framework for pedagogical practices; and it can help them offer a compelling vision of deeper participation in the Trinitarian life…

Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez, Juan

This book presents an integrated historical look at Latin America and Latinos in the United States, offering portraits of real-life Latino pioneers and sketches of the political events and social conditions that compelled them to leave their homeland and examining how they have transformed the nation's cultural landscape. Part 1,…

Commentary: Using Mixed Methods to Transform Special Education Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trainor, Audrey A.

2011-01-01

Klingner and Boardman (this issue) offer a cogent and compelling argument for opening the door for the acceptance and use of mixed methods in special education research. Self-identifying as pragmatists, they embody this paradigmatic view by focusing on the utility, efficacy, and accuracy of mixed methods, an argument that should appeal to the…

Asian American College Students' Mathematics Success and the Model Minority Stereotype

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jo, Lydia

2012-01-01

The often aggregated reports of academic excellence of Asian American students as a whole, compared to students from other ethnic groups offers compelling evidence that Asian Americans are more academically successful than their ethnic counterparts, particularly in the area of mathematics. These comparative data have generated many topics of…

Mexican American Women's Activism at Indiana University in the 1990s

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hernandez, Ebelia

2013-01-01

This article offers a historical analysis of documents and narratives from Mexican American women that reflect the tumultuous 1990s at Indiana University. Their recollections reveal how they became activists, the racist incidents that compelled them into activism, and the racial tensions and backlash towards identity politics felt by students of…

From the Fear of Death to the Fear of "Dissimilar Other": A Research in Elementary School Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leondari, A.; Magos, K.; Oikonomou, A.

2014-01-01

Social stereotyping and prejudice constitute pressing societal problems and have many causes. Terror Management Theory offers a compelling and heavily researched account of individuals' reactions towards "dissimilar others" when faced with thoughts of mortality. Building from previous research with adult samples, the present study aimed…

Scholarly Publishing in the Electronic Age: A Graduate Student's Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompsen, Philip A.

The issue of whether the nature of scholarship is being changed by electronic publishing was made clear to a graduate student when his telecommunication link to the world (his modem) failed. While the newer forms of academic communication offer impressive advantages over traditional publishing, scholars still feel compelled to retain somehow the…

Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools: How to Survive and Thrive in Tight Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levenson, Nathan

2012-01-01

Armed with real-world examples and out-of-the-box ideas, Levenson challenges conventional thinking about school budgeting and offers a compelling way forward for school superintendents, central office leaders, building principals, and school board members. Virtually every school district in the nation is experiencing an extended period of…

The American Slave Narrative. Dramatic Resource Material for the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polsky, Milton

1976-01-01

Notes that the story of the black runaway who escapes the slave status under great risk to live as a free man or woman comprises one of the most meaningful chapters in United States history. The slave narrative genre offers resource material which all children should find compelling and inspiring. (Author/AM)

The Power of Music in the Lives of Older Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Creech, Andrea; Hallam, Susan; McQueen, Hilary; Varvarigou, Maria

2013-01-01

A compelling body of research demonstrates that music continues to offer powerful potential for enhancing health and well-being in old age. Active music-making has been found to provide a source of enhanced social cohesion, enjoyment, personal development, and empowerment, and to contribute to recovery from depression and maintenance of personal…

Learning from the Pros: How Experienced Designers Translate Instructional Design Models into Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ertmer, Peggy A.; York, Cindy S.; Gedik, Nuray

2009-01-01

Understanding how experienced designers approach complex design problems provides new perspectives on how they translate instructional design (ID) models and processes into practice. In this article, the authors describe the results of a study in which 16 "seasoned" designers shared compelling stories from practice that offered insights into their…

Effects of Tiered Training on General Educators' Use of Specific Praise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Michele Terry; Marchant, Michelle; Anderson, Darlene; Prater, Mary Anne; Gibb, Gordon

2012-01-01

Research suggests a compelling correlation between teacher behavior and effective learning environments. Focusing on the evidence-based teaching skill of offering behavior-specific praise (BSP), the researchers worked with three elementary-level general educators in a tiered model of training generally known as response to intervention (RtI).…

Total Quality Education: Profiles of Schools That Demonstrate the Power of Deming's Management Principles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmoker, Michael J.; Wilson, Richard B.

This book presents profiles of schools that have demonstrated the power of Deming's Total Quality Management (TQM) principles. It describes schools that have successfully applied those strategies for change. The book explores what public education needs most--a compelling but flexible action plan for improvement. Chapter 1 offers a rationale for…

Methods That Matter: Integrating Mixed Methods for More Effective Social Science Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hay, M. Cameron, Ed.

2016-01-01

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…

The Contribution of Religious Education to the Well-Being of Pupils

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pett, Stephen

2012-01-01

Religious education (RE) is under serious political and professional pressure to justify its existence and, for some, positive psychology seems to offer a more compelling route to well-being. In response, this article establishes a case for the inherent value of the subject whilst showing that the well-being of pupils, in the broader sense of…

Disallowing Recommendations for Practice and Policy: A Proposal that Is Both Too Much and Too Little

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Karen R.

2013-01-01

Robinson et al. ("Educ Psychol Rev" 25(2):291-302, 2013) offer a thoughtful and powerful argument for a policy change for primary educational research journals. This policy change would "disallow recommendations for practice" (p. 10) in primary educational research journals. They provided compelling examples of works in which…

What Do Teenagers Want? What Do Teenagers Need?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strom, Kimberly; And Others

1995-01-01

Reports on the qualitative findings extracted from a study of over 3,700 teenagers from urban, suburban, and small city settings, describing the array of difficulties teenagers face today. The themes that emerged from the students' comments offer a compelling portrait of life as a teenager in the 1990s and help shape an agenda for understanding…

The Auditory Comprehension of Wh-Questions in Aphasia: Support for the Intervener Hypothesis.

PubMed

Sheppard, Shannon M; Walenski, Matthew; Love, Tracy; Shapiro, Lewis P

2015-06-01

This study examines 3 hypotheses about the processing of wh-questions in both neurologically healthy adults and adults with Broca's aphasia. We used an eye tracking while listening method with 32 unimpaired participants (Experiment 1) and 8 participants with Broca's aphasia (Experiment 2). Accuracy, response time, and online gaze data were collected. In Experiment 1, we established a baseline for how unimpaired processing and comprehension of 4 types of wh-question (subject- and object-extracted who- and which-questions) manifest. There was no unambiguous support found for any of the 3 hypotheses in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2 with the Broca's participants, however, we found significantly lower accuracy, slower response times, and increased interference in our gaze data in the object-extracted which-questions relative to the other conditions. Our results provide support for the intervener hypothesis, which states that sentence constructions that contain an intervener (a lexical noun phrase) between a displaced noun phrase and its gap site result in a significant processing disadvantage relative to other constructions. We argue that this hypothesis offers a compelling explanation for the comprehension deficits seen in some participants with Broca's aphasia.

Decreased zinc in the development and progression of malignancy: an important common relationship and potential for prevention and treatment of carcinomas

PubMed Central

Costello, Leslie C.; Franklin, Renty B.

2016-01-01

Introduction Efficacious chemotherapy does not exist for treatment or prevention of prostate, liver, and pancreatic carcinomas, and some other cancers that exhibit decreased zinc in malignancy. Zinc treatment offers a potential solution; but its support has been deterred by adverse bias. Areas covered 1. The clinical and experimental evidence for the common ZIP transporter/Zn down regulation in these cancers. 2. The evidence for a zinc approach to prevent and/or treat these carcinomas. 3. The issues that introduce bias against support for the zinc approach. Expert opinion ZIP/Zn downregulation is a clinically established common event in prostate, hepatocellular and pancreatic cancers. 2. Compelling evidence supports the plausibility that a zinc treatment regimen will prevent development of malignancy and termination of progressing malignancy in these cancers; and likely other carcinomas that exhibit decreased zinc. 3. Scientifically-unfounded issues that oppose this ZIP/Zn relationship have introduced bias against support for research and funding of a zinc treatment approach. 4. The clinically-established and supporting experimental evidence provide the scientific credibility that should dictate the support for research and funding of a zinc approach for the treatment and possible prevention of these cancers. 5. This is in the best interest of the medical community and the public-at-large. PMID:27885880

Love, Hate and Murder: Commitment Devices in Violent Relationships

PubMed Central

Aizer, Anna; Bó, Pedro Dal

2009-01-01

Many violent relationships are characterized by a high degree of cyclicality: women who are the victims of domestic violence often leave and return multiple times. To explain this we develop a model of time inconsistent preferences in the context of domestic violence. This time inconsistency generates a demand for commitment. We present supporting evidence that women in violent relationships display time inconsistent preferences by examining their demand for commitment devices. We find that no-drop policies – which compel the prosecutor to continue with prosecution even if the victim expresses a desire to drop the charges – result in an increase in reporting. No-drop policies also result in a decrease in the number of men murdered by intimates suggesting that some women in violent relationships move away from an extreme type of commitment device when a less costly one is offered. PMID:24244055

Au-iClick mirrors the mechanism of copper catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC)

DOE PAGES

Powers, Andrew R.; Ghiviriga, Ion; Abboud, Khalil A.; ...

2015-07-20

This report outlines the investigation of the iClick mechanism between gold(I)-azides and gold(I)-acetylides to yield digold triazolates. Isolation of digold triazolate complexes offer compelling support for the role of two copper(I) ions in CuAAC. In addition, a kinetic investigation reveals the reaction is first order in both Au(I)-N 3 and Au(I)-C≡C-R equivalent to C-R, thus second order overall. A Hammett plot with a ρ = 1.02(5) signifies electron-withdrawing groups accelerate the cycloaddition by facilitating the coordination of the second gold ion in a π-complex. Rate inhibition by the addition of free triphenylphosphine to the reaction indicates that ligand dissociation ismore » a prerequisite for the reaction. The mechanistic conclusions mirror those proposed for the CuAAC reaction.« less

An ICT-Based Platform to Monitor Protocols in the Healthcare Environment.

PubMed

Rorís, Víctor M Alonso; Gago, Juan M Santos; Sabucedo, Luis Álvarez; Merino, Mateo Ramos; Valero, Javier Sanz

2016-10-01

Procedures from the healthcare domain involve highly critical actions as they may pose a risk for patients' life. Therefore, a large effort is devoted to the standardization in clinical praxis and to the control of quality for these protocols in order to minimize hazards. In this line, this work is compelled to provide an ICT-based support to carry out these controls in a simple and effective manner. Using a methodology based on HACCP and taking advantage of Semantic tools, a holistic platform of services for traceability and control of processes has been designed and implemented. The applied paradigm is based on the use of Control Points as singular points to generate traces using observations and measures relevant for the processes considered. Based on those, it is possible to offer services for advanced querying and knowledge inference. The local deployment just requires regular mobile phones or tablets making this solution cost-effective and easily replicable.

'We do the impossible': women overcoming barriers to cervical cancer screening in rural Honduras--a positive deviance analysis.

PubMed

Garrett, Jenna J; Barrington, Clare

2013-01-01

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women in Honduras, and sexual behaviour and low screening uptake are two major factors contributing to high rates of morbidity and mortality. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate barriers that prevent rural Honduran women from engaging in screening and ways that women overcome those barriers. This study examined examples of positive deviance, or individuals engaging in the uncommon but beneficial practise of screening. Amor por sí misma (self-love), and social support were identified as two constructs women employed to overcome barriers to screening. Participants defined self-love as the act of displaying care and concern for oneself and one's health and suggested that it compels women to participate in screening. Social support was defined as receiving tangible aid and advice from others that facilitated women's screening participation. Findings suggest that the concept of self-love could be used in future screening promotion efforts and that integrating social support would also be beneficial. Engaging men in sexual and reproductive health programming is suggested in order to ensure male partners offer social support for screening and to challenge the cultural, gender and sexual norms that place women at higher risk for cervical cancer.

Novel measures of response performance and inhibition in children with ADHD.

PubMed

Morein-Zamir, Sharon; Hommersen, Paul; Johnston, Charlotte; Kingstone, Alan

2008-11-01

Fifteen children with ADHD aged 8 to 12 years and age and gender matched controls performed two different stopping tasks to examine response performance and inhibition and their respective moment-to-moment variability. One task was the well-established stop-signal task, while the other was a novel tracking task where the children tracked a spaceship on the screen until an alarm indicated they should stop. Although performance was discrete in the stop signal task and continuous in the tracking task, in both tasks latencies to the stop signal were significantly slowed in children with ADHD. Go performance and variability did not significantly differ between ADHD and control children in either task. Importantly, stopping latency in the novel spaceship tracking task also was more variable in children with ADHD. As stopping variability cannot be measured using the standard stop signal task, the new task offers compelling support for the heretofore untested prediction that stopping is both slowed and more variable in children with ADHD. The results support a response inhibition impairment in ADHD, whilst limiting the extent of an intra-trial variability deficit.

Probing the Effect of Molecular Nonuniformity in Directed Self-Assembly of Diblock Copolymers in Nanoconfined Space.

PubMed

Pitet, Louis M; Alexander-Moonen, Els; Peeters, Emiel; Druzhinina, Tamara S; Wuister, Sander F; Lynd, Nathaniel A; Meijer, E W

2015-10-27

Various complex self-assembled morphologies of lamellar- and cylinder-forming block copolymers comprising poly(dimethylsiloxane)-b-polylactide (PDMS-b-PLA) confined in cylindrical channels were generated. Combining top-down lithography with bottom-up block copolymer self-assembly grants access to morphologies that are otherwise inaccessible with the bulk materials. Channel diameter (D) was systematically varied with four diblock copolymers having different compositions and bulk domain spacing (L0), corresponding to a range of frustration ratios (D/L0 from 2 to 4). Excessive packing frustration imposed by the channels leads to contorted domains. The resulting morphologies depend strongly on both D/L0 and copolymer composition. Under several circumstances, mixtures of complex morphologies were observed, which hypothetically arise from the severe sensitivity to D/L0 combined with the inherent compositional/molar mass dispersities associated with the nonuniform synthetic materials and silicon templates. Stochastic calculations offer compelling support for the hypothesis, and tractable pathways toward solving this apparent conundrum are proposed. The materials hold great promise for next-generation nanofabrication to address several emerging technologies, offering significantly enhanced versatility to basic diblock copolymers as templates for fabricating complex nanoscale objects.

A review of the effects of nicotine on social functioning.

PubMed

Martin, Lea M; Sayette, Michael A

2018-06-28

Many smokers are aware that smoking is a dangerous health behavior and eventually try to quit smoking. Unfortunately, most quit attempts end in failure. Traditionally, the addictive nature of smoking has been attributed to the pharmacologic effects of nicotine. In an effort to offer a more comprehensive, biobehavioral analysis of smoking behavior and motivation, some researchers have begun to consider the role of social factors in smoking. In line with recent recommendations to integrate social and pharmacological analyses of smoking, we reviewed the experimental literature examining the effects of nicotine and nicotine withdrawal on social functioning. The review identified 13 studies that experimentally manipulated nicotine and assessed social functioning, 12 of which found support for nicotine's enhancement of social functioning. Although few experiments have investigated social functioning, they nevertheless offer compelling evidence that nicotine enhances social functioning in smokers and suggest that nicotine deprivation may hamper social functioning in those dependent on nicotine. Future directions for investigating social outcomes and context in those who use nicotine products are discussed with a focus on leveraging advances in social and developmental psychology, animal research, sociology, and neuroimaging to more comprehensively understand smoking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

"Ambivalence to Technology in Jeunet's" Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Rick Clifton

2006-01-01

Although at one level Jean-Pierre Jeunets "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain" is a sweet, attractive film about a young Parisian doing good deeds, it also offers a compelling analysis of the role of technology in our modern lives. The film paints a world where machines and a mechanistic worldview are appealing because humans have a desire to…

High Schoolers in College: Dual Enrollment Programs Offers Something for Everyone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kronholz, June

2011-01-01

A century ago, often under pressure from labor unions, states passed seat-time and mandatory-attendance laws that compelled youngsters to stay in school, and out of the competition for jobs. The laws haven't changed much today, but kids have, and by their midteens, many of them--bored with high school or academically beyond it--are ready for the…

Initiatives for Containing the Cost of Higher Education. Stretching the Higher Education Dollar. Special Report 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massy, William F.

2013-01-01

In this article, the author offers a comprehensive reform agenda for policymakers interested in cost containment. Massy lays out a series of initiatives that, working in tandem, can promote the larger goal of compelling colleges to spend money wisely. Among the individual reforms Massy proposes are creating a national database of cost-containment…

Grad Nation: A Guidebook to Help Communities Tackle the Dropout Crisis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balfanz, Robert; Fox, Joanna Hornig; Bridgeland, John M.; McNaught, Mary

2009-01-01

With more than one million students dropping out of high school each year, Grad Nation is specifically designed to offer solutions and tools for every size community and presents a compelling case for all sectors of society to get involved. The guidebook is part of the Alliance's Dropout Prevention Campaign. The guide brings together the nation's…

Teaching Students How to Analyze and Evaluate Arguments in History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swartz, Robert J.

2008-01-01

Human history is often shaped by the outcomes of arguments, not only in the sense of disputes between people or governments, but in the sense of the more rational pursuit of trying to convince others to accept or do certain things by offering reasons that are presented as compelling for so doing. Yet history teachers have done little to help…

Compelling Evidence of the Need for Corporate Work/Life Balance Initiatives: Results from a National Survey of Stressful Life-Events.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hobson, Charles J.; Delunas, Linda; Kesic, Dawn

2001-01-01

Considers how failure to balance excessive work and life/family demands can lead to negative consequences for both individuals and organizations, including higher stress levels, increased absenteeism, and lower productivity. Discusses results of a survey on stressful life events that offers an explanation of why work/life balance programs are so…

Can walking motions improve visually induced rotational self-motion illusions in virtual reality?

PubMed

Riecke, Bernhard E; Freiberg, Jacob B; Grechkin, Timofey Y

2015-02-04

Illusions of self-motion (vection) can provide compelling sensations of moving through virtual environments without the need for complex motion simulators or large tracked physical walking spaces. Here we explore the interaction between biomechanical cues (stepping along a rotating circular treadmill) and visual cues (viewing simulated self-rotation) for providing stationary users a compelling sensation of rotational self-motion (circular vection). When tested individually, biomechanical and visual cues were similarly effective in eliciting self-motion illusions. However, in combination they yielded significantly more intense self-motion illusions. These findings provide the first compelling evidence that walking motions can be used to significantly enhance visually induced rotational self-motion perception in virtual environments (and vice versa) without having to provide for physical self-motion or motion platforms. This is noteworthy, as linear treadmills have been found to actually impair visually induced translational self-motion perception (Ash, Palmisano, Apthorp, & Allison, 2013). Given the predominant focus on linear walking interfaces for virtual-reality locomotion, our findings suggest that investigating circular and curvilinear walking interfaces offers a promising direction for future research and development and can help to enhance self-motion illusions, presence and immersion in virtual-reality systems. © 2015 ARVO.

77 FR 76382 - Payout Requirements for Type III Supporting Organizations That Are Not Functionally Integrated

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-28

... and compel an accounting under State law. In the case of an organization that is supporting one or... III supporting organization from accepting a gift or contribution from a person who, alone or together... contributions from persons that control the governing body of a supported organization set forth in Sec. 1.509(a...

Reconsolidation of memory: a decade of debate.

PubMed

Besnard, Antoine; Caboche, Jocelyne; Laroche, Serge

2012-10-01

Memory consolidation refers to a slow process that stabilises a memory trace after initial acquisition of novel events. The consolidation theory posits that once a memory is stored in the brain, it remains fixed for the lifetime of the memory. However, compelling evidence has suggested that upon recall, memories can re-enter a state of transient instability, requiring further stabilisation to be available once again for recall. Since its rehabilitation in the past ten years, this process of reconsolidation of memory after recall stimulated intense debates in the field of cognitive neuroscience. In this review we compile this plentiful literature with a particular emphasis on some of the key questions that have emerged from the reconsolidation theory. We focus on tracing the characterisation of the boundary conditions that constrain the occurrence of memory reconsolidation. We also discuss accumulating evidence supporting the idea that reconsolidation, as implied by its definition, is not a mere repetition of consolidation. We review seminal studies that uncovered specific mechanisms recruited during reconsolidation that are not always crucially involved in consolidation. We next address the physiological significance of reconsolidation since several lines of evidence support the idea that reconsolidation, as opposed to consolidation, may offer a unique opportunity to update memories. We finally discuss recent evidence for or against the potential that the process of memory reconsolidation offers for ongoing efforts to develop novel strategies to combat pathogenic memories. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Destination Media Center: How to Provide an Orientation to Make Sure Patrons Are Headed in the Right Direction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Purcell, Melissa

2011-01-01

The school library media center should be a place that every student and teacher feels compelled to visit on a daily basis. Offering good, informative orientations can provide the direction needed to ensure that happens. Orientations should be part of every school library media specialist's job description and role. Orientations can be as long or…

No More Robots: Building Kids' Character, Competence, and Sense of Place. [Re]Thinking Environmental Education. Volume 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coulter, Bob

2014-01-01

Place-based education offers a compelling opportunity to engage students in the life of their community. More than just taking a field trip, participants in a place-based project make sustained efforts to make a difference and learn basic skills along the way. Academic concepts come to life as real-world problems are investigated from a local…

Commentary: An Exciting Evolutionary Framework for New Bridges between Social-Emotional and Cognitive Development--A Reflection on Suor et al. (2017)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kochanska, Grazyna; Goffin, Kathryn C.

2017-01-01

Suor et al. (2017) present a compelling new evolutionary framework that offers an alternative interpretation of the well-established findings of cognitive deficits in children raised in harsh early environments. They argue that such findings do not convey a complete picture of those children's cognitive development, because children's cognition…

Consumption of guava (Psidium guajava L) and noni (Morinda citrifolia L) may protect betel quid-chewing Papua New Guineans against diabetes.

PubMed

Owen, Patrick L; Martineau, Louis C; Caves, Dayna; Haddad, Pierre S; Matainaho, Teatulohi; Johns, Timothy

2008-01-01

Rapid increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes (DM2) in Papua New Guinea, coupled with compelling epidemiological evidence supporting a diabetogenic association with betel quid (BQ) chewing has lead us to investigate dietary strategies that might offer protection from developing DM2. We investigated the dietary habits of Kalo residents from coastal Central Province who are avid BQ chewers yet have a relatively low incidence of DM2 compared to the ethnically similar and adjacent Wanigelans who abstain from BQ yet have an unusually high incidence of DM2. In Kalo, guava bud (Psidium guajava L) and noni (Morinda citrifolia L) were consumed much more frequently than in Wanigela, whereas the inverse was observed for mangrove bean (Bruguiera gymnorrhiza (L) Lam.). These plants, along with BQ and its component ingredients areca nut (Areca catechu L) and Piper betle L inflorescence, were assessed for their ability to mediate insulin-dependent and insulin-independent glucose transport in cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes. A dose-dependent inhibition of glucose uptake from methanolic extracts of BQ, areca nut and P. betle inflorescence supports previous reports of prodiabetic activity. Conversely, guava bud extract displayed significant insulin-mimetic and potentiating activity. Noni fruit, noni leaf, commercial noni juice and mangrove bean all displayed insulin-like activity but had little or no effect on insulin action. Habitual intake of guava and noni is proposed to offer better protection against DM2 development and/or betel quid diabetogenicity than cooked mangrove bean. These findings provide empirical support that DM2 risk reduction can be accomplished using traditional foods and medicines.

Analysis of the Salvation Army World Service Offices Disaster Relief Capabilities

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-03-01

AOR based primarily on their financial revenues, since revenue is a prerequisite enabling mechanism for the delivery of goods and services . The...are from government sources, whereas contributions include cash and dollar value of in-kind services and goods . Investment revenues largely consist of...taking action among those most in need of assistance offers a compelling and admirable example of the good a religious organization can accomplish

Fetal pain, abortion, viability, and the Constitution.

PubMed

Cohen, I Glenn; Sayeed, Sadath

2011-01-01

In early 2010, the Nebraska state legislature passed a new abortion restricting law asserting a new, compelling state interest in preventing fetal pain. In this article, we review existing constitutional abortion doctrine and note difficulties presented by persistent legal attention to a socially derived viability construct. We then offer a substantive biological, ethical, and legal critique of the new fetal pain rationale. © 2011 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Political Influence and the Commander in Chief: Congress, the President, and War Powers

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

consultation with congressional leaders. Framed against the background of the 2006 midterm elections, this study suggests that scholars and other observers...potential v presidential consultation with congressional leaders. Framed against the background of the 2006 midterm elections, this study suggests that...wonder, for war powers politics offers a compelling arena for studying a variety of political phenomena, running the conceptual gamut from American

Patterning and templating for nanoelectronics.

PubMed

Galatsis, Kosmas; Wang, Kang L; Ozkan, Mihri; Ozkan, Cengiz S; Huang, Yu; Chang, Jane P; Monbouquette, Harold G; Chen, Yong; Nealey, Paul; Botros, Youssry

2010-02-09

The semiconductor industry will soon be launching 32 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology node using 193 nm lithography patterning technology to fabricate microprocessors with more than 2 billion transistors. To ensure the survival of Moore's law, alternative patterning techniques that offer advantages beyond conventional top-down patterning are aggressively being explored. It is evident that most alternative patterning techniques may not offer compelling advantages to succeed conventional top-down lithography for silicon integrated circuits, but alternative approaches may well indeed offer functional advantages in realising next-generation information processing nanoarchitectures such as those based on cellular, bioinsipired, magnetic dot logic, and crossbar schemes. This paper highlights and evaluates some patterning methods from the Center on Functional Engineered Nano Architectonics in Los Angeles and discusses key benchmarking criteria with respect to CMOS scaling.

48 CFR 18.102 - System for award management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Management (SAM) database for contracts awarded to support unusual and compelling needs or emergency acquisitions. (See 4.1102). However, contractors are required to register with SAM in order to gain access to...

48 CFR 18.102 - System for award management.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Management (SAM) database for contracts awarded to support unusual and compelling needs or emergency acquisitions. (See 4.1102). However, contractors are required to register with SAM in order to gain access to...

Sequence alignment to predict across species susceptibility (SeqAPASS): Cross species extrapolation in the 21st century

EPA Science Inventory

An objective of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to develop innovative approaches and decision support tools for the safety assessment of current and emerging chemicals in relation to their impact on the environment. To support this goal, there is a compelling need for...

Work-related stress in a humanitarian context: a qualitative investigation.

PubMed

Jachens, Liza; Houdmont, Jonathan; Thomas, Roslyn

2018-03-13

There is a paucity of research on the subjective stress-related experiences of humanitarian aid workers. Most evaluations of stress among these individuals focus on trauma and related conditions or adopt a quantitative approach. This interview-based study explored how 58 humanitarian aid workers employed by a United Nations-aligned organisation perceived the transactional stress process. The thematic analysis revealed eight main topics of interest: an emergency culture was found where most employees felt compelled to offer an immediate response to humanitarian needs; employees identified strongly with humanitarian goals and reported a high level of engagement; the rewards of humanitarian work were perceived as motivating and meaningful; constant change and urgent demands resulted in work overload; and managing work-life boundaries and receiving positive support from colleagues and managers helped to buffer perceived stress, work overload, and negative health outcomes. The practical implications of the results are discussed and suggestions made in the light of current research and stress theory. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

A continuous function model for path prediction of entities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nanda, S.; Pray, R.

2007-04-01

As militaries across the world continue to evolve, the roles of humans in various theatres of operation are being increasingly targeted by military planners for substitution with automation. Forward observation and direction of supporting arms to neutralize threats from dynamic adversaries is one such example. However, contemporary tracking and targeting systems are incapable of serving autonomously for they do not embody the sophisticated algorithms necessary to predict the future positions of adversaries with the accuracy offered by the cognitive and analytical abilities of human operators. The need for these systems to incorporate methods characterizing such intelligence is therefore compelling. In this paper, we present a novel technique to achieve this goal by modeling the path of an entity as a continuous polynomial function of multiple variables expressed as a Taylor series with a finite number of terms. We demonstrate the method for evaluating the coefficient of each term to define this function unambiguously for any given entity, and illustrate its use to determine the entity's position at any point in time in the future.

Questioning gender norms with men to improve health outcomes: evidence of impact.

PubMed

Barker, G; Ricardo, C; Nascimento, M; Olukoya, A; Santos, C

2010-01-01

This article describes a review of 58 evaluation studies of programmes with men and boys in sexual and reproductive health (including HIV prevention, treatment, care and support); father involvement; gender-based violence; maternal, newborn and child health; and gender socialisation more broadly. While few of the programmes go beyond the pilot stage, or a relatively short-term timeframe, they offer compelling evidence that well-designed programmes with men and boys can lead to positive changes in their behaviours and attitudes related to sexual and reproductive health; maternal, newborn and child health; their interaction with their children; their use of violence against women; their questioning of violence with other men; and their health-seeking behaviour. The evidence indicates that programmes that incorporate a gender-transformative approach and promote gender-equitable relationships between men and women are more effective in producing behaviour change than narrowly focused interventions, as are programmes which reach beyond the individual level to the social context.

Culture Wars: Air Force Culture and Civil-Military Relations

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

vulnerable to charges of defining away the problem of civilian control.”25 In contrast with these normative visions, Michael Desch offers a deductive model...instigating new concepts and capabili- ties that challenge the form and preferences of its institution.”69 Mike Worden notes a similar vulnerability for any...tribal loyalty to Tactical Air Command ( TAC ).48 Instead, Warden’s intellectual curiosity and apprecia- tion of military history compelled him to look

Twins and transsexualism: an update and a preview; research reviews: conjoined twins, angiographic lesions, single versus double embryo transfer; headlines: school placement legislation, Junior Taekwondo Olympics, prosthetic ears, murder victim.

PubMed

Segal, Nancy L

2007-12-01

In recent years, there has been growing appreciation for the complexity of gender identity. Focusing on monozygotic (MZ) twins discordant for transsexualism can offer clues to events that may trigger this behavioral difference, offering new information about critical underlying factors. An update of twin research in this area is provided, together with a preview of a compelling new film, 'Red Without Blue.' Next, twin study findings on the topics of conjoined twinning, angiographic lesions and embryo transfer are provided. This is followed by a survey of newsworthy twins and twin-related events.

Genetic regulation of health beneficial phytonutrients in fresh produce

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Compelling evidence in literature supports the hypothesis that dietary phytonutrients, especially antioxidants, maintain human health and prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular and age-related disorders, including dementia. Fresh fruits and vegetables are die...

Supplemental dietary choline during development exerts antidepressant-like effects in adult female rats.

PubMed

Glenn, Melissa J; Adams, Raven S; McClurg, Lauren

2012-03-14

Perinatal choline supplementation in rats is neuroprotective against insults such as fetal alcohol exposure, seizures, and advanced age. In the present study we explored whether dietary choline supplementation may also confer protection from psychological challenges, like stress, and act as a natural buffer against stress-linked psychological disorders, like depression. We previously found that choline supplementation increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis, a function compromised by stress, lowered in depression, and boosted by antidepressants; and increased levels of growth factors linked to depression, like brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Together, these were compelling reasons to study the role of choline in depressed mood. To do this, we treated rats with a choline supplemented diet (5 mg/kg choline chloride in AIN76A) prenatally on embryonic days 10-22, on postnatal days (PD) 25-50, or as adults from PD75 onward. Outside of these treatment periods rats were fed a standard diet (1.1 mg/kg choline chloride in AIN76A); control rats consumed only this diet throughout the study. Starting on PD100 rats' anxiety-like responses to an open field, learning in a water maze, and reactivity to forced swimming were assessed. Rats given choline supplementation during pre- or post-natal development, but not adult-treated rats, were less anxious in the open field and less immobile in the forced swim test than control rats. These effects were not mediated by a learning deficit as all groups performed comparably and well in the water maze. Thus, we offer compelling support for the hypothesis that supplemental dietary choline, at least when given during development, may inoculate an individual against stress and major psychological disorders, like depression. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Supplemental dietary choline during development exerts antidepressant-like effects in adult female rats

PubMed Central

Glenn, Melissa J.; Adams, Raven S.; McClurg, Lauren

2012-01-01

Perinatal choline supplementation in rats is neuroprotective against insults such as fetal alcohol exposure, seizures, and advanced age. In the present study we explored whether dietary choline supplementation may also confer protection from psychological challenges, like stress, and act as a natural buffer against stress-linked psychological disorders, like depression. We previously found that choline supplementation increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis, a function compromised by stress, lowered in depression, and boosted by antidepressants; and increased levels of growth factors linked to depression, like brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Together, these were compelling reasons to study the role of choline in depressed mood. To do this, we treated rats with a choline supplemented diet (5 mg/kg choline chloride in AIN76A) prenatally on embryonic days 10–22, on postnatal days (PD) 25–50, or as adults from PD75 onward. Outside of these treatment periods rats were fed a standard diet (1.1 mg/kg choline chloride in AIN76A); control rats consumed only this diet throughout the study. Starting on PD100 rats’ anxiety-like responses to an open field, learning in a water maze, and reactivity to forced swimming were assessed. Rats given choline supplementation during pre- or post-natal development, but not adult-treated rats, were less anxious in the open field and less immobile in the forced swim test than control rats. These effects were not mediated by a learning deficit as all groups performed comparably and well in the water maze. Thus, we offer compelling support for the hypothesis that supplemental dietary choline, at least when given during development, may inoculate an individual against stress and major psychological disorders, like depression. PMID:22305146

The quality-value proposition in health care.

PubMed

Feazell, G Landon; Marren, John P

2003-01-01

Powerful forces are converging in US health care to finally cause recognition of the inherently logical relationship between quality and money. The forces, or marketplace "drivers," which are converging to compel recognition of the relationship between cost and quality are: (1) the increasing costs of care; (2) the recurrence of another medical malpractice crisis; and (3) the recognition inside and outside of health care that quality is inconsistent and unacceptable. It is apparent that hospital administrators, financial officers, board members, and medical staff leadership do not routinely do two things: (1) relate quality to finance; and (2) appreciate the intra-hospital structural problems that impede quality attainment. This article discusses these factors and offers a positive method for re-structuring quality efforts and focusing the hospital and its medical staff on quality. The simple but compelling thesis of the authors is that health care must immediately engage in the transformation to making quality of medical care the fundamental business strategy of the organization.

Care-ful definition of consent.

PubMed

Ilyes, Emese

2018-02-01

This proposal is an attempt to intervene in psychology's violent past and troubling present by calling for notions of "care-ful" practice, compelling us to recognize and celebrate the permeable, porous, and flexible boundaries between bodies and selves. With this heuristic of care, this article hopes to trouble the separation between rigor and relational responsibility, to trouble objectivism, to oust the illusion of cool rationality, and to offer an affective understanding of consent that refuses to deny sexuality in bodies oppressed with the label of intellectually disabled.

Beyond bankable dollars: establishing a business case for improving health care.

PubMed

Bailit, Michael; Dyer, Mary Beth

2004-09-01

To address widespread deficiencies in the quality of health care, the authors argue that health care organizations need to be able to make a "business case" for improving quality--a compelling rationale for financial investment in quality improvement programs. The authors' framework for such a business case is organized around three broad areas: direct financial considerations, strategic considerations, and internal organizational considerations. Within these categories, they offer a total of 10 specific business case arguments, with examples, for investing in quality improvement.

Fostering SMART partnerships to develop an effective continuum of behavioral health services and supports in schools.

PubMed

Bruns, Eric J; Duong, Mylien T; Lyon, Aaron R; Pullmann, Michael D; Cook, Clayton R; Cheney, Douglas; McCauley, Elizabeth

2016-03-01

The education sector offers compelling opportunities to address the shortcomings of traditional mental health delivery systems and to prevent and treat youth mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) problems. Recognizing that social and emotional wellness is intrinsically related to academic success, schools are moving to adopt multi-tier frameworks based on the public health model that provide a continuum of services to all children, including services to address both academic and MEB problems. In this article, we review the potential value of multi-tier frameworks in facilitating access to, and increasing the effectiveness of, mental health services in schools, and review the empirical support for school-based mental health interventions by tier. We go on to describe a community-academic partnership between the Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training (SMART) Center that exemplifies how multi-tier educational frameworks, research and evidence, and purposeful collaboration can combine to improve development and implementation of a range of school-based strategies focused on MEB needs of students. Finally, we present a set of 10 recommendations that may help guide other research and practice improvement efforts to address MEB problems in youth through effective school mental health programming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Fostering SMART Partnerships to Develop an Effective Continuum of Behavioral Health Services and Supports in Schools

PubMed Central

Bruns, Eric J.; Duong, Mylien T.; Lyon, Aaron R.; Pullmann, Michael D.; Cook, Clayton R.; Cheney, Douglas; McCauley, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

The education sector offers compelling opportunities to address the shortcomings of traditional mental health delivery systems and to prevent and treat youth mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) problems. Recognizing that social and emotional wellness is intrinsically related to academic success, schools are moving to adopt multi-tier frameworks based on the public health model that provide a continuum of services to all children, including services to address both academic and MEB problems. In this paper, we review the potential value of multi-tier frameworks in facilitating access to, and increasing the effectiveness of, mental health services in schools and review the empirical support for school-based mental health interventions by tier. We go on to describe a community-academic partnership between the Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training (SMART) Center that exemplifies how multi-tier educational frameworks, research and evidence, and purposeful collaboration can combine to improve development and implementation of a range of school-based strategies focused on MEB needs of students. Finally, we present a set of 10 recommendations that may help guide other research and practice improvement efforts to address MEB problems in youth through effective school mental health programming. PMID:26963185

4 CFR 28.43 - Compelling discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 4 Accounts 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Compelling discovery. 28.43 Section 28.43 Accounts... Procedures Discovery § 28.43 Compelling discovery. (a) Motion for an order compelling discovery. Motions for orders compelling discovery shall be submitted to the administrative judge as set forth at § 28.42(c)(2...

Under Match and the Community College Student

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Handel, Stephen J.

2014-01-01

This article defines the term "under matching" as the behavior in which mostly less-affluent, highly qualified high school graduates choose not to enroll at an institution that matches their qualifications--behavior which threatens their chances of earning a degree. The supporting research--rigorous, compelling, and…

Staples.com: Focus on Usability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCann, Tom; Hynes, Colin

2002-01-01

Describes the Staples.com electronic commerce Web site; discusses its steady growth rate; and details two case studies in which data from a variety of sources were used to identify and resolve site usability issues and which are supported by compelling ROI (return on investment) figures. (Author/LRW)

Teachers and Children Inquire into Reggio Emilia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clyde, Jean Anne; Miller, Carol; Sauer, Stacy; Liebert, Karen; Parker, Susan; Runyan, Sarah

2006-01-01

"Reggio Emilia" is a remarkable, interdisciplinary inquiry-based approach typically found in preschools. What happens when elementary teachers confined by curricular mandates embrace key features of this learner-centered philosophy? This article provides compelling evidence that when multiple literacies are harnessed in support of inquiry, the…

Assessing (and Addressing!) Motivation to Read Fiction and Nonfiction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malloy, Jacquelynn A.; Parsons, Allison Ward; Marinak, Barbara A.; Applegate, Anthony J.; Applegate, Mary DeKonty; Reutzel, D. Ray; Parsons, Seth A.; Fawson, Parker C.; Roberts, Leslie D.; Gambrell, Linda B.

2017-01-01

Literacy educators, spurred by curricular standards requiring increased attention to reading nonfiction, are compelled to consider text-specific reading instruction. As research supports the connection between motivation and reading achievement, these mandates beg the question, "Are children equally motivated to read fiction and…

Fe3C nanoparticle decorated Fe/N doped graphene for efficient oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Yanli; Huang, Xiaoqin; Hu, Weihua

2016-11-01

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts with high activity, low cost and good durability are crucial to promote the large-scale practical application of fuel cells. Particularly, iron carbide (Fe3C) supported on nitrogen-doped carbon has recently demonstrated compelling promise for ORR electrocatalysis. In this paper, we report the facile synthesis of mesoporous Fe/N-doped graphene with encapsulated Fe3C nanoparticles (Fe3C@Fe/N-graphene) and its superior ORR catalytic activity. This hybrid material was synthesized by the spontaneous oxidative polymerization of dopamine on graphene oxide (GO) sheets in the presence of iron ion, followed by thermal annealing in Argon (Ar) atmosphere. As-prepared material shows high ORR catalytic activity with overwhelming four-electron reduction pathway, long-term durability and high methanol tolerance in alkaline media. This work reports a facile method to synthesize promising ORR electrocatalysis with multiple components and hierarchical architecture, and may offer valuable insight into the underlying mechanism of Fe3C-boosted ORR activity of Fe/N doped carbon.

A visualization framework for design and evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blundell, Benjamin J.; Ng, Gary; Pettifer, Steve

2006-01-01

The creation of compelling visualisation paradigms is a craft often dominated by intuition and issues of aesthetics, with relatively few models to support good design. The majority of problem cases are approached by simply applying a previously evaluated visualisation technique. A large body of work exists covering the individual aspects of visualisation design such as the human cognition aspects visualisation methods for specific problem areas, psychology studies and so forth, yet most frameworks regarding visualisation are applied after-the-fact as an evaluation measure. We present an extensible framework for visualisation aimed at structuring the design process, increasing decision traceability and delineating the notions of function, aesthetics and usability. The framework can be used to derive a set of requirements for good visualisation design and evaluating existing visualisations, presenting possible improvements. Our framework achieves this by being both broad and general, built on top of existing works, with hooks for extensions and customizations. This paper shows how existing theories of information visualisation fit into the scheme, presents our experience in the application of this framework on several designs, and offers our evaluation of the framework and the designs studied.

A Reliability Generalization Study on the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support: The Effects of Mean Age and Number of Items on Score Reliability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hellman, Chan M.; Fuqua, Dale R.; Worley, Jody

2006-01-01

The Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS) is a unidimensional measure of the general belief held by an employee that the organization is committed to him or her, values his or her continued membership, and is generally concerned about the employee's well-being. In the interest of efficiency, researchers are often compelled to use a…

Selling a service: experiences of peer supporters while promoting exclusive infant feeding in three sites in South Africa.

PubMed

Nkonki, Lungiswa L; Daniels, Karen L

2010-10-26

Even though it has been shown that peer support to mothers at home helps to increase exclusive breastfeeding, little is known about the experiences of peer supporters themselves and what is required of them to fulfil their day-to-day tasks. Therefore, a community-based randomised control trial using trained "lay" women to support exclusive infant feeding at home was implemented in three different sites across South Africa. The aim of this paper is to describe the experiences of peer supporters who promote exclusive infant feeding. Three focus group discussions were held, in a language of their choice, with peer supporters. These meetings focused on how the peer educators utilised their time in the process of delivering the intervention. Data from the discussions were transcribed, with both verbatim and translated transcripts being used in the analysis. Unlike the services provided by mainstream health care, peer supporters had to market their services. They had to negotiate entry into the mother's home and then her life. Furthermore, they had to demonstrate competence and come across as professional and trustworthy. An HIV-positive mother's fear of being stigmatised posed an added burden - subsequent disclosure of her positive status would lead to an increased workload and emotional distress. Peer supporters spent most of their time in the field and had to learn the skill of self-management. Their support-base was enhanced when supervision focused on their working conditions as well as the delivery of their tasks. Despite this, they faced other insurmountable issues, such as mothers being compelled to offer their infants mixed feeding simultaneously due to normative practices and working in the fields postpartum. Designers of peer support interventions should consider the skills required for delivering health messages and the skills required for selling a service. Supportive supervision should be responsive both to the health care task and the challenges faced in the process of delivering it. NCT00297150.

Toward a Translingual Composition: Ancient Rhetorics and Language Difference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ray, Brian

2012-01-01

The purpose of this dissertation is to outline a pedagogy that promotes language difference in college composition classrooms. Scholarship on language difference has strived for decades to transform teaching practices in mainstream, developmental, and second-language writing instruction. Despite compelling arguments in support of linguistic…

Preserving the Finger Lakes for the Future: A Prototype Decision Support System for Water Resource Management, Open Space, and Agricultural Protection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brower, Robert

2004-01-01

This report summarizes the activity conducted under NASA Grant NAG13-02059 entitled "Preserving the Finger Lakes for the Future" A Prototype Decision Support System for Water Resources Management, Open Space and Agricultural Protection, for the period of September 26, 2003 to September 25, 2004. The RACNE continues to utilize the services of its affiliate, the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology at Cayuga Community College, Inc. (IAGT), for the purposes of this project under its permanent operating agreement with IAGT. IAGT is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Corporation created by the RACNE for the purpose of carrying out its programmatic and administrative mission. The "Preserving the Finger Lakes for the Future" project has progressed and evolved as planned, with the continuation or initiation of a number of program facets at programmatic, technical, and inter-agency levels. The project has grown, starting with the well received core concept of the Virtual Management Operations Center (VMOC), to the functional Watershed Virtual Management Operations Center (W-VMOC) prototype, to the more advanced Finger Lakes Decision Support System (FLDSS) prototype, deployed for evaluation and assessment to a wide variety of agencies and organizations in the Finger Lakes region and beyond. This suite of tools offers the advanced, compelling functionality of interactive 3D visualization interfaced with 2D mapping, all accessed via Internet or virtually any kind of distributed computer network.

Comparative phylogeography of oceanic archipelagos: Hotspots for inferences of evolutionary process

PubMed Central

Shaw, Kerry L.; Gillespie, Rosemary G.

2016-01-01

Remote island archipelagos offer superb opportunities to study the evolution of community assembly because of their relatively young and simple communities where speciation contributes to the origin and evolution of community structure. There is great potential for common phylogeographic patterns among remote archipelagos that originate through hotspot volcanism, particularly when the islands formed are spatially isolated and linearly arranged. The progression rule is characterized by a phylogeographic concordance between island age and lineage age in a species radiation. Progression is most likely to arise when a species radiation begins on an older island before the emergence of younger islands of a hotspot archipelago. In the simplest form of progression, colonization of younger islands as they emerge and offer appropriate habitat, is coincident with cladogenesis. In this paper, we review recent discoveries of the progression rule on seven hotspot archipelagos. We then discuss advantages that progression offers to the study of community assembly, and insights that community dynamics may offer toward understanding the evolution of progression. We describe results from two compelling cases of progression where the mosaic genome may offer insights into contrasting demographic histories that shed light on mechanisms of speciation and progression on remote archipelagos. PMID:27432948

Scale and Scope Economies of Distance Education in Australian Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Liang-Cheng; Worthington, Andrew C.

2017-01-01

Despite compelling qualitative arguments for scale and scope economies in university-level distance education, as distinct from traditional class-based face-to-face instruction, there is little rigorous quantitative evidence in support. In this paper, we explore the scale and scope economies of distance education using a multiplicatively separable…

New Guide Helps Clarify Complex Clean Air Laws

Science.gov Websites

., February 20, 1998 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental addendum to the legislation that once governed such conversions, Mobile Source Enforcement Memorandum 1A senior environmental engineer. "Compelling data from NREL supports conclusions that aftermarket

Virtual Education and the Race to the Bottom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Versluis, Arthur

2004-01-01

The president of a vastly profitable virtual education corporation asserted that customers flock to him, not for an education, but for the material comforts that an education provides. Compelled by technology and supported by the World Trade Organization, such huge credentialing agencies employ lowpaid contractors to dish out homogenized info…

Engagement with Young Adult Literature: Outcomes and Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivey, Gay; Johnston, Peter H.

2013-01-01

This study examines students' perceptions of the outcomes and processes of engaged reading in classrooms prioritizing engagement through self-selected, self-paced reading of compelling young adult literature. The primary data were 71 end-of-year student interviews, supported by end-of-year teacher interviews, biweekly observational data,…

Introduction: Are the Public Schools "Detectably" Safe?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zirkel, Perry A.

2000-01-01

In the April 1999 issue of this journal, Michael Ferraraccio argues that the justifications advanced for using metal detectors in schools are not sufficiently compelling to outweigh students' Fourth Amendment privacy rights. In the accompanying Counterpoint, Robert Johnson cites lower court cases to support the constitutionality of their used on a…

Neuroplasticity, Psychosocial Genomics, and the Biopsychosocial Paradigm in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garland, Eric L.; Howard, Matthew Owen

2009-01-01

The biopsychosocial perspective is a foundation of social work theory and practice. Recent research on neuroplasticity and psychosocial genomics lends compelling support to this perspective by elucidating mechanisms through which psychosocial forces shape neurobiology. Investigations of neuroplasticity demonstrate that the adult brain can continue…

Role of lutein and zeaxanthin in visual and cognitive function throughout the lifespan

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The relationship between lutein and zeaxanthin and visual and cognitive health throughout the lifespan is compelling. There is a variety of evidence to support a role for lutein and zeaxanthin in vision. Lutein's role in cognition has only recently been considered. Lutein and its isomer, zeaxanthin,...

Family Stress and Coping for Mexican Origin Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Freda F.; Gonzales, Nancy A.; Fernandez, Aida Cristina; Millsap, Roger E.; Dumka, Larry E.

2011-01-01

Family-related stressors pose special challenges for adolescents of Mexican origin, given traditional cultural norms that compel youths to get involved with family problems despite their limited ability to effect change. The current study examines the prospective effects of coping strategies (i.e., active, distraction, avoidance, support-seeking,…

A case for archaeological reconnaissance of the Cabo Catoche-Porvenir region of the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duller, Charles E.

1990-01-01

Satellite remote sensing technology is a tool with which archaeologists can, with relative ease, survey a region that is otherwise inaccessible. The northeast corner of the Yucatan Peninsula is such an area: it is isolated and sparsely inhabited, with dense forest and extensive swamps. From Cabo Catoche inland to Cancun, this remote corner of the ancient Maya world is virtually unexplored. Recent satellite images disclose evidence of past human activity in this unexplored region and offer a compelling argument for an archaeological reconnaissance.

Neural mechanisms of response inhibition and impulsivity in 22q11.2 deletion carriers and idiopathic attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Montojo, C A; Congdon, E; Hwang, L; Jalbrzikowski, M; Kushan, L; Vesagas, T K; Jonas, R K; Ventura, J; Bilder, R M; Bearden, C E

2015-01-01

•22q11DS offers a compelling model to understand the neural substrates of attentional dysfunction.•First study directly comparing neural function in 22q11DS vs. ADHD patients•22q11DS and ADHD patients show a shared deficit in RI-related activation.•ADHD patients showed greater activity in the middle frontal gyrus than 22q11DS during RI.•Neural activity is inversely correlated with self-reported Cognitive Impulsivity in 22q11DS.

Survivor of that time, that place: clinical uses of violence survivors' narratives.

PubMed

Bhuvaneswar, Chaya; Shafer, Audrey

2004-01-01

Narratives by survivors of abuse offer compelling entries into the experiences of abuse and its effects on health. Reading such stories can enlarge the clinician's understanding of the complexities of abuse. Furthermore, attention to narrative can enhance the therapeutic options for abuse victims not only in mental health arenas, but also in other medical contexts. In this article we define the genre of survivor narratives, examine one such narrative in particular (Push by Sapphire, 1996), and explore the clinical implications of narrative in abuse victims' clinical care.

Web tools for predictive toxicology model building.

PubMed

Jeliazkova, Nina

2012-07-01

The development and use of web tools in chemistry has accumulated more than 15 years of history already. Powered by the advances in the Internet technologies, the current generation of web systems are starting to expand into areas, traditional for desktop applications. The web platforms integrate data storage, cheminformatics and data analysis tools. The ease of use and the collaborative potential of the web is compelling, despite the challenges. The topic of this review is a set of recently published web tools that facilitate predictive toxicology model building. The focus is on software platforms, offering web access to chemical structure-based methods, although some of the frameworks could also provide bioinformatics or hybrid data analysis functionalities. A number of historical and current developments are cited. In order to provide comparable assessment, the following characteristics are considered: support for workflows, descriptor calculations, visualization, modeling algorithms, data management and data sharing capabilities, availability of GUI or programmatic access and implementation details. The success of the Web is largely due to its highly decentralized, yet sufficiently interoperable model for information access. The expected future convergence between cheminformatics and bioinformatics databases provides new challenges toward management and analysis of large data sets. The web tools in predictive toxicology will likely continue to evolve toward the right mix of flexibility, performance, scalability, interoperability, sets of unique features offered, friendly user interfaces, programmatic access for advanced users, platform independence, results reproducibility, curation and crowdsourcing utilities, collaborative sharing and secure access.

On the Anticataractogenic Effects of L-Carnosine: Is It Best Described as an Antioxidant, Metal-Chelating Agent or Glycation Inhibitor?

PubMed Central

Alany, Raid G.

2016-01-01

Purpose. L-Carnosine is a naturally occurring dipeptide which recently gained popularity as an anticataractogenic agent due to its purported antioxidant activities. There is a paucity of research and conclusive evidence to support such claims. This work offers compelling data that help clarify the mechanism(s) behind the anticataract properties of L-carnosine. Methods. Direct in vitro antioxidant free radical scavenging properties were assayed using three different antioxidant (TEAC, CUPRAC, and DPPH) assays. Indirect in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant assays were studied by measuring glutathione bleaching capacity and total sulfhydryl (SH) capacity of bovine lens homogenates as well as hydrogen-peroxide-stress assay using human lens epithelial cells. Whole porcine lenses were incubated in high galactose media to study the anticataract effects of L-carnosine. MTT cytotoxicity assays were conducted on human lens epithelial cells. Results. The results showed that L-carnosine is a highly potent antiglycating agent but with weak metal chelating and antioxidant properties. There were no significant decreases in lens epithelial cell viability compared to negative controls. Whole porcine lenses incubated in high galactose media and treated with 20 mM L-carnosine showed a dramatic inhibition of advanced glycation end product formation as evidenced by NBT and boronate affinity chromatography assays. Conclusion. L-Carnosine offers prospects for investigating new methods of treatment for diabetic cataract and any diseases that are caused by glycation. PMID:27822337

Effectiveness of integrating case studies in online and face-to-face instruction of pathophysiology: a comparative study.

PubMed

Saleh, Suha M; Asi, Yara M; Hamed, Kastro M

2013-06-01

Due to growing demand from students and facilitated by innovations in educational technology, institutions of higher learning are increasingly offering online courses. Subjects in the hard sciences, such as pathophysiology, have traditionally been taught in the face-to-face format, but growing demand for preclinical science courses has compelled educators to incorporate online components into their classes to promote comprehension. Learning tools such as case studies are being integrated into such courses to aid in student interaction, engagement, and critical thinking skills. Careful assessment of pedagogical techniques is essential; hence, this study aimed to evaluate and compare student perceptions of the use of case studies in face-to-face and fully online pathophysiology classes. A series of case studies was incorporated into the curriculum of a pathophysiology class for both class modes (online and face to face). At the end of the semester, students filled out a survey assessing the effectiveness of the case studies. Both groups offered positive responses about the incorporation of case studies in the curriculum of the pathophysiology class. This study supports the argument that with proper use of innovative teaching tools, such as case studies, online pathophysiology classes can foster a sense of community and interaction that is typically only seen with face-to-face classes, based on student responses. Students also indicated that regardless of class teaching modality, use of case studies facilitates student learning and comprehension as well as prepares them for their future careers in health fields.

The dead donor rule, voluntary active euthanasia, and capital punishment.

PubMed

Coons, Christian; Levin, Noah

2011-06-01

We argue that the dead donor rule, which states that multiple vital organs should only be taken from dead patients, is justified neither in principle nor in practice. We use a thought experiment and a guiding assumption in the literature about the justification of moral principles to undermine the theoretical justification for the rule. We then offer two real world analogues to this thought experiment, voluntary active euthanasia and capital punishment, and argue that the moral permissibility of terminating any patient through the removal of vital organs cannot turn on whether or not the practice violates the dead donor rule. Next, we consider practical justifications for the dead donor rule. Specifically, we consider whether there are compelling reasons to promulgate the rule even though its corresponding moral principle is not theoretically justified. We argue that there are no such reasons. In fact, we argue that promulgating the rule may actually decrease public trust in organ procurement procedures and medical institutions generally - even in states that do not permit capital punishment or voluntary active euthanasia. Finally, we examine our case against the dead donor rule in the light of common arguments for it. We find that these arguments are often misplaced - they do not support the dead donor rule. Instead, they support the quite different rule that patients should not be killed for their vital organs.

Using Deep Learning for Gamma Ray Source Detection at the First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bieker, Jacob

2018-06-01

Finding gamma-ray sources is of paramount importance for Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT). This study looks at using deep neural networks on data from the First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) as a proof-of-concept of finding gamma-ray sources with deep learning for the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). In this study, FACT’s individual photon level observation data from the last 5 years was used with convolutional neural networks to determine if one or more sources were present. The neural networks used various architectures to determine which architectures were most successful in finding sources. Neural networks offer a promising method for finding faint and extended gamma-ray sources for IACTs. With further improvement and modifications, they offer a compelling method for source detection for the next generation of IACTs.

Conceptualising Teacher Practice and Pupil Group Learning through Developmental Stages and Integration Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saito, Eisuke; Atencio, Matthew

2014-01-01

This article proposes four key developmental stages and various underpinning factors pertaining to the practices of setting up and supporting group learning in the classroom setting. The discussion is mostly explained conceptually, with some compelling examples from the field. The authors subsequently advise that three elements of…

e-Learning Risks: Why Universities Should NOT Go It Alone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Tim; Pickar, Gloria; Schneid, Tom

2007-01-01

With $1M, faculty support, and their reputation at risk, Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) sought a distance learning partner to assess the MS in Loss Prevention & Safety opportunity, and then market the program to qualified students ready to learn. This compelling case study demonstrates how marketplace demand and competitive advantage can…

Perceptual Organization of Visual Structure Requires a Flexible Learning Mechanism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aslin, Richard N.

2011-01-01

Bhatt and Quinn (2011) provide a compelling and comprehensive review of empirical evidence that supports the operation of principles of perceptual organization in young infants. They also have provided a comprehensive list of experiences that could serve to trigger the learning of at least some of these principles of perceptual organization, and…

Anxiety Sensitivity and Panic Attacks: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Wen; Zinbarg, Richard E.

2007-01-01

The hypothesis that anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a risk factor for panic genesis has obtained compelling support, but the clinical/practical importance of AS in panic genesis has been questioned. In addition, the association between panic experience and AS increase has not been clearly demonstrated. Through this 1-year longitudinal study among…

Factors Influencing the Quality of EHR Performance: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhodes, Harry B.

2016-01-01

A significant amount of evidence existed in support of the positive effect on the quality of healthcare that resulted from transitioning to electronic health information systems, equally compelling evidence suggests that the development process for electronic health information systems falls short of achieving its potential. The objective of this…

Infant Pointing: Communication to Cooperate or Communication to Learn?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southgate, Victoria; van Maanen, Catharine; Csibra, Gergely

2007-01-01

Tomasello, Carpenter, and Liszkowski (2007) present compelling data to support the view that infant pointing, from the outset, is communicative and deployed in many of the same situations in which adults would ordinarily point for one another, either to share their interest in something, or to informatively help the other person. This commentary…

Galileo Educational Network: Creating, Researching, and Supporting 21st Century Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friesen, Sharon

2009-01-01

School and classroom structures designed to meet the needs of the industrial past cannot "maintain the temperature required for sustaining life." Recent learning sciences research findings compel educators to invent new learning environments better suited to meet the demands of the 21st century. These new learning environments require…

From Dissemination to Propagation: A New Paradigm for Education Developers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froyd, Jeffrey E.; Henderson, Charles; Cole, Renée S.; Friedrichsen, Debra; Khatri, Raina; Stanford, Courtney

2017-01-01

Scholarly studies and national reports document failure of current efforts to achieve broad, sustained adoption of research-based instructional practices, despite compelling bodies of evidence supporting efficacy of many of these practices. The authors of this paper argue that many change agents who are working to promote systemic adoption of…

Can an Online Tool Support Contemporary Independent Music Teaching and Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brook, Julia; Upitis, Rena

2015-01-01

The body of research examining deliberate practice and self-regulation in musical instruction has grown extensively over the past several decades, while at the same time many practices in the independent music studio remain unchanged and/or under-researched. Compelling evidence indicates that students with high levels of self-regulation experience…

18 CFR 375.309 - Delegations to the General Counsel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

..., compel their attendance and testimony, take evidence, compel the filing of special reports and... and affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance and testimony, take evidence, compel the... Policy Act of 1978, 15 U.S.C. 3301-3432 (1982). (f) Deny or grant, in whole or in part, petitions for...

24 CFR 180.540 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Motion to compel discovery. 180.540....540 Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails to answer a question propounded, or a party... order compelling discovery in accordance with the request. The motion shall: (1) State the nature of the...

Substance misuse prevention as corporate social responsibility.

PubMed

Radacsi, Gergely; Hardi, Peter

2014-03-01

All sectors of society should be involved in reducing substance misuse, including businesses. However, the business sector is typically involved only to the extent that their products compel them to be (e.g., alcohol producers promoting responsible alcohol consumption). This article examines why business participation has been limited and how embedding prevention within a framework of health promotion could increase participation. It reviews both Hungarian and international cases, concluding that although corporate social responsibility (CSR) offers a framework to approach substance misuse reduction, a different perception of the role of the business sector is necessary to make it viable.

Six Guidelines for Interesting Research.

PubMed

Gray, Kurt; Wegner, Daniel M

2013-09-01

There are many guides on proper psychology, but far fewer on interesting psychology. This article presents six guidelines for interesting research. The first three-Phenomena First, Be Surprising, and Grandmothers, Not Scientists-suggest how to choose your research question; the last three-Be The Participant, Simple Statistics, and Powerful Beginnings-suggest how to answer your research question and offer perspectives on experimental design, statistical analysis, and effective communication. These guidelines serve as reminders that replicability is necessary but not sufficient for compelling psychological science. Interesting research considers subjective experience; it listens to the music of the human condition. © The Author(s) 2013.

No Compelling Evidence that Preferences for Facial Masculinity Track Changes in Women's Hormonal Status.

PubMed

Jones, Benedict C; Hahn, Amanda C; Fisher, Claire I; Wang, Hongyi; Kandrik, Michal; Han, Chengyang; Fasolt, Vanessa; Morrison, Danielle; Lee, Anthony J; Holzleitner, Iris J; O'Shea, Kieran J; Roberts, S Craig; Little, Anthony C; DeBruine, Lisa M

2018-06-01

Although widely cited as strong evidence that sexual selection has shaped human facial-attractiveness judgments, findings suggesting that women's preferences for masculine characteristics in men's faces are related to women's hormonal status are equivocal and controversial. Consequently, we conducted the largest-ever longitudinal study of the hormonal correlates of women's preferences for facial masculinity ( N = 584). Analyses showed no compelling evidence that preferences for facial masculinity were related to changes in women's salivary steroid hormone levels. Furthermore, both within-subjects and between-subjects comparisons showed no evidence that oral contraceptive use decreased masculinity preferences. However, women generally preferred masculinized over feminized versions of men's faces, particularly when assessing men's attractiveness for short-term, rather than long-term, relationships. Our results do not support the hypothesized link between women's preferences for facial masculinity and their hormonal status.

Music Education for Life: Building Inclusive, Effective Twenty-First-Century Music Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shuler, Scott C.

2011-01-01

This article outlines how to make music programs more inclusive and therefore enable music teachers to compete more effectively for enrollment. Fortunately, music affords teachers many compelling options to win the hearts and minds of students, and thereby to create a more musically literate and supportive public. The author suggests that music…

Using Digital Technologies to Support Self-Directed Learning for Preservice Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullock, Shawn Michael

2013-01-01

This article begins with the perspective that teacher education programmes are cultural institutions and are thus compelled to respond to the societal push for teachers to be conversant in so-called twenty-first-century skills, grounded primarily in the ability to use digital technologies for pedagogical purposes. The results of an attempt to…

PBIS May Not Qualify as Classical Applied Behavior Analysis. So What?

PubMed

Critchfield, Thomas S

2015-05-01

Some disagreement exists over whether Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) embodies the features of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as described in a classic 1968 paper by Baer, Wolf, and Risley. When it comes to disseminating interventions at a societal level, a more compelling issue is whether ABA should become more like PBIS.

State and Federal Policies for School Facility Construction: A Comparison of Michigan and Ohio

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Thomas E.

2015-01-01

Background: The Ohio School Facilities Commission was set up in response to litigation compelling the state to achieve a more equitable distribution in the quality of school facilities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was a federal policy to stimulate the United States economy and support school facility construction. These two…

Vaccines and autism: evidence does not support a causal association.

PubMed

DeStefano, F

2007-12-01

A suggested association between certain childhood vaccines and autism has been one of the most contentious vaccine safety controversies in recent years. Despite compelling scientific evidence against a causal association, many parents and parent advocacy groups continue to suspect that vaccines, particularly measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), can cause autism.

Grounding Our Vision: Brain Research and Strategic Vision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Mike

2011-01-01

While recognizing the value of "vision," it could be argued that vision alone--at least in schools--is not enough to rally the financial and emotional support required to translate an idea into reality. A compelling vision needs to reflect substantive, research-based knowledge if it is to spark the kind of strategic thinking and insight…

Setting the Precedent for Commonwealth Intervention in Schooling: National Military Education in Australia 1911-1929

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pyvis, David

2006-01-01

Drawing on records of parliamentary debates, this paper investigates the first Commonwealth intervention in schooling. It reveals that compulsory provisions associated with formal schooling were employed to support a policy of compelling boys to undertake training. It shows how military training was positioned as a neglected aspect of ordinary…

A Planning Tool for Incorporating Backward Design, Active Learning, and Authentic Assessment in the College Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Heather L.; Kearns, Katherine Dowell

2017-01-01

Backward course design is a compelling strategy for achieving results-based, student-centered learning. The backward course-design approach is first to identify student-learning outcomes, then the means of assessing the outcomes, and lastly the classroom activities that would support the learning outcomes. With demonstrated success at improving…

Pedagogy for the Connected Science Classroom: Computer Supported Collaborative Science and the Next Generation Science Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foley, Brian J.; Reveles, John M.

2014-01-01

The prevalence of computers in the classroom is compelling teachers to develop new instructional skills. This paper provides a theoretical perspective on an innovative pedagogical approach to science teaching that takes advantage of technology to create a connected classroom. In the connected classroom, students collaborate and share ideas in…

Building community while complying with the Affordable Care Act in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

PubMed

Mathews, A Lanethea; Coyle, Bonnie S; Deegan, Michele Moser

2015-01-01

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires nonprofit hospitals to conduct community health needs assessments (CHNA) every 3 years. Best practices for CHNAs are still emerging and, along with growing economic pressures, contribute to uncertainty about the short- and long-term costs hospitals will face as a result of the ACA. This article describes a community-based partnership coordinated by a nonprofit hospital and a consortium of academic institutions as a model for conducting a CHNA. Similar partnerships offer key advantages in complying with the ACA: local academic institutions are existing stakeholders in the community--they possess research expertise and have a vested interested in shaping implementation strategies to improve health; the process of collaborating itself helps to generate community resources, conceive of community health as a shared and iterative enterprise, and mobilize community partners in supporting long-term health priorities. No CHNA is ever perfect, but there are compelling reasons for nonprofit hospitals to seek community-based partnerships, not only because such partnerships comply with the law but, more importantly, because they hold great promise for linking the CHNA process and results to the health realities of local communities, ultimately bolstering community engagement while creating shared health priorities.

A social-ecological systems approach for environmental management.

PubMed

Virapongse, Arika; Brooks, Samantha; Metcalf, Elizabeth Covelli; Zedalis, Morgan; Gosz, Jim; Kliskey, Andrew; Alessa, Lilian

2016-08-01

Urgent environmental issues are testing the limits of current management approaches and pushing demand for innovative approaches that integrate across traditional disciplinary boundaries. Practitioners, scholars, and policy-makers alike call for increased integration of natural and social sciences to develop new approaches that address the range of ecological and societal impacts of modern environmental issues. From a theoretical perspective, social-ecological systems (SES) science offers a compelling approach for improved environmental management through the application of transdisciplinary and resilience concepts. A framework for translating SES theory into practice, however, is lacking. In this paper, we define the key components of an SES-based environmental management approach. We offer recommendations for integrating an SES approach into existing environmental management practices. Results presented are useful for management professionals that seek to employ an SES environmental management approach and scholars aiming to advance the theoretical foundations of SES science for practical application. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Promoting Occupational Health Nursing Training

PubMed Central

Ward, Julie A.; Beaton, Randal D.; Bruck, Annie M.; de Castro, A. B.

2012-01-01

In 2009, occupational health nursing faculty and professionals at the University of Washington developed an innovative continuing nursing education offering, the OHN Institute. The OHN Institute was designed to meet the following objectives: (1) extend basic occupational health nursing training to non-occupational health nurses in Federal Region X, (2) target new occupational health nurses or those who possessed little or no advanced education in occupational health nursing, and (3) offer a hybrid continuing nursing education program consisting of on-site and distance learning modalities. Evaluation findings suggested that the various continuing nursing education modalities and formats (e.g., asynchronous vs. synchronous, online modules vs. live modules) were essentially comparable in terms of effectiveness. Perhaps most importantly, the OHN Institute evaluation demonstrated that quality continuing nursing education outcomes for occupational health nurses depended largely on knowledgeable and engaging faculty and a compelling vision of desired outcomes, including the application of learned content to professional practice. PMID:21877672

Stretchable spiral thin-film battery capable of out-of-plane deformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kammoun, Mejdi; Berg, Sean; Ardebili, Haleh

2016-11-01

There is a compelling need for innovative design concepts in energy storage devices such as flexible and stretchable batteries that can simultaneously provide electrochemical and mechanical functions to accommodate nonconventional applications including wearable and implantable devices. In this study, we report on the design and fabrication of a stretchable spiral thin-film lithium ion battery that is capable of large out-of-plane deformation of 1300% while exhibiting simultaneous electrochemical functionality. The spiral battery is fabricated using a flexible solid polymer nanocomposite electrolyte film that offers enhanced safety and stability compared to the conventional organic liquid-based electrolyte. The spiral lithium ion battery exhibits robust mechanical stretchability over 9000 stretching cycles and an energy density of 4.862 mWh/cm3 at ∼650% out-of-plane deformation. Finite element analysis of the spiral battery offers insights about the nature of stresses and strains during battery stretching.

Cal-Adapt: California's Climate Data Resource and Interactive Toolkit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, N.; Mukhtyar, S.; Wilhelm, S.; Galey, B.; Lehmer, E.

2016-12-01

Cal-Adapt is a web-based application that provides an interactive toolkit and information clearinghouse to help agencies, communities, local planners, resource managers, and the public understand climate change risks and impacts at the local level. The website offers interactive, visually compelling, and useful data visualization tools that show how climate change might affect California using downscaled continental climate data. Cal-Adapt is supporting California's Fourth Climate Change Assessment through providing access to the wealth of modeled and observed data and adaption-related information produced by California's scientific community. The site has been developed by UC Berkeley's Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF) in collaboration with the California Energy Commission's (CEC) Research Program. The Cal-Adapt website allows decision makers, scientists and residents of California to turn research results and climate projections into effective adaptation decisions and policies. Since its release to the public in June 2011, Cal-Adapt has been visited by more than 94,000 unique visitors from over 180 countries, all 50 U.S. states, and 689 California localities. We will present several key visualizations that have been employed by Cal-Adapt's users to support their efforts to understand local impacts of climate change, indicate the breadth of data available, and delineate specific use cases. Recently, CEC and GIF have been developing and releasing Cal-Adapt 2.0, which includes updates and enhancements that are increasing its ease of use, information value, visualization tools, and data accessibility. We showcase how Cal-Adapt is evolving in response to feedback from a variety of sources to present finer-resolution downscaled data, and offer an open API that allows other organization to access Cal-Adapt climate data and build domain specific visualization and planning tools. Through a combination of locally relevant information, visualization tools, and access to primary data, Cal-Adapt allows users to investigate how the climate is projected to change in their areas of interest.

Building Economic Security Today: making the health-wealth connection in Contra Costa county's maternal and child health programs.

PubMed

Parthasarathy, Padmini; Dailey, Dawn E; Young, Maria-Elena D; Lam, Carrie; Pies, Cheri

2014-02-01

In recent years, maternal and child health professionals have been seeking approaches to integrating the Life Course Perspective and social determinants of health into their work. In this article, we describe how community input, staff feedback, and evidence from the field that the connection between wealth and health should be addressed compelled the Contra Costa Family, Maternal and Child Health (FMCH) Programs Life Course Initiative to launch Building Economic Security Today (BEST). BEST utilizes innovative strategies to reduce inequities in health outcomes for low-income Contra Costa families by improving their financial security and stability. FMCH Programs' Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC) conducted BEST financial education classes, and its Medically Vulnerable Infant Program (MVIP) instituted BEST financial assessments during public health nurse home visits. Educational and referral resources were also developed and distributed to all clients. The classes at WIC increased clients' awareness of financial issues and confidence that they could improve their financial situations. WIC clients and staff also gained knowledge about financial resources in the community. MVIP's financial assessments offered clients a new and needed perspective on their financial situations, as well as support around the financial and psychological stresses of caring for a child with special health care needs. BEST offered FMCH Programs staff opportunities to engage in non-traditional, cross-sector partnerships, and gain new knowledge and skills to address a pressing social determinant of health. We learned the value of flexible timelines, maintaining a long view for creating change, and challenging the traditional paradigm of maternal and child health.

Necessary, Yet Dissociable Contributions of the Insular and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortices to Norm Adaptation: Computational and Lesion Evidence in Humans

PubMed Central

Gu, Xiaosi; Wang, Xingchao; Hula, Andreas; Wang, Shiwei; Xu, Shuai; Lohrenz, Terry M.; Knight, Robert T.; Gao, Zhixian; Dayan, Peter

2015-01-01

Social norms and their enforcement are fundamental to human societies. The ability to detect deviations from norms and to adapt to norms in a changing environment is therefore important to individuals' normal social functioning. Previous neuroimaging studies have highlighted the involvement of the insular and ventromedial prefrontal (vmPFC) cortices in representing norms. However, the necessity and dissociability of their involvement remain unclear. Using model-based computational modeling and neuropsychological lesion approaches, we examined the contributions of the insula and vmPFC to norm adaptation in seven human patients with focal insula lesions and six patients with focal vmPFC lesions, in comparison with forty neurologically intact controls and six brain-damaged controls. There were three computational signals of interest as participants played a fairness game (ultimatum game): sensitivity to the fairness of offers, sensitivity to deviations from expected norms, and the speed at which people adapt to norms. Significant group differences were assessed using bootstrapping methods. Patients with insula lesions displayed abnormally low adaptation speed to norms, yet detected norm violations with greater sensitivity than controls. Patients with vmPFC lesions did not have such abnormalities, but displayed reduced sensitivity to fairness and were more likely to accept the most unfair offers. These findings provide compelling computational and lesion evidence supporting the necessary, yet dissociable roles of the insula and vmPFC in norm adaptation in humans: the insula is critical for learning to adapt when reality deviates from norm expectations, and that the vmPFC is important for valuation of fairness during social exchange. PMID:25589742

Digital PCR analysis of circulating nucleic acids.

PubMed

Hudecova, Irena

2015-10-01

Detection of plasma circulating nucleic acids (CNAs) requires the use of extremely sensitive and precise methods. The commonly used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) poses certain technical limitations in relation to the precise measurement of CNAs whereas the costs of massively parallel sequencing are still relatively high. Digital PCR (dPCR) now represents an affordable and powerful single molecule counting strategy to detect minute amounts of genetic material with performance surpassing many quantitative methods. Microfluidic (chip) and emulsion (droplet)-based technologies have already been integrated into platforms offering hundreds to millions of nanoliter- or even picoliter-scale reaction partitions. The compelling observations reported in the field of cancer research, prenatal testing, transplantation medicine and virology support translation of this technology into routine use. Extremely sensitive plasma detection of rare mutations originating from tumor or placental cells among a large background of homologous sequences facilitates unraveling of the early stages of cancer or the detection of fetal mutations. Digital measurement of quantitative changes in plasma CNAs associated with cancer or graft rejection provides valuable information on the monitoring of disease burden or the recipient's immune response and subsequent therapy treatment. Furthermore, careful quantitative assessment of the viral load offers great value for effective monitoring of antiviral therapy for immunosuppressed or transplant patients. The present review describes the inherent features of dPCR that make it exceptionally robust in precise and sensitive quantification of CNAs. Moreover, I provide an insight into the types of potential clinical applications that have been developed by researchers to date. Copyright © 2015 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics: Love It or Hate It, Understand Those Who Don't

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Patty Anne

2016-01-01

In this commentary, Wagner points out that the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) has fueled strong reactions on either end of the spectrum, compelling its supporters and critics to argue their positions. Naturally neither side have interest in entertaining the arguments of the other. Wagner claims, however, that you develop the…

Opportunities and Best Practices to Support Sustainable Production for Small Growers and Post-Harvest Processors in Southern California

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fissore, Cinzia; Duran, Daniel F.; Russell, Robert

2015-01-01

This article describes current practices and needs associated with water and gas conservation among Southern California greenhouse growers, Post-Harvest Processors (PHPs), and agricultural associations. Two communication forums were held with the goal of educating the local gas company and small growers and PHPs on the most compelling needs and…

Iran Sanctions

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-23

Act) authorizes sanctions on foreign persons (individuals or corporations , not countries or governments ) that are determined by the Administration to...sanctions, particularly those targeting Iran’s energy sector, which provides about 80% of government revenues, can reduce Iran’s ability to support its WMD...foreign firm’s business opportunities in the United States. ISA does not, and probably could not practically, compel any foreign government to take action

Helping the Most Vulnerable Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families. Pathways to Early School Success. Issue Brief No. 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knitzer, Jane; Lefkowitz, Jill

2006-01-01

Compelling evidence from neuroscience about how early relationships and experience influence the architecture of the brain, and in turn early school success, has led to increasing policy and practice attention to implementing child development and family support programs like Early Head Start for infants and toddlers. But, there is also a group of…

Improving Low-Achieving Schools: Building State Capacity to Support School Improvement through Race to the Top

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Childs, Joshua; Russell, Jennifer Lin

2017-01-01

Improving low-achieving schools is a critical challenge facing urban education. Recent national policy shifts have pressed states to take an expanded role in school improvement efforts. In 2009, a federal grant competition called Race to the Top (RttT) compelled states to improve their capacity to implement ambitious education reform agendas.…

"This Guy's Dead": Seeking the Origins of the Dystopian Narrative of the American High School in the Popular Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Witte, Shelbie; Goodson, Todd

2011-01-01

Educators' work is impacted by the political narratives constructed by politicians and legislators. The manipulation of cultural archetypes, including the representations of schools and teachers, in order to create compelling narratives in support of policy is also part of the context within which educators work. The past 25 years have been laden…

Power and Energy Strategy White Paper

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

and cooling. In recent years, several factors have emerged which further complicate the engineering and logistics challenges associated with power and...equation to maintain US military dominance in support of national security. II. INTRODUCTION Energy was a critical factor during many of the...non-combat platforms, especially for auxiliary power, and the compelling quest for compact, high capacity power sources for our overburdened Soldiers

Personalised and Self Regulated Learning in the Web 2.0 Era: International Exemplars of Innovative Pedagogy Using Social Software

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLoughlin, Catherine; Lee, Mark J. W.

2010-01-01

Research findings in recent years provide compelling evidence of the importance of encouraging student control over the learning process as a whole. The socially based tools and technologies of the Web 2.0 movement are capable of supporting informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation, enabling access to a wide…

Effective Vaccine Communication during the Disneyland Measles Outbreak

PubMed Central

Broniatowski, David Andre; Hilyard, Karen M.; Dredze, Mark

2016-01-01

Vaccine refusal rates have increased in recent years, highlighting the need for effective risk communication, especially over social media. Fuzzy-trace theory predicts that individuals encode bottom-line meaning ("gist") and statistical information ("verbatim") in parallel and that articles expressing a clear gist will be most compelling. We coded news articles (n=4,686) collected during the 2014–2015 Disneyland measles for content including statistics, stories, or opinions containing bottom-line gists regarding vaccines and vaccine-preventable illnesses. We measured the extent to which articles were compelling by how frequently they were shared on Facebook. The most widely shared articles expressed bottom-line opinions, although articles containing statistics were also more likely to be shared than articles lacking statistics. Stories had limited impact on Facebook shares. Results support Fuzzy Trace Theory's predictions regarding the distinct yet parallel impact of categorical gist and statistical verbatim information on public health communication. PMID:27179915

Effective vaccine communication during the disneyland measles outbreak.

PubMed

Broniatowski, David A; Hilyard, Karen M; Dredze, Mark

2016-06-14

Vaccine refusal rates have increased in recent years, highlighting the need for effective risk communication, especially over social media. Fuzzy-trace theory predicts that individuals encode bottom-line meaning ("gist") and statistical information ("verbatim") in parallel and those articles expressing a clear gist will be most compelling. We coded news articles (n=4581) collected during the 2014-2015 Disneyland measles for content including statistics, stories, or bottom-line gists regarding vaccines and vaccine-preventable illnesses. We measured the extent to which articles were compelling by how frequently they were shared on Facebook. The most widely shared articles expressed bottom-line gists, although articles containing statistics were also more likely to be shared than articles lacking statistics. Stories had limited impact on Facebook shares. Results support Fuzzy Trace Theory's predictions regarding the distinct yet parallel impact of categorical gist and statistical verbatim information on public health communication. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rethinking policy perspectives on childhood stunting: time to formulate a structural and multifactorial strategy.

PubMed

Subramanian, S V; Mejía-Guevara, Iván; Krishna, Aditi

2016-05-01

Stunting and chronic undernutrition among children in South Asia remain a major unresolved global health issue. There are compelling intrinsic and moral reasons to ensure that children attain their optimal growth potential facilitated via promotion of healthy living conditions. Investments in efforts to ensure that children's growth is not faltered also have substantial instrumental benefits in terms of cognitive and economic development. Using the case of India, we critique three prevailing approaches to reducing undernutrition among children: an over-reliance on macroeconomic growth as a potent policy instrument, a disproportionate focus on interpreting undernutrition as a demand-side problem and an over-reliance on unintegrated single-factorial (one at a time) approaches to policy and research. Using existing evidence, we develop a case for support-led policy approach with a focus on integrated and structural factors to addressing the problem of undernutrition among children in India. Key messages Eliminating child undernutrition is important from an intrinsic perspective and offers considerable instrumental benefits to individual and society. Evidence suggests that an exclusive reliance on a growth-mediated strategy to eliminate stunting needs to be reconsidered, suggesting the need for a substantial support-led strategy. Interpreting and addressing undernutrition as a demand-side problem with proximal single-factorial interventions is futile. There is an urgent need to develop interventions that address the broader structural and upstream causes of child undernutrition. © 2016 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The four truths of the storyteller.

PubMed

Guber, Peter

2007-12-01

A well-told story's power to captivate and inspire people has been recognized for thousands of years. Peter Guber is in the business of creating compelling stories: He has headed several entertainment companies--including Sony Pictures, PolyGram, and Columbia Pictures--and produced Rain Man, Batman, and The Color Purple, among many other movies. In this article, he offers a method for effectively exercising that power. For a story to enrapture its listeners, says Guber, it must be true to the teller, embodying his or her deepest values and conveying them with candor; true to the audience, delivering on the promise that it will be worth people's time by acknowledging listeners' needs and involving them in the narrative; true to the moment, appropriately matching the context--whether it's an address to 2,000 customers or a chat with a colleague over drinks--yet flexible enough to allow for improvisation; and true to the mission, conveying the teller's passion for the worthy endeavor that the story illustrates and enlisting support for it. In this article, Guber's advice--distilled not only from his years in the entertainment industry but also from an intense discussion over dinner one evening with storytelling experts from various walks of life--is illustrated with numerous examples of effective storytelling from business and elsewhere. Perhaps the most startling is a colorful anecdote about how Guber's own impromptu use of storytelling, while standing on the deck of a ship in Havana harbor, won Fidel Castro's grudging support for a film project.

Future Trends in Logistics and Sustainment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hochstetler, Ron; Chachad, Girish; Melton, John; Blanken, Matthew; Bosma, John

2016-01-01

Airship Industry Study: In 2015, NASA Ames Research Center completed a study of the overall airship industry. The project called for a report that describes airship concepts proposed or projects initiated in recent years, airship performance or capability targets, and the missions these activities were addressing. The resulting report details the principal technical features of these airships, the proposed value/advantages of the features, notional concepts of operation, and challenges associated with such vehicles. The study investigated the current status and near-term prospects of these airship development activities, whether they are active or, if curtailed, the circumstances and possible reasons for that conclusion, including technical, business, or other mitigating factors. This presentation provides highlights of the Airship Industry Study investigations, findings, and recommendations. UAS Carrier Concept: The advantages of utilizing an airship as an airborne carrier for support and deployment of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are examined. Whether as a stand-alone platform or in concert with conventional aircraft, the airship UAS carrier provides a number of compelling benefits for both military and civilian missions. As a mobile base it can remain operational despite political fallout that may render ground or ocean based UAS sites unavailable. It offers the psychological impact of a power projection tool that has few geographical limits, and holds promise as a new method for cost-saving intelligence gathering. It is also adaptable for civilian variants for supporting: emergency response, security/surveillance, delivery of medical/food supplies, as well as commercial package delivery to metropolitan and remote communities.

Conclusions, synthesis, and future directions: understanding sources of population change

USGS Publications Warehouse

Esler, Daniel N.; Flint, Paul L.; Derksen, Dirk V.; Savard, Jean-Pierre L.; Eadie, John M.

2015-01-01

The material in this volume reflects the burgeoning interest in sea ducks, both as study species with compelling and unique ecological attributes and as taxa of conservation concern. In this review, we provide perspective on the current state of sea duck knowledge by highlighting key findings in the preceding chapters that are of particular value for understanding or influencing population change. We also introduce a conceptual model that characterizes links among topics covered by individual chapters and places them in the context of demographic responses. Finally, we offer recommendations for areas of future research that we suggest will have importance for understanding and managing sea duck population dynamics.

Alternative careers in the laboratory re-engineering paradigm.

PubMed

Balis, U J

1999-06-01

The expanding and diverse opportunities offered by the information technology and biotechnology fields provides for many obvious and perhaps more not-so-obvious compelling opportunities for pathologists and clinical laboratorians. It can be reasonably expected that individuals who choose to pursue such careers outside the conventional opportunities sought out by most pathologists will be rewarded with the satisfaction that comes with the application of established science in new and challenging ways. The realization of the power of the multidisciplinary approach, both within academia and industry, will only serve to further foster opportunities and success stories for those who choose to sail off the edge of the known pathology world.

The value of health care information exchange and interoperability.

PubMed

Walker, Jan; Pan, Eric; Johnston, Douglas; Adler-Milstein, Julia; Bates, David W; Middleton, Blackford

2005-01-01

In this paper we assess the value of electronic health care information exchange and interoperability (HIEI) between providers (hospitals and medical group practices) and independent laboratories, radiology centers, pharmacies, payers, public health departments, and other providers. We have created an HIEI taxonomy and combined published evidence with expert opinion in a cost-benefit model. Fully standardized HIEI could yield a net value of dollar 77.8 billion per year once fully implemented. Nonstandardized HIEI offers smaller positive financial returns. The clinical impact of HIEI for which quantitative estimates cannot yet be made would likely add further value. A compelling business case exists for national implementation of fully standardized HIEI.

Motion Pattern Encapsulation for Data-Driven Constraint-Based Motion Editing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carvalho, Schubert R.; Boulic, Ronan; Thalmann, Daniel

The growth of motion capture systems have contributed to the proliferation of human motion database, mainly because human motion is important in many applications, ranging from games entertainment and films to sports and medicine. However, the captured motions normally attend specific needs. As an effort for adapting and reusing captured human motions in new tasks and environments and improving the animator's work, we present and discuss a new data-driven constraint-based animation system for interactive human motion editing. This method offers the compelling advantage that it provides faster deformations and more natural-looking motion results compared to goal-directed constraint-based methods found in the literature.

A new length scale for quantum gravity: A resolution of the black hole information loss paradox

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Tejinder P.

We show why and how Compton wavelength and Schwarzschild radius should be combined into one single new length scale, which we call the Compton-Schwarzschild length. Doing so offers a resolution of the black hole information loss paradox, and suggests Planck mass remnant black holes as candidates for dark matter. It also compels us to introduce torsion, and identify the Dirac field with a complex torsion field. Dirac equation and Einstein equations, are shown to be mutually dual limiting cases of an underlying gravitation theory which involves the Compton-Schwarzschild length scale, and includes a complex torsion field.

Structurally flexible triethanolamine-core poly(amidoamine) dendrimers as effective nanovectors to deliver RNAi-based therapeutics.

PubMed

Liu, Xiaoxuan; Liu, Cheng; Catapano, Carlo V; Peng, Ling; Zhou, Jiehua; Rocchi, Palma

2014-01-01

RNAi-based nucleic acid molecules have attracted considerable attention as compelling therapeutics providing safe and competent delivery systems are available. Dendrimers are emerging as appealing nanocarriers for nucleic acid delivery thanks to their unique well-defined architecture and the resulting cooperativity and multivalency confined within a nanostructure. The present review offers a brief overview of the structurally flexible triethanolamine-core poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers developed in our group as nanovectors for the delivery of RNAi therapeutics. Their excellent activity for delivering different RNAi therapeutics in various disease models in vitro and in vivo will be highlighted here. © 2013.

Detection of Isolated Cerebrovascular β-Amyloid with Pittsburgh Compound B

PubMed Central

Greenberg, SM; Grabowski; Gurol, ME; Skehan, ME; Nandigam, RNK; Becker, JA; Garcia-Alloza, M; Prada, C; Frosch, MP; Rosand, J; Viswanathan, A; Smith, EE; Johnson, KA

2008-01-01

Imaging of cerebrovascular β-amyloid (cerebral amyloid angiopathy, CAA) is complicated by this pathology’s nearly universal overlap with Alzheimer pathology. We performed PET imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) on 42-year old man with early manifestations of Iowa-type hereditary CAA, a form of the disorder with little or no plaque deposits of fibrillar β-amyloid. The results demonstrated elevated PiB retention selectively in occipital cortex, sparing regions typically labeled in Alzheimer disease. These results offer compelling evidence that PiB-PET can noninvasively detect isolated CAA prior to overt signs of tissue damage such as hemorrhage or white matter lesions. PMID:19067370

A Survey of Students from the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering: Communication Habits and Preferences

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

Bryant, Rebecca

2010-12-01

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) offers the scientific community unique access to two types of world-class neutron sources at a single site - the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). The 85-MW HFIR provides one of the highest steady-state neutron fluxes of any research reactor in the world. And the SNS is one of the world's most intense pulse neutron beams. Management of these resources is the responsibility of the Neutron Sciences Directorate (NScD). NScD started conducting the National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering (NXS) in conjunction with the Advanced Photon Source (APS) atmore » Argonne National Laboratory in 2007. This survey was conducted to determine the most effective ways to reach students with information about what SNS and HFIR offer the scientific community, including content and communication vehicles. The emphasis is on gaining insights into compelling messages and the most effective channels, e.g., Web sites and social media, for communicating with students about neutron science The survey was conducted in two phases using a classic qualitative investigation to confirm language and content followed by a survey designed to quantify issues, assumptions, and working hypotheses. Phase I consisted of a focus group in late June 2010 with students attending NXS. The primary intent of the group was to inform development of an online survey. Phase two consisted of an online survey that was developed and pre-tested in July 2010 and launched on August 9, 2010 and remained in the field until September 9, 2010. The survey achieved an overall response rate of 48% for a total of 157 completions. The objective of this study is to determine the most effective ways to reach students with information about what SNS and HFIR offer the scientific community, including content and communication vehicles. The emphasis is on gaining insights into compelling messages and the most effective channels, e.g., Web sites, social media, for communicating with students about neutron science.« less

Joint Force Quarterly. Number 5, Summer 1994

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-07-01

terms of a matrix and have set it up to achieve things that matrix organizations facilitate. Matrices compel interaction across organizations; they...provide more joint, synergistic solutions to military problems. One primary result of this interaction between the assess- ment process and JROC is the...the Contingency Tactical Air Control Auto- mated Planning System (CTAPS) are both single-host computer sys- tems that do not support interactive data

Iran Sanctions

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-12

particularly those targeting Iran’s energy sector that provides about 80% of government revenues, might reduce Iran’s ability to support its WMD and...such as Hizbollah, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad. Iran’s petroleum sector generates about 20% of Iran’s GDP, and 80% of its government revenue...probably could not practically, compel any foreign government to take action against one of its firms. Amendments added by P.L. 111-195, the

The Four Scaffolding Modules for Collaborative Problem-Based Learning through the Computer Network on Moodle LMS for the Computer Programming Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tiantong, Monchai; Teemuangsai, Sanit

2013-01-01

Scaffolding is a learning approach designed to promote a deeper understanding, it is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of the student with the intention of helping the student achieve the learning goals, including resources, a compelling task, templates and guides, and guidance on the development of…

Helping the Most Vulnerable Infants, Toddlers, and Their Families: Executive Summary. Pathways to Early School Success. Issue Brief No. 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knitzer, Jane; Lefkowitz, Jill

2006-01-01

Compelling evidence from neuroscience about how early relationships and experience influence the architecture of the brain, and in turn early school success, has led to increasing policy and practice attention to implementing child development and family support programs like Early Head Start for infants and toddlers. But, there is also a group of…

Exposure to School and Community Based Prevention Programs and Reductions in Cigarette Smoking among Adolescents in the United States, 2000-08

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Xinguang; Ren, Yuanjing; Lin, Feng; MacDonell, Karen; Jiang, Yifan

2012-01-01

Smoking remains prevalent among US youth despite decades of antismoking efforts. Effects from exposure to prevention programs at national level may provide informative and compelling data supporting better planning and strategy for tobacco control. A national representative sample of youth 12-17 years of age from the National Survey on Drug Use…

Recent Airpower Approaches to Counterinsurgency Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

for about four years, with intermittent pauses, and were essentially part of a risk strategy that was designed to compel the North Vietnamese to...intensity designed to coerce the enemy by increasing their level of suffering.22 On 1 November 1968 President Johnson discontinued Rolling Thunder in an...States launched successive campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq designed to remove governments that were thought to be supporting terrorist groups. The

Decision Engines for Software Analysis Using Satisfiability Modulo Theories Solvers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bjorner, Nikolaj

2010-01-01

The area of software analysis, testing and verification is now undergoing a revolution thanks to the use of automated and scalable support for logical methods. A well-recognized premise is that at the core of software analysis engines is invariably a component using logical formulas for describing states and transformations between system states. The process of using this information for discovering and checking program properties (including such important properties as safety and security) amounts to automatic theorem proving. In particular, theorem provers that directly support common software constructs offer a compelling basis. Such provers are commonly called satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solvers. Z3 is a state-of-the-art SMT solver. It is developed at Microsoft Research. It can be used to check the satisfiability of logical formulas over one or more theories such as arithmetic, bit-vectors, lists, records and arrays. The talk describes some of the technology behind modern SMT solvers, including the solver Z3. Z3 is currently mainly targeted at solving problems that arise in software analysis and verification. It has been applied to various contexts, such as systems for dynamic symbolic simulation (Pex, SAGE, Vigilante), for program verification and extended static checking (Spec#/Boggie, VCC, HAVOC), for software model checking (Yogi, SLAM), model-based design (FORMULA), security protocol code (F7), program run-time analysis and invariant generation (VS3). We will describe how it integrates support for a variety of theories that arise naturally in the context of the applications. There are several new promising avenues and the talk will touch on some of these and the challenges related to SMT solvers. Proceedings

Industrial water pollution, water environment treatment, and health risks in China.

PubMed

Wang, Qing; Yang, Zhiming

2016-11-01

The negative health effects of water pollution remain a major source of morbidity and mortality in China. The Chinese government is making great efforts to strengthen water environment treatment; however, no studies have evaluated the effects of water treatment on human health by water pollution in China. This study evaluated the association between water pollution and health outcomes, and determined the extent to which environmental regulations on water pollution may lead to health benefits. Data were extracted from the 2011 and 2013 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Random effects model and random effects Logit model were applied to study the relationship between health and water pollution, while a Mediator model was used to estimate the effects of environmental water treatment on health outcomes by the intensity of water pollution. Unsurprisingly, water pollution was negatively associated with health outcomes, and the common pollutants in industrial wastewater had differential impacts on health outcomes. The effects were stronger for low-income respondents. Water environment treatment led to improved health outcomes among Chinese people. Reduced water pollution mediated the associations between water environment treatment and health outcomes. The results of this study offer compelling evidence to support treatment of water pollution in China. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of a workplace intervention on attitudes and practices related to gender equity in Bengaluru, India.

PubMed

Krishnan, Suneeta; Gambhir, Shalini; Luecke, Ellen; Jagannathan, Latha

2016-10-01

We describe the evaluation of a participatory, garment factory-based intervention to promote gender equity. The intervention comprised four campaigns focused on gender and violence against women, alcoholism, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV/AIDS, which were implemented using information displays (standees and posters) and interactive methods (street play, one-to-one interactions, experience-sharing, and health camps). Each campaign lasted six days and the entire intervention was implemented over 10 months. We evaluated the intervention using a quasi-experimental design in which one factory served as the intervention site and a second as a delayed control. Two mobile-phone-based cross-sectional surveys were conducted at baseline and 12 months with separate systematic random samples of employees from each site. Data on socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge and attitudes related to gender equity, intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol use were assessed, and differences in these variables associated with the intervention were examined using difference-in-difference estimation. Analyses of data from 835 respondents revealed substantial, statistically significant improvements in attitudes related to gender equity, unacceptability of IPV, and awareness of IPV and alcohol-related support services. In conclusion, our study offers compelling evidence on the effectiveness of workplace-based interventions in advancing gender equity.

Physics Teacher Preparation's Role in the Transformation of a Physics Department

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kramer, Laird

2011-04-01

Physics teacher preparation programs offer one vehicle of creating sustained educational transformation within a physics department. Strategic implementations pave the way for developing more and better prepared physics teachers while providing a cohort of trained peer instructors to drive reform in the physics course sequence. We present the design and results of the new physics teacher preparation programs implemented at Florida International University (FIU). FIU implemented University of Colorado's Learning Assistant (LA) program in 2008, through the support of a PhysTEC Primary Partner Institute Grant. The LA program is an experiential teaching program for undergraduates that recruits and prepares future teachers while driving reform in the department, as LAs must experience research-validated curricula in order to make informed decisions about teaching in their future. FIU's Physics LA program now employs over 40 LAs, impacts over 2,000 introductory physics students per year, and is now fully sustained by university funding. The LA program's success has prompted a spread to chemistry, earth science, mathematics, and biology and serves as the foundation in the university's strategic vision. The impact is most compelling as FIU is a minority-serving urban public research institution in Miami, Florida serving over 42,000 students, of which 64% are Hispanic, 13% are Black, and 56% are women.

Effects of the Dads for Life intervention on interparental conflict and coparenting in the two years after divorce.

PubMed

Cookston, Jeffrey T; Braver, Sanford L; Griffin, William A; De Lusé, Stephanie R; Miles, Jonathan C

2007-03-01

The ability of parents to forge harmonious coparenting relationships following divorce is an important predictor of their children's long-term well-being. However, there is no convincing evidence that this relationship can be modified through intervention. A preventive intervention that we developed, Dads for Life (DFL), which targeted noncustodial parents as participants, has previously been shown in a randomized field trial to favorably impact child well-being. We explore here whether it also has an impact on mothers' and fathers' perceptions of coparenting and interparental conflict in the 2 years following divorce. Results of the latent growth curve models we evaluated showed that both mothers and fathers reported less conflict when the father participated in DFL as compared with controls. For the fathers, perceptions of coparenting did not change over time in either the DFL or control conditions. Alternatively, mothers' perceptions of support declined over time in the control group, whereas those whose ex-husbands participated in the DFL program reported significant positive growth change toward healthier coparenting. The positive findings for mothers' reports are particularly compelling because mothers were not the participants, and thus common alternative explanations are ruled out. The DFL intervention, then, offers courts a promising program to improve families' functioning after divorce.

Authentic Astronomical Discovery in Planetariums: Data-Driven Immersive Lectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyatt, Ryan Jason

2018-01-01

Planetariums are akin to “branch offices” for astronomy in major cities and other locations around the globe. With immersive, fulldome video technology, modern digital planetariums offer the opportunity to integrate authentic astronomical data into both pre-recorded shows and live lectures. At the California Academy of Sciences Morrison Planetarium, we host the monthly Benjamin Dean Astronomy Lecture Series, which features researchers describing their cutting-edge work to well-informed lay audiences. The Academy’s visualization studio and engineering teams work with researchers to visualize their data in both pre-rendered and real-time formats, and these visualizations are integrated into a variety of programs—including lectures! The assets are then made available to any other planetariums with similar software to support their programming. A lecturer can thus give the same immersive presentation to audiences in a variety of planetariums. The Academy has also collaborated with Chicago’s Adler Planetarium to bring Kavli Fulldome Lecture Series to San Francisco, and the two theaters have also linked together in live “domecasts” to share real-time content with audiences in both cities. These lecture series and other, similar projects suggest a bright future for astronomers to bring their research to the public in an immersive and visually compelling format.

43 CFR 4.1135 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... a motion made pursuant to this section, the administrative law judge may make such a protective... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Motion to compel discovery. 4.1135 Section... Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails to answer a question propounded, or a party upon whom...

43 CFR 4.1135 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... a motion made pursuant to this section, the administrative law judge may make such a protective... 43 Public Lands: Interior 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Motion to compel discovery. 4.1135 Section... Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails to answer a question propounded, or a party upon whom...

Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) in Second Language Research: A Brief Introduction to the Technique, a Selected Review, and an Invitation to Reconsider Critical Periods in L2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steinhauer, Karsten

2014-01-01

This article provides a selective overview of recent event-related brain potential (ERP) studies in L2 morpho-syntax, demonstrating that the ERP evidence supporting the critical period hypothesis (CPH) may be less compelling than previously thought. The article starts with a general introduction to ERP methodology and language-related ERP profiles…

After 2014: The U.S./NATO Missions in Afghanistan

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

each proposed COA. The chart below summarizes the distinct advantages and relative disadvantages in our proposed courses of action given and...described that al-Qaeda franchises and associated movements elsewhere should draw more of our attention away from Afghanistan-Pakistan in the...Mohammed’s prophecy of Khoresan. Al-Qaeda thus views the franchises in the Middle East and North Africa as compelling support elements to the greater cause

First Epigravettian Ceramic Figurines from Europe (Vela Spila, Croatia)

PubMed Central

Farbstein, Rebecca; Radić, Dinko; Brajković, Dejana; Miracle, Preston T.

2012-01-01

Recent finds of 36 ceramic artifacts from the archaeological site of Vela Spila, Croatia, offer the first evidence of ceramic figurative art in late Upper Palaeolithic Europe, c. 17,500–15,000 years before present (BP). The size and diversity of this artistic ceramic assemblage indicate the emergence of a social tradition, rather than more ephemeral experimentation with a new material. Vela Spila ceramics offer compelling technological and stylistic comparisons with the only other evidence of a developed Palaeolithic ceramic tradition found at the sites of Pavlov I and Dolní Věstonice I, in the Czech Republic, c. 31,000–27,000 cal BP. Because of the 10,000-year gap between the two assemblages, the Vela Spila ceramics are interpreted as evidence of an independent invention of this technology. Consequently, these artifacts provide evidence of a new social context in which ceramics developed and were used to make art in the Upper Palaeolithic. PMID:22848495

Historical thinking in clinical medicine: lessons from R.G. Collingwood's philosophy of history.

PubMed

Chin-Yee, Benjamin H; Upshur, Ross E G

2015-06-01

The aim of this article is to create a space for historical thinking in medical practice. To this end, we draw on the ideas of R.G. Collingwood (1889-1943), the renowned British philosopher of history, and explore the implications of his philosophy for clinical medicine. We show how Collingwood's philosophy provides a compelling argument for the re-centring of medical practice around the patient history as a means of restoring to the clinical encounter the human meaning that is too often lost in modern medicine. Furthermore, we examine how Collingwood's historical thinking offers a patient-centred epistemology and a more pluralistic concept of evidence that includes the qualitative, narrative evidence necessary for human understanding. We suggest that clinical medicine can benefit from Collingwood's historical thinking, and, more generally, illustrates how a philosophy of medicine that draws on diverse sources from the humanities offers a richer, more empathetic clinical practice. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Promoting occupational health nursing training: an educational outreach with a blended model of distance and traditional learning approaches.

PubMed

Ward, Julie A; Beaton, Randal D; Bruck, Annie M; de Castro, A B

2011-09-01

In 2009, occupational health nursing faculty and professionals at the University of Washington developed an innovative continuing nursing education offering, the OHN Institute. The OHN Institute was designed to meet the following objectives: (1) extend basic occupational health nursing training to non-occupational health nurses in Federal Region X, (2) target new occupational health nurses or those who possessed little or no advanced education in occupational health nursing, and (3) offer a hybrid continuing nursing education program consisting of on-site and distance learning modalities. Evaluation findings suggested that the various continuing nursing education modalities and formats (e.g., asynchronous vs. synchronous, online modules vs. live modules) were essentially comparable in terms of effectiveness. Perhaps most importantly, the OHN Institute evaluation demonstrated that quality continuing nursing education outcomes for occupational health nurses depended largely on knowledgeable and engaging faculty and a compelling vision of desired outcomes, including the application of learned content to professional practice. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

The mainstream is not electable: when vision triumphs over representativeness in leader emergence and effectiveness.

PubMed

Halevy, Nir; Berson, Yair; Galinsky, Adam D

2011-07-01

Theories of visionary leadership propose that groups bestow leadership on exceptional group members. In contrast, social identity perspectives claim that leadership arises, in part, from a person's ability to be seen as representative of the group. Integrating these perspectives, the authors propose that effective leaders often share group members' perspectives concerning the present, yet offer a unique and compelling vision for the group's future. In addition, although intergroup contexts may increase the value of representativeness, the authors predict that vision dominates representativeness in single-group situations characterized by high levels of collective stress (e.g., a natural disaster). Five studies demonstrated that visionary leaders (those who offer novel solutions to their group's predicament) attract more followers, promote group identification and intrinsic motivation, mobilize collective action, and effectively regulate group members' emotions and reactions to crises compared to representative leaders. The authors discuss when, why, and how vision triumphs over representativeness in leader emergence and effectiveness. © 2011 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc

Necessary, yet dissociable contributions of the insular and ventromedial prefrontal cortices to norm adaptation: computational and lesion evidence in humans.

PubMed

Gu, Xiaosi; Wang, Xingchao; Hula, Andreas; Wang, Shiwei; Xu, Shuai; Lohrenz, Terry M; Knight, Robert T; Gao, Zhixian; Dayan, Peter; Montague, P Read

2015-01-14

Social norms and their enforcement are fundamental to human societies. The ability to detect deviations from norms and to adapt to norms in a changing environment is therefore important to individuals' normal social functioning. Previous neuroimaging studies have highlighted the involvement of the insular and ventromedial prefrontal (vmPFC) cortices in representing norms. However, the necessity and dissociability of their involvement remain unclear. Using model-based computational modeling and neuropsychological lesion approaches, we examined the contributions of the insula and vmPFC to norm adaptation in seven human patients with focal insula lesions and six patients with focal vmPFC lesions, in comparison with forty neurologically intact controls and six brain-damaged controls. There were three computational signals of interest as participants played a fairness game (ultimatum game): sensitivity to the fairness of offers, sensitivity to deviations from expected norms, and the speed at which people adapt to norms. Significant group differences were assessed using bootstrapping methods. Patients with insula lesions displayed abnormally low adaptation speed to norms, yet detected norm violations with greater sensitivity than controls. Patients with vmPFC lesions did not have such abnormalities, but displayed reduced sensitivity to fairness and were more likely to accept the most unfair offers. These findings provide compelling computational and lesion evidence supporting the necessary, yet dissociable roles of the insula and vmPFC in norm adaptation in humans: the insula is critical for learning to adapt when reality deviates from norm expectations, and that the vmPFC is important for valuation of fairness during social exchange. Copyright © 2015 Gu et al.

29 CFR 18.21 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES General § 18.21 Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails... to answer or respond. (d) In ruling on a motion made pursuant to this section, the administrative law... 29 Labor 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Motion to compel discovery. 18.21 Section 18.21 Labor...

29 CFR 18.21 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES General § 18.21 Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails... to answer or respond. (d) In ruling on a motion made pursuant to this section, the administrative law... 29 Labor 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Motion to compel discovery. 18.21 Section 18.21 Labor...

29 CFR 18.21 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES General § 18.21 Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails... to answer or respond. (d) In ruling on a motion made pursuant to this section, the administrative law... 29 Labor 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Motion to compel discovery. 18.21 Section 18.21 Labor...

29 CFR 18.21 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES General § 18.21 Motion to compel discovery. (a) If a deponent fails... to answer or respond. (d) In ruling on a motion made pursuant to this section, the administrative law... 29 Labor 1 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Motion to compel discovery. 18.21 Section 18.21 Labor Office...

Space - The long range future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Von Puttkamer, J.

1985-01-01

Space exploration goals for NASA in the year 2000 time frame are examined. A lunar base would offer the opportunity for continuous earth viewing, further cosmogeochemical exploration and rudimentary steps at self-sufficiency in space. The latter two factors are also compelling reasons to plan a manned Mars base. Furthermore, competition and cooperation in a Mars mission and further interplanetary exploration is an attractive substitute for war. The hardware requirements for various configurations of Mars missions are briefly addressed, along with other, unmanned missions to the asteroid belt, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Finally, long-range technological requirements for providing adequate living/working facilities for larger human populations in Space Station environments are summarized.

Epigenetics in cancer stem cells.

PubMed

Toh, Tan Boon; Lim, Jhin Jieh; Chow, Edward Kai-Hua

2017-02-01

Compelling evidence have demonstrated that bulk tumors can arise from a unique subset of cells commonly termed "cancer stem cells" that has been proposed to be a strong driving force of tumorigenesis and a key mechanism of therapeutic resistance. Recent advances in epigenomics have illuminated key mechanisms by which epigenetic regulation contribute to cancer progression. In this review, we present a discussion of how deregulation of various epigenetic pathways can contribute to cancer initiation and tumorigenesis, particularly with respect to maintenance and survival of cancer stem cells. This information, together with several promising clinical and preclinical trials of epigenetic modulating drugs, offer new possibilities for targeting cancer stem cells as well as improving cancer therapy overall.

Team reasoning and collective rationality: piercing the veil of obviousness.

PubMed

Colman, Andrew M; Pulford, Briony D; Rose, Jo

2008-06-01

The experiments reported in our target article provide strong evidence of collective utility maximization, and the findings suggest that team reasoning should now be included among the social value orientations used in cognitive and social psychology. Evidential decision theory offers a possible alternative explanation for our results but fails to predict intuitively compelling strategy choices in simple games with asymmetric team-reasoning outcomes. Although many of our experimental participants evidently used team reasoning, some appear to have ignored the other players' expected strategy choices and used lower-level, nonstrategic forms of reasoning. Standard payoff transformations cannot explain the experimental findings, nor team reasoning in general, without an unrealistic assumption that players invariably reason nonstrategically.

A Data-Driven Solution for Performance Improvement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Marketed as the "Software of the Future," Optimal Engineering Systems P.I. EXPERT(TM) technology offers statistical process control and optimization techniques that are critical to businesses looking to restructure or accelerate operations in order to gain a competitive edge. Kennedy Space Center granted Optimal Engineering Systems the funding and aid necessary to develop a prototype of the process monitoring and improvement software. Completion of this prototype demonstrated that it was possible to integrate traditional statistical quality assurance tools with robust optimization techniques in a user- friendly format that is visually compelling. Using an expert system knowledge base, the software allows the user to determine objectives, capture constraints and out-of-control processes, predict results, and compute optimal process settings.

Detection of isolated cerebrovascular beta-amyloid with Pittsburgh compound B.

PubMed

Greenberg, Steven M; Grabowski, Thomas; Gurol, M Edip; Skehan, Maureen E; Nandigam, R N Kaveer; Becker, John A; Garcia-Alloza, Monica; Prada, Claudia; Frosch, Matthew P; Rosand, Jonathan; Viswanathan, Anand; Smith, Eric E; Johnson, Keith A

2008-11-01

Imaging of cerebrovascular beta-amyloid (cerebral amyloid angiopathy) is complicated by the nearly universal overlap of this pathology with Alzheimer's pathology. We performed positron emission tomographic imaging with Pittsburgh Compound B on 42-year-old man with early manifestations of Iowa-type hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy, a form of the disorder with little or no plaque deposits of fibrillar beta-amyloid. The results demonstrated increased Pittsburgh Compound B retention selectively in occipital cortex, sparing regions typically labeled in Alzheimer's disease. These results offer compelling evidence that Pittsburgh Compound B positron emission tomography can noninvasively detect isolated cerebral amyloid angiopathy before overt signs of tissue damage such as hemorrhage or white matter lesions.

The half-wave rectifier response of the magnetosphere and antiparallel merging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crooker, N. U.

1980-01-01

In some ways the magnetosphere behaves as if merging occurs only when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is southward, and in other ways it behaves as if merging occurs for all IMF orientations. An explanation of this duality is offered in terms of a geometrical antiparallel merging model which predicts merging for all IMF orientations but magnetic flux transfer to the tail only for southward IMF. This is in contrast to previous models of component merging, where merging and flux transfer occur together for nearly all IMF orientations. That the problematic duality can be explained by the model is compelling evidence that antiparallel merging should be seriously considered in constructing theories of the merging process.

The Role of Reconciling Values in Efforts to Build Community Resilience to Global Environmental Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rainie, S. C.; Ferguson, D. B.; Martinez, A.

2017-12-01

Global environmental change has increasingly forced researchers and policy makers to reckon with the practical and philosophical need to integrate Indigenous knowledge with western science to support sustainable, resilient communities. Despite the recognition that integration of different ways of knowing offers a compelling approach for building long-term resilience, balancing the power dynamic that favors mainstream epistemologies over other ways of knowing remains elusive. Indigenous scholars themselves often speak of "walking in two worlds," acknowledging the distinction between Indigenous knowledge and western science and the difficulty of weaving together the two approaches. Central to the distinction between different ways of knowing are the core values that drive development and application of new knowledge. The DIKW pyramid describes the hierarchical relationships between wisdom, knowledge, information, and data. In these relationships, values drive how one turns data into information, then knowledge and wisdom. Thus, if building community resilience relies on integrating Indigenous science and Western science, a central point of focus must be on establishing which of the core values from these different knowledge systems can contribute and which may impede the goal of supporting community resilience. For example, does the absence of Western science data collection protocols (a core value of empirical science) eliminate the utility of community observations of environmental change from efforts to understand system change? Indigenous data sovereignty, an emerging framework, asserts Indigenous rights to information and promotes the role of community knowledge in creating metrics, outcomes, and ultimately actions toward resilient communities. Indigenous data sovereignty acknowledges that context and values shape data in addition to providing a lens for interpreting data. Can principles for the governance of Indigenous data, such as recognizing and supporting Indigenous ways of knowing begin to balance the power dynamic? Building on the authors' experiences, theories of resilience, and Indigenous data sovereignty frameworks this presentation will address the question: How can values from different knowledge systems be aligned to support long-term community resilience?

Synthesis and characterization of an injectable allograft bone/polymer composite bone void filler with tunable mechanical properties.

PubMed

Dumas, Jerald E; Zienkiewicz, Katarzyna; Tanner, Shaun A; Prieto, Edna M; Bhattacharyya, Subha; Guelcher, Scott A

2010-08-01

In recent years, considerable effort has been expended toward the development of synthetic bone graft materials. Injectable biomaterials offer several advantages relative to implants due to their ability to cure in situ, thus conforming to irregularly shaped defects. While Food and Drug Administration-approved injectable calcium phosphate cements have excellent osteoconductivity and compressive strengths, these materials have small pore sizes (e.g., 1 mum) and are thus relatively impermeable to cellular infiltration. To overcome this limitation, we aimed to develop injectable allograft bone/polyurethane (PUR) composite bone void fillers with tunable properties that support rapid cellular infiltration and remodeling. The materials comprised particulated (e.g., >100 microm) allograft bone particles and a biodegradable two-component PUR, and had variable (e.g., 30%-70%) porosities. The injectable void fillers exhibited an initial dynamic viscosity of 220 Pa.s at clinically relevant shear rates (40 s(-1)), wet compressive strengths ranging from < 1 to 13 MPa, working times from 3 to 8 min, and setting times from 10 to 20 min, which are comparable to the properties of calcium phosphate bone cements. When injected in femoral plug defects in athymic rats, the composites supported extensive cellular infiltration, allograft resorption, collagen deposition, and new bone formation at 3 weeks. The combination of both initial mechanical properties suitable for weight-bearing applications as well as the ability of the materials to undergo rapid cellular infiltration and remodeling may present potentially compelling opportunities for injectable allograft/PUR composites as biomedical devices for bone regeneration.

Science Film: An Aperture into Science Advocacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2015-04-01

The current funding environment for scientific research necessitates a change in how we foster support for the endeavor. Federal spending is not likely to grow unless constituents--APS members--help communicate the value of science to members of Congress and the public in a compelling and individual way. The event explores how popular film with science-based plots can help physicists communicate the value of science to members of Congress and an increasingly diverse electorate.

Is there a relation between the 2D Causal Set action and the Lorentzian Gauss-Bonnet theorem?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benincasa, Dionigi M. T.

2011-07-01

We investigate the relation between the two dimensional Causal Set action, Script S, and the Lorentzian Gauss-Bonnet theorem (LGBT). We give compelling reasons why the answer to the title's question is no. In support of this point of view we calculate the causal set inspired action of causal intervals in some two dimensional spacetimes: Minkowski, the flat cylinder and the flat trousers.

Abortion and compelled physician speech.

PubMed

Orentlicher, David

2015-01-01

Informed consent mandates for abortion providers may infringe the First Amendment's freedom of speech. On the other hand, they may reinforce the physician's duty to obtain informed consent. Courts can promote both doctrines by ensuring that compelled physician speech pertains to medical facts about abortion rather than abortion ideology and that compelled speech is truthful and not misleading. © 2015 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

Bionic Nanosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sebastian Mannoor, Manu

Direct multidimensional integration of functional electronics and mechanical elements with viable biological systems could allow for the creation of bionic systems and devices possessing unique and advanced capabilities. For example, the ability to three dimensionally integrate functional electronic and mechanical components with biological cells and tissue could enable the creation of bionic systems that can have tremendous impact in regenerative medicine, prosthetics, and human-machine interfaces. However, as a consequence of the inherent dichotomy in material properties and limitations of conventional fabrication methods, the attainment of truly seamless integration of electronic and/or mechanical components with biological systems has been challenging. Nanomaterials engineering offers a general route for overcoming these dichotomies, primarily due to the existence of a dimensional compatibility between fundamental biological functional units and abiotic nanomaterial building blocks. One area of compelling interest for bionic systems is in the field of biomedical sensing, where the direct interfacing of nanosensors onto biological tissue or the human body could stimulate exciting opportunities such as on-body health quality monitoring and adaptive threat detection. Further, interfacing of antimicrobial peptide based bioselective probes onto the bionic nanosensors could offer abilities to detect pathogenic bacteria with bio-inspired selectivity. Most compellingly, when paired with additive manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, these characteristics enable three dimensional integration and merging of a variety of functional materials including electronic, structural and biomaterials with viable biological cells, in the precise anatomic geometries of human organs, to form three dimensionally integrated, multi-functional bionic hybrids and cyborg devices with unique capabilities. In this thesis, we illustrate these approaches using three representative bionic systems: 1) Bionic Nanosensors: featuring bio-integrated graphene nanosensors for ubiquitous sensing, 2) Bionic Organs: featuring 3D printed bionic ears with three dimensionally integrated electronics and 3) Bionic Leaves: describing ongoing work in the direction of the creation of a bionic leaf enabled by the integration of plant derived photosynthetic functional units with electronic materials and components into a leaf-shaped hierarchical structure for harvesting photosynthetic bioelectricity.

On the Cutting Edge: Workshops, Online Resources, and Community Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mogk, D. W.; Macdonald, H.; Manduca, C. A.; Tewksbury, B. J.; Fox, S.; Iverson, E. A. R.; Beane, R. J.; Mcconnell, D. A.; Wiese, K.; Wysession, M. E.

2014-12-01

On the Cutting Edge, funded by NSF since 2002, offers a comprehensive professional development program for geoscience faculty. The program includes an annual integrated in-person and virtual workshop series, has developed an extensive collection of peer-reviewed instructional activities and related online resources, and supports continuing community development through sponsorship of webinars, listservs, opportunities for community contributions, and dissemination of resources to keep faculty current in their science and pedagogic practices. On the Cutting Edge (CE) has offered more than 100 face-to-face and virtual workshops, webinars, journal clubs, and other events to more than 3000 participants. The award-winning website has more than 5000 pages including 47 modules on career management, pedagogy, and geoscience topics. It has more than 1800 instructional activities contributed by the community, the majority of which have been peer-reviewed. The website had more than one million visitors last year. We have worked to support a community in which faculty improve their teaching by designing courses using research-based methods to foster higher-order thinking, incorporate geoscience data, and address cognitive and affective aspects of learning as well as a community in which faculty are comfortable and successful in managing their careers. The program addresses the needs of faculty in all career stages at the full spectrum of institutions and covering the breadth of the geoscience curriculum. We select timely and compelling topics that attract different groups of participants. CE workshops are interactive, model best pedagogical practices, emphasize participant learning, provide opportunities for participants to share their knowledge and experience, provide high-quality resources, give participants time to reflect and to develop action plans, and help transform their ideas about teaching. On the Cutting Edge has had an impact on teaching based on data from national surveys, interview and classroom observation studies, and website usage. The Cutting Edge program is now part of the NAGT professional development program that includes face-to-face, traveling, and virtual workshops for faculty and geoscience programs of all types. http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/index.html

Research of Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique for Decision Support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siregar, Dodi; Arisandi, Diki; Usman, Ari; Irwan, Dedy; Rahim, Robbi

2017-12-01

One of the roles of decision support system is that it can assist the decision maker in obtaining the appropriate alternative with the desired criteria, one of the methods that could apply for the decision maker is SMART method with multicriteria decision making. This multi-criteria decision-making theory has meaning where every alternative has criteria and has value and weight, and the author uses this approach to facilitate decision making with a compelling case. The problems discussed in this paper are classified into problems of a variety Multiobjective (multiple goals to be accomplished) and multicriteria (many of the decisive criteria in reaching such decisions).

Search and Rescue Operations of Aircraft in Africa: Some Compelling Issues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abeyratne, Ruwantissa I. R.

2002-01-01

The world aviation community has felt the compelling need for a well-coordinated global programme for search and rescue operations of aircraft ever since commercial aviation was regulated in 1944. Guidelines and plans of action for search and rescue have therefore been considered critical in the event of an aircraft accident. This fact is eminently brought to bear in the continental regions of Africa and South America in particular, where vast expanses of land are still uninhabited or sparsely populated and controlled flight into terrain (CFIT-where an aircraft may crash on land while still under the control of technical crew) is a common occurrence. There are numerous guidelines that have been adopted under the umbrella of the International Civil Aviation Organization which are already in place for the provision of search and rescue operations pertaining to aircraft. However, when an accident occurs in the territory of a State, there are sensitivities involving the State in which the aircraft concerned was registered and issues of sovereignty which have to be considered. Additionally. issues such as the voluntary nature of the search and rescue services offered. confidentiality, timeliness of such operations, fairness and uniformity all play a critical role. This article addresses the issue of search and rescue operations in Africa and examines in some detail where the world aviation community is right now and where it is headed in this important field of human endeavour.

VSED: Death With Dignity or Without?

PubMed

Corbett, Mark

2016-01-01

Conceivably, in an ideal world, all patients with a life-limiting illness would receive optimal hospice and palliative care so that no one would ever wish to hasten their own death. The reality, however, is that despite provision of optimal hospice and palliative care, individuals with terminal illness experience suffering, loss of meaning, or deterioration in quality of life to the extent where they express the desire to expedite the dying process. While there has been extensive discussion surrounding physician-assisted death (PAD), there has been less attention paid to the practice of voluntary stopping eating and drinking (VSED) near the end of life. These twelve compelling narratives represent a dramatic groundswell of attention to the practice of VSED. Through my review of these narratives, numerous statements of significance emerged along with common ethical themes which bring to light matters that might otherwise remain idle. As such, integrity and autonomy become paramount while, unfortunately, logical fallacies like that of the slippery slope argument are asserted. Ultimately, the suffering that leads people to embrace VSED is compelling and must not be minimized. Therefore, this paper, while not comprehensive, is an attempt to dissect these major themes and offer recommendations for addressing concerns regarding end-of-life care that have surfaced during the VSED debate. It is through this endeavor that I will hopefully challenge prevailing assumptions and misconceptions that can only exist in an ideal world.

The PTSD Practitioner Registry: An Innovative Tracking, Dissemination, and Support Tool for Providers in Military and Nonmilitary Settings

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

stress and burnout will also be discussed. GOAL: If successful, we plan to maintain and expand the PTSD Practitioner Registry as a novel mechanism...a compelling priority for clinicians working with active-duty Warriors and Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD...Warriors and Veterans with PTSD as well as their families. It will also provide a way of monitoring the levels of burnout among PTSD treatment

Geoinformatics: Transforming data to knowledge for geosciences

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sinha, A.K.; Malik, Z.; Rezgui, A.; Barnes, C.G.; Lin, K.; Heiken, G.; Thomas, W.A.; Gundersen, L.C.; Raskin, R.; Jackson, I.; Fox, P.; McGuinness, D.; Seber, D.; Zimmerman, H.

2010-01-01

An integrative view of Earth as a system, based on multidisciplinary data, has become one of the most compelling reasons for research and education in the geosciences. It is now necessary to establish a modern infrastructure that can support the transformation of data to knowledge. Such an information infrastructure for geosciences is contained within the emerging science of geoinformatics, which seeks to promote the utilizetion and integration of complex, multidisciplinary data in seeking solutions to geosciencebased societal challenges.

AR4VI: AR as an Accessibility Tool for People with Visual Impairments

PubMed Central

Coughlan, James M.; Miele, Joshua

2017-01-01

Although AR technology has been largely dominated by visual media, a number of AR tools using both visual and auditory feedback have been developed specifically to assist people with low vision or blindness – an application domain that we term Augmented Reality for Visual Impairment (AR4VI). We describe two AR4VI tools developed at Smith-Kettlewell, as well as a number of pre-existing examples. We emphasize that AR4VI is a powerful tool with the potential to remove or significantly reduce a range of accessibility barriers. Rather than being restricted to use by people with visual impairments, AR4VI is a compelling universal design approach offering benefits for mainstream applications as well. PMID:29303163

An Overview of Recent Developments in Computational Aeroelasticity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bennett, Robert M.; Edwards, John W.

2004-01-01

The motivation for Computational Aeroelasticity (CA) and the elements of one type of the analysis or simulation process are briefly reviewed. The need for streamlining and improving the overall process to reduce elapsed time and improve overall accuracy is discussed. Further effort is needed to establish the credibility of the methodology, obtain experience, and to incorporate the experience base to simplify the method for future use. Experience with the application of a variety of Computational Aeroelasticity programs is summarized for the transonic flutter of two wings, the AGARD 445.6 wing and a typical business jet wing. There is a compelling need for a broad range of additional flutter test cases for further comparisons. Some existing data sets that may offer CA challenges are presented.

Team reasoning: Solving the puzzle of coordination.

PubMed

Colman, Andrew M; Gold, Natalie

2017-11-03

In many everyday activities, individuals have a common interest in coordinating their actions. Orthodox game theory cannot explain such intuitively obvious forms of coordination as the selection of an outcome that is best for all in a common-interest game. Theories of team reasoning provide a convincing solution by proposing that people are sometimes motivated to maximize the collective payoff of a group and that they adopt a distinctive mode of reasoning from preferences to decisions. This also offers a compelling explanation of cooperation in social dilemmas. A review of team reasoning and related theories suggests how team reasoning could be incorporated into psychological theories of group identification and social value orientation theory to provide a deeper understanding of these phenomena.

AR4VI: AR as an Accessibility Tool for People with Visual Impairments.

PubMed

Coughlan, James M; Miele, Joshua

2017-10-01

Although AR technology has been largely dominated by visual media, a number of AR tools using both visual and auditory feedback have been developed specifically to assist people with low vision or blindness - an application domain that we term Augmented Reality for Visual Impairment (AR4VI). We describe two AR4VI tools developed at Smith-Kettlewell, as well as a number of pre-existing examples. We emphasize that AR4VI is a powerful tool with the potential to remove or significantly reduce a range of accessibility barriers. Rather than being restricted to use by people with visual impairments, AR4VI is a compelling universal design approach offering benefits for mainstream applications as well.

Advanced marketing: how to protect and advance your practice.

PubMed

Lexa, Frank James

2007-02-01

Radiology practices in the United States are facing mounting competitive challenges in many metropolitan areas. This competition is multifaceted and includes other traditional diagnostic imagers. However, the most severe pressures are from new entrants, such as primary and specialty physicians outside of radiology. The business science of marketing provides a set of solutions to help you fight back against this onslaught. In particular, advanced marketing techniques offer compelling strengths for raising awareness of the unique nature of our specialty among both the lay population and primary referrers. Applications of advanced marketing can be used to simultaneously hold and expand your turf. Relying on smarts rather than dollars, they also help overcome the fears that many radiology practices have about the high costs of traditional broadcasting.

Michael Hauskeller: Sex and the Posthuman Condition : Palgrave-Macmillan, 2014, 98 pp.

PubMed

Miller, Lantz Fleming

2016-10-01

This new book from Michael Hauskeller explores the currently marketed or projected sex/love products that exhibit some trait of so-called "posthumanistic" theory or design. These products are so designated because of their intention to fuse high technologies, including robotics and computing, with the human user. The author offers several arguments for why the theory behind these products leads to inconsistencies. The book uses a unique approach to philosophical argument by enmeshing the argument's major points in a concomitant discussion of pieces from world literature pertaining to posthumanism. The method is compelling, heightened by great world authorial insights that rarely find their way into philosophy and shores up some strong argumentative points. Yet some of the argument still needs more elucidating.

Hooking tomorrow's geoscientists: Authentic field inquiry as a compelling pedagogy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallstrom, Erica

2015-04-01

Engaging high school students in the geosciences without providing them with opportunities to directly explore, understand, and question the natural world is like trying to catch a fish without a hook. How can educators hope to inspire youth to pursue a career in the geosciences when the subject is first introduced to teenagers within the confines of a classroom? Regardless of the content and activities employed by the teacher, the synthetic classroom setting is unable to recreate the organic richness of an authentic outdoor learning environment. A new course offering at Rutland High School in Rutland, Vermont, USA shifts away from the traditional classroom based pedagogy by focusing the learning on exploring the temporal changes occurring in the region's geologic features. Numerous visits to local quarries, outcrops, overlooks, and universities guide the course curriculum. Students use their new understandings and personal observations to complete a culminating independent investigation. This alternate learning model is made possible through collaboration with local universities, businesses, and government agencies. If the geosciences is to remain competitive in the recruitment of exemplary STEM candidates, than the focus of high school earth science programs must be considered. This course offers one alternative to improve engagement and understanding of the geoscience standards. While not the only option, it offers one possibility for hooking students on geosciences.

30 CFR 775.11 - Administrative review.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... affirmations, subpoena witnesses and written or printed materials, compel attendance of witnesses or production of those materials, compel discovery, and take evidence, including, but not limited to, site...

The science of fatty acids and inflammation.

PubMed

Fritsche, Kevin L

2015-05-01

Inflammation is believed to play a central role in many of the chronic diseases that characterize modern society. In the past decade, our understanding of how dietary fats affect our immune system and subsequently our inflammatory status has grown considerably. There are compelling data showing that high-fat meals promote endotoxin [e.g., lipopolysaccharide (LPS)] translocation into the bloodstream, stimulating innate immune cells and leading to a transient postprandial inflammatory response. The nature of this effect is influenced by the amount and type of fat consumed. The role of various dietary constituents, including fats, on gut microflora and subsequent health outcomes in the host is another exciting and novel area of inquiry. The impact of specific fatty acids on inflammation may be central to how dietary fats affect health. Three key fatty acid-inflammation interactions are briefly described. First, the evidence suggests that saturated fatty acids induce inflammation in part by mimicking the actions of LPS. Second, the often-repeated claim that dietary linoleic acid promotes inflammation was not supported in a recent systematic review of the evidence. Third, an explanation is offered for why omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids are so much less anti-inflammatory in humans than in mice. The article closes with a cautionary tale from the genomic literature that illustrates why extrapolating the results from inflammation studies in mice to humans is problematic. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

Exploring Visual Evidence of Human Impact on the Environment with Planetary-Scale Zoomable Timelapse Video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sargent, R.; Egge, M.; Dille, P. S.; O'Donnell, G. D.; Herwig, C.

2016-12-01

Visual evidence ignites curiosity and inspires advocacy. Zoomable imagery and video on a planetary scale provides compelling evidence of human impact on the environment. Earth Timelapse places the observable impact of 30+ years of human activity into the hands of policy makers, scientists, and advocates, with fluidity and speed that supports inquiry and exploration. Zoomability enables compelling narratives and ready apprehension of environmental changes, connecting human-scale evidence to regional and ecosystem-wide trends and changes. Leveraging the power of Google Earth Engine, join us to explore 30+ years of Landset 30m RGB imagery showing glacial retreat, agricultural deforestation, irrigation expansion, and the disappearance of lakes. These narratives are enriched with datasets showing planetary forest gain/loss, annual cycles of agricultural fires, global changes in the health of coral reefs, trends in resource extraction, and of renewable energy development. We demonstrate the intuitive and inquiry-enabling power of these planetary visualizations, and provide instruction on how scientists and advocates can create and share or contribute visualizations of their own research or topics of interest.

Overtreatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures

PubMed Central

Ban, Ilija; Nowak, Jan; Virtanen, Kaisa; Troelsen, Anders

2016-01-01

Background and purpose The best treatment for displaced clavicle fractures has been debated for decades. Operative treatment has become more common. However, several randomized trials comparing non-operative and operative treatment have not shown any compelling evidence in favor of surgery. We identified the preferred treatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures at public hospitals in 3 countries in Scandinavia. Patients and methods A purpose-made multiple-choice questionnaire in English was sent to all public hospitals in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. This was addressed to the orthopedic surgeon responsible for treatment of clavicle fractures, and completed questionnaires were obtained from 85 of 118 hospitals. Results In the 3 countries, 69 of the 85 hospitals that responded would treat displaced clavicle fractures operatively. Clear criteria for treatment allocation were used at 58 of the hospitals, with the remaining 27 using individual assessment in collaboration with the patient. Precontoured locking plates were mostly used, placed either superiorly (64/85) or anteriorly (10/85). Interpretation Displaced midshaft clavicle fractures are mainly treated operatively in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. This treatment is not supported by compelling evidence. PMID:27225678

MutS HOMOLOG1-Derived Epigenetic Breeding Potential in Tomato1[OPEN

PubMed Central

Kundariya, Hardik; Xu, Ying-Zhi; Sandhu, Ajay; Yu, Jiantao; Zhang, Mingfang

2015-01-01

Evidence is compelling in support of a naturally occurring epigenetic influence on phenotype expression in land plants, although discerning the epigenetic contribution is difficult. Agriculturally important attributes like heterosis, inbreeding depression, phenotypic plasticity, and environmental stress response are thought to have significant epigenetic components, but unequivocal demonstration of this is often infeasible. Here, we investigate gene silencing of a single nuclear gene, MutS HOMOLOG1 (MSH1), in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ‘Rutgers’ to effect developmental reprogramming of the plant. The condition is heritable in subsequent generations independent of the MSH1-RNA interference transgene. Crossing these transgene-null, developmentally altered plants to the isogenic cv Rutgers wild type results in progeny lines that show enhanced, heritable growth vigor under both greenhouse and field conditions. This boosted vigor appears to be graft transmissible and is partially reversed by treatment with the methylation inhibitor 5-azacytidine, implying the influence of mobile, epigenetic factors and DNA methylation changes. These data provide compelling evidence for the feasibility of epigenetic breeding in a crop plant. PMID:25736208

Overtreatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures.

PubMed

Ban, Ilija; Nowak, Jan; Virtanen, Kaisa; Troelsen, Anders

2016-12-01

Background and purpose - The best treatment for displaced clavicle fractures has been debated for decades. Operative treatment has become more common. However, several randomized trials comparing non-operative and operative treatment have not shown any compelling evidence in favor of surgery. We identified the preferred treatment of displaced midshaft clavicle fractures at public hospitals in 3 countries in Scandinavia. Patients and methods - A purpose-made multiple-choice questionnaire in English was sent to all public hospitals in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. This was addressed to the orthopedic surgeon responsible for treatment of clavicle fractures, and completed questionnaires were obtained from 85 of 118 hospitals. Results - In the 3 countries, 69 of the 85 hospitals that responded would treat displaced clavicle fractures operatively. Clear criteria for treatment allocation were used at 58 of the hospitals, with the remaining 27 using individual assessment in collaboration with the patient. Precontoured locking plates were mostly used, placed either superiorly (64/85) or anteriorly (10/85). Interpretation - Displaced midshaft clavicle fractures are mainly treated operatively in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. This treatment is not supported by compelling evidence.

28 CFR 0.177a - Antitrust civil investigative demands.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... JUSTICE Assigning Responsibility Concerning Applications for Orders Compelling Testimony or Production of..., United States Code, to compel testimony in response to antitrust civil investigative demands for oral...

The PTSD Practitioner Registry: An Innovative Tracking, Dissemination, and Support Tool for Providers in Military and Nonmilitary Settings

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

practice-related stress and burnout will also be discussed. GOAL: If successful, we plan to maintain and expand the PTSD Practitioner Registry as a...related disorders is a compelling priority for clinicians working with active-duty Warriors and Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The...quality of care for Warriors and Veterans with PTSD as well as their families. It will also provide a way of monitoring the levels of burnout among PTSD

The PTSD Practitioner Registry: An Innovative Tracking, Dissemination, and Support Tool for Providers in Military and Nonmilitary settings

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-01

the registry as well as pre- test the proposed registry survey. In Phase II, an RCT is being conducted to evaluate the impact of registry...disorders is a compelling priority for clinicians working with active-duty Warriors and Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD...4. 2) Develop and pre- test interview modules (10/14-11/14) 100% complete on 03/15 3) Recruit providers for interview assessments (10/14-03/15)100

Extended Deterrence, Compellence and the ’Old World Order’

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-01-01

American Foreign Policy. New York: Columbia. Graell, Catalino Arrocha (1933). Historia de la Independencia de Panama. Panama City: Libraria Cultural... Mexico , at least until the end of the American Civil War. In the latter part of the 19th century, the United States finished its own continental expansion...from Germany’s efforts on behalf of Morocco in 1911, to France’s support of Chad in the 1980s 7 Bueno de Mesquita (1981) analyzes the concept of the

Political impediments to a tobacco endgame

PubMed Central

Rabe, Barry George

2013-01-01

Any serious consideration of exploring a tobacco endgame in the USA must build upon the enviable track record of reducing tobacco use through a mixture of federal and state policies. This foundation may pose particular challenges in approaching an endgame, including questions of national political feasibility, public support, limitations of sub-federal experimentation and recruitment of future political champions. Advocates must demonstrate a compelling need for a dramatic expansion beyond existing efforts, amid competition from alternative issues and little apparent public appetite for such an initiative. PMID:23591512

China and the Splitting of Alliances: Historic Cases and Implications for North Korea

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

life. Stalin was exposed and condemned at the Congress for having had hundreds of thousands of people shot and for his abuse of power. Mao Tse -tung...countries, to put the Mongolian people under the influence of Mao Tse -tung’s ideas, and to compel Mongolia to pursue a pro-Maoist policy.185 Additionally...needed Soviet support to do so. In mid-1975, Hanoi took control of Laos and then began prosecuting a war against the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge.295

Xrootd in dCache - design and experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behrmann, Gerd; Ozerov, Dmitry; Zangerl, Thomas

2011-12-01

dCache is a well established distributed storage solution used in both high energy physics computing and other disciplines. An overview of the implementation of the xrootd data access protocol within dCache is presented. The performance of various access mechanisms is studied and compared and it is concluded that our implementation is as perfomant as other protocols. This makes dCache a compelling alternative to the Scalla software suite implementation of xrootd, with added value from broad protocol support, including the IETF approved NFS 4.1 protocol.

Muslim Prison Ministry: Hindering the Spread of the Radical, Militant, Violent and Irreconcilable Wing of Islam

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-25

The reduction of the North American Indian population is viewed by many as genocide and also agreed by many as a disgraceful account in American...Conventions. Our Armed Forces are committed to complying with them and to holding accountable those in our military who do not.”37 President George...Jefferson’s’ words "No man shall be compelled, to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his

Not an Idea We Have to Shun’: Chinese Overseas Basing Requirements in the 21st Century

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

Inter Services Public Relations /HO) “Not an Idea We Have to Shun” Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs Institute for National Strategic... relations . Chinese operations in support of regional stability and to address nontraditional security threats would not necessarily conflict with U.S...cate U.S. relations with China and with the countries of the region, compel U.S. naval and military forces to operate in closer proximity with PLA

Mid-course Corrections: The Army Reserve’s Campaign to Mitigate Its Officer Vacancies during the Global War on Terror

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-17

external civilian success factors rather than recognized competence within the Army organization. Finally, this produced a zero net gain for USAR...officers prior to their MSO and the after-tax net result for a $6,000 bonus was not compelling for many Soldiers. The USAR experienced a noticeable...the maximum active duty end strength. Thus, Congress created Active Duty for Operational Support ( ADOS ). 91 This short-term policy provided

British and German Logistics Support during the World War 2 North African Campaign

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-05

situation was now approaching disaster. The tanker, Prosperina, which we had hoped would bring some relief in the petrol situation, had been bombed...and sunk outside Tobruk. There was only enough petrol left to keep supply traffic going between Tripoli and the front for another three days, and that...had not the petrol to do It. So we were compelled to allow the armored formations In the northern part of our line to assault the British salient

Cationic Surface Charge Combined with Either Vitronectin or Laminin Dictates the Evolution of Human Embryonic Stem Cells/Microcarrier Aggregates and Cell Growth in Agitated Cultures

PubMed Central

Lam, Alan Tin-Lun; Li, Jian; Chen, Allen Kuan-Liang; Reuveny, Shaul

2014-01-01

The expansion of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) for biomedical applications generally compels a defined, reliable, and scalable platform. Bioreactors offer a three-dimensional culture environment that relies on the implementation of microcarriers (MC), as supports for cell anchorage and their subsequent growth. Polystyrene microspheres/MC coated with adhesion-promoting extracellular matrix (ECM) protein, vitronectin (VN), or laminin (LN) have been shown to support hPSC expansion in a static environment. However, they are insufficient to promote human embryonic stem cells (hESC) seeding and their expansion in an agitated environment. The present study describes an innovative technology, consisting of a cationic charge that underlies the ECM coatings. By combining poly-L-lysine (PLL) with a coating of ECM protein, cell attachment efficiency and cell spreading are improved, thus enabling seeding under agitation in a serum-free medium. This coating combination also critically enables the subsequent formation and evolution of hPSC/MC aggregates, which ensure cell viability and generate high yields. Aggregate dimensions of at least 300 μm during early cell growth give rise to ≈15-fold expansion at 7 days' culture. Increasing aggregate numbers at a quasi-constant size of ≈300 μm indicates hESC growth within a self-regulating microenvironment. PLL+LN enables cell seeding and aggregate evolution under constant agitation, whereas PLL+VN requires an intermediate 2-day static pause to attain comparable aggregate sizes and correspondingly high expansion yields. The cells' highly reproducible bioresponse to these defined and characterized MC surface properties is universal across multiple cell lines, thus confirming the robustness of this scalable expansion process in a defined environment. PMID:24641164

Achieving Value in Primary Care: The Primary Care Value Model.

PubMed

Rollow, William; Cucchiara, Peter

2016-03-01

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model provides a compelling vision for primary care transformation, but studies of its impact have used insufficiently patient-centered metrics with inconsistent results. We propose a framework for defining patient-centered value and a new model for value-based primary care transformation: the primary care value model (PCVM). We advocate for use of patient-centered value when measuring the impact of primary care transformation, recognition, and performance-based payment; for financial support and research and development to better define primary care value-creating activities and their implementation; and for use of the model to support primary care organizations in transformation. © 2016 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

49 CFR 511.36 - Motions to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... inspection or production of documents, or otherwise compelling discovery. For purposes of this subsection, an... a motion pursuant to § 511.31(d). When making oral examinations, the discovering party shall...

Evolving from Planning and Scheduling to Real-Time Operations Support: Design Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marquez, Jessica J.; Ludowise, Melissa; McCurdy, Michael; Li, Jack

2010-01-01

Versions of Scheduling and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFe) have supported a variety of mission operations across NASA. This software tool has evolved and matured over several years, assisting planners who develop intricate schedules. While initially conceived for surface Mars missions, SPIFe has been deployed in other domains, where people rather than robotic explorers, execute plans. As a result, a diverse set of end-users has compelled growth in a new direction: supporting real-time operations. This paper describes the new needs and challenges that accompany this development. Among the key features that have been built for SPIFe are current time indicators integrated into the interface and timeline, as well as other plan attributes that enable execution of scheduled activities. Field tests include mission support for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) and Desert Research and Technology Studies (DRATS) campaigns.

24 CFR 180.540 - Motion to compel discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... order compelling discovery in accordance with the request. The motion shall: (1) State the nature of the... secondary evidence concerning the information sought; (6) Striking any appropriate part of the pleadings or...

A brief history of prions.

PubMed

Zabel, Mark D; Reid, Crystal

2015-12-01

Proteins were described as distinct biological molecules and their significance in cellular processes was recognized as early as the 18th century. At the same time, Spanish shepherds observed a disease that compelled their Merino sheep to pathologically scrape against fences, a defining clinical sign that led to the disease being named scrapie. In the late 19th century, Robert Koch published his postulates for defining causative agents of disease. In the early 20th century, pathologists Creutzfeldt and Jakob described a neurodegenerative disease that would later be included with scrapie into a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Later that century, mounting evidence compelled a handful of scientists to betray the prevailing biological dogma governing pathogen replication that Watson and Crick so convincingly explained by cracking the genetic code just two decades earlier. Because TSEs seemed to defy these new rules, J.S. Griffith theorized mechanisms by which a pathogenic protein could encipher its own replication blueprint without a genetic code. Stanley Prusiner called this proteinaceous infectious pathogen a prion. Here we offer a concise account of the discovery of prions, the causative agent of TSEs, in the wider context of protein biochemistry and infectious disease. We highlight the discovery of prions in yeast and discuss the implication of prions as epigenomic carriers of biological and pathological information. We also consider expanding the prion hypothesis to include other proteins whose alternate isoforms confer new biological or pathological properties. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A brief history of prions

PubMed Central

Zabel, Mark D.; Reid, Crystal

2015-01-01

Proteins were described as distinct biological molecules and their significance in cellular processes was recognized as early as the 18th century. At the same time, Spanish shepherds observed a disease that compelled their Merino sheep to pathologically scrape against fences, a defining clinical sign that led to the disease being named scrapie. In the late 19th century, Robert Koch published his postulates for defining causative agents of disease. In the early 20th century, pathologists Creutzfeldt and Jakob described a neurodegenerative disease that would later be included with scrapie into a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Later that century, mounting evidence compelled a handful of scientists to betray the prevailing biological dogma governing pathogen replication that Watson and Crick so convincingly explained by cracking the genetic code just two decades earlier. Because TSEs seemed to defy these new rules, J.S. Griffith theorized mechanisms by which a pathogenic protein could encipher its own replication blueprint without a genetic code. Stanley Prusiner called this proteinaceous infectious pathogen a prion. Here we offer a concise account of the discovery of prions, the causative agent of TSEs, in the wider context of protein biochemistry and infectious disease. We highlight the discovery of prions in yeast and discuss the implication of prions as epigenomic carriers of biological and pathological information. We also consider expanding the prion hypothesis to include other proteins whose alternate isoforms confer new biological or pathological properties. PMID:26449713

The ubiquity of alpine plant radiations: from the Andes to the Hengduan Mountains.

PubMed

Hughes, Colin E; Atchison, Guy W

2015-07-01

Alpine plant radiations are compared across the world's major mountain ranges and shown to be overwhelmingly young and fast, largely confined to the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and some of them apparently in the early explosive phase of radiation. Accelerated diversification triggered by island-like ecological opportunities following the final phases of mountain uplift, and in many cases enabled by the key adaptation of perennial habit, provides a general model for alpine plant radiations. Accelerated growth form evolution facilitated by perenniality provides compelling evidence of ecological release and suggests striking parallels between island-like alpine, and especially tropicalpine radiations, and island radiations more generally. These parallels suggest that the world's mountains offer an excellent comparative system for explaining evolutionary radiation. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

A compelling practice: empowering future leaders in the medical humanities.

PubMed

Runyan, Aliye; Ellington, Katherine; Wershof Schwartz, Andrea

2013-12-01

Medical students and faculty explore the medical humanities for diverse reasons: as a medium for self-reflection, a means to cultivate professionalism and humanism, and a way to gain an appreciation for the broader contexts in which illness and health occur. One important area for development is increasing the exposure of learners and clinicians of various levels of training to the medical humanities and to role models in the field. Student-led programs in the medical humanities at the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) address these needs by offering unique opportunities for learning and sharing experiences. AMSA programs connect physicians-in-training using technology to create virtual communication and learning opportunities. These include monthly book discussion webinars, the Writers' Institute and the Medical Humanities Scholars Program (MHSP).

Lipid Membrane Encapsulation of a 3D DNA Nano Octahedron.

PubMed

Perrault, Steven D; Shih, William M

2017-01-01

Structural DNA nanotechnology methods such as DNA origami allow for the synthesis of highly precise nanometer-scale materials (Rothemund, Nature 440:297-302, 2006; Douglas et al., Nature 459:414-418, 2009). These offer compelling advantages for biomedical applications. Such materials can suffer from structural instability in biological environments due to denaturation and nuclease digestion (Hahn et al., ACS Nano 2014; Perrault and Shih, ACS Nano 8:5132-5140, 2014). Encapsulation of DNA nanostructures in a lipid membrane compartmentalizes them from their environment and prevents denaturation and nuclease digestion (Perrault and Shih, ACS Nano 8:5132-5140, 2014). Here, we describe the encapsulation of a 50 nm DNA nanostructure having the geometry of a wireframe octahedron in a phospholipid membrane containing poly-(ethylene glycol), resulting in biocompatible DNA nanostructures.

Nuclear electric propulsion technologies - Overview of the NASA/DoE/DoD Nuclear Electric Propulsion Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barnett, John W.

1991-01-01

Nuclear propulsion technology offers substantial benefits to the ambitious piloted and robotic solar system exploration missions of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). This paper summarizes a workshop jointly sponsored by NASA, DoE, and DoD to assess candidate nuclear electric propulsion technologies. Twenty-one power and propulsion concepts are reviewed. Nuclear power concepts include solid and gaseous fuel concepts, with static and dynamic power conversion. Propulsion concepts include steady state and pulsed electromagnetic engines, a pulsed electrothermal engine, and a steady state electrostatic engine. The technologies vary widely in maturity. The workshop review panels concluded that compelling benefits would accrue from the development of nuclear electric propulsion systems, and that a focused, well-funded program is required to prepare the technologies for SEI missions.

Support for Offering Sexual Health Services through School-Based Health Clinics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Michele Johnson; Barr, Elissa; Wilson, Kristina; Griner, Stacey

2016-01-01

Background: Numerous studies document support for sexuality education in the schools. However, there is a dearth of research assessing support for sexual health services offered through school-based health clinics (SBHCs). The purpose of this study was to assess voter support for offering 3 sexual health services (STI/HIV testing, STI/HIV…

The elusive importance effect: more failure for the Jamesian perspective on the importance of importance in shaping self-esteem.

PubMed

Marsh, Herbert W

2008-10-01

Following William James (1890/1963), many leading self-esteem researchers continue to support the Individual-importance hypothesis-that the relation between specific facets of self-concept and global self-esteem depends on the importance an individual places on each specific facet. However, empirical support for the hypothesis is surprisingly elusive, whether evaluated in terms of an importance-weighted average model, a generalized multiple regression approach for testing self-concept-by-importance interactions, or idiographic approaches. How can actual empirical support for such an intuitively appealing and widely cited psychological principle be so elusive? Hardy and Moriarty (2006), acknowledging this previous failure of the Individual-importance hypothesis, claim to have solved the conundrum, demonstrating an innovative idiographic approach that provides clear support for it. However, a critical evaluation of their new approach, coupled with a reanalysis of their data, undermines their claims. Indeed, their data provide compelling support against the Individual-importance hypothesis, which remains as elusive as ever.

4 CFR 28.43 - Compelling discovery.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 4 Accounts 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Compelling discovery. 28.43 Section 28.43 Accounts GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE GENERAL PROCEDURES GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE PERSONNEL APPEALS BOARD; PROCEDURES APPLICABLE TO CLAIMS CONCERNING EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES AT THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE...

Memory for color reactivates color processing region.

PubMed

Slotnick, Scott D

2009-11-25

Memory is thought to be constructive in nature, where features processed in different cortical regions are synthesized during retrieval. In an effort to support this constructive memory framework, the present functional magnetic resonance imaging study assessed whether memory for color reactivated color processing regions. During encoding, participants were presented with colored and gray abstract shapes. During retrieval, old and new shapes were presented in gray and participants responded 'old-colored', 'old-gray', or 'new'. Within color perception regions, color memory related activity was observed in the left fusiform gyrus, adjacent to the collateral sulcus. A retinotopic mapping analysis indicated this activity occurred within color processing region V8. The present feature specific evidence provides compelling support for a constructive view of memory.

Creating Conditions for Policy Change in National Parks: Contrasting Cases in Yellowstone and Yosemite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yochim, Michael J.; Lowry, William R.

2016-05-01

Public agencies face significant political obstacles when they try to change long-standing policies. This paper examines efforts by the U.S. National Park Service to change long-term policies in Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks. We argue that, to be successful, the agency and pro-change allies must expand the sphere of conflict to engage the support of the broader American public through positive framing, supportive science, compelling economic arguments, consistent goals, and the commitment of other institutional actors. We show that the agency is capable of creating these conditions, as in the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone, but we argue that this is not always the outcome, as in reducing automobile congestion in Yosemite Valley.

Creating Conditions for Policy Change in National Parks: Contrasting Cases in Yellowstone and Yosemite.

PubMed

Yochim, Michael J; Lowry, William R

2016-05-01

Public agencies face significant political obstacles when they try to change long-standing policies. This paper examines efforts by the U.S. National Park Service to change long-term policies in Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks. We argue that, to be successful, the agency and pro-change allies must expand the sphere of conflict to engage the support of the broader American public through positive framing, supportive science, compelling economic arguments, consistent goals, and the commitment of other institutional actors. We show that the agency is capable of creating these conditions, as in the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone, but we argue that this is not always the outcome, as in reducing automobile congestion in Yosemite Valley.

Male Prison Inmates With Gender Dysphoria: When Is Sex Reassignment Surgery Appropriate?

PubMed

Osborne, Cynthia S; Lawrence, Anne A

2016-10-01

Gender dysphoria (GD), a feeling of persistent discomfort with one's biologic sex or assigned gender, is estimated to be more prevalent in male prison inmates than in nonincarcerated males; there may be 3000-4000 male inmates with GD in prisons in the United States. An increasing number of U.S. prison systems now offer gender dysphoric inmates diagnostic evaluation, psychotherapy, cross-sex hormone therapy, and opportunities, albeit limited, to enact their preferred gender role. Sex reassignment surgery (SRS), however, has not been offered to inmates except in response to litigation. In the first case of its kind, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recently agreed to provide SRS to an inmate and developed policy guidelines for its future provision. In other recent cases, U.S. courts have ruled that male inmates with GD are entitled to SRS when it is medically necessary. Although these decisions may facilitate the provision of SRS to inmates in the future, many U.S. prison systems will probably remain reluctant to offer SRS unless legally compelled to do so. In this review, we address the medical necessity of SRS for male inmates with GD. We also discuss eligibility criteria and the practical considerations involved in providing SRS to inmates. We conclude by offering recommendations for physicians, mental health professionals, and prison administrators, designed to facilitate provision of SRS to inmates with GD in a manner that provides humane treatment, maximizes the likelihood of successful outcomes, minimizes risk of regret, and generates data that can help inform future decisions.

Review of current indications for combined very high fluence collagen cross-linking and laser in situ keratomileusis surgery

PubMed Central

Kanellopoulos, Anastasios John; Pamel, Gregory J

2013-01-01

In this brief review we will discuss the reasoning and evolution of our current use of combined very high-fluence collagen crosslinking and laser in situ keratomileusis. Several presentations and pertinent publications are reviewed, along with the key steps of the enhanced LASIK procedure. Long term outcome data support the safety and efficacy of LASIK Xtra in stabilizing myopic but also hyperopic LASIK results. In conclusion, we have compelling evidence that LASIK Xtra is a safe and effective adjunct. PMID:23925331

Topical Atropine in the Control of Myopia

PubMed Central

GALVIS, Virgilio; TELLO, Alejandro; PARRA, M. Margarita; MERAYO-LLOVES, Jesus; LARREA, Jaime; JULIAN RODRIGUEZ, Carlos; CAMACHO, Paul Anthony

2016-01-01

Atropine has been used for more than a century to arrest myopia progression. Compelling evidence of its protective effect has been reported in well-designed clinical studies, mainly performed during the last two decades. However, its exact mechanism of action has not been determined. Experimental findings have shown that the mechanism is not related to accommodation, as was thought for decades. A review of the published literature revealed a significant amount of evidence supporting its safety and efficacy at a concentration of 1.0%, and at lower concentrations (as low as 0.01%). PMID:28293653

Hyperkalemia in the Hypertensive Patient.

PubMed

Lakkis, Jay Ian; Weir, Matthew R

2018-03-01

Hyperkalemia develops in a patient with systemic arterial hypertension (HTN) if one or more risk factors are present, namely chronic kidney disease (CKD) (especially severe stage 4-5 CKD), diabetes mellitus (DM), heart failure (HF), or pharmacological therapies that interfere with potassium homeostasis, mainly through renin-angiotensin-aldosterone inhibition (RAASi). Hyperkalemia is a considerable reason of morbidity (emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations) and portends a higher mortality risk in patients at risk; for instance, hyperkalemia increases the risk of mortality within 1 day of a hyperkalemic event. This review aims to identify the risk factors for high-serum potassium, highlight the risk versus benefit of RAASi in certain patient populations, and outline preventive as well as therapeutic strategies for hyperkalemia. A growing body of evidence supports the safety and efficacy of cation-exchange resins, patiromer, or sodium zirconium cyclosilicate, in patients with a compelling indication for RAASi, yet in whom such therapy was complicated by hyperkalemia, allowing these patients to benefit from continued RAASi therapy. In summary, novel cation exchange polymers present the clinician with a new and safe strategy to address hyperkalemia in patients with a compelling indication for ongoing RAASi therapy instead of withdrawal of such therapy.

Ares V: Application to Solar System Scientific Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elliott, John; Spilker, Thomas; Reh, Kim; Smith, David; Woodcock, Gordon

2008-01-01

The development of the Ares V launch vehicle will provide levels of performance unseen since the days of Apollo. This capability, like the Saturn V before it, is being developed primarily for crewed lunar missions. However, the tremendous jump in performance offered by the Ares V launch system has tremendous potential for the furtherance of robotic solar system exploration missions as well. Preliminary performance assessments indicate that Ares V could deliver 5 times the payload to Mars as compared to the most capable US expendable launch vehicle available today. Beyond Mars, the outer planets offer a number of high-priority investigations with compelling science. Presently, missions to these destinations are only achievable using indirect flights with gravity assist trajectories and, in many cases, suffer from long flight times. An Ares V with an upper stage could capture these missions using direct flights with shorter interplanetary transfer times that would enable extensive in situ investigations and possibly the return of samples to Earth. This paper lays out an estimate of Ares V performance for moderate and high C3 missions, and goes on to discuss a range of revolutionary mission concepts that could be enabled by this significant in-crease in launch capability.

Proteostasis and Diseases of the Motor Unit.

PubMed

Rinaldi, Carlo; Mäger, Imre; Wood, Matthew J

2016-01-01

The accumulation in neurons of aberrant protein species, the pathological hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, results from a global impairment of key cellular processes governing protein synthesis/degradation and repair mechanisms, also known as the proteostasis network (PN). The growing number of connections between dysfunction of this intricate network of pathways and diseases of the motor unit, where both motor neurons and muscle are primarily affected, has provided momentum to investigate the muscle- and motor neuron-specific response to physiological and pathological stressors and to explore the therapeutic opportunities that manipulation of this process may offer. Furthermore, these diseases offer an unparalleled opportunity to deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the intertissue communication and transfer of signals of proteostasis. The most compelling aspect of these investigations is their immediate potential for therapeutic impact: targeting muscle to stem degeneration of the motor unit would represent a dramatic paradigm therapeutic shift for treating these devastating diseases. Here we will review the current state of the art of the research on the alterations of the PN in diseases of the motor unit and its potential to result in effective treatments for these devastating neuromuscular disorders.

Psychopathology and the Ability to Do Otherwise

PubMed Central

Pickard, Hanna

2015-01-01

When philosophers want an example of a person who lacks the ability to do otherwise, they turn to psychopathology. Addicts, agoraphobics, kleptomaniacs, neurotics, obsessives, and even psychopathic serial murderers, are all purportedly subject to irresistible desires that compel the person to act: no alternative possibility is supposed to exist. I argue that this conception of psychopathology is false and offer an empirically and clinically informed understanding of disorders of agency which preserves the ability to do otherwise. First, I appeal to standard clinical treatment for disorders of agency and argue that it undermines this conception of psychopathology. Second, I offer a detailed discussion of addiction, where our knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning the disorder is relatively advanced. I argue that neurobiology notwithstanding, addiction is not a form of compulsion and I explain how addiction can impair behavioural control without extinguishing it. Third, I step back from addiction, and briefly sketch what the philosophical landscape more generally looks like without psychopathological compulsion: we lose our standard purported real-world example of psychologically determined action. I conclude by reflecting on the centrality of choice and free will to our concept of action, and their potency within clinical treatment for disorders of agency. PMID:25929318

Lessons from industry: one school's transformation toward "lean" curricular governance.

PubMed

Stratton, Terry D; Rudy, David W; Sauer, Marlene J; Perman, Jay A; Jennings, C Darrell

2007-04-01

As medical education grapples with organizational calls for centralized curricular oversight, programs may be compelled to respond by establishing highly vertical, stacked governance structures. Although these models offer discrete advantages over the horizontal, compartmentalized structures they are designed to replace, they pose new challenges to ensuring curricular quality and the educational innovations that drive the curricula. The authors describe a hybrid quality-assurance (QA) governance structure introduced in 2003 at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UKCOM) that ensures centralized curricular oversight of the educational product while allowing individualized creative control over the educational process. Based on a Lean production model, this approach draws on industry experiences that strategically separate institutional accountability (management) for a quality curriculum from the decision-making processes required to ensure it (production). In so doing, the authors acknowledge general similarities and key differences between overseeing the manufacture of a complex product versus the education of a physician-emphasizing the structured, sequential, and measurable nature of each process. Further, the authors briefly trace the emergence of quality approaches in manufacturing and discuss the philosophical changes that accompany transition to an institutional governance system that relies on vigorous, robust performance measures to offer continuous feedback on curricular quality.

Heat Rejection Systems Utilizing Composites and Heat Pipes: Design and Performance Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaworske, Donald A.; Beach, Duane E.; Sanzi, James L.

2007-01-01

Polymer matrix composites offer the promise of reducing the mass and increasing the performance of future heat rejection systems. With lifetimes for heat rejection systems reaching a decade or more in a micrometeoroid environment, use of multiple heat pipes for fault tolerant design is compelling. The combination of polymer matrix composites and heat pipes is of particular interest for heat rejection systems operating on the lunar surface. A technology development effort is under way to study the performance of two radiator demonstration units manufactured with different polymer matrix composite face sheet resin and bonding adhesives, along with different titanium-water heat pipe designs. Common to the two radiator demonstration units is the use of high thermal conductivity fibers in the face sheets and high thermal conductivity graphite saddles within a light weight aluminum honeycomb core. Testing of the radiator demonstration units included thermal vacuum exposure and thermal vacuum exposure with a simulated heat pipe failure. Steady state performance data were obtained at different operating temperatures to identify heat transfer and thermal resistance characteristics. Heat pipe failure was simulated by removing the input power from an individual heat pipe in order to identify the diminished performance characteristics of the entire panel after a micrometeoroid strike. Freeze-thaw performance was also of interest. This paper presents a summary of the two radiator demonstration units manufactured to support this technology development effort along with the thermal performance characteristics obtained to date. Future work will also be discussed.

Comparison of Support Services Offered by Residencies in Six Specialties, 1979-80 and 1988-89.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahn, Norman B., Jr.; Addison, Richard B.

1992-01-01

A study investigated the availability of each of 19 medical school support services offered by 493 residencies in 6 specialties: family practice; internal medicine; obstetrics/gynecology; pediatrics; psychiatry; and surgery. Results show many specialties do not offer common, effective support services. It is suggested that programs move to…

40 CFR 1610.4 - Deposition Transcripts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Deposition Transcripts. 1610.4 Section... INVESTIGATIONS § 1610.4 Deposition Transcripts. (a) Transcripts of depositions of witnesses compelled by subpoena... by the person conducting the deposition. (b) Such a witness, after completing the compelled testimony...

40 CFR 1610.4 - Deposition Transcripts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Deposition Transcripts. 1610.4 Section... INVESTIGATIONS § 1610.4 Deposition Transcripts. (a) Transcripts of depositions of witnesses compelled by subpoena... by the person conducting the deposition. (b) Such a witness, after completing the compelled testimony...

Compelling Diversities, Educational Intersections: Policy, Practice, Parity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Yvette

2013-01-01

The ninth international Gender and Education Association Conference "Compelling Diversities, Educational Intersections" hosted by the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy Research, London South Bank University engages with key debates surrounding the interplay between dynamics of education, work, employment and society in the context of…

Space Station Freedom - Configuration management approach to supporting concurrent engineering and total quality management. [for NASA Space Station Freedom Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gavert, Raymond B.

1990-01-01

Some experiences of NASA configuration management in providing concurrent engineering support to the Space Station Freedom program for the achievement of life cycle benefits and total quality are discussed. Three change decision experiences involving tracing requirements and automated information systems of the electrical power system are described. The potential benefits of concurrent engineering and total quality management include improved operational effectiveness, reduced logistics and support requirements, prevention of schedule slippages, and life cycle cost savings. It is shown how configuration management can influence the benefits attained through disciplined approaches and innovations that compel consideration of all the technical elements of engineering and quality factors that apply to the program development, transition to operations and in operations. Configuration management experiences involving the Space Station program's tiered management structure, the work package contractors, international partners, and the participating NASA centers are discussed.

[Cancer and Career? - A Qualitative Study of Job Status of Young Adult Cancer Survivors].

PubMed

Mentschke, Lisa; Leuteritz, Katja; Daneck, Lisa; Breuer, Nora; Sender, Annekathrin; Friedrich, Michael; Nowe, Erik; Stöbel-Richter, Yve; Geue, Kristina

2017-02-01

Purpose: To examine the impact of cancer on work and education for AYA. Collect information about AYA's return to work/return to study. Methods: 18 AYA (10 female) aged 18 to 39 (m=27 years) at time of diagnosis completed a semi-structured interview. Qualitative content analysis was used to generate results. Results: 11 of 18 AYA had already returned to work/study. Flexible structures and emotional support of colleagues and managers were reported being helpful. 10 AYA planed or had already reduced job tasks, hours of work or further education. This was mostly compelled by physical disabilities due to cancer or treatment. Most AYA asked for more support within the social insurance system. Conclusions: Cancer often leads to changes in work or education. More social and vocational counseling to support AYA's rehabilitation process seems to be necessary. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

[Re]considering queer theories and science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fifield, Steve; Letts, Will

2014-06-01

We take Mattias Lundin's Inviting queer ideas into the science classroom: studying sexual education from a queer perspective as a point of departure to explore some enduring issues related to the use of queer theories to interrogate science education and its practices. We consider the uneasy, polygamous relationship between gay and lesbian studies and queer theories; the border surveillance that characterizes so much of science [education]; the alluring call of binaries and binary thinking; the `all' within the catchcry `science for all'; and the need to better engage the fullness of science and the curriculum, in addition to noting silences around diverse sexes, sexualities, and desires. We catalogue some of the challenges that persist in this work, and offer thoughts about how to work with and against them to enact a more just and compelling science education.

The Common Fund Initiative and Its Implication for Advancing Exercise and Physical Activity Research in Child Health.

PubMed

Cooper, Dan M; Radom-Aizik, Shlomit

2015-08-01

NIH Director Francis Collins noted that the Common Fund initiative would lead to unprecedented insights into the mechanisms responsible for the health effects of physical activity. He noted: “Armed with this knowledge, researchers and clinicians may one day be able to define optimal physical activity recommendations for people at various stages of life, as well as develop precisely targeted regimens for individuals with particular health needs.” Given the ominous burden of physical inactivity-related diseases and conditions in otherwise healthy children, and the growing number of children who survive chronic diseases in whom we know little about what constitutes healthy exercise, it is essential that the community of child health researchers develop compelling strategies and proposals in response to the unique opportunity offered through the Common Fund mechanism.

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoskin, Michael

Expertly written and lavishly illustrated, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Astronomy offers a unique account of astronomical theory and practice from antiquity to the present day. How did Moslems of the Middle Ages use astronomy to calculate the direction of Mecca from far-flung corners of the Islamic world? Who was the only ancient Greek to suspect that the earth might revolve around the sun? How did Christopher Columbus abuse his knowledge of a lunar eclipse predicted by an astronomical almanac? Packed with anecdotes and intriguing detail, this book describes how we observed the sky and interpreted what we saw at different periods of history; how this influenced our beliefs and mythology; and how great astronomers contributed to what we now know. The result is a lively and highly visual history of astronomy - a compelling read for specialists and non-specialists alike.

DMD: a digital light processing application to projection displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feather, Gary A.

1989-01-01

Summary Revolutionary technologies achieve rapid product and subsequent business diffusion only when the in- ventors focus on technology application, maturation, and proliferation. A revolutionary technology is emerg- ing with micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). MEMS are being developed by leveraging mature semi- conductor processing coupled with mechanical systems into complete, integrated, useful systems. The digital micromirror device (DMD), a Texas Instruments invented MEMS, has focused on its application to projec- tion displays. The DMD has demonstrated its application as a digital light processor, processing and produc- ing compelling computer and video projection displays. This tutorial discusses requirements in the projection display market and the potential solutions offered by this digital light processing system. The seminar in- cludes an evaluation of the market, system needs, design, fabrication, application, and performance results of a system using digital light processing solutions.

WFIRST: Guest observer science with the coronagraph instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levesque, Emily; Lomax, Jamie; Akeson, Rachel; Meshkat, Tiffany; WFIRST CGI GO working group

2018-01-01

In addition to the discovery and characterization of exoplanets, the coronagraph instrument (CGI) on WFIRST has the potential for ground-breaking discoveries in other fields through the Guest Observer (GO) program. 25% of the observing time in the primary mission will be made available to the GO community, and GO science with the CGI spans a broad range of scientific applications. These include imaging of binary and multiple asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects, the circumstellar environments of evolved giants and supergiants, debris disks around young stars, and the circumnuclear regions of active galactic nuclei. In this poster we summarize some of the key compelling science gains that can be pursued with the GO program and present preliminary analyses of the technical gains that the CGI will be able to offer over other contemporary coronagraphs, including those on JWST and ground-based observatories.

The essential value of long-term experimental data for hydrology and water management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tetzlaff, D.; Carey, S. K.; McNamara, J. P.; Laudon, H.; Soulsby, C.

2017-12-01

Observations and data from long-term experimental watersheds are the foundation of hydrology as a geoscience. They allow us to benchmark process understanding, observe trends and natural cycles, and are pre-requisites for testing predictive models. Long-term experimental watersheds also are places where new measurement technologies are developed. These studies offer a crucial evidence base for understanding and managing the provision of clean water supplies; predicting and mitigating the effects of floods, and protecting ecosystem services provided by rivers and wetlands. They also show how to manage land and water in an integrated, sustainable way that reduces environmental and economic costs. We present a number of compelling examples illustrating how hydrologic process understanding has been generated through comparing hypotheses to data, and how this understanding has been essential for managing water supplies, floods, and ecosystem services today.

Using climate models to estimate the quality of global observational data sets.

PubMed

Massonnet, François; Bellprat, Omar; Guemas, Virginie; Doblas-Reyes, Francisco J

2016-10-28

Observational estimates of the climate system are essential to monitoring and understanding ongoing climate change and to assessing the quality of climate models used to produce near- and long-term climate information. This study poses the dual and unconventional question: Can climate models be used to assess the quality of observational references? We show that this question not only rests on solid theoretical grounds but also offers insightful applications in practice. By comparing four observational products of sea surface temperature with a large multimodel climate forecast ensemble, we find compelling evidence that models systematically score better against the most recent, advanced, but also most independent product. These results call for generalized procedures of model-observation comparison and provide guidance for a more objective observational data set selection. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Brokenheartedness and accountability.

PubMed

Russo, Ann

2017-07-03

In this article, I reflect on relationship and movement building across power lines that I have experienced or witnessed in and outside of academia. I argue that the "anesthetic aesthetic" of whiteness, as illuminated by Mab Segrest, compels those like myself who are trained to be white to distance ourselves from the pain and suffering of others (as well as our own) in order to accept and assimilate into the hegemonic normative systems of power. I offer stories from my experience of feminist and queer organizing that demonstrate how this distancing looks and feels, and places of where it might be transformed. Then, I turn to healing justice as a praxis that creates communal spaces for naming, recognizing, and healing from violence, spaces to share our brokenheartedness, and to serve as a way of breaking up the gravitational pulls of white supremacist patriarchy.

Typhoon-Induced Ground Deformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mouyen, M.; Canitano, A.; Chao, B. F.; Hsu, Y.-J.; Steer, P.; Longuevergne, L.; Boy, J.-P.

2017-11-01

Geodetic instruments now offer compelling sensitivity, allowing to investigate how solid Earth and surface processes interact. By combining surface air pressure data, nontidal sea level variations model, and rainfall data, we systematically analyze the volumetric deformation of the shallow crust at seven borehole strainmeters in Taiwan induced by 31 tropical cyclones (typhoons) that made landfall to the island from 2004 to 2013. The typhoon's signature consists in a ground dilatation due to air pressure drop, generally followed by a larger ground compression. We show that this compression phase can be mostly explained by the mass loading of rainwater that falls on the ground and concentrates in the valleys towards the strainmeter sensitivity zone. Further, our analysis shows that borehole strainmeters can help quantifying the amount of rainwater accumulating and flowing over a watershed during heavy rainfalls, which is a useful constraint for building hydrological models.

Austin's Home Performance with Energy Star Program: Making a Compelling Offer to a Financial Institution Partner

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

Zimring, Mark

2011-03-18

Launched in 2006, over 8,700 residential energy upgrades have been completed through Austin Energy's Home Performance with Energy Star (HPwES) program. The program's lending partner, Velocity Credit Union (VCU) has originated almost 1,800 loans, totaling approximately $12.5 million. Residential energy efficiency loans are typically small, and expensive to originate and service relative to larger financing products. National lenders have been hesitant to deliver attractive loan products to this small, but growing, residential market. In response, energy efficiency programs have found ways to partner with local and regional banks, credit unions, community development finance institutions (CDFIs) and co-ops to deliver energymore » efficiency financing to homeowners. VCU's experience with the Austin Energy HPwES program highlights the potential benefits of energy efficiency programs to a lending partner.« less

Opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention in the clinical setting.

PubMed Central

McGinnis, J M; Hamburg, M A

1988-01-01

Advances in medicine offer unprecedented opportunities to improve health. New diagnostic, care, and treatment approaches are having a tremendous impact; yet, the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States are intimately linked to preventable factors such as smoking, improper nutrition, alcohol misuse, lack of exercise, and maladaptive behaviors. Compelling evidence indicates that reducing risk factors yields substantial overall health benefits and saves lives. Prevention efforts can be applied effectively at many points in a disease process, and clinical medicine has a significant role. Nonetheless, a number of barriers may interfere. These include physician education and attitudes; patient education, expectations, and motivations; and aspects of the health care delivery system itself, such as access and reimbursement. The situation has been complicated by the apparent lack of consensus on the appropriate frequency and scope of such activities. PMID:3067449

The business case for patient safety.

PubMed

Hwang, Raymond W; Herndon, James H

2007-04-01

Recent trends have focused attention on improving patient safety in the United States healthcare system. Lapses in patient safety create undue, often preventable, morbidity. These include adverse drug events, adverse surgical events and nosocomial infections. From an organizational perspective, these events are both inefficient and expensive. Many safe practices and quality enhancing improvements, such as computer provider order entry, proper infection surveillance, telemedicine intensive care, and registered nurse staffing are in fact cost-effective. However, in order to fully achieve higher quality, better adverse event reporting and a culture of safety must first be developed. Increased provider recognition, models of success, public awareness and consumer demand are propelling improvements. As we will outline in this review of the current literature, the business case for patient safety is a compelling one, offering substantial economic incentives for achieving the necessary goal of improved patient outcomes.

Working Group Reports and Presentations: Asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lewis, John

2006-01-01

The study and utilization of asteroids will be an economical way to enable exploration of the solar system and extend human presence in space. There are thousands of near-earth objects (NEOs) that we will be able to reach. They offer resources, transportation, and exploration platforms, but also present a potential threat to civilization. Asteroids play a catastrophic role in the history of the Earth. Geological records indicate a regular history of massive impacts, which astronomical observations confirm is likely to continue with potentially devastating consequences. However, study and exploration of near earth asteroids can significantly increase advanced warning of an Earth impact, and potentially lead to the technology necessary to avert such a collision. Efforts to detect and prevent cataclysmic events would tend to foster and likely require international cooperation toward a unified goal of self-preservation. Exploration of asteroids will help us to understand our history and perhaps save our future. Besides the obvious and compelling scientific and security drivers for asteroid research and exploration, there are numerous engineering and industrial applications for near-term asteroid exploration. We have strong evidence that some asteroids are metal rich. Some are water and organic rich. They can be reached with a very low fuel cost compared to other solar system destinations. Once we reach them, there are efficient, simple extraction technologies available that would facilitate utilization. In addition, the costs of returning extracted resources from asteroids will be a fraction of the cost to return similar resources from the moon to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). These raw materials, extracted and shipped at relatively low cost, can be used to manufacture structures, fuel, and products which could be used to foster mankind s further exploration of the solar system. Asteroids also have the potential to offer transport to several destinations in the solar system. In addition to Mars and the Asteroid belt, it is possible to nudge the orbits of NEOs to provide convenient transport to other destinations. Resources to support life on these long voyages may be gathered from the host asteroid itself. As asteroids travel over a wide range of inclinations and ranges, they offer possible platforms to perform scientific investigations. These include unique vantage point observations of the sun and planets. These observations can help us to understand solar activity and space weather. They also afford us an opportunity to see how the earth looks from afar with different perspectives. When we look for planets outside of our solar system, these observations will help us to calibrate our data. Asteroids may also be used as platforms to support very long baseline interferometry with unprecedented angular resolutions.

Effects of workplace, family and cultural influences on low back pain: what opportunities exist to address social factors in general consultations?

PubMed

Shaw, William S; Campbell, Paul; Nelson, Candace C; Main, Chris J; Linton, Steven J

2013-10-01

Social factors are widely acknowledged in behavioural models of pain and pain management, but incorporating these factors into general medical consultations for low back pain (LBP) can be challenging. While there is no compelling evidence that social factors contribute to LBP onset, these factors have been shown to influence functional limitation and disability, especially the effects of organisational support in the workplace, spousal support, family conflict and social disadvantage. A number of barriers exist to address such social factors in routine medical encounters for LBP, but there is emerging evidence that improving social and organisational support may be an effective strategy to reduce the negative lifestyle consequences of LBP. For clinicians to address these factors in LBP treatment requires a clearer psychosocial framework in assessment and screening, more individualised problem-solving efforts, more patient-centred interventions involving family, peers and workplace supports and a less biomechanical and diagnostic approach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Support Needs of Fathers of Children with ASD: Individual, Family, Community and Ideological Influences.

PubMed

Shave, Kassi; Lashewicz, Bonnie

2016-11-01

Fathers are increasingly involved in caring for children, and involvement by fathers of children with ASD is distinctly impacted by added demands of their child's diagnosis. Yet supports for families of children with ASD are not tailored to needs of fathers. We use an ecological framework to examine how fathers' needs are influenced by contexts ranging from the immediacy of their child's behaviour to overarching expectations for good fathering. We thematically analyse data from semi-structured interviews with 28 fathers of children with ASD who shared parenting stories of navigating their immediate and broader environments. Fathers are responsive and reflective in their parenting and value recreationally based support activities that include their children. Fathers endorse father-to-father support and are interested in mentoring fathers newer to the experience of having a child with ASD. Fathers are resourceful parents who compel a critical re-examination towards advances in father-friendly practices. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Development of the behaviorally focused fruits & Veggies--More Matters public health initiative.

PubMed

Pivonka, Elizabeth; Seymour, Jennifer; McKenna, Jeff; Baxter, Suzanne Domel; Williams, Simon

2011-10-01

Due to changing recommendations for fruit and vegetable (F/V) intake, public health and private organizations recognized the need to revise communications and programs that promote F/V consumption. This article describes formative research conducted in 2005 to develop a new identity for the 5 A Day Program, updated to the Fruits & Veggies--More Matters program. The objective was to re-brand the 5 A Day Program's campaign message to be adaptable, sustainable, and compelling, while leveraging the program's existing message dissemination infrastructure. Formative research included interviews with representatives from government, nonprofit organizations, and industry, and consumer perspectives from interviews, focus groups, and an online survey. Public health and private organizations agreed that a compelling emotional benefit was needed to motivate consumers to eat more F/V and that messaging needed to be used consistently among national, state, and local programs. Interviews and focus groups targeted mothers who believed they and their families were getting enough F/V, knew they could eat more, but needed to be convinced why they should do so. The most effective messages appealed to mothers' emotional needs to be responsible, leveraged functional intrinsic values of F/V, did not try to quantify "enough," and focused on small steps. When the Fruits & Veggies-More Matters slogan and graphic were viewed together, the majority (62%) said it increased their interest in eating more F/V. The Fruits & Veggies-More Matters brand offers numerous opportunities for promoting F/V consumption through this public health initiative. Copyright © 2011 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

34 CFR 31.7 - Hearing procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... authority to issue subpoenas to compel the production of documents or to compel the attendance of witnesses at an oral hearing under this part. The Secretary will attempt to make available during an oral... necessary, but that the official cannot attend an oral hearing to testify, the Secretary attempts to make...

Aram Chaos: A Long Lived Subsurface Aqueous Environment with Strong Water Resource Potential for Human Missions on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sibille, L.; Mueller, R. P.; Niles, P. B.; Glotch, T.; Archer, P. D.; Bell, M. S.

2015-10-01

Aram Chaos is a 280-km-wide near-circular structure near the outflow channel Ares Vallis and Aureum Chaos. It is a compelling landing site for human explorers featuring multiple science ROIs with a compelling resource ROI with polyhydrated sulfates.

Composite Scheduling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Childers, Gary L.; Ireland, Rebecca Weeks

2005-01-01

In education, there is no one best way to do anything. There are compelling reasons why some courses should be taught in longer segments of time, which the block schedule provides. There are also compelling reasons why some classes should be taught in shorter segments. At Watauga High School in Boone, North Carolina, an alternative schedule that…

Interesting Practitioners in Training in Empirically Supported Treatments: Research Reviews versus Case Studies

PubMed Central

Stewart, Rebecca E.; Chambless, Dianne L.

2010-01-01

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that clinicians rely more on clinical judgment than on research findings. We hypothesized that psychologists in practice might be more open to adopting empirically supported treatments (ESTs) if outcome results were presented with a case study. Psychologists in private practice (N = 742) were randomly assigned to receive a research review of data from randomized controlled trials of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) and medication for bulimia, a case study of CBT for a fictional patient with bulimia, or both. Results indicated that the inclusion of case examples renders ESTs more compelling and interests clinicians in gaining training. Despite these participants’ training in statistics, the inclusion of the statistical information had no influence on attitudes or training willingness beyond that of the anecdotal case information. PMID:19899142

Teacher to Teacher: What Is Your Most Compelling Reason for Teaching Grammar?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

English Journal, 2006

2006-01-01

This article presents compelling reasons from teachers why they teach grammar. Amy Benjamin from Hendrick Hudson High School says, she teaches grammar for two reasons. The first is that grammar instruction gives students metalanguage, "language about language." The second reason is that students are interested in language--its changes and…

75 FR 29381 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-25

... compelling need to attract order flow, imposed significant competitive pressure on that exchange's need to... competitive pressures on the ISE Order Feed and ISE's compelling need to attract order flow impose significant competitive pressure on the Exchange to act equitably, fairly, and reasonably in setting its fees. B. Self...

A Compelling Desire for Deafness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veale, David

2006-01-01

A case is described of a patient who has a compelling and persistent desire to become deaf. She often kept cotton wool moistened with oil in her ears and was learning sign language. Living without sound appeared to be a severe form of avoidance behavior from hyperacusis and misophonia. She had a borderline personality disorder that was associated…

Melvin Calvin award lecture, Isotopic chemistry: the most varied of careers…with tritium and deuterium the most versatile of the isotopes.

PubMed

Lockley, William J S

2013-01-01

Isotopic chemistry offers the opportunity for organic chemists to explore a surprisingly large variety of scientific avenues. It lends itself naturally to multidisciplinary research projects and provides the sophisticated tools with which the most complex of processes can be investigated. This Melvin Calvin Award lecture will keep to a broadly chronological theme and will give examples of how the remarkable versatility of the two heavy hydrogen isotopes has been utilised during collaborative studies in areas as varied as plant and insect biochemistry, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, structure determination, NMR spectroscopy, reaction mechanisms, molecular energetics and novel catalyst development. Few other careers can provide the opportunity to study such varied and fundamental subjects and still provide challenges that are as compelling and exciting some 4 decades later. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lunar Helium-3 and Fusion Power

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

The NASA Office of Exploration sponsored the NASA Lunar Helium-3 and Fusion Power Workshop. The meeting was held to understand the potential of using He-3 from the moon for terrestrial fusion power production. It provided an overview, two parallel working sessions, a review of sessions, and discussions. The lunar mining session concluded that mining, beneficiation, separation, and return of He-3 from the moon would be possible but that a large scale operation and improved technology is required. The fusion power session concluded that: (1) that He-3 offers significant, possibly compelling, advantages over fusion of tritium, principally increased reactor life, reduced radioactive wastes, and high efficiency conversion, (2) that detailed assessment of the potential of the D/He-3 fuel cycle requires more information, and (3) D/He-3 fusion may be best for commercial purposes, although D/T fusion is more near term.

Novel inhibitor against Malassezia globosa LIP1 (SMG1), a potential anti-dandruff target.

PubMed

Guo, Shaohua; Huang, Wenkang; Zhang, Jian; Wang, Yonghua

2015-09-01

Compelling evidence have demonstrated the role of lipase activity in the pathogenicity of Malassezia globosa toward dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis (D/SD). As a representative secreted lipase from M. globosa CBS 7966, Malassezia globosa LIP1 (SMG1) is considered a potential anti-dandruff target. In this study, homology modeling, docking-based virtual screening and in vitro lipase-based assay were integrated to identify the first hit compound against SMG1, with an IC50 of 20 μM against synthetic lipase substrate, and of 0.19 μM when using natural lipase substrate. Evaluation of similar compounds, along with docking, offered information on the binding patterns of the hit compound. This work is expected to serve as a starting point for the rational design of more potent inhibitors against SMG1. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Photonic Crystal Enhanced Fluorescence for Early Breast Cancer Biomarker Detection

PubMed Central

Cunningham, Brian T.; Zangar, Richard C.

2013-01-01

Photonic crystal surfaces offer a compelling platform for improving the sensitivity of surface-based fluorescent assays used in disease diagnostics. Through the complementary processes of photonic crystal enhanced excitation and enhanced extraction, a periodic dielectric-based nanostructured surface can simultaneously increase the electric field intensity experienced by surface-bound fluorophores and increase the collection efficiency of emitted fluorescent photons. Through the ability to inexpensively fabricate photonic crystal surfaces over substantial surface areas, they are amenable to single-use applications in biological sensing, such as disease biomarker detection in serum. In this review, we will describe the motivation for implementing high-sensitivity, multiplexed biomarker detection in the context of breast cancer diagnosis. We will summarize recent efforts to improve the detection limits of such assays though the use of photonic crystal surfaces. Reduction of detection limits is driven by low autofluorescent substrates for photonic crystal fabrication, and detection instruments that take advantage of their unique features. PMID:22736539

Space-based Remote Sensing: A Tool for Studying Bird Migration Across Multiple Scales

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, James A.

2005-01-01

The study of bird migration on a global scale is one of the compelling and challenging problems of modern biology with major implications for human health and conservation biology. Migration and conservation efforts cross national boundaries and are subject to numerous international agreements and treaties. Space based technology offers new opportunities to shed understanding on the distribution and migration of organisms on the planet and their sensitivity to human disturbances and environmental changes. Our working hypothesis is that individual organism biophysical models of energy and water balance, driven by satellite measurements of spatio-temporal gradients in climate and habitat, will help us to explain the variability in avian species richness and distribution. Further, these models provide an ecological forecasting tool for science and application users to visualize the possible consequences of loss of wetlands, flooding, or other natural disasters such as hurricanes on avian biodiversity and bird migration.

Divining and Knowing:

PubMed Central

Stein, Claudia

2013-01-01

Summary This article investigates the historical method of Karl Sudhoff (1853– 1938), Germany’s first professor of medical history. It argues that in order to understand his ideas more fully, we need to step outside the historiography of medical history and assess his methodology in relation to the norms and ideals of German academic history writing in general. The article demonstrates that the philology-based “critical method” of Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) was central to Sudhoff’s methodological thinking. It investigates the underlying philosophical and epistemological assumptions of Ranke’s method, which tend to be less appreciated than his overt empiricism and explores how Sudhoff applied these to the new professionalizing subdiscipline of the history of medicine. The article argues that Sudhoff’s concerns with the methodology of history, which involved a particular conception of the relationship between the human sciences and the medical sciences, offers compelling addresses to our times. PMID:23811710

Kappa Opioid Receptor Agonist and Brain Ischemia

PubMed Central

Chunhua, Chen; Chunhua, Xi; Megumi, Sugita; Renyu, Liu

2014-01-01

Opioid receptors, especially Kappa opioid receptor (KOR) play an important role in the pathophysiological process of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury. Previously accepted KOR agonists activity has included anti-nociception, cardiovascular, anti-pruritic, diuretic, and antitussive effects, while compelling evidence from various ischemic animal models indicate that KOR agonist have neuroprotective effects through various mechanisms. In this review, we aimed to demonstrate the property of KOR agonist and its role in global and focal cerebral ischemia. Based on current preclinical research, the KOR agonists may be useful as a neuroprotective agent. The recent discovery of salvinorin A, highly selective non-opioid KOR agonist, offers a new tool to study the role of KOR in brain HI injury and the protective effects of KOR agonist. The unique pharmacological profile of salvinorin A along with the long history of human usage provides its high candidacy as a potential alternative medication for brain HI injury. PMID:25574482

Chemistry and mineralogy of Martian dust: An explorer's primer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gooding, James L.

1991-01-01

A summary of chemical and mineralogical properties of Martian surface dust is offered for the benefit of engineers or mission planners who are designing hardware or strategies for Mars surface exploration. For technical details and specialized explanations, references should be made to literature cited. Four sources used for information about Martian dust composition: (1) Experiments performed on the Mars surface by the Viking Landers 1 and 2 and Earth-based lab experiments attempting to duplicate these results; (2) Infrared spectrophotometry remotely performed from Mars orbit, mostly by Mariner 9; (3) Visible and infrared spectrophotometry remotely performed from Earth; and (4) Lab studies of the shergottite nakhlite chassignite (SNC) clan of meteorites, for which compelling evidence suggests origin on Mars. Source 1 is limited to fine grained sediments at the surface whereas 2 and 3 contain mixed information about surface dust (and associated rock) and atmospheric dust. Source 4 has provided surprisingly detailed information but investigations are still incomplete.

Standards for arsenic in drinking water: Implications for policy in Mexico

PubMed Central

Fisher, Andrew T.; López-Carrillo, Lizbeth; Gamboa-Loira, Brenda; Cebrián, Mariano E.

2017-01-01

Global concern about arsenic in drinking water and its link to numerous diseases make translation of evidence-based research into national policy a priority. Delays in establishing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) to preserve health have increased the burden of disease and caused substantial and avoidable loss of life. The current Mexican MCL for arsenic in drinking water is 25 μg/l (2.5 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation from 1993). Mexico’s struggles to set its arsenic MCL offer a compelling example of shortcomings in environmental health policy. We explore factors that might facilitate policy change in Mexico: scientific evidence, risk communication and public access to information, economic and technological resources, and politics. To raise awareness of the health, societal, and economic implications of arsenic contamination of drinking water in Mexico, we suggest action steps for attaining environmental policy change and better protect population health. PMID:28808298

Hypnosis in the Treatment of Depression: Considerations in Research Design and Methods

PubMed Central

McCann, Barbara S.; Landes, Sara J.

2010-01-01

Depressive disorders constitute a serious problem in the United States. The appearance of practice guidelines and lists of evidenced based therapies suggests that adequate treatments for depression exist. However, a careful consideration of what we do and do not know about the treatment of depression leaves plenty of room for improved approaches to addressing this condition. Although there has been a dearth of research on the treatment of depression using hypnosis, there are several compelling arguments for the inclusion of hypnotic approaches in the array of strategies for dealing with depression. However, traditional “gold standard” research methods, namely randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have many potential shortcomings for identifying the potential impact of hypnosis on depression. Other strategies, notably single-case design and benchmarking approaches, may offer a more practical solution to the problem of determining “what works for depression.” PMID:20390688

Undergraduate mathematics students' reasons for attending live lectures when recordings are available

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Caroline; Oates, Greg; Sneddon, Jamie

2014-02-01

With the proliferation of new affordable recording technologies, many universities have begun offering students recordings of live lectures as a part of the course resources. We conducted a survey to investigate why some students choose to attend lectures in person rather than simply watching the recordings online, and how students view the two types of lectures. Students attending live lectures in five large undergraduate mathematics lecture streams were invited to respond to the survey. A significant number of respondents viewed recorded lecture as superfluous to their needs which were met upon attending live lecture. Surprisingly, however, an equally large number of students described compelling reasons for watching both live and recorded lectures. A number of factors were identified as determining students' perceptions of live and recorded lectures as competing or complementary: personal learning styles, study habits, esteem for the lecturer, and the possibility of interaction in the lecture.

High efficiency solution processed sintered CdTe nanocrystal solar cells: the role of interfaces.

PubMed

Panthani, Matthew G; Kurley, J Matthew; Crisp, Ryan W; Dietz, Travis C; Ezzyat, Taha; Luther, Joseph M; Talapin, Dmitri V

2014-02-12

Solution processing of photovoltaic semiconducting layers offers the potential for drastic cost reduction through improved materials utilization and high device throughput. One compelling solution-based processing strategy utilizes semiconductor layers produced by sintering nanocrystals into large-grain semiconductors at relatively low temperatures. Using n-ZnO/p-CdTe as a model system, we fabricate sintered CdTe nanocrystal solar cells processed at 350 °C with power conversion efficiencies (PCE) as high as 12.3%. JSC of over 25 mA cm(-2) are achieved, which are comparable or higher than those achieved using traditional, close-space sublimated CdTe. We find that the VOC can be substantially increased by applying forward bias for short periods of time. Capacitance measurements as well as intensity- and temperature-dependent analysis indicate that the increased VOC is likely due to relaxation of an energetic barrier at the ITO/CdTe interface.

Paranormal experience and the COMT dopaminergic gene: a preliminary attempt to associate phenotype with genotype using an underlying brain theory.

PubMed

Raz, Amir; Hines, Terence; Fossella, John; Castro, Daniella

2008-01-01

Paranormal belief and suggestibility seem related. Given our recent findings outlining a putative association between suggestibility and a specific dopaminergic genetic polymorphism, we hypothesized that similar exploratory genetic data may offer supplementary insights into a similar correlation with paranormal belief. With more affordable costs and better technology in the aftermath of the human genome project, genotyping is increasingly ubiquitous. Compelling brain theories guide specific research hypotheses as scientists begin to unravel tentative relationships between phenotype and genotype. In line with a dopaminergic brain theory, we tried to correlate a specific phenotype concerning paranormal belief with a dopaminergic gene (COMT) known for its involvement in prefrontal executive cognition and for a polymorphism that is positively correlated with suggestibility. Although our preliminary findings are inconclusive, the research approach we outline should pave the road to a more scientific account of elucidating paranormal belief.

Standards for arsenic in drinking water: Implications for policy in Mexico.

PubMed

Fisher, Andrew T; López-Carrillo, Lizbeth; Gamboa-Loira, Brenda; Cebrián, Mariano E

2017-11-01

Global concern about arsenic in drinking water and its link to numerous diseases make translation of evidence-based research into national policy a priority. Delays in establishing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) to preserve health have increased the burden of disease and caused substantial and avoidable loss of life. The current Mexican MCL for arsenic in drinking water is 25 μg/l (2.5 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation from 1993). Mexico's struggles to set its arsenic MCL offer a compelling example of shortcomings in environmental health policy. We explore factors that might facilitate policy change in Mexico: scientific evidence, risk communication and public access to information, economic and technological resources, and politics. To raise awareness of the health, societal, and economic implications of arsenic contamination of drinking water in Mexico, we suggest action steps for attaining environmental policy change and better protect population health.

Yasmin advert withdrawn--why and how.

PubMed

2003-03-01

In April 2002, Schering Health Care launched its combined oral contraceptive (COC) pill Yasmin in the UK with an advertising campaign that centred on claimed 'lifestyle' advantages of the product. In our August 2002 article 'Is Yasmin a "truly different" pill?', we concluded that the company's claim that Yasmin is "the pill for wellbeing" was unjustified and misleading and should be withdrawn. We also argued that there was no compelling published evidence that Yasmin offered any advantages over other, longer-established, COCs with regards to weight gain, skin condition or premenstrual symptoms. In September, we received a letter from Schering's solicitors threatening to sue us for defamation on the grounds that "the article has damaged the reputation of Yasmin and the Company". In December, we learned that the company had withdrawn the advertising. Here, we summarise the events that led to the withdrawal. We also consider the weaknesses this episode reveals about current procedures for controlling medicines promotion in the UK.

Planar dynamics of large-deformation rods under moving loads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, X. W.; van der Heijden, G. H. M.

2018-01-01

We formulate the problem of a slender structure (a rod) undergoing large deformation under the action of a moving mass or load motivated by inspection robots crawling along bridge cables or high-voltage power lines. The rod is described by means of geometrically exact Cosserat theory which allows for arbitrary planar flexural, extensional and shear deformations. The equations of motion are discretised using the generalised-α method. The formulation is shown to handle the discontinuities of the problem well. Application of the method to a cable and an arch problem reveals interesting nonlinear phenomena. For the cable problem we find that large deformations have a resonance detuning effect on cable dynamics. The problem also offers a compelling illustration of the Timoshenko paradox. For the arch problem we find a stabilising (delay) effect on the in-plane collapse of the arch, with failure suppressed entirely at sufficiently high speed.

Microfluidic and nanofluidic phase behaviour characterization for industrial CO2, oil and gas.

PubMed

Bao, Bo; Riordon, Jason; Mostowfi, Farshid; Sinton, David

2017-08-08

Microfluidic systems that leverage unique micro-scale phenomena have been developed to provide rapid, accurate and robust analysis, predominantly for biomedical applications. These attributes, in addition to the ability to access high temperatures and pressures, have motivated recent expanded applications in phase measurements relevant to industrial CO 2 , oil and gas applications. We here present a comprehensive review of this exciting new field, separating microfluidic and nanofluidic approaches. Microfluidics is practical, and provides similar phase properties analysis to established bulk methods with advantages in speed, control and sample size. Nanofluidic phase behaviour can deviate from bulk measurements, which is of particular relevance to emerging unconventional oil and gas production from nanoporous shale. In short, microfluidics offers a practical, compelling replacement of current bulk phase measurement systems, whereas nanofluidics is not practical, but uniquely provides insight into phase change phenomena at nanoscales. Challenges, trends and opportunities for phase measurements at both scales are highlighted.

Unexpected Outcomes of Thai Cassava Trade: A Case of Global Complexity and Local Unsustainability

PubMed Central

CURRAN, SARA R.; COOKE, ABIGAIL M.

2014-01-01

Tracing the Thai cassava (Manihot esculenta) trade network, between 1960 and 2000, offers a compelling example of global complexity at work. The emergence of Thailand’s dominance of world export markets caught the world by surprise. The opening up of a European market for cassava was supposed to be met by Brazilian and Indonesian producers. Instead, Thailand took over the market by 1975. Several factors facilitated this emergence including: entrepreneurial diasporic networks of Thai-Chinese traders, local political economy conditions in both Europe and Thailand, and ecological conditions in Thailand. These same factors also shaped the subsequent timing of the closing of the European market, the emergence of a new industry association, the creation of new cassava products, and the expansion to other markets. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of cassava market yielded equivocal outcomes for both Europe and Thai farmers. PMID:25328444

Psychosocial support services for family medicine resident physicians.

PubMed

Addison, Richard B; Riesenberg, Lee Ann; Rosenbaum, Paula

2004-02-01

The stress of residency is well documented. Some residency programs recognize the importance of addressing resident stress and provide psychosocial support services. This study assesses the current state of support services offered to family medicine residents and documents historical trends of support. All US family medicine residency programs were surveyed about program characteristics and the presence or absence of 21 psychosocial support services. The prevalence of current services was compared to that of 10 and 20 years ago. The percentage of family medicine programs offering 17 of 19 support services increased over the previous decades. However, percentages of some key services, especially those that address family life, are still quite low. Increases in services may be due to programs' desire to offer more positive and supportive educational experiences. Offering supportive and reflective opportunities may lessen stress, increase flexibility and balance, create enthusiasm for learning, encourage compassion for patients, and promote future well-being. In times of decreasing interest in family medicine, the presence of effective psychosocial support services may be important for attracting and training the best possible family physicians.

Visions Lost and Dreams Forgotten: Environmental Education, Systems Thinking, and Possible Futures in American Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassell, John A.; Nelson, Thomas

2010-01-01

This article discusses the contributions to this special issue of "Teacher Education Quarterly." At the core of all the contributions is the compellingly urgent realization that humanity is facing, and must deal with, enormous ecological and social problems and challenges. This situation has created an urgent and compelling need centered…

75 FR 13416 - Federal Acquisition Regulation; FAR Case 2008-006, Enhanced Competition for Task- and Delivery...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-19

.... ``Unusual and Compelling Urgency.'' In the event of a FAR subpart 6.3 exception for a single contract award over $100 million including an unusual and compelling urgency exception, the commenter expresses... work. In those situations, it does not make sense in terms of costs and efficiency to require the...

12 CFR 602.4 - How to make a request.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... as we can. A compelling need means: (1) Someone's life or physical safety may be in danger if we do... Credit Administration. You may send it: (1) By mail to 1501 Farm Credit Drive, McLean, Virginia 22102..., that you have a “compelling need.” The FOIA Officer will tell you within 10 calendar days after...

The Next Generation Science Standards: An Historic Opportunity for K-12 Earth and Space Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, R. M.; Passow, M. J.; Holzer, M. A.; Moore, J.

2014-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provide an historic opportunity to significantly improve Earth and space science (ESS) education nationally at the K-12 level. The increased emphasis on ESS related topics in the NGSS relative to previous standards provides a real opportunity for ensuring all K-12 students in adopting states learn about the ESS - allowing us to reach many more students than are currently are exposed to our discipline. The new standards are also exciting in that they explicitly couple science and engineering practice, cross-cutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas in such a way that student must actively demonstrate their understanding through actions rather than through mere regurgitation of memorized responses. Achieving mastery of NGSS Performance Expectations will require practice with higher-order learning skills - with students engaging in the practices of scientists and engineers. Preparing students for this mastery will be a challenging task for teachers, since in many states professional development support is limited at best for the current curriculum - let alone the curricula that will be developed to address the NGSS. As adoption of the NGSS expands across the country, states will be at various levels of implementation of the new standards over the next several years - and there is real concern that teachers must have sufficient professional development to be able to be successful in preparing their students - particularly in view of likely coupled assessments and teacher evaluations. NESTA strongly supports implementation of the NGSS, and the rigorous and compelling ESS education it will engender, when coupled with a strong emphasis nationwide on teacher professional development. For the past two years, the National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) has continued our leadership in K-12 ESS education through workshops, web seminars, events and publications that emphasize implementation of the NGSS in ESS-related courses. Our recent survey of K-12 Earth and space science educators confirms widespread enthusiasm about the potential offered by the new standards, as well as concern about the urgent need for professional development to support teacher implementation of the standards.

Multidisciplinary life cycle metrics and tools for green buildings.

PubMed

Helgeson, Jennifer F; Lippiatt, Barbara C

2009-07-01

Building sector stakeholders need compelling metrics, tools, data, and case studies to support major investments in sustainable technologies. Proponents of green building widely claim that buildings integrating sustainable technologies are cost effective, but often these claims are based on incomplete, anecdotal evidence that is difficult to reproduce and defend. The claims suffer from 2 main weaknesses: 1) buildings on which claims are based are not necessarily "green" in a science-based, life cycle assessment (LCA) sense and 2) measures of cost effectiveness often are not based on standard methods for measuring economic worth. Yet, the building industry demands compelling metrics to justify sustainable building designs. The problem is hard to solve because, until now, neither methods nor robust data supporting defensible business cases were available. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Building and Fire Research Laboratory is beginning to address these needs by developing metrics and tools for assessing the life cycle economic and environmental performance of buildings. Economic performance is measured with the use of standard life cycle costing methods. Environmental performance is measured by LCA methods that assess the "carbon footprint" of buildings, as well as 11 other sustainability metrics, including fossil fuel depletion, smog formation, water use, habitat alteration, indoor air quality, and effects on human health. Carbon efficiency ratios and other eco-efficiency metrics are established to yield science-based measures of the relative worth, or "business cases," for green buildings. Here, the approach is illustrated through a realistic building case study focused on different heating, ventilation, air conditioning technology energy efficiency. Additionally, the evolution of the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability multidisciplinary team and future plans in this area are described.

How Complete is Mid-Infrared Selection of Active Galactic Nuclei?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grae Short, Miona; Diamond-Stanic, Aleks

2015-01-01

Essentially every galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole, and roughly 10% of those black holes are currently growing as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Given the compelling evidence that galaxies and black holes co-evolve, there is strong motivation to study how black holes assemble their mass through cosmic time. However, this is challenging because a large fraction of black hole growth is enshrouded by gas and dust. Deep and wide surveys at X-ray and infrared wavelengths offer a powerful way to study the obscured AGN population, but an important caveat is that X-ray surveys are not complete for the most highly absorbed sources and infrared surveys are not able to distinguish low-luminosity AGNs from normal galaxies. To help address these outstanding issues and to analyze the completeness of mid-infrared AGN selection, we use Spitzer and WISE photometry to study the mid-infrared colors of a complete sample of local AGNs. The sample is drawn from the revised Shapley-Ames galaxy catalog and includes every galaxy in the sky brighter than B=13 that is known to host Seyfert activity. This sample is unique in its sensitivity to low-luminosity and highly obscured sources. Our main result is that most of these known AGNs would be classified as normal galaxies on the basis of their mid-infrared colors, implying that analogs to local Seyfert galaxies would not be identified as AGNs in existing surveys. We find that this a strong function of AGN luminosity, and we also present trends as a function of AGN obscuration, galaxy luminosity, and stellar mass. These results provide important insights into the AGN population that is missing from our census of black hole growth in the distant universe. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation's REU program through NSF Award AST-1004881. We also acknowledge support from The Grainger Foundation and from gifts made to the Department of Astronomy at UW-Madison.

Intra-Operative Surgical Irrigation of the Surgical Incision: What Does the Future Hold-Saline, Antibiotic Agents, or Antiseptic Agents?

PubMed

Edmiston, Charles E; Leaper, David J

2016-12-01

Intra-operative surgical site irrigation (lavage) is common practice in surgical procedures in general, with all disciplines advocating some form of irrigation before incision closure. This practice, however, has been neither standardized nor is there compelling evidence that it effectively reduces the risk of surgical site infection (SSI). This narrative review addresses the laboratory and clinical evidence that is available to support the practice of irrigation of the abdominal cavity and superficial/deep incisional tissues, using specific irrigation solutions at the end of an operative procedure to reduce the microbial burden at wound closure. Review of PubMed and OVID for pertinent, scientific, and clinical publications in the English language was performed. Incision irrigation was found to afford a three-fold benefit: First, to hydrate the bed; second, to assist in allowing better examination of the area immediately before closure; and finally, by removing superficial and deep incisional contamination and lowering the bioburden, expedite the healing process. The clinical practice of intra-operative peritoneal lavage is highly variable and is dependent solely on surgeon preference. By contrast, intra-operative irrigation after device-related procedures has become a standard of care for the prophylaxis of acute peri-prosthetic infection. The clinical evidence that supports the use of antibiotic irrigation is limited and based on retrospective analysis and few acceptable randomized controlled trials. The results of laboratory and animal studies using aqueous 0.05% chlorhexidine gluconate are favorable, suggesting that further studies are justified to determine its clinical efficacy. The adoption of appropriate and standardized intra-operative irrigation practices into peri-operative care bundles, which include other evidence-based strategies (weight-based antimicrobial prophylaxis, antimicrobial sutures, maintenance of normothermia, and glycemic control), offers an inexpensive and effective method to reduce the risk of post-operative SSI and deserves further evaluation.

State of the evidence regarding behavior change theories and strategies in nutrition counseling to facilitate health and food behavior change.

PubMed

Spahn, Joanne M; Reeves, Rebecca S; Keim, Kathryn S; Laquatra, Ida; Kellogg, Molly; Jortberg, Bonnie; Clark, Nicole A

2010-06-01

Behavior change theories and models, validated within the field of dietetics, offer systematic explanations for nutrition-related behavior change. They are integral to the nutrition care process, guiding nutrition assessment, intervention, and outcome evaluation. The American Dietetic Association Evidence Analysis Library Nutrition Counseling Workgroup conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature related to behavior change theories and strategies used in nutrition counseling. Two hundred fourteen articles were reviewed between July 2007 and March 2008, and 87 studies met the inclusion criteria. The workgroup systematically evaluated these articles and formulated conclusion statements and grades based upon the available evidence. Strong evidence exists to support the use of a combination of behavioral theory and cognitive behavioral theory, the foundation for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), in facilitating modification of targeted dietary habits, weight, and cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors. Evidence is particularly strong in patients with type 2 diabetes receiving intensive, intermediate-duration (6 to 12 months) CBT, and long-term (>12 months duration) CBT targeting prevention or delay in onset of type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Few studies have assessed the application of the transtheoretical model on nutrition-related behavior change. Little research was available documenting the effectiveness of nutrition counseling utilizing social cognitive theory. Motivational interviewing was shown to be a highly effective counseling strategy, particularly when combined with CBT. Strong evidence substantiates the effectiveness of self-monitoring and meal replacements and/or structured meal plans. Compelling evidence exists to demonstrate that financial reward strategies are not effective. Goal setting, problem solving, and social support are effective strategies, but additional research is needed in more diverse populations. Routine documentation and evaluation of the effectiveness of behavior change theories and models applied to nutrition care interventions are recommended. 2010 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Communicating Social Support to Grieving Clients: The Veterinarians' View

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pilgram, Mary D.

2010-01-01

This exploratory study examines veterinarians' perceptions of how they offer social support to grieving clients. Because many clients cannot find the social support they would like from other sources when grieving the death of a pet, the role of the vet in offering support becomes increasingly important. The results indicate that vets perceive…

Developing a leadership pipeline: the Cleveland Clinic experience.

PubMed

Hess, Caryl A; Barss, Christina; Stoller, James K

2014-11-01

The complexity of health care requires excellent leadership to address the challenges of access, quality, and cost of care. Because competencies to lead differ from clinical or research skills, there is a compelling need to develop leaders and create a talent pipeline, perhaps especially in physician-led organizations like Cleveland Clinic. In this context, we previously reported on a cohort-based physician leadership development course called Leading in Health Care and, in the current report, detail an expanded health care leadership development programme called the Cleveland Clinic Academy (CCA). CCA consists of a broad suite of offerings, including cohort-based learning and 'a la carte' half- or full-day courses addressing specific competencies to manage and to lead. Academy attendance is optional and is available to all physicians, nurses, and administrators with the requisite experience. Course selection is guided by competency matrices which map leadership competencies to specific courses. As of December 2012, a total of 285 course sessions have been offered to 6,050 attendees with uniformly high ratings of course quality and impact. During the past 10 years, Cleveland Clinic's leadership and management curriculum has successfully created a pipeline of health care leaders to fill executive positions, search committees, board openings, and various other organizational leadership positions. Health care leadership can be taught and learned.

Effect of Anatomically Realistic Full-Head Model on Activation of Cortical Neurons in Subdural Cortical Stimulation—A Computational Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Hyeon; Kim, Donghyeon; Jun, Sung Chan

2016-06-01

Electrical brain stimulation (EBS) is an emerging therapy for the treatment of neurological disorders, and computational modeling studies of EBS have been used to determine the optimal parameters for highly cost-effective electrotherapy. Recent notable growth in computing capability has enabled researchers to consider an anatomically realistic head model that represents the full head and complex geometry of the brain rather than the previous simplified partial head model (extruded slab) that represents only the precentral gyrus. In this work, subdural cortical stimulation (SuCS) was found to offer a better understanding of the differential activation of cortical neurons in the anatomically realistic full-head model than in the simplified partial-head models. We observed that layer 3 pyramidal neurons had comparable stimulation thresholds in both head models, while layer 5 pyramidal neurons showed a notable discrepancy between the models; in particular, layer 5 pyramidal neurons demonstrated asymmetry in the thresholds and action potential initiation sites in the anatomically realistic full-head model. Overall, the anatomically realistic full-head model may offer a better understanding of layer 5 pyramidal neuronal responses. Accordingly, the effects of using the realistic full-head model in SuCS are compelling in computational modeling studies, even though this modeling requires substantially more effort.

Concession stand makeovers: a pilot study of offering healthy foods at high school concession stands

PubMed Central

Laroche, Helena H.; Ford, Christopher; Hansen, Kate; Cai, Xueya; Just, David R.; Hanks, Andrew S.; Wansink, Brian

2015-01-01

Background Concession stands at high school events are exempt from the US Department of Agriculture regulations for school foods. Concessions are generally stocked with unhealthy foods since healthy foods are believed to have lower sales and profit margins. Methods Concession stand sales for two seasons of high school fall sports in Muscatine, Iowa were compared. In between seasons, two types of changes were made: (i) addition of new healthier concession options and (ii) substitution of healthier ingredients (less saturated fat, no trans fat). Satisfaction surveys of students and parents were conducted before and after the changes. Data were collected in 2008 and 2009 and analyzed in 2012–13. Results Revenue per game was similar between years, even with the introduction of healthier items and ingredient changes. In 2009, the new healthy foods comprised 9.2% of total revenue and sales of some new items increased with each game. The ‘healthy makeover’ had no influence on student satisfaction but it improved parent satisfaction (P < 0.001). Conclusions This compelling test of concept shows that offering healthier items can be good for both sales and satisfaction. While this study was conducted with concession stands, the principles can be carried over into other food retail settings. PMID:24623802

The Economic Education of Young People

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prutchenkov, A.; Teriukova, T.

2010-01-01

Under the economic conditions that are new to Russia, young people are subjected to the influence of many factors. On the one hand, they are compelled to put up opposition to the economic system, while on the other hand they are compelled to be actively involved in it. In either case they have to solve the problem of how to survive in the system.…

18 CFR 385.410 - Objections to discovery, motions to quash or to compel, and protective orders (Rule 410).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Objections to discovery... RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE Discovery Procedures for Matters Set for Hearing Under Subpart E § 385.410 Objections to discovery, motions to quash or to compel, and protective orders (Rule 410). (a...

Girls' Sexual Development in the Inner City: From Compelled Childhood Sexual Contact to Sex-for-Things Exchanges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunlap, Eloise; Golub, Andrew; Johnson, Bruce D.

2003-01-01

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) has been linked to a wide variety of adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes. This paper describes girls' sexual development in the inner city based on qualitative material from a long-term ethnographic (observational) study. For many inner-city girls, early and then continued experiences of being compelled to have…

The phenomenology of maverick dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krusberg, Zosia Anna Celina

Astrophysical observations from galactic to cosmological scales point to a substantial non-baryonic component to the universe's total matter density. Although very little is presently known about the physical properties of dark matter, its existence offers some of the most compelling evidence for physics beyond the standard model (BSM). In the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) scenario, the dark matter consists of particles that possess weak-scale interactions with the particles of the standard model, offering a compelling theoretical framework that allows us to understand the relic abundance of dark matter as a natural consequence of the thermal history of the early universe. From the perspective of particle physics phenomenology, the WIMP scenario is appealing for two additional reasons. First, many theories of BSM physics contain attractive WIMP candidates. Second, the weak-scale interactions between WIMPs and standard model particles imply the possibility of detecting scatterings between relic WIMPs and detector nuclei in direct detection experiments, products of WIMP annihilations at locations throughout the galaxy in indirect detection programs, and WIMP production signals at high-energy particle colliders. In this work, we use an effective field theory approach to study model-independent dark matter phenomenology in direct detection and collider experiments. The maverick dark matter scenario is defined by an effective field theory in which the WIMP is the only new particle within the energy range accessible to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Although certain assumptions are necessary to keep the problem tractable, we describe our WIMP candidate generically by specifying only its spin and dominant interaction form with standard model particles. Constraints are placed on the masses and coupling constants of the maverick WIMPs using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) relic density measurement and direct detection exclusion data from both spin-independent (XENON100 and SuperCDMS) and spin-dependent (COUPP) experiments. We further study the distinguishability of maverick WIMP production signals at the Tevatron and the LHC---at its early and nominal configurations---using standard simulation packages, place constraints on maverick WIMP properties using existing collider data, and determine projected mass reaches in future data from both colliders. We find ourselves in a unique era of theoretically-motivated, high-precision dark matter searches that hold the potential to give us important insights, not only into the nature of dark matter, but also into the physics that lies beyond the standard model.

A Review Of Innovative International Financing Mechanisms To Address Noncommunicable Diseases.

PubMed

Meghani, Ankita; Basu, Sanjay

2015-09-01

Noncommunicable diseases have become prevalent in low- and middle-income countries. A key question that remains unresolved is how to support the development of systems to prevent and treat noncommunicable disease through international financing mechanisms. We conducted a review of articles and grey literature published from 2000 through 2014 on innovative financing models proposed or used for other disease control efforts. We found that the greatest available evidence supported pooled funding models, where funding from multiple groups is combined for a specific investment, with such models previously deployed in vaccine and infectious disease funding areas. Robust evidence also supported the viability of international transactions taxes or levies placed on specific transactions to fund investments in drug procurement and supply, and of the front-loading of development aid through bond sales, particularly to stabilize funding and subsidize drug procurement. Far less compelling evidence was available to support diaspora bonds or debt reduction programs as mechanisms to aid low- and middle-income countries' health systems in financing noncommunicable disease prevention and care services. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Offering Person-Centered Supports on a Daily Basis: An Initial Appreciative Inquiry into the Relationship between Personal Assistants and Those Seeking Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romer, Lyle T.; Walker, Pamela

2013-01-01

This paper focuses on aspects of the relationship that develops between people offering daily support and those seeking those supports. We interviewed 16 personal assistants employed in two agencies in the Pacific Northwest. Both agencies are members of a community of practice among organizers of person-centered supports that is coordinated…

Dropping in on a Clean Room Webb Test

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

A crane in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., lowers a test mass simulator (center of frame) onto the Ambient Optical Assembly Stand or AOAS to ensure it can support the James Webb Space Telescope's Optical Telescope Element during its assembly. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Glaciers and Sea Level Rise

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-05-15

An airplane drops essential support on the Austfonna Ice Cap in Svalbard (Norwegian Arctic). The triangular structure is a corner reflector used as ground reference for airborne radar surveys. To learn about the contributions of glaciers to sea level rise, visit: www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/glacier-sea-rise.html Credit: Andrea Taurisano, Norwegian Polar Institute NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

The effects of task difficulty and resource requirements on attention strategies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Teresa

1991-01-01

The patterns of attention strategies for task difficulty/resource tasks for which experimental results are presented and analyzed support the hypothesis that subjects may adopt an alternating (rather than concurrent one) when compelled to do so by either the size or the complexity of a visual display. According to the multiple resource model, if subjects had been performing the two tasks concurrently, the cost of this strategy would have been shown by a decrement in the spatial format, rather than the verbal format, due to competition for the same resource. Subjects may apply different strategies as a function of task difficulty and/or resource demand.

Sirtuins in neurodegenerative diseases: an update on potential mechanisms

PubMed Central

Min, Sang-Won; Sohn, Peter D.; Cho, Seo-Hyun; Swanson, Raymond A.; Gan, Li

2013-01-01

Silent information regulator 2 proteins (sirtuins or SIRTs) are a group of deacetylases (or deacylases) whose activities are dependent on and regulated by nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). Compelling evidence supports that sirtuins play major roles in many aspects of physiology, especially in pathways related to aging – the predominant and unifying risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we highlight the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effects of sirtuins in neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on protein homeostasis, neural plasticity, mitochondrial function, and sustained chronic inflammation. We will also examine the potential and challenges of targeting sirtuin pathways to block these pathogenic pathways. PMID:24093018

Definition of ALI/ARDS.

PubMed

Raghavendran, Krishnan; Napolitano, Lena M

2011-07-01

Although acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are caused by different injuries and conditions, their similar clinical picture makes a compelling case for them to be studied as a single entity. An array of potential specific targets for pharmacologic intervention can be applied to ALI/ARDS as one disease. Although a working definition of ALI/ARDS that includes pulmonary and extrapulmonary causes can have benefit in standardizing supportive care, it can also complicate assessments of the efficacy of therapeutic interventions. In this article, definitions that have been recently used for ALI/ARDS in various clinical studies are discussed individually. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The hub-and-spoke organization design revisited: a lifeline for rural hospitals.

PubMed

Elrod, James K; Fortenberry, John L

2017-12-13

Characterized by declining populations, high poverty, reduced employment opportunities, and high numbers of uninsured residents, rural communities pose significant challenges for healthcare providers desirous of addressing these medically underserved areas. Such difficult environments, in fact, have forced the closure of many rural hospitals across America, with scores facing the same threat, compelling intensive efforts to identify pathways which will yield an improved future. Collaborations with stronger urban or suburban healthcare institutions offer a prudent avenue for rural hospitals to continue serving their patients. Such relationships can be structured in many different ways, but Willis-Knighton Health System found that its use of the hub-and-spoke organization design set the stage for the institution to cast a vital lifeline to neighboring rural hospitals, affording the relatively seamless integration and assimilation of partner facilities into its network, ensuring continuity of services in remote regions. This article supplies an overview of the hub-and-spoke network and discusses Willis-Knighton Health System's use of it to facilitate the establishment of productive partnerships with rural hospitals. The delivery of healthcare services in rural environments is essential, but with small community hospitals increasingly being under threat, the outlook is not particularly attractive. Partnerships with better positioned healthcare entities offer significant hope, but care must be taken to structure these arrangements optimally. Willis-Knighton Health System found utility and value in its hub-and-spoke organization design, with the insights presented in this account potentially offering a pathway for others to follow as they go about addressing the healthcare needs of rural populations.

Toward Effective and Compelling Instruction for High School eCommerce Students: Results from a Small Field Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luterbach, Kenneth J.; Rodriguez, Diane; Love, Lakecia

2012-01-01

This paper describes an instructional development effort to create effective and compelling instruction for eCommerce students. Results from a small field study inform the development project. Four high school students in an eCommerce course completed the standalone tutorial developed to teach them how to create a web page in the HyperText Markup…

Practicing Critical Media Literacy Education: Developing a Community of Inquiry among Teachers Using Popular Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flores-Koulish, Stephanie

2010-01-01

Media literacy compels us to look anew at the most mundane, that which surrounds us: the media and our popular culture. From there media literacy compels us to accept that the media are constructed and to seek various ways to analyze them, while considering our own beliefs to evaluate for ourselves an ultimate interpretation. This process has the…

41 CFR 302-6.105 - What is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... reasonâ warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE reimbursement? 302-6.105... is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE... problems (e.g., delay in settlement on the new residence, or short-term delay in construction of the...

41 CFR 302-6.105 - What is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... reasonâ warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE reimbursement? 302-6.105... is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE... problems (e.g., delay in settlement on the new residence, or short-term delay in construction of the...

41 CFR 302-6.105 - What is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... reasonâ warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE reimbursement? 302-6.105... is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE... problems (e.g., delay in settlement on the new residence, or short-term delay in construction of the...

41 CFR 302-6.105 - What is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... reasonâ warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE reimbursement? 302-6.105... is a “compelling reason” warranting extension of my authorized period for claiming an actual TQSE... problems (e.g., delay in settlement on the new residence, or short-term delay in construction of the...

Learning Technology Adoption: Navy Barriers And Resistance

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-01

ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) Technological developments offer opportunities to enhance training effectiveness, in support of achieving high-velocity...developments offer opportunities to enhance training effectiveness, in support of achieving high-velocity learning. However, resistance to change...considering what opportunities for enhanced training might be offered by learning-centered technologies. This is evident in the CNO’s statement, “We must

Who gives to whom? Testing the support gap hypothesis with naturalistic observations of couple interactions.

PubMed

Wang, Shu-Wen; Repetti, Rena L

2016-06-01

We examined sex differences in explicitly supportive behavior exchanges between husbands and wives using naturalistic video-recordings of everyday couple interactions inside the home. Thirty dual-earner, middle class, heterosexual couples with school-age children were recorded in their homes over 4 days. Specific instances of face-to-face explicit couple support in the video-recordings were identified, and the support role assumed by each partner (recipient vs. provider), the method of support initiation (solicitations vs. offers), and the type of support (instrumental vs. emotional) in each interaction were coded. Paired samples t tests examined sex differences in husbands' and wives' supportive behavior, and bivariate correlations tested the associations among spouses' support initiation behaviors. Findings counter prior research that has largely found a "support gap" favoring husbands as support recipients. Instead, results indicate that wives received significantly more support of an instrumental nature from husbands (than husbands did from wives), a finding driven by wives' active support-soliciting behavior. Among husbands, a tendency to be the solicitor of support was positively correlated with a tendency to offer support. Within couples, rates of offers of support by 1 spouse were correlated with offers by the partner. Naturalistic observations highlight processes that may not be detected by self-reports or laboratory data, in an ecologically valid context in which social behavior reflects the natural rhythms and pulls of everyday life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding the different types of social support offered by audience to A-list diary-like and informative bloggers.

PubMed

Ko, Hsiu-Chia; Wang, Li-Ling; Xu, Yi-Ting

2013-03-01

Blogs offer audiences a forum through which they can exchange ideas and provide feedback about the everyday lives and experiences of the bloggers. Such interactions and communication between audiences and bloggers could be regarded as a kind of social support. The present study aims to identify and compare the types of social support offered by audiences to continuous popular diary-like and informative bloggers, and to explore the possible benefits that bloggers may obtain from such social support. Content analysis was used to analyze the 485 and 390 comments provided by the audiences to the A-list diary-like and informative blog posts, respectively. Results reveal that validation, compliment, and encouragement are the most common types of social support given by audiences to A-list bloggers. Chi-square test results show that the audiences offer more encouragement-type of social support to diary-like bloggers and more complimentary and informational social support to informative bloggers. Such types of social support may enhance A-list bloggers' self-esteem, boost their confidence, promote their self-understanding, and help them obtain the benefits of social validation, which in turn encourage bloggers to commit continuous self-disclosure.

Breaking the barriers to commercialization of MEMS: a firm's search for competitive advantage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, Steven T.; Linton, Jonathan D.

1999-08-01

A model of infrastructure development for MEMS manufacturing Technologies is offered. The role of discontinuous innovation in achieving competitive advantage is briefly reviewed. This is followed by the development of a model that describes the stages in the growth of an infrastructure to support Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems infrastructure. We briefly describe how an infrastructure gradually grows to support a new industry, resulting from discontinuous innovation. the model indicates the evolving nature of the actions and investments that firms and governments need to make to support the growth of an immature industry. Consequently, we aim to not only offer a descriptive model, but offer guidance to firms on whether their intentions and resources fit with the state of the industry and to offer policy makers guidance on the timing of different types of support.

State Department of Public Health v. Wells.

PubMed

1989-09-07

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals decided that under state law the results of an inmate's HIV-AIDS test remain confidential. The release of test results may be done by physicians or state health officers to third parties where the risk of disease transmittal is foreseeable, real, or probable. An inmate awaiting transfer from a county jail to a state prison voluntarily submitted to HIV testing, and the county sheriff sought to compel release of the results. Under the state Notifiable Diseases Act, the county could not compel testing of those inmates awaiting transfer, nor could it compel release of the results of that testing. The results are confidential unless the test is compulsory or the inmate gives written consent, and then the discretion to divulge the results resides in physicians or state health personnel rather than in the courts.

Actions by the Bonneville Power Administration to Implement the Long- Term Contracting Provisions of P.L. 96-501

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-09-04

begin necessary negotiations for initial long-term contracts. Third, the term "offer" is not defined in the Act. Under general contract law , a valid...The position that the Administrator must offer coplete and definite contracts within 9 months of December 5, 1980, is supported by general contract law definitions...conititute "offers" in contract law . This interpretation is supported by Williston, who states that an offer is always a conditional promise, which wll

The money blind: how to stop industry bias in biomedical science, without violating the First Amendment.

PubMed

Robertson, Christopher T

2011-01-01

The pharmaceutical and medical device industries use billions of dollars to support the biomedical science that physicians, regulators, and patients use to make healthcare decisions--the decisions that drive an increasingly large portion of the American economy. Compelling evidence suggests that this industry money buys favorable results, biasing the outcomes of scientific research. Current efforts to manage the problem, including disclosure mandates and peer reviews, are ineffective. A blinding mechanism, operating through an intermediary such as the National Institutes of Health, could instead be developed to allow industry support of science without allowing undue influence. If the editors of biomedical journals fail to mandate that industry funders utilize such a solution, the federal government has several regulatory levers available, including conditioning federal funding and direct regulation, both of which could be done without violating the First Amendment.

The thermoregulatory theory of yawning: what we know from over 5 years of research

PubMed Central

Gallup, Andrew C.; Eldakar, Omar T.

2012-01-01

Over the past 5 years numerous reports have confirmed and replicated the specific brain cooling and thermal window predictions derived from the thermoregulatory theory of yawning, and no study has found evidence contrary to these findings. Here we review the comparative research supporting this model of yawning among homeotherms, while highlighting a recent report showing how the expression of contagious yawning in humans is altered by seasonal climate variation. The fact that yawning is constrained to a thermal window of ambient temperature provides unique and compelling support in favor of this theory. Heretofore, no existing alternative hypothesis of yawning can explain these results, which have important implications for understanding the potential functional role of this behavior, both physiologically and socially, in humans and other animals. In discussion we stress the broader applications of this work in clinical settings, and counter the various criticisms of this theory. PMID:23293583

Do schizophrenia patients age early?

PubMed

Shivakumar, Venkataram; Kalmady, Sunil V; Venkatasubramanian, Ganesan; Ravi, Vasanthapuram; Gangadhar, Bangalore N

2014-08-01

The etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia is poorly understood. Within the proposed "neurodegeneration paradigm", observations have been put forth for "accelerated aging" in this disorder. This proposition is largely based on the neuroscience research that demonstrates progressive changes in brain as well as other systemic abnormalities supportive of faster aging process in patients with this disorder. In this review, we have summarized the literature related to the concept of early aging in schizophrenia. These studies include P300 abnormalities & visual motion discrimination, neuroimaging findings, telomere dynamics as well as neuropathology of related brain regions. We also propose a role of vitamin D, neuroimmunological changes and elevated oxidative stress as well as mitochondrial dysfunction in addition to the above factors with 'vitamin-D deficiency' as the central paradox. Put together, the evidence supporting early aging in schizophrenia is compelling and this requires further systematic studies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Civil society: the catalyst for ensuring health in the age of sustainable development.

PubMed

Smith, Julia; Buse, Kent; Gordon, Case

2016-07-16

Sustainable Development Goal Three is rightly ambitious, but achieving it will require doing global health differently. Among other things, progressive civil society organisations will need to be recognised and supported as vital partners in achieving the necessary transformations. We argue, using illustrative examples, that a robust civil society can fulfill eight essential global health functions. These include producing compelling moral arguments for action, building coalitions beyond the health sector, introducing novel policy alternatives, enhancing the legitimacy of global health initiatives and institutions, strengthening systems for health, enhancing accountability systems, mitigating the commercial determinants of health and ensuring rights-based approaches. Given that civil society activism has catalyzed tremendous progress in global health, there is a need to invest in and support it as a global public good to ensure that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can be realised.

Episodic sequence memory is supported by a theta-gamma phase code.

PubMed

Heusser, Andrew C; Poeppel, David; Ezzyat, Youssef; Davachi, Lila

2016-10-01

The meaning we derive from our experiences is not a simple static extraction of the elements but is largely based on the order in which those elements occur. Models propose that sequence encoding is supported by interactions between high- and low-frequency oscillations, such that elements within an experience are represented by neural cell assemblies firing at higher frequencies (gamma) and sequential order is encoded by the specific timing of firing with respect to a lower frequency oscillation (theta). During episodic sequence memory formation in humans, we provide evidence that items in different sequence positions exhibit greater gamma power along distinct phases of a theta oscillation. Furthermore, this segregation is related to successful temporal order memory. Our results provide compelling evidence that memory for order, a core component of an episodic memory, capitalizes on the ubiquitous physiological mechanism of theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling.

A new hat for librarians: providing REDCap support to establish the library as a central data hub

PubMed Central

Read, Kevin; LaPolla, Fred Willie Zametkin

2018-01-01

Background REDCap, an electronic data capture tool, supports good research data management, but many researchers lack familiarity with the tool. While a REDCap administrator provided technical support and a clinical data management support unit provided study design support, a service gap existed. Case Presentation Librarians with REDCap expertise sought to increase and improve usage through outreach, workshops, and consultations. In collaboration with a REDCap administrator and the director of the clinical data management support unit, the role of the library was established in providing REDCap training and consultations. REDCap trainings were offered to the medical center during the library’s quarterly data series, which served as a springboard for offering tailored REDCap support to researchers and research groups. Conclusions Providing REDCap support has proved to be an effective way to associate the library with data-related activities in an academic medical center and identify new opportunities for offering data services in the library. By offering REDCap services, the library established strong partnerships with the Information Technology Department, Clinical Data Support Department, and Compliance Office by filling in training gaps, while simultaneously referring users back to these departments when additional expertise was required. These new partnerships continue to grow and serve to position the library as a central data hub in the institution. PMID:29339942

Structuring U.S. Ground Forces to Meet All Threats

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-30

After the Indians breeched the August 1868 treaty, Sheridan planned an offensive to gain control of the hostile tribes . He restricted operations...winter, compelled the majority to acquiesce45. Despite these major successes, a few tribes escaped and continued to attack white settlers through the...winter of 186946. Sheridan sent General George Custer with a small detachment of Indian scouts to find, meet with, and compel the remaining tribes

39 CFR 230.17 - If an attempt is made to compel production of reports and records during the employee's testimony...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false If an attempt is made to compel production of reports and records during the employee's testimony, what is an Office of Inspector General employee directed to do? 230.17 Section 230.17 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Rules...

Storyline Visualization: A Compelling Way to Understand Patterns over Time and Space

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

None

2017-10-16

Storyline visualization is a compelling way to understand patterns over time and space. Much effort has been spent developing efficient and aesthetically pleasing layout optimization algorithms. But what if those algorithms are optimizing the wrong things? To answer this question, we conducted a design study with different storyline layout algorithms. We found that users with our new design principles for storyline visualization outperform existing methods.

CDC Vital Signs: Suicide Rising Across the US

MedlinePlus

... supportive environments. This includes safely storing medications and firearms to reduce access among people at risk. Offer ... supportive environments. This includes safely storing medications and firearms to reduce access among people at risk. Offer ...

Designing for Broad Understanding of Science.

PubMed

Hristov, Nickolay; Strohecker, Carol; Allen, Louise; Merson, Martha

2018-06-04

With the acceleration and increasing complexity of macro-scale problems such as climate change, the need for scientists to ensure that their work is understood has become urgent. As citizens and recipients of public funds for research, scientists have an obligation to communicate their findings in ways many people can understand. However, developing translations that are broadly accessible without being "dumbed down" can be challenging. Fortunately, tenets of visual literacy, combined with narrative methods, can help to convey scientific knowledge with fidelity, while sustaining viewers' interest. Here we outline strategies for such translating, with an emphasis on visual approaches. Among the examples is an innovative, NSF-funded professional development initiative in which National Park rangers use scientists' imagery to create compelling explanations for the visiting public. Thoughtful visualizations based on interpretive images, motion pictures, 3D animations and augmented, immersive experiences complement the impact of the natural resource and enhance the role of the park ranger. The visualizations become scaffolds for participatory exchanges in which the ranger transcends the traditional roles of information-holder and presenter, to facilitate provocative conversations that provide members of the public with enjoyable experiences and well-founded bases for reflection and ultimately understanding. The process of generating the supporting visualizations benefits from partnerships with design professionals, who develop opportunities for engaging the public by translating important scientific findings and messages in compelling and memorable ways.

Crowdteaching: Supporting Teaching as Designing in Collective Intelligence Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Recker, Mimi; Yuan, Min; Ye, Lei

2014-01-01

The widespread availability of high-quality Web-based content offers new potential for supporting teachers as designers of curricula and classroom activities. When coupled with a participatory Web culture and infrastructure, teachers can share their creations as well as leverage from the best that their peers have to offer to support a collective…

"CrowdTeaching": Supporting Teacher Collective Intelligence Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Recker, Mimi M.; Yuan, Min; Ye, Lei

2013-01-01

The widespread availability of high-quality Web-based tools and content offers new promise and potential for supporting teachers as creators of instructional activities. When coupled with a participatory Web culture and infrastructure, teachers can share their creations as well as leverage from the best that their peers have to offer to support a…

Can We Foster a Culture of Peer Support and Promote Mental Health in Adolescence Using a Web-Based App? A Control Group Study

PubMed Central

Crameri, Aureliano; Eich-Stierli, Brigitte; Telesko, Rainer; von Wyl, Agnes

2016-01-01

Background Adolescence with its many transitions is a vulnerable period for the development of mental illnesses. Establishing effective mental health promotion programs for this age group is a challenge crucial to societal health. Programs must account for the specific developmental tasks that adolescents face. Considering peer influence and fostering adolescent autonomy strivings is essential. Participation in a program should be compelling to young people, and their affinity to new technologies offers unprecedented opportunities in this respect. Objective The Companion App was developed as a Web-based app giving adolescents access to a peer mentoring system and interactive, health-relevant content to foster a positive peer culture among adolescents and thereby strengthen social support and reduce stress. Methods In a control group study design, a group of employed (n=546) and unemployed (n=73) adolescents had access to the Companion App during a 10-month period. The intervention was evaluated using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Linear mixed effects models were used to analyze changes in chronic stress levels and perception of social support. Monthly feedback on the app and qualitative interviews at the end of the study allowed for an in-depth exploration of the adolescents’ perception of the intervention. Results Adolescents in the intervention group did not use the Companion App consistently. The intervention had no significant effect on chronic stress levels or the perception of social support. Adolescents reported endorsing the concept of the app and the implementation of a peer mentoring system in particular. However, technical difficulties and insufficiently obvious benefits of using the app impeded more frequent usage. Conclusions The Companion Project implemented a theory-driven and innovative approach to mental health promotion in adolescence, taking into account the specifics of this developmental phase. Particularities of the implementation context, technical aspects of the app, and insufficient incentives may have played considerable roles concerning the difficulties of the Companion Project to establish commitment. However, adopting peer mentoring as a strategy and using an app still seems to us a promising approach in mental health promotion in adolescents. Future projects should be careful to invest enough resources into the technical development of an app and consider a large use of incentives to establish commitment. When targeting risk groups, such as unemployed adolescents, it may be expedient to use more structured approaches including face-to-face support. PMID:27663691

IBM's Health Analytics and Clinical Decision Support.

PubMed

Kohn, M S; Sun, J; Knoop, S; Shabo, A; Carmeli, B; Sow, D; Syed-Mahmood, T; Rapp, W

2014-08-15

This survey explores the role of big data and health analytics developed by IBM in supporting the transformation of healthcare by augmenting evidence-based decision-making. Some problems in healthcare and strategies for change are described. It is argued that change requires better decisions, which, in turn, require better use of the many kinds of healthcare information. Analytic resources that address each of the information challenges are described. Examples of the role of each of the resources are given. There are powerful analytic tools that utilize the various kinds of big data in healthcare to help clinicians make more personalized, evidenced-based decisions. Such resources can extract relevant information and provide insights that clinicians can use to make evidence-supported decisions. There are early suggestions that these resources have clinical value. As with all analytic tools, they are limited by the amount and quality of data. Big data is an inevitable part of the future of healthcare. There is a compelling need to manage and use big data to make better decisions to support the transformation of healthcare to the personalized, evidence-supported model of the future. Cognitive computing resources are necessary to manage the challenges in employing big data in healthcare. Such tools have been and are being developed. The analytic resources, themselves, do not drive, but support healthcare transformation.

National Security Personnel System: An Optimization Strategy for Implementing Pay-for-Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-15

leaders who can be more nimble and more adaptive in an environment of unprecedented cultural change. Unfortunately, for Exelon, these were qualities...has been thrust upon them. Therefore, to effect a successful cultural change, DoD leaders will have to communicate a compelling reason for...additional level of risk perceived by their employees.30 Communication. Perhaps, the most important thing leaders can do is to articulate clear, compelling

Gold

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kirkemo, Harold; Newman, William L.; Ashley, Roger P.

1998-01-01

Through the ages, men and women have cherished gold, and many have had a compelling desire to amass great quantities of it -- so compelling a desire, in fact, that the frantic need to seek and hoard gold has been aptly named "gold fever." Gold was among the first metals to be mined because it commonly occurs in its native form -- that is, not combined with other elements -- because it is beautiful and imperishable, and because exquisite objects can be made from it.

Student Success Rate in Online Learning Support Classes Compared to Traditional Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pope, Holly

2013-01-01

West Georgia Technical College (WGTC) did not offer online learning support courses and was losing students to other colleges that offered those courses online. Adding to this problem, online learning support class sections were not being added without sufficient proof that students could receive the same level of education in an online section as…

Sources and sinks of methane beneath polar ice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Priscu, J. C.; Adams, H. E.; Hand, K. P.; Dore, J. E.; Matheus-Carnevali, P.; Michaud, A. B.; Murray, A. E.; Skidmore, M. L.; Vick-Majors, T.

2014-12-01

Several icy moons of the outer solar system carry subsurface oceans containing many times the volume of liquid water on Earth and may provide the greatest volume of habitable space in our solar system. Functional sub-ice polar ecosystems on Earth provide compelling models for the habitability of extraterrestrial sub-ice oceans. A key feature of sub-ice environments is that most of them receive little to no solar energy. Consequently, organisms inhabiting these environments must rely on chemical energy to assimilate either carbon dioxide or organic molecules to support their metabolism. Methane can be utilized by certain bacteria as both a carbon and energy source. Isotopic data show that methane in Earth's polar lakes is derived from both biogenic and thermogenic sources. Thermogenic sources of methane in the thermokarst lakes of the north slope of Alaska yield supersaturated water columns during winter ice cover that support active populations of methanotrophs during the polar night. Methane in the permanently ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica varies widely in concentration and is produced either by contemporary methanogenesis or is a relic from subglacial flow. Rate measurements revealed that microbial methane oxidation occurs beneath the ice in both the arctic and Antarctic lakes. The first samples collected from an Antarctic subglacial environment beneath 800 m of ice (Subglacial Lake Whillans) revealed an active microbial ecosystem that has been isolated from the atmosphere for many thousands of years. The sediments of Lake Whillans contained high levels of methane with an isotopic signature that indicates it was produced via methanogenesis. The source of this methane appears to be from the decomposition of organic carbon deposited when this region of Antarctica was covered by the sea. Collectively, data from these sub-ice environments show that methane transformations play a key role in microbial community metabolism. The discovery of functional microbial ecosystems in Earth's sub-ice aquatic environments together with what we know about the geochemistry of extraterrestrial ice-covered water worlds provide a compelling case that sub-ice oceans, such as those on Europa and Enceladus, may support microbial life.

Administrative Responses to AD/HD.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beyda, Sandra D.; Zentall, Sydney S.

1998-01-01

States that teacher resistance to making classroom modifications for students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is partially due to a lack of administrative support. Offers numerous ways that administrators can offer support to teachers. Also gives information on alternative discipline policies. (MKA)

Parental duties and prenatal screening: does an offer of prenatal screening lead women to believe that they are morally compelled to test?

PubMed

García, Elisa; Timmermans, Danielle R M; van Leeuwen, Evert

2012-12-01

in debates around prenatal screening, it is frequently argued that responsible parenthood implies the acquisition of all available medical information about the health of a fetus, and use of this information to benefit the future child. to analyse whether an offer of a prenatal test leads women to believe that they are morally obliged to control the health of their fetus. a substudy within a randomised controlled trial (RCT) aimed to assess the decision-making process of women when confronted with an offer of a prenatal screening test. 111 women participating in an RCT were retrospectively asked their views on the meaning of testing within their parental duties. testing was described as a personal option that goes beyond the normal parental responsibilities. Participants did not believe that they ought to control the health of the fetus or to avoid disability. A duty to test was only reported when the birth of a disabled child would have a negative impact on family life. women's accounts suggest that two main factors are involved in making testing morally obligatory: (1) the woman's views on her moral duties to her family; and (2) the expected burden of a disabled child on the well-being of the family. A family-centred approach would be more suitable to assess the moral imperative character of testing than women's ethical views about their moral duties towards their unborn child. a test offer should not be limited to communication of the characteristics of screening and the meaning of the test results. In helping women to assess the meaning of testing within their parental duties, counselling should include the family situation in which women have to decide, the women's expectations about living with a child with Down's syndrome or any other disability, and the women's views on their commitments towards their family. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Food for thought: Impact of metabolism on neuronal excitability.

PubMed

Katsu-Jiménez, Yurika; Alves, Renato M P; Giménez-Cassina, Alfredo

2017-11-01

Neuronal excitability is a highly demanding process that requires high amounts of energy and needs to be exquisitely regulated. For this reason, brain cells display active energy metabolism to support their activity. Independently of their roles as energy substrates, compelling evidence shows that the nature of the fuels that neurons use contribute to fine-tune neuronal excitability. Crosstalk of neurons with glial populations also plays a prominent role in shaping metabolic flow in the brain. In this review, we provide an overview on how different carbon substrates and metabolic pathways impact neurotransmission, and the potential implications for neurological disorders in which neuronal excitability is deregulated, such as epilepsy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Two-dimensional IR spectroscopy of the anti-HIV agent KP1212 reveals protonated and neutral tautomers that influence pH-dependent mutagenicity.

PubMed

Peng, Chunte Sam; Fedeles, Bogdan I; Singh, Vipender; Li, Deyu; Amariuta, Tiffany; Essigmann, John M; Tokmakoff, Andrei

2015-03-17

Antiviral drugs designed to accelerate viral mutation rates can drive a viral population to extinction in a process called lethal mutagenesis. One such molecule is 5,6-dihydro-5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (KP1212), a selective mutagen that induces A-to-G and G-to-A mutations in the genome of replicating HIV. The mutagenic property of KP1212 was hypothesized to originate from its amino-imino tautomerism, which would explain its ability to base pair with either G or A. To test the multiple tautomer hypothesis, we used 2D IR spectroscopy, which offers subpicosecond time resolution and structural sensitivity to distinguish among rapidly interconverting tautomers. We identified several KP1212 tautomers and found that >60% of neutral KP1212 is present in the enol-imino form. The abundant proportion of this traditionally rare tautomer offers a compelling structure-based mechanism for pairing with adenine. Additionally, the pKa of KP1212 was measured to be 7.0, meaning a substantial population of KP1212 is protonated at physiological pH. Furthermore, the mutagenicity of KP1212 was found to increase dramatically at pH <7, suggesting a significant biological role for the protonated KP1212 molecules. Overall, our data reveal that the bimodal mutagenic properties of KP1212 result from its unique shape shifting ability that utilizes both tautomerization and protonation.

Future of the PCI Readmission Metric.

PubMed

Wasfy, Jason H; Yeh, Robert W

2016-03-01

Between 2013 and 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the National Cardiovascular Data Registry publically reported risk-adjusted 30-day readmission rates after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) as a pilot project. A key strength of this public reporting effort included risk adjustment with clinical rather than administrative data. Furthermore, because readmission after PCI is common, expensive, and preventable, this metric has substantial potential to improve quality and value in American cardiology care. Despite this, concerns about the metric exist. For example, few PCI readmissions are caused by procedural complications, limiting the extent to which improved procedural technique can reduce readmissions. Also, similar to other readmission measures, PCI readmission is associated with socioeconomic status and race. Accordingly, the metric may unfairly penalize hospitals that care for underserved patients. Perhaps in the context of these limitations, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not yet included PCI readmission among metrics that determine Medicare financial penalties. Nevertheless, provider organizations may still wish to focus on this metric to improve value for cardiology patients. PCI readmission is associated with low-risk chest discomfort and patient anxiety. Therefore, patient education, improved triage mechanisms, and improved care coordination offer opportunities to minimize PCI readmissions. Because PCI readmission is common and costly, reducing PCI readmission offers provider organizations a compelling target to improve the quality of care, and also performance in contracts involve shared financial risk. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Concession stand makeovers: a pilot study of offering healthy foods at high school concession stands.

PubMed

Laroche, Helena H; Ford, Christopher; Hansen, Kate; Cai, Xueya; Just, David R; Hanks, Andrew S; Wansink, Brian

2015-03-01

Concession stands at high school events are exempt from the US Department of Agriculture regulations for school foods. Concessions are generally stocked with unhealthy foods since healthy foods are believed to have lower sales and profit margins. Concession stand sales for two seasons of high school fall sports in Muscatine, Iowa were compared. In between seasons, two types of changes were made: (i) addition of new healthier concession options and (ii) substitution of healthier ingredients (less saturated fat, no trans fat). Satisfaction surveys of students and parents were conducted before and after the changes. Data were collected in 2008 and 2009 and analyzed in 2012-13. Revenue per game was similar between years, even with the introduction of healthier items and ingredient changes. In 2009, the new healthy foods comprised 9.2% of total revenue and sales of some new items increased with each game. The 'healthy makeover' had no influence on student satisfaction but it improved parent satisfaction (P < 0.001). This compelling test of concept shows that offering healthier items can be good for both sales and satisfaction. While this study was conducted with concession stands, the principles can be carried over into other food retail settings. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Detection of X-ray photons by solution-processed organic-inorganic perovskites

PubMed Central

Yakunin, Sergii; Sytnyk, Mykhailo; Kriegner, Dominik; Shrestha, Shreetu; Richter, Moses; Matt, Gebhard J.; Azimi, Hamed; Brabec, Christoph J.; Stangl, Julian; Kovalenko, Maksym V.; Heiss, Wolfgang

2017-01-01

The evolution of real-time medical diagnostic tools such as angiography and computer tomography from radiography based on photographic plates was enabled by the development of integrated solid-state X-ray photon detectors, based on conventional solid-state semiconductors. Recently, for optoelectronic devices operating in the visible and near infrared spectral regions, solution-processed organic and inorganic semiconductors have also attracted immense attention. Here we demonstrate a possibility to use such inexpensive semiconductors for sensitive detection of X-ray photons by direct photon-to-current conversion. In particular, methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) offers a compelling combination of fast photoresponse and a high absorption cross-section for X-rays, owing to the heavy Pb and I atoms. Solution processed photodiodes as well as photoconductors are presented, exhibiting high values of X-ray sensitivity (up to 25 µC mGyair-1 cm-3) and responsivity (1.9×104 carriers/photon), which are commensurate with those obtained by the current solid-state technology. PMID:28553368

Facilitating preemptive hardware system design using partial reconfiguration techniques.

PubMed

Dondo Gazzano, Julio; Rincon, Fernando; Vaderrama, Carlos; Villanueva, Felix; Caba, Julian; Lopez, Juan Carlos

2014-01-01

In FPGA-based control system design, partial reconfiguration is especially well suited to implement preemptive systems. In real-time systems, the deadline for critical task can compel the preemption of noncritical one. Besides, an asynchronous event can demand immediate attention and, then, force launching a reconfiguration process for high-priority task implementation. If the asynchronous event is previously scheduled, an explicit activation of the reconfiguration process is performed. If the event cannot be previously programmed, such as in dynamically scheduled systems, an implicit activation to the reconfiguration process is demanded. This paper provides a hardware-based approach to explicit and implicit activation of the partial reconfiguration process in dynamically reconfigurable SoCs and includes all the necessary tasks to cope with this issue. Furthermore, the reconfiguration service introduced in this work allows remote invocation of the reconfiguration process and then the remote integration of off-chip components. A model that offers component location transparency is also presented to enhance and facilitate system integration.

Facilitating Preemptive Hardware System Design Using Partial Reconfiguration Techniques

PubMed Central

Rincon, Fernando; Vaderrama, Carlos; Villanueva, Felix; Caba, Julian; Lopez, Juan Carlos

2014-01-01

In FPGA-based control system design, partial reconfiguration is especially well suited to implement preemptive systems. In real-time systems, the deadline for critical task can compel the preemption of noncritical one. Besides, an asynchronous event can demand immediate attention and, then, force launching a reconfiguration process for high-priority task implementation. If the asynchronous event is previously scheduled, an explicit activation of the reconfiguration process is performed. If the event cannot be previously programmed, such as in dynamically scheduled systems, an implicit activation to the reconfiguration process is demanded. This paper provides a hardware-based approach to explicit and implicit activation of the partial reconfiguration process in dynamically reconfigurable SoCs and includes all the necessary tasks to cope with this issue. Furthermore, the reconfiguration service introduced in this work allows remote invocation of the reconfiguration process and then the remote integration of off-chip components. A model that offers component location transparency is also presented to enhance and facilitate system integration. PMID:24672292

Nondestructive Evaluation of Additive Manufacturing State-of-the-Discipline Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waller, Jess M.; Parker, Bradford H.; Hodges, Kenneth L.; Burke, Eric R.; Walker, James L.

2014-01-01

This report summarizes the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) state of the art of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) for additive manufacturing (AM), or "3-D printed", hardware. NASA's unique need for highly customized spacecraft and instrumentation is suited for AM, which offers a compelling alternative to traditional subtractive manufacturing approaches. The Agency has an opportunity to push the envelope on how this technology is used in zero gravity, an enable in-space manufacturing of flight spares and replacement hardware crucial for long-duration, manned missions to Mars. The Agency is leveraging AM technology developed internally and by industry, academia, and other government agencies for its unique needs. Recent technical interchange meetings and workshops attended by NASA have identified NDE as a universal need for all aspects of additive manufacturing. The impact of NDE on AM is cross cutting and spans materials, processing quality assurance, testing and modeling disciplines. Appropriate NDE methods are needed before, during, and after the AM production process.

Fingerprints of electronic, spin and structural dynamics from resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering in transient photo-chemical species

DOE PAGES

Norell, Jesper; Jay, Raphael M.; Hantschmann, Markus; ...

2018-02-20

Here, we describe how inversion symmetry separation of electronic state manifolds in resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS) can be applied to probe excited-state dynamics with compelling selectivity. In a case study of Fe L 3-edge RIXS in the ferricyanide complex Fe(CN) 6 3-, we demonstrate with multi-configurational restricted active space spectrum simulations how the information content of RIXS spectral fingerprints can be used to unambiguously separate species of different electronic configurations, spin multiplicities, and structures, with possible involvement in the decay dynamics of photo-excited ligand-to-metal charge-transfer. Specifically, we propose that this could be applied to confirm or reject themore » presence of a hitherto elusive transient Quartet species. Thus, RIXS offers a particular possibility to settle a recent controversy regarding the decay pathway, and we expect the technique to be similarly applicable in other model systems of photo-induced dynamics.« less

Robot-like dexterity without computers and motors: a review of hand-held laparoscopic instruments with wrist-like tip articulation

PubMed Central

Anderson, Patrick L.; Lathrop, Ray A.; Webster, Robert J.

2018-01-01

Introduction Conventional manual laparoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery have limited dexterity within the patient, making procedures challenging. Surgical robotic systems offer enhanced articulation, but at substantial financial costs. This has motivated the development of high-dexterity, low-cost laparoscopic instruments. Areas covered This article reviews both commercial and academic results on creating fully mechanical (i.e. non-robotic) laparoscopic instruments that provide wrists or wrist-like dexterity within the patient. We review the state of the art in the development of these mechanical instruments, focusing on the surgeon interface, wrist mechanism, and the kinematic mapping between the two. Expert commentary Current articulated mechanical laparoscopic instruments exhibit a wide range of designs, with no clear consensus on what makes such devices easy to use. As these technologies mature, user studies are needed to determine surgeon preferences. Articulated, low-cost instruments have the potential to impact the minimally invasive surgery market if they provide compelling benefits to surgeons. PMID:26808896

Conventional wisdom: negotiating conventions of reference enhances category learning.

PubMed

Voiklis, John; Corter, James E

2012-01-01

Collaborators generally coordinate their activities through communication, during which they readily negotiate a shared lexicon for activity-related objects. This social-pragmatic activity both recruits and affects cognitive and social-cognitive processes ranging from selective attention to perspective taking. We ask whether negotiating reference also facilitates category learning or might private verbalization yield comparable facilitation? Participants in three referential conditions learned to classify imaginary creatures according to combinations of functional features-nutritive and destructive-that implicitly defined four categories. Remote partners communicated in the Dialogue condition. In the Monologue condition, participants recorded audio descriptions for their own later use. Controls worked silently. Dialogue yielded better category learning, with wider distribution of attention. Monologue offered no benefits over working silently. We conclude that negotiating reference compels collaborators to find communicable structure in their shared activity; this social-pragmatic constraint accelerates category learning and likely provides much of the benefit recently ascribed to learning labeled categories. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

President Park Geun-hye of South Korea Visits NASA Goddard

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

President Park Geun-hye of South Korea and Center Director Christopher Scolese are greeted by Frank Cepollina, Associate Director of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office, and Benjamin Reed, Deputy Project Manager of the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office. As part of her visit to the United States, President Park Geun-hye of South Korea visited NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. On Oct. 14, 2015. The visit offered an opportunity to celebrate past collaborative efforts between the American and South Korean space programs along with presentations on current projects and programs underway at Goddard. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

President Park Geun-hye of South Korea Visits NASA Goddard

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Caption: President Park Geun-hye of South Korea operates a robotic arm as Brian Roberts, Robotic Operations Manager at NASA Goddard describes the operations that take place in the Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office’s robotic lab. GODDARD VISIT BY SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT – 14-OCT-2015 As part of her visit to the United States, President Park Geun-hye of South Korea visited NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. On Oct. 14, 2015. The visit offered an opportunity to celebrate past collaborative efforts between the American and South Korean space programs along with presentations on current projects and programs underway at Goddard. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Rebecca Roth NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Astrocyte glycogen and brain energy metabolism.

PubMed

Brown, Angus M; Ransom, Bruce R

2007-09-01

The brain contains glycogen but at low concentration compared with liver and muscle. In the adult brain, glycogen is found predominantly in astrocytes. Astrocyte glycogen content is modulated by a number of factors including some neurotransmitters and ambient glucose concentration. Compelling evidence indicates that astrocyte glycogen breaks down during hypoglycemia to lactate that is transferred to adjacent neurons or axons where it is used aerobically as fuel. In the case of CNS white matter, this source of energy can extend axon function for 20 min or longer. Likewise, during periods of intense neural activity when energy demand exceeds glucose supply, astrocyte glycogen is degraded to lactate, a portion of which is transferred to axons for fuel. Astrocyte glycogen, therefore, offers some protection against hypoglycemic neural injury and ensures that neurons and axons can maintain their function during very intense periods of activation. These emerging principles about the roles of astrocyte glycogen contradict the long held belief that this metabolic pool has little or no functional significance.

Structural and mechanistic aspects of Mn-oxo and co-based compounds in water oxidation catalysis and potential applications in solar fuel production.

PubMed

Hou, Harvey J M

2010-08-01

To address the issues of energy crisis and global warming, novel renewable carbon-free or carbon-neutral energy sources must be identified and developed. A deeper understanding of photosynthesis is the key to provide a solid foundation to facilitate this transformation. To mimic the water oxidation of photosystem II oxygen evolving complex, Mn-oxo complexes and Co-phosphate catalytic material were discovered in solar energy storage. Building on these discoveries, recent advances in solar energy conversion showed a compelling working principle by combing the active Mn-oxo and Co-based catalysts in water splitting with semiconductor hetero-nanostructures for effective solar energy harnessing. In this review the appealing systems including Mn-oxo tetramer/Nafion, Mn-oxo dimer/TiO(2), Mn-oxo oligomer/WO(3), Co-Pi/Fe(2)O(3), and Co-Pi/ZnO are summarized and discussed. These accomplishments offer a promising framework and have a profound impact in the field of solar fuel production.

Transient iron fluorescence: new clues on the AGN disk/corona?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nardini, E.

2017-10-01

Deep X-ray observations of the so-called `bare' active galaxies represent the most effective means of probing the physical conditions in the immediate surroundings of a radiatively efficient supermassive black hole, thus aiding our understanding of the emission processes in AGN. Indeed, the structure and properties of the putative X-ray corona, and the nature of coupling with the disk, are still largely unknown. The recent, surprising discovery of transient iron fluorescence on timescales of 10-15 hours during the 7.5 days of XMM-Newton monitoring of Ark 120, the nearest and X-ray brightest bare AGN, poses several challenges to the commonly adopted X-ray emission paradigm of a very compact corona. Such a rapid variability implies that the inner accretion flow is highly dynamic and inhomogeneous, involving the presence of orbiting hotspots, density gradients, or other forms of clumpiness and instability. Whatever the case, these results offer a compelling glimpse of what could be achieved in the future with Athena's capabilities.

Integrating intrinsic mobility into unmanned ground vehicle systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brosinsky, Chris A.; Penzes, Steven G.; Buehler, Martin G.; Steeves, Carl

2001-09-01

The ability of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) to successfully move about in its environment is enabled by the synergistic combination of perception, control and platform (mobility and utility). Vast effort is being expended on the former technologies but little demonstrable evidence has been produced to indicate that the latter (mobility/utility) has been considered as an integral part of the UGV systems level capability; a concept commonly referred to as intrinsic mobility. While past work described the rationale for hybrid locomotion, this paper aims to demonstrate that integrating intrinsic mobility into a UGV systems mobility element or 'vehicle' will be a key contributor to the magnitude of autonomy that the system can achieve. This paper serves to provide compelling evidence that 1) intrinsic mobility improvements provided by hybrid locomotion configurations offer the best generic mobility, that 2) strict attention must be placed on the optimization of both utility (inherent vehicle capabilities) and mobility and that 3) the establishment of measures of performance for unmanned vehicle mobility is an unmet and latent need.

Ritz method for transient response in systems having unsymmetric stiffness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butler, Thomas G.

1989-01-01

The DMAP coding was automated to such an extent by using the device of bubble vectors, that it is useable for analyses in its present form. This feasibility study demonstrates that the Ritz Method is so compelling as to warrant coding its modules in FORTRAN and organizing the resulting coding into a new Rigid Format. Even though this Ritz technique was developed for unsymmetric stiffness matrices, it offers advantages to problems with symmetric stiffnesses. If used for the symmetric case the solution would be simplified to one set of modes, because the adjoint would be the same as the primary. Its advantage in either type of symmetry over a classical eigenvalue modal expansion is that information density per Ritz mode is far richer than per eigenvalue mode; thus far fewer modes would be needed for the same accuracy and every mode would actively participate in the response. Considerable economy can be realized in adapting Ritz vectors for modal solutions. This new Ritz capability now makes NASTRAN even more powerful than before.

Altered Cytochrome c Display Precedes Apoptotic Cell Death in Drosophila

PubMed Central

Varkey, Johnson; Chen, Po; Jemmerson, Ronald; Abrams, John M.

1999-01-01

Drosophila affords a genetically well-defined system to study apoptosis in vivo. It offers a powerful extension to in vitro models that have implicated a requirement for cytochrome c in caspase activation and apoptosis. We found that an overt alteration in cytochrome c anticipates programmed cell death (PCD) in Drosophila tissues, occurring at a time that considerably precedes other known indicators of apoptosis. The altered configuration is manifested by display of an otherwise hidden epitope and occurs without release of the protein into the cytosol. Conditional expression of the Drosophila death activators, reaper or grim, provoked apoptogenic cytochrome c display and, surprisingly, caspase activity was necessary and sufficient to induce this alteration. In cell-free studies, cytosolic caspase activation was triggered by mitochondria from apoptotic cells but identical preparations from healthy cells were inactive. Our observations provide compelling validation of an early role for altered cytochrome c in PCD and suggest propagation of apoptotic physiology through reciprocal, feed-forward amplification involving cytochrome c and caspases. PMID:10037791

Reproducible research: a minority opinion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drummond, Chris

2018-01-01

Reproducible research, a growing movement within many scientific fields, including machine learning, would require the code, used to generate the experimental results, be published along with any paper. Probably the most compelling argument for this is that it is simply following good scientific practice, established over the years by the greats of science. The implication is that failure to follow such a practice is unscientific, not a label any machine learning researchers would like to carry. It is further claimed that misconduct is causing a growing crisis of confidence in science. That, without this practice being enforced, science would inevitably fall into disrepute. This viewpoint is becoming ubiquitous but here I offer a differing opinion. I argue that far from being central to science, what is being promulgated is a narrow interpretation of how science works. I contend that the consequences are somewhat overstated. I would also contend that the effort necessary to meet the movement's aims, and the general attitude it engenders would not serve well any of the research disciplines, including our own.

Sound texture perception via statistics of the auditory periphery: Evidence from sound synthesis

PubMed Central

McDermott, Josh H.; Simoncelli, Eero P.

2014-01-01

Rainstorms, insect swarms, and galloping horses produce “sound textures” – the collective result of many similar acoustic events. Sound textures are distinguished by temporal homogeneity, suggesting they could be recognized with time-averaged statistics. To test this hypothesis, we processed real-world textures with an auditory model containing filters tuned for sound frequencies and their modulations, and measured statistics of the resulting decomposition. We then assessed the realism and recognizability of novel sounds synthesized to have matching statistics. Statistics of individual frequency channels, capturing spectral power and sparsity, generally failed to produce compelling synthetic textures. However, combining them with correlations between channels produced identifiable and natural-sounding textures. Synthesis quality declined if statistics were computed from biologically implausible auditory models. The results suggest that sound texture perception is mediated by relatively simple statistics of early auditory representations, presumably computed by downstream neural populations. The synthesis methodology offers a powerful tool for their further investigation. PMID:21903084

Ocrelizumab: a B-cell depleting therapy for multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Jakimovski, Dejan; Weinstock-Guttman, Bianca; Ramanathan, Murali; Kolb, Channa; Hojnacki, David; Minagar, Alireza; Zivadinov, Robert

2017-09-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurological disease responsible for early disability in the young working population. In the last two decades, based on retrospective/prospective data, the use of disease-modifying therapies has been shown to slow the rate of disability progression and prolonged the time to conversion into secondary-progressive MS (SPMS). However, despite the availability of several approved therapies, disability progression cannot be halted significantly in all MS patients. Areas covered: This article reviews the immunopathology of the B-cells, and their role in pathogenesis of MS and their attractiveness as a potential therapeutic target in MS. The review focuses on the recently published ocrelizumab phase III trials in terms of its efficacy, safety, and tolerability as well as its future considerations. Expert opinion: B lymphocyte cell depletion therapy offers a compelling and promising new option for MS patients. Nonetheless, there is a need for heightened vigilance and awareness in detecting potential long-term consequences that currently remain unknown.

Toward the Responsible Development and Commercialization of Sensor Nanotechnologies.

PubMed

Fadel, Tarek R; Farrell, Dorothy F; Friedersdorf, Lisa E; Griep, Mark H; Hoover, Mark D; Meador, Michael A; Meyyappan, M

2016-01-01

Nanotechnology-enabled sensors (or nanosensors) will play an important role in enabling the progression toward ubiquitous information systems as the Internet of Things (IoT) emerges. Nanosensors offer new, miniaturized solutions in physiochemical and biological sensing that enable increased sensitivity, specificity, and multiplexing capability, all with the compelling economic drivers of low cost and high-energy efficiency. In the United States, Federal agencies participating in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) "Nanotechnology for Sensors and Sensors for Nanotechnology: Improving and Protecting Health, Safety, and the Environment" Nanotechnology Signature Initiative (the Sensors NSI), address both the opportunity of using nanotechnology to advance sensor development and the challenges of developing sensors to keep pace with the increasingly widespread use of engineered nanomaterials. This perspective article will introduce and provide background on the NNI signature initiative on sensors. Recent efforts by the Sensors NSI aimed at promoting the successful development and commercialization of nanosensors will be reviewed and examples of sensor nanotechnologies will be highlighted. Future directions and critical challenges for sensor development will also be discussed.

High-efficiency robust perovskite solar cells on ultrathin flexible substrates

PubMed Central

Li, Yaowen; Meng, Lei; Yang, Yang (Michael); Xu, Guiying; Hong, Ziruo; Chen, Qi; You, Jingbi; Li, Gang; Yang, Yang; Li, Yongfang

2016-01-01

Wide applications of personal consumer electronics have triggered tremendous need for portable power sources featuring light-weight and mechanical flexibility. Perovskite solar cells offer a compelling combination of low-cost and high device performance. Here we demonstrate high-performance planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells constructed on highly flexible and ultrathin silver-mesh/conducting polymer substrates. The device performance is comparable to that of their counterparts on rigid glass/indium tin oxide substrates, reaching a power conversion efficiency of 14.0%, while the specific power (the ratio of power to device weight) reaches 1.96 kW kg−1, given the fact that the device is constructed on a 57-μm-thick polyethylene terephthalate based substrate. The flexible device also demonstrates excellent robustness against mechanical deformation, retaining >95% of its original efficiency after 5,000 times fully bending. Our results confirmed that perovskite thin films are fully compatible with our flexible substrates, and are thus promising for future applications in flexible and bendable solar cells. PMID:26750664

Fingerprints of electronic, spin and structural dynamics from resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering in transient photo-chemical species

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

Norell, Jesper; Jay, Raphael M.; Hantschmann, Markus

Here, we describe how inversion symmetry separation of electronic state manifolds in resonant inelastic soft X-ray scattering (RIXS) can be applied to probe excited-state dynamics with compelling selectivity. In a case study of Fe L 3-edge RIXS in the ferricyanide complex Fe(CN) 6 3-, we demonstrate with multi-configurational restricted active space spectrum simulations how the information content of RIXS spectral fingerprints can be used to unambiguously separate species of different electronic configurations, spin multiplicities, and structures, with possible involvement in the decay dynamics of photo-excited ligand-to-metal charge-transfer. Specifically, we propose that this could be applied to confirm or reject themore » presence of a hitherto elusive transient Quartet species. Thus, RIXS offers a particular possibility to settle a recent controversy regarding the decay pathway, and we expect the technique to be similarly applicable in other model systems of photo-induced dynamics.« less

Volatile profile in the accurate labelling of monofloral honey. The case of lavender and thyme honey.

PubMed

Escriche, Isabel; Sobrino-Gregorio, Lara; Conchado, Andrea; Juan-Borrás, Marisol

2017-07-01

The proliferation of hybrid plant varieties without pollen, such as lavender, has complicated the classification of specific types of honey. This study evaluated the correlation between the proclaimed type of monofloral honey (lavender or thyme) as appears on the label with the actual percentage of pollen. In addition, physicochemical parameters, colour, olfacto-gustatory profile, and volatile compounds were tested. All of the samples labelled as lavender were wrongly classified according to the usual commercial criteria (minimum 10% of pollen Lavandula spp.). In the case of lavender honey, there was significant agreement between commercial labelling and classification through organoleptic perception (81.8%), and above all between the commercial labelling and the volatile compounds (90.9%). For thyme honey, agreement for both parameters was 90.0%. These results offer compelling evidence that the volatile compounds are useful for the classification of lavender honey with low levels of pollen since this technique agrees well with the organoleptic analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Refining the accuracy of validated target identification through coding variant fine-mapping in type 2 diabetes.

PubMed

Mahajan, Anubha; Wessel, Jennifer; Willems, Sara M; Zhao, Wei; Robertson, Neil R; Chu, Audrey Y; Gan, Wei; Kitajima, Hidetoshi; Taliun, Daniel; Rayner, N William; Guo, Xiuqing; Lu, Yingchang; Li, Man; Jensen, Richard A; Hu, Yao; Huo, Shaofeng; Lohman, Kurt K; Zhang, Weihua; Cook, James P; Prins, Bram Peter; Flannick, Jason; Grarup, Niels; Trubetskoy, Vassily Vladimirovich; Kravic, Jasmina; Kim, Young Jin; Rybin, Denis V; Yaghootkar, Hanieh; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Meidtner, Karina; Li-Gao, Ruifang; Varga, Tibor V; Marten, Jonathan; Li, Jin; Smith, Albert Vernon; An, Ping; Ligthart, Symen; Gustafsson, Stefan; Malerba, Giovanni; Demirkan, Ayse; Tajes, Juan Fernandez; Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur; Wuttke, Matthias; Lecoeur, Cécile; Preuss, Michael; Bielak, Lawrence F; Graff, Marielisa; Highland, Heather M; Justice, Anne E; Liu, Dajiang J; Marouli, Eirini; Peloso, Gina Marie; Warren, Helen R; Afaq, Saima; Afzal, Shoaib; Ahlqvist, Emma; Almgren, Peter; Amin, Najaf; Bang, Lia B; Bertoni, Alain G; Bombieri, Cristina; Bork-Jensen, Jette; Brandslund, Ivan; Brody, Jennifer A; Burtt, Noël P; Canouil, Mickaël; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Cho, Yoon Shin; Christensen, Cramer; Eastwood, Sophie V; Eckardt, Kai-Uwe; Fischer, Krista; Gambaro, Giovanni; Giedraitis, Vilmantas; Grove, Megan L; de Haan, Hugoline G; Hackinger, Sophie; Hai, Yang; Han, Sohee; Tybjærg-Hansen, Anne; Hivert, Marie-France; Isomaa, Bo; Jäger, Susanne; Jørgensen, Marit E; Jørgensen, Torben; Käräjämäki, Annemari; Kim, Bong-Jo; Kim, Sung Soo; Koistinen, Heikki A; Kovacs, Peter; Kriebel, Jennifer; Kronenberg, Florian; Läll, Kristi; Lange, Leslie A; Lee, Jung-Jin; Lehne, Benjamin; Li, Huaixing; Lin, Keng-Hung; Linneberg, Allan; Liu, Ching-Ti; Liu, Jun; Loh, Marie; Mägi, Reedik; Mamakou, Vasiliki; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta; Nadkarni, Girish; Neville, Matt; Nielsen, Sune F; Ntalla, Ioanna; Peyser, Patricia A; Rathmann, Wolfgang; Rice, Kenneth; Rich, Stephen S; Rode, Line; Rolandsson, Olov; Schönherr, Sebastian; Selvin, Elizabeth; Small, Kerrin S; Stančáková, Alena; Surendran, Praveen; Taylor, Kent D; Teslovich, Tanya M; Thorand, Barbara; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Tin, Adrienne; Tönjes, Anke; Varbo, Anette; Witte, Daniel R; Wood, Andrew R; Yajnik, Pranav; Yao, Jie; Yengo, Loïc; Young, Robin; Amouyel, Philippe; Boeing, Heiner; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bottinger, Erwin P; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Collins, Francis S; Dedoussis, George; Dehghan, Abbas; Deloukas, Panos; Ferrario, Marco M; Ferrières, Jean; Florez, Jose C; Frossard, Philippe; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Harris, Tamara B; Heckbert, Susan R; Howson, Joanna M M; Ingelsson, Martin; Kathiresan, Sekar; Kee, Frank; Kuusisto, Johanna; Langenberg, Claudia; Launer, Lenore J; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Männistö, Satu; Meitinger, Thomas; Melander, Olle; Mohlke, Karen L; Moitry, Marie; Morris, Andrew D; Murray, Alison D; de Mutsert, Renée; Orho-Melander, Marju; Owen, Katharine R; Perola, Markus; Peters, Annette; Province, Michael A; Rasheed, Asif; Ridker, Paul M; Rivadineira, Fernando; Rosendaal, Frits R; Rosengren, Anders H; Salomaa, Veikko; Sheu, Wayne H-H; Sladek, Rob; Smith, Blair H; Strauch, Konstantin; Uitterlinden, André G; Varma, Rohit; Willer, Cristen J; Blüher, Matthias; Butterworth, Adam S; Chambers, John Campbell; Chasman, Daniel I; Danesh, John; van Duijn, Cornelia; Dupuis, Josée; Franco, Oscar H; Franks, Paul W; Froguel, Philippe; Grallert, Harald; Groop, Leif; Han, Bok-Ghee; Hansen, Torben; Hattersley, Andrew T; Hayward, Caroline; Ingelsson, Erik; Kardia, Sharon L R; Karpe, Fredrik; Kooner, Jaspal Singh; Köttgen, Anna; Kuulasmaa, Kari; Laakso, Markku; Lin, Xu; Lind, Lars; Liu, Yongmei; Loos, Ruth J F; Marchini, Jonathan; Metspalu, Andres; Mook-Kanamori, Dennis; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Palmer, Colin N A; Pankow, James S; Pedersen, Oluf; Psaty, Bruce M; Rauramaa, Rainer; Sattar, Naveed; Schulze, Matthias B; Soranzo, Nicole; Spector, Timothy D; Stefansson, Kari; Stumvoll, Michael; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Tuomi, Tiinamaija; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Wareham, Nicholas J; Wilson, James G; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Scott, Robert A; Barroso, Inês; Frayling, Timothy M; Goodarzi, Mark O; Meigs, James B; Boehnke, Michael; Saleheen, Danish; Morris, Andrew P; Rotter, Jerome I; McCarthy, Mark I

2018-04-01

We aggregated coding variant data for 81,412 type 2 diabetes cases and 370,832 controls of diverse ancestry, identifying 40 coding variant association signals (P < 2.2 × 10 -7 ); of these, 16 map outside known risk-associated loci. We make two important observations. First, only five of these signals are driven by low-frequency variants: even for these, effect sizes are modest (odds ratio ≤1.29). Second, when we used large-scale genome-wide association data to fine-map the associated variants in their regional context, accounting for the global enrichment of complex trait associations in coding sequence, compelling evidence for coding variant causality was obtained for only 16 signals. At 13 others, the associated coding variants clearly represent 'false leads' with potential to generate erroneous mechanistic inference. Coding variant associations offer a direct route to biological insight for complex diseases and identification of validated therapeutic targets; however, appropriate mechanistic inference requires careful specification of their causal contribution to disease predisposition.

Public reporting and pay-for-performance: safety-net hospital executives' concerns and policy suggestions.

PubMed

Goldman, L Elizabeth; Henderson, Stuart; Dohan, Daniel P; Talavera, Jason A; Dudley, R Adams

2007-01-01

Safety-net hospitals (SNHs) may gain little financial benefit from the rapidly spreading adoption of public reporting and pay-for-performance, but may feel compelled to participate (and bear the costs of data collection) to meet public expectations of transparency and accountability. To better understand the concerns that SNH administrators have regarding public reporting and pay-for-performance, we interviewed 37 executives at randomly selected California SNHs. The main concerns noted by SNH executives were that human and financial resource constraints made it difficult for SNHs to accurately measure their performance. Additionally, some executives felt that market-driven public reporting and pay-for-performance may focus on clinical areas and incentive structures that may not be high-priority clinical areas for SNHs. Executives at SNHs suggested several policy responses to these concerns-such as offering training programs for SNH data collectors-that could be relatively inexpensive and might improve the cost-benefit ratio of public reporting and pay-for-performance programs.

Future planning in preschool children.

PubMed

Moffett, Lillie; Moll, Henrike; FitzGibbon, Lily

2018-05-01

The capacity to plan ahead and provide the means for future ends is an important part of human practical reasoning. When this capacity develops in ontogeny is the matter of an ongoing debate. In this study, 4- and 5-year-olds performed a future planning task in which they had to create the means (a picture of a particular object, e.g., a banana) that was necessary to address a future end (of completing a game in which such a picture was missing). Children of both ages drew more targets than children in a control condition in which there was no future end to be pursued. Along with prior findings, the results suggest a major progression in children's future thinking between 3 and 5 years. Our findings expand on prior knowledge by showing that young children cannot only identify the probate means to future ends but determine such ends and create the means to achieve them, thus offering compelling evidence for future planning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Google Earth and Geo Applications: A Toolset for Viewing Earth's Geospatial Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuxen-Bettman, K.

2016-12-01

Earth scientists measure and derive fundamental data that can be of broad general interest to the public and policy makers. Yet, one of the challenges that has always faced the Earth science community is how to present their data and findings in an easy-to-use and compelling manner. Google's Geo Tools offer an efficient and dynamic way for scientists, educators, journalists and others to both access data and view or tell stories in a dynamic three-dimensional geospatial context. Google Earth in particular provides a dense canvas of satellite imagery on which can be viewed rich vector and raster datasets using the medium of Keyhole Markup Language (KML). Through KML, Google Earth can combine the analytical capabilities of Earth Engine, collaborative mapping of My Maps, and storytelling of Tour Builder and more to make Google's Geo Applications a coherent suite of tools for exploring our planet.https://earth.google.com/https://earthengine.google.com/https://mymaps.google.com/https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/https://www.google.com/streetview/

Operator- and software-related post-experimental variability and source of error in 2-DE analysis.

PubMed

Millioni, Renato; Puricelli, Lucia; Sbrignadello, Stefano; Iori, Elisabetta; Murphy, Ellen; Tessari, Paolo

2012-05-01

In the field of proteomics, several approaches have been developed for separating proteins and analyzing their differential relative abundance. One of the oldest, yet still widely used, is 2-DE. Despite the continuous advance of new methods, which are less demanding from a technical standpoint, 2-DE is still compelling and has a lot of potential for improvement. The overall variability which affects 2-DE includes biological, experimental, and post-experimental (software-related) variance. It is important to highlight how much of the total variability of this technique is due to post-experimental variability, which, so far, has been largely neglected. In this short review, we have focused on this topic and explained that post-experimental variability and source of error can be further divided into those which are software-dependent and those which are operator-dependent. We discuss these issues in detail, offering suggestions for reducing errors that may affect the quality of results, summarizing the advantages and drawbacks of each approach.

A Brain-Machine Interface Operating with a Real-Time Spiking Neural Network Control Algorithm.

PubMed

Dethier, Julie; Nuyujukian, Paul; Eliasmith, Chris; Stewart, Terry; Elassaad, Shauki A; Shenoy, Krishna V; Boahen, Kwabena

2011-01-01

Motor prostheses aim to restore function to disabled patients. Despite compelling proof of concept systems, barriers to clinical translation remain. One challenge is to develop a low-power, fully-implantable system that dissipates only minimal power so as not to damage tissue. To this end, we implemented a Kalman-filter based decoder via a spiking neural network (SNN) and tested it in brain-machine interface (BMI) experiments with a rhesus monkey. The Kalman filter was trained to predict the arm's velocity and mapped on to the SNN using the Neural Engineering Framework (NEF). A 2,000-neuron embedded Matlab SNN implementation runs in real-time and its closed-loop performance is quite comparable to that of the standard Kalman filter. The success of this closed-loop decoder holds promise for hardware SNN implementations of statistical signal processing algorithms on neuromorphic chips, which may offer power savings necessary to overcome a major obstacle to the successful clinical translation of neural motor prostheses.

Evaluation of psychology practitioner competence in clinical supervision.

PubMed

Gonsalvez, Craig J; Crowe, Trevor P

2014-01-01

There is a growing consensus favouring the development, advancement, and implementation of a competency-based approach for psychology training and supervision. There is wide recognition that skills, attitude-values, and relationship competencies are as critical to a psychologist's competence as are knowledge capabilities, and that these key competencies are best measured during placements, leaving the clinical supervisor in an unparalleled position of advantage to provide formative and summative evaluations on the supervisee's progression towards competence. Paradoxically, a compelling body of literature from across disciplines indicates that supervisor ratings of broad domains of competence are systematically compromised by biases, including leniency error and halo effect. The current paper highlights key issues affecting summative competency evaluations by supervisors: what competencies should be evaluated, who should conduct the evaluation, how (tools) and when evaluations should be conducted, and process variables that affect evaluation. The article concludes by providing research recommendations to underpin and promote future progress and by offering practice recommendations to facilitate a more credible and meaningful evaluation of competence and competencies.

Quantifying Reinforcement Value and Demand for Psychoactive Substances in Humans

PubMed Central

Heinz, Adrienne J.; Lilje, Todd C.; Kassel, Jon D.; de Wit, Harriet

2013-01-01

Behavioral economics is an emerging cross-disciplinary field that is providing an exciting new contextual framework for researchers to study addictive processes. New initiatives to study addiction under a behavioral economic rubric have yielded variable terminology and differing methods and theoretical approaches that are consistent with the multidimensional nature of addiction. The present article is intended to provide an integrative overview of the behavioral economic nomenclature and to describe relevant theoretical models, principles and concepts. Additionally, we present measures derived from behavioral economic theories that quantify demand for substances and assess decision making processes surrounding substance use. The sensitivity of these measures to different contextual elements (e.g., drug use status, acute drug effects, deprivation) is also addressed. The review concludes with discussion of the validity of these approaches and their potential for clinical application and highlights areas that warrant further research. Overall, behavioral economics offers a compelling framework to help explicate complex addictive processes and it is likely to provide a translational platform for clinical intervention. PMID:23062106

Robot-like dexterity without computers and motors: a review of hand-held laparoscopic instruments with wrist-like tip articulation.

PubMed

Anderson, Patrick L; Lathrop, Ray A; Webster, Robert J

2016-07-01

Conventional manual laparoscopic instruments for minimally invasive surgery have limited dexterity within the patient, making procedures challenging. Surgical robotic systems offer enhanced articulation, but at substantial financial costs. This has motivated the development of high-dexterity, low-cost laparoscopic instruments. This article reviews both commercial and academic results on creating fully mechanical (i.e. non-robotic) laparoscopic instruments that provide wrists or wrist-like dexterity within the patient. We review the state of the art in the development of these mechanical instruments, focusing on the surgeon interface, wrist mechanism, and the kinematic mapping between the two. Expert commentary: Current articulated mechanical laparoscopic instruments exhibit a wide range of designs, with no clear consensus on what makes such devices easy to use. As these technologies mature, user studies are needed to determine surgeon preferences. Articulated, low-cost instruments have the potential to impact the minimally invasive surgery market if they provide compelling benefits to surgeons.

Neuropeptide Substance P and the Immune Response

PubMed Central

Tehrani, Mohsen; Grace, Peter M.; Pothoulakis, Charalabos; Dana, Reza

2016-01-01

Substance P is a peptide mainly secreted by neurons and is involved in many biological processes, including nociception and inflammation. Animal models have provided insights into the biology of this peptide and offered compelling evidence for the importance of substance P in cell-to-cell communication by either paracrine or endocrine signaling. Substance P mediates interactions between neurons and immune cells, with nerve-derived substance P modulating immune cell proliferation rates and cytokine production. Intriguingly, some immune cells have also been found to secrete substance P, which hints at an integral role of substance P in the immune response. These communications play important functional roles in immunity including mobilization, proliferation and modulation of activity of immune cells. This Review summarizes current knowledge of substance P and its receptors, as well as its physiological and pathological roles. We focus on recent developments in the immuno-biology of substance P and we discuss the clinical implications of its ability to modulate the immune response. PMID:27314883

Neuropeptide substance P and the immune response.

PubMed

Mashaghi, Alireza; Marmalidou, Anna; Tehrani, Mohsen; Grace, Peter M; Pothoulakis, Charalabos; Dana, Reza

2016-11-01

Substance P is a peptide mainly secreted by neurons and is involved in many biological processes, including nociception and inflammation. Animal models have provided insights into the biology of this peptide and offered compelling evidence for the importance of substance P in cell-to-cell communication by either paracrine or endocrine signaling. Substance P mediates interactions between neurons and immune cells, with nerve-derived substance P modulating immune cell proliferation rates and cytokine production. Intriguingly, some immune cells have also been found to secrete substance P, which hints at an integral role of substance P in the immune response. These communications play important functional roles in immunity including mobilization, proliferation and modulation of the activity of immune cells. This review summarizes current knowledge of substance P and its receptors, as well as its physiological and pathological roles. We focus on recent developments in the immunobiology of substance P and discuss the clinical implications of its ability to modulate the immune response.

Savage numbers and the evolution of civilization in Victorian prehistory.

PubMed

Barany, Michael J

2014-06-01

This paper identifies 'savage numbers'--number-like or number-replacing concepts and practices attributed to peoples viewed as civilizationally inferior--as a crucial and hitherto unrecognized body of evidence in the first two decades of the Victorian science of prehistory. It traces the changing and often ambivalent status of savage numbers in the period after the 1858-1859 'time revolution' in the human sciences by following successive reappropriations of an iconic 1853 story from Francis Galton's African travels. In response to a fundamental lack of physical evidence concerning prehistoric men, savage numbers offered a readily available body of data that helped scholars envisage great extremes of civilizational lowliness in a way that was at once analysable and comparable, and anecdotes like Galton's made those data vivid and compelling. Moreover, they provided a simple and direct means of conceiving of the progressive scale of civilizational development, uniting societies and races past and present, at the heart of Victorian scientific racism.

An analysis of empirical research on the scope of justice.

PubMed

Hafer, Carolyn L; Olson, James M

2003-01-01

The scope of justice has been defined as the boundary within which justice is perceived to be relevant. The empirical literature on this topic is primarily aimed at predicting when a target will be excluded from the scope of justice and at examining potential consequences of exclusion, from accepting a target's suffering to active harm-doing such as mass internment and genocide. The concept of the scope of justice is interesting and heuristically useful, but there are several problems with the empirical literature that impede its progress. For example, the proposed mediator often has not been measured, or operationalizations of the scope of justice have been confounded with other constructs. Also, although the scope of justice remains one possible explanation for results obtained in various experiments, there are equally compelling alternatives that do not implicate exclusion from the scope of justice. We offer suggestions about how to study scope of justice issues in the future and identify points that need to be clarified regarding the conceptualization of the scope of justice.

Compelling teaching with the four Cs: caring, comedy, creativity, and challenging.

PubMed

Story, Lachel; Butts, Janie B

2010-05-01

The traditional classroom, particularly in nursing, often is stifling to students and teachers. A dynamic co-learning experience creates a potential to move students from merely obtaining knowledge to practice. This article presents an exemplar of the transformative learning process within the nursing education setting. The concepts forming this compelling teaching approach are caring, comedy, creativity, and challenging (the four Cs). Through this innovative teaching method, opportunities are created for authentic co-learning to occur.

Adjuvant bisphosphonates in early breast cancer: consensus guidance for clinical practice from a European Panel.

PubMed

Hadji, P; Coleman, R E; Wilson, C; Powles, T J; Clézardin, P; Aapro, M; Costa, L; Body, J-J; Markopoulos, C; Santini, D; Diel, I; Di Leo, A; Cameron, D; Dodwell, D; Smith, I; Gnant, M; Gray, R; Harbeck, N; Thurlimann, B; Untch, M; Cortes, J; Martin, M; Albert, U-S; Conte, P-F; Ejlertsen, B; Bergh, J; Kaufmann, M; Holen, I

2016-03-01

Bisphosphonates have been studied in randomised trials in early breast cancer to investigate their ability to prevent cancer treatment-induced bone loss (CTIBL) and reduce the risk of disease recurrence and metastasis. Treatment benefits have been reported but bisphosphonates do not currently have regulatory approval for either of these potential indications. This consensus paper provides a review of the evidence and offers guidance to breast cancer clinicians on the use of bisphosphonates in early breast cancer. Using the nominal group methodology for consensus, a systematic review of the literature was augmented by a workshop held in October 2014 for breast cancer and bone specialists to present and debate the available pre-clinical and clinical evidence for the use of adjuvant bisphosphonates. This was followed by a questionnaire to all members of the writing committee to identify areas of consensus. The panel recommended that bisphosphonates should be considered as part of routine clinical practice for the prevention of CTIBL in all patients with a T score of <-2.0 or ≥2 clinical risk factors for fracture. Compelling evidence from a meta-analysis of trial data of >18,000 patients supports clinically significant benefits of bisphosphonates on the development of bone metastases and breast cancer mortality in post-menopausal women or those receiving ovarian suppression therapy. Therefore, the panel recommends that bisphosphonates (either intravenous zoledronic acid or oral clodronate) are considered as part of the adjuvant breast cancer treatment in this population and the potential benefits and risks discussed with relevant patients. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Opportunities and Challenges of Linking Scientific Core Samples to the Geoscience Data Ecosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noren, A. J.

2016-12-01

Core samples generated in scientific drilling and coring are critical for the advancement of the Earth Sciences. The scientific themes enabled by analysis of these samples are diverse, and include plate tectonics, ocean circulation, Earth-life system interactions (paleoclimate, paleobiology, paleoanthropology), Critical Zone processes, geothermal systems, deep biosphere, and many others, and substantial resources are invested in their collection and analysis. Linking core samples to researchers, datasets, publications, and funding agencies through registration of globally unique identifiers such as International Geo Sample Numbers (IGSNs) offers great potential for advancing several frontiers. These include maximizing sample discoverability, access, reuse, and return on investment; a means for credit to researchers; and documentation of project outputs to funding agencies. Thousands of kilometers of core samples and billions of derivative subsamples have been generated through thousands of investigators' projects, yet the vast majority of these samples are curated at only a small number of facilities. These numbers, combined with the substantial similarity in sample types, make core samples a compelling target for IGSN implementation. However, differences between core sample communities and other geoscience disciplines continue to create barriers to implementation. Core samples involve parent-child relationships spanning 8 or more generations, an exponential increase in sample numbers between levels in the hierarchy, concepts related to depth/position in the sample, requirements for associating data derived from core scanning and lithologic description with data derived from subsample analysis, and publications based on tens of thousands of co-registered scan data points and thousands of analyses of subsamples. These characteristics require specialized resources for accurate and consistent assignment of IGSNs, and a community of practice to establish norms, workflows, and infrastructure to support implementation.

Jewish ethics and xenotransplantation.

PubMed

Mathieu, Richard

2016-07-01

Although exclusively secular approaches to xenotransplantation are methodologically necessary to establish a fundamental verdict on its theoretical ethical acceptability, it is nevertheless pragmatically appropriate to take into account specifically religious positions, as religion is a factor relevant to societal acceptability. Apart from the aspect of societal acceptability, Jewish bioethics, like other religiously embedded ethics, may enrich the broader ethical discourse on xenotransplantation, as some of its principles-pikuach nefesh being the most prominent one-are plausible even in the framework of secular ethics. This paper first explores concepts of normativity in Jewish ethics before identifying specific ethical issues in Jewish bioethics and possible resolutions offered within the framework of Jewish ethics, and then finally examine the implications for the broader debate on xenotransplantation. Religions in general and Judaism in specific cannot and should not be systematically excluded from ethical debates, not only because they may provide helpful input, but also because religion, religiousness and the affiliation to a religion can be crucial factors regarding the societal acceptability of specific medical technologies and procedures as they may be important aspects of an individual's identity. The principles of Jewish bioethics may be compelling to those who do not necessarily share the specifically religious prerequisites on which Jewish ethics is established. Among these rather cogent concepts is the status of natural law and naturalness, which is far more open to medical technologies and procedures deemed as unnatural and thus morally wrong by other religious parties in public discourse. Jewish ethics has strong tendencies toward supporting xenotransplantation given a certain criteria is met. No categorical bans on xenotransplantation can be established on the grounds of Halacha. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Optimized Hypervisor Scheduler for Parallel Discrete Event Simulations on Virtual Machine Platforms

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

Yoginath, Srikanth B; Perumalla, Kalyan S

2013-01-01

With the advent of virtual machine (VM)-based platforms for parallel computing, it is now possible to execute parallel discrete event simulations (PDES) over multiple virtual machines, in contrast to executing in native mode directly over hardware as is traditionally done over the past decades. While mature VM-based parallel systems now offer new, compelling benefits such as serviceability, dynamic reconfigurability and overall cost effectiveness, the runtime performance of parallel applications can be significantly affected. In particular, most VM-based platforms are optimized for general workloads, but PDES execution exhibits unique dynamics significantly different from other workloads. Here we first present results frommore » experiments that highlight the gross deterioration of the runtime performance of VM-based PDES simulations when executed using traditional VM schedulers, quantitatively showing the bad scaling properties of the scheduler as the number of VMs is increased. The mismatch is fundamental in nature in the sense that any fairness-based VM scheduler implementation would exhibit this mismatch with PDES runs. We also present a new scheduler optimized specifically for PDES applications, and describe its design and implementation. Experimental results obtained from running PDES benchmarks (PHOLD and vehicular traffic simulations) over VMs show over an order of magnitude improvement in the run time of the PDES-optimized scheduler relative to the regular VM scheduler, with over 20 reduction in run time of simulations using up to 64 VMs. The observations and results are timely in the context of emerging systems such as cloud platforms and VM-based high performance computing installations, highlighting to the community the need for PDES-specific support, and the feasibility of significantly reducing the runtime overhead for scalable PDES on VM platforms.« less

Daily Planet Imagery: GIBS MODIS Products on ArcGIS Online

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plesea, L.

2015-12-01

The NASA EOSDIS Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) is rapidly becoming an invaluable GIS resource for the science community and for the public at large. Reliable, fast access to historical as well as near real time, georeferenced images form a solid basis on which many innovative applications and projects can be built. Esri has recognized the value of this effort and is a GIBS user and collaborator. To enable the use of GIBS services within the ArcGIS ecosystem, Esri has built a GIBS reflector server at http://modis.arcgis.com, server which offers the facilities of a time enabled Mosaic Service on top of the GIBS provided images. Currently the MODIS reflectance products are supported by this mosaic service, possibilities of handling other GIBS products are being explored. This reflector service is deployed on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud platform, and is freely available to the end users. Due to the excellent response time from GIBS, image tiles do not have to be stored by the Esri mosaic server, all needed data being retrieved directly from GIBS when needed, continuously reflecting the state of GIBS, and greatly simplifying the maintenance of this service. Response latency is usually under one second, making it easy to interact with the data. The remote data access is achieved by using the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) Tiled Web Map Server (TWMS) driver. The response time of this server is excellent, usually under one second. The MODIS imagery has proven to be one of the most popular ones on the ArcGIS Online platform, where it is frequently use to provide temporal context to maps, or by itself, to tell a compelling story.

Origins Space Telescope Concept 2: Trades, Decisions, and Study Status

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leisawitz, David; DiPirro, Michael; Carter, Ruth; Origins Space Telescope Decadal Mission Concept Study Team

2018-01-01

The Origins Space Telescope (OST) will trace the history of our cosmic origins from the time dust and heavy elements began to alter the astrophysical processes that shaped galaxies and enabled planets to form, culminating at least once in the development of a life-bearing planet. But how did the universe evolve in response to its changing ingredients, and how common are planets that support life? The OST, an advancing concept for the Far-Infrared Surveyor mission described in the NASA Astrophysics roadmap, is being designed to answer these questions. As envisaged in the Roadmap, Enduring Quests/Daring Visions, OST will offer sensitivity and spectroscopic capabilities that vastly exceed those found in any preceding far-IR observatory. The spectral range of OST was extended down to 6 microns to allow measurements of key biomarkers in transiting exoplanet spectra. Thus, OST is a mid- and far-IR mission. OST Concept 2 will inform the Science and Technology Definition Team’s understanding of the “solution space,” enabling a recommendation to the 2020 Decadal Survey which, while not fully optimized, will be scientifically compelling, executable, and intended to maximize the science return per dollar. OST Concept 1, described in a companion paper, would satisfy virtually all of the STDT’s science objectives in under 5 years. Concept 2 is intentionally less ambitious than Concept 1, but it still includes a 4 K telescope, enabling exquisitely sensitive far-IR measurements. This paper will summarize the architecture options considered for OST Concept 2 and describe the factors that led to the chosen design concept. Lessons from the Concept 1 study influenced our choices. We report progress on the Concept 2 study to date.

Turning Technologies into Businesses- The Challenge for the Technical Entrepreneur

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glass, Alexander

2000-03-01

Over the past twenty-five years, new businesses based on innovative technology have been the driving force for the US economy. Due to the abundance of early-stage capital, each year, thousands of scientists and engineers receive support to start new, technology-based businesses. However, the transition from technologist to entrepreneur is often difficult. It requires a shift in emphasis from a technology focus to a market focus. We shall discuss the challenges facing the technical entrepreneur in launching a new enterprise, and a variety of resources that are available to help the entrepreneur succeed. Many technologists fall victim to the myth that if you ``build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door." To be sure, it is important to base your business on sound technology that offers a clear advantage over current practice, and, if possible, to secure title to the technology, either by obtaining patent protection, or securing an exclusive license. Once that is done, however, the principal concern of the fledgling enterprise is building a business and obtaining the financial resources to enable it to grow. The entrepreneur must develop a clear and compelling business model, that can be communicated to a non-technical investor in a few minutes. This requires a mode of thinking and expression quite different from that commonly used in engineering or scientific discussions. Fortunately, abundant resources are available to help the technologist become a successful entrepreneur. We shall discuss the kinds of assistance that are generally available through local and national programs, and give specific examples based on the activities of the Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance in northern California.

The four things a service business must get right.

PubMed

Frei, Frances X

2008-04-01

Many of the management tools and techniques used in service businesses were designed to tackle the challenges of product companies. Although they are valuable to service managers, they aren't sufficient for success. In this article, Harvard Business School's Frei explains why and urges companies to add some new ones to the mix. After years of extensive research and analysis, she offers an approach for crafting a profitable service business based on four critical elements: the design of the offering, employee management, customer management, and the funding mechanism. Just like a product that's going to market, a service needs to be compellingly designed, and management must field a workforce capable of producing it at an attractive price. Additionally, however, service firms must manage their customers, who do not simply use the service but also can be integral to its production: Because customers' involvement as producers can wreak havoc on costs, companies must also develop creative ways to fund their distinctive offerings, by providing a self-service alternative, for example, or by offsetting expenses with operational savings. A close look at successful service businesses--Wal-Mart, Commerce Bank, the Cleveland Clinic, and others--reveals that effective integration of the four elements is key. There is no "right" way to combine them; the appropriate design of one depends upon the other three. If managers don't get all four pulling together, they risk pulling the enterprise apart. Incumbents can fend off attacks from highly focused upstarts by becoming multifocused--that is, by pursuing multiple niches through optimized service models rather than trying to cover the entire waterfront with one model. Shared services within a firm (functions such as HR and finance) can help, since they will enable it to generate economies of scale and experience across models.

A Support Group Offers Help for Parents of Hyperactive Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pond, Elizabeth F.; Gilbert, Charlotte M.

1987-01-01

Describes the development of a parents' support group in Augusta, Georgia which offers parents of hyperactive and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) children an opportunity to share experiences and explore problem-solving strategies for coping with and managing their children. (Author/BB)

Modeling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV: The MARCH Approach to Behavior Change

PubMed Central

Galavotti, Christine; Pappas-DeLuca, Katina A.; Lansky, Amy

2001-01-01

Theory and research suggest that behavioral interventions to prevent HIV/AIDS may be most effective when they are personalized and affectively compelling, when they provide models of desired behaviors, and when they are linked to social and cultural narratives. Effective strategies must also take into account the opportunities and obstacles present in the local environment. The Modeling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV (MARCH) projects combine key aspects of individual behavior change with efforts to change social norms. There are 2 main components to the program: entertainment as a vehicle for education (longrunning serialized dramas on radio or television portray role models evolving toward the adoption of positive behaviors) and interpersonal reinforcement at the community level (support from friends, family members, and others can help people initiate behavior changes; support through changes in social norms is necessary for behavioral effects to be sustained over time). Both media and interpersonal intervention activities should be linked to existing resources in the community and, wherever possible, provide increased access to preventive services, supplies, and other supporting elements. PMID:11574317

Current status of psychiatric rehabilitation in Portugal: A national survey.

PubMed

Teixeira, Carina; Santos, Eduardo; Abreu, Manuel Viegas; Rogers, E Sally

2015-09-01

This article reports on the current state of psychiatric rehabilitation in Portugal. A paper-and-pencil survey was sent to 70 institutions to inquire about the provision of psychiatric rehabilitation services and programs. With a response rate of 40%, 14% of institutions indicated that supported education was provided, 36% offered nonmainstream vocational training, and 29% provided supported employment; none provided evidence-based Individual Placement and Support. Permanent group homes in the community (29%) followed by transitional group homes on institutional grounds (18%) were the most common residential services, with supported housing services (14%) offered less frequently. Finally, 93% of institutions offered occupational activities, 61% provided multifamily psychoeducation, and 36% provided single-family psychoeducation. Despite recent national initiatives promoting effective psychiatric rehabilitation services, supported employment, supported education, and supported housing are not widely implemented in Portugal. To achieve better outcomes for clients, it is critical that evidence-based and promising practices be extensively disseminated. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

International medical students – a survey of perceived challenges and established support services at medical faculties

PubMed Central

Huhn, D.; Junne, F.; Zipfel, S.; Duelli, R.; Resch, F.; Herzog, W.; Nikendei, C.

2015-01-01

Introduction: Medical students with a non-German background face several challenges during their studies. Besides support given by foreign student offices further specific projects for international students have been developed and are offered by medical faculties. However, so far, neither a systematic survey of the faculties’ perceived problems nor of the offered support exists. Method: All study deaneries of medical faculties in Germany were contacted between April and October 2013 and asked for their participation in a telephone interview. Interview partners were asked about 1.) The percentage of non-German students at the medical faculty; 2.) The perceived difficulties and problems of foreign students; 3.) The offers for non-German students; and 4.) The specification of further possibilities of support. Given information was noted, frequencies counted and results interpreted via frequency analysis. Results: Only 39% of the medical faculties could give detailed information about the percentage of non-German students. They reported an average share of 3.9% of students with an EU migration background and 4.9% with a non-EU background. Most frequently cited offers are student conducted tutorials, language courses and tandem-programs. The most frequently reported problem by far is the perceived lack of language skills of foreign students at the beginning of their studies. Suggested solutions are mainly the development of tutorials and the improvement of German medical terminology. Discussion: Offers of support provided by medical faculties for foreign students vary greatly in type and extent. Support offered is seen to be insufficient in coping with the needs of the international students in many cases. Hence, a better coverage of international students as well as further research efforts to the specific needs and the effectiveness of applied interventions seem to be essential. PMID:25699112

Patterns of technology use in patients attending a cardiopulmonary outpatient clinic: a self-report survey.

PubMed

Disler, Rebecca T; Inglis, Sally C; Newton, Phillip J; Currow, David C; Macdonald, Peter S; Glanville, Allan R; Donesky, DorAnne; Carrieri-Kohlman, Virginia; Davidson, Patricia M

2015-03-06

Self-management education for cardiopulmonary diseases is primarily provided through time-limited, face-to-face programs, with access limited to a small percentage of patients. Telecommunication tools will increasingly be an important component of future health care delivery. The purpose of this study was to describe the patterns of technology use in patients attending a cardiopulmonary clinic in an academic medical center. A prevalence survey was developed to collect data on participant demographics (age in years, sex, and socioeconomic status); access to computers, Internet, and mobile phones; and use of current online health support sites or programs. Surveys were offered by reception staff to all patients attending the outpatient clinic. A total of 123 surveys were collected between March and April 2014. Technological devices were a pervasive part of everyday life with respondents engaged in regular computer (102/123, 82.9%), mobile telephone (115/117, 98.3%), and Internet (104/121, 86.0%) use. Emailing (101/121, 83.4%), researching and reading news articles (93/121, 76.9%), social media (71/121, 58.7%), and day-to-day activities (65/121, 53.7%) were the most common telecommunication activities. The majority of respondents reported that access to health support programs and assistance through the Internet (82/111, 73.9%) would be of use, with benefits reported as better understanding of health information (16/111, 22.5%), avoidance of difficult travel requirements and time-consuming face-to-face appointments (13/111, 18.3%), convenient and easily accessible help and information (12/111, 16.9%), and access to peer support and sharing (9/111, 12.7%). The majority of patients did not have concerns over participating in the online environment (87/111, 78.4%); the few concerns noted related to privacy and security (10/15), information accuracy (2/15), and computer literacy and access (2/15). Chronic disease burden and long-term self-management tasks provide a compelling argument for accessible and convenient avenues to obtaining ongoing treatment and peer support. Online access to health support programs and assistance was reported as useful and perceived as providing convenient, timely, and easily accessible health support and information. Distance from the health care facility and a lack of information provision through traditional health sources were both barriers and enablers to telehealth. This is particularly important in the context of a cardiopulmonary clinic that attracts patients from a large geographical area, and in patients who are most likely to have high health care utilization needs in the future. Telecommunication interfaces will be an increasingly important adjunct to traditional forms of health care delivery.

47 CFR 54.407 - Reimbursement for offering Lifeline.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Reimbursement for offering Lifeline. 54.407... (CONTINUED) UNIVERSAL SERVICE Universal Service Support for Low-Income Consumers § 54.407 Reimbursement for... carrier may receive universal service support reimbursement for each qualifying low-income consumer served...

Recommendations for peer-to-peer support for NICU parents

PubMed Central

Hall, S L; Ryan, D J; Beatty, J; Grubbs, L

2015-01-01

Peer-to-peer support provided by ‘veteran' neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) parents to those with current NICU babies is a legitimate and unique form of support that can complement or supplement, but not replace, services provided by professional NICU staff. Peer support can be delivered through hospital- or community-based programs that offer one-to-one in-person or telephone matches, or support groups that meet in-person or via the Internet. Issues in program development, volunteer training and program operation are discussed. Recommendations for offering peer support to all NICU parents as an integral component of family-centered care and comprehensive family support are presented. PMID:26597805

Expanding the genetic heterogeneity of intellectual disability.

PubMed

Anazi, Shams; Maddirevula, Sateesh; Salpietro, Vincenzo; Asi, Yasmine T; Alsahli, Saud; Alhashem, Amal; Shamseldin, Hanan E; AlZahrani, Fatema; Patel, Nisha; Ibrahim, Niema; Abdulwahab, Firdous M; Hashem, Mais; Alhashmi, Nadia; Al Murshedi, Fathiya; Al Kindy, Adila; Alshaer, Ahmad; Rumayyan, Ahmed; Al Tala, Saeed; Kurdi, Wesam; Alsaman, Abdulaziz; Alasmari, Ali; Banu, Selina; Sultan, Tipu; Saleh, Mohammed M; Alkuraya, Hisham; Salih, Mustafa A; Aldhalaan, Hesham; Ben-Omran, Tawfeg; Al Musafri, Fatima; Ali, Rehab; Suleiman, Jehan; Tabarki, Brahim; El-Hattab, Ayman W; Bupp, Caleb; Alfadhel, Majid; Al Tassan, Nada; Monies, Dorota; Arold, Stefan T; Abouelhoda, Mohamed; Lashley, Tammaryn; Houlden, Henry; Faqeih, Eissa; Alkuraya, Fowzan S

2017-11-01

Intellectual disability (ID) is a common morbid condition with a wide range of etiologies. The list of monogenic forms of ID has increased rapidly in recent years thanks to the implementation of genomic sequencing techniques. In this study, we describe the phenotypic and genetic findings of 68 families (105 patients) all with novel ID-related variants. In addition to established ID genes, including ones for which we describe unusual mutational mechanism, some of these variants represent the first confirmatory disease-gene links following previous reports (TRAK1, GTF3C3, SPTBN4 and NKX6-2), some of which were based on single families. Furthermore, we describe novel variants in 14 genes that we propose as novel candidates (ANKHD1, ASTN2, ATP13A1, FMO4, MADD, MFSD11, NCKAP1, NFASC, PCDHGA10, PPP1R21, SLC12A2, SLK, STK32C and ZFAT). We highlight MADD and PCDHGA10 as particularly compelling candidates in which we identified biallelic likely deleterious variants in two independent ID families each. We also highlight NCKAP1 as another compelling candidate in a large family with autosomal dominant mild intellectual disability that fully segregates with a heterozygous truncating variant. The candidacy of NCKAP1 is further supported by its biological function, and our demonstration of relevant expression in human brain. Our study expands the locus and allelic heterogeneity of ID and demonstrates the power of positional mapping to reveal unusual mutational mechanisms.

The ethics of placebo-controlled trials: methodological justifications.

PubMed

Millum, Joseph; Grady, Christine

2013-11-01

The use of placebo controls in clinical trials remains controversial. Ethical analysis and international ethical guidance permit the use of placebo controls in randomized trials when scientifically indicated in four cases: (1) when there is no proven effective treatment for the condition under study; (2) when withholding treatment poses negligible risks to participants; (3) when there are compelling methodological reasons for using placebo, and withholding treatment does not pose a risk of serious harm to participants; and, more controversially, (4) when there are compelling methodological reasons for using placebo, and the research is intended to develop interventions that can be implemented in the population from which trial participants are drawn, and the trial does not require participants to forgo treatment they would otherwise receive. The concept of methodological reasons is essential to assessing the ethics of placebo controls in these controversial last two cases. This article sets out key considerations relevant to considering whether methodological reasons for a placebo control are compelling. © 2013.

The Five Central Psychological Challenges Facing Effective Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terras, Melody M.; Ramsay, Judith

2012-01-01

Web 2.0 technology not only offers the opportunity of massively parallel interconnected networks that support the provision of information and communication anytime and anywhere but also offers immense opportunities for collaboration and sharing of user-generated content. This information-rich environment may support both formal and informal…

Employment Support Services for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Attending Postsecondary Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petcu, Stefania D.; Chezan, Laura C.; Van Horn, M. Lee

2015-01-01

Our purpose in this study is to offer a more comprehensive understanding of how students with intellectual and developmental disabilities attending postsecondary education programs are prepared for competitive employment. Data collected through a national survey indicate that the vocational-related support services offered frequently by…

Promoting Student Transition from Entitlement Services to Eligibility Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Lori Y.; Van Dycke, Jamie L.; Roberson, Rosemary L.; Sedaghat, Jennifer M.

2013-01-01

Disability-related legislation offers two different support systems for youth with disabilities: one of entitlement to services and one of eligibility for resources. This article offers guidance for individuals with disabilities, and the families and service providers who support them, as they prepare to navigate the transition between support…

Air Pollution Training Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Public Health Service (DHEW), Rockville, MD.

This catalog lists the universities, both supported and not supported by the Division of Air Pollution, which offer graduate programs in the field of air pollution. The catalog briefly describes the programs and their entrance requirements, the requirements, qualifications and terms of special fellowships offered by the Division of Air Pollution.…

IBM’s Health Analytics and Clinical Decision Support

PubMed Central

Sun, J.; Knoop, S.; Shabo, A.; Carmeli, B.; Sow, D.; Syed-Mahmood, T.; Rapp, W.

2014-01-01

Summary Objectives This survey explores the role of big data and health analytics developed by IBM in supporting the transformation of healthcare by augmenting evidence-based decision-making. Methods Some problems in healthcare and strategies for change are described. It is argued that change requires better decisions, which, in turn, require better use of the many kinds of healthcare information. Analytic resources that address each of the information challenges are described. Examples of the role of each of the resources are given. Results There are powerful analytic tools that utilize the various kinds of big data in healthcare to help clinicians make more personalized, evidenced-based decisions. Such resources can extract relevant information and provide insights that clinicians can use to make evidence-supported decisions. There are early suggestions that these resources have clinical value. As with all analytic tools, they are limited by the amount and quality of data. Conclusion Big data is an inevitable part of the future of healthcare. There is a compelling need to manage and use big data to make better decisions to support the transformation of healthcare to the personalized, evidence-supported model of the future. Cognitive computing resources are necessary to manage the challenges in employing big data in healthcare. Such tools have been and are being developed. The analytic resources, themselves, do not drive, but support healthcare transformation. PMID:25123736

The Influence of Social Networks and Social Support on Health Among Older Koreans at High Risk of Depression.

PubMed

Chung, Soondool; Jeon, Haesang; Song, Ahyoung

Despite compelling evidence showing that social networks and social support are associated with depression, relatively little research is available on this topic for older Koreans at high risk of depression. This article aimed to examine the relationship among different types of social networks (family vs. friends), social support (instrumental vs. emotional), and perceived general health among older Koreans at high risk of depression. We would then test for possible differences in pathways between two age groups (60-74 years vs. 75 years and older). Using data from the 2008 Survey of Elderly Life and Welfare Need, age 60-74 years (n = 2,815) and age 75 years and older (n = 1,784) were analyzed separately. Path analyses were used to examine the relationships among social network, support, and health among Korean older adults at high risk of depression. Findings highlighted the complex associations among social networks, social support, and perceived general health within old age. Moreover, this study called attention to the negative association between instrumental support from family networks and perceived general health among older Koreans aged 60-74 years at high risk of depression. The work discussed in this article would help inform the design of much needed and effective social intervention programs for the growing number of Korean older adults with depression.

Synergizing expectation and execution for stroke communities of practice innovations

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Regional networks have been recognized as an interesting model to support interdisciplinary and inter-organizational interactions that lead to meaningful care improvements. Existing communities of practice within the a regional network, the Montreal Stroke Network (MSN) offers a compelling structure to better manage the exponential growth of knowledge and to support care providers to better manage the complex cases they must deal with in their practices. This research project proposes to examine internal and external factors that influence individual and organisational readiness to adopt national stroke best practices and to assess the impact of an e-collaborative platform in facilitating knowledge translation activities. Methods We will develop an e-collaborative platform that will include various social networking and collaborative tools. We propose to create online brainstorming sessions ('jams') around each best practice recommendation. Jam postings will be analysed to identify emergent themes. Syntheses of these analyses will be provided to members to help them identify priority areas for practice change. Discussions will be moderated by clinical leaders, whose role will be to accelerate crystallizing of ideas around 'how to' implement selected best practices. All clinicians (~200) involved in stroke care among the MSN will be asked to participate. Activities during face-to-face meetings and on the e-collaborative platform will be documented. Content analysis of all activities will be performed using an observation grid that will use as outcome indicators key elements of communities of practice and of the knowledge creation cycle developed by Nonaka. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted among users of the e-collaborative platform to collect information on variables of the knowledge-to-action framework. All participants will be asked to complete three questionnaires: the typology questionnaire, which classifies individuals into one of four mutually exclusive categories of information seeking; the e-health state of readiness, which covers ten domains of the readiness to change; and a community of practice evaluation survey. Summary This project is expected to enhance our understanding of collaborative work across disciplines and organisations in accelerating implementation of best practices along the continuum of care, and how e-technologies influence access, sharing, creation, and application of knowledge. PMID:20529305

An intercomparison of approaches for improving operational seasonal streamflow forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendoza, Pablo A.; Wood, Andrew W.; Clark, Elizabeth; Rothwell, Eric; Clark, Martyn P.; Nijssen, Bart; Brekke, Levi D.; Arnold, Jeffrey R.

2017-07-01

For much of the last century, forecasting centers around the world have offered seasonal streamflow predictions to support water management. Recent work suggests that the two major avenues to advance seasonal predictability are improvements in the estimation of initial hydrologic conditions (IHCs) and the incorporation of climate information. This study investigates the marginal benefits of a variety of methods using IHCs and/or climate information, focusing on seasonal water supply forecasts (WSFs) in five case study watersheds located in the US Pacific Northwest region. We specify two benchmark methods that mimic standard operational approaches - statistical regression against IHCs and model-based ensemble streamflow prediction (ESP) - and then systematically intercompare WSFs across a range of lead times. Additional methods include (i) statistical techniques using climate information either from standard indices or from climate reanalysis variables and (ii) several hybrid/hierarchical approaches harnessing both land surface and climate predictability. In basins where atmospheric teleconnection signals are strong, and when watershed predictability is low, climate information alone provides considerable improvements. For those basins showing weak teleconnections, custom predictors from reanalysis fields were more effective in forecast skill than standard climate indices. ESP predictions tended to have high correlation skill but greater bias compared to other methods, and climate predictors failed to substantially improve these deficiencies within a trace weighting framework. Lower complexity techniques were competitive with more complex methods, and the hierarchical expert regression approach introduced here (hierarchical ensemble streamflow prediction - HESP) provided a robust alternative for skillful and reliable water supply forecasts at all initialization times. Three key findings from this effort are (1) objective approaches supporting methodologically consistent hindcasts open the door to a broad range of beneficial forecasting strategies; (2) the use of climate predictors can add to the seasonal forecast skill available from IHCs; and (3) sample size limitations must be handled rigorously to avoid over-trained forecast solutions. Overall, the results suggest that despite a rich, long heritage of operational use, there remain a number of compelling opportunities to improve the skill and value of seasonal streamflow predictions.

NASA Webb Telescope

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

NASA image release September 17, 2010 In preparation for a cryogenic test NASA Goddard technicians install instrument mass simulators onto the James Webb Space Telescope ISIM structure. The ISIM Structure supports and holds the four Webb telescope science instruments : the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS). Credit: NASA/GSFC/Chris Gunn To learn more about the James Webb Space Telescope go to: www.jwst.nasa.gov/ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center contributes to NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s endeavors by providing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics

PubMed Central

Beaty, Roger E.; Benedek, Mathias; Silvia, Paul J.; Schacter, Daniel L.

2015-01-01

Creative thinking is central to the arts, sciences, and everyday life. How does the brain produce creative thought? A series of recently published papers has begun to provide insight into this question, reporting a strikingly similar pattern of brain activity and connectivity across a range of creative tasks and domains, from divergent thinking to poetry composition to musical improvisation. This research suggests that creative thought involves dynamic interactions of large-scale brain systems, with the most compelling finding being that the default and executive control networks, which can show an antagonistic relationship, actually cooperate during creative cognition and artistic performance. These findings have implications for understanding how brain networks interact to support complex cognitive processes, particularly those involving goal-directed, self-generated thought. PMID:26553223

ILLICIT DOPAMINE TRANSIENTS: RECONCILING ACTIONS OF ABUSED DRUGS

PubMed Central

Covey, Dan P.; Roitman, Mitchell F.; Garris, Paul A.

2014-01-01

Phasic increases in brain dopamine are required for cue-directed reward seeking. While compelling within the framework of appetitive behavior, the view that illicit drugs hijack reward circuits by hyper-activating these dopamine transients is inconsistent with established psychostimulant pharmacology. However, recent work reclassifying amphetamine (AMPH), cocaine, and other addictive dopamine-transporter inhibitors (DAT-Is) supports transient hyper-activation as a unifying hypothesis of abused drugs. We argue here that reclassification also identifies generating burst firing by dopamine neurons as a keystone action. Unlike natural rewards, which are processed by sensory systems, drugs act directly on the brain. Consequently, to mimic natural reward and exploit reward circuits, dopamine transients must be elicited de novo. Of available drug targets, only burst firing achieves this essential outcome. PMID:24656971

SDSS-IV MaNGA: Probing the Kinematic Morphology–Density Relation of Early-type Galaxies with MaNGA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Greene, J. E.; Leauthaud, A.; Emsellem, E.; Goddard, D.; Ge, J.; Andrews, B. H.; Brinkman, J.; Brownstein, J. R.; Greco, J.; Law, D.; Lin, Y.-T.; Masters, K. L.; Merrifield, M.; More, S.; Okabe, N.; Schneider, D. P.; Thomas, D.; Wake, D. A.; Yan, R.; Drory, N.

2017-12-01

The “kinematic” morphology–density relation for early-type galaxies posits that those galaxies with low angular momentum are preferentially found in the highest-density regions of the universe. We use a large sample of galaxy groups with halo masses {10}12.5< {M}{halo}< {10}14.5 {h}-1 {M}ȯ observed with the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey to examine whether there is a correlation between local environment and rotational support that is independent of stellar mass. We find no compelling evidence for a relationship between the angular momentum content of early-type galaxies and either local overdensity or radial position within the group at fixed stellar mass.

Response Bias in Research on Religion, Spirituality and Mental Health: A Critical Review of the Literature and Methodological Recommendations.

PubMed

de Oliveira Maraldi, Everton

2018-05-16

Although a significant body of research supports the psychological benefits of religion and spirituality, more investigations are needed to understand the mechanisms by which they impact mental health. While some studies suggest a causal direct influence, the findings may still be subject to unmeasured factors and confounders. Despite compelling empirical support for the dangers of response bias, this has been a widely neglected topic in mental health research. The aim of this essay is to critically examine the literature addressing the role of response bias in the relationship between religion, spirituality and mental health. A survey of the diverse types of bias in this research area is presented, and methodological and theoretical issues are outlined. The validity and generalizability of the evidence are discussed, as well as the implications for mental health practice. A list of methodological remedies to reduce bias is suggested. The article is then concluded with a summary of the studies reviewed and directions for future research.

LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS COMPELLINGLY SUPPORT A CHARGE-EXCHANGE MECHANISM FOR THE “DARK MATTER” ∼3.5 keV X-Ray LINE

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

Shah, Chintan; Dobrodey, Stepan; Bernitt, Sven

2016-12-10

The reported observations of an unidentified X-ray line feature at ∼3.5 keV have driven a lively discussion about its possible dark matter origin. Motivated by this, we have measured the K-shell X-ray spectra of highly ionized bare sulfur ions following charge exchange with gaseous molecules in an electron beam ion trap, as a source of or a contributor to this X-ray line. We produced S{sup 16+} and S{sup 15+} ions and let them capture electrons in collision with those molecules with the electron beam turned off while recording X-ray spectra. We observed a charge-exchange-induced X-ray feature at the Lyman seriesmore » limit (3.47 ± 0.06 keV). The inferred X-ray energy is in full agreement with the reported astrophysical observations and supports the novel scenario proposed by Gu et al.« less

Flies, worms and the Free Radical Theory of ageing.

PubMed

Clancy, David; Birdsall, John

2013-01-01

Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans have provided the largest body of evidence addressing the Free Radical Theory of ageing, however the evidence has not been unequivocally supportive. Oxidative damage to DNA is probably not a major contributor, damage to lipids is assuming greater importance and damage to proteins probably the source of pathology. On balance the evidence does not support a primary role of oxidative damage in ageing in C. elegans, perhaps because of its particular energy metabolic and stress resistance profile. Evidence is more numerous, varied and consistent and hence more compelling for Drosophila, although not conclusive. However there is good evidence for a role of oxidative damage in later life pathology. Future work should: 1/ make more use of protein oxidative damage measurements; 2/ use inducible transgenic systems or pharmacotherapy to ensure genetic equivalence of controls and avoid confounding effects during development; 3/ to try to delay ageing, target interventions which reduce and/or repair protein oxidative damage. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Activation of the mechanosensitive ion channel MscL by mechanical stimulation of supported Droplet-Hydrogel bilayers

PubMed Central

Rosholm, Kadla R.; Baker, Matthew A. B.; Ridone, Pietro; Nakayama, Yoshitaka; Rohde, Paul R.; Cuello, Luis G.; Lee, Lawrence K.; Martinac, Boris

2017-01-01

The droplet on hydrogel bilayer (DHB) is a novel platform for investigating the function of ion channels. Advantages of this setup include tight control of all bilayer components, which is compelling for the investigation of mechanosensitive (MS) ion channels, since they are highly sensitive to their lipid environment. However, the activation of MS ion channels in planar supported lipid bilayers, such as the DHB, has not yet been established. Here we present the activation of the large conductance MS channel of E. coli, (MscL), in DHBs. By selectively stretching the droplet monolayer with nanolitre injections of buffer, we induced quantifiable DHB tension, which could be related to channel activity. The MscL activity response revealed that the droplet monolayer tension equilibrated over time, likely by insertion of lipid from solution. Our study thus establishes a method to controllably activate MS channels in DHBs and thereby advances studies of MS channels in this novel platform. PMID:28345591

Requiring influenza vaccination for health care workers: seven truths we must accept.

PubMed

Poland, Gregory A; Tosh, Pritish; Jacobson, Robert M

2005-03-18

In this paper we outline the seven primary truths supporting the call for requiring influenza immunization of all health care workers. We view this as a serious patient safety issue, given the clear and compelling data regarding the frequency and severity of influenza infection. In addition, clear-cut safety, efficacy, economic, legal, and ethical platforms support the use of influenza vaccine. Unfortunately health care workers have demonstrated, over almost 25 years that they are unwilling to comply with voluntary influenza immunization programs utilizing a variety of education and incentive programs, at rates sufficient to protect the patients in their care. We suggest that an annual influenza immunization should be required for every health care worker with direct patient contact, unless a medical contraindication or religious objection exists, or an informed declination is signed by the health care worker. High rates of health care worker immunization will benefit patients, health care workers, their families and employers, and the communities within which they work and live.

The research imperative revisited: considerations for advancing the debate surrounding medical research as moral imperative.

PubMed

Wayne, Katherine; Glass, Kathleen Cranley

2010-01-01

Medical research is frequently regarded as not only laudable, but even obligatory. However, the moral foundation for such an obligation is far from clear. Lively debate concerning the viability of an obligation to conduct and support medical research is transpiring among a small number of scholars speaking from a variety of backgrounds, yet the current discussion is predominantly situated within several discrete academic and professional circles, allowing only sporadic engagement within and between scholarly disciplines and the medical realm. We aim to lay the groundwork for a focused critique of the "research imperative" by examining (1) its commitments within ideologies of science, medicine, and progress: and (2) its normative theoretical underpinnings. Our analysis finds no solid grounding for the research imperative and exposes problems in the attitudes and arguments supporting it. We believe these concerns present compelling reasons for devoting greater critical attention to the research imperative and to the morality of the medical research enterprise as a whole.

Human Data Supporting Glyburide in Ischemic Stroke

PubMed Central

Sheth, Kevin N.; Simard, J. Marc; Elm, Jordan; Kronenberg, Golo; Kunte, Hagen; Kimberly, W. Taylor

2016-01-01

The SUR1-TRPM4 channel is a critical determinant of edema and hemorrhagic transformation after focal ischemia. Blockade of this channel by the small molecule glyburide results in improved survival and neurological outcome in multiple preclinical models of ischemic stroke. A robust, compelling body of evidence suggests that an intravenous (IV) formulation of glyburide, RP-1127, can prevent swelling and improve outcome in patients with stroke. Retrospective studies of diabetic stroke patients show improved outcomes in patients who are continued on sulfonylureas after stroke onset. Early phase II study of MRI and plasma biomarkers support the conclusion that RP-1127 may decrease swelling and hemorrhagic transformation. Finally, the ongoing phase II RP-1127 development program has demonstrated continued safety as well as feasibility of enrollment and tolerability of the intervention. Continued efforts to complete the ongoing phase IIb study and definitive efficacy studies are urgently needed to bring a candidate pharmacotherapy to a population of severe stroke patients that currently have no alternative. PMID:26463916

Human Data Supporting Glyburide in Ischemic Stroke.

PubMed

Sheth, Kevin N; Simard, J Marc; Elm, Jordan; Kronenberg, Golo; Kunte, Hagen; Kimberly, W Taylor

2016-01-01

The SUR1-TRPM4 channel is a critical determinant of edema and hemorrhagic transformation after focal ischemia. Blockade of this channel by the small molecule glyburide results in improved survival and neurological outcome in multiple preclinical models of ischemic stroke. A robust, compelling body of evidence suggests that an intravenous formulation of glyburide, RP-1127, can prevent swelling and improve outcome in patients with stroke. Retrospective studies of diabetic stroke patients show improved outcomes in patients who are continued on sulfonylureas after stroke onset. An early phase II study using magnetic resonance imaging and plasma biomarkers supports the conclusion that RP-1127 may decrease swelling and hemorrhagic transformation. Finally, the ongoing phase II RP-1127 development program has demonstrated continued safety as well as feasibility of enrollment and tolerability of the intervention. Continued efforts to complete the ongoing phase II study and definitive efficacy studies are needed to bring a candidate pharmacotherapy to a population of severe stroke patients that currently have no alternative.

Mechanistic Insights of Vitamin D Anticancer Effects.

PubMed

Ma, Yingyu; Johnson, Candace S; Trump, Donald L

2016-01-01

Vitamin D is a secosteroid hormone that regulates many biological functions in addition to its classical role in maintaining calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. Vitamin D deficiency appears to predispose individuals to increased risk of developing a number of cancers. Compelling epidemiological and experimental evidence supports a role for vitamin D in cancer prevention and treatment in many types of cancers. Preclinical studies show that 1,25D3, the active metabolite of vitamin D, and its analogs have antitumor effects in vitro and in vivo through multiple mechanisms including the induction of cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, differentiation and the suppression of inflammation, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. 1,25D3 also potentiates the effect of chemotherapeutic agents and other agents in the combination treatment. In this review, the antitumor effects of 1,25D3 and the potential underlying mechanisms will be discussed. The current findings support the application of 1,25D3 in cancer prevention and treatment. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Invited Commentary: Indoor Tanning-A Melanoma Accelerator?

PubMed

Berwick, Marianne; Doré, Jean-François

2017-02-01

In this issue of the Journal, Ghiasvand et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2017;185(3):147-156) present results from a longitudinal study of the association between indoor tanning and melanoma in a large cohort of Norwegian women. These new data further support previous findings on the damaging effects of tanning bed exposure on women, particularly young women. The authors present compelling evidence that early exposure to tanning beds advances the date of diagnosis of melanoma by at least 2 years. With a strong design and a large cohort followed for a mean of 13.7 years, this study lends additional support to previous evidence of the negative effects of tanning beds and provides further justification for stronger policy initiatives designed to reduce tanning bed use among young women. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

High-Resolution Topomapping of Mars: Life After MER Site Selection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirk, R. L.; Howington-Kraus, E.; Hare, T. M.; Soricone, R.; Ross, K.; Weller, L.; Rosiek, M.; Redding, B.; Galuszka, D.; Haldemann, A. F. C.

2004-01-01

In this abstract we describe our ongoing use of high-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera Narrow-Angle subsystem (MGS MOC-NA) to derive quantitative topographic and slope data for the martian surface at 3 - 10-m resolution. Our efforts over the past several years focused on assessment of candidate landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and culminated in the selection of sites in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum as safe as well as scientifically compelling. As of this writing, MER-A (Spirit) has landed safely in Gusev and we are performing a limited amount of additional mapping near the landing point to support localization of the lander and rover operations planning. The primary focus of our work, however, has been extending our techniques to sample a variety of geologic terrains planetwide to support both a variety of geoscientific studies and planning and data analysis for missions such as Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Phoenix.

A Humanistic Framework for Helping Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, David M.; Rosenberger, Eric

2012-01-01

Humans, as social creatures, look to others for affiliation, support, and guidance while also having the capacity to offer something of value to someone in need (understanding, compassion, reassurance, hope, etc.). While offering such support can be easy, almost innate, for some and less natural for others, basic helping skills can be learned and…

The Effect of Oral Feedback on Perceived Classroom Community in Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyles, Jennifer L.

2017-01-01

The ongoing trend in research regarding feedback has been to explore quantitative assessment. Garnering support more recently is qualitative narrative feedback in support of formative assessment. This type of feedback offers insight into expectations as well as offer additional knowledge gained. It enables students to improve their performance…

Two-dimensional IR spectroscopy of the anti-HIV agent KP1212 reveals protonated and neutral tautomers that influence pH-dependent mutagenicity

PubMed Central

Peng, Chunte Sam; Fedeles, Bogdan I.; Singh, Vipender; Li, Deyu; Amariuta, Tiffany; Essigmann, John M.; Tokmakoff, Andrei

2015-01-01

Antiviral drugs designed to accelerate viral mutation rates can drive a viral population to extinction in a process called lethal mutagenesis. One such molecule is 5,6-dihydro-5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (KP1212), a selective mutagen that induces A-to-G and G-to-A mutations in the genome of replicating HIV. The mutagenic property of KP1212 was hypothesized to originate from its amino–imino tautomerism, which would explain its ability to base pair with either G or A. To test the multiple tautomer hypothesis, we used 2D IR spectroscopy, which offers subpicosecond time resolution and structural sensitivity to distinguish among rapidly interconverting tautomers. We identified several KP1212 tautomers and found that >60% of neutral KP1212 is present in the enol–imino form. The abundant proportion of this traditionally rare tautomer offers a compelling structure-based mechanism for pairing with adenine. Additionally, the pKa of KP1212 was measured to be 7.0, meaning a substantial population of KP1212 is protonated at physiological pH. Furthermore, the mutagenicity of KP1212 was found to increase dramatically at pH <7, suggesting a significant biological role for the protonated KP1212 molecules. Overall, our data reveal that the bimodal mutagenic properties of KP1212 result from its unique shape shifting ability that utilizes both tautomerization and protonation. PMID:25733867

Coping with cancer - finding the support you need

MedlinePlus

Cancer support - home care services; Cancer support - travel services; Cancer support - financial services; Cancer support - counseling ... air travel for people who need long-distance cancer services. Other groups offer lodging for people getting ...

Provision of Healthcare Services to Men Who Have Sex with Men in Nigeria: Students' Attitudes Following the Passage of the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Law.

PubMed

Sekoni, Adekemi O; Jolly, Kate; Gale, Nicola K; Ifaniyi, Oluwafemi A; Somefun, Esther O; Agaba, Emmanuel I; Fakayode, Victoria A

2016-08-01

After signing of the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2013 in Nigeria, media reports portray widespread societal intolerance toward the lesbian, gay, and bisexual population. This study was conducted to assess the attitudes of university undergraduates in Lagos state, Nigeria, toward provision of healthcare services for men who have sex with men (MSM), because the 2014 same-sex marriage prohibition law stipulates a jail sentence for organizations providing services to MSM. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires to collect information, including homophobic attitudes and views on access to healthcare, from 4000 undergraduates in 10 randomly selected faculties in two universities. During analysis, inter-university and inter-faculty comparison was carried out between medical and nonmedical students. Outright denial of healthcare services to MSM was supported by 37.6% of the 3537 undergraduates who responded, whereas denial of HIV prevention services was supported by 32.5%. However, compared with 38.7% and 34.1% of undergraduates from other faculties, 23.7% and 18.2% of medical students agreed that healthcare providers should not provide services to MSM and that MSM should not have access to HIV prevention services, respectively (P = 0.000). Although a significant proportion of the medical students supported the statement that doctors and other healthcare workers should be compelled to give priority to other groups before MSM (29.4% of medical vs. 47.2% of students from other faculties), a statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of students. The homophobic statement with the highest support was that doctors and healthcare workers should be compelled to report MSM who come to access treatment (48.1% of medical vs. 57.4% of students from other faculties). A very high proportion of the undergraduate students had a negative attitude toward provision of healthcare services to MSM in Nigeria; the medical students were, however, less homophobic than their nonmedical counterparts. If attitudes translate to a lack of healthcare service provision to MSM, with the high burden of HIV among MSM in Nigeria, it is unlikely that the country will achieve the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target of 90% of the population knowing their HIV status, 90% of people living with HIV receiving sustained antiretroviral medication, and 90% of those receiving antiretroviral medication having viral suppression by 2020.

Heart-rate deceleration predicting the determination of costly punishment: Implications for its involvement in cognitive effort expended in overriding self-interest.

PubMed

Osumi, Takahiro; Ohira, Hideki

2016-11-01

Previous studies have investigated which biological markers predict the decision to reject unfair monetary offers, termed costly punishment, in the ultimatum game (UG). One study showed that a phasic deceleratory response in heart rate (HR) is evoked in the responder more readily by offers that will be rejected than by offers that will be accepted. However, owing to the paucity of supporting evidence, it remains unclear whether and why HR deceleration can predict the decisions of UG responders. In this paper, we report two separate studies (Study 1 and Study 2) using modified versions of the UG to explore factors modulating HR deceleration. In Study 1, as well as unfair offers, fair offers induced greater HR deceleration when responders were forced to reject offers compared to when they were forced to accept offers. In Study 2, a high rejection rate for very unfair offers was sustained, regardless of the size of the offers, but HR deceleration was increased for unfair but large offers, relative to unfair, small offers. Moreover, HR deceleration was associated with the rejection of large offers. However, across the two studies, HR deceleration did not simply vary depending on unfairness. These findings support the possibility that HR decelerates as a function of cognitive load in determining costly punishment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Supporting School System Leaders: The State of Effective Training Programs for School Superintendents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teitel, Lee

2006-01-01

The current report explores what is available to superintendents after they assume their positions: what the landscape of sustained executive training and support options available for sitting school system leaders looks like. It describes about two dozen programs offered around the country-who offers them, how they are organized and funded, what…

Sample Language of Modified Contract Elements from Existing CBAs, MOUs, or EWAs to Support Turnaround

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mass Insight Education (NJ1), 2011

2011-01-01

Organized by the key conditions areas for turnaround, "People, Program, Time and Money," this tool offers sample language for each contract element to serve as a model for modifications from a traditional CBA that may support a district's turnaround efforts. Sample language is offered from existing provisions in district-wide collective bargaining…

Evaluation of the Seniors Offering Support Program of Hoover City Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petri, Cynthia J.; Geiger, Brian F.; Boling, Whitney; Hartline, Anne; Powers, Catherine

Efforts of one school system in Alabama to respond to students' self-reports of participation in at-risk behaviors are examined. The Seniors Offering Support (SOS) program was designed to deal with these problems. The program aimed towards fostering student resiliency in an attempt to create healthy decision making. The program attempted to…

A Spoonful of (Added) Sugar Helps the Constitution Go Down: Curing the Compelled Speech Commercial Speech Doctrine with FDA’s Added Sugars Rule.

PubMed

Smith, Colleen

On May 27, 2016, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was adopting a new rule that requires food manufacturers to list—on the already mandated Nutrition Facts label—how many grams of sugar have been added to a food product. Many opponents have criticized this “added sugars” rule on First Amendment grounds, arguing that the rule violates the commercial speech rights of food manufacturers. Whether the rule would survive constitutional scrutiny or not is an open question because the compelled commercial speech doctrine is anything but clear. Courts are split over whether Zauderer’s rational basis test, Central Hudson’s intermediate scrutiny, or some combination of the two should apply to a mandated disclosure like FDA’s added sugars rule. This Paper explains that the added sugars rule is unique in the history of mandated nutrition labeling in that the rule is motivated largely by public health concerns and backed by reports that assert that consumers should limit their intake of added sugars. In contrast, correcting and preventing consumer deception has been a major driving force behind the remainder of FDA’s mandated nutrition labeling. Because of this distinct rationale, the added sugars rule does not fit neatly into any currently existing compelled commercial speech test. This Paper uses the added sugars rule to highlight the deficiencies in the existing tests. Finally, this Paper proposes a new compelled commercial speech test that would adequately balance the interest of all of the effected parties: the government, the public, and food manufacturers.

Availability and Use of Workplace Supports for Health Promotion Among Employees of Small and Large Businesses.

PubMed

Dale, Ann Marie; Enke, Chris; Buckner-Petty, Skye; Hipp, James Aaron; Marx, Christine; Strickland, Jaime; Evanoff, Bradley

2018-01-01

To explore the availability and utilization of workplace health supports by employees of small and large-sized employers. Cross-sectional, telephone-based interviews collected on 16 workplace health supports for physical activity and diet. Participants selected by random-digit-dialing from 4 metropolitan areas of Missouri employees from 2012 to 2013. Two thousand fifteen working adults. We explored the availability and use of supports by employer size (<100 employees vs ≥100 employees), accounting for industry and personal factors. We examined distributions and Poisson regression models of availability for supports by employer size and by industry and use of supports by employer size and personal factors. One-fifth of the 1796 employees were employed by small-sized employers. Large employers offered more supports than small (mean: 6 vs 3), but a higher proportion of employees of small-sized employers used supports when available (59% vs 47%). The differences in offered supports between industries were not due to size alone. In regard to the determinants of participation, the personal factors of gender, age, weight, and income were associated with participation in 10 of the supports. Employer size was also associated with participation in 10 supports. No associations were found between personal factors or workplace size and participation for 3 supports. A higher proportion of employees working for smaller businesses use available supports than employees of larger businesses. Supports offered by employers should target the needs and interests of the workforce, particularly for the higher risk low-income employees.

Attractiveness Is Multimodal: Beauty Is Also in the Nose and Ear of the Beholder.

PubMed

Groyecka, Agata; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Havlíček, Jan; Karwowski, Maciej; Puts, David; Roberts, S Craig; Sorokowski, Piotr

2017-01-01

Attractiveness plays a central role in human non-verbal communication and has been broadly examined in diverse subfields of contemporary psychology. Researchers have garnered compelling evidence in support of the evolutionary functions of physical attractiveness and its role in our daily lives, while at the same time, having largely ignored the significant contribution of non-visual modalities and the relationships among them. Acoustic and olfactory cues can, separately or in combination, strongly influence the perceived attractiveness of an individual and therefore attitudes and actions toward that person. Here, we discuss the relative importance of visual, auditory and olfactory traits in judgments of attractiveness, and review neural and behavioral studies that support the highly complex and multimodal nature of person perception. Further, we discuss three alternative evolutionary hypotheses aimed at explaining the function of multiple indices of attractiveness. In this review, we provide several lines of evidence supporting the importance of the voice, body odor, and facial and body appearance in the perception of attractiveness and mate preferences, and therefore the critical need to incorporate cross-modal perception and multisensory integration into future research on human physical attractiveness.

On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a 'theory of mind'.

PubMed

Penn, Derek C; Povinelli, Daniel J

2007-04-29

After decades of effort by some of our brightest human and non-human minds, there is still little consensus on whether or not non-human animals understand anything about the unobservable mental states of other animals or even what it would mean for a non-verbal animal to understand the concept of a 'mental state'. In the present paper, we confront four related and contentious questions head-on: (i) What exactly would it mean for a non-verbal organism to have an 'understanding' or a 'representation' of another animal's mental state? (ii) What should (and should not) count as compelling empirical evidence that a non-verbal cognitive agent has a system for understanding or forming representations about mental states in a functionally adaptive manner? (iii) Why have the kind of experimental protocols that are currently in vogue failed to produce compelling evidence that non-human animals possess anything even remotely resembling a theory of mind? (iv) What kind of experiments could, at least in principle, provide compelling evidence for such a system in a non-verbal organism?

The storytelling brain. Commentary on "On social attribution: implications of recent cognitive neuroscience research for race, law, and politics".

PubMed

Nigam, Sanjay K

2012-09-01

The well-established techniques of the professional storyteller not only have the potential to model complex "truth" but also to dig deeply into that complexity, thereby perhaps getting closer to that truth. This applies not only to fiction, but also to medicine and even science. Compelling storytelling ability may have conferred an evolutionary survival advantage and, if so, is likely represented in the neural circuitry of the human brain. Functional imaging will likely point to a neuroanatomical basis for compelling storytelling ability; this will presumably reflect underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms.

Testing Cosmic Inflation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chuss, David

2010-01-01

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) has provided a wealth of information about the history and physics of the early Universe. Much progress has been made on uncovering the emerging Standard Model of Cosmology by such experiments as COBE and WMAP, and ESA's Planck Surveyor will likely increase our knowledge even more. Despite the success of this model, mysteries remain. Currently understood physics does not offer a compelling explanation for the homogeneity, flatness, and the origin of structure in the Universe. Cosmic Inflation, a brief epoch of exponential expansion, has been posted to explain these observations. If inflation is a reality, it is expected to produce a background spectrum of gravitational waves that will leave a small polarized imprint on the CMB. Discovery of this signal would give the first direct evidence for inflation and provide a window into physics at scales beyond those accessible to terrestrial particle accelerators. I will briefly review aspects of the Standard Model of Cosmology and discuss our current efforts to design and deploy experiments to measure the polarization of the CMB with the precision required to test inflation.

A shared mechanism of defense against predators and parasites: chitin regulation and its implications for life-history theory.

PubMed

Beckerman, Andrew P; de Roij, Job; Dennis, Stuart R; Little, Tom J

2013-12-01

Defenses against predators and parasites offer excellent illustrations of adaptive phenotypic plasticity. Despite vast knowledge about such induced defenses, they have been studied largely in isolation, which is surprising, given that predation and parasitism are ubiquitous and act simultaneously in the wild. This raises the possibility that victims must trade-off responses to predation versus parasitism. Here, we propose that arthropod responses to predators and parasites will commonly be based on the endocrine regulation of chitin synthesis and degradation. The proposal is compelling because many inducible defenses are centered on temporal or spatial modifications of chitin-rich structures. Moreover, we show how the chitin synthesis pathway ends in a split to carapace or gut chitin, and how this form of molecular regulation can be incorporated into theory on life-history trade-offs, specifically the Y-model. Our hypothesis thus spans several biological scales to address advice from Stearns that "Endocrine mechanisms may prove to be only the tip of an iceberg of physiological mechanisms that modulate the expression of genetic covariance".

Reducing unplanned pregnancy and abortion in Zimbabwe through postabortion contraception.

PubMed

Johnson, Brooke R; Ndhlovu, Singatsho; Farr, Sherry L; Chipato, Tsungai

2002-06-01

In many countries, women treated for complications from spontaneous or unsafely induced abortion lack access to contraceptive services. As a result, many of them soon have a subsequent unplanned pregnancy or a repeat abortion, placing their health at increased risk. This report presents the results of a prospective intervention study on postabortion family planning conducted in the two largest public hospitals in Zimbabwe. Women at Harare Central Hospital, in the capital, received a postabortion family planning intervention, and Mpilo Central Hospital, in Bulawayo, served as the control site. The study cohort was 982 women, 527 of whom were followed for a 12-month period. During the follow-up period, significantly more women used highly effective methods of contraception, significantly fewer unplanned pregnancies occurred, and fewer repeat abortions were performed at the intervention site than at the control site. These results offer compelling evidence that ward-based contraceptive services provided to women treated for incomplete abortion can significantly reduce subsequent unplanned pregnancies. The results also suggest that postabortion family planning services can reduce the incidence of repeat abortion.

Nursing Schadenfreude: the culpability of emotional construction.

PubMed

McNamee, Michael John

2007-09-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of Schadenfreude--the pleasure felt at another's misfortune--and to argue that feeling it in the course of health care work, as elsewhere, is evidence of a deficient character. In order to show that Schadenfreude is an objectionable emotion in health care work, I first offer some conceptual remarks about emotions generally and their differential treatment in Kantian and Aristotelian thought. Second, I argue that an appreciation of the rationality of the emotions is crucial to our self-understanding as persons in general and nurses in particular. Third, I present a critique of Portmann's (2000, When Bad Things Happen to Other People. London: Routledge) defence of Schadenfreude with examples from both nursing and medical scenarios. Specifically, I show how his exculpation of the emotion in terms of low self-esteem and a commitment to justice are not compelling. I argue that we are active in the construction of our emotional experiences of Schadenfreude, how we may indeed 'nurse' the emotion, and thus become culpable for them in ethical terms.

NAAMES Photo Essay

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

A low ceiling of broken clouds offers opportunities for researches to sample clouds during part of the flight and clear air during other parts of the flight. --- The North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) is a five year investigation to resolve key processes controlling ocean system function, their influences on atmospheric aerosols and clouds and their implications for climate. Michael Starobin joined the NAAMES field campaign on behalf of Earth Expeditions and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Office of Communications. He presented stories about the important, multi-disciplinary research being conducted by the NAAMES team, with an eye towards future missions on the NASA drawing board. This is a NAAMES photo essay put together by Starobin, a collection of 49 photographs and captions. Photo and Caption Credit: Michael Starobin NASA image use policy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Development Status of High-Thrust Density Electrostatic Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Michael J.; Haag, Thomas W.; Foster, John E.; Young, Jason A.; Crofton, Mark W.

2017-01-01

Ion thruster technology offers the highest performance and efficiency of any mature electric propulsion thruster. It has by far the highest demonstrated total impulse of any technology option, demonstrated at input power levels appropriate for primary propulsion. It has also been successfully implemented for primary propulsion in both geocentric and heliocentric environments, with excellent ground/in-space correlation of both its performance and life. Based on these attributes there is compelling reasoning to continue the development of this technology: it is a leading candidate for high power applications; and it provides risk reduction for as-yet unproven alternatives. As such it is important that the operational limitations of ion thruster technology be critically examined and in particular for its application to primary propulsion its capabilities relative to thrust the density and thrust-to-power ratio be understood. This publication briefly addresses some of the considerations relative to achieving high thrust density and maximizing thrust-to-power ratio with ion thruster technology, and discusses the status of development work in this area being executed under a collaborative effort among NASA Glenn Research Center, the Aerospace Corporation, and the University of Michigan.

Nip the HPV encoded evil in the cancer bud: HPV reshapes TRAILs and signaling landscapes

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

HPV encoded proteins can elicit ectopic protein–protein interactions that re-wire signaling pathways, in a mode that promotes malignancy. Moreover, accumulating data related to HPV is now providing compelling substantiation of a central role played by HPV in escaping immunosurveillance and impairment of apoptotic response. What emerges is an intricate network of Wnt, TGF, Notch signaling cascades that forms higher-order ligand–receptor complexes routing downstream signaling in HPV infected cells. These HPV infected cells are regulated both extracellularly by ligand receptor axis and intracellularly by HPV encoded proteins and impair TRAIL mediated apoptosis. We divide this review into different sections addressing how linear signaling pathways integrate to facilitate carcinogenesis and compounds that directly or indirectly reverse these aberrant interactions offer new possibilities for therapy in cancer. Although HPV encoded proteins mediated misrepresentation of pathways is difficult to target, improved drug-discovery platforms and new technologies have facilitated the discovery of agents that can target dysregulated pathways in HPV infected cervical cancer cells, thus setting the stage for preclinical models and clinical trials. PMID:23773282

A null mutation in the first enzyme of flavonoid biosynthesis does not affect male fertility in Arabidopsis.

PubMed Central

Burbulis, I E; Iacobucci, M; Shirley, B W

1996-01-01

Flavonoids are a major class of secondary metabolites that serves a multitude of functions in higher plants, including a recently discovered role in male fertility. Surprisingly, Arabidopsis plants deficient in flavonoid biosynthesis appear to be fully fertile. Using RNA gel blot analysis and polymerase chain reaction-based assays, we have shown that a mutation at the 3' splice acceptor site in the Arabidopsis chalcone synthase gene completely disrupts synthesis of the active form of the enzyme. We also confirmed that this enzyme, which catalyzes the first step of flavonoid biosynthesis, is encoded by a single-copy gene. HPLC analysis of whole flowers and stamens was used to show that plants homozygous for the splice site mutation are completely devoid of flavonoids. This work provides compelling evidence that despite the high levels of these compounds in the pollen of most plant species, flavonoids are not universally required for fertility. The role of flavonoids in plant reproduction may therefore offer an example of convergent functional evolution in secondary metabolism. PMID:8672888

Reimagining Childhood: Responding to the Challenge Presented by Severe Developmental Disability.

PubMed

Salter, Erica K

2017-09-01

Through an exploration of the experience of severe and profound intellectual disability, this essay will attempt to expose the predominant, yet usually obscured, medical anthropology of the child and examine its effects on pediatric bioethics. I will argue that both modern western society and modern western medicine do, actually, have a robust notion of the child, a notion which can find its roots in three influential thinkers: Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and Jean Piaget. Together, these philosophers offer us a compelling vision: the child is primarily a future rational, autonomous adult. While this tacit understanding has arguably widespread effects on such things as our concept of good parenting, of proper schooling, and so on, I will focus on the effect is has on the treatment of children with severe developmental disabilities. When examined in light of this population, the dominant medical anthropology of the child will be shown to be deficient. Instead, I argue for an expansion-indeed, a full reimagining-of our notions of childhood, not only to re-infuse dignity into the lives of children with SDD, but to better represent the goods of childhood, generally.

Epigenetic dynamics in psychiatric disorders: environmental programming of neurodevelopmental processes.

PubMed

Kofink, Daniel; Boks, Marco P M; Timmers, H T Marc; Kas, Martien J

2013-06-01

Epigenetic processes have profound influence on gene translation and play a key role in embryonic development and tissue type specification. Recent advances in our understanding of epigenetics have pointed out that epigenetic alterations also play an important role in neurodevelopment and may increase the risk to psychiatric disorders. In addition to genetic regulation of these processes, compelling evidence suggests that environmental conditions produce persistent changes in development through epigenetic mechanisms. Adverse environmental influences in early life such as maternal care, alcohol exposure and prenatal nutrition interact with epigenetic factors and may induce neurodevelopmental disturbances that are related to psychiatric disorders. This review outlines recent findings linking environmentally induced modifications of the epigenome to brain development and psychopathology. Better understanding of these modifications is relevant from the perspective that they may be reversible and, therefore, offer potential for novel treatment strategies. We present the current state of knowledge and show that integrative approaches are necessary to further understand the causal pathways between environmental influences, epigenetic modification, and neuronal function. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Virtual reality training improves students' knowledge structures of medical concepts.

PubMed

Stevens, Susan M; Goldsmith, Timothy E; Summers, Kenneth L; Sherstyuk, Andrei; Kihmm, Kathleen; Holten, James R; Davis, Christopher; Speitel, Daniel; Maris, Christina; Stewart, Randall; Wilks, David; Saland, Linda; Wax, Diane; Panaiotis; Saiki, Stanley; Alverson, Dale; Caudell, Thomas P

2005-01-01

Virtual environments can provide training that is difficult to achieve under normal circumstances. Medical students can work on high-risk cases in a realistic, time-critical environment, where students practice skills in a cognitively demanding and emotionally compelling situation. Research from cognitive science has shown that as students acquire domain expertise, their semantic organization of core domain concepts become more similar to those of an expert's. In the current study, we hypothesized that students' knowledge structures would become more expert-like as a result of their diagnosing and treating a patient experiencing a hematoma within a virtual environment. Forty-eight medical students diagnosed and treated a hematoma case within a fully immersed virtual environment. Student's semantic organization of 25 case-related concepts was assessed prior to and after training. Students' knowledge structures became more integrated and similar to an expert knowledge structure of the concepts as a result of the learning experience. The methods used here for eliciting, representing, and evaluating knowledge structures offer a sensitive and objective means for evaluating student learning in virtual environments and medical simulations.

Spontaneous facial expressions of emotion of congenitally and noncongenitally blind individuals.

PubMed

Matsumoto, David; Willingham, Bob

2009-01-01

The study of the spontaneous expressions of blind individuals offers a unique opportunity to understand basic processes concerning the emergence and source of facial expressions of emotion. In this study, the authors compared the expressions of congenitally and noncongenitally blind athletes in the 2004 Paralympic Games with each other and with those produced by sighted athletes in the 2004 Olympic Games. The authors also examined how expressions change from 1 context to another. There were no differences between congenitally blind, noncongenitally blind, and sighted athletes, either on the level of individual facial actions or in facial emotion configurations. Blind athletes did produce more overall facial activity, but these were isolated to head and eye movements. The blind athletes' expressions differentiated whether they had won or lost a medal match at 3 different points in time, and there were no cultural differences in expression. These findings provide compelling evidence that the production of spontaneous facial expressions of emotion is not dependent on observational learning but simultaneously demonstrates a learned component to the social management of expressions, even among blind individuals.

Schizophrenia with prominent catatonic features: A selective review.

PubMed

Ungvari, Gabor S; Gerevich, Jozsef; Takács, Rozália; Gazdag, Gábor

2017-08-14

A widely accepted consensus holds that a variety of motor symptoms subsumed under the term 'catatonia' have been an integral part of the symptomatology of schizophrenia since 1896, when Kraepelin proposed the concept of dementia praecox (schizophrenia). Until recently, psychiatric classifications included catatonic schizophrenia mainly through tradition, without compelling evidence of its validity as a schizophrenia subtype. This selective review briefly summarizes the history, psychopathology, demographic and epidemiological data, and treatment options for schizophrenia with prominent catatonic features. Although most catatonic signs and symptoms are easy to observe and measure, the lack of conceptual clarity of catatonia and consensus about the threshold and criteria for its diagnosis have hampered our understanding of how catatonia contributes to the pathophysiology of schizophrenic psychoses. Diverse study samples and methodologies have further hindered research on schizophrenia with prominent catatonic features. A focus on the motor aspects of broadly defined schizophrenia using modern methods of detecting and quantifying catatonic signs and symptoms coupled with sophisticated neuroimaging techniques offers a new approach to research in this long-overlooked field. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The opportunities and challenges of large-scale molecular approaches to songbird neurobiology

PubMed Central

Mello, C.V.; Clayton, D.F.

2014-01-01

High-through put methods for analyzing genome structure and function are having a large impact in song-bird neurobiology. Methods include genome sequencing and annotation, comparative genomics, DNA microarrays and transcriptomics, and the development of a brain atlas of gene expression. Key emerging findings include the identification of complex transcriptional programs active during singing, the robust brain expression of non-coding RNAs, evidence of profound variations in gene expression across brain regions, and the identification of molecular specializations within song production and learning circuits. Current challenges include the statistical analysis of large datasets, effective genome curations, the efficient localization of gene expression changes to specific neuronal circuits and cells, and the dissection of behavioral and environmental factors that influence brain gene expression. The field requires efficient methods for comparisons with organisms like chicken, which offer important anatomical, functional and behavioral contrasts. As sequencing costs plummet, opportunities emerge for comparative approaches that may help reveal evolutionary transitions contributing to vocal learning, social behavior and other properties that make songbirds such compelling research subjects. PMID:25280907

Clopidogrel and warfarin pharmacogenetic tests: what is the evidence for use in clinical practice?

PubMed Central

Shahin, Mohamed H.A.; Johnson, Julie A.

2013-01-01

Purpose of review To review the most promising genetic markers associated with the variability in the safety or efficacy of warfarin and clopidogrel and highlight the verification and validation initiatives for translating clopidogrel and warfarin pharmacogenetic tests to clinical practice. Recent findings Rapid advances in pharmacogenetics, continuous decrease in genotyping cost, development of point-of-care devices and the newly established clinical genotyping programs at several institutions hold the promise of individualizing clopidogrel and warfarin based on genotype. Guidelines have been established to assist clinicians in prescribing clopidogrel or warfarin dose based on genotype. However, the clinical utility of clopidogrel and warfarin is still limited. Accordingly, large randomized clinical trials are underway to define the role of clopidogrel and warfarin pharmacogenetics in clinical practice. Summary Pharmacogenetics has offered compelling evidence toward the individualization of clopidogrel and warfarin therapies. The rapid advances in technology make the clinical implementation of clopidogrel and warfarin pharmacogenetics possible. The clinical genotyping programs and the ongoing clinical trials will help in overcoming some of the barriers facing the clinical implementation of clopidogrel and warfarin pharmacogenetics. PMID:23478884

Toward the Responsible Development and Commercialization of Sensor Nanotechnologies

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Nanotechnology-enabled sensors (or nanosensors) will play an important role in enabling the progression toward ubiquitous information systems as the Internet of Things (IoT) emerges. Nanosensors offer new, miniaturized solutions in physiochemical and biological sensing that enable increased sensitivity, specificity, and multiplexing capability, all with the compelling economic drivers of low cost and high-energy efficiency. In the United States, Federal agencies participating in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) “Nanotechnology for Sensors and Sensors for Nanotechnology: Improving and Protecting Health, Safety, and the Environment” Nanotechnology Signature Initiative (the Sensors NSI), address both the opportunity of using nanotechnology to advance sensor development and the challenges of developing sensors to keep pace with the increasingly widespread use of engineered nanomaterials. This perspective article will introduce and provide background on the NNI signature initiative on sensors. Recent efforts by the Sensors NSI aimed at promoting the successful development and commercialization of nanosensors will be reviewed and examples of sensor nanotechnologies will be highlighted. Future directions and critical challenges for sensor development will also be discussed. PMID:28261665

Fish and robots swimming together: attraction towards the robot demands biomimetic locomotion

PubMed Central

Marras, Stefano; Porfiri, Maurizio

2012-01-01

The integration of biomimetic robots in a fish school may enable a better understanding of collective behaviour, offering a new experimental method to test group feedback in response to behavioural modulations of its ‘engineered’ member. Here, we analyse a robotic fish and individual golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) swimming together in a water tunnel at different flow velocities. We determine the positional preference of fish with respect to the robot, and we study the flow structure using a digital particle image velocimetry system. We find that biomimetic locomotion is a determinant of fish preference as fish are more attracted towards the robot when its tail is beating rather than when it is statically immersed in the water as a ‘dummy’. At specific conditions, the fish hold station behind the robot, which may be due to the hydrodynamic advantage obtained by swimming in the robot's wake. This work makes a compelling case for the need of biomimetic locomotion in promoting robot–animal interactions and it strengthens the hypothesis that biomimetic robots can be used to study and modulate collective animal behaviour. PMID:22356819

Fish and robots swimming together: attraction towards the robot demands biomimetic locomotion.

PubMed

Marras, Stefano; Porfiri, Maurizio

2012-08-07

The integration of biomimetic robots in a fish school may enable a better understanding of collective behaviour, offering a new experimental method to test group feedback in response to behavioural modulations of its 'engineered' member. Here, we analyse a robotic fish and individual golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) swimming together in a water tunnel at different flow velocities. We determine the positional preference of fish with respect to the robot, and we study the flow structure using a digital particle image velocimetry system. We find that biomimetic locomotion is a determinant of fish preference as fish are more attracted towards the robot when its tail is beating rather than when it is statically immersed in the water as a 'dummy'. At specific conditions, the fish hold station behind the robot, which may be due to the hydrodynamic advantage obtained by swimming in the robot's wake. This work makes a compelling case for the need of biomimetic locomotion in promoting robot-animal interactions and it strengthens the hypothesis that biomimetic robots can be used to study and modulate collective animal behaviour.

A near-infrared SETI experiment: commissioning, data analysis, and performance results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maire, Jérôme; Wright, Shelley A.; Dorval, Patrick; Drake, Frank D.; Duenas, Andres; Isaacson, Howard; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Siemion, Andrew; Stone, Remington P. S.; Tallis, Melisa; Treffers, Richard R.; Werthimer, Dan

2016-08-01

Over the last two decades, Optical Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence experiments have been conducted to search for either continuous or pulsed visible-light laser beacons that could be used for interstellar communication or energy transmission. Near-infrared offers a compelling window for signal transmission since there is a decrease in interstellar extinction and Galactic background compared to optical wavelengths. An innovative Near-InfraRed and Optical SETI (NIROSETI) instrument has been designed and constructed to take advantage of a new generation of fast (> 1 Ghz) low-noise near-infrared avalanche photodiodes to search for nanosecond pulsed near-infrared (850 - 1650 nm) pulses. The instrument was successfully installed and commissioned at the Nickel (1m) telescope at Lick Observatory in March 2015. We will describe the overall design of the instrument with a focus on methods developed for data acquisition and reduction for near-infrared SETI. Time and height analyses of the pulses produced by the detectors are performed to search for periodicity and coincidences in the signals. We will further discuss our NIROSETI survey plans.

Don't Blame the Babies: Work Hour Mismatches and the Role of Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Jeremy; Johnson, David R.

2012-01-01

Many authors suggest that having children leads to gaps between the number of hours people prefer to work and the hours they actually work. Existing research, however, offers mixed support for that claim. We discuss the roots of this popular but poorly supported hypothesis and offer the first review of research on the topic, paying special…

Training for Research Data Management at the Bodleian Libraries: National Contexts and Local Implementation for Researchers and Librarians

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southall, John; Scutt, Catherine

2017-01-01

This article outlines the involvement of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford in developing new services for research data management. It offers reflections on what such additional support means for academic librarians, specifically considering support offered by subject consultants and a series of research data management (RDM)…

"But I've Been Teaching for 20 Years...": Encouraging Teaching Accreditation for Experienced Staff Working in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spowart, Lucy; Turner, Rebecca; Shenton, Deborah; Kneale, Pauline

2016-01-01

The status of teaching and learning is an issue those providing and supporting higher education grapple with. The UK Higher Education Academy offers accreditation aligned to the professional standards framework (PSF). The PSF contextualises the role of teaching and supporting learning, and offers a mechanism for individuals' commitment to be…

Child rearing practices amongst brothel based commercial sex workers.

PubMed

Pardeshi, Geeta; Bhattacharya, S

2006-07-01

The experiences of the commercial sex workers as they fulfill the role of being a parent, have rarely been reported. Considering their socioeconomic background, profession and work pattern, the women are bound to face major challenges. To describe child bearing, family support, dietary practices and various placement options for raising children. A cross-sectional descriptive study of brothel-based commercial sex workers. X2 test, Fisher's Exact test. Some commercial sex workers continued pregnancy with the hope of security and support, while others were compelled to do so, as they report late for medical termination of pregnancy. A group of sex workers (Devdasis) received support during pregnancy, delivery, puerperium and child-rearing. The role and responsibilities of raising the child, depended upon the kind of family support available to the mothers. Being a single parent, stigma of the profession, odd working hours and variable family support were major challenges, while the fact that the women were earning, availability of rehabilitation centers, the homogeneous groups within the brothels, supportive peers and local non governmental organizations were factors which helped them in the process of raising their children. Day care centers and night shelters should be opened up in the red light area where the children can be looked after, during the working hours. The sex workers should be educated about weaning and nutrition. The role of peer workers and NGOs was very important in helping the women raise their children.