Animation of Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transport System (HERTS)

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-04-20

Animation of Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transport System (HERTS) concept. NASA engineers are conducting tests to develop models for the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transport System. HERTS builds upon the electric sail invention of Dr. Pekka Janhunen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute. An electric sail could potentially send scientific payloads to the edge of our solar system, the heliopause, in less than 10 years. The research is led by Bruce M. Wiegmann, an engineer in the Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The HERTS E-Sail development and testing is funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program.

xSDK Foundations: Toward an Extreme-scale Scientific Software Development Kit

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

Heroux, Michael A.; Bartlett, Roscoe; Demeshko, Irina

Here, extreme-scale computational science increasingly demands multiscale and multiphysics formulations. Combining software developed by independent groups is imperative: no single team has resources for all predictive science and decision support capabilities. Scientific libraries provide high-quality, reusable software components for constructing applications with improved robustness and portability. However, without coordination, many libraries cannot be easily composed. Namespace collisions, inconsistent arguments, lack of third-party software versioning, and additional difficulties make composition costly. The Extreme-scale Scientific Software Development Kit (xSDK) defines community policies to improve code quality and compatibility across independently developed packages (hypre, PETSc, SuperLU, Trilinos, and Alquimia) and provides a foundationmore » for addressing broader issues in software interoperability, performance portability, and sustainability. The xSDK provides turnkey installation of member software and seamless combination of aggregate capabilities, and it marks first steps toward extreme-scale scientific software ecosystems from which future applications can be composed rapidly with assured quality and scalability.« less

xSDK Foundations: Toward an Extreme-scale Scientific Software Development Kit

DOE PAGES

Heroux, Michael A.; Bartlett, Roscoe; Demeshko, Irina; ...

2017-03-01

Here, extreme-scale computational science increasingly demands multiscale and multiphysics formulations. Combining software developed by independent groups is imperative: no single team has resources for all predictive science and decision support capabilities. Scientific libraries provide high-quality, reusable software components for constructing applications with improved robustness and portability. However, without coordination, many libraries cannot be easily composed. Namespace collisions, inconsistent arguments, lack of third-party software versioning, and additional difficulties make composition costly. The Extreme-scale Scientific Software Development Kit (xSDK) defines community policies to improve code quality and compatibility across independently developed packages (hypre, PETSc, SuperLU, Trilinos, and Alquimia) and provides a foundationmore » for addressing broader issues in software interoperability, performance portability, and sustainability. The xSDK provides turnkey installation of member software and seamless combination of aggregate capabilities, and it marks first steps toward extreme-scale scientific software ecosystems from which future applications can be composed rapidly with assured quality and scalability.« less

Computer Assisted Instructional Design for Computer-Based Instruction. Final Report. Working Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Daniel M.; Pirolli, Peter

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences have made it possible to develop successful intelligent computer-aided instructional systems for technical and scientific training. In addition, computer-aided design (CAD) environments that support the rapid development of such computer-based instruction have also been recently…

Streamflow Duration Assessment Method for the Pacific Northwest

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Streamflow Duration Assessment Method for the Pacific Northwest is a scientific tool developed by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide a rapid assessment framework to distinguish between ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams.

[A study of development of medicine and science in the nineteenth century science fiction: biomedical experiments in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein].

PubMed

Choo, Jae-Uk

2014-12-01

As the sciences advanced rapidly in the modern European world, outstanding achievements have been made in medicine, chemistry, biology, physiology, physics and others, which have been co-influencing each of the scientific disciplines. Accordingly, such medical and scientific phenomena began to be reflected in novels. In particular, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein includes the diverse aspects of the change and development in the medicine and science. Associated with medical and scientific information reflected in Frankenstein and Frankenstein's experiments in the text, accordingly, this research will investigate the aspects of medical and scientific development taking place in the nineteenth century in three ways. First, the medical and scientific development of the nineteenth century has been reviewed by summerizing both the information of alchemy in which Frankenstein shows his interest and the new science in general that M. Waldman introduces in the text. Second, the actual features of medical and scientific development have been examined through some examples of the experimental methods that M. Waldman implicitly uttered to Frankenstein. Third, it has been checked how the medical and scientific development is related to the main issues of mechanism and vitalism which can be explained as principles of life. Even though this research deals with the developmental process of medicine & science and origin & principles of life implied in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, its significance is that it is the interdisciplinary research focussing on how deeply medical and scientific discourse of Mary Shelley's period has been imbedded in the nineteenth century novel.

Examination of Postgraduate Theses in Sciences within the Interdisciplinary Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karakus, Memet; Yalçin, Onur

2017-01-01

Nowadays, the rapid spread of the interdisciplinary approach contributes to the development of disciplines and scientific developments in many ways. Therefore, how the interdisciplinary approach is addressed in the studies carried out is important in terms of guiding other studies. For this purpose, an attempt to determine how 155 doctorate theses…

Early Hearing Detection and Intervention in Developing Countries: Current Status and Prospects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olusanya, Bolajoko O.

2006-01-01

Infant hearing screening is emerging rapidly as a silent global revolution for the early detection of children with congenital or early onset hearing loss to ensure timely enrollment in family-oriented intervention programs for the development of spoken language. This article examines the overriding and interrelated scientific, ethical and…

Mars base buildup scenarios

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blacic, J. D.

1986-01-01

Two Mars surface based build-up scenarios are presented in order to help visualize the mission and to serve as a basis for trade studies. In the first scenario, direct manned landings on the Martian surface occur early in the missions and scientific investigation is the main driver and rationale. In the second senario, Earth development of an infrastructure to exploit the volatile resources of the Martian moons for economic purposes is emphasized. Scientific exploration of the surface is delayed at first in this scenario relative to the first, but once begun develops rapidly, aided by the presence of a permanently manned orbital station.

Computing through Scientific Abstractions in SysBioPS

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

Chin, George; Stephan, Eric G.; Gracio, Deborah K.

2004-10-13

Today, biologists and bioinformaticists have a tremendous amount of computational power at their disposal. With the availability of supercomputers, burgeoning scientific databases and digital libraries such as GenBank and PubMed, and pervasive computational environments such as the Grid, biologists have access to a wealth of computational capabilities and scientific data at hand. Yet, the rapid development of computational technologies has far exceeded the typical biologist’s ability to effectively apply the technology in their research. Computational sciences research and development efforts such as the Biology Workbench, BioSPICE (Biological Simulation Program for Intra-Cellular Evaluation), and BioCoRE (Biological Collaborative Research Environment) are importantmore » in connecting biologists and their scientific problems to computational infrastructures. On the Computational Cell Environment and Heuristic Entity-Relationship Building Environment projects at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, we are jointly developing a new breed of scientific problem solving environment called SysBioPSE that will allow biologists to access and apply computational resources in the scientific research context. In contrast to other computational science environments, SysBioPSE operates as an abstraction layer above a computational infrastructure. The goal of SysBioPSE is to allow biologists to apply computational resources in the context of the scientific problems they are addressing and the scientific perspectives from which they conduct their research. More specifically, SysBioPSE allows biologists to capture and represent scientific concepts and theories and experimental processes, and to link these views to scientific applications, data repositories, and computer systems.« less

Darwinism and positivism as methodological influences on the development of psychology.

PubMed

Mackenzie, B

1976-10-01

The methodological significance of evolutionary theory for psychology may be distinguished from its substantive or theoretical significance. The methodological significance was that evolutionay theory broadened the current conceptors of scientific method and rendered them relatively independent of physics. It thereby made the application of the "scientific method" to psychology much more feasible than it had been previously, and thus established the possibility of a wide-ranging scientific psychology for the first time. The methodological eclecticism that made scientific psychology possible did not, however, remain a feature of psychology for very long. Psychology's methodology rapidly became restricted and codified through the influence of, and in imitation of, the rigorously positivistic orientation of physics around the turn of the twentieth century.

Mechanobiology by the numbers: a close relationship between biology and physics.

PubMed

Schwarz, Ulrich S

2017-12-01

Studies of mechanobiology lie at the interface of various scientific disciplines from biology to physics. Accordingly, quantification and mathematical modelling have been instrumental in fuelling the progress in this rapidly developing research field, assisting experimental work on many levels.

Climate change adaptation and mitigation options a guide for natural resource managers in southern forest ecosystems

Treesearch

James M. Vose; Kier D. Klepzig

2014-01-01

The rapid pace of climate change and its direct and indirect effects on forest ecosystems present a pressing need for better scientific understanding and the development of new science-management partnerships. Understanding the effects of stressors and disturbances (including climatic variability), and developing and testing science-based management options to deal...

GMOs in Russia: Research, Society and Legislation.

PubMed

Korobko, I V; Georgiev, P G; Skryabin, K G; Kirpichnikov, M P

2016-01-01

Russian legislation lags behind the rapid developments witnessed in genetic engineering. Only a scientifically based and well-substantiated policy on the place of organisms that are created with the use of genetic engineering technologies and an assessment of the risks associated with them could guarantee that the breakthroughs achieved in modern genetic engineering technologies are effectively put to use in the real economy. A lack of demand for such breakthroughs in the practical field will lead to stagnation in scientific research and to a loss of expertise.

The Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap between What We Know and What We Do

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2007

2007-01-01

It is the belief of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child that better public understanding of the rapidly growing science of early childhood and early brain development can provide a powerful impetus for the design and implementation of policies and programs that could make a significant difference in the lives of all children.…

Telescience - Concepts And Contributions To The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchant, Will; Dobson, Carl; Chakrabarti, Supriya; Malina, Roger F.

1987-10-01

A goal of the telescience concept is to allow scientists to use remotely located instruments as they would in their laboratory. Another goal is to increase reliability and scientific return of these instruments. In this paper we discuss the role of transparent software tools in development, integration, and postlaunch environments to achieve hands on access to the instrument. The use of transparent tools helps to reduce the parallel development of capability and to assure that valuable pre-launch experience is not lost in the operations phase. We also discuss the use of simulation as a rapid prototyping technique. Rapid prototyping provides a cost-effective means of using an iterative approach to instrument design. By allowing inexpensive produc-tion of testbeds, scientists can quickly tune the instrument to produce the desired scientific data. Using portions of the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) system, we examine some of the results of preliminary tests in the use of simulation and tran-sparent tools. Additionally, we discuss our efforts to upgrade our software "EUVE electronics" simulator to emulate a full instrument, and give the pros and cons of the simulation facilities we have developed.

Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY98

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

Hansen, T.; Chartock, M.

1999-02-05

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL or Berkeley Lab) Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY 1998 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the supported projects and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, projection selection, implementation, and review. The LBNL LDRD program is a critical tool for directing the Laboratory's forefront scientific research capabilities toward vital, excellent, and emerging scientific challenges. The program providesmore » the resources for LBNL scientists to make rapid and significant contributions to critical national science and technology problems. The LDRD program also advances LBNL's core competencies, foundations, and scientific capability, and permits exploration of exciting new opportunities. All projects are work in forefront areas of science and technology. Areas eligible for support include the following: Advanced study of hypotheses, concepts, or innovative approaches to scientific or technical problems; Experiments and analyses directed toward ''proof of principle'' or early determination of the utility of new scientific ideas, technical concepts, or devices; and Conception and preliminary technical analyses of experimental facilities or devices.« less

Generating community-built tools for data sharing and analysis in environmental networks

USGS Publications Warehouse

Read, Jordan S.; Gries, Corinna; Read, Emily K.; Klug, Jennifer; Hanson, Paul C.; Hipsey, Matthew R.; Jennings, Eleanor; O'Reilley, Catherine; Winslow, Luke A.; Pierson, Don; McBride, Christopher G.; Hamilton, David

2016-01-01

Rapid data growth in many environmental sectors has necessitated tools to manage and analyze these data. The development of tools often lags behind the proliferation of data, however, which may slow exploratory opportunities and scientific progress. The Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) collaborative model supports an efficient and comprehensive data–analysis–insight life cycle, including implementations of data quality control checks, statistical calculations/derivations, models, and data visualizations. These tools are community-built and openly shared. We discuss the network structure that enables tool development and a culture of sharing, leading to optimized output from limited resources. Specifically, data sharing and a flat collaborative structure encourage the development of tools that enable scientific insights from these data. Here we provide a cross-section of scientific advances derived from global-scale analyses in GLEON. We document enhancements to science capabilities made possible by the development of analytical tools and highlight opportunities to expand this framework to benefit other environmental networks.

NEW METHODS TO SCREEN FOR DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY.

EPA Science Inventory

The development of alternative methods for toxicity testing is driven by the need for scientifically valid data (i.e. predictive of a toxic effect) that can be obtained in a rapid and cost-efficient manner. These predictions will enable decisions to be made as to whether further ...

Silver Voyage from Macro- to Nanoworld

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soukupova, Jana; Kvitek, Libor; Kratochvilova, Martina; Panacek, Ales; Prucek, Robert; Zboril, Radek

2010-01-01

Nanoscience and nanotechnology currently represent one of the most rapidly developing fields of science and technology; therefore, the fundamental principles of nanoscience and nanotechnology should be understood by college and even high school students as well as by members of scientific communities. Silver, as the pioneer material in these…

The Development and Validation of the GMOAS, an Instrument Measuring Secondary School Students' Attitudes towards Genetically Modified Organisms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herodotou, Christothea; Kyza, Eleni A.; Nicolaidou, Iolie; Hadjichambis, Andreas; Kafouris, Dimitris; Terzian, Freda

2012-01-01

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is a rapidly evolving area of scientific innovation and an issue receiving global attention. Attempts to devise usable instruments that assess people's attitudes towards this innovation have been rare and non-systematic. The aim of this paper is to present the development and validation of the genetically…

Abstracting and indexing guide

USGS Publications Warehouse

,; ,

1974-01-01

These instructions have been prepared for those who abstract and index scientific and technical documents for the Water Resources Scientific Information Center (WRSIC). With the recent publication growth in all fields, information centers have undertaken the task of keeping the various scientific communities aware of current and past developments. An abstract with carefully selected index terms offers the user of WRSIC services a more rapid means for deciding whether a document is pertinent to his needs and professional interests, thus saving him the time necessary to scan the complete work. These means also provide WRSIC with a document representation or surrogate which is more easily stored and manipulated to produce various services. Authors are asked to accept the responsibility for preparing abstracts of their own papers to facilitate quick evaluation, announcement, and dissemination to the scientific community.

A rapid prototyping/artificial intelligence approach to space station-era information management and access

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carnahan, Richard S., Jr.; Corey, Stephen M.; Snow, John B.

1989-01-01

Applications of rapid prototyping and Artificial Intelligence techniques to problems associated with Space Station-era information management systems are described. In particular, the work is centered on issues related to: (1) intelligent man-machine interfaces applied to scientific data user support, and (2) the requirement that intelligent information management systems (IIMS) be able to efficiently process metadata updates concerning types of data handled. The advanced IIMS represents functional capabilities driven almost entirely by the needs of potential users. Space Station-era scientific data projected to be generated is likely to be significantly greater than data currently processed and analyzed. Information about scientific data must be presented clearly, concisely, and with support features to allow users at all levels of expertise efficient and cost-effective data access. Additionally, mechanisms for allowing more efficient IIMS metadata update processes must be addressed. The work reported covers the following IIMS design aspects: IIMS data and metadata modeling, including the automatic updating of IIMS-contained metadata, IIMS user-system interface considerations, including significant problems associated with remote access, user profiles, and on-line tutorial capabilities, and development of an IIMS query and browse facility, including the capability to deal with spatial information. A working prototype has been developed and is being enhanced.

Avionics and Power Management for Low-Cost High-Altitude Balloon Science Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Jeffrey; Roberts, Anthony; McNatt, Jeremiah

2016-01-01

High-altitude balloons (HABs) have become popular as educational and scientific platforms for planetary research. This document outlines key components for missions where low cost and rapid development are desired. As an alternative to ground-based vacuum and thermal testing, these systems can be flight tested at comparable costs. Communication, solar, space, and atmospheric sensing experiments often require environments where ground level testing can be challenging or impossible in certain cases. When performing HAB research the ability to monitor the status of the platform and gather data is key for both scientific and recoverability aspects of the mission. A few turnkey platform solutions are outlined that leverage rapidly evolving open-source engineering ecosystems. Rather than building custom components from scratch, these recommendations attempt to maximize simplicity and cost of HAB platforms to make launches more accessible to everyone.

Synchronous in-field application of life-detection techniques in planetary analog missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amador, Elena S.; Cable, Morgan L.; Chaudry, Nosheen; Cullen, Thomas; Gentry, Diana; Jacobsen, Malene B.; Murukesan, Gayathri; Schwieterman, Edward W.; Stevens, Adam H.; Stockton, Amanda; Yin, Chang; Cullen, David C.; Geppert, Wolf

2015-02-01

Field expeditions that simulate the operations of robotic planetary exploration missions at analog sites on Earth can help establish best practices and are therefore a positive contribution to the planetary exploration community. There are many sites in Iceland that possess heritage as planetary exploration analog locations and whose environmental extremes make them suitable for simulating scientific sampling and robotic operations. We conducted a planetary exploration analog mission at two recent lava fields in Iceland, Fimmvörðuháls (2010) and Eldfell (1973), using a specially developed field laboratory. We tested the utility of in-field site sampling down selection and tiered analysis operational capabilities with three life detection and characterization techniques: fluorescence microscopy (FM), adenine-triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay. The study made use of multiple cycles of sample collection at multiple distance scales and field laboratory analysis using the synchronous life-detection techniques to heuristically develop the continuing sampling and analysis strategy during the expedition. Here we report the operational lessons learned and provide brief summaries of scientific data. The full scientific data report will follow separately. We found that rapid in-field analysis to determine subsequent sampling decisions is operationally feasible, and that the chosen life detection and characterization techniques are suitable for a terrestrial life-detection field mission. In-field analysis enables the rapid obtainment of scientific data and thus facilitates the collection of the most scientifically relevant samples within a single field expedition, without the need for sample relocation to external laboratories. The operational lessons learned in this study could be applied to future terrestrial field expeditions employing other analytical techniques and to future robotic planetary exploration missions.

Antiretroviral drug regimens to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV: a review of scientific, program, and policy advances for sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Chi, Benjamin H; Stringer, Jeffrey S A; Moodley, Dhayendre

2013-06-01

Considerable advances have been made in the effort to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) in sub-Saharan Africa. Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of antiretroviral regimens to interrupt HIV transmission through the antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal periods. Scientific discoveries have been rapidly translated into health policy, bolstered by substantial investment in health infrastructure capable of delivering increasingly complex services. A new scientific agenda is also emerging, one that is focused on the challenges of effective and sustainable program implementation. Finally, global campaigns to "virtually eliminate" pediatric HIV and dramatically reduce HIV-related maternal mortality have mobilized new resources and renewed political will. Each of these developments marks a major step in regional PMTCT efforts; their convergence signals a time of rapid progress in the field, characterized by an increased interdependency between clinical research, program implementation, and policy. In this review, we take stock of recent advances across each of these areas, highlighting the challenges--and opportunities--of improving health services for HIV-infected mothers and their children across the region.

Vascular structure determines pulmonary blood flow distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hlastala, M. P.; Glenny, R. W.

1999-01-01

Scientific knowledge develops through the evolution of new concepts. This process is usually driven by new methodologies that provide observations not previously available. Understanding of pulmonary blood flow determinants advanced significantly in the 1960s and is now changing rapidly again, because of increased spatial resolution of regional pulmonary blood flow measurements.

[The transfer of scientific knowledge in clinical practice].

PubMed

Pearson, Alan

2012-12-01

The rapid growth of evidence-based practice has been facilitated by the development of theoretical models enabling the components of this concept to be assimilated. The Joanna Briggs Institute is an international organisation which offers a wide range of resources in order to promote this practice in the health sector.

20171003 - Exposure Research in EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability Research Program (ACC LRI SST Science Discussion)

EPA Science Inventory

Estimates of human and ecological exposures are required as critical input to risk-based prioritization and screening of chemicals. This project seeks to develop the data, tools, and evaluation approaches required to generate rapid and scientifically-defensible exposure predictio...

Research Management in Portugal: A Quest for Professional Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trindade, Margarida; Agostinho, Marta

2014-01-01

Research managers at science-intensive institutions appear as a continuously evolving group of professionals whose identity is somewhat fragmented, even to themselves. In Portugal, specialized research manager roles have rapidly emerged over the last years alongside the development of a small but consolidated scientific system. In order to get an…

Applying the Scientific Method of Cybersecurity Research

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

Tardiff, Mark F.; Bonheyo, George T.; Cort, Katherine A.

The cyber environment has rapidly evolved from a curiosity to an essential component of the contemporary world. As the cyber environment has expanded and become more complex, so have the nature of adversaries and styles of attacks. Today, cyber incidents are an expected part of life. As a result, cybersecurity research emerged to address adversarial attacks interfering with or preventing normal cyber activities. Historical response to cybersecurity attacks is heavily skewed to tactical responses with an emphasis on rapid recovery. While threat mitigation is important and can be time critical, a knowledge gap exists with respect to developing the sciencemore » of cybersecurity. Such a science will enable the development and testing of theories that lead to understanding the broad sweep of cyber threats and the ability to assess trade-offs in sustaining network missions while mitigating attacks. The Asymmetric Resilient Cybersecurity Initiative at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment to develop approaches for shifting the advantage to the defender and sustaining the operability of systems under attack. The initiative established a Science Council to focus attention on the research process for cybersecurity. The Council shares science practices, critiques research plans, and aids in documenting and reporting reproducible research results. The Council members represent ecology, economics, statistics, physics, computational chemistry, microbiology and genetics, and geochemistry. This paper reports the initial work of the Science Council to implement the scientific method in cybersecurity research. The second section describes the scientific method. The third section in this paper discusses scientific practices for cybersecurity research. Section four describes initial impacts of applying the science practices to cybersecurity research.« less

GMOs in Russia: Research, Society and Legislation

PubMed Central

Korobko, I. V.; Georgiev, P. G.; Skryabin, K. G.; Kirpichnikov, M. P.

2016-01-01

Russian legislation lags behind the rapid developments witnessed in genetic engineering. Only a scientifically based and well-substantiated policy on the place of organisms that are created with the use of genetic engineering technologies and an assessment of the risks associated with them could guarantee that the breakthroughs achieved in modern genetic engineering technologies are effectively put to use in the real economy. A lack of demand for such breakthroughs in the practical field will lead to stagnation in scientific research and to a loss of expertise. PMID:28050262

Rapid Cost Assessment of Space Mission Concepts Through Application of Complexity-Based Cost Indices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peterson, Craig E.; Cutts, James; Balint, Tibor; Hall, James B.

2008-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the development of a rapid cost assessment models for evaluation of exploration missions through the application of complexity based cost indices. In Fall of 2004, NASA began developing 13 documents, known as "strategic roadmaps," intended to outline a strategy for space exploration over the next 30 years. The Third Strategic Roadmap, The Strategic Roadmap for Solar System Exploration, focused on strategy for robotic exploration of the Solar System. Development of the Strategic Roadmap for Solar System Exploration led to the investigation of a large variety of missions. However, the necessity of planning around scientific inquiry and budgetary constraints made it necessary for the roadmap development team to evaluate potential missions not only for scientific return but also cost. Performing detailed cost studies for each of the large number of missions was impractical given the time constraints involved and lack of detailed mission studies; so a method of rapid cost assessment was developed by us to allow preliminary analysis. It has been noted that there is a strong correlation between complexity and cost and schedule of planetary missions. While these correlations were made after missions had been built and flown (successfully or otherwise), it seemed likely that a similar approach could provide at least some relative cost ranking. Cost estimation relationships (CERs) have been developed based on subsystem design choices. These CERs required more detailed information than available, forcing the team to adopt a more high level approach. Costing by analogy has been developed for small satellites, however, planetary exploration missions provide such varying spacecraft requirements that there is a lack of adequately comparable missions that can be used for analogy.

"What's the Weather Like Today?": A Computer Game to Develop Algorithmic Thinking and Problem Solving Skills of Primary School Pupils

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gürbüz, Hasan; Evlioglu, Bengisu; Erol, Çigdem Selçukcan; Gülseçen, Hulusi; Gülseçen, Sevinç

2017-01-01

Computer-based games as developments in information technology seem to grow and spread rapidly. Using of these games by children and teenagers have increased. The presence of more beneficial and educational games in contrast to the violent and harmful games is remarkable. Many scientific studies have indicated that the useful (functional) games…

The Professional Development Plan of a Health Care Workforce as a Qualitative Indicator of the Health Care System's Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saiti, Anna; Mylona, Vasiliki

2015-01-01

The quality of a health care system is heavily dependent on a capable and skillful health care workforce so as to guarantee the delivery of quality health care services to its user groups. Hence, only through continuous training and development can the health care workforce follow rapid scientific progress while equitably balancing investment…

The Scientific Foundation for Personal Genomics: Recommendations from a National Institutes of Health–Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Multidisciplinary Workshop

PubMed Central

Khoury, Muin J.; McBride, Colleen M.; Schully, Sheri D.; Ioannidis, John P. A.; Feero, W. Gregory; Janssens, A. Cecile J. W.; Gwinn, Marta; Simons-Morton, Denise G.; Bernhardt, Jay M.; Cargill, Michele; Chanock, Stephen J.; Church, George M.; Coates, Ralph J.; Collins, Francis S.; Croyle, Robert T.; Davis, Barry R.; Downing, Gregory J.; DuRoss, Amy; Friedman, Susan; Gail, Mitchell H.; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S.; Green, Robert C.; Greene, Mark H.; Greenland, Philip; Gulcher, Jeffrey R.; Hsu, Andro; Hudson, Kathy L.; Kardia, Sharon L. R.; Kimmel, Paul L.; Lauer, Michael S.; Miller, Amy M.; Offit, Kenneth; Ransohoff, David F.; Roberts, J. Scott; Rasooly, Rebekah S.; Stefansson, Kari; Terry, Sharon F.; Teutsch, Steven M.; Trepanier, Angela; Wanke, Kay L.; Witte, John S.; Xu, Jianfeng

2010-01-01

The increasing availability of personal genomic tests has led to discussions about the validity and utility of such tests and the balance of benefits and harms. A multidisciplinary workshop was convened by the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the scientific foundation for using personal genomics in risk assessment and disease prevention and to develop recommendations for targeted research. The clinical validity and utility of personal genomics is a moving target with rapidly developing discoveries but little translation research to close the gap between discoveries and health impact. Workshop participants made recommendations in five domains: (1) developing and applying scientific standards for assessing personal genomic tests; (2) developing and applying a multidisciplinary research agenda, including observational studies and clinical trials to fill knowledge gaps in clinical validity and utility; (3) enhancing credible knowledge synthesis and information dissemination to clinicians and consumers; (4) linking scientific findings to evidence-based recommendations for use of personal genomics; and (5) assessing how the concept of personal utility can affect health benefits, costs, and risks by developing appropriate metrics for evaluation. To fulfill the promise of personal genomics, a rigorous multidisciplinary research agenda is needed. PMID:19617843

Potential of ordered mesoporous silica for oral delivery of poorly soluble drugs.

PubMed

Vialpando, Monica; Martens, Johan A; Van den Mooter, Guy

2011-08-01

The use of ordered mesoporous silica is one of the more recent and rapidly developing formulation techniques for enhancing the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs. Their large surface area and pore volume make ordered mesoporous silica materials excellent candidates for efficient drug loading and rapid release. While this new approach offers many promising advantages, further research is still necessary to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and to improve our scientific insight into the behavior of this system. In this review, the significant developments to date are presented and research challenges highlighted. Aspects of downstream processability are discussed in view of their special bulk powder properties and unique pore architecture. Lastly, perspectives for successful oral dosage form development are presented.

Freeing data through The Polar Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruin, Taco; Chen, Robert; Parsons, Mark; Carlson, David

2010-05-01

The polar regions are changing rapidly with dramatic global effect. Wise management of resources, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on resource and geopolitical issues require deeper understanding and better prediction of these changes. Unfortunately, polar data and information remain scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research, we assert that data and information about the polar regions are themselves "public goods" that should be shared ethically and with minimal constraint. We therefore envision the Polar Information Commons (PIC) as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information that would provide a shared, community-based cyber-infrastructure fostering innovation, improving scientific efficiency, and encouraging participation in polar research, education, planning, and management. The PIC will build on the legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY), providing a long-term framework for access to and preservation of both existing and future data and information about the polar regions. Rapid change demands rapid data access. The PIC system will enable scientists to quickly expose their data to the world and share them through open protocols on the Internet. A PIC digital label will alert users and data centers to new polar data and ensure that usage rights are clear. The PIC will utilize the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, which promotes open data access through the public domain coupled with community norms of practice to ensure use of data in a fair and equitable manner. A set of PIC norms is currently being developed in consultation with key polar data organizations and other stakeholders. We welcome inputs from the broad science community as we further develop and refine the PIC approach and move ahead with implementation.

Freeing data through The Polar Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruin, T.; Chen, R. S.; Parsons, M. A.; Carlson, D. J.

2009-12-01

The polar regions are changing rapidly with dramatic global effect. Wise management of resources, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on resource and geopolitical issues require deeper understanding and better prediction of these changes. Unfortunately, polar data and information remain scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research, we assert that data and information about the polar regions are themselves “public goods” that should be shared ethically and with minimal constraint. We therefore envision the Polar Information Commons (PIC) as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information that would provide a shared, community-based cyber-infrastructure fostering innovation, improving scientific efficiency, and encouraging participation in polar research, education, planning, and management. The PIC will build on the legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY), providing a long-term framework for access to and preservation of both existing and future data and information about the polar regions. Rapid change demands rapid data access. The PIC system will enable scientists to quickly expose their data to the world and share them through open protocols on the Internet. A PIC digital label will alert users and data centers to new polar data and ensure that usage rights are clear. The PIC will utilize the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, which promotes open data access through the public domain coupled with community norms of practice to ensure use of data in a fair and equitable manner. A set of PIC norms is currently being developed in consultation with key polar data organizations and other stakeholders. We welcome inputs from the broad science community as we further develop and refine the PIC approach and move ahead with implementation.

Freeing data through The Polar Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Bruin, T.; Chen, R. S.; Parsons, M. A.; Carlson, D. J.; Cass, K.; Finney, K.; Wilbanks, J.; Jochum, K.

2010-12-01

The polar regions are changing rapidly with dramatic global effect. Wise management of resources, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on resource and geopolitical issues require deeper understanding and better prediction of these changes. Unfortunately, polar data and information remain scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to be used only for peaceful purposes and scientific research, we assert that data and information about the polar regions are themselves “public goods” that should be shared ethically and with minimal constraint. ICSU’s Committee on Data (CODATA) therefore started the Polar Information Commons (PIC) as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information. The PIC provides a shared, community-based cyber-infrastructure fostering innovation, improving scientific efficiency, and encouraging participation in polar research, education, planning, and management. The PIC builds on the legacy of the International Polar Year (IPY), providing a long-term framework for access to and preservation of both existing and future data and information about the polar regions. Rapid change demands rapid data access. The PIC system enables scientists to quickly expose their data to the world and share them through open protocols on the Internet. A PIC digital label will alert users and data centers to new polar data and ensure that usage rights are clear. The PIC utilizes the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, which promotes open data access through the public domain coupled with community norms of practice to ensure use of data in a fair and equitable manner. A set of PIC norms has been developed in consultation with key polar data organizations and other stakeholders. We welcome inputs from the broad science community as we further develop and refine the PIC approach and move ahead with implementation.

Rapid development of medical imaging tools with open-source libraries.

PubMed

Caban, Jesus J; Joshi, Alark; Nagy, Paul

2007-11-01

Rapid prototyping is an important element in researching new imaging analysis techniques and developing custom medical applications. In the last ten years, the open source community and the number of open source libraries and freely available frameworks for biomedical research have grown significantly. What they offer are now considered standards in medical image analysis, computer-aided diagnosis, and medical visualization. A cursory review of the peer-reviewed literature in imaging informatics (indeed, in almost any information technology-dependent scientific discipline) indicates the current reliance on open source libraries to accelerate development and validation of processes and techniques. In this survey paper, we review and compare a few of the most successful open source libraries and frameworks for medical application development. Our dual intentions are to provide evidence that these approaches already constitute a vital and essential part of medical image analysis, diagnosis, and visualization and to motivate the reader to use open source libraries and software for rapid prototyping of medical applications and tools.

Re-Engineering Academic Library Services: The Case of the Technical Knowledge Center & Library of Denmark.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bjoernshauge, Lars

The traditional mode of operation of academic libraries is in crisis due to a combination of zero growth funding, rapidly escalating pricing on information resources (especially scientific journals), necessary investments in technology and human resource development, and increasing customer expectations. These issues are addressed as they relate…

ASSESSMENT OF CHEMICAL EFFECTS ON NEURONAL DIFFERENTIATION USING THE ARRAYSCAN HIGH CONTENT SCREENING SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

The development of alternative methods for toxicity testing is driven by the need for scientifically valid data that can be obtained in a rapid and cost-efficient manner. In vitro systems provide a model in which chemical effects on cellular events can be examined using technique...

The Spectral Image Processing System (SIPS) - Interactive visualization and analysis of imaging spectrometer data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kruse, F. A.; Lefkoff, A. B.; Boardman, J. W.; Heidebrecht, K. B.; Shapiro, A. T.; Barloon, P. J.; Goetz, A. F. H.

1993-01-01

The Center for the Study of Earth from Space (CSES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has developed a prototype interactive software system called the Spectral Image Processing System (SIPS) using IDL (the Interactive Data Language) on UNIX-based workstations. SIPS is designed to take advantage of the combination of high spectral resolution and spatial data presentation unique to imaging spectrometers. It streamlines analysis of these data by allowing scientists to rapidly interact with entire datasets. SIPS provides visualization tools for rapid exploratory analysis and numerical tools for quantitative modeling. The user interface is X-Windows-based, user friendly, and provides 'point and click' operation. SIPS is being used for multidisciplinary research concentrating on use of physically based analysis methods to enhance scientific results from imaging spectrometer data. The objective of this continuing effort is to develop operational techniques for quantitative analysis of imaging spectrometer data and to make them available to the scientific community prior to the launch of imaging spectrometer satellite systems such as the Earth Observing System (EOS) High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (HIRIS).

Animated computer graphics models of space and earth sciences data generated via the massively parallel processor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Treinish, Lloyd A.; Gough, Michael L.; Wildenhain, W. David

1987-01-01

The capability was developed of rapidly producing visual representations of large, complex, multi-dimensional space and earth sciences data sets via the implementation of computer graphics modeling techniques on the Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) by employing techniques recently developed for typically non-scientific applications. Such capabilities can provide a new and valuable tool for the understanding of complex scientific data, and a new application of parallel computing via the MPP. A prototype system with such capabilities was developed and integrated into the National Space Science Data Center's (NSSDC) Pilot Climate Data System (PCDS) data-independent environment for computer graphics data display to provide easy access to users. While developing these capabilities, several problems had to be solved independently of the actual use of the MPP, all of which are outlined.

Reengineering the National Clinical and Translational Research Enterprise: The Strategic Plan of the National Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium

PubMed Central

Reis, Steven E.; Berglund, Lars; Bernard, Gordon R.; Califf, Robert M.; FitzGerald, Garret A.; Johnson, Peter C.

2009-01-01

Advances in human health require the efficient and rapid translation of scientific discoveries into effective clinical treatments; this process in turn depends upon observational data gathered from patients, communities, and public-health research that can be used to guide basic scientific investigation. Such bidirectional translational science, however, faces unprecedented challenges due to the rapid pace of scientific and technological development, as well as the difficulties of negotiating increasingly complex regulatory and commercial environments that overlap the research domain. Further, numerous barriers to translational science have emerged among the nation’s academic research centers, including basic structural and cultural impediments to innovation and collaboration, shortages of trained investigators, and inadequate funding. To address these serious and systemic problems, in 2006, the National Institutes of Health created the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program, which aims to catalyze the transformation of biomedical research at a national level, speeding the discovery and development of therapies, fostering collaboration, engaging communities, and training succeeding generations of clinical and translational researchers. The authors report in detail on the planning process, begun in 2008, that was used to engage stakeholders and to identify, refine, and ultimately implement the CTSA program’s overarching strategic goals. They also discuss the implications and likely impact of this strategic planning process as it is applied among the nation’s academic health centers. PMID:20182119

Reengineering the national clinical and translational research enterprise: the strategic plan of the National Clinical and Translational Science Awards Consortium.

PubMed

Reis, Steven E; Berglund, Lars; Bernard, Gordon R; Califf, Robert M; Fitzgerald, Garret A; Johnson, Peter C

2010-03-01

Advances in human health require the efficient and rapid translation of scientific discoveries into effective clinical treatments; this process, in turn, depends on observational data gathered from patients, communities, and public health research that can be used to guide basic scientific investigation. Such bidirectional translational science, however, faces unprecedented challenges due to the rapid pace of scientific and technological development, as well as the difficulties of negotiating increasingly complex regulatory and commercial environments that overlap the research domain. Further, numerous barriers to translational science have emerged among the nation's academic research centers, including basic structural and cultural impediments to innovation and collaboration, shortages of trained investigators, and inadequate funding.To address these serious and systemic problems, in 2006 the National Institutes of Health created the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program, which aims to catalyze the transformation of biomedical research at a national level, speeding the discovery and development of therapies, fostering collaboration, engaging communities, and training succeeding generations of clinical and translational researchers. The authors report in detail on the planning process, begun in 2008, that was used to engage stakeholders and to identify, refine, and ultimately implement the CTSA program's overarching strategic goals. They also discuss the implications and likely impact of this strategic planning process as it is applied among the nation's academic health centers.

AIBench: a rapid application development framework for translational research in biomedicine.

PubMed

Glez-Peña, D; Reboiro-Jato, M; Maia, P; Rocha, M; Díaz, F; Fdez-Riverola, F

2010-05-01

Applied research in both biomedical discovery and translational medicine today often requires the rapid development of fully featured applications containing both advanced and specific functionalities, for real use in practice. In this context, new tools are demanded that allow for efficient generation, deployment and reutilization of such biomedical applications as well as their associated functionalities. In this context this paper presents AIBench, an open-source Java desktop application framework for scientific software development with the goal of providing support to both fundamental and applied research in the domain of translational biomedicine. AIBench incorporates a powerful plug-in engine, a flexible scripting platform and takes advantage of Java annotations, reflection and various design principles in order to make it easy to use, lightweight and non-intrusive. By following a basic input-processing-output life cycle, it is possible to fully develop multiplatform applications using only three types of concepts: operations, data-types and views. The framework automatically provides functionalities that are present in a typical scientific application including user parameter definition, logging facilities, multi-threading execution, experiment repeatability and user interface workflow management, among others. The proposed framework architecture defines a reusable component model which also allows assembling new applications by the reuse of libraries from past projects or third-party software. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of simulation in postgraduate studies in Saudi Arabia: The current practice in anesthesia training program

PubMed Central

Arab, Abeer; Alatassi, Abdulaleem; Alattas, Elias; Alzoraigi, Usamah; AlZaher, Zaki; Ahmad, Abdulaziz; Albabtain, Hesham; Boker, Abdulaziz

2017-01-01

The educational programs in the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties are developing rapidly in the fields of technical development. Such development is witnessed, particularly in the scientific areas related to what is commonly known as evidence-based medicine. This review highlights the critical need and importance of integrating simulation into anesthesia training and assessment. Furthermore, it describes the current utilization of simulation in anesthesia and critical care assessment process. PMID:28442961

An epistemological inquiry into the endocrine disruptor thesis.

PubMed

Krimsky, S

2001-12-01

For about a decade the term endocrine disruptor has become synonymous with a new research initiative that has been investigating the effects of hormonally active xenobiotics on biological systems. The scientific thesis behind the new research initiative is discussed and it is argued that there is a need for more emphasis on theory development and conceptual clarification that will give coherence to a field experiencing a rapid growth of empirical studies. Reflections on scientific methodology in this field will also help clarify whether endocrine disruptors symbolize a new etiology of chemically induced disease or represent variations of traditional chemical toxicology.

Next Generation Integrated Environment for Collaborative Work Across Internets

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

Harvey B. Newman

2009-02-24

We are now well-advanced in our development, prototyping and deployment of a high performance next generation Integrated Environment for Collaborative Work. The system, aimed at using the capability of ESnet and Internet2 for rapid data exchange, is based on the Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS) developed by Caltech. The VRVS system has been chosen by the Internet2 Digital Video (I2-DV) Initiative as a preferred foundation for the development of advanced video, audio and multimedia collaborative applications by the Internet2 community. Today, the system supports high-end, broadcast-quality interactivity, while enabling a wide variety of clients (Mbone, H.323) to participate in themore » same conference by running different standard protocols in different contexts with different bandwidth connection limitations, has a fully Web-integrated user interface, developers and administrative APIs, a widely scalable video network topology based on both multicast domains and unicast tunnels, and demonstrated multiplatform support. This has led to its rapidly expanding production use for national and international scientific collaborations in more than 60 countries. We are also in the process of creating a 'testbed video network' and developing the necessary middleware to support a set of new and essential requirements for rapid data exchange, and a high level of interactivity in large-scale scientific collaborations. These include a set of tunable, scalable differentiated network services adapted to each of the data streams associated with a large number of collaborative sessions, policy-based and network state-based resource scheduling, authentication, and optional encryption to maintain confidentiality of inter-personal communications. High performance testbed video networks will be established in ESnet and Internet2 to test and tune the implementation, using a few target application-sets.« less

Accelerating Science to Action: NGOs Catalyzing Scientific Research using Philanthropic/Corporate Funding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamburg, S.

2017-12-01

While government funding of scientific research has been the bedrock of scientific advances in the US, it is seldom quick or directly responsive to societal needs. If we are to effectively respond to the increasingly urgent needs for new science to address the environmental and social challenges faced by humanity and the environment we need to deploy new scientific models to augment government-centric approaches. The Environmental Defense Fund has developed an approach that accelerates the development and uptake of new science in pursuit of science-based policy to fill the gap while government research efforts are initiated. We utilized this approach in developing the data necessary to quantify methane emissions from the oil and gas supply chain. This effort was based on five key principles: studies led by an academic researchers; deployment of multiple methods whenever possible (e.g. top-down and bottom-up); all data made public (identity but not location masked when possible); external scientific review; results released in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The research to quantify methane emissions involved > 150 scientists from 40 institutions, resulting in 35 papers published over four years. In addition to the research community companies operating along the oil and gas value chain participated by providing access to sites/vehicles and funding for a portion of the academic research. The bulk of funding came from philanthropic sources. Overall the use of this alternative research/funding model allowed for the more rapid development of a robust body of policy-relevant knowledge that addressed an issue of high societal interest/value.

From Open Data to Science-Based Services for Disaster Risk Management: the Experience of the GEO Geohazards Supersite Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salvi, S.; Poland, M. P.; Sigmundsson, F.; Puglisi, G.; Borgstrom, S.; Ergintav, S.; Vogfjord, K. S.; Fournier, N.; Hamling, I. J.; Mothes, P. A.; Savvaidis, A.; Wicks, C. W., Jr.

2017-12-01

In 2010, the Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratories initiative (GSNL) established, in the framework of GEO, the concept of a global partnership among the geophysical scientific community, space agencies, and in-situ data providers, with the aim of promoting scientific advancements in the understanding of seismic and volcanic phenomena. This goal is achieved through open sharing of large volumes of remote sensing and in-situ data from specific volcanic or seismic areas of particularly high risk or scientific interest (the Supersites) as proposed by the scientific community. Data provision to the Supersites is coordinated by local research and monitoring institutions, which deploy and manage geophysical monitoring networks and have an institutional mandate for the provision of scientific data and services to the national government and other regional users. Starting in 2015, following the changes in GEO and the call for action given by the Sendai Framework 2015-2030, the GSNL initiative has promoted the rapid uptake of newly developed scientific information for maximum societal benefit in Disaster Risk Management (DRM). While the procedures by which the scientific products are provided to the local decision makers depend on the different national operational frameworks and are largely independent of the Supersite existence, the quality of the scientific information, and thus its actual benefit for DRM, is considerably enhanced at each Supersite. This growth in scientific understanding of specific volcanic and seismic areas is not only due to wider accessibility of data, but also to the increased collaboration and sharing of resources and capacities that occurs inside the Supersite scientific community. For maximum effectiveness, the GSNL initiative supports an Open Science approach, where different collaboration and communication approaches and technological solutions are developed, tested, and shared, thereby helping to sustain the scientific investigation process. We will present at the meeting the latest developments and results of the GSNL Supersite network.

Onboard Radar Processing Development for Rapid Response Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lou, Yunling; Chien, Steve; Clark, Duane; Doubleday, Josh; Muellerschoen, Ron; Wang, Charles C.

2011-01-01

We are developing onboard processor (OBP) technology to streamline data acquisition on-demand and explore the potential of the L-band SAR instrument onboard the proposed DESDynI mission and UAVSAR for rapid response applications. The technology would enable the observation and use of surface change data over rapidly evolving natural hazards, both as an aid to scientific understanding and to provide timely data to agencies responsible for the management and mitigation of natural disasters. We are adapting complex science algorithms for surface water extent to detect flooding, snow/water/ice classification to assist in transportation/ shipping forecasts, and repeat-pass change detection to detect disturbances. We are near completion of the development of a custom FPGA board to meet the specific memory and processing needs of L-band SAR processor algorithms and high speed interfaces to reformat and route raw radar data to/from the FPGA processor board. We have also developed a high fidelity Matlab model of the SAR processor that is modularized and parameterized for ease to prototype various SAR processor algorithms targeted for the FPGA. We will be testing the OBP and rapid response algorithms with UAVSAR data to determine the fidelity of the products.

Developing a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum for professionalism and scientific integrity training for biomedical graduate students.

PubMed

Jones, Nancy L; Peiffer, Ann M; Lambros, Ann; Guthold, Martin; Johnson, A Daniel; Tytell, Michael; Ronca, April E; Eldridge, J Charles

2010-10-01

A multidisciplinary faculty committee designed a curriculum to shape biomedical graduate students into researchers with a high commitment to professionalism and social responsibility and to provide students with tools to navigate complex, rapidly evolving academic and societal environments with a strong ethical commitment. The curriculum used problem-based learning (PBL), because it is active and learner-centred and focuses on skill and process development. Two courses were developed: Scientific Professionalism: Scientific Integrity addressed discipline-specific and broad professional norms and obligations for the ethical practice of science and responsible conduct of research (RCR). Scientific Professionalism: Bioethics and Social Responsibility focused on current ethical and bioethical issues within the scientific profession, and implications of research for society. Each small-group session examined case scenarios that included: (1) learning objectives for professional norms and obligations; (2) key ethical issues and philosophies within each topic area; (3) one or more of the RCR instructional areas; and (4) at least one type of moral reflection. Cases emphasised professional standards, obligations and underlying philosophies for the ethical practice of science, competing interests of stakeholders and oversight of science (internal and external). To our knowledge, this is the first use of a longitudinal, multi-semester PBL course to teach scientific integrity and professionalism. Both faculty and students endorsed the active learning approach for these topics, in contrast to a compliance-based approach that emphasises learning rules and regulations.

The Window on Psychology's Literature: A History of Psychological Abstracts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benjamin, Ludy T., Jr.; VandenBos, Gary R.

2006-01-01

With the rapid expansion of scientific information at the end of the 19th century, disciplines sought ways to keep their members abreast of the relevant research. Those pressures were felt in the science of psychology in the United States, where psychologists developed a bibliographic aid, The Psychological Index, in 1895 only a little more than a…

The Alchemy of "Costing Out" an Adequate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanushek, Eric A.

2006-01-01

In response to the rapid rise in court cases related to the adequacy of school funding, a variety of alternative methods have been developed to provide an analytical base about the necessary expenditure on schools. These approaches have been titled to give an aura of a thoughtful and solid scientific basis: the professional judgment model, the…

Probabilities and Predictions: Modeling the Development of Scientific Problem-Solving Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Ron; Johnson, David F.; Soller, Amy

2005-01-01

The IMMEX (Interactive Multi-Media Exercises) Web-based problem set platform enables the online delivery of complex, multimedia simulations, the rapid collection of student performance data, and has already been used in several genetic simulations. The next step is the use of these data to understand and improve student learning in a formative…

Developing Capacities for Teaching Responsible Science in the MENA Region: Refashioning Scientific Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Academies Press, 2013

2013-01-01

Spurred on by new discoveries and rapid technological advances, the capacity for life science research is expanding across the globe-and with it comes concerns about the unintended impacts of research on the physical and biological environment, human well-being, or the deliberate misuse of knowledge, tools, and techniques to cause harm. This…

Research status and development of application fields in enzyme technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Y. B.; Wang, S. W.; Yu, M.; Ru, X.; Wei, C.; Zhu, H. J.; Li, Z. Y.; Zhao, H.; Qiao, A. N.; Guo, S. Z.; Lu, L.

2018-01-01

Biological enzymes are catalyzed by living cells, most of which are proteins, and very few are RNA. Biological engineering as a new high-tech has been rapid development, Enzyme manufacturing and application areas are gradually expanding, In this paper, the status and progress of the application of enzyme technology are reviewed by reviewing the literature. and aims to provide reference for the application of enzyme technology and provide scientific basis for its future research and development in new field.

Scaffolding Student Learning in the Discipline-Specific Knowledge through Contemporary Science Practices: Developing High-School Students' Epidemiologic Reasoning through Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oura, Hiroki

Science is a disciplined practice about knowing puzzling observations and unknown phenomena. Scientific knowledge of the product is applied to develop technological artifacts and solve complex problems in society. Scientific practices are undeniably relevant to our economy, civic activity, and personal lives, and thus public education should help children acquire scientific knowledge and recognize the values in relation to their own lives and civil society. Likewise, developing scientific thinking skills is valuable not only for becoming a scientist, but also for becoming a citizen who is able to critically evaluate everyday information, select and apply only the trustworthy, and make wise judgments in their personal and cultural goals as well as for obtaining jobs that require complex problem solving and creative working in the current knowledge-based economy and rapid-changing world. To develop students' scientific thinking, science instruction should focus not only on scientific knowledge and inquiry processes, but also on its epistemological aspects including the forms of causal explanations and methodological choices along with epistemic aims and values under the social circumstances in focal practices. In this perspective, disciplinary knowledge involves heterogeneous elements including material, cognitive, social, and cultural ones and the formation differs across practices. Without developing such discipline-specific knowledge, students cannot enough deeply engage in scientific "practices" and understand the true values of scientific enterprises. In this interest, this dissertation explores instructional approaches to make student engagement in scientific investigations more authentic or disciplinary. The present dissertation work is comprised of three research questions as stand-alone studies written for separate publication. All of the studies discuss different theoretical aspects related to disciplinary engagement in epidemiologic inquiry and student development in epidemiologic reasoning. The first chapter reviews literature on epistemological instruction and explores theoretical frameworks for epistemically-guided instruction. The second chapter explores methodological strategies to elicit students' disciplinary understanding and demonstrates an approach with a case study in which students engaged in a curriculum unit for an epidemiologic investigation. The last chapter directs the focus into scientific reasoning and demonstrates how the curriculum unit and its scaffolds helped students develop epidemiologic reasoning with a focus on population-based reasoning.

Classroom Preschool Science Learning: The Learner, Instructional Tools, and Peer-Learning Assignments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reuter, Jamie M.

The recent decades have seen an increased focus on improving early science education. Goals include helping young children learn about pertinent concepts in science, and fostering early scientific reasoning and inquiry skills (e.g., NRC 2007, 2012, 2015). However, there is still much to learn about what constitutes appropriate frameworks that blend science education with developmentally appropriate learning environments. An important goal for the construction of early science is a better understanding of appropriate learning experiences and expectations for preschool children. This dissertation examines some of these concerns by focusing on three dimensions of science learning in the preschool classroom: (1) the learner; (2) instructional tools and pedagogy; and (3) the social context of learning with peers. In terms of the learner, the dissertation examines some dimensions of preschool children's scientific reasoning skills in the context of potentially relevant, developing general reasoning abilities. As young children undergo rapid cognitive changes during the preschool years, it is important to explore how these may influence scientific thinking. Two features of cognitive functioning have been carefully studied: (1) the demonstration of an epistemic awareness through an emerging theory of mind, and (2) the rapid improvement in executive functioning capacity. Both continue to develop through childhood and adolescence, but changes in early childhood are especially striking and have been neglected as regards their potential role in scientific thinking. The question is whether such skills relate to young children's capacity for scientific thinking. Another goal was to determine whether simple physics diagrams serve as effective instructional tools in supporting preschool children's scientific thinking. Specifically, in activities involving predicting and checking in scientific contexts, the question is whether such diagrams facilitate children's ability to accurately recall initial predictions, as well as discriminate between the outcome of a scientific manipulation and their original predictions (i.e., to determine whether one's predictions were confirmed). Finally, this dissertation also explores the social context of learning science with peers in the preschool classroom. Due to little prior research in this area, it is currently unclear whether and how preschool children may benefit from working with peers on science activities in the classroom. This work aims to examine preschoolers' collaboration on a science learning activity, as well as the developmental function for such collaborative skills over the preschool years.

Nine Criteria for a Measure of Scientific Output

PubMed Central

Kreiman, Gabriel; Maunsell, John H. R.

2011-01-01

Scientific research produces new knowledge, technologies, and clinical treatments that can lead to enormous returns. Often, the path from basic research to new paradigms and direct impact on society takes time. Precise quantification of scientific output in the short-term is not an easy task but is critical for evaluating scientists, laboratories, departments, and institutions. While there have been attempts to quantifying scientific output, we argue that current methods are not ideal and suffer from solvable difficulties. Here we propose criteria that a metric should have to be considered a good index of scientific output. Specifically, we argue that such an index should be quantitative, based on robust data, rapidly updated and retrospective, presented with confidence intervals, normalized by number of contributors, career stage and discipline, impractical to manipulate, and focused on quality over quantity. Such an index should be validated through empirical testing. The purpose of quantitatively evaluating scientific output is not to replace careful, rigorous review by experts but rather to complement those efforts. Because it has the potential to greatly influence the efficiency of scientific research, we have a duty to reflect upon and implement novel and rigorous ways of evaluating scientific output. The criteria proposed here provide initial steps toward the systematic development and validation of a metric to evaluate scientific output. PMID:22102840

A brief history of the global effort to develop a preventive HIV vaccine.

PubMed

Esparza, José

2013-08-02

Soon after HIV was discovered as the cause of AIDS in 1983-1984, there was an expectation that a preventive vaccine would be rapidly developed. In trying to achieve that goal, three successive scientific paradigms have been explored: induction of neutralizing antibodies, induction of cell mediated immunity, and exploration of combination approaches and novel concepts. Although major progress has been made in understanding the scientific basis for HIV vaccine development, efficacy trials have been critical in moving the field forward. In 2009, the field was reinvigorated with the modest results obtained from the RV144 trial conducted in Thailand. Here, we review those vaccine development efforts, with an emphasis on events that occurred during the earlier years. The goal is to provide younger generations of scientists with information and inspiration to continue the search for an HIV vaccine. Copyright © 2013 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Accelerators: Sparking Innovation and Transdisciplinary Team Science in Disparities Research

PubMed Central

Horowitz, Carol R.; Shameer, Khader; Gabrilove, Janice; Atreja, Ashish; Shepard, Peggy; Goytia, Crispin N.; Smith, Geoffrey W.; Dudley, Joel; Manning, Rachel; Bickell, Nina A.; Galvez, Maida P.

2017-01-01

Development and implementation of effective, sustainable, and scalable interventions that advance equity could be propelled by innovative and inclusive partnerships. Readied catalytic frameworks that foster communication, collaboration, a shared vision, and transformative translational research across scientific and non-scientific divides are needed to foster rapid generation of novel solutions to address and ultimately eliminate disparities. To achieve this, we transformed and expanded a community-academic board into a translational science board with members from public, academic and private sectors. Rooted in team science, diverse board experts formed topic-specific “accelerators”, tasked with collaborating to rapidly generate new ideas, questions, approaches, and projects comprising patients, advocates, clinicians, researchers, funders, public health and industry leaders. We began with four accelerators—digital health, big data, genomics and environmental health—and were rapidly able to respond to funding opportunities, transform new ideas into clinical and community programs, generate new, accessible, actionable data, and more efficiently and effectively conduct research. This innovative model has the power to maximize research quality and efficiency, improve patient care and engagement, optimize data democratization and dissemination among target populations, contribute to policy, and lead to systems changes needed to address the root causes of disparities. PMID:28241508

Accelerators: Sparking Innovation and Transdisciplinary Team Science in Disparities Research.

PubMed

Horowitz, Carol R; Shameer, Khader; Gabrilove, Janice; Atreja, Ashish; Shepard, Peggy; Goytia, Crispin N; Smith, Geoffrey W; Dudley, Joel; Manning, Rachel; Bickell, Nina A; Galvez, Maida P

2017-02-23

Development and implementation of effective, sustainable, and scalable interventions that advance equity could be propelled by innovative and inclusive partnerships. Readied catalytic frameworks that foster communication, collaboration, a shared vision, and transformative translational research across scientific and non-scientific divides are needed to foster rapid generation of novel solutions to address and ultimately eliminate disparities. To achieve this, we transformed and expanded a community-academic board into a translational science board with members from public, academic and private sectors. Rooted in team science, diverse board experts formed topic-specific "accelerators", tasked with collaborating to rapidly generate new ideas, questions, approaches, and projects comprising patients, advocates, clinicians, researchers, funders, public health and industry leaders. We began with four accelerators-digital health, big data, genomics and environmental health-and were rapidly able to respond to funding opportunities, transform new ideas into clinical and community programs, generate new, accessible, actionable data, and more efficiently and effectively conduct research. This innovative model has the power to maximize research quality and efficiency, improve patient care and engagement, optimize data democratization and dissemination among target populations, contribute to policy, and lead to systems changes needed to address the root causes of disparities.

Research on keyword retrieval method of HBase database based on index structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Pijin; Lv, Congmin; Gong, Yongsheng; Ma, Haozhi; Sun, Yang; Wang, Lu

2017-10-01

With the rapid development of manned spaceflight engineering, the scientific experimental data in space application system is increasing rapidly. How to efficiently query the specific data in the mass data volume has become a problem. In this paper, a method of retrieving the object data based on the object attribute as the keyword is proposed. The HBase database is used to store the object data and object attributes, and the secondary index is constructed. The research shows that this method is a good way to retrieve specified data based on object attributes.

Comparison of Journal Self-Citation Rates between Some Chinese and Non-Chinese International Journals

PubMed Central

Yang, Zu-Guo; Gao, Feng; Zhang, Chun-Ting

2012-01-01

Background The past 3 decades have witnessed a boost in science development in China; in parallel, more and more Chinese scientific journals are indexed by the Journal Citation Reports issued by Thomson Reuters (SCI). Evaluation of the performance of these Chinese SCI journals is necessary and helpful to improve their quality. This study aimed to evaluate these journals by calculating various journal self-citation rates, which are important parameters influencing a journal impact factor. Methodology/Principal Findings We defined three journal self-citation rates, and studied these rates for 99 Chinese scientific journals, almost exhausting all Chinese SCI journals currently available. Likewise, we selected 99 non-Chinese international (abbreviated as ‘world’) journals, with each being in the same JCR subject category and having similar impact factors as their Chinese counterparts. Generally, Chinese journals tended to be higher in all the three self-citation rates than world journal counterparts. Particularly, a few Chinese scientific journals had much higher self-citation rates. Conclusions/Significance Our results show that generally Chinese scientific journals have higher self-citation rates than those of world journals. Consequently, Chinese scientific journals tend to have lower visibility and are more isolated in the relevant fields. Considering the fact that sciences are rapidly developing in China and so are Chinese scientific journals, we expect that the differences of journal self-citation rates between Chinese and world scientific journals will gradually disappear in the future. Some suggestions to solve the problems are presented. PMID:23173041

Enabling Data Intensive Science through Service Oriented Science: Virtual Laboratories and Science Gateways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lescinsky, D. T.; Wyborn, L. A.; Evans, B. J. K.; Allen, C.; Fraser, R.; Rankine, T.

2014-12-01

We present collaborative work on a generic, modular infrastructure for virtual laboratories (VLs, similar to science gateways) that combine online access to data, scientific code, and computing resources as services that support multiple data intensive scientific computing needs across a wide range of science disciplines. We are leveraging access to 10+ PB of earth science data on Lustre filesystems at Australia's National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) Research Data Storage Infrastructure (RDSI) node, co-located with NCI's 1.2 PFlop Raijin supercomputer and a 3000 CPU core research cloud. The development, maintenance and sustainability of VLs is best accomplished through modularisation and standardisation of interfaces between components. Our approach has been to break up tightly-coupled, specialised application packages into modules, with identified best techniques and algorithms repackaged either as data services or scientific tools that are accessible across domains. The data services can be used to manipulate, visualise and transform multiple data types whilst the scientific tools can be used in concert with multiple scientific codes. We are currently designing a scalable generic infrastructure that will handle scientific code as modularised services and thereby enable the rapid/easy deployment of new codes or versions of codes. The goal is to build open source libraries/collections of scientific tools, scripts and modelling codes that can be combined in specially designed deployments. Additional services in development include: provenance, publication of results, monitoring, workflow tools, etc. The generic VL infrastructure will be hosted at NCI, but can access alternative computing infrastructures (i.e., public/private cloud, HPC).The Virtual Geophysics Laboratory (VGL) was developed as a pilot project to demonstrate the underlying technology. This base is now being redesigned and generalised to develop a Virtual Hazards Impact and Risk Laboratory (VHIRL); any enhancements and new capabilities will be incorporated into a generic VL infrastructure. At same time, we are scoping seven new VLs and in the process, identifying other common components to prioritise and focus development.

Mega-prizes in medicine: big cash awards may stimulate useful and rapid therapeutic innovation.

PubMed

Charlton, Bruce G

2007-01-01

Following Horrobin's suggestion of 1986, I argue that offering very large prizes (tens of millions of US dollars, or more) for solving specific therapeutic problems, would be an excellent strategy for promoting the rapid development of effective new treatments. The two mainstream ways of paying for medical research are funding the process with grants or funding the outcome via patent protection. When grants are used to fund the process of research the result tends to be 'pure' science, guided by intrinsic scientific objectives. Practical results, such as useful therapeutic advances, are a by-product. Patent-seeking research, by contrast, is more focused on technology than science. It seeks practical results; and aims to pay for itself (and make a profit) in the long term by generating a patentable product or procedure. Prize-seeking research is subject to different incentives and applicable to different situations than either process-funded or patent-seeking research. Prize seeking researchers have a strong incentive to solve the specified problem as rapidly as possible, but the problem may be solved using old ideas that are scientifically mundane or unpatentable technologies and methods. Prizes therefore seem to generate solutions which are incremental extensions, new applications or novel combinations of already-existing technologies. The main use of mega-prizes in medicine would be to accelerate therapeutic progress in stagnant fields of research and to address urgent problems. For example, medical charities focused on specific diseases should consider accumulating their resources until they can offer a mega-prize for solving a clinical problem of special concern to their patients. Prize money should be big enough to pay for the research and development, the evaluation of the new treatment in a clinical trial, and with a large profit left-over to compensate for the intrinsic risk of competing. Sufficiently large amounts of money, and the prestige and publicity derived from winning a mega-prize, could rapidly mobilize research efforts to discover a whole range of scientifically un-glamorous but clinically-useful therapeutic breakthroughs.

The Rejection and Modification of Past Values: The Effect on the Adolescent's Developing Philosophy (A Concern for Guidance Personnel).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spowart, Andrew C.

School guidance and counseling programs have been quite effective in providing vocational guidance and counseling for mental health, but the effectiveness of these programs in the future is cause for concern as rapid scientific and technological advances influence youth's creation of ideas and values. Adults today have experienced such rapid…

A slide down a slippery slope: ethical guidelines in the dissemination of computer-based presentations

Treesearch

Patrick C. Tobin; James L. Frazier

2009-01-01

The continual development of technology opens many new and exciting doors in all walks of life, including science. Undoubtedly, we all have benefited from the ability to rapidly disseminate and acquire scientific information. Published articles can be downloaded from the Internet even prior to their "actual" publication date, requests for pdf reprints of...

"Capping Off" the Development of Graduate Capabilities in the Final Semester Unit for Biological Science Students: Review and Recommendations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Firn, Jennifer

2015-01-01

Biology is the most rapidly evolving scientific field of the 21st century. Biology graduates must be able to integrate concepts and collaborate outside their discipline to solve the most pressing questions of our time, e.g. world hunger, malnutrition, climate change, infectious disease and biosecurity. University educators are attempting to…

The scientific data acquisition system of the GAMMA-400 space project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobkov, S. G.; Serdin, O. V.; Gorbunov, M. S.; Arkhangelskiy, A. I.; Topchiev, N. P.

2016-02-01

The description of scientific data acquisition system (SDAS) designed by SRISA for the GAMMA-400 space project is presented. We consider the problem of different level electronics unification: the set of reliable fault-tolerant integrated circuits fabricated on Silicon-on-Insulator 0.25 mkm CMOS technology and the high-speed interfaces and reliable modules used in the space instruments. The characteristics of reliable fault-tolerant very large scale integration (VLSI) technology designed by SRISA for the developing of computation systems for space applications are considered. The scalable net structure of SDAS based on Serial RapidIO interface including real-time operating system BAGET is described too.

A Scientist at Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, Adrian R.

1999-01-01

Relates personal experiences conducting scientific research on the brain mechanisms of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Argues that solutions to scientific questions can come from strange sources. Contains 13 references. (WRM)

Analyzing Data Citations to Assess the Scientific and Societal Value of Scientific Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. S.; Downs, R. R.

2012-12-01

Stakeholders in the creation, distribution, support, funding, and use of scientific data can benefit by understanding the value that the data have for society and science. For decades, the scientific community has been using citations of articles in the published scientific literature as one of the primary measures used for evaluating the performance of scientists, departments, institutions, and scientific disciplines. Similarly, citations in the published literature of scientific data may be useful for measuring and assessing the value of the scientific data and the performance of the individuals, projects, programs, and organizations that have contributed to the data and their use. The results of citation analysis and other assessments of the value of data also can contribute to planning for future data collection, development, distribution, and preservation efforts. The planned release of new data citation indexes and the more widespread adoption of unique data identifiers and automated attribution mechanisms have the potential to improve significantly the capabilities for analyzing citations of scientific data. In addition, rapid developments in the systems and capabilities for disseminating data, along with education and workforce development on the importance of data attribution and on techniques for data citation, can improve practices for citing scientific data. Such practices need to lead not only to better aggregate statistics about data citation, but also to improved characterization and understanding of the impact of data use in terms of the benefits for science and society. Analyses of citations in the scientific literature were conducted for data that were distributed by an interdisciplinary scientific data center during a five-year period (1997 - 2011), to identify the scientific fields represented by the journals and books in which the data were cited. Secondary citation analysis also was conducted for a sample of scientific publications that used the data extensively to identify the potential impact of the data on the scientific fields represented by those journals. Furthermore, an initial analysis was conducted of citations that appeared in non-peer-reviewed publications and the popular media to assess the potential policy and educational impacts of these data. The initial results of these analyses demonstrate the significant challenges that remain for assessing the value of scientific data to both science and society.

Science Partnerships Enabling Rapid Response: Designing a Strategy for Improving Scientific Collaboration during Crisis Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mease, L.; Gibbs, T.; Adiseshan, T.

2014-12-01

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster required unprecedented engagement and collaboration with scientists from multiple disciplines across government, academia, and industry. Although this spurred the rapid advancement of valuable new scientific knowledge and tools, it also exposed weaknesses in the system of information dissemination and exchange among the scientists from those three sectors. Limited government communication with the broader scientific community complicated the rapid mobilization of the scientific community to assist with spill response, evaluation of impact, and public perceptions of the crisis. The lessons and new laws produced from prior spills such as Exxon Valdez were helpful, but ultimately did not lead to the actions necessary to prepare a suitable infrastructure that would support collaboration with non-governmental scientists. As oil demand pushes drilling into increasingly extreme environments, addressing the challenge of effective, science-based disaster response is an imperative. Our study employs a user-centered design process to 1) understand the obstacles to and opportunity spaces for effective scientific collaboration during environmental crises such as large oil spills, 2) identify possible tools and strategies to enable rapid information exchange between government responders and non-governmental scientists from multiple relevant disciplines, and 3) build a network of key influencers to secure sufficient buy-in for scaled implementation of appropriate tools and strategies. Our methods include user ethnography, complex system mapping, individual and system behavioral analysis, and large-scale system design to identify and prototype a solution to this crisis collaboration challenge. In this talk, we will present out insights gleaned from existing analogs of successful scientific collaboration during crises and our initial findings from the 60 targeted interviews we conducted that highlight key collaboration challenges that government agencies, academic research institutions, and industry scientists face during oil spill crises. We will also present a synthesis of leverage points in the system that may amplify the impact of an improved collaboration strategy among scientific stakeholders.

The DEVELOP National Program's Strategy for Communicating Applied Science Outcomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Childs-Gleason, L. M.; Ross, K. W.; Crepps, G.; Favors, J.; Kelley, C.; Miller, T. N.; Allsbrook, K. N.; Rogers, L.; Ruiz, M. L.

2016-12-01

NASA's DEVELOP National Program conducts rapid feasibility projects that enable the future workforce and current decision makers to collaborate and build capacity to use Earth science data to enhance environmental management and policy. The program communicates its results and applications to a broad spectrum of audiences through a variety of methods: "virtual poster sessions" that engage the general public through short project videos and interactive dialogue periods, a "Campus Ambassador Corps" that communicates about the program and its projects to academia, scientific and policy conference presentations, community engagement activities and end-of-project presentations, project "hand-offs" providing results and tools to project partners, traditional publications (both gray literature and peer-reviewed), an interactive website project gallery, targeted brochures, and through multiple social media venues and campaigns. This presentation will describe the various methods employed by DEVELOP to communicate the program's scientific outputs, target audiences, general statistics, community response and best practices.

Summary: achievements, critical issues, and thoughts on the future.

PubMed

Held, Kathryn D

2012-11-01

The number of individuals exposed to particle radiations in cancer treatment worldwide is increasing rapidly, and space agencies are developing plans for long duration, deep space missions in which humans could be exposed to significant levels of radiation from charged particles. Hence, the NCRP 47 th Annual Meeting on "Scientific and Policy Challenges of Particle Radiations in Medical Therapy and Space Missions" was a timely opportunity to showcase the current scientific knowledge regarding charged particles, enhance cross-fertilization between the oncology and space scientific communities, and identify common needs and challenges to both communities as well as ways to address those challenges. This issue of Health Physics contains papers from talks presented at that meeting and highlights provocative questions and the ample opportunities for synergism between space and particle-therapy research to further understanding of the biological impacts of particle radiations.

Program Plan for 2005: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

Throughout 2005 and beyond, NASA will be faced with great challenges and even greater opportunities. Following a period of reevaluation, reinvention, and transformation, we will move rapidly forward to leverage new partnerships, approaches, and technologies that will enhance the way we do business. NASA's Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program, which functions under the auspices of the Agency's Chief Information Officer (CIO), is an integral part of NASA's future. The program supports the Agency's missions to communicate scientific knowledge and understanding and to help transfer NASA's research and development (R&D) information to the aerospace and academic communities and to the public. The STI Program helps ensure that the Agency will remain at the leading edge of R&D by quickly and efficiently capturing and sharing NASA and worldwide STI to use for problem solving, awareness, and knowledge management and transfer.

Lessons from the Salk Polio Vaccine: Methods for and Risks of Rapid Translation

PubMed Central

Juskewitch, B.A., Justin E.; Tapia, B.A., Carmen J.; Windebank, Anthony J.

2010-01-01

Abstract The Salk inactivated poliovirus vaccine is one of the most rapid examples of bench‐to‐bedside translation in medicine. In the span of 6 years, the key basic lab discoveries facilitating the development of the vaccine were made, optimization and safety testing was completed in both animals and human volunteers, the largest clinical trial in history of 1.8 million children was conducted, and the results were released to an eagerly awaiting public. Such examples of rapid translation cannot only offer clues to what factors can successfully drive and accelerate the translational process but also what mistakes can occur (and thus should be avoided) during such a swift process. In this commentary, we explore the translational path of the Salk polio vaccine from the key basic science discoveries to the 1954 Field Trials and delve into the scientific and sociopolitical factors that aided in its rapid development. Moreover, we look at the Cutter and Wyeth incidents after the vaccine’s approval and the errors that led to them. Clin Trans Sci 2010; Volume 3: 182–185 PMID:20718820

Diffusion of knowledge and globalization in the web of twentieth century science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naumis, G. G.; Phillips, J. C.

2012-08-01

Scientific communication is an essential part of modern science: whereas Archimedes worked alone, Newton (correspondence with Hooke, 1676) acknowledged that “If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” How is scientific communication reflected in the patterns of citations in scientific papers? How have these patterns changed in the 20th century, as both means of communication and individual transportation changed rapidly, compared to the earlier post-Newton 18th and 19th centuries? Here we discuss a diffusive model for scientific communications, based on a unique 2009 scientometric study of 25 million papers and 600 million citations that encapsulates the epistemology of modern science. The diffusive model predicts and explains, using no adjustable parameters, a surprisingly universal internal structure in the development of scientific research, which is essentially constant across the natural sciences, but which because of globalization changed qualitatively around 1960. Globalization corresponds physically to anomalous diffusion, which has been observed near the molecular glass transition, and can enhance molecular diffusion by factors as large as 100.

Redrawing the frontiers in the age of post-publication review

PubMed Central

Galbraith, David W.

2015-01-01

Publication forms the core structure supporting the development and transmission of scientific knowledge. For this reason, it is essential that the highest standards of quality control be maintained, in particular to ensure that the information being transmitted allows reproducible replication of the described experiments, and that the interpretation of the results is sound. Quality control has traditionally involved editorial decisions based on anonymous pre-publication peer review. Post-publication review of individual articles took the lesser role since it did not feed directly back to the original literature. Rapid advances in computer and communications technologies over the last thirty years have revolutionized scientific publication, and the role and scope of post-publication review has greatly expanded. This perspective examines the ways in which pre- and post-publication peer review influence the scientific literature, and in particular how they might best be redrawn to deal with the twin problems of scientific non-reproducibility and fraud increasingly encountered at the frontiers of science. PMID:26097488

NIAAA's rapid response to college drinking problems initiative: reinforcing the use of evidence-based approaches in college alcohol prevention.

PubMed

Dejong, William; Larimer, Mary E; Wood, Mark D; Hartman, Roger

2009-07-01

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) created the Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems initiative so that senior college administrators facing an alcohol-related crisis could get assistance from well-established alcohol researchers and NIAAA staff. Based on a competitive grant process, NIAAA selected five teams of research scientists with expertise in college drinking research. NIAAA then invited college administrators to propose interventions to address a recently experienced alcohol-related problem. Between September 2004 and September 2005, NIAAA selected 15 sites and paired each recipient college with a scientific team. Together, each program development/evaluation team, working closely with NIAAA scientific staff, jointly designed, implemented, and evaluated a Rapid Response project. This supplement reports the results of several Rapid Response projects, plus other findings of interest that emerged from that research. Eight articles present evaluation findings for prevention and treatment interventions, which can be grouped by the individual, group/interpersonal, institutional, and community levels of the social ecological framework. Additional studies provide further insights that can inform prevention and treatment programs designed to reduce alcohol-related problems among college students. This article provides an overview of these findings, placing them in the context of the college drinking intervention literature. College drinking remains a daunting problem on many campuses, but evidence-based strategies-such as those described in this supplement-provide hope that more effective solutions can be found. The Rapid Response initiative has helped solidify the necessary link between research and practice in college alcohol prevention and treatment.

Science information systems: Archive, access, and retrieval

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, William J.

1991-01-01

The objective of this research is to develop technology for the automated characterization and interactive retrieval and visualization of very large, complex scientific data sets. Technologies will be developed for the following specific areas: (1) rapidly archiving data sets; (2) automatically characterizing and labeling data in near real-time; (3) providing users with the ability to browse contents of databases efficiently and effectively; (4) providing users with the ability to access and retrieve system independent data sets electronically; and (5) automatically alerting scientists to anomalies detected in data.

USSR Report, International Affairs, Peoples of Asia and Africa,No 6, November-December 1986.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-05-05

own laws, and it would be incorrect from a scientific point of view and dangerous from a political one to approach them with criteria that reflect...reduction, a halt in the development of capitalism, and its gradual removal from the commanding heights and its placement under the control of the...development, which in practice signified rapid growth in the sectors of the 2nd subdivision. Over a comparatively short period of time, the production of

Orchestrating high-throughput genomic analysis with Bioconductor

PubMed Central

Huber, Wolfgang; Carey, Vincent J.; Gentleman, Robert; Anders, Simon; Carlson, Marc; Carvalho, Benilton S.; Bravo, Hector Corrada; Davis, Sean; Gatto, Laurent; Girke, Thomas; Gottardo, Raphael; Hahne, Florian; Hansen, Kasper D.; Irizarry, Rafael A.; Lawrence, Michael; Love, Michael I.; MacDonald, James; Obenchain, Valerie; Oleś, Andrzej K.; Pagès, Hervé; Reyes, Alejandro; Shannon, Paul; Smyth, Gordon K.; Tenenbaum, Dan; Waldron, Levi; Morgan, Martin

2015-01-01

Bioconductor is an open-source, open-development software project for the analysis and comprehension of high-throughput data in genomics and molecular biology. The project aims to enable interdisciplinary research, collaboration and rapid development of scientific software. Based on the statistical programming language R, Bioconductor comprises 934 interoperable packages contributed by a large, diverse community of scientists. Packages cover a range of bioinformatic and statistical applications. They undergo formal initial review and continuous automated testing. We present an overview for prospective users and contributors. PMID:25633503

Informatics in Turkey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cakir, Serhat

1994-01-01

In the last twenty years the rapid change in the informatics sector has had economic and social impact on private and government activities. The Supreme Council for Science and Technology of Turkey assigned highest priority to the informatics in its meeting in February 1993. With this advice TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey) intends to give a strong impulse to development of a research policy in this field.

Selected Articles on Machine Industry in Communist China in 1959

DTIC Science & Technology

1960-06-24

the Chinese -language periodical ■| Chi-hsieh Kung-yeh Chou-pao (Machine Industry weekly), • Peiping. Date of issue, page and author, if any are... Chinese Communist Party, had a rapid development. During the three- - year rehabilitation period, economic .rehabilitation work was vigorously...balances,, which.were designed by Chinese workers, are an important tool for use in complex scientific and technical studies. ■- ^ On radio

Ethical and Moral Dimensions of the Professionalization of Teachers: Lessons To Be Learned from Doctors and Lawyers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Timothy H.

In response to greater public awareness and concern, members of the legal and medical professions have begun to acknowledge that they have leadership roles to play in the shaping of public policies affecting the common good. The rapid pace of social change and scientific development has lent a new sense of urgency to the need for these two…

The Future of a Mistake: Will Discrepancy Measurement Continue to Make the Learning Disabilities Field a Pseudoscience?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanovich, Keith E.

2005-01-01

Imagine a current HMO that covered only the procedures and diseases recognized by the medical profession in 1950. The thought is ridiculous because in such a rapidly developing field as medicine, no one would expect practice to be frozen at the level of scientific knowledge attained 50 years ago. The author believes this is what has happened in…

Global Analysis, Interpretation and Modelling: An Earth Systems Modelling Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Berrien, III; Sahagian, Dork

1997-01-01

The Goal of the GAIM is: To advance the study of the coupled dynamics of the Earth system using as tools both data and models; to develop a strategy for the rapid development, evaluation, and application of comprehensive prognostic models of the Global Biogeochemical Subsystem which could eventually be linked with models of the Physical-Climate Subsystem; to propose, promote, and facilitate experiments with existing models or by linking subcomponent models, especially those associated with IGBP Core Projects and with WCRP efforts. Such experiments would be focused upon resolving interface issues and questions associated with developing an understanding of the prognostic behavior of key processes; to clarify key scientific issues facing the development of Global Biogeochemical Models and the coupling of these models to General Circulation Models; to assist the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) process by conducting timely studies that focus upon elucidating important unresolved scientific issues associated with the changing biogeochemical cycles of the planet and upon the role of the biosphere in the physical-climate subsystem, particularly its role in the global hydrological cycle; and to advise the SC-IGBP on progress in developing comprehensive Global Biogeochemical Models and to maintain scientific liaison with the WCRP Steering Group on Global Climate Modelling.

Laboratory directed research and development program, FY 1996

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

NONE

1997-02-01

The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program FY 1996 report is compiled from annual reports submitted by principal investigators following the close of the fiscal year. This report describes the projects supported and summarizes their accomplishments. It constitutes a part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program planning and documentation process that includes an annual planning cycle, projection selection, implementation, and review. The Berkeley Lab LDRD program is a critical tool for directing the Laboratory`s forefront scientific research capabilities toward vital, excellent, and emerging scientific challenges. The program provides themore » resources for Berkeley Lab scientists to make rapid and significant contributions to critical national science and technology problems. The LDRD program also advances the Laboratory`s core competencies, foundations, and scientific capability, and permits exploration of exciting new opportunities. Areas eligible for support include: (1) Work in forefront areas of science and technology that enrich Laboratory research and development capability; (2) Advanced study of new hypotheses, new experiments, and innovative approaches to develop new concepts or knowledge; (3) Experiments directed toward proof of principle for initial hypothesis testing or verification; and (4) Conception and preliminary technical analysis to explore possible instrumentation, experimental facilities, or new devices.« less

Sediment dynamics of muddy coasts and estuaries in China: An introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiao Hua; Gan, Jianping; Lowe, Ryan

2018-06-01

Sustainable livelihoods and economic development is supported by effective management of coastal and estuarine assets, which represents a huge and, in many instances, extremely costly challenge, in particular given the multiple stakeholders with mixed interests in ports and harbours and the adjacent coastal and marine environments. Given the importance of the well-being of coastal environments, the rapid expansion of major ports has caused concerns within both the scientific community and the general public about the possible environmental consequences. The implications of these rapid coastal changes, including urbanization and industrialization, are often highly degraded natural systems, ecosystems with compromised functions, and intense conflict and competition between users.

OpenHelix: bioinformatics education outside of a different box.

PubMed

Williams, Jennifer M; Mangan, Mary E; Perreault-Micale, Cynthia; Lathe, Scott; Sirohi, Neeraj; Lathe, Warren C

2010-11-01

The amount of biological data is increasing rapidly, and will continue to increase as new rapid technologies are developed. Professionals in every area of bioscience will have data management needs that require publicly available bioinformatics resources. Not all scientists desire a formal bioinformatics education but would benefit from more informal educational sources of learning. Effective bioinformatics education formats will address a broad range of scientific needs, will be aimed at a variety of user skill levels, and will be delivered in a number of different formats to address different learning styles. Informal sources of bioinformatics education that are effective are available, and will be explored in this review.

OpenHelix: bioinformatics education outside of a different box

PubMed Central

Mangan, Mary E.; Perreault-Micale, Cynthia; Lathe, Scott; Sirohi, Neeraj; Lathe, Warren C.

2010-01-01

The amount of biological data is increasing rapidly, and will continue to increase as new rapid technologies are developed. Professionals in every area of bioscience will have data management needs that require publicly available bioinformatics resources. Not all scientists desire a formal bioinformatics education but would benefit from more informal educational sources of learning. Effective bioinformatics education formats will address a broad range of scientific needs, will be aimed at a variety of user skill levels, and will be delivered in a number of different formats to address different learning styles. Informal sources of bioinformatics education that are effective are available, and will be explored in this review. PMID:20798181

The future of scientific communication in the earth sciences: The impact of the internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Timothy R.; Buchanan, Rex C.; Adkins-Heljeson, Dana; Mettille, Thomas D.; Sorensen, Janice

1997-06-01

Publication on paper of research results following peer-review and editing has been the accepted means of scientific communication for several centuries. Today, the continued growth in the volume of scientific literature, the increased unit costs of archiving paper publications, and the rapidly increasing power and availability of electronic technology are creating tremendous pressures on traditional scientific communication. The earth sciences are not immune from these pressures, and the role of the traditional publication as the primary means of communication is rapidly changing. Electronic publications and network technology are radically altering the relationship between interpretative result and the underlying data. Earth science research institutions, including the Kansas Geological Survey, are experimenting with new forms of on-line publication that assure broad access to research and data and improve application of research results to societal problems.

From the Horse's Mouth: What Scientists Say about Scientific Investigation and Scientific Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Siu Ling; Hodson, Derek

2009-01-01

This study sought to identify prominent features of the nature of science (NOS) embedded in authentic scientific inquiry. Thirteen well-established scientists from different parts of the world, working in experimental or theoretical research, in both traditional fields such as astrophysics and rapidly growing research fields such as molecular…

Addressing the Dynamics of Science in Curricular Reform for Scientific Literacy: The Case of Genomics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Eijck, Michiel

2010-01-01

Science education reform must anticipate the scientific literacy required by the next generation of citizens. Particularly, this counts for rapidly emerging and evolving scientific disciplines such as genomics. Taking this discipline as a case, such anticipation is becoming increasingly problematic in today's knowledge societies in which the…

An annotated bibliography of scientific literature on managing forests for carbon benefits

Treesearch

Sarah J. Hines; Linda S. Heath; Richard A. Birdsey

2010-01-01

Managing forests for carbon benefits is a consideration for climate change, bioenergy, sustainability, and ecosystem services. A rapidly growing body of scientific literature on forest carbon management includes experimental, modeling, and synthesis approaches, at the stand- to landscape- to continental-level. We conducted a search of the scientific literature on the...

Preaching to the Scientifically Converted: Evaluating Inclusivity in Science Festival Audiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Eric B.; Jensen, Eric A.; Verbeke, Monae

2018-01-01

Scientific institutions are increasingly embracing values of inclusivity and public engagement, but how do these two dimensions intersect? Science festivals have rapidly expanded in recent years as an outgrowth of these values, aiming to engage and educate the public about scientific topics and research. While resources invested in public…

Considerations in the Design of Clinical Trials for Cognitive Aging

PubMed Central

Brinton, Roberta Diaz; Katz, Russell; Petersen, Ronald C.; Negash, Selam; Mungas, Dan; Aisen, Paul S.

2012-01-01

What will it take to develop interventions for the treatment of age-related cognitive decline? Session V of the Summit provided perspectives on the design of clinical trials to evaluate promising but unproven interventions, and some of the steps needed to accelerate the discovery and evaluation of promising treatments. It considered strategies to further characterize the biological and cognitive changes associated with normal aging and their translation into the development of new treatments. It provided regulatory, scientific, and clinical perspectives about neurocognitive aging treatments, their potential benefits and risks, and the strategies and endpoints needed to evaluate them in the most rapid, rigorous, and clinically meaningful way. It considered lessons learned from the study of Alzheimer's disease, the promising roles of biomarkers in neurocognitive aging research, and ways to help galvanize the scientific study and treatment of neurocognitive aging. PMID:22573913

Considerations in the design of clinical trials for cognitive aging.

PubMed

Reiman, Eric M; Brinton, Roberta Diaz; Katz, Russell; Petersen, Ronald C; Negash, Selam; Mungas, Dan; Aisen, Paul S

2012-06-01

What will it take to develop interventions for the treatment of age-related cognitive decline? Session V of the Summit provided perspectives on the design of clinical trials to evaluate promising but unproven interventions, and some of the steps needed to accelerate the discovery and evaluation of promising treatments. It considered strategies to further characterize the biological and cognitive changes associated with normal aging and their translation into the development of new treatments. It provided regulatory, scientific, and clinical perspectives about neurocognitive aging treatments, their potential benefits and risks, and the strategies and endpoints needed to evaluate them in the most rapid, rigorous, and clinically meaningful way. It considered lessons learned from the study of Alzheimer's disease, the promising roles of biomarkers in neurocognitive aging research, and ways to help galvanize the scientific study and treatment of neurocognitive aging.

Managing to harvest? Perspectives on the potential of aquaculture

PubMed Central

Muir, James

2005-01-01

Aquaculture has been one of the most rapid and technically innovative of food production sectors globally, with significant investment, scientific and technical development and production growth in many parts of the world over the past two decades. While this has had a significant effect on the global supply of aquatic food products and had an important impact in rural and urban food supply and employment in many developing economies, growth and increasing internationalization has not been without concern for natural resource use, environmental impact and social disruption. The expectations for production and diversification are now significant and while the scientific and technical means are already available to meet much of the intended targets, practical constraints of investment, profitability, resource access and system efficiency are likely to become far more important constraints for the future. This review offers a contemporary perspective on the ways in which the sector might develop, its interactions with constraints and the strategies that may be required to ensure that future development is both positive and sustainable. PMID:15713597

The rise of information science: a changing landscape for soil science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roudier, Pierre; Ritchie, Alistair; Hedley, Carolyn; Medyckyj-Scott, David

2015-07-01

The last 15 years have seen the rapid development of a wide range of information technologies. Those developments have been impacting all fields of science, at every step of the scientific method: data collection, data analysis, inference, science communication and outreach. The rate at which data is being generated is increasing exponentially, giving opportunities to improve our understanding of soils. Parallel developments in computing hardware and methods, such as machine learning, open ways to not only harness the '”data deluge”, but also offer a new way to generate knowledge. Finally, emerging data and information delivery protocols are leveraging the outreach power of the World Wide Web to disseminate scientific data and information, and increase their use and understanding outside the boundaries of a given scientific field. However, the nature of this data is mostly new to soil science, and requires adaptation to its diversity and volume. In particular, the integration of the significant amount of legacy soil data collected throughout decades of soil science can be problematic when all necessary metadata is not available. Likewise, knowledge accumulated by our scientific field needs to be acknowledged by - rather than opposed to - numerical methods. While the introduction of this set of emerging technologies is enabling soil science from different points of view, its successful implementation depends on the ability of soil scientists to act as knowledge brokers and support numerical methods.

Managing Scientific Software Complexity with Bocca and CCA

DOE PAGES

Allan, Benjamin A.; Norris, Boyana; Elwasif, Wael R.; ...

2008-01-01

In high-performance scientific software development, the emphasis is often on short time to first solution. Even when the development of new components mostly reuses existing components or libraries and only small amounts of new code must be created, dealing with the component glue code and software build processes to obtain complete applications is still tedious and error-prone. Component-based software meant to reduce complexity at the application level increases complexity to the extent that the user must learn and remember the interfaces and conventions of the component model itself. To address these needs, we introduce Bocca, the first tool to enablemore » application developers to perform rapid component prototyping while maintaining robust software-engineering practices suitable to HPC environments. Bocca provides project management and a comprehensive build environment for creating and managing applications composed of Common Component Architecture components. Of critical importance for high-performance computing (HPC) applications, Bocca is designed to operate in a language-agnostic way, simultaneously handling components written in any of the languages commonly used in scientific applications: C, C++, Fortran, Python and Java. Bocca automates the tasks related to the component glue code, freeing the user to focus on the scientific aspects of the application. Bocca embraces the philosophy pioneered by Ruby on Rails for web applications: start with something that works, and evolve it to the user's purpose.« less

A comprehensive and quantitative comparison of text-mining in 15 million full-text articles versus their corresponding abstracts.

PubMed

Westergaard, David; Stærfeldt, Hans-Henrik; Tønsberg, Christian; Jensen, Lars Juhl; Brunak, Søren

2018-02-01

Across academia and industry, text mining has become a popular strategy for keeping up with the rapid growth of the scientific literature. Text mining of the scientific literature has mostly been carried out on collections of abstracts, due to their availability. Here we present an analysis of 15 million English scientific full-text articles published during the period 1823-2016. We describe the development in article length and publication sub-topics during these nearly 250 years. We showcase the potential of text mining by extracting published protein-protein, disease-gene, and protein subcellular associations using a named entity recognition system, and quantitatively report on their accuracy using gold standard benchmark data sets. We subsequently compare the findings to corresponding results obtained on 16.5 million abstracts included in MEDLINE and show that text mining of full-text articles consistently outperforms using abstracts only.

A comprehensive and quantitative comparison of text-mining in 15 million full-text articles versus their corresponding abstracts

PubMed Central

Westergaard, David; Stærfeldt, Hans-Henrik

2018-01-01

Across academia and industry, text mining has become a popular strategy for keeping up with the rapid growth of the scientific literature. Text mining of the scientific literature has mostly been carried out on collections of abstracts, due to their availability. Here we present an analysis of 15 million English scientific full-text articles published during the period 1823–2016. We describe the development in article length and publication sub-topics during these nearly 250 years. We showcase the potential of text mining by extracting published protein–protein, disease–gene, and protein subcellular associations using a named entity recognition system, and quantitatively report on their accuracy using gold standard benchmark data sets. We subsequently compare the findings to corresponding results obtained on 16.5 million abstracts included in MEDLINE and show that text mining of full-text articles consistently outperforms using abstracts only. PMID:29447159

The Redistribution of Reproductive Responsibility: On the Epigenetics of "Environment" in Prenatal Interventions.

PubMed

Valdez, Natali

2018-02-01

The rapidly shifting field of epigenetics has expanded scientific understanding of how environmental conditions affect gene expression and development. This article focuses on two ongoing clinical trials-one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom-that have used epigenetics as the conceptual basis for testing the relationship between nutrition and obesity during pregnancy. Drawing on ethnographic research, I highlight the different ways that clinical scientists interpret epigenetics to target particular domains of the environment for prenatal intervention. Here I examine three environmental domains: the pregnant body, the home, and everyday experiences. In so doing, I show how different scientific approaches to epigenetics multiply concepts of "the environment," while also individualizing responsibility onto pregnant bodies. Ultimately, I argue that how the environment is conceptualized in epigenetics is both a scientific and a political project that opens up questions of reproductive responsibility. © 2018 by the American Anthropological Association.

Nuclear Forensics and Attribution: A National Laboratory Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Howard L.

2008-04-01

Current capabilities in technical nuclear forensics - the extraction of information from nuclear and/or radiological materials to support the attribution of a nuclear incident to material sources, transit routes, and ultimately perpetrator identity - derive largely from three sources: nuclear weapons testing and surveillance programs of the Cold War, advances in analytical chemistry and materials characterization techniques, and abilities to perform ``conventional'' forensics (e.g., fingerprints) on radiologically contaminated items. Leveraging that scientific infrastructure has provided a baseline capability to the nation, but we are only beginning to explore the scientific challenges that stand between today's capabilities and tomorrow's requirements. These scientific challenges include radically rethinking radioanalytical chemistry approaches, developing rapidly deployable sampling and analysis systems for field applications, and improving analytical instrumentation. Coupled with the ability to measure a signature faster or more exquisitely, we must also develop the ability to interpret those signatures for meaning. This requires understanding of the physics and chemistry of nuclear materials processes well beyond our current level - especially since we are unlikely to ever have direct access to all potential sources of nuclear threat materials.

Identification of New Potential Scientific and Technology Areas for DoD Application. Summary of Activities

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-07-31

designer will be able to more rapid- ly assemble a total software package from perfected modules that can be easily de - bugged or replaced with more...antinuclear interactions e. gravitational effects of antimatter 2. possible machine parameters and lattice design 3. electron and stochastic cooling needs 4...implementation, reliability requirements; development of design environments and of experimental methodology; technology transfer methods from

Spatial Statistical Models and Optimal Survey Design for Rapid Geophysical characterization of UXO Sites

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

G. Ostrouchov; W.E.Doll; D.A.Wolf

2003-07-01

Unexploded ordnance(UXO)surveys encompass large areas, and the cost of surveying these areas can be high. Enactment of earlier protocols for sampling UXO sites have shown the shortcomings of these procedures and led to a call for development of scientifically defensible statistical procedures for survey design and analysis. This project is one of three funded by SERDP to address this need.

Translations on Eastern Europe, Scientific Affairs, Number 537

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-03-07

Security Class (This Report) UNCLASSIFIED 20. Security Class (This Page UNCLASSIFIED 21. No. of Pages 22. Price KORM N riS-:i5 1R17.V...the new five-year plan too, the rapid.and secure development of industry is tied directly to the expansion of the mineral extracting and processing... cybernetic aspects supplied those foundations for generalizations and possibilities of abstraction, which the individual sciences needed. Not until

The future of scientific communication in the earth sciences: The impact of the internet

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, T.R.; Buchanan, R.C.; Adkins-Heljeson, D.; Mettille, T.D.; Sorensen, J.

1997-01-01

Publication on paper of research results following peer-review and editing has been the accepted means of scientific communication for several centuries. Today, the continued growth in the volume of scientific literature, the increased unit costs of archiving paper publications, and the rapidly increasing power and availability of electronic technology are creating tremendous pressures on traditional scientific communication. The earth sciences are not immune from these pressures, and the role of the traditional publication as the primary means of communication is rapidly changing. Electronic publications and network technology are radically altering the relationship between interpretative result and the underlying data. Earth science research institutions, including the Kansas Geological Survey, are experimenting with new forms of on-line publication that assure broad access to research and data and improve application of research results to societal problems. ?? 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Solute Nucleation and Growth in Supercritical Fluid Mixtures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smedley, Gregory T.; Wilemski, Gerald; Rawlins, W. Terry; Joshi, Prakash; Oakes, David B.; Durgin, William W.

1996-01-01

This research effort is directed toward two primary scientific objectives: (1) to determine the gravitational effect on the measurement of nucleation and growth rates near a critical point and (2) to investigate the nucleation process in supercritical fluids to aid in the evaluation and development of existing theoretical models and practical applications. A nucleation pulse method will be employed for this investigation using a rapid expansion to a supersaturated state that is maintained for approximately 1 ms followed by a rapid recompression to a less supersaturated state that effectively terminates nucleation while permitting growth to continue. Nucleation, which occurs during the initial supersaturated state, is decoupled from growth by producing rapid pressure changes. Thermodynamic analysis, condensation modeling, apparatus design, and optical diagnostic design necessary for the initiation of a theoretical and experimental investigation of naphthalene nucleation from supercritical CO2 have been completed.

Vision for the Future of Lws TR&T

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwadron, N.; Mannucci, A. J.; Antiochos, S. K.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Gombosi, T. I.; Gopalswamy, N.; Kamalabadi, F.; Linker, J.; Pilewskie, P.; Pulkkinen, A. A.; Spence, H. E.; Tobiska, W. K.; Weimer, D. R.; Withers, P.; Bisi, M. M.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Miller, K. L.; Moretto, T.; Onsager, T. G.; Roussev, I. I.; Viereck, R. A.

2014-12-01

The Living With a Star (LWS) program addresses acute societal needs for understanding the effects of space weather and developing scientific knowledge to support predictive capabilities. Our society's heavy reliance on technologies affected by the space environment, an enormous number of airline customers, interest in space tourism, and the developing plans for long-duration human exploration space missions are clear examples that demonstrate urgent needs for space weather models and detailed understanding of space weather effects and risks. Since its inception, the LWS program has provided a vehicle to innovate new mechanisms for conducting research, building highly effective interdisciplinary teams, and ultimately in developing the scientific understanding needed to transition research tools into operational models that support the predictive needs of our increasingly space-reliant society. The advances needed require broad-based observations that cannot be obtained by large missions alone. The Decadal Survey (HDS, 2012) outlines the nation's needs for scientific development that will build the foundation for tomorrow's space weather services. Addressing these goals, LWS must develop flexible pathways to space utilizing smaller, more diverse and rapid development of observational platforms. Expanding utilization of ground-based assets and shared launches will also significantly enhance opportunities to fulfill the growing LWS data needs. Partnerships between NASA divisions, national/international agencies, and with industry will be essential for leveraging resources to address increasing societal demand for space weather advances. Strengthened connections to user communities will enhance the quality and impact of deliverables from LWS programs. Thus, we outline the developing vision for the future of LWS, stressing the need for deeper scientific understanding to improve forecasting capabilities, for more diverse data resources, and for project deliverables that address the growing needs of user communities.

DEVELOPING A PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL) CURRICULUM FOR PROFESSIONALISM AND ETHICS TRAINING FOR BIOMEDICAL GRADUATE STUDENTS

PubMed Central

Jones, Nancy L.; Peiffer, Ann M.; Lambros, Ann; Guthold, Martin; Johnson, A. Daniel; Tytell, Michael; Ronca, April E.; Eldridge, J. Charles

2013-01-01

A curriculum was designed to shape biomedical graduate students into researchers with a high commitment to professionalism and social responsibility, and to provide students with tools to navigate the complex, rapidly evolving academic and societal environments with a strong ethical commitment. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) pedagogy was chosen because it is active, learner-centered, and focuses on skill and process development. Additionally, the small group format provides a high degree of socialization around professional norms. Two courses were developed. Scientific Professionalism Scientific Integrity addressed discipline-specific and broad professional norms and obligations for the ethical practice of science and responsible conduct of research (RCR). Scientific Professionalism Bioethics and Social Responsibility focused on current ethical and bioethical issues within the scientific profession and implications of research for society. Each small-group session examined case scenarios that included: (1) learning objectives for professional norms and obligations; (2) key ethical issues and philosophies within each topic area; (3) one or more of the RCR instructional areas; and (4) at least one type of moral reflection. Cases went beyond covering overt research misconduct to emphasize professional standards, obligations, and underlying philosophies for the ethical practice of science, competing interests of stakeholders, and oversight of science (internal and external). To our knowledge this was the first use of PBL to teach scientific integrity and ethics. Both faculty and students at Wake Forest endorsed the orientation of professionalism, active learning, and acquiring skills in contrast to a compliance-based approach that emphasizes learning rules and regulations. PMID:20797979

Why the US science and engineering workforce is aging rapidly.

PubMed

Blau, David M; Weinberg, Bruce A

2017-04-11

The science and engineering workforce has aged rapidly in recent years, both in absolute terms and relative to the workforce as a whole. This is a potential concern if the large number of older scientists crowds out younger scientists, making it difficult for them to establish independent careers. In addition, scientists are believed to be most creative earlier in their careers, so the aging of the workforce may slow the pace of scientific progress. We develop and simulate a demographic model, which shows that a substantial majority of recent aging is a result of the aging of the large baby boom cohort of scientists. However, changes in behavior have also played a significant role, in particular, a decline in the retirement rate of older scientists, induced in part by the elimination of mandatory retirement in universities in 1994. Furthermore, the age distribution of the scientific workforce is still adjusting. Current retirement rates and other determinants of employment in science imply a steady-state mean age 2.3 y higher than the 2008 level of 48.6.

Why the US science and engineering workforce is aging rapidly

PubMed Central

Blau, David M.

2017-01-01

The science and engineering workforce has aged rapidly in recent years, both in absolute terms and relative to the workforce as a whole. This is a potential concern if the large number of older scientists crowds out younger scientists, making it difficult for them to establish independent careers. In addition, scientists are believed to be most creative earlier in their careers, so the aging of the workforce may slow the pace of scientific progress. We develop and simulate a demographic model, which shows that a substantial majority of recent aging is a result of the aging of the large baby boom cohort of scientists. However, changes in behavior have also played a significant role, in particular, a decline in the retirement rate of older scientists, induced in part by the elimination of mandatory retirement in universities in 1994. Furthermore, the age distribution of the scientific workforce is still adjusting. Current retirement rates and other determinants of employment in science imply a steady-state mean age 2.3 y higher than the 2008 level of 48.6. PMID:28348239

Global unbalance in seaweed production, research effort and biotechnology markets.

PubMed

Mazarrasa, Inés; Olsen, Ylva S; Mayol, Eva; Marbà, Núria; Duarte, Carlos M

2014-01-01

Exploitation of the world's oceans is rapidly growing as evidenced by a booming patent market of marine products including seaweed, a resource that is easily accessible without sophisticated bioprospecting technology and that has a high level of domestication globally. The investment in research effort on seaweed aquaculture has recently been identified to be the main force for the development of a biotechnology market of seaweed-derived products and is a more important driver than the capacity of seaweed production. Here, we examined seaweed patent registrations between 1980 and 2009 to assess the growth rate of seaweed biotechnology, its geographic distribution and the types of applications patented. We compare this growth with scientific investment in seaweed aquaculture and with the market of seaweed production. We found that both the seaweed patenting market and the rate of scientific publications are rapidly growing (11% and 16.8% per year respectively) since 1990. The patent market is highly geographically skewed (95% of all registrations belonging to ten countries and the top two holding 65% of the total) compared to the distribution of scientific output among countries (60% of all scientific publications belonging to ten countries and the top two countries holding a 21%), but more homogeneously distributed than the production market (with a 99.8% belonging to the top ten countries, and a 71% to the top two). Food industry was the dominant application for both the patent registrations (37.7%) and the scientific publications (21%) followed in both cases by agriculture and aquaculture applications. This result is consistent with the seaweed taxa most represented. Kelp, which was the target taxa for 47% of the patent registrations, is a traditional ingredient in Asian food and Gracilaria and Ulva, which were the focus of 15% and 13% of the scientific publications respectively, that are also used in more sophisticated applications such as cosmetics, chemical industry or bioremediation. Our analyses indicate a recent interest of non-seaweed producing countries to play a part in the seaweed patenting market focusing on more sophisticated products, while developing countries still have a limited share in this booming market. We suggest that this trend could be reverted by promoting partnerships for R and D to connect on-going efforts in aquaculture production with the emerging opportunities for new biotech applications of seaweed products. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Knowledge Domain and Emerging Trends in Organic Photovoltaic Technology: A Scientometric Review Based on CiteSpace Analysis.

PubMed

Xiao, Fengjun; Li, Chengzhi; Sun, Jiangman; Zhang, Lianjie

2017-01-01

To study the rapid growth of research on organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology, development trends in the relevant research are analyzed based on CiteSpace software of text mining and visualization in scientific literature. By this analytical method, the outputs and cooperation of authors, the hot research topics, the vital references and the development trend of OPV are identified and visualized. Different from the traditional review articles by the experts on OPV, this work provides a new method of visualizing information about the development of the OPV technology research over the past decade quantitatively.

Knowledge Domain and Emerging trends in Organic Photovoltaic Technology: A Scientometric Review Based on CiteSpace Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Fengjun; Li, Chengzhi; Sun, Jiangman; Zhang, Lianjie

2017-09-01

To study the rapid growth of research on organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology, development trends in the relevant research are analyzed based on CiteSpace software of text mining and visualization in scientific literature. By this analytical method, the outputs and cooperation of authors, the hot research topics, the vital references and the development trend of OPV are identified and visualized. Different from the traditional review articles by the experts on OPV, this work provides a new method of visualizing information about the development of the OPV technology research over the past decade quantitatively.

Laser triangulation method for measuring the size of parking claw

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Bo; Zhang, Ming; Pang, Ying

2017-10-01

With the development of science and technology and the maturity of measurement technology, the 3D profile measurement technology has been developed rapidly. Three dimensional measurement technology is widely used in mold manufacturing, industrial inspection, automatic processing and manufacturing, etc. There are many kinds of situations in scientific research and industrial production. It is necessary to transform the original mechanical parts into the 3D data model on the computer quickly and accurately. At present, many methods have been developed to measure the contour size, laser triangulation is one of the most widely used methods.

Visions of the Future - the Changing Role of Actors in Data-Intensive Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schäfer, L.; Klump, J. F.

2013-12-01

Around the world scientific disciplines are increasingly facing the challenge of a burgeoning volume of research data. This data avalanche consists of a stream of information generated from sensors and scientific instruments, digital recordings, social-science surveys or drawn from the World Wide Web. All areas of the scientific economy are affected by this rapid growth in data, from the logging of digs in Archaeology, telescope data with observations of distant galaxies in Astrophysics or data from polls and surveys in the Social Sciences. The challenge for science is not only to process the data through analysis, reduction and visualization, but also to set up infrastructures for provisioning and storing the data. The rise of new technologies and developments also poses new challenges for the actors in the area of research data infrastructures. Libraries, as one of the actors, enable access to digital media and support the publication of research data and its long-term archiving. Digital media and research data, however, introduce new aspects into the libraries' range of activities. How are we to imagine the library of the future? The library as an interface to the computer centers? Will library and computer center fuse into a new service unit? What role will scientific publishers play in future? Currently the traditional form of publication still carry greater weight - articles for conferences and journals. But will this still be the case in future? New forms of publication are already making their presence felt. The tasks of the computer centers may also change. Yesterday their remit was provisioning of rapid hardware, whereas now everything revolves around the topic of data and services. Finally, how about the researchers themselves? Not such a long time ago, Geoscience was not necessarily seen as linked to Computer Science. Nowadays, modern Geoscience relies heavily on IT and its techniques. Thus, in how far will the profile of the modern geoscientist change? This gives rise to the question of what tools are required to locate and pursue the correct course in a networked world. One tool from the area of innovation management is the scenario technique. This poster will outline visions of the future as possible developments of the scientific world in 2020 (or later). The scenarios presented will show possible developments - both positive and negative. It is up then to the actors themselves to define their own position in this context, to rethink it and consider steps that can achieve a positive development for the future.

Development of methodology for component testing under impact loading for space applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Church, Phillip; Taylor, Nicholas; Perkinson, Marie-Claire; Wishart, Alex; Vijendran, Sanjay; Braithwaite, Chris

2017-06-01

A number of recent studies have highlighted the scientific benefits of penetrator technology in conducting exploration on other planetary bodies and moons within the solar system. Such a ``hard landing'' approach is cheaper and easier than the traditional ``soft landing'' method. However it is necessary for the science package of such a mission to withstand the rapid decelerations that will occur upon impact. This paper outlines an approach that has been developed to simulate the loading appropriate to Europa and also to monitor component performance before, during and after the impact.

English Language Publishing in Chemical Engineering Journals from an Indian Academic's Point of View--A Broad Scientific Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palit, Sukanchan

2016-01-01

Scientific vision and scientific understanding in today's world are in the path of new glory. Chemical Engineering science is witnessing drastic and rapid changes. The metamorphosis of human civilization in this century is faced with vicious challenges. Progress of Chemical Engineering science, the vision of technology and the broad chemical…

DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC) Subcommittee Report on Scientific and Technical Information

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

Hey, Tony; Agarwal, Deborah; Borgman, Christine

The Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC) was charged to form a standing subcommittee to review the Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and to begin by assessing the quality and effectiveness of OSTI’s recent and current products and services and to comment on its mission and future directions in the rapidly changing environment for scientific publication and data. The Committee met with OSTI staff and reviewed available products, services and other materials. This report summaries their initial findings and recommendations.

78 FR 61376 - Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-03

... Scientific Review Special Emphasis Panel; PAR 12-251: Behavioral Science Track Award for Rapid Transition (B... Sciences. Date: October 30, 2013. Time: 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Agenda: To review and evaluate grant...

The growth and gaps of genetic data sharing policies in the United States

PubMed Central

Arias, Jalayne J.; Pham-Kanter, Genevieve; Campbell, Eric G.

2014-01-01

The 1996 Bermuda Principles launched a new era in data sharing, reflecting a growing belief that the rapid public dissemination of research data was crucial to scientific progress in genetics. A historical review of data sharing policies in the field of genetics and genomics reflects changing scientific norms and evolving views of genomic data, particularly related to human subjects’ protections and privacy concerns. The 2013 NIH Draft Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy incorporates the most significant protections and guidelines to date. The GDS Policy, however, will face difficult challenges ahead as geneticists seek to balance the very real concerns of research participants and the scientific norms that propel research forward. This article provides a novel evaluation of genetic and GDS policies’ treatment of human subjects’ protections. The article examines not only the policies, but also some of the most pertinent scientific, legal, and regulatory developments that occurred alongside data sharing policies. This historical perspective highlights the challenges that future data sharing policies, including the recently disseminated NIH GDS Draft Policy, will encounter. PMID:27774180

Metadata for data rescue and data at risk

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anderson, William L.; Faundeen, John L.; Greenberg, Jane; Taylor, Fraser

2011-01-01

Scientific data age, become stale, fall into disuse and run tremendous risks of being forgotten and lost. These problems can be addressed by archiving and managing scientific data over time, and establishing practices that facilitate data discovery and reuse. Metadata documentation is integral to this work and essential for measuring and assessing high priority data preservation cases. The International Council for Science: Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) has a newly appointed Data-at-Risk Task Group (DARTG), participating in the general arena of rescuing data. The DARTG primary objective is building an inventory of scientific data that are at risk of being lost forever. As part of this effort, the DARTG is testing an approach for documenting endangered datasets. The DARTG is developing a minimal and easy to use set of metadata properties for sufficiently describing endangered data, which will aid global data rescue missions. The DARTG metadata framework supports rapid capture, and easy documentation, across an array of scientific domains. This paper reports on the goals and principles supporting the DARTG metadata schema, and provides a description of the preliminary implementation.

Examination of the impact of animal and dairy science journals based on traditional and newly developed bibliometric indices.

PubMed

Malesios, C; Abas, Z

2012-12-01

Using traditional bibliometric indices such as the well-known journal impact factor (IFAC), as well as other more recently developed measures like the (journal) h-index and modifications, we assessed the impact of most prolific scientific journals in the field of animal and dairy science. To achieve this end, we performed a detailed investigation on the evaluation of journals quality, using a total of 50 journals selected from the category of "Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science" included in the Thomson Reuters' (formerly Institute of Scientific Information, ISI) Web of Science. Our analysis showed that among the top journals in the field are the Journal of Dairy Research, the Journal of Dairy Science, and the Journal of Animal Science. In particular, the Journal of Animal Science, the most productive and frequently cited journal, has shown rapid development, especially in recent years. The majority of the top-tier, highly cited articles are those associated with the description of statistical methodology and the standard chemical analytical methodologies.

Oxygen equipment and rapid decompression studies.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-03-01

This is a collection of reports of evaluations of the protective capability of various oxygen systems at high altitude and during rapid decompression. Results of these studies were presented at scientific meetings and/or published in preprints or pro...

Scientific Programming Using Java: A Remote Sensing Example

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prados, Don; Mohamed, Mohamed A.; Johnson, Michael; Cao, Changyong; Gasser, Jerry

1999-01-01

This paper presents results of a project to port remote sensing code from the C programming language to Java. The advantages and disadvantages of using Java versus C as a scientific programming language in remote sensing applications are discussed. Remote sensing applications deal with voluminous data that require effective memory management, such as buffering operations, when processed. Some of these applications also implement complex computational algorithms, such as Fast Fourier Transformation analysis, that are very performance intensive. Factors considered include performance, precision, complexity, rapidity of development, ease of code reuse, ease of maintenance, memory management, and platform independence. Performance of radiometric calibration code written in Java for the graphical user interface and of using C for the domain model are also presented.

Bonsai: an event-based framework for processing and controlling data streams

PubMed Central

Lopes, Gonçalo; Bonacchi, Niccolò; Frazão, João; Neto, Joana P.; Atallah, Bassam V.; Soares, Sofia; Moreira, Luís; Matias, Sara; Itskov, Pavel M.; Correia, Patrícia A.; Medina, Roberto E.; Calcaterra, Lorenza; Dreosti, Elena; Paton, Joseph J.; Kampff, Adam R.

2015-01-01

The design of modern scientific experiments requires the control and monitoring of many different data streams. However, the serial execution of programming instructions in a computer makes it a challenge to develop software that can deal with the asynchronous, parallel nature of scientific data. Here we present Bonsai, a modular, high-performance, open-source visual programming framework for the acquisition and online processing of data streams. We describe Bonsai's core principles and architecture and demonstrate how it allows for the rapid and flexible prototyping of integrated experimental designs in neuroscience. We specifically highlight some applications that require the combination of many different hardware and software components, including video tracking of behavior, electrophysiology and closed-loop control of stimulation. PMID:25904861

A Performance Evaluation of the Cray X1 for Scientific Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliker, Leonid; Biswas, Rupak; Borrill, Julian; Canning, Andrew; Carter, Jonathan; Djomehri, M. Jahed; Shan, Hongzhang; Skinner, David

2004-01-01

The last decade has witnessed a rapid proliferation of superscalar cache-based microprocessors to build high-end capability and cost effectiveness. However, the recent development of massively parallel vector systems is having a significant effect on the supercomputing landscape. In this paper, we compare the performance of the recently released Cray X1 vector system with that of the cacheless NEC SX-6 vector machine, and the superscalar cache-based IBM Power3 and Power4 architectures for scientific applications. Overall results demonstrate that the X1 is quite promising, but performance improvements are expected as the hardware, systems software, and numerical libraries mature. Code reengineering to effectively utilize the complex architecture may also lead to significant efficiency enhancements.

Translations on Eastern Europe, Political, Sociological, and Military Affairs, Number 1502

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-02-09

living on the basis of rapid development of socialist production, to raise the effectiveness, scientific progress and growth of labor productivity." 4 ...Conclusion, amendment and dissolution of the work contract, articles 38-70. 4 . Organization of work and socialist labor discipline, articles 71-94. 5 ...duties assumed by the workers, the law prescribes the gradual transition to a 40- hour workweek . Details are to be fixed by the

BrainSnail: A dynamic information display system for the Sciences

PubMed Central

Telefont, Martin; Asaithambi, Asai

2009-01-01

Scientific reference management has become crucial in rapidly expanding fields of biology. Many of the reference management systems currently employed are reference centric and not object/process focused. BrainSnail is a reference management/knowledge representation application that tries to bridge disconnect between subject and reference in the fields of neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. BrainSnail has been developed with considering both individual researcher and research group efforts. PMID:19293992

The Co-evolution of Climate Models and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Somerville, R. C.

2010-12-01

As recently as the 1950s, global climate models, or GCMs, did not exist, and the notion that man-made carbon dioxide might lead to significant climate change was not regarded as a serious possibility by most experts. Today, of course, the prospect or threat of exactly this type of climate change dominates the science and ranks among the most pressing issues confronting all mankind. Indeed, the prevailing scientific view throughout the first half of the twentieth century was that adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would have only a negligible effect on climate. The science of climate change caused by atmospheric carbon dioxide changes has thus undergone a genuine revolution. An extraordinarily rapid development of global climate models has also characterized this period, especially in the three decades since about 1980. In these three decades, the number of GCMs has greatly increased, and their physical and computational aspects have both markedly improved. Modeling progress has been enabled by many scientific advances, of course, but especially by a massive increase in available computer power, with supercomputer speeds increasing by roughly a factor of a million in the three decades from about 1980 to 2010. This technological advance has permitted a rapid increase in the physical comprehensiveness of GCMs as well as in spatial computational resolution. In short, GCMs have dramatically evolved over time, in exactly the same recent period as popular interest and scientific concern about anthropogenic climate change have markedly increased. In parallel, a unique international organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, has also recently come into being and also evolved rapidly. Today, the IPCC has become widely respected and globally influential. The IPCC was founded in 1988, and its history is thus even shorter than that of GCMs. Yet, its stature today is such that a series of IPCC reports assessing climate change science has already been endorsed by many leading scientific professional societies and academies of science worldwide. These reports are considered as definitive summaries of the state of the science. In 2007, in recognition of its exceptional accomplishments, the IPCC shared the Nobel Peace Prize equally with Al Gore. The present era is characterized not only by the reality and seriousness of human-caused climate change, but also by a young yet powerful science that enables us to understand much about the climate change that has occurred already and that awaits in the future. The development of GCMs is a critical part of the scientific story, and the development of the IPCC is a key factor in connecting the science to the perceptions and priorities of the global public and policymakers. GCMs and the IPCC have co-evolved and strongly influenced one another, as both scientists and the world at large have worked to confront the challenge of climate change.

Validation of a rapid DNA process with the RapidHIT® ID system using GlobalFiler® Express chemistry, a platform optimized for decentralized testing environments.

PubMed

Salceda, Susana; Barican, Arnaldo; Buscaino, Jacklyn; Goldman, Bruce; Klevenberg, Jim; Kuhn, Melissa; Lehto, Dennis; Lin, Frank; Nguyen, Phong; Park, Charles; Pearson, Francesca; Pittaro, Rick; Salodkar, Sayali; Schueren, Robert; Smith, Corey; Troup, Charles; Tsou, Dean; Vangbo, Mattias; Wunderle, Justus; King, David

2017-05-01

The RapidHIT ® ID is a fully automated sample-to-answer system for short tandem repeat (STR)-based human identification. The RapidHIT ID has been optimized for use in decentralized environments and processes presumed single source DNA samples, generating Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)-compatible DNA profiles in less than 90min. The system is easy to use, requiring less than one minute of hands-on time. Profiles are reviewed using centralized linking software, RapidLINK™ (IntegenX, Pleasanton, CA), a software tool designed to collate DNA profiles from single or multiple RapidHIT ID systems at different geographic locations. The RapidHIT ID has been designed to employ GlobalFiler ® Express and AmpFLSTR ® NGMSElect™, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA) STR chemistries. The Developmental Validation studies were performed using GlobalFiler ® Express with single source reference samples according to Scientific Working Group for DNA Analysis Methods guidelines. These results show that multiple RapidHIT ID systems networked with RapidLINK software form a highly reliable system for wide-scale deployment in locations such as police booking stations and border crossings enabling real-time testing of arrestees, potential human trafficking victims, and other instances where rapid turnaround is essential. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A hypertext-based Internet-assessable database for the MSFC Technology Transfer Office

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, Jeff

1994-01-01

There exists a continuing need to disseminate technical information and facilities capabilities from NASA field centers in an effort to promote the successful transfer of technologies developed with public funds to the private sector. As technology transfer is a stated NASA mission, there exists a critical need for NASA centers to document technology capabilities and disseminate this information on as wide a basis as possible. Certainly local and regional dissemination is critical, but global dissemination of scientific and engineering facilities and capabilities gives NASA centers the ability to contribute to technology transfer on a much broader scale. Additionally, information should be disseminated in a complete and rapidly available form. To accomplish this information dissemination, the unique capabilities of the Internet are being exploited. The Internet allows widescale information distribution in a rapid fashion to aid in the accomplishment of technology transfer goals established by the NASA/MSFC Technology Transfer Office. Rapid information retrieval coupled with appropriate electronic feedback, allows the scientific and technical capabilities of Marshall Space Flight Center, often unique in the world, to be explored by a large number of potential benefactors of NASA (or NASA-derived) technologies. Electronic feedback, coupled with personal contact with the MSFC Technology Transfer Office personnel, allows rapid responses to technical requests from industry and academic personnel as well as private citizens. The remainder of this report gives a brief overview of the Mosaic software and a discussion of technology transfer office and laboratory facilities data that have been made available on the Internet to promote technology transfer.

Differently Abled in Entomology

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The rapidly changing demographics of the United States and the need for scientific innovation, which has been demonstrated to be enhanced by interactions among persons with diverse backgrounds, has led to numerous efforts in the last thirty years to increase the level of diversity in our scientific ...

Libre: Freeing Polar Data in an Information Commons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duerr, R. E.; Parsons, M. A.

2010-12-01

As noted in the session description “The polar regions are at the forefront of modern environmental change, currently experiencing the largest and fastest changes in climate and environment”. Wise use of resources, astute management of our environment, improved decision support, and effective international cooperation on natural resource and geopolitical issues require a deeper understanding of, and an ability to predict change and its impact. Understanding and knowledge are built on data and information, yet polar information is scattered, scarce, and sporadic. Rapid change demands rapid data access. We envision a system where investigators quickly expose their data to the world and share them, without restriction, through open protocols on the Internet. A single giant, central archive is not practical for all polar data held around the world. Instead, we seek a collaborative, virtual space, where scientific data and information could be shared ethically and with minimal constraints. Inspired by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 that established the Antarctic as a global commons to generate greater scientific understanding, the International Council of Science leads the Polar Information Commons (PIC). The PIC, engendered by the International Polar Year (IPY) and work on the IPY data policy, serves as an open, virtual repository for vital scientific data and information. An international network of scientific and data management organizations concerned with the scientific quality, integrity, and stewardship of data is developing the PIC. The PIC utilizes the Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data, including establishment of community norms to encourage appropriate contributions to and use of PIC content. Data descriptions (metadata) are not necessarily registered in formal repositories or catalogues. They may simply be exposed to search engines or broadcast through syndication services such as RSS or Atom. The data are labeled or branded as part of the PIC and are, therefore, open for use without restriction. The PIC label also alerts data centers around the world to new polar data. These data centers then assess and acquire important data for formal archiving, curation, and access through national and global data systems. The intent is to enable rapid data access without qualification, while establishing a process for long-term preservation and stewardship of critical data. This paper will review the ethical and legal basis for sharing polar data and information, as well as the technologies being employed to make the PIC a reality.

Developing an Arctic Observing Network: Looking Beyond Scientific Research as a Driver to Broader Societal Benefits as Drivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeffries, M. O.

2017-12-01

This presentation will address the first ever application of the Societal Benefit Areas approach to continuing efforts to develop an integrated pan-Arctic Observing Network. The scientific research community has been calling for an Arctic Observing Network since the early years of this century, at least. There is no question of the importance of research-driven observations at a time when rapid changes occurring throughout the Arctic environmental system are affecting people and communities in the Arctic and in regions far from the Arctic. Observations are need for continued environmental monitoring and change detection; improving understanding of how the system and its components function, and how they are connected to lower latitude regions; advancing numerical modeling capabilities for forecasting and projection; and developing value-added products and services for people and communities, and for decision- and policymaking. Scientific research is, without question, a benefit to society, but the benefits of Earth observations extend beyond scientific research. Societal Benefit Areas (SBAs) were first described by the international Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and have since been used by USGEO as the basis for its National Earth Observation Assessments. The most recent application of SBAs to Earth observing realized a framework of SBAs, SBA Sub-areas, and Key Objectives required for the completion of a full Earth observing assessment for the Arctic. This framework, described in a report released in June 2017, and a brief history of international efforts to develop an integrated pan-Arctic Observing Network, are the subjects of this presentation.

Development of a rapid 21-plex autosomal STR typing system for forensic applications.

PubMed

Yang, Meng; Yin, Caiyong; Lv, Yuexin; Yang, Yaran; Chen, Jing; Yu, Zailiang; Liu, Xu; Xu, Meibo; Chen, Feng; Wu, Huijuan; Yan, Jiangwei

2016-10-01

DNA-STR genotyping technology has been widely used in forensic investigations. Even with such success, there is a great need to reduce the analysis time. In this study, we established a new rapid 21-plex STR typing system, including 13 CODIS loci, Penta D, Penta E, D12S391, D2S1338, D6S1043, D19S433, D2S441 and Amelogenin loci. This system could shorten the amplification time to a minimum of 90 min and does not require DNA extraction from the samples. Validation of the typing system complied with the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) and the Chinese National Standard (GA/T815-2009) guidelines. The results demonstrated that this 21-plex STR typing system was a valuable tool for rapid criminal investigation. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Towards transdisciplinarity in Arctic sustainability knowledge co-production: Socially-Oriented Observations as a participatory integrated activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vlasova, Tatiana; Volkov, Sergey

2016-09-01

The paper is an attempt to tie together main biogeophysical and social science projects under the auspice of interdisciplinary sustainability science development. Special attention is put to the necessity of the transdisciplinary knowledge co-production based on activities and problem-solutions approaches. It puts attention to the role of monitoring activities in sustainability interdisciplinary science and transdisciplinary knowledge evolution in the Arctic. Socially focused monitoring named Socially-Oriented Observations creating a transdisciplinary space is viewed as one of sources of learning and transformations towards sustainability making possible to shape rapid changes happening in the Arctic based on sustainability knowledge co-production. Continuous Socially-Oriented Observations integrating scientific, education and monitoring methods enables to define adaptation and transformation pathways in the Arctic - the most rapidly changing region of our planet. Socially-Oriented Observations are based on the existing and developing interdisciplinary scientific approaches emerged within natural science and social science projects, sustainable development and resilience concepts putting principle attention to building sustainable and resilient socio-ecological systems. It is argued that the Arctic sustainability science is a valuable component of the whole and broader system of the Arctic Sustainability knowledge co-produced with the help of transdisciplinary approaches integrating science, local/traditional knowledge, entrepreneurship, education, decision-making. Socially-Oriented Observations are designed to be a transdisciplinary interactive continuous participatory process empowering deliberate choices of people that can shape the changes and enable transformation towards sustainability. Approaches of Socially-Oriented Observations and methods of implementation that have been developed since the IPY 2007/2008 and being practiced in different regions of the Arctic are discussed.

The Scientific Quest for Lasting Youth: Prospects for Curing Aging

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Abstract People have always sought eternal life and everlasting youth. Recent technological breakthroughs and our growing understanding of aging have given strength to the idea that a cure for human aging can eventually be developed. As such, it is crucial to debate the long-term goals and potential impact of the field. Here, I discuss the scientific prospect of eradicating human aging. I argue that curing aging is scientifically possible and not even the most challenging enterprise in the biosciences. Developing the means to abolish aging is also an ethical endeavor because the goal of biomedical research is to allow people to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible. There is no evidence, however, that we are near to developing the technologies permitting radical life extension. One major difficulty in aging research is the time and costs it takes to do experiments and test interventions. I argue that unraveling the functioning of the genome and developing predictive computer models of human biology and disease are essential to increase the accuracy of medical interventions, including in the context of life extension, and exponential growth in informatics and genomics capacity might lead to rapid progress. Nonetheless, developing the tools for significantly modifying human biology is crucial to intervening in a complex process like aging. Yet in spite of advances in areas like regenerative medicine and gene therapy, the development of clinical applications has been slow and this remains a key hurdle for achieving radical life extension in the foreseeable future. PMID:25132068

How Investment in #GovTech Tools Helped with USGS Disaster Response During Hurricane Harvey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, S.; Pearson, D. K.

2017-12-01

Hurricane Harvey was an unprecedented storm event that not only included a challenge to decision-makers, but also the scientific community to provide clear and rapid dissemination of changing streamflow conditions and potential flooding concerns. Of primary importance to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Texas Water Science Center was to focus on the availability of accessible data and scientific communication of rapidly changing water conditions across Texas with regards to heavy rainfall rates, rising rivers, streams, and lake elevations where USGS has monitoring stations. Infrastructure modernization leading to advanced GovTech practices and data visualization was key to the USGS role in providing data during Hurricane Harvey. In the last two years, USGS has released two web applications, "Texas Water Dashboard" and "Water-On-The-Go", which were heavily utilized by partners, local media, and municipal government officials. These tools provided the backbone for data distribution through both desktop and mobile applications as decision support during flood events. The combination of Texas Water Science Center web tools and the USGS National Water Information System handled more than 5-million data requests over the course of the storm. On the ground local information near Buffalo Bayou and Addicks/Barker Dams, as well as statewide support of USGS real-time scientific data, were delivered to the National Weather Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, Harris County Flood Control District, the general public, and others. This presentation will provide an overview of GovTech solutions used during Hurricane Harvey, including the history of USGS tool development, discussion on the public response, and future applications for helping provide scientific communications to the public.

Structural Characterization of Ginsenosides from Flower Buds of Panax ginseng by RRLC-Q-TOF MS.

PubMed

Wu, Wei; Lu, Ziyan; Teng, Yaran; Guo, Yingying; Liu, Shuying

2016-02-01

Ginseng flower bud as a part of Panax ginseng has received much attention as a valuable functional food with medicinal potential. A few studies focused on systematic and comprehensive studies on its major ingredients. This study aims to rapidly characterize ginsenosides in ginseng flower buds and provide scientific basis for developing functional food, exploiting pharmaceutical effects and making full use of ginseng resources. A rapid resolution liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (RRLC-Q-TOF-MS) method was developed for rapid qualitative and quantitative analysis of ginsenosides in ginseng flower buds. The compounds were identified by comparing retention time of the reference standards, accurate mass measurement and the fragment ions obtained from RRLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analyses. A total of 14 kinds of ginsenosides were identified and 5 kinds of malonyl-ginsenosides were first tentatively identified in ginseng flower buds. Ten kinds of main ginsenosides were quantitatively analyzed. The developed RRLC-Q-TOF-MS method was demonstrated as an effective analytical means for rapid characterization of the ginsenosides in flower buds of P. ginseng. The research result is valuable for quality control, assessment of authenticity and stability evaluation of ginseng flower buds. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Using Science Data and Models for Space Weather Forecasting - Challenges and Opportunities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael; Pulkkinen, Antti; Zheng, Yihua; Maddox, Marlo; Berrios, David; Taktakishvili, Sandro; Kuznetsova, Masha; Chulaki, Anna; Lee, Hyesook; Mullinix, Rick;

Forecasting wildlife response to rapid warming in the Alaskan Arctic

USGS Publications Warehouse

Van Hemert, Caroline R.; Flint, Paul L.; Udevitz, Mark S.; Koch, Joshua C.; Atwood, Todd C.; Oakley, Karen L.; Pearce, John M.

2015-01-01

Arctic wildlife species face a dynamic and increasingly novel environment because of climate warming and the associated increase in human activity. Both marine and terrestrial environments are undergoing rapid environmental shifts, including loss of sea ice, permafrost degradation, and altered biogeochemical fluxes. Forecasting wildlife responses to climate change can facilitate proactive decisions that balance stewardship with resource development. In this article, we discuss the primary and secondary responses to physical climate-related drivers in the Arctic, associated wildlife responses, and additional sources of complexity in forecasting wildlife population outcomes. Although the effects of warming on wildlife populations are becoming increasingly well documented in the scientific literature, clear mechanistic links are often difficult to establish. An integrated science approach and robust modeling tools are necessary to make predictions and determine resiliency to change. We provide a conceptual framework and introduce examples relevant for developing wildlife forecasts useful to management decisions.

The science of science: From the perspective of complex systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, An; Shen, Zhesi; Zhou, Jianlin; Wu, Jinshan; Fan, Ying; Wang, Yougui; Stanley, H. Eugene

2017-11-01

The science of science (SOS) is a rapidly developing field which aims to understand, quantify and predict scientific research and the resulting outcomes. The problem is essentially related to almost all scientific disciplines and thus has attracted attention of scholars from different backgrounds. Progress on SOS will lead to better solutions for many challenging issues, ranging from the selection of candidate faculty members by a university to the development of research fields to which a country should give priority. While different measurements have been designed to evaluate the scientific impact of scholars, journals and academic institutions, the multiplex structure, dynamics and evolution mechanisms of the whole system have been much less studied until recently. In this article, we review the recent advances in SOS, aiming to cover the topics from empirical study, network analysis, mechanistic models, ranking, prediction, and many important related issues. The results summarized in this review significantly deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and statistical rules governing the science system. Finally, we review the forefront of SOS research and point out the specific difficulties as they arise from different contexts, so as to stimulate further efforts in this emerging interdisciplinary field.

Biomarkers to Assess Possible Biological Effects on Reproductive Potential, Immune Function, and Energetic Fitness of Bottlenose Dolphins Exposed to Sounds Consistent with Naval Sonars

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-30

ion modes. The resulting chromatograms were then processed using XCMS (alignment and peak picking ). The data were processed with in-house...UHPLC liquid chromatography Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry ( MS ). A standard method was developed for rapid analysis...extraction protocols and then implemented LC- MS / MS analyses on our Thermo Fisher Scientific TSQ Vantage triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. This

Radicals: Reactive Intermediates with Translational Potential.

PubMed

Yan, Ming; Lo, Julian C; Edwards, Jacob T; Baran, Phil S

2016-10-05

This Perspective illustrates the defining characteristics of free radical chemistry, beginning with its rich and storied history. Studies from our laboratory are discussed along with recent developments emanating from others in this burgeoning area. The practicality and chemoselectivity of radical reactions enable rapid access to molecules of relevance to drug discovery, agrochemistry, material science, and other disciplines. Thus, these reactive intermediates possess inherent translational potential, as they can be widely used to expedite scientific endeavors for the betterment of humankind.

The Unification of Space Qualified Integrated Circuits by Example of International Space Project GAMMA-400

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobkov, S. G.; Serdin, O. V.; Arkhangelskiy, A. I.; Arkhangelskaja, I. V.; Suchkov, S. I.; Topchiev, N. P.

The problem of electronic component unification at the different levels (circuits, interfaces, hardware and software) used in space industry is considered. The task of computer systems for space purposes developing is discussed by example of scientific data acquisition system for space project GAMMA-400. The basic characteristics of high reliable and fault tolerant chips developed by SRISA RAS for space applicable computational systems are given. To reduce power consumption and enhance data reliability, embedded system interconnect made hierarchical: upper level is Serial RapidIO 1x or 4x with rate transfer 1.25 Gbaud; next level - SpaceWire with rate transfer up to 400 Mbaud and lower level - MIL-STD-1553B and RS232/RS485. The Ethernet 10/100 is technology interface and provided connection with the previously released modules too. Systems interconnection allows creating different redundancy systems. Designers can develop heterogeneous systems that employ the peer-to-peer networking performance of Serial RapidIO using multiprocessor clusters interconnected by SpaceWire.

Perspective: Innocence and due diligence: managing unfounded allegations of scientific misconduct.

PubMed

Goldenring, James R

2010-03-01

While the incidence of fraud in science is well documented, issues related to the establishment of innocence in cases of fallacious allegations remain unaddressed. In this article, the author uses his own experience to examine issues that arise when investigators are falsely accused of scientific fraud. Investigators must understand the processes in place to protect themselves against false accusations. The present system takes a position of guilty until proven innocent, a concept that is antithetical to American principles of jurisprudence. Yet this stance is acceptable as a requirement for membership in the scientific community, more reflective of the rules within a guild organization. The necessity for proof of innocence by members of the scientific community carries obligations that transcend normal legal assumptions. Scientists must safeguard their reputations by organizing and maintaining all original image files and data relevant to publications and grant proposals. Investigators must be able to provide clear documentation rapidly whenever concerns are raised during the review process. Moreover, peer-reviewed journals must be diligent not only in the identification of fraud but also in providing rapid due process for adjudication of allegations. The success of the scientific guild rules of conduct lies in the practice of due diligence by both scientists and journal editors in questions of scientific misconduct.

TIES that BIND: an introduction to domain mapping as a visualization tool for virtual rehabilitation.

PubMed

Weiss, Patrice L Tamar; Kedar, Rochelle; Shahar, Meir

2006-04-01

The application of virtual reality (VR) to rehabilitation is a young, interdisciplinary field where clinical implementation very rapidly follows scientific discovery and technological advancement. Implementation is often so rapid that demonstration of intervention efficacy by investigators, and establishment of research and development priorities by funding bodies tend to be more reactive than proactive. An examination of the dynamic unfolding of the history of our young discipline may help us recognize the facilitators of current practice and identify the barriers that limit greater progress. This paper presents a first step towards the examination of the past and future growth of VR-based rehabilitation by presenting the use of concept maps to explore the publication history of application of VR to rehabilitation.

Mobile Phones Democratize and Cultivate Next-Generation Imaging, Diagnostics and Measurement Tools

PubMed Central

Ozcan, Aydogan

2014-01-01

In this article, I discuss some of the emerging applications and the future opportunities and challenges created by the use of mobile phones and their embedded components for the development of next-generation imaging, sensing, diagnostics and measurement tools. The massive volume of mobile phone users, which has now reached ~7 billion, drives the rapid improvements of the hardware, software and high-end imaging and sensing technologies embedded in our phones, transforming the mobile phone into a cost-effective and yet extremely powerful platform to run e.g., biomedical tests and perform scientific measurements that would normally require advanced laboratory instruments. This rapidly evolving and continuing trend will help us transform how medicine, engineering and sciences are practiced and taught globally. PMID:24647550

Meeting report: SMART timing--principles of single molecule techniques course at the University of Michigan 2014.

PubMed

Bartke, Rebecca M; Cameron, Elizabeth L; Cristie-David, Ajitha S; Custer, Thomas C; Denies, Maxwell S; Daher, May; Dhakal, Soma; Ghosh, Soumi; Heinicke, Laurie A; Hoff, J Damon; Hou, Qian; Kahlscheuer, Matthew L; Karslake, Joshua; Krieger, Adam G; Li, Jieming; Li, Xiang; Lund, Paul E; Vo, Nguyen N; Park, Jun; Pitchiaya, Sethuramasundaram; Rai, Victoria; Smith, David J; Suddala, Krishna C; Wang, Jiarui; Widom, Julia R; Walter, Nils G

2015-05-01

Four days after the announcement of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy" based on single molecule detection, the Single Molecule Analysis in Real-Time (SMART) Center at the University of Michigan hosted a "Principles of Single Molecule Techniques 2014" course. Through a combination of plenary lectures and an Open House at the SMART Center, the course took a snapshot of a technology with an especially broad and rapidly expanding range of applications in the biomedical and materials sciences. Highlighting the continued rapid emergence of technical and scientific advances, the course underscored just how brightly the future of the single molecule field shines. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Towards writing the encyclopaedia of life: an introduction to DNA barcoding

PubMed Central

Savolainen, Vincent; Cowan, Robyn S; Vogler, Alfried P; Roderick, George K; Lane, Richard

2005-01-01

An international consortium of major natural history museums, herbaria and other organizations has launched an ambitious project, the ‘Barcode of Life Initiative’, to promote a process enabling the rapid and inexpensive identification of the estimated 10 million species on Earth. DNA barcoding is a diagnostic technique in which short DNA sequence(s) can be used for species identification. The first international scientific conference on Barcoding of Life was held at the Natural History Museum in London in February 2005, and here we review the scientific challenges discussed during this conference and in previous publications. Although still controversial, the scientific benefits of DNA barcoding include: (i) enabling species identification, including any life stage or fragment, (ii) facilitating species discoveries based on cluster analyses of gene sequences (e.g. cox1=CO1, in animals), (iii) promoting development of handheld DNA sequencing technology that can be applied in the field for biodiversity inventories and (iv) providing insight into the diversity of life. PMID:16214739

Advances in Scientific Possibilities Offered by Real-Time Monitoring Technology.

PubMed

Kleiman, Evan M; Nock, Matthew K

2017-01-01

There has been a marked increase in research aimed at studying dynamic (e.g., day-to-day, moment-to-moment) changes in mental disorders and related behavior problems. Indeed, the number of scientific papers published that focus on real-time monitoring has been nearly doubling every five years for the past several decades. These methods allow for a more fine-grained description of phenomena of interest as well as for real-world tests of theoretical models of human behavior. Here we comment on the recent study by van Winkel and colleagues (this issue)as an excellent example of the use of real-time monitoring methods to better understand mental disorders. We also discuss the expanding universe of new technologies (e.g., smartphones, wearable biosensors) that can be used to make discoveries about psychopathology and related constructs and describe what we perceive to be some of the most exciting scientific possibilities that can be achieved in the near term by taking advantage of these new and rapidly developing tools.

[Qualitative research: which priority for scientific journals?].

PubMed

Rodella, Stefania

2016-04-01

Quantitative and qualitative approaches in scientific research should not be looked at as separate or even opposed fields of thinking and action, but could rather offer complementary perspectives in order to build appropriate answers to increasingly complex research questions. An open letter recently published by the BMJ and signed by 76 senior academics from 11 countries invite the editors to reconsider their policy of rejecting qualitative research on the grounds of low priority and challenge the journal to develop a proactive, scholarly and pluralistic approach to research that aligns with its stated mission. The contents of the letter, the many voices raised by almost fifty rapid responses and the severe but not closed responses of the editors outline a stimulating debate and hopefully prelude some "change in emphasis", ensuring that all types of research relevant to the mission of the BMJ (as well as other core journals) are considered for publication and providing an evolving landmark for scientific and educational purposes.

Multi-Stage Open Peer Review: Scientific Evaluation Integrating the Strengths of Traditional Peer Review with the Virtues of Transparency and Self-Regulation

PubMed Central

Pöschl, Ulrich

2012-01-01

The traditional forms of scientific publishing and peer review do not live up to all demands of efficient communication and quality assurance in today’s highly diverse and rapidly evolving world of science. They need to be advanced and complemented by interactive and transparent forms of review, publication, and discussion that are open to the scientific community and to the public. The advantages of open access, public peer review, and interactive discussion can be efficiently and flexibly combined with the strengths of traditional scientific peer review. Since 2001 the benefits and viability of this approach are clearly demonstrated by the highly successful interactive open access journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP, www.atmos-chem-phys.net) and a growing number of sister journals launched and operated by the European Geosciences Union (EGU, www.egu.eu) and the open access publisher Copernicus (www.copernicus.org). The interactive open access journals are practicing an integrative multi-stage process of publication and peer review combined with interactive public discussion, which effectively resolves the dilemma between rapid scientific exchange and thorough quality assurance. Key features and achievements of this approach are: top quality and impact, efficient self-regulation and low rejection rates, high attractivity and rapid growth, low costs, and financial sustainability. In fact, ACP and the EGU interactive open access sister journals are by most if not all standards more successful than comparable scientific journals with traditional or alternative forms of peer review (editorial statistics, publication statistics, citation statistics, economic costs, and sustainability). The high efficiency and predictive validity of multi-stage open peer review have been confirmed in a series of dedicated studies by evaluation experts from the social sciences, and the same or similar concepts have recently also been adopted in other disciplines, including the life sciences and economics. Multi-stage open peer review can be flexibly adjusted to the needs and peculiarities of different scientific communities. Due to the flexibility and compatibility with traditional structures of scientific publishing and peer review, the multi-stage open peer review concept enables efficient evolution in scientific communication and quality assurance. It has the potential for swift replacement of hidden peer review as the standard of scientific quality assurance, and it provides a basis for open evaluation in science. PMID:22783183

World Wide Web and Internet: applications for radiologists.

PubMed

Wunderbaldinger, P; Schima, W; Turetschek, K; Helbich, T H; Bankier, A A; Herold, C J

1999-01-01

Global exchange of information is one of the major sources of scientific progress in medicine. For management of the rapidly growing body of medical information, computers and their applications have become an indispensable scientific tool. Approximately 36 million computer users are part of a worldwide network called the Internet or "information highway" and have created a new infrastructure to promote rapid and efficient access to medical, and thus also to radiological, information. With the establishment of the World Wide Web (WWW) by a consortium of computer users who used a standardized, nonproprietary syntax termed HyperText Markup Language (HTML) for composing documents, it has become possible to provide interactive multimedia presentations to a wide audience. The extensive use of images in radiology makes education, worldwide consultation (review) and scientific presentation via the Internet a major beneficiary of this technical development. This is possible, since both information (text) as well as medical images can be transported via the Internet. Presently, the Internet offers an extensive database for radiologists. Since many radiologists and physicians have to be considered "Internet novices" and, hence, cannot yet avail themselves of the broad spectrum of the Internet, the aim of this article is to present a general introduction to the WWW/Internet and its applications for radiologists. All Internet sites mentioned in this article can be found at the following Internet address: http://www.univie.ac. at/radio/radio.html (Department of Radiology, University of Vienna)

The Effects of Research & Development Funding on Scientific Productivity: Academic Chemistry, 1990-2009.

PubMed

Rosenbloom, Joshua L; Ginther, Donna K; Juhl, Ted; Heppert, Joseph A

2015-01-01

This article examines the relationship between Research & Development (R&D) funding and the production of knowledge by academic chemists. Using articles published, either raw counts or adjusted for quality, we find a strong, positive causal effect of funding on knowledge production. This effect is similar across subsets of universities, suggesting a relatively efficient allocation of R&D funds. Finally, we document a rapid acceleration in the rate at which chemical knowledge was produced in the late 1990s and early 2000s relative to the financial and human resources devoted to its production.

The Effects of Research & Development Funding on Scientific Productivity: Academic Chemistry, 1990-2009

PubMed Central

Rosenbloom, Joshua L.; Ginther, Donna K.; Juhl, Ted; Heppert, Joseph A.

2015-01-01

This article examines the relationship between Research & Development (R&D) funding and the production of knowledge by academic chemists. Using articles published, either raw counts or adjusted for quality, we find a strong, positive causal effect of funding on knowledge production. This effect is similar across subsets of universities, suggesting a relatively efficient allocation of R&D funds. Finally, we document a rapid acceleration in the rate at which chemical knowledge was produced in the late 1990s and early 2000s relative to the financial and human resources devoted to its production. PMID:26372555

Emergence of a scientific and commercial research and development infrastructure for human gene therapy.

PubMed

Crofts, Christine; Krimsky, Sheldon

2005-02-01

A research and clinical subfield known as "human gene therapy" has grown rapidly since 1990, when the first human trials were approved in the United States. Using quantitative data, this paper describes and analyzes the research and commercial infrastructure, including academic centers, publications, intellectual property, and biotechnology firms, that has developed around the goal of discovering clinical applications for the modification and transport of DNA to somatic cells. Despite setbacks and few documented successes, the subfield of human gene therapy continues to serve as an influential clinical paradigm for the treatment of inherited and noninherited diseases.

A Performance Evaluation of the Cray X1 for Scientific Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliker, Leonid; Biswas, Rupak; Borrill, Julian; Canning, Andrew; Carter, Jonathan; Djomehri, M. Jahed; Shan, Hongzhang; Skinner, David

2003-01-01

The last decade has witnessed a rapid proliferation of superscalar cache-based microprocessors to build high-end capability and capacity computers because of their generality, scalability, and cost effectiveness. However, the recent development of massively parallel vector systems is having a significant effect on the supercomputing landscape. In this paper, we compare the performance of the recently-released Cray X1 vector system with that of the cacheless NEC SX-6 vector machine, and the superscalar cache-based IBM Power3 and Power4 architectures for scientific applications. Overall results demonstrate that the X1 is quite promising, but performance improvements are expected as the hardware, systems software, and numerical libraries mature. Code reengineering to effectively utilize the complex architecture may also lead to significant efficiency enhancements.

Maximizing the Scientific Return of Low Cost Planetary Missions Using Solar Electric Propulsion(abstract)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, C. T.; Metzger, A.; Pieters, C.; Elphic, R. C.; McCord, T.; Head, J.; Abshire, J.; Philips, R.; Sykes, M.; A'Hearn, M.;

A comparison of integrated river basin management strategies: A global perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Chunhong; Wang, Pei; Zhang, Guanghong

In order to achieve the integrated river basin management in the arid and rapid developing region, the Heihe River Basin (HRB) in Northwestern China, one of critical river basins were selected as a representative example, while the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in Australia and the Colorado River Basin (CRB) in the USA were selected for comparative analysis in this paper. Firstly, the comparable characters and hydrological contexts of these three watersheds were introduced in this paper. Then, based on comparative studies on the river basin challenges in terms of the drought, intensive irrigation, and rapid industrialization, the hydrological background of the MDB, the CRB and the HRB was presented. Subsequently, the river management strategies were compared in three aspects: water allocation, water organizations, and water act and scientific projects. Finally, we proposed recommendations for integrated river basin management for the HRB: (1) Water allocation strategies should be based on laws and markets on the whole basin; (2) Public participation should be stressed by the channels between governance organizations and local communities; (3) Scientific research should be integrated into river management to understand the interactions between the human and nature.

The Use of Rapid Review Methods for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

PubMed

Patnode, Carrie D; Eder, Michelle L; Walsh, Emily S; Viswanathan, Meera; Lin, Jennifer S

2018-01-01

Rapid review products are intended to synthesize available evidence in a timely fashion while still meeting the needs of healthcare decision makers. Various methods and products have been applied for rapid evidence syntheses, but no single approach has been uniformly adopted. Methods to gain efficiency and compress the review time period include focusing on a narrow clinical topic and key questions; limiting the literature search; performing single (versus dual) screening of abstracts and full-text articles for relevance; and limiting the analysis and synthesis. In order to maintain the scientific integrity, including transparency, of rapid evidence syntheses, it is imperative that procedures used to streamline standard systematic review methods are prespecified, based on sound review principles and empiric evidence when possible, and provide the end user with an accurate and comprehensive synthesis. The collection of clinical preventive service recommendations maintained by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, along with its commitment to rigorous methods development, provide a unique opportunity to refine, implement, and evaluate rapid evidence synthesis methods and add to an emerging evidence base on rapid review methods. This paper summarizes the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's use of rapid review methodology, its criteria for selecting topics for rapid evidence syntheses, and proposed methods to streamline the review process. Copyright © 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. All rights reserved.

Social Work Preparation to Compete in Today's Scientific Marketplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nurius, Paula S.

2017-01-01

As the scientific marketplace rapidly evolves, we must keep revisiting strategic preparation of our doctoral students and early career scholars to be successful innovators in these contexts. As an inherently integrative, change-oriented, community-engaged, and context-sensitive discipline, social work has enormous potential as a value-added…

Opportunities to Learn Scientific Thinking in Joint Doctoral Supervision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kobayashi, Sofie; Grout, Brian W.; Rump, Camilla Østerberg

2015-01-01

Research into doctoral supervision has increased rapidly over the last decades, yet our understanding of how doctoral students learn scientific thinking from supervision is limited. Most studies are based on interviews with little work being reported that is based on observation of actual supervision. While joint supervision has become widely…

Enhancing Graduate and Postdoctoral Education To Create a Sustainable Biomedical Workforce

PubMed Central

Fuhrmann, Cynthia N.

2016-01-01

PhD-trained biomedical scientists are moving into an increasingly diverse variety of careers within the sciences. However, graduate and postdoctoral training programs have historically focused on academic career preparation, and have not sufficiently prepared trainees for transitioning into other scientific careers. Advocates for science have raised the concern that the collective disregard of the broader career-development needs for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees could drive talent away from science in upcoming generations. A shift is occurring, wherein universities are increasingly investing in centralized career development programs to address this need. In this Perspective, I reflect on the movement that brought biomedical PhD career development to the spotlight in recent years, and how this movement has influenced both the academic biomedical community and the field of career development. I offer recommendations for universities looking to establish or strengthen their career development programs, including recommendations for how to develop a campus culture that values career development as part of pre- and postdoctoral training. I also suggest steps that faculty might take to facilitate the career development of their mentees, regardless of the mentee's career aspirations. Finally, I reflect on recent national efforts to incentivize innovation, evaluation, and research in the field of biomedical PhD career development, and propose actions that the scientific community can take to support biomedical career development further as a scholarly discipline. These investments will enable new approaches to be rigorously tested and efficiently disseminated to support this rapidly growing field. Ultimately, strengthening biomedical career development will be essential for attracting the best talent to science and helping them efficiently move into careers that will sustain our nation's scientific enterprise. PMID:27762630

Enhancing Graduate and Postdoctoral Education To Create a Sustainable Biomedical Workforce.

PubMed

Fuhrmann, Cynthia N

2016-11-01

PhD-trained biomedical scientists are moving into an increasingly diverse variety of careers within the sciences. However, graduate and postdoctoral training programs have historically focused on academic career preparation, and have not sufficiently prepared trainees for transitioning into other scientific careers. Advocates for science have raised the concern that the collective disregard of the broader career-development needs for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees could drive talent away from science in upcoming generations. A shift is occurring, wherein universities are increasingly investing in centralized career development programs to address this need. In this Perspective, I reflect on the movement that brought biomedical PhD career development to the spotlight in recent years, and how this movement has influenced both the academic biomedical community and the field of career development. I offer recommendations for universities looking to establish or strengthen their career development programs, including recommendations for how to develop a campus culture that values career development as part of pre- and postdoctoral training. I also suggest steps that faculty might take to facilitate the career development of their mentees, regardless of the mentee's career aspirations. Finally, I reflect on recent national efforts to incentivize innovation, evaluation, and research in the field of biomedical PhD career development, and propose actions that the scientific community can take to support biomedical career development further as a scholarly discipline. These investments will enable new approaches to be rigorously tested and efficiently disseminated to support this rapidly growing field. Ultimately, strengthening biomedical career development will be essential for attracting the best talent to science and helping them efficiently move into careers that will sustain our nation's scientific enterprise.

A BIOINFORMATIC STRATEGY TO RAPIDLY CHARACTERIZE CDNA LIBRARIES

EPA Science Inventory

A Bioinformatic Strategy to Rapidly Characterize cDNA Libraries

G. Charles Ostermeier1, David J. Dix2 and Stephen A. Krawetz1.
1Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, & Institute for Scientific Computing, Wayne State Univer...

Ensuring Sustainable Data Interoperability Across the Natural and Social Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Downs, R. R.; Chen, R. S.

2015-12-01

Both the natural and social science data communities are attempting to address the long-term sustainability of their data infrastructures in rapidly changing research, technological, and policy environments. Many parts of these communities are also considering how to improve the interoperability and integration of their data and systems across natural, social, health, and other domains. However, these efforts have generally been undertaken in parallel, with little thought about how different sustainability approaches may impact long-term interoperability from scientific, legal, or economic perspectives, or vice versa, i.e., how improved interoperability could enhance—or threaten—infrastructure sustainability. Scientific progress depends substantially on the ability to learn from the legacy of previous work available for current and future scientists to study, often by integrating disparate data not previously assembled. Digital data are less likely than scientific publications to be usable in the future unless they are managed by science-oriented repositories that can support long-term data access with the documentation and services needed for future interoperability. We summarize recent discussions in the social and natural science communities on emerging approaches to sustainability and relevant interoperability activities, including efforts by the Belmont Forum E-Infrastructures project to address global change data infrastructure needs; the Group on Earth Observations to further implement data sharing and improve data management across diverse societal benefit areas; and the Research Data Alliance to develop legal interoperability principles and guidelines and to address challenges faced by domain repositories. We also examine emerging needs for data interoperability in the context of the post-2015 development agenda and the expected set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which set ambitious targets for sustainable development, poverty reduction, and environmental stewardship by 2030. These efforts suggest the need for a holistic approach towards improving and implementing strategies, policies, and practices that will ensure long-term sustainability and interoperability of scientific data repositories and networks across multiple scientific domains.

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Nature of Science and Scientific Inquiry as Illustrated in the Scientific Research on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Siu Ling; Kwan, Jenny; Hodson, Derek; Yung, Benny Hin Wai

2009-01-01

Interviews with key scientists who had conducted research on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), together with analysis of media reports, documentaries and other literature published during and after the SARS epidemic, revealed many interesting aspects of the nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry in contemporary scientific research in the rapidly growing field of molecular biology. The story of SARS illustrates vividly some NOS features advocated in the school science curriculum, including the tentative nature of scientific knowledge, theory-laden observation and interpretation, multiplicity of approaches adopted in scientific inquiry, the inter-relationship between science and technology, and the nexus of science, politics, social and cultural practices. The story also provided some insights into a number of NOS features less emphasised in the school curriculum—for example, the need to combine and coordinate expertise in a number of scientific fields, the intense competition between research groups (suspended during the SARS crisis), the significance of affective issues relating to intellectual honesty and the courage to challenge authority, the pressure of funding issues on the conduct of research and the ‘peace of mind’ of researchers, These less emphasised elements provided empirical evidence that NOS knowledge, like scientific knowledge itself, changes over time. They reflected the need for teachers and curriculum planners to revisit and reconsider whether the features of NOS currently included in the school science curriculum are fully reflective of the practice of science in the 21st century. In this paper, we also report on how we made use of extracts from the news reports and documentaries on SARS, together with episodes from the scientists’ interviews, to develop a multimedia instructional package for explicitly teaching the prominent features of NOS and scientific inquiry identified in the SARS research.

Visualization and Interaction in Research, Teaching, and Scientific Communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammon, C. J.

2017-12-01

Modern computing provides many tools for exploring observations, numerical calculations, and theoretical relationships. The number of options is, in fact, almost overwhelming. But the choices provide those with modest programming skills opportunities to create unique views of scientific information and to develop deeper insights into their data, their computations, and the underlying theoretical data-model relationships. I present simple examples of using animation and human-computer interaction to explore scientific data and scientific-analysis approaches. I illustrate how valuable a little programming ability can free scientists from the constraints of existing tools and can facilitate the development of deeper appreciation data and models. I present examples from a suite of programming languages ranging from C to JavaScript including the Wolfram Language. JavaScript is valuable for sharing tools and insight (hopefully) with others because it is integrated into one of the most powerful communication tools in human history, the web browser. Although too much of that power is often spent on distracting advertisements, the underlying computation and graphics engines are efficient, flexible, and almost universally available in desktop and mobile computing platforms. Many are working to fulfill the browser's potential to become the most effective tool for interactive study. Open-source frameworks for visualizing everything from algorithms to data are available, but advance rapidly. One strategy for dealing with swiftly changing tools is to adopt common, open data formats that are easily adapted (often by framework or tool developers). I illustrate the use of animation and interaction in research and teaching with examples from earthquake seismology.

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

Selkirk, J.K.

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) was organized to support national public health programs by initiating research designed to understand the physiological, metabolic, and genetic basis for chemical toxicity. The primary mandated responsibilities of NTP were in vivo and vitro toxicity testing of potentially hazardous chemicals; broadening the spectrum of toxicological information on known hazardous chemicals; validating current toxicological assay systems as well as developing new and innovative toxicity testing technology; and rapidly communicating test results to government agencies with regulatory responsibilities and to the medical and scientific communities. 2 figs.

Artist's Concept of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

Artist's concept of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.

A new NASA mission will scan the entire sky in infrared light in search of nearby cool stars, planetary construction zones and the brightest galaxies in the universe.

Called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the mission has been approved to proceed into the preliminary design phase as the next in NASA's Medium-class Explorer program of lower cost, highly focused, rapid-development scientific spacecraft. It is scheduled to launch in 2008.

Large Area Field of View for Fast Temporal Resolution Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Covarrubias, Ricardo A.

2018-01-01

Scientific CMOS (sCMOS) technology is especially relevant for high temporal resolution astronomy combining high resolution, large field of view with very fast frame rates, without sacrificing ultra-low noise performance. Solar Astronomy, Near Earth Object detections, Space Debris Tracking, Transient Observations or Wavefront Sensing are among the many applications this technology can be utilized. Andor Technology is currently developing the next-generation, very large area sCMOS camera with an extremely low noise, rapid frame rates, high resolution and wide dynamic range.

Alloy Development, Processing and Characterization of Devitrified Titanium Base Microcrystalline Alloys.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-01-01

cooling, but in disagreement with Newtonian cooling [28.311, where ! <D-1S* Sch deiation cannot be accounted for, since sufficient information in not...industrialized applications. It has been shown that general scientific principles involved in rapid solidification technology are also applicable to Ti alloy...formed, in principle , by continuous feeding of the fresh alloy into the crucible. In qC a H C * (T -T r (2 this case, preferably the feed alloy shoulb P T

Reaching Unreached Learners in Mozambique: A Report to the Minister of Education on Learning Needs and Alternative Pathways to Learning in the Perspective of an Integrated Response to the Needs of a Rapidly Developing Society in a Complex World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klees, Steve; Matangala, Anisio; Spronk, Barbara; Visser, Jan

This report was prepared in the framework of Mozambique's concern to respond to the needs of large numbers of unreached learners and to attend, in an integrated fashion, to a growing diversity of learning needs. As step 1 of a three-phase process assisted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO's)…

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

SLAC,

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) encourage innovation, creativity, originality and quality to maintain the Laboratory’s research activities and staff at the forefront of science and technology. To further advance its scientific research capabilities, the Laboratory allocates a portion of its funds for the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program. With DOE guidance, the LDRD program enables SLAC scientists to make rapid and significant contributions that seed new strategies for solving important national science and technology problems. The LDRD program is conducted using existing research facilities.

Strategies for transdisciplinary research on peri-urban groundwater management in the Ganges delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermans, Leon; Thissen, Wil; Gomes, Sharlene; Banerjee, Poulomi; Narain, Vishal; Salehin, Mashfiqus; Hasan, Rezaul; Barua, Anamika; Alam Khan, Shah; Bhattacharya, Samir; Kempers, Remi; Banerjee, Parthasarathi; Hossain, Zakir; Majumdar, Binoy; Hossain, Riad

2016-04-01

Transdisciplinary science transcends disciplinary boundaries. The reasons to engage in transdisciplinary science are many and include the desire to nurture a more direct relationship between science and society, as well as the desire to explain phenomena that cannot be explained by any of the existing disciplinary bodies of knowledge in isolation. Both reasons also reinforce each other, as reality often features a level of complexity that demands and inspires the combination of scientific knowledge from various disciplines. The challenge in transdisciplinary science, however, is not so much to cross disciplinary boundaries, but to ensure an effective connection between disciplines. This contribution reports on the strategy used in a transdisciplinary research project to address groundwater management in peri-urban areas in the Ganges delta. Groundwater management in peri-urban areas in rapidly urbanizing deltas is affected by diverse forces such as rapid population growth, increased economic activity and changing livelihood patterns, and other forces which result in a growing pressure on available groundwater resources. Understanding the intervention possibilities for a more sustainable groundwater management in these peri-urban areas requires an understanding of the dynamic interplay between various sub-systems, such as the physical groundwater system, the water using activities in households and livelihoods, and the institutional system of formal and informal rules that are used by various parties to access groundwater resources and to distribute the associated societal and economic costs and benefits. The ambition in the reported project is to contribute both new scientific knowledge, as well as build capacity with peri-urban stakeholders to improve the sustainability and equitability of local groundwater management. This is done by combining science and development activities, led by different organizations. The scientific component further consists of three sub-components. The connection between these scientific disciplines is made by using a multi-polar strategy. Each research works with a different framework rooted in its own scientific discipline, featuring its own concepts and theories: a hydrogeological framework, a sustainable livelihoods framework and an institutional development framework. Rather than forcing these frameworks into a new framework that is perhaps only fit for the purpose of this single research, the disciplinary frameworks are left in-tact, but are connected by a translation of key variables from one framework to the other. Often, what is an exogenous variable in one framework, is endogenous in another, and vice versa. Investigating the connections between these different poles would require an integrating perspective, for which again different scientific integration perspectives will be explored, rooted in different scientific traditions. The poster will present this framework and the initial findings and experiences with this transdisciplinary research strategy.

Innovative Competencies of Mining engineers in Transition to the Sustainable Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krechetov, Andrey; Khoreshok, Alexey; Blumenstein, Valery

2017-11-01

The transition to the sustainable development posed new challenges to the system of mining higher education. They are determined by the acceleration of scientific and technological progress and widespread introduction of innovations, convergence of technologies from various industries. On the one hand, globalization and rapid technology development are constantly increasing quality requirements for the labor resources of the mineral and raw materials complex and constant improvement of their skills. On the other hand, the transition to the sustainable development provides the necessity for rational use of raw materials and environmental protection. This requires the improvement of staff support system for mining operations and the interaction of enterprises with universities training mining engineers, aimed at the innovative competencies development of future miners.

Impact of unseen assumptions on communication of atmospheric carbon mitigation options

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliot, T. R.; Celia, M. A.; Court, B.

2010-12-01

With the rapid access and dissemination of information made available through online and digital pathways, there is need for a concurrent openness and transparency in communication of scientific investigation. Even with open communication it is essential that the scientific community continue to provide impartial result-driven information. An unknown factor in climate literacy is the influence of an impartial presentation of scientific investigation that has utilized biased base-assumptions. A formal publication appendix, and additional digital material, provides active investigators a suitable framework and ancillary material to make informed statements weighted by assumptions made in a study. However, informal media and rapid communiqués rarely make such investigatory attempts, often citing headline or key phrasing within a written work. This presentation is focused on Geologic Carbon Sequestration (GCS) as a proxy for the wider field of climate science communication, wherein we primarily investigate recent publications in GCS literature that produce scenario outcomes using apparently biased pro- or con- assumptions. A general review of scenario economics, capture process efficacy and specific examination of sequestration site assumptions and processes, reveals an apparent misrepresentation of what we consider to be a base-case GCS system. The authors demonstrate the influence of the apparent bias in primary assumptions on results from commonly referenced subsurface hydrology models. By use of moderate semi-analytical model simplification and Monte Carlo analysis of outcomes, we can establish the likely reality of any GCS scenario within a pragmatic middle ground. Secondarily, we review the development of publically available web-based computational tools and recent workshops where we presented interactive educational opportunities for public and institutional participants, with the goal of base-assumption awareness playing a central role. Through a series of interactive ‘what if’ scenarios, workshop participants were able to customize the models, which continue to be available from the Princeton University Subsurface Hydrology Research Group, and develop a better comprehension of subsurface factors contributing to GCS. Considering that the models are customizable, a simplified mock-up of regional GCS scenarios can be developed, which provides a possible pathway for informal, industrial, scientific or government communication of GCS concepts and likely scenarios. We believe continued availability, customizable scenarios, and simplifying assumptions are an exemplary means to communicate the possible outcome of CO2 sequestration projects; the associated risk; and, of no small importance, the consequences of base assumptions on predicted outcome.

The genesis of neurosurgery and the evolution of the neurosurgical operative environment: part I-prehistory to 2003.

PubMed

Liu, Charles Y; Apuzzo, Michael L J

2003-01-01

Despite its singular importance, little attention has been given to the neurosurgical operative environment in the scientific and medical literature. This article focuses attention on the development of neurosurgery and the parallel emergence of its operative setting. The operative environment has, to a large extent, defined the "state of the art and science" of neurosurgery, which is now undergoing rapid reinvention. During the course of its initial invention, major milestones in the development of neurosurgery have included the definition of anatomy, consolidation of a scientific basis, and incorporation of the practicalities of anesthesia and antisepsis and later operative technical adjuvants for further refinement of action and minimalism. The progress, previously long and laborious in emergence, is currently undergoing rapid evolution. Throughout its evolution, the discipline has assimilated the most effective tools of modernity into the operative environment, leading eventually to the entity known as the operating room. In the decades leading to the present, progressive minimalization of manipulation and the emergence of more refined operative definition with increasing precision are evident, with concurrent miniaturization of attendant computerized support systems, sensors, robotic interfaces, and imaging devices. These developments over time have led to the invention of neurosurgery and the establishment of the current state-of-the-art neurosurgical operating room as we understand it, and indeed, to a broader definition of the entity itself. To remain current, each neurosurgeon should periodically reconsider his or her personal operative environment and its functional design with reference to modernity of practice as currently defined.

Rapid finite-fault inversions in Southern California using Cybershake Green's functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thio, H. K.; Polet, J.

2017-12-01

We have developed a system for rapid finite fault inversion for intermediate and large Southern California earthquakes using local, regional and teleseismic seismic waveforms as well as geodetic data. For modeling the local seismic data, we use 3D Green's functions from the Cybershake project, which were made available to us courtesy of the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC). The use of 3D Green's functions allows us to extend the inversion to higher frequency waveform data and smaller magnitude earthquakes, in addition to achieving improved solutions in general. The ultimate aim of this work is to develop the ability to provide high quality finite fault models within a few hours after any damaging earthquake in Southern California, so that they may be used as input to various post-earthquake assessment tools such as ShakeMap, as well as by the scientific community and other interested parties. Additionally, a systematic determination of finite fault models has value as a resource for scientific studies on detailed earthquake processes, such as rupture dynamics and scaling relations. We are using an established least-squares finite fault inversion method that has been applied extensively both on large as well as smaller regional earthquakes, in conjunction with the 3D Green's functions, where available, as well as 1D Green's functions for areas for which the Cybershake library has not yet been developed. We are carrying out validation and calibration of this system using significant earthquakes that have occurred in the region over the last two decades, spanning a range of locations and magnitudes (5.4 and higher).

Japanese Encephalitis—A Pathological and Clinical Perspective

PubMed Central

Ghosh, Debapriya; Basu, Anirban

2009-01-01

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the leading form of viral encephalitis in Asia. It is caused by the JE virus (JEV), which belongs to the family Flaviviridae. JEV is endemic to many parts of Asia, where periodic outbreaks take hundreds of lives. Despite the catastrophes it causes, JE has remained a tropical disease uncommon in the West. With rapid globalization and climatic shift, JEV has started to emerge in areas where the threat was previously unknown. Scientific evidence predicts that JEV will soon become a global pathogen and cause of worldwide pandemics. Although some research documents JEV pathogenesis and drug discovery, worldwide awareness of the need for extensive research to deal with JE is still lacking. This review focuses on the exigency of developing a worldwide effort to acknowledge the prime importance of performing an extensive study of this thus far neglected tropical viral disease. This review also outlines the pathogenesis, the scientific efforts channeled into develop a therapy, and the outlook for a possible future breakthrough addressing this killer disease. PMID:19787040

Research briefing on high-temperature superconductivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1987-10-01

The research briefing was prepared in response to the exciting developments in superconductivity in ceramic oxide materials announced earlier in 1987. The panel's specific charge was to examine not only the scientific opportunities in high-temperature superconductivity but also the barriers to commercial exploitation. While the base of experimental knowledge on the superconductors is growing rapidly, there is as yet no generally accepted theoretical explanation of their behavior. The fabrication and processing challenges presented by the materials suggest that the period or precommercial exploration for applications will probably extend for a decade or more. Near term prospects for applications include magnetic shielding, the voltage standard, superconducting quantum interference devices, infrared sensors, microwave devices, and analog signal processing. The panel also identified a number of longer-term prospects in high-field and large-scale applications, and in electronics. The United States' competitive position in the field is discussed, major scientific and technological objectives for research and development identified, and concludes with a series of recommendations.

A Selective Overview of Variable Selection in High Dimensional Feature Space

PubMed Central

Fan, Jianqing

2010-01-01

High dimensional statistical problems arise from diverse fields of scientific research and technological development. Variable selection plays a pivotal role in contemporary statistical learning and scientific discoveries. The traditional idea of best subset selection methods, which can be regarded as a specific form of penalized likelihood, is computationally too expensive for many modern statistical applications. Other forms of penalized likelihood methods have been successfully developed over the last decade to cope with high dimensionality. They have been widely applied for simultaneously selecting important variables and estimating their effects in high dimensional statistical inference. In this article, we present a brief account of the recent developments of theory, methods, and implementations for high dimensional variable selection. What limits of the dimensionality such methods can handle, what the role of penalty functions is, and what the statistical properties are rapidly drive the advances of the field. The properties of non-concave penalized likelihood and its roles in high dimensional statistical modeling are emphasized. We also review some recent advances in ultra-high dimensional variable selection, with emphasis on independence screening and two-scale methods. PMID:21572976

Trusted Sources: The Role Scientific Societies Can Play in Improving Public Opinions on Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McEntee, C.; Cairns, A.; Buhrman, J.

2012-12-01

Public acceptance of the scientific consensus regarding climate change has eroded and misinformation designed to confuse the public is rapidly proliferating. Those issues, combined with an increase of politically motivated attacks on climate scientists and their research, have led to a place where ideology can trump scientific consensus as the foundation for developing policy solutions. The scientific community has been, thus far, unprepared to respond effectively to these developments. However, as a scientific society whose members engage in climate science research, and one whose organizational mission and vision are centered on the concepts of science for the benefit of humanity and ensuring a sustainable future, the American Geophysical Union can, and should, play an important role in reversing this trend. To that end, in 2011, AGU convened a Leadership Summit on Climate Science Communication, in which presidents, executive directors, and senior public policy staff from 17 scientific organizations engaged with experts in the social sciences regarding effective communication of climate science and with practitioners from agriculture, energy, and the military. The discussions focused on three key issues: the environment of climate science communication; public understanding of climate change; and the perspectives of consumers of climate science-based information who work with specific audiences. Participants diagnosed previous challenges and failings, enumerated the key constituencies that need to be effectively engaged, and identified the critical role played by cultural cognition—the influence of group values, particularly around equality and authority, individualism, and community; and the perceptions of risk. Since that meeting, AGU has consistently worked to identify and explore ways that it, and its members, and improve the effectiveness of their communication with the public about climate change. This presentation will focus on the insights AGU has gathered, as well as make the case for why this is an important role for scientific societies, such as AGU, to play.

Advances in tuberculosis diagnostics: the Xpert MTB/RIF assay and future prospects for a point-of-care test

PubMed Central

Lawn, Stephen D; Mwaba, Peter; Bates, Matthew; Piatek, Amy; Alexander, Heather; Marais, Ben J; Cuevas, Luis E; McHugh, Timothy D; Zijenah, Lynn; Kapata, Nathan; Abubakar, Ibrahim; McNerney, Ruth; Hoelscher, Michael; Memish, Ziad A; Migliori, Giovanni Battista; Kim, Peter; Maeurer, Markus; Schito, Marco; Zumla, Alimuddin

2015-01-01

Rapid progress has been made in the development of new diagnostic assays for tuberculosis in recent years. New technologies have been developed and assessed, and are now being implemented. The Xpert MTB/RIF assay, which enables simultaneous detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and rifampicin (RIF) resistance, was endorsed by WHO in December, 2010. This assay was specifically recommended for use as the initial diagnostic test for suspected drug-resistant or HIV-associated pulmonary tuberculosis. By June, 2012, two-thirds of countries with a high tuberculosis burden and half of countries with a high multidrug-resistant tuberculosis burden had incorporated the assay into their national tuberculosis programme guidelines. Although the development of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay is undoubtedly a landmark event, clinical and programmatic effects and cost-effectiveness remain to be defined. We review the rapidly growing body of scientific literature and discuss the advantages and challenges of using the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in areas where tuberculosis is endemic. We also review other prospects within the developmental pipeline. A rapid, accurate point-of-care diagnostic test that is affordable and can be readily implemented is urgently needed. Investment in the tuberculosis diagnostics pipeline should remain a major priority for funders and researchers. PMID:23531388

Longitudinal Study of Scientific Journal Prices in a Research Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marks, Kenneth E; And Others

1991-01-01

Describes a study that evaluated the determinants of price increases of scientific journals over time from a variety of publishers, disciplines, and countries. It was found that inflation and greater journal length explained most price increases, and that journal prices from commercial publishers increased much more rapidly than those from…

Toward Routine Automatic Pathway Discovery from On-line Scientific Text Abstracts.

PubMed

Ng; Wong

1999-01-01

We are entering a new era of research where the latest scientific discoveries are often first reported online and are readily accessible by scientists worldwide. This rapid electronic dissemination of research breakthroughs has greatly accelerated the current pace in genomics and proteomics research. The race to the discovery of a gene or a drug has now become increasingly dependent on how quickly a scientist can scan through voluminous amount of information available online to construct the relevant picture (such as protein-protein interaction pathways) as it takes shape amongst the rapidly expanding pool of globally accessible biological data (e.g. GENBANK) and scientific literature (e.g. MEDLINE). We describe a prototype system for automatic pathway discovery from on-line text abstracts, combining technologies that (1) retrieve research abstracts from online sources, (2) extract relevant information from the free texts, and (3) present the extracted information graphically and intuitively. Our work demonstrates that this framework allows us to routinely scan online scientific literature for automatic discovery of knowledge, giving modern scientists the necessary competitive edge in managing the information explosion in this electronic age.

Research Blogging: Indexing and Registering the Change in Science 2.0

PubMed Central

Fausto, Sibele; Machado, Fabio A.; Bento, Luiz Fernando J.; Iamarino, Atila; Nahas, Tatiana R.; Munger, David S.

2012-01-01

Increasing public interest in science information in a digital and 2.0 science era promotes a dramatically, rapid and deep change in science itself. The emergence and expansion of new technologies and internet-based tools is leading to new means to improve scientific methodology and communication, assessment, promotion and certification. It allows methods of acquisition, manipulation and storage, generating vast quantities of data that can further facilitate the research process. It also improves access to scientific results through information sharing and discussion. Content previously restricted only to specialists is now available to a wider audience. This context requires new management systems to make scientific knowledge more accessible and useable, including new measures to evaluate the reach of scientific information. The new science and research quality measures are strongly related to the new online technologies and services based in social media. Tools such as blogs, social bookmarks and online reference managers, Twitter and others offer alternative, transparent and more comprehensive information about the active interest, usage and reach of scientific publications. Another of these new filters is the Research Blogging platform, which was created in 2007 and now has over 1,230 active blogs, with over 26,960 entries posted about peer-reviewed research on subjects ranging from Anthropology to Zoology. This study takes a closer look at RB, in order to get insights into its contribution to the rapidly changing landscape of scientific communication. PMID:23251358

EarthCube: Advancing Partnerships, Collaborative Platforms and Knowledge Networks in the Ocean Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephen, Diggs; Lee, Allison

2014-05-01

The National Science Foundation's EarthCube initiative aims to create a community-driven data and knowledge management system that will allow for unprecedented data sharing across the geosciences. More than 2,500 participants through forums, work groups, EarthCube events, and virtual and in-person meetings have participated. The individuals that have engaged represent the core earth-system sciences of solid Earth, Atmosphere, Oceans, and Polar Sciences. EarthCube is a cornerstone of NSF's Cyberinfrastructure for the 21st Century (CIF21) initiative, whose chief objective is to develop a U.S. nationwide, sustainable, and community-based cyberinfrastructure for researchers and educators. Increasingly effective community-driven cyberinfrastructure allows global data discovery and knowledge management and achieves interoperability and data integration across scientific disciplines. There is growing convergence across scientific and technical communities on creating a networked, knowledge management system and scientific data cyberinfrastructure that integrates Earth system and human dimensions data in an open, transparent, and inclusive manner. EarthCube does not intend to replicate these efforts, but build upon them. An agile development process is underway for the development and governance of EarthCube. The agile approach was deliberately selected due to its iterative and incremental nature while promoting adaptive planning and rapid and flexible response. Such iterative deployment across a variety of EarthCube stakeholders encourages transparency, consensus, accountability, and inclusiveness.

FDA's Activities Supporting Regulatory Application of "Next Gen" Sequencing Technologies.

PubMed

Wilson, Carolyn A; Simonyan, Vahan

2014-01-01

Applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies require availability and access to an information technology (IT) infrastructure and bioinformatics tools for large amounts of data storage and analyses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) anticipates that the use of NGS data to support regulatory submissions will continue to increase as the scientific and clinical communities become more familiar with the technologies and identify more ways to apply these advanced methods to support development and evaluation of new biomedical products. FDA laboratories are conducting research on different NGS platforms and developing the IT infrastructure and bioinformatics tools needed to enable regulatory evaluation of the technologies and the data sponsors will submit. A High-performance Integrated Virtual Environment, or HIVE, has been launched, and development and refinement continues as a collaborative effort between the FDA and George Washington University to provide the tools to support these needs. The use of a highly parallelized environment facilitated by use of distributed cloud storage and computation has resulted in a platform that is both rapid and responsive to changing scientific needs. The FDA plans to further develop in-house capacity in this area, while also supporting engagement by the external community, by sponsoring an open, public workshop to discuss NGS technologies and data formats standardization, and to promote the adoption of interoperability protocols in September 2014. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies are enabling breakthroughs in how the biomedical community is developing and evaluating medical products. One example is the potential application of this method to the detection and identification of microbial contaminants in biologic products. In order for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be able to evaluate the utility of this technology, we need to have the information technology infrastructure and bioinformatics tools to be able to store and analyze large amounts of data. To address this need, we have developed the High-performance Integrated Virtual Environment, or HIVE. HIVE uses a combination of distributed cloud storage and distributed cloud computations to provide a platform that is both rapid and responsive to support the growing and increasingly diverse scientific and regulatory needs of FDA scientists in their evaluation of NGS in research and ultimately for evaluation of NGS data in regulatory submissions. © PDA, Inc. 2014.

Rapid identification of triterpenoid sulfates and hydroxy fatty acids including two new constituents from Tydemania expeditionis by LC-MS

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jian-Long; Kubanek, Julia; Hay, Mark E.; Aalbersberg, William; Ye, Wen-Cai; Jiang, Ren-Wang

2011-01-01

Tydemania expeditionis Weber-van Bosse (Udoteaceae) is a weakly calcified green alga. In the present paper, liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection and electrospray mass spectrometry was developed to identify the fingerprint components. A total of four triterpenoid sulfates and three hydroxy fatty acids in the ethyl acetate fraction of the crude extract were structurally characterized on the basis of retention time, online UV spectrum and mass fragmentation pattern. Furthermore, detailed LC-MS analysis revealed two new hydroxy fatty acids, which were then prepared and characterized by extensive NMR analyses. The proposed method provides a scientific and technical platform for the rapid identification of triterpenoid sulfates and hydroxy fatty acids in similar marine algae and terrestrial plants. PMID:21915955

Metal-halide perovskites for photovoltaic and light-emitting devices.

PubMed

Stranks, Samuel D; Snaith, Henry J

2015-05-01

Metal-halide perovskites are crystalline materials originally developed out of scientific curiosity. Unexpectedly, solar cells incorporating these perovskites are rapidly emerging as serious contenders to rival the leading photovoltaic technologies. Power conversion efficiencies have jumped from 3% to over 20% in just four years of academic research. Here, we review the rapid progress in perovskite solar cells, as well as their promising use in light-emitting devices. In particular, we describe the broad tunability and fabrication methods of these materials, the current understanding of the operation of state-of-the-art solar cells and we highlight the properties that have delivered light-emitting diodes and lasers. We discuss key thermal and operational stability challenges facing perovskites, and give an outlook of future research avenues that might bring perovskite technology to commercialization.

TriNet "ShakeMaps": Rapid generation of peak ground motion and intensity maps for earthquakes in southern California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wald, D.J.; Quitoriano, V.; Heaton, T.H.; Kanamori, H.; Scrivner, C.W.; Worden, C.B.

1999-01-01

Rapid (3-5 minutes) generation of maps of instrumental ground-motion and shaking intensity is accomplished through advances in real-time seismographic data acquisition combined with newly developed relationships between recorded ground-motion parameters and expected shaking intensity values. Estimation of shaking over the entire regional extent of southern California is obtained by the spatial interpolation of the measured ground motions with geologically based frequency and amplitude-dependent site corrections. Production of the maps is automatic, triggered by any significant earthquake in southern California. Maps are now made available within several minutes of the earthquake for public and scientific consumption via the World Wide Web; they will be made available with dedicated communications for emergency response agencies and critical users.

Graphical programming interface: A development environment for MRI methods.

PubMed

Zwart, Nicholas R; Pipe, James G

2015-11-01

To introduce a multiplatform, Python language-based, development environment called graphical programming interface for prototyping MRI techniques. The interface allows developers to interact with their scientific algorithm prototypes visually in an event-driven environment making tasks such as parameterization, algorithm testing, data manipulation, and visualization an integrated part of the work-flow. Algorithm developers extend the built-in functionality through simple code interfaces designed to facilitate rapid implementation. This article shows several examples of algorithms developed in graphical programming interface including the non-Cartesian MR reconstruction algorithms for PROPELLER and spiral as well as spin simulation and trajectory visualization of a FLORET example. The graphical programming interface framework is shown to be a versatile prototyping environment for developing numeric algorithms used in the latest MR techniques. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Heliophysics Data and Modeling Research Using VSPO

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, D. Aaron; Hesse, Michael; Cornwell, Carl

2007-01-01

The primary advantage of Virtual Observatories in scientific research is efficiency: rapid searches for and access to data in convenient forms makes it possible to explore scientific questions without spending days or weeks on ancilary tasks. The Virtual Space Physics Observatory provides a general portal to Heliophysics data for this task. Here we will illustrate the advantages of the VO approach by examining specific geomagnetically active times and tracing the activity through the Sun-Earth system. In addition to previous and additional data sources, we will demonstrate an extension of the capabilities to allow searching for model run results from the range of CCMC models. This approach allows the user to quickly compare models and observations at a qualitative level; considerably more work will be needed to develop more seamless connections to data streams and the equivalent numerical output from simulations.

A Method for Estimating Meteorite Fall Mass from Weather Radar Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Laird, C.; Fries, M.; Matson, R.

2017-01-01

Techniques such as weather RADAR, seismometers, and all-sky cameras allow new insights concerning the physics of meteorite fall dynamics and fragmentation during "dark flight", the period of time between the end of the meteor's luminous flight and the concluding impact on the Earth's surface. Understanding dark flight dynamics enables us to rapidly analyze the characteristics of new meteorite falls. This analysis will provide essential information to meteorite hunters to optimize recovery, increasing the frequency and total mass of scientifically important freshly-fallen meteorites available to the scientific community. We have developed a mathematical method to estimate meteorite fall mass using reflectivity data as recorded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Next Generation RADAR (NEXRAD) stations. This study analyzed eleven official and one unofficial meteorite falls in the United States and Canada to achieve this purpose.

Artificial photosynthesis for solar fuels.

PubMed

Styring, Stenbjörn

2012-01-01

This contribution was presented as the closing lecture at the Faraday Discussion 155 on artificial photosynthesis, held in Edinburgh Scotland, September 5-7 2011. The world needs new, environmentally friendly and renewable fuels to exchange for fossil fuels. The fuel must be made from cheap and "endless" resources that are available everywhere. The new research area of solar fuels aims to meet this demand. This paper discusses why we need a solar fuel and why electricity is not enough; it proposes solar energy as the major renewable energy source to feed from. The scientific field concerning artificial photosynthesis expands rapidly and most of the different scientific visions for solar fuels are briefly overviewed. Research strategies and the development of artificial photosynthesis research to produce solar fuels are overviewed. Some conceptual aspects of research for artificial photosynthesis are discussed in closer detail.

1st European Congress of Medical Physics September 1-4, 2016; Medical Physics innovation and vision within Europe and beyond.

PubMed

Tsapaki, Virginia; Kagadis, George C; Brambilla, Marco; Ciocca, Mario; Clark, Catharine H; Delis, Harry; Mettivier, Giovanni

2017-09-01

Medical Physics is the scientific healthcare profession concerned with the application of the concepts and methods of physics in medicine. The European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP) acts as the umbrella organization for European Medical Physics societies. Due to the rapid advancements in related scientific fields, medical physicists must have continuous education through workshops, training courses, conferences, and congresses during their professional life. The latest developments related to this increasingly significant medical speciality were presented during the 1st European Congress of Medical Physics 2016, held in Athens, September 1-4, 2016, organized by EFOMP, hosted by the Hellenic Association of Medical Physicists (HAMP), and summarized in the current volume. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Detection and rapid recovery of the Sutter's Mill meteorite fall as a model for future recoveries worldwide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fries, Marc; Le Corre, Lucille; Hankey, Mike; Fries, Jeff; Matson, Robert; Schaefer, Jake; Reddy, Vishnu

2014-11-01

The Sutter's Mill C-type meteorite fall occurred on 22 April 2012 in and around the town of Coloma, California. The exact location of the meteorite fall was determined within hours of the event using a combination of eyewitness reports, weather radar imagery, and seismometry data. Recovery of the first meteorites occurred within 2 days and continued for months afterward. The recovery effort included local citizens, scientists, and meteorite hunters, and featured coordination efforts by local scientific institutions. Scientific analysis of the collected meteorites revealed characteristics that were available for study only because the rapid collection of samples had minimized terrestrial contamination/alteration. This combination of factors—rapid and accurate location of the event, participation in the meteorite search by the public, and coordinated scientific investigation of recovered samples—is a model that was widely beneficial and should be emulated in future meteorite falls. The tools necessary to recreate the Sutter's Mill recovery are available, but are currently underutilized in much of the world. Weather radar networks, scientific institutions with interest in meteoritics, and the interested public are available globally. Therefore, it is possible to repeat the Sutter's Mill recovery model for future meteorite falls around the world, each for relatively little cost with a dedicated researcher. Doing so will significantly increase the number of fresh meteorite falls available for study, provide meteorite material that can serve as the nuclei of new meteorite collections, and will improve the public visibility of meteoritics research.

Role of Transient Receptor Potential Channels in Heart Transplantation: A Potential Novel Therapeutic Target for Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy.

PubMed

Ma, Shuo; Jiang, Yue; Huang, Weiting; Li, Xintao; Li, Shuzhuang

2017-05-18

Heart transplantation has evolved as the criterion standard therapy for end-stage heart failure, but its efficacy is limited by the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), a unique and rapidly progressive form of atherosclerosis in heart transplant recipients. Here, we briefly review the key processes in the development of CAV during heart transplantation and highlight the roles of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels in these processes during heart transplantation. Understanding the roles of TRP channels in contributing to the key procedures for the development of CAV during heart transplantation could provide basic scientific knowledge for the development of new preventive and therapeutic approaches to manage patients with CAV after heart transplantation.

Methods for structuring scientific knowledge from many areas related to aging research.

PubMed

Zhavoronkov, Alex; Cantor, Charles R

2011-01-01

Aging and age-related disease represents a substantial quantity of current natural, social and behavioral science research efforts. Presently, no centralized system exists for tracking aging research projects across numerous research disciplines. The multidisciplinary nature of this research complicates the understanding of underlying project categories, the establishment of project relations, and the development of a unified project classification scheme. We have developed a highly visual database, the International Aging Research Portfolio (IARP), available at AgingPortfolio.org to address this issue. The database integrates information on research grants, peer-reviewed publications, and issued patent applications from multiple sources. Additionally, the database uses flexible project classification mechanisms and tools for analyzing project associations and trends. This system enables scientists to search the centralized project database, to classify and categorize aging projects, and to analyze the funding aspects across multiple research disciplines. The IARP is designed to provide improved allocation and prioritization of scarce research funding, to reduce project overlap and improve scientific collaboration thereby accelerating scientific and medical progress in a rapidly growing area of research. Grant applications often precede publications and some grants do not result in publications, thus, this system provides utility to investigate an earlier and broader view on research activity in many research disciplines. This project is a first attempt to provide a centralized database system for research grants and to categorize aging research projects into multiple subcategories utilizing both advanced machine algorithms and a hierarchical environment for scientific collaboration.

Comparing different methods for fast screening of microbiological quality of beach sand aimed at rapid-response remediation.

PubMed

Testolin, Renan C; Almeida, Tito C M; Polette, Marcus; Branco, Joaquim O; Fischer, Larissa L; Niero, Guilherme; Poyer-Radetski, Gabriel; Silva, Valéria C; Somensi, Cleder A; Corrêa, Albertina X R; Corrêa, Rogério; Rörig, Leonardo R; Itokazu, Ana Gabriela; Férard, Jean-François; Cotelle, Sylvie; Radetski, Claudemir M

2017-05-15

There is scientific evidence that beach sands are a significant contributor to the pathogen load to which visitors are exposed. To develop beach quality guidelines all beach zones must be included in microbiological evaluations, but monitoring methods for beach sand quality are relatively longstanding, expensive, laborious and require moderate laboratory infrastructure. This paper aimed to evaluate the microorganism activity in different beach zones applying and comparing a classical method of membrane filtration (MF) with two colorimetric screening methods based on fluorescein (FDA) and tetrazolium (TTC) salt biotransformation to evaluate a new rapid and low-cost method for beach sand microbiological contamination assessments. The colorimetric results can help beach managers to evaluate rapidly and at low cost the microbiological quality of different beach zones in order to decide whether remedial actions need to be adopted to prevent exposure of the public to microbes due to beach sand and/or water contamination. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A shifting mosaic of scholarly publishing, scientific delivery, and future impact changing the face of learned societies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leslie, David M.

2007-01-01

Nonprofit scientific societies hope that their activities advance their particular mission and impact their profession and, in the broadest sense, humanity in positive ways. The digital age has provided unprecedented mechanisms to enhance the delivery of science to the world. The marketplace of scientific publishing is a rapidly shifting mosaic of challenges and opportunities, and the responses of nonprofit and commercial publishers vary widely, but their outcomes are still uncertain. The response of the American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) provides an example of how a relatively small society has altered its scientific delivery to enhance member benefits while attempting to sustain its economic viability. Since 2000, ASM has moved from a self-publishing, break-even, print-only model to a copublishing agreement with a commercial publisher (Alliance Communications Group, a division of Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas), which now offers members various print and electronic options and generates a shared royalty. Although it is too early to gauge the economic impact of these changes, the ASM leadership clearly attempted to signal its desire for members to view their society as a package of opportunities for edification and involvement rather than just a provider of serial subscriptions. Future challenges facing nonprofit scientific societies include open access, fiscal realities, archiving of publications, and scientific and societal impact; future opportunities include a strengthening of member responsibilities and professionalism, development of data registries to enhance scientific progress, and bundling of like societies. The manner in which nonprofit scientific societies respond to these challenges and opportunities will no doubt affect their sustainability and future impact. ?? 2007 American Society of Mammalogists.

Geospatial-enabled Data Exploration and Computation through Data Infrastructure Building Blocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, C. X.; Biehl, L. L.; Merwade, V.; Villoria, N.

2015-12-01

Geospatial data are present everywhere today with the proliferation of location-aware computing devices and sensors. This is especially true in the scientific community where large amounts of data are driving research and education activities in many domains. Collaboration over geospatial data, for example, in modeling, data analysis and visualization, must still overcome the barriers of specialized software and expertise among other challenges. The GABBs project aims at enabling broader access to geospatial data exploration and computation by developing spatial data infrastructure building blocks that leverage capabilities of end-to-end application service and virtualized computing framework in HUBzero. Funded by NSF Data Infrastructure Building Blocks (DIBBS) initiative, GABBs provides a geospatial data architecture that integrates spatial data management, mapping and visualization and will make it available as open source. The outcome of the project will enable users to rapidly create tools and share geospatial data and tools on the web for interactive exploration of data without requiring significant software development skills, GIS expertise or IT administrative privileges. This presentation will describe the development of geospatial data infrastructure building blocks and the scientific use cases that help drive the software development, as well as seek feedback from the user communities.

Managing Science: Management for R&D Laboratories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gelès, Claude; Lindecker, Gilles; Month, Mel; Roche, Christian

1999-10-01

A unique "how-to" manual for the management of scientific laboratories This book presents a complete set of tools for the management of research and development laboratories and projects. With an emphasis on knowledge rather than profit as a measure of output and performance, the authors apply standard management principles and techniques to the needs of high-flux, open-ended, separately funded science and technology enterprises. They also propose the novel idea that failure, and incipient failure, is an important measure of an organization's potential. From the management of complex, round-the-clock, high-tech operations to strategies for long-term planning, Managing Science: Management for R&D Laboratories discusses how to build projects with the proper research and development, obtain and account for funding, and deal with rapidly changing technologies, facilities, and trends. The entire second part of the book is devoted to personnel issues and the impact of workplace behavior on the various functions of a knowledge-based organization. Drawing on four decades of involvement with the management of scientific laboratories, the authors thoroughly illustrate their philosophy with real-world examples from the physics field and provide tables and charts. Managers of scientific laboratories as well as scientists and engineers expecting to move into management will find Managing Science: Management for R&D Laboratories an invaluable practical guide.

The role of innovative global institutions in linking knowledge and action.

PubMed

van Kerkhoff, Lorrae; Szlezák, Nicole A

2016-04-26

It is becoming increasingly recognized that our collective ability to tackle complex problems will require the development of new, adaptive, and innovative institutional arrangements that can deal with rapidly changing knowledge and have effective learning capabilities. In this paper, we applied a knowledge-systems perspective to examine how institutional innovations can affect the generation, sharing, and application of scientific and technical knowledge. We report on a case study that examined the effects that one large innovative organization, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, is having on the knowledge dimensions of decision-making in global health. The case study shows that the organization created demand for new knowledge from a range of actors, but it did not incorporate strategies for meeting this demand into their own rules, incentives, or procedures. This made it difficult for some applicants to meet the organization's dual aims of scientific soundness and national ownership of projects. It also highlighted that scientific knowledge needed to be integrated with managerial and situational knowledge for success. More generally, the study illustrates that institutional change targeting implementation can also significantly affect the dynamics of knowledge creation (learning), access, distribution, and use. Recognizing how action-oriented institutions can affect these dynamics across their knowledge system can help institutional designers build more efficient and effective institutions for sustainable development.

Rapid Review Summit: an overview and initiation of a research agenda.

PubMed

Polisena, Julie; Garritty, Chantelle; Umscheid, Craig A; Kamel, Chris; Samra, Kevin; Smith, Jeannette; Vosilla, Ann

2015-09-26

The demand for accelerated forms of evidence synthesis is on the rise, largely in response to requests by health care decision makers for expeditious assessment and up-to-date information about health care technologies and health services and programs. As a field, rapid review evidence synthesis is marked by a tension between the strategic priority to inform health care decision-making and the scientific imperative to produce robust, high-quality research that soundly supports health policy and practice. In early 2015, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health convened a forum in partnership with the British Columbia Ministry of Health, the British Columbia Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and the University of Pennsylvania. More than 150 evidence synthesis producers and end users attended the Rapid Review Summit: Then, Now and in the Future. The Summit program focused on the evolving role and practices of rapid reviews to support informed health care policy and clinical decision-making, including the uptake and use of health technology assessment. Our discussion paper highlights the important discussions that occurred during the Rapid Review Summit. It focuses on the initial development of a research agenda that resulted from the Summit presentations and discussions. The research topics centered on three key areas of interest: (1) how to conduct a rapid review; (2) investigating the validity and utility of rapid reviews; and (3) how to improve access to rapid reviews.

Progress and Prospects toward a Space-based Gravitational-Wave Observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, John

2012-01-01

Over the last few years there has been much activity in the effort to produce a space-based gravitational-wave observatory. These efforts have enriched the understanding of the scientific capabilities of such an observatory leading to broad recognition of its value as an astronomical instrument. At the same time, rapidly developing events in the US and Europe have lead to a more complicated outlook than the baseline Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) project plan of a few years ago. I will discuss recent progress and developments resulting from the European eLISA study and the SGO study in the US and prospects looking forward.

Utilizing social media for informal ocean conservation and education: The BioOceanography Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Payette, J.

2016-02-01

Science communication through the use of social media is a rapidly evolving and growing pursuit in academic and scientific circles. Online tools and social media are being used in not only scientific communication but also scientific publication, education, and outreach. Standards and usage of social media as well as other online tools for communication, networking, outreach, and publication are always in development. Caution and a conservative attitude towards these novel "Science 2.0" tools is understandable because of their rapidly changing nature and the lack of professional standards for using them. However there are some key benefits and unique ways social media, online systems, and other Open or Open Source technologies, software, and "Science 2.0" tools can be utilized for academic purposes such as education and outreach. Diverse efforts for ocean conservation and education will continue to utilize social media for a variety of purposes. The BioOceanography project is an informal communication, education, outreach, and conservation initiative created for enhancing knowledge related to Oceanography and Marine Science with an unbiased yet conservation-minded approach and in an Open Source format. The BioOceanography project is ongoing and still evolving, but has already contributed to ocean education and conservation communication in key ways through a concerted web presence since 2013, including a curated Twitter account @_Oceanography and BioOceanography blog style website. Social media tools like those used in this project, if used properly can be highly effective and valuable for encouraging students, networking with researchers, and educating the general public in Oceanography.

Very-high energy gamma-ray astronomy. A 23-year success story in high-energy astroparticle physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenz, E.; Wagner, R.

2012-08-01

Very-high energy (VHE) gamma quanta contribute only a minuscule fraction - below one per million - to the flux of cosmic rays. Nevertheless, being neutral particles they are currently the best "messengers" of processes from the relativistic/ultra-relativistic Universe because they can be extrapolated back to their origin. The window of VHE gamma rays was opened only in 1989 by the Whipple collaboration, reporting the observation of TeV gamma rays from the Crab nebula. After a slow start, this new field of research is now rapidly expanding with the discovery of more than 150 VHE gamma-ray emitting sources. Progress is intimately related with the steady improvement of detectors and rapidly increasing computing power. We give an overview of the early attempts before and around 1989 and the progress after the pioneering work of the Whipple collaboration. The main focus of this article is on the development of experimental techniques for Earth-bound gamma-ray detectors; consequently, more emphasis is given to those experiments that made an initial breakthrough rather than to the successors which often had and have a similar (sometimes even higher) scientific output as the pioneering experiments. The considered energy threshold is about 30 GeV. At lower energies, observations can presently only be performed with balloon or satellite-borne detectors. Irrespective of the stormy experimental progress, the success story could not have been called a success story without a broad scientific output. Therefore we conclude this article with a summary of the scientific rationales and main results achieved over the last two decades.

The Effectiveness of Reason Racer, a Game Designed to Engage Middle School Students in Scientific Argumentation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ault, Marilyn; Craig-Hare, Jana; Frey, Bruce; Ellis, James D.; Bulgren, Janis

2015-01-01

Reason Racer is an online, rate-based, multiplayer game that applies specific game features in order to engage middle school students in introductory knowledge of and thinking related to scientific argumentation. Game features include rapid and competitive play, timed performance, immediate feedback, and high rates of response across many…

Adaptable data management for systems biology investigations.

PubMed

Boyle, John; Rovira, Hector; Cavnor, Chris; Burdick, David; Killcoyne, Sarah; Shmulevich, Ilya

2009-03-06

Within research each experiment is different, the focus changes and the data is generated from a continually evolving barrage of technologies. There is a continual introduction of new techniques whose usage ranges from in-house protocols through to high-throughput instrumentation. To support these requirements data management systems are needed that can be rapidly built and readily adapted for new usage. The adaptable data management system discussed is designed to support the seamless mining and analysis of biological experiment data that is commonly used in systems biology (e.g. ChIP-chip, gene expression, proteomics, imaging, flow cytometry). We use different content graphs to represent different views upon the data. These views are designed for different roles: equipment specific views are used to gather instrumentation information; data processing oriented views are provided to enable the rapid development of analysis applications; and research project specific views are used to organize information for individual research experiments. This management system allows for both the rapid introduction of new types of information and the evolution of the knowledge it represents. Data management is an important aspect of any research enterprise. It is the foundation on which most applications are built, and must be easily extended to serve new functionality for new scientific areas. We have found that adopting a three-tier architecture for data management, built around distributed standardized content repositories, allows us to rapidly develop new applications to support a diverse user community.

Stereoscopy in Static Scientific Imagery in an Informal Education Setting: Does It Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, C. Aaron; Lee, H.-S.; Malatesta, K.

2014-01-01

Stereoscopic technology (3D) is rapidly becoming ubiquitous across research, entertainment and informal educational settings. Children of today may grow up never knowing a time when movies, television and video games were not available stereoscopically. Despite this rapid expansion, the field's understanding of the impact of stereoscopic…

Transforming Big Data into cancer-relevant insight: An initial, multi-tier approach to assess reproducibility and relevance

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD2) Network was established to accelerate the transformation of “Big Data” into novel pharmacological targets, lead compounds, and biomarkers for rapid translation into improved patient outcomes. It rapidly became clear in this collaborative network that a key central issue was to define what constitutes sufficient computational or experimental evidence to support a biologically or clinically relevant finding. This manuscript represents a first attempt to delineate the challenges of supporting and confirming discoveries arising from the systematic analysis of large-scale data resources in a collaborative work environment and to provide a framework that would begin a community discussion to resolve these challenges. The Network implemented a multi-Tier framework designed to substantiate the biological and biomedical relevance as well as the reproducibility of data and insights resulting from its collaborative activities. The same approach can be used by the broad scientific community to drive development of novel therapeutic and biomarker strategies for cancer. PMID:27401613

Consensus Report of a Joint NCI Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee: FDA Workshop on Strategies for Integrating Biomarkers into Clinical Development of New Therapies for Lung Cancer Leading to the Inception of “Master Protocols” in Lung Cancer

PubMed Central

Pazdur, Richard; Abrams, Jeffrey S.; Socinski, Mark A.; Sause, William T.; Harpole, David H.; Welch, John J.; Korn, Edward L.; Ullmann, Claudio Dansky; Hirsch, Fred R.

2014-01-01

On February 2, 2012, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored a 2-day workshop with the NCI Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee and the Food and Drug Administration to bring together leading academicians, clinicians, industry and government representatives to identify challenges and potential solutions in the clinical development of novel targeted therapies for lung cancer. Measures of success are rapidly evolving from a scientific and regulatory perspective and the objectives of this workshop were to achieve initial consensus on a high priority biomarker-driven clinical trial designed to rapidly assess the activity of targeted agents in molecularly defined lung cancer subsets and to facilitate generation of data leading to approval of these new therapies. Additionally, the meeting focused on identification of the barriers to conduct such a trial and the development of strategies to overcome those barriers. The “Lung Master Protocols” recently launched by NCI were the direct outcome of this workshop. PMID:25521397

The Einstein-Brazil Fogarty: A decade of synergy.

PubMed

Nosanchuk, Joshua D; Nosanchuk, Murphy D; Rodrigues, Marcio L; Nimrichter, Leonardo; Carvalho, Antonio C Campos de; Weiss, Louis M; Spray, David C; Tanowitz, Herbert B

2015-01-01

A rich, collaborative program funded by the US NIH Fogarty program in 2004 has provided for a decade of remarkable opportunities for scientific advancement through the training of Brazilian undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students from the Federal University and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation systems at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The focus of the program has been on the development of trainees in the broad field of Infectious Diseases, with a particular focus on diseases of importance to the Brazilian population. Talented trainees from various regions in Brazil came to Einstein to learn techniques and study fungal, parasitic and bacterial pathogens. In total, 43 trainees enthusiastically participated in the program. In addition to laboratory work, these students took a variety of courses at Einstein, presented their results at local, national and international meetings, and productively published their findings. This program has led to a remarkable synergy of scientific discovery for the participants during a time of rapid acceleration of the scientific growth in Brazil. This collaboration between Brazilian and US scientists has benefitted both countries and serves as a model for future training programs between these countries.

From Big Data to Knowledge in the Social Sciences.

PubMed

Hesse, Bradford W; Moser, Richard P; Riley, William T

2015-05-01

One of the challenges associated with high-volume, diverse datasets is whether synthesis of open data streams can translate into actionable knowledge. Recognizing that challenge and other issues related to these types of data, the National Institutes of Health developed the Big Data to Knowledge or BD2K initiative. The concept of translating "big data to knowledge" is important to the social and behavioral sciences in several respects. First, a general shift to data-intensive science will exert an influence on all scientific disciplines, but particularly on the behavioral and social sciences given the wealth of behavior and related constructs captured by big data sources. Second, science is itself a social enterprise; by applying principles from the social sciences to the conduct of research, it should be possible to ameliorate some of the systemic problems that plague the scientific enterprise in the age of big data. We explore the feasibility of recalibrating the basic mechanisms of the scientific enterprise so that they are more transparent and cumulative; more integrative and cohesive; and more rapid, relevant, and responsive.

Regulatory Agencies and Food Safety

PubMed Central

Chapman, R. A.; Morrison, A. B.

1966-01-01

Prior to Confederation, food control legislation in Canada consisted of only a few simple laws governing the quality, grading, packing and inspection of certain staple foods. The Inland Revenue Act of 1875 provided the first real control in Canada over adulteration of liquor, foods and drugs. Since then, food legislation has evolved in scope and complexity as the industries involved have developed, as consumers have become better informed, and as scientific advances have provided a sound basis for regulations. Present regulations under the Food and Drugs Act are intended to give consumers broad protection against health hazards and fraud in the production, manufacture, labelling, packaging, advertising, and sale of foods. This principle is well illustrated by present requirements for the control of pesticide residues, chemical additives, and the addition of vitamins to foods. In today's era of rapid technological change, application of current scientific knowledge to the food industry obviously involves the possibility of hazards to health. Regulatory agencies with responsibility for food safety must, therefore, fully utilize scientific knowledge in order to reduce the risks involved to a minimum. PMID:5905951

From Big Data to Knowledge in the Social Sciences

PubMed Central

Hesse, Bradford W.; Moser, Richard P.; Riley, William T.

2015-01-01

One of the challenges associated with high-volume, diverse datasets is whether synthesis of open data streams can translate into actionable knowledge. Recognizing that challenge and other issues related to these types of data, the National Institutes of Health developed the Big Data to Knowledge or BD2K initiative. The concept of translating “big data to knowledge” is important to the social and behavioral sciences in several respects. First, a general shift to data-intensive science will exert an influence on all scientific disciplines, but particularly on the behavioral and social sciences given the wealth of behavior and related constructs captured by big data sources. Second, science is itself a social enterprise; by applying principles from the social sciences to the conduct of research, it should be possible to ameliorate some of the systemic problems that plague the scientific enterprise in the age of big data. We explore the feasibility of recalibrating the basic mechanisms of the scientific enterprise so that they are more transparent and cumulative; more integrative and cohesive; and more rapid, relevant, and responsive. PMID:26294799

An Analysis of Citizen Science Based Research: Usage and Publication Patterns

PubMed Central

Follett, Ria; Strezov, Vladimir

2015-01-01

The use of citizen science for scientific discovery relies on the acceptance of this method by the scientific community. Using the Web of Science and Scopus as the source of peer reviewed articles, an analysis of all published articles on “citizen science” confirmed its growth, and found that significant research on methodology and validation techniques preceded the rapid rise of the publications on research outcomes based on citizen science methods. Of considerable interest is the growing number of studies relying on the re-use of collected datasets from past citizen science research projects, which used data from either individual or multiple citizen science projects for new discoveries, such as for climate change research. The extent to which citizen science has been used in scientific discovery demonstrates its importance as a research approach. This broad analysis of peer reviewed papers on citizen science, that included not only citizen science projects, but the theory and methods developed to underpin the research, highlights the breadth and depth of the citizen science approach and encourages cross-fertilization between the different disciplines. PMID:26600041

Hurricane Blanca Strengthens

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-03

Blanca has rapidly intensified with an increase in wind speed of 60 knots since 1200Z on June 2. The hurricane has developed a distinct pinhole eye in visible images surrounded by very deep convection. There is an opportunity for Blanca to intensify further since the hurricane is located within an ideal environment of low shear and high ocean heat content. Beyond 48 hours, the hurricane will encounter lower SSTs and a gradual weakening should begin. During the next 24 hours, the hurricane should begin a northwestward track with some increase in forward speed becoming a potential threat to Baja California in a few days. This image was taken by GOES East at 1445Z on June 3, 2015. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio 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 French Jesuit Mission to Thailand in the 1680s and the Establishment of a Major Astronomical Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soonthornthum, Boonrucksar; Orchiston, Wayne; Komonjinda, Siramas

2012-09-01

The first great Thai ruler to encourage the adoption of Western culture and technology was King Narai, and his enlightened attitude led to the rapid development of Thailand. King Narai also had a passion for astronomy, and he pursued this interest by allowing French Jesuit missionaries to set up a large modern well-equipped astronomical observatory in Lopburi Province between AD 1685 and 1687. This was known as the Wat San Paolo Observatory, and King Narai and the missionaries observed a total lunar eclipse on 10 December 1685 and a partial solar eclipse on 30 April 1688. These observations and others made at Wat San Paolo Observatory during the 1680s marked the start of modern scientific astronomy in Thailand. In this paper we discuss King Narai's scientific and other interests, the founding of the Wat San Paolo Observatory, the missionaries who conducted the astronomical programs, their instruments and their observations. We also describe the surviving ruins of the Observatory and their interpretation as a site of national scientific importance in Thailand.

An Analysis of Citizen Science Based Research: Usage and Publication Patterns.

PubMed

Follett, Ria; Strezov, Vladimir

2015-01-01

The use of citizen science for scientific discovery relies on the acceptance of this method by the scientific community. Using the Web of Science and Scopus as the source of peer reviewed articles, an analysis of all published articles on "citizen science" confirmed its growth, and found that significant research on methodology and validation techniques preceded the rapid rise of the publications on research outcomes based on citizen science methods. Of considerable interest is the growing number of studies relying on the re-use of collected datasets from past citizen science research projects, which used data from either individual or multiple citizen science projects for new discoveries, such as for climate change research. The extent to which citizen science has been used in scientific discovery demonstrates its importance as a research approach. This broad analysis of peer reviewed papers on citizen science, that included not only citizen science projects, but the theory and methods developed to underpin the research, highlights the breadth and depth of the citizen science approach and encourages cross-fertilization between the different disciplines.

The Einstein-Brazil Fogarty: A decade of synergy

PubMed Central

Nosanchuk, Joshua D.; Nosanchuk, Murphy D.; Rodrigues, Marcio L.; Nimrichter, Leonardo; de Carvalho, Antonio C. Campos; Weiss, Louis M.; Spray, David C.; Tanowitz, Herbert B.

2015-01-01

Abstract A rich, collaborative program funded by the US NIH Fogarty program in 2004 has provided for a decade of remarkable opportunities for scientific advancement through the training of Brazilian undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students from the Federal University and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation systems at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The focus of the program has been on the development of trainees in the broad field of Infectious Diseases, with a particular focus on diseases of importance to the Brazilian population. Talented trainees from various regions in Brazil came to Einstein to learn techniques and study fungal, parasitic and bacterial pathogens. In total, 43 trainees enthusiastically participated in the program. In addition to laboratory work, these students took a variety of courses at Einstein, presented their results at local, national and international meetings, and productively published their findings. This program has led to a remarkable synergy of scientific discovery for the participants during a time of rapid acceleration of the scientific growth in Brazil. This collaboration between Brazilian and US scientists has benefitted both countries and serves as a model for future training programs between these countries. PMID:26691452

Miniaturization as a key factor to the development and application of advanced metrology systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furlong, Cosme; Dobrev, Ivo; Harrington, Ellery; Hefti, Peter; Khaleghi, Morteza

2012-10-01

Recent technological advances of miniaturization engineering are enabling the realization of components and systems with unprecedented capabilities. Such capabilities, which are significantly beneficial to scientific and engineering applications, are impacting the development and the application of optical metrology systems for investigations under complex boundary, loading, and operating conditions. In this paper, and overview of metrology systems that we are developing is presented. Systems are being developed and applied to high-speed and high-resolution measurements of shape and deformations under actual operating conditions for such applications as sustainability, health, medical diagnosis, security, and urban infrastructure. Systems take advantage of recent developments in light sources and modulators, detectors, microelectromechanical (MEMS) sensors and actuators, kinematic positioners, rapid prototyping fabrication technologies, as well as software engineering.

Nanotechnology: Scientific challenges and societal benefits and risks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romig, A. D.

2004-12-01

The field of nanotechnology is developing rapidly, as are its practical application in society. In this article, we give examples that demonstrate the enormous potential that exists for this new class of materials, and for devices with critical dimensions of less than 100 nm. We also identify some of the challenges that need to be faced in order to fully realize the practical benefits of nanotechnology, and discuss possible risks that may come with this new technology. In all cases, the unique advantage of nanotechnology can be traced back to nanoscale physical and chemical properties that are quite different from those encountered in more traditional microscopic (micro) or macroscopic (macro) materials and devices. Unique nanoscale properties and behaviors are already being used to increase energy efficiency, improve healthcare, and strengthen national security. However, while progress is rapid, many challenges remain. These include manufacturing at the nanoscale, integration of nanoscale materials and devices with more conventional technology, and predictive modeling that will allow nanotechnology to be engineered reliably into useful applications and products. Nanotechnology can be expected to have an increasing impact on human lives and society at large. As we strive to use nanotechnology to improve human life through better healthcare, cleaner environment, and improved national security, we must also work to detect and assess the negative impacts that nanotechnology science (or any new technology) might bring. We suggest that the conduct of should be allowed to proceed unimpeded, so that we can fully understand and appreciate the rules of nature at the nanometer scale. That said, scientific pursuits that involve self-replication in synthetic systems, encryption, defense technology, or the enhancement of human intelligence should be reviewed. The development of new technology from fundamental science and the process of deciding what new technology is to be created for what purpose are topics for reasoned debate among the general public as well as in the forums of scientific peer review and political decision making.

Genome Improvement at JGI-HAGSC

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

Grimwood, Jane; Schmutz, Jeremy J.; Myers, Richard M.

Since the completion of the sequencing of the human genome, the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) has rapidly expanded its scientific goals in several DOE mission-relevant areas. At the JGI-HAGSC, we have kept pace with this rapid expansion of projects with our focus on assessing, assembling, improving and finishing eukaryotic whole genome shotgun (WGS) projects for which the shotgun sequence is generated at the Production Genomic Facility (JGI-PGF). We follow this by combining the draft WGS with genomic resources generated at JGI-HAGSC or in collaborator laboratories (including BAC end sequences, genetic maps and FLcDNA sequences) to produce an improved draft sequence.more » For eukaryotic genomes important to the DOE mission, we then add further information from directed experiments to produce reference genomic sequences that are publicly available for any scientific researcher. Also, we have continued our program for producing BAC-based finished sequence, both for adding information to JGI genome projects and for small BAC-based sequencing projects proposed through any of the JGI sequencing programs. We have now built our computational expertise in WGS assembly and analysis and have moved eukaryotic genome assembly from the JGI-PGF to JGI-HAGSC. We have concentrated our assembly development work on large plant genomes and complex fungal and algal genomes.« less

Reactive control and reasoning assistance for scientific laboratory instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, David E.; Levinson, Richard; Robinson, Peter

1993-01-01

Scientific laboratory instruments that are involved in chemical or physical sample identification frequently require substantial human preparation, attention, and interactive control during their operation. Successful real-time analysis of incoming data that supports such interactive control requires: (1) a clear recognition of variance of the data from expected results; and (2) rapid diagnosis of possible alternative hypotheses which might explain the variance. Such analysis then aids in decisions about modifying the experiment protocol, as well as being a goal itself. This paper reports on a collaborative project at the NASA Ames Research Center between artificial intelligence researchers and planetary microbial ecologists. Our team is currently engaged in developing software that autonomously controls science laboratory instruments and that provides data analysis of the real-time data in support of dynamic refinement of the experiment control. the first two instruments to which this technology has been applied are a differential thermal analyzer (DTA) and a gas chromatograph (GC). coupled together, they form a new geochemicstry and microbial analysis tool that is capable of rapid identification of the organiz and mineralogical constituents in soils. The thermal decomposition of the minerals and organics, and the attendance release of evolved gases, provides data about the structural and molecular chemistry of the soil samples.

The Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) - Design, Trades, and Analyses Performed in a Two Year NASA Investigation of Electric Sail Propulsion Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiegmann, Bruce M.; Scheider, Todd; Heaton, Andrew; Vaughn, Jason; Stone, Nobie; Wright, Ken

2017-01-01

Personnel from NASA's MSFC have been investigating the feasibility of an advanced propulsion system known as the Electric Sail (E-Sail) for future scientific exploration missions. This team initially won a NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Phase I NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) award and then a two-year follow-on Phase II NIAC award in October 2015. This paper documents the findings from this three-year investigation. An Electric sail, a propellant-less propulsion system, uses solar wind ions to rapidly travel either to deep space or the inner solar system. Scientific spacecraft could reach Pluto in 5 years, or the boundary of the solar system in ten to twelve years compared to the thirty-five plus years the Voyager spacecraft took. The team's recent focuses have been: 1) Developing a Particle in Cell (PIC) numeric engineering model from MSFC's experimental data on the interaction between simulated solar wind and a charged bare wire that can be applied to a variety of missions, 2) Determining what missions could benefit from this revolutionary propulsion system, 3) Conceptualizing spacecraft designs for various tasks: to reach the solar system's edge, to orbit the sun as Heliophysics sentinels, or to examine a multitude of asteroids.

The Role of Scientific Collections in Scientific Preparedness

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Building on the findings and recommendations of the Interagency Working Group on Scientific Collections, Scientific Collections International (SciColl) aims to improve the rapid access to science collections across disciplines within the federal government and globally, between government agencies and private research institutions. SciColl offered a novel opportunity for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, to explore the value of scientific research collections under the science preparedness initiative and integrate it as a research resource at each stage in the emergence of the infectious diseases cycle. Under the leadership of SciColl’s executive secretariat at the Smithsonian Institution, and with multiple federal and international partners, a workshop during October 2014 fully explored the intersections of the infectious disease cycle and the role scientific collections could play as an evidentiary scientific resource to mitigate risks associated with emerging infectious diseases. PMID:26380390

The Sustainable Development Goals - conceptual approaches for science and research projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmalzbauer, Bettina; Visbeck, Martin

2017-04-01

Challenged to provide answers to some of the world's biggest societal and environmental problems, the scientific community has consistently delivered exciting and solid information that is often used to assess the situation in many different parts of the globe to document the anthropogenic cause of environmental changes and to provide perspectives on possible development scenarios. With the adoption of the Paris climate agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)) major issues for society are now in its complexity in implementation. That are: consistency with other political processes (e.g. UNFCCC, IPBES), implementability (e.g. interactions between SDGs, pathways) and measurability (e.g. indicators). We argue that science can contribute to all these aspects by providing fundamental knowledge necessary for decision-making and practical implementation of the SDGs. Cooperation beyond disciplines and national boarders is essential, as well as the integration of concepts and methods of natural and social sciences. The outcome of two international conferences has called out four specific areas where science can make significant contributions towards SDG implementation: First, deep and integrated scientific knowledge is needed for better understanding key interactions, synergies and trade-offs embedded in the SDGs. Second, sound scientific input is needed for co-designing and executing of scientific assessments in the context of the SDG process (going beyond the good examples set by IPCC and IPBES). Third, science can support the establishment of evidence-based procedures for the development of scenarios and identify possible pathways for the world in 2030 or beyond. Fourth, progress on SDG implementation needs to be supported by a meaningful indicator framework, and this framework needs scientific input to refine indicators, and further develop and standardise methods. The main conclusion is that a comprehensive approach is needed that combines basic science and solution-oriented science, and integrates knowledge from natural science, social sciences, engineering and humanities (but also from other knowledge domains) to meet the overall objective of the 2030 Agenda. Foresight, integrated assessment and integrated modelling can be possible successful approaches for knowledge exchange, learning, and identifying possible coherent development pathways towards global sustainability.To ensure rapid and effective uptake of new research results the concepts of co-design of research projects and co-production of knowledge show promise.

Quad-Tree Visual-Calculus Analysis of Satellite Coverage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lo, Martin W.; Hockney, George; Kwan, Bruce

2003-01-01

An improved method of analysis of coverage of areas of the Earth by a constellation of radio-communication or scientific-observation satellites has been developed. This method is intended to supplant an older method in which the global-coverage-analysis problem is solved from a ground-to-satellite perspective. The present method provides for rapid and efficient analysis. This method is derived from a satellite-to-ground perspective and involves a unique combination of two techniques for multiresolution representation of map features on the surface of a sphere.

16th iWoRiD scientific summary and personal impressions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vacchi, Andrea

2015-08-01

The development of Radiation Imaging Detectors dedicated to specific front edge use is a rapidly expanding galaxy taking force from a healthy mixture of growing ambitions within basic science targets and applicative use in many contiguous fields. The growth of the high technology imaging tools market is a relevant motivating element. On the scene of this conference a flow of very accurate and informative presentations has allowed to gather a vivid image on the almost frantic target oriented work, the results shown have often surpassed the most visionary expectations.

Indoor chemistry: research opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Nazaroff, W W; Goldstein, A H

2015-08-01

In this editorial, we have highlighted key research opportunities and challenges in four topical themes for indoor chemistry: human occupants as agents influencing indoor chemistry; oxidative chemistry; surface phenomena; and semivolatile organic compounds. In each case, enough prior work has been done to demonstrate the importance of the theme and to create a foundation for future studies. Extensive achievements and ongoing progress in (outdoor) atmospheric chemistry—both in the analytical methods developed and in the scientific knowledge created—also contribute to a strong foundation from which to achieve rapid research progress in this exciting new domain.

Noninvasive prenatal testing using cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma.

PubMed

Dharajiya, Nilesh; Zwiefelhofer, Tricia; Guan, Xiaojun; Angkachatchai, Vach; Saldivar, Juan-Sebastian

2015-01-20

Noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) represents an outstanding example of how novel scientific discoveries can be quickly and successfully developed into hugely impactful clinical diagnostic tests. Since the introduction of NIPT to detect trisomy 21 in late 2011, the technology has rapidly advanced to analyze other autosomal and sex chromosome aneuploidies, and now includes the detection of subchromosomal deletion and duplication events. Here we provide a brief overview of how noninvasive prenatal testing using next-generation sequencing is performed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Measuring science-technology interactions using patent citations and author-inventor links: an exploration analysis from Chinese nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Gangbo; Guan, Jiancheng

2011-12-01

This article contributes to the growing study on the interactions between science and technology with China's evidence in the field of nanotechnology, based on the database of United States Patent and Trademark Office. The analysis is focused during the period of 1991-2008, a rapid increasing period for the development of nanotechnology. Using the non-patent references cited by patents, we first investigate the science-technology connections in the context of Chinese nanotechnology, especially in institutional sectors and its application fields. Those patents, produced by academic researchers and directed towards basic scientific knowledge, generally cite more scientific references with a higher proportion of self-citations. It is interesting to find that patents contributed by collaborations between public organizations and corporations seldom contain scientific references. Following an interesting path on matching the data of publications and patents, we establish the author-inventor links in this emerging field. Author-inventors, who are co-active in publishing and patenting, are at the very top of the most prolific and highly cited researchers. Finally, we employ social network analysis to explore the characteristics of scientific and technological networks generated by co-authorship and co-invention data, to investigate the position and the role of patenting-publishing scientists in these research networks.

Computational Aspects of Data Assimilation and the ESMF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

daSilva, A.

2003-01-01

The scientific challenge of developing advanced data assimilation applications is a daunting task. Independently developed components may have incompatible interfaces or may be written in different computer languages. The high-performance computer (HPC) platforms required by numerically intensive Earth system applications are complex, varied, rapidly evolving and multi-part systems themselves. Since the market for high-end platforms is relatively small, there is little robust middleware available to buffer the modeler from the difficulties of HPC programming. To complicate matters further, the collaborations required to develop large Earth system applications often span initiatives, institutions and agencies, involve geoscience, software engineering, and computer science communities, and cross national borders.The Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) project is a concerted response to these challenges. Its goal is to increase software reuse, interoperability, ease of use and performance in Earth system models through the use of a common software framework, developed in an open manner by leaders in the modeling community. The ESMF addresses the technical and to some extent the cultural - aspects of Earth system modeling, laying the groundwork for addressing the more difficult scientific aspects, such as the physical compatibility of components, in the future. In this talk we will discuss the general philosophy and architecture of the ESMF, focussing on those capabilities useful for developing advanced data assimilation applications.

Surveying Geology Concepts in Education Standards for a Rapidly Changing Global Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guffey, Sarah K.; Slater, Stephanie J.; Schleigh, Sharon P.; Slater, Timothy F.; Heyer, Inge

2016-01-01

Internationally much attention is being paid to which of a seemingly endless list of scientific concepts should be taught to schoolchildren to enable them to best participate in the global economy of the 21st Century. In regards to science education, the concepts framing the subject of geology holds exalted status as core scientific principles in…

Beyond Data Points and Research Contributions: The Personal Meaning and Value Associated with Public Participation in Scientific Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haywood, Benjamin K.

2016-01-01

As public participation in scientific research (PPSR) initiatives have expanded rapidly among private, public, and non-profit science research communities over the past decade, program managers and scholars regularly promote, evaluate, and manage such programs with a focus on the value and impact of PPSR efforts on the practice and relevancy of…

The Impact of Instructor Intention for Student Learning and Implementaton of Undergraduate Science Education Reform on Student Perception of the Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Erika M.

2013-01-01

The rapid advances in technology and scientific knowledge in modern society increases the need for a workforce with an understanding of technology and critical thinking skills College graduates are entering the working world without the critical thinking skills and ability to apply the scientific knowledge gained during their undergraduate…

Advances in PCR technology.

PubMed

Lauerman, Lloyd H

2004-12-01

Since the discovery of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 20 years ago, an avalanche of scientific publications have reported major developments and changes in specialized equipment, reagents, sample preparation, computer programs and techniques, generated through business, government and university research. The requirement for genetic sequences for primer selection and validation has been greatly facilitated by the development of new sequencing techniques, machines and computer programs. Genetic libraries, such as GenBank, EMBL and DDBJ continue to accumulate a wealth of genetic sequence information for the development and validation of molecular-based diagnostic procedures concerning human and veterinary disease agents. The mechanization of various aspects of the PCR assay, such as robotics, microfluidics and nanotechnology, has made it possible for the rapid advancement of new procedures. Real-time PCR, DNA microarray and DNA chips utilize these newer techniques in conjunction with computer and computer programs. Instruments for hand-held PCR assays are being developed. The PCR and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assays have greatly accelerated the speed and accuracy of diagnoses of human and animal disease, especially of the infectious agents that are difficult to isolate or demonstrate. The PCR has made it possible to genetically characterize a microbial isolate inexpensively and rapidly for identification, typing and epidemiological comparison.

Apollo Experiment Report: Lunar-Sample Processing in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory High-Vacuum Complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, D. R.

1976-01-01

A high-vacuum complex composed of an atmospheric decontamination system, sample-processing chambers, storage chambers, and a transfer system was built to process and examine lunar material while maintaining quarantine status. Problems identified, equipment modifications, and procedure changes made for Apollo 11 and 12 sample processing are presented. The sample processing experiences indicate that only a few operating personnel are required to process the sample efficiently, safely, and rapidly in the high-vacuum complex. The high-vacuum complex was designed to handle the many contingencies, both quarantine and scientific, associated with handling an unknown entity such as the lunar sample. Lunar sample handling necessitated a complex system that could not respond rapidly to changing scientific requirements as the characteristics of the lunar sample were better defined. Although the complex successfully handled the processing of Apollo 11 and 12 lunar samples, the scientific requirement for vacuum samples was deleted after the Apollo 12 mission just as the vacuum system was reaching its full potential.

Nanopore Sequencing as a Rapidly Deployable Ebola Outbreak Tool.

PubMed

Hoenen, Thomas; Groseth, Allison; Rosenke, Kyle; Fischer, Robert J; Hoenen, Andreas; Judson, Seth D; Martellaro, Cynthia; Falzarano, Darryl; Marzi, Andrea; Squires, R Burke; Wollenberg, Kurt R; de Wit, Emmie; Prescott, Joseph; Safronetz, David; van Doremalen, Neeltje; Bushmaker, Trenton; Feldmann, Friederike; McNally, Kristin; Bolay, Fatorma K; Fields, Barry; Sealy, Tara; Rayfield, Mark; Nichol, Stuart T; Zoon, Kathryn C; Massaquoi, Moses; Munster, Vincent J; Feldmann, Heinz

2016-02-01

Rapid sequencing of RNA/DNA from pathogen samples obtained during disease outbreaks provides critical scientific and public health information. However, challenges exist for exporting samples to laboratories or establishing conventional sequencers in remote outbreak regions. We successfully used a novel, pocket-sized nanopore sequencer at a field diagnostic laboratory in Liberia during the current Ebola virus outbreak.

CRISPR-Cas in Medicinal Chemistry: Applications and Regulatory Concerns.

PubMed

Duardo-Sanchez, Aliuska

2017-01-01

A rapid search in scientific publication's databases shows how the use of CRISPR-Cas genome editions' technique has considerably expanded, and its growing importance, in modern molecular biology. Just in pub-med platform, the search of the term gives more than 3000 results. Specifically, in Drug Discovery, Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology in general CRISPR method may have multiple applications. Some of these applications are: resistance-selection studies of antimalarial lead organic compounds; investigation of druggability; development of animal models for chemical compounds testing, etc. In this paper, we offer a review of the most relevant scientific literature illustrated with specific examples of application of CRISPR technique to medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. We also present a general overview of the main legal and ethical trends regarding this method of genome editing. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Staging scientific controversies: a gallery test on science museums' interactivity.

PubMed

Yaneva, Albena; Rabesandratana, Tania Mara; Greiner, Birgit

2009-01-01

The "transfer" model in science communication has been addressed critically from different perspectives, while the advantages of the interactive model have been continuously praised. Yet, little is done to account for the specific role of the interactive model in communicating "unfinished science." The traditional interactive methods in museums are not sufficient to keep pace with rapid scientific developments. Interactive exchanges between laypeople and experts are thought mainly through the lens of a dialogue that is facilitated and framed by the traditional "conference room" architecture. Drawing on the results of a small-scale experiment in a gallery space, we argue for the need for a new "architecture of interaction" in museum settings based on art installation and simulation techniques, which will enhance the communication potentials of science museums and will provide conditions for a fruitful even-handed exchange of expert and lay knowledge.

Combat science: the emergence of Operational Research in World War II.

PubMed

Rau, Erik P

2005-12-01

World War II became known as the "wizard war" because the cycles of developing countermeasures and counter-countermeasures to the weapons deployed by all sides drove rapid technological change. However, technological innovation was not the only contribution scientists made to the war effort. Through Operational Research (OR)--the scientific scrutiny of new weapons, their deployment and relative efficiency--scientists also influenced how warfare itself was conducted. This new scientific field emerged in the UK, where it helped to tighten the defense against the Luftwaffe. It quickly spread to other aspects of the military machine, improving both antisubmarine campaigns and bombing strategy. But although this analytical approach to warfare offered military commanders a factual basis on which to base difficult decisions and deal with tactical and strategic uncertainty, it was not without controversy. Indeed, several recommendations that came out of OR sparked disputes over the allocation of resources and strategic priorities.

A standardized set of 3-D objects for virtual reality research and applications.

PubMed

Peeters, David

2018-06-01

The use of immersive virtual reality as a research tool is rapidly increasing in numerous scientific disciplines. By combining ecological validity with strict experimental control, immersive virtual reality provides the potential to develop and test scientific theories in rich environments that closely resemble everyday settings. This article introduces the first standardized database of colored three-dimensional (3-D) objects that can be used in virtual reality and augmented reality research and applications. The 147 objects have been normed for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, and corresponding lexical characteristics of the modal object names. The availability of standardized 3-D objects for virtual reality research is important, because reaching valid theoretical conclusions hinges critically on the use of well-controlled experimental stimuli. Sharing standardized 3-D objects across different virtual reality labs will allow for science to move forward more quickly.

Alaska Arctic marine fish ecology catalog

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thorsteinson, Lyman K.; Love, Milton S.

2016-08-08

The marine fishes in waters of the United States north of the Bering Strait have received new and increased scientific attention over the past decade (2005–15) in conjunction with frontier qualities of the region and societal concerns about the effects of Arctic climate change. Commercial fisheries are negligible in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, but many marine species have important traditional and cultural values to Alaska Native residents. Although baseline conditions are rapidly changing, effective decisions about research and monitoring investments must be based on reliable information and plausible future scenarios. For the first time, this synthesis presents a comprehensive evaluation of the marine fish fauna from both seas in a single reference. Although many unknowns and uncertainties remain in the scientific understanding, information presented here is foundational with respect to understanding marine ecosystems and addressing dual missions of the U.S. Department of the Interior for energy development and resource conservation. 

The life of Rudolf Nissen: advancing surgery through science and principle.

PubMed

Fults, D W; Taussky, P

2011-06-01

Rudolf Nissen (1896-1981) was a surgeon whose career began in Germany during the first third of the 20th century, a period of rapid progress in biomedical technology, during which neurosurgery, anesthesiology, and other specialties emerged. A protégé and later close colleague of thoracic surgery pioneer Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951), Nissen resigned from the Berlin Charité Clinic and left Germany in 1933, in response to the rise of Nazi fascism. Throughout his subsequent career in Istanbul, Turkey, the American cities of Boston and New York, and finally Basel, Switzerland, Nissen developed innovative surgical techniques, advocated for patient-centered medical education, and promoted surgical subspecialization. A lifelong proponent of clear scientific writing, Nissen expressed, in extensively published work, his philosophy that progress in surgery depends critically on rigorously applying the scientific method, upholding professional integrity, and respecting human dignity.

The role of dairy foods and dietary calcium in weight management.

PubMed

Van Loan, Marta

2009-02-01

Overweight and obesity are the foremost public health problems in the U.S., other industrialized countries, and is rapidly increasing in developing countries. Obesity is a multifaceted disease which requires multiple approaches to successfully combat its increase. Nutritional factors play a key role and include modification of energy balance, intake and expenditure, as well as other factors. Emerging scientific evidence over the past decade suggests that dairy foods may be beneficial when included in a moderate energy restricted diet and possibly for weight maintenance as well. This paper provides a review of some of the scientific evidence that has examined the effect of dairy foods and dietary calcium on weight management. Topic areas presented are observational or retrospective studies with adults as well as children and adolescents; randomized clinical trials on body weight and composition, energy expenditure, substrate oxidation and fecal fat loss; research from animal and in vitro studies provide possible mechanisms of action.

Genetic Discrimination: A Case for a European Legislative Response?

PubMed

de Paor, Aisling

2017-04-01

With rapid scientific and technological advances, a new genetic era is emerging. However, these advances raise ethical and legal issues, particularly genetic discrimination, that may threaten advancing science in the absence of appropriate regulation. There is currently no concrete legislative position in this area at EU level, but rather a patchwork of diverging legislative approaches amongst Member States. Genetic discrimination has been singled out as an area of reform in Europe as evidenced, for example in EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 21.1 prohibiting discrimination based on ‘genetic features.’ The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities also informs this debate and may spur legislative action. From a transatlantic perspective, the United States’ federal legislation (Genetic Information Non Discrimination Act) is noteworthy. Considering scientific and technological developments, the rights at stake and the various regulatory benchmarks, this paper explores the regulation of genetic information in the EU.

Perovskite as light harvester: a game changer in photovoltaics.

PubMed

Kazim, Samrana; Nazeeruddin, Mohammad Khaja; Grätzel, Michael; Ahmad, Shahzada

2014-03-10

It is not often that the scientific community is blessed with a material, which brings enormous hopes and receives special attention. When it does, it expands at a rapid pace and its every dimension creates curiosity. One such material is perovskite, which has triggered the development of new device architectures in energy conversion. Perovskites are of great interest in photovoltaic devices due to their panchromatic light absorption and ambipolar behavior. Power conversion efficiencies have been doubled in less than a year and over 15% is being now measured in labs. Every digit increment in efficiency is being celebrated widely in the scientific community and is being discussed in industry. Here we provide a summary on the use of perovskite for inexpensive solar cells fabrication. It will not be unrealistic to speculate that one day perovskite-based solar cells can match the capability and capacity of existing technologies. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Biotechnology and the American agricultural industry. Council on Scientific Affairs, American Medical Association.

PubMed

1991-03-20

To meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and minimize the toxic influences of traditional farming practices on the environment, the American agricultural industry has applied molecular technology to the development of food crops and livestock. By placing genes specific for highly desirable phenotypes into the DNA of plants, animals, and bacteria, farmers have increased crop and livestock survival, enhanced the nutritional quality of foods, increased industry productivity, and reduced the need for toxic pesticides and herbicides. However, introduction of genetically modified foods into the marketplace has raised a spectrum of public health issues. Physicians, as the most proximal scientific resource for most individuals, are uniquely positioned to address patient concerns regarding the safety of genetically altered foods. This report provides an overview of the inherent risks and benefits of "agrogenetics" and offers a series of recommendations designed to promote the education of the medical community and dispel public misconception regarding genetic manipulation.

Rapid Global Expansion of Invertebrate Fisheries: Trends, Drivers, and Ecosystem Effects

PubMed Central

Anderson, Sean C.; Mills Flemming, Joanna; Watson, Reg; Lotze, Heike K.

2011-01-01

Background Worldwide, finfish fisheries are receiving increasing assessment and regulation, slowly leading to more sustainable exploitation and rebuilding. In their wake, invertebrate fisheries are rapidly expanding with little scientific scrutiny despite increasing socio-economic importance. Methods and Findings We provide the first global evaluation of the trends, drivers, and population and ecosystem consequences of invertebrate fisheries based on a global catch database in combination with taxa-specific reviews. We also develop new methodologies to quantify temporal and spatial trends in resource status and fishery development. Since 1950, global invertebrate catches have increased 6-fold with 1.5 times more countries fishing and double the taxa reported. By 2004, 34% of invertebrate fisheries were over-exploited, collapsed, or closed. New fisheries have developed increasingly rapidly, with a decrease of 6 years (3 years) in time to peak from the 1950s to 1990s. Moreover, some fisheries have expanded further and further away from their driving market, encompassing a global fishery by the 1990s. 71% of taxa (53% of catches) are harvested with habitat-destructive gear, and many provide important ecosystem functions including habitat, filtration, and grazing. Conclusions Our findings suggest that invertebrate species, which form an important component of the basis of marine food webs, are increasingly exploited with limited stock and ecosystem-impact assessments, and enhanced management attention is needed to avoid negative consequences for ocean ecosystems and human well-being. PMID:21408090

Scenario development during commissioning operations on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade

DOE PAGES

Battaglia, D. J.; Boyer, M. D.; Gerhardt, S.; ...

2018-02-20

The National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) will advance the physics basis required for achieving steady-state, high-beta, and high-confinement conditions in a tokamak by accessing high toroidal field (1 T) and plasma current (1.0 - 2.0 MA) in a low aspect ratio geometry (A = 1.6 - 1.8) with flexible auxiliary heating systems (12 MW NBI, 6 MW HHFW). This paper describes progress in the development of L- and Hmode discharge scenarios and the commissioning of operational tools in the first ten weeks of operation that enable the scientific mission of NSTX-U. Vacuum field calculations completed prior to operations supportedmore » the rapid development and optimization of inductive breakdown at different values of ohmic solenoid current. The toroidal magnetic field (BT0 = 0.65 T) exceeded the maximum values achieved on NSTX and novel long-pulse L-mode discharges with regular sawtooth activity exceeded the longest pulses produced on NSTX (tpulse > 1.8s). The increased flux of the central solenoid facilitated the development of stationary L-mode discharges over a range of density and plasma current (Ip). H-mode discharges achieved similar levels of stored energy, confinement (H98y,2 > 1) and stability (βN/βN-nowall > 1) compared to NSTX discharges for Ip ≤ 1 MA. High-performance H-mode scenarios require an L-H transition early in the Ip ramp-up phase in order to obtain low internal inductance (li) throughout the discharge, which is conducive to maintaining vertical stability at high elongation (κ > 2.2) and achieving long periods of MHD quiescent operations. The rapid progress in developing L- and H-mode scenarios in support of the scientific program was enabled by advances in real-time plasma control, efficient error field identification and correction, effective conditioning of the graphite wall and excellent diagnostic availability.« less

Scenario development during commissioning operations on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade

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

Battaglia, D. J.; Boyer, M. D.; Gerhardt, S.

The National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) will advance the physics basis required for achieving steady-state, high-beta, and high-confinement conditions in a tokamak by accessing high toroidal field (1 T) and plasma current (1.0 - 2.0 MA) in a low aspect ratio geometry (A = 1.6 - 1.8) with flexible auxiliary heating systems (12 MW NBI, 6 MW HHFW). This paper describes progress in the development of L- and Hmode discharge scenarios and the commissioning of operational tools in the first ten weeks of operation that enable the scientific mission of NSTX-U. Vacuum field calculations completed prior to operations supportedmore » the rapid development and optimization of inductive breakdown at different values of ohmic solenoid current. The toroidal magnetic field (BT0 = 0.65 T) exceeded the maximum values achieved on NSTX and novel long-pulse L-mode discharges with regular sawtooth activity exceeded the longest pulses produced on NSTX (tpulse > 1.8s). The increased flux of the central solenoid facilitated the development of stationary L-mode discharges over a range of density and plasma current (Ip). H-mode discharges achieved similar levels of stored energy, confinement (H98y,2 > 1) and stability (βN/βN-nowall > 1) compared to NSTX discharges for Ip ≤ 1 MA. High-performance H-mode scenarios require an L-H transition early in the Ip ramp-up phase in order to obtain low internal inductance (li) throughout the discharge, which is conducive to maintaining vertical stability at high elongation (κ > 2.2) and achieving long periods of MHD quiescent operations. The rapid progress in developing L- and H-mode scenarios in support of the scientific program was enabled by advances in real-time plasma control, efficient error field identification and correction, effective conditioning of the graphite wall and excellent diagnostic availability.« less

Providing Climate Policy Makers With a Strong Scientific Base (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Struzik, E.

2009-12-01

Scientists can and should inform public policy decisions in the Arctic. But the pace of climate change in the polar world has been occurring far more quickly than most scientists have been able to predict. This creates problems for decision-makers who recognize that difficult management decisions have to be made in matters pertaining to wildlife management, cultural integrity and economic development. With sea ice melting, glaciers receding, permafrost thawing, forest fires intensifying, and disease and invasive species rapidly moving north, the challenge for scientists to provide climate policy makers with a strong scientific base has been daunting. Clashing as this data sometimes does with the “traditional knowledge” of indigenous peoples in the north, it can also become very political. As a result the need to effectively communicate complex data is more imperative now than ever before. Here, the author describes how the work of scientists can often be misinterpreted or exploited in ways that were not intended. Examples include the inappropriate use of scientific data in decision-making on polar bears, caribou and other wildlife populations; the use of scientific data to debunk the fact that greenhouse gases are driving climate change, and the use of scientific data to position one scientist against another when there is no inherent conflict. This work will highlight the need for climate policy makers to increase support for scientists working in the Arctic, as well as illustrate why it is important to find new and more effective ways of communicating scientific data. Strategies that might be considered by granting agencies, scientists and climate policy decision-makers will also be discussed.

Interoperable Data Sharing for Diverse Scientific Disciplines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, John S.; Crichton, Daniel; Martinez, Santa; Law, Emily; Hardman, Sean

2016-04-01

For diverse scientific disciplines to interoperate they must be able to exchange information based on a shared understanding. To capture this shared understanding, we have developed a knowledge representation framework using ontologies and ISO level archive and metadata registry reference models. This framework provides multi-level governance, evolves independent of implementation technologies, and promotes agile development, namely adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and rapid and flexible response to change. The knowledge representation framework is populated through knowledge acquisition from discipline experts. It is also extended to meet specific discipline requirements. The result is a formalized and rigorous knowledge base that addresses data representation, integrity, provenance, context, quantity, and their relationships within the community. The contents of the knowledge base is translated and written to files in appropriate formats to configure system software and services, provide user documentation, validate ingested data, and support data analytics. This presentation will provide an overview of the framework, present the Planetary Data System's PDS4 as a use case that has been adopted by the international planetary science community, describe how the framework is being applied to other disciplines, and share some important lessons learned.

Regulatory requirements for clinical trial and marketing authorisation application for cell-based medicinal products.

PubMed

Salmikangas, P; Flory, E; Reinhardt, J; Hinz, T; Maciulaitis, R

2010-01-01

The new era of regenerative medicine has led to rapid development of new innovative therapies especially for diseases and tissue/organ defects for which traditional therapies and medicinal products have not provided satisfactory outcome. Although the clinical use and developments of cell-based medicinal products (CBMPs) could be witnessed already for a decade, robust scientific and regulatory provisions for these products have only recently been enacted. The new Regulation for Advanced Therapies (EC) 1394/2007 together with the revised Annex I, Part IV of Directive 2001/83/EC provides the new legal framework for CBMPs. The wide variety of cell-based products and the foreseen limitations (small sample sizes, short shelf life) vs. particular risks (microbiological purity, variability, immunogenicity, tumourigenicity) associated with CBMPs have called for a flexible, case-by-case regulatory approach for these products. Consequently, a risk-based approach has been developed to allow definition of the amount of scientific data needed for a Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) of each CBMP. The article provides further insight into the initial risk evaluation, as well as to the quality, non-clinical, and clinical requirements of CBMPs. Special somatic cell therapies designed for active immunotherapy are also addressed.

Translational research in infectious disease: current paradigms and challenges ahead

PubMed Central

Fontana, Judith M.; Alexander, Elizabeth; Salvatore, Mirella

2012-01-01

In recent years, the biomedical community has witnessed a rapid scientific and technological evolution following the development and refinement of high-throughput methodologies. Concurrently and consequentially, the scientific perspective has changed from the reductionist approach of meticulously analyzing the fine details of a single component of biology, to the “holistic” approach of broadmindedly examining the globally interacting elements of biological systems. The emergence of this new way of thinking has brought about a scientific revolution in which genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other “omics” have become the predominant tools by which large amounts of data are amassed, analyzed and applied to complex questions of biology that were previously unsolvable. This enormous transformation of basic science research and the ensuing plethora of promising data, especially in the realm of human health and disease, have unfortunately not been followed by a parallel increase in the clinical application of this information. On the contrary, the number of new potential drugs in development has been steadily decreasing, suggesting the existence of roadblocks that prevent the translation of promising research into medically relevant therapeutic or diagnostic application. In this paper we will review, in a non-inclusive fashion, several recent scientific advancements in the field of translational research, with a specific focus on how they relate to infectious disease. We will also present a current picture of the limitations and challenges that exist for translational research, as well as ways that have been proposed by the National Institutes of Health to improve the state of this field. PMID:22633095

HashDist: Reproducible, Relocatable, Customizable, Cross-Platform Software Stacks for Open Hydrological Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmadia, A. J.; Kees, C. E.

2014-12-01

Developing scientific software is a continuous balance between not reinventing the wheel and getting fragile codes to interoperate with one another. Binary software distributions such as Anaconda provide a robust starting point for many scientific software packages, but this solution alone is insufficient for many scientific software developers. HashDist provides a critical component of the development workflow, enabling highly customizable, source-driven, and reproducible builds for scientific software stacks, available from both the IPython Notebook and the command line. To address these issues, the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center has funded the development of HashDist in collaboration with Simula Research Laboratories and the University of Texas at Austin. HashDist is motivated by a functional approach to package build management, and features intelligent caching of sources and builds, parametrized build specifications, and the ability to interoperate with system compilers and packages. HashDist enables the easy specification of "software stacks", which allow both the novice user to install a default environment and the advanced user to configure every aspect of their build in a modular fashion. As an advanced feature, HashDist builds can be made relocatable, allowing the easy redistribution of binaries on all three major operating systems as well as cloud, and supercomputing platforms. As a final benefit, all HashDist builds are reproducible, with a build hash specifying exactly how each component of the software stack was installed. This talk discusses the role of HashDist in the hydrological sciences, including its use by the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory in the development and deployment of the Proteus Toolkit as well as the Rapid Operational Access and Maneuver Support project. We demonstrate HashDist in action, and show how it can effectively support development, deployment, teaching, and reproducibility for scientists working in the hydrological sciences. The HashDist documentation is available from: http://hashdist.readthedocs.org/en/latest/ HashDist is currently hosted at: https://github.com/hashdist/hashdist

NATO Advanced Study Institute on Spectroscopy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DiBartolo, Baldassare; Barnes, James (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

This booklet presents an account of the course 'Spectroscopy of Systems with Spatially Confined Structures' held in Erice-Sicily, Italy, from June 15 to June 30, 2001. This meeting was organized by the International School of Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy of the 'Ettore Majorana' Centre for Scientific Culture. The purpose of this course was to present and discuss nanometer-scale physics, a rapidly progressing field. The top-down approach of semiconductor technology will soon meet the scales of the bottom-up approaches of supramolecular chemistry and of spatially localized excitations in ionic crystals. This course dealt with the fabrication, measurement and understanding of the relevant structures and brought together the scientific communities responsible for these development. The advances in this area of physics have already let to applications in optoelectronics and will likely lead to many more. The subjects of the course included spatially resolved structures such as quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots, single atoms and molecules, clusters, fractal systems, and the development of related techniques like near-field spectroscopy and confocal microscopy to study such systems.

Developing DIII-D To Prepare For ITER And The Path To Fusion Energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buttery, Richard; Hill, David; Solomon, Wayne; Guo, Houyang; DIII-D Team

2017-10-01

DIII-D pursues the advancement of fusion energy through scientific understanding and discovery of solutions. Research targets two key goals. First, to prepare for ITER we must resolve how to use its flexible control tools to rapidly reach Q =10, and develop the scientific basis to interpret results from ITER for fusion projection. Second, we must determine how to sustain a high performance fusion core in steady state conditions, with minimal actuators and a plasma exhaust solution. DIII-D will target these missions with: (i) increased electron heating and balanced torque neutral beams to simulate burning plasma conditions (ii) new 3D coil arrays to resolve control of transients (iii) off axis current drive to study physics in steady state regimes (iv) divertors configurations to promote detachment with low upstream density (v) a reactor relevant wall to qualify materials and resolve physics in reactor-like conditions. With new diagnostics and leading edge simulation, this will position the US for success in ITER and a unique knowledge to accelerate the approach to fusion energy. Supported by the US DOE under DE-FC02-04ER54698.

Calcium orthophosphates and human beings

PubMed Central

Dorozhkin, Sergey V.

2012-01-01

The historical development of a scientific knowledge on calcium orthophosphates from the 1770s until 1940 is described. Many forgotten and poorly known historical facts and approaches have been extracted from old publications and then they have been analyzed, systematized and reconsidered from the modern point of view. The chosen time scale starts with the earliest available studies of 1770s (to the best of my findings, calcium orthophosphates had been unknown before), passes through the entire 19th century and finishes in 1940, because since then the amount of publications on calcium orthophosphates rapidly increases and the subject becomes too broad. Furthermore, since publications of the second half of the 20th century are easily accessible, a substantial amount of them have already been reviewed by other researchers. The reported historical findings clearly demonstrate that the substantial amount of the scientific facts and experimental approaches have been known for very many decades and, in fact, the considerable quantity of relatively recent investigations on calcium orthophosphates is just either a further development of the earlier studies or a rediscovery of the already forgotten knowledge. PMID:23507803

Mobile Apps for Weight Management: A Scoping Review.

PubMed

Rivera, Jordan; McPherson, Amy; Hamilton, Jill; Birken, Catherine; Coons, Michael; Iyer, Sindoora; Agarwal, Arnav; Lalloo, Chitra; Stinson, Jennifer

2016-07-26

Obesity remains a major public health concern. Mobile apps for weight loss/management are found to be effective for improving health outcomes in adults and adolescents, and are pursued as a cost-effective and scalable intervention for combating overweight and obesity. In recent years, the commercial market for 'weight loss apps' has expanded at rapid pace, yet little is known regarding the evidence-based quality of these tools for weight control. To characterize the inclusion of evidence-based strategies, health care expert involvement, and scientific evaluation of commercial mobile apps for weight loss/management. An electronic search was conducted between July 2014 and July 2015 of the official app stores for four major mobile operating systems. Three raters independently identified apps with a stated goal of weight loss/management, as well as weight loss/management apps targeted to pediatric users. All discrepancies regarding selection were resolved through discussion with a fourth rater. Metadata from all included apps were abstracted into a standard assessment criteria form and the evidence-based strategies, health care expert involvement, and scientific evaluation of included apps was assessed. Evidence-based strategies included: self-monitoring, goal-setting, physical activity support, healthy eating support, weight and/or health assessment, personalized feedback, motivational strategies, and social support. A total of 393 apps were included in this review. Self-monitoring was most common (139/393, 35.3%), followed by physical activity support (108/393, 27.5%), weight assessment (100/393, 25.4%), healthy eating support (91/393, 23.2%), goal-setting (84/393, 21.4%), motivational strategies (28/393, 7.1%), social support (21/393, 5.3%), and personalized feedback (7/393, 1.8%). Of apps, 0.8% (3/393) underwent scientific evaluation and 0.3% (1/393) reported health care expert involvement. No apps were comprehensive in the assessment criteria, with the majority of apps meeting less than two criteria. Commercial mobile apps for weight loss/management lack important evidence-based features, do not involve health care experts in their development process, and have not undergone rigorous scientific testing. This calls into question the validity of apps' claims regarding their effectiveness and safety, at a time when the availability and growth in adoption of these tools is rapidly increasing. Collaborative efforts between developers, researchers, clinicians, and patients are needed to develop and test high-quality, evidence-based mobile apps for weight loss/management before they are widely disseminated in commercial markets.

Pakistan and Water: New Pressures on Global Security and Human Health

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

The Indus River is the major source of water for the more than 180 million people of Pakistan. A rapidly increasing population over the past 60 years has created new pressures on water that was once a plentiful resource for the health and development of the country. Rising tensions between India and Pakistan, which share the Indus flow, may lead to violent confrontation in an already volatile part of the globe. The recent flooding, which affected more than 20 million people, drew attention to poor management of the rivers of Pakistan. Public health has the scientific knowledge and professional capacity to help develop water management practices that could improve population health in Pakistan. PMID:21421956

Redressing the inverted pyramid of scientific publishing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caux, Jean-Sébastien

2017-11-01

Scientific publishing is currently undergoing a progressively rapid transformation away from the traditional subscription model. With the Open Access movement in full swing, existing business practices and future plans are coming under increasing scrutiny, while new "big deals" are being made at breakneck speed. Scientists can rightfully ask themselves if all these changes are going the right way, and if not, what can be done about it.

Smart article: application of intelligent platforms in next generation biomedical publications.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Babak; Saeedi, Marjan; Haghpanah, Vahid

2017-01-01

Production of scientific data has been accelerated exponentially though ease of access to the required knowledge is still challenging. Hence, the emergence of new frameworks to allow more efficient storage of information would be beneficial. Attaining intelligent platforms enable the smart article to serve as a forum for exchanging idea among experts of academic disciplines for a rapid and efficient scientific discourse.

Cloud-Hosted Real-time Data Services for the Geosciences (CHORDS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniels, M. D.; Graves, S. J.; Vernon, F.; Kerkez, B.; Chandra, C. V.; Keiser, K.; Martin, C.

2014-12-01

Cloud-Hosted Real-time Data Services for the Geosciences (CHORDS) Access, utilization and management of real-time data continue to be challenging for decision makers, as well as researchers in several scientific fields. This presentation will highlight infrastructure aimed at addressing some of the gaps in handling real-time data, particularly in increasing accessibility of these data to the scientific community through cloud services. The Cloud-Hosted Real-time Data Services for the Geosciences (CHORDS) system addresses the ever-increasing importance of real-time scientific data, particularly in mission critical scenarios, where informed decisions must be made rapidly. Advances in the distribution of real-time data are leading many new transient phenomena in space-time to be observed, however real-time decision-making is infeasible in many cases that require streaming scientific data as these data are locked down and sent only to proprietary in-house tools or displays. This lack of accessibility to the broader scientific community prohibits algorithm development and workflows initiated by these data streams. As part of NSF's EarthCube initiative, CHORDS proposes to make real-time data available to the academic community via cloud services. The CHORDS infrastructure will enhance the role of real-time data within the geosciences, specifically expanding the potential of streaming data sources in enabling adaptive experimentation and real-time hypothesis testing. Adherence to community data and metadata standards will promote the integration of CHORDS real-time data with existing standards-compliant analysis, visualization and modeling tools.

Developing sustainable software solutions for bioinformatics by the “ Butterfly” paradigm

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Zeeshan; Zeeshan, Saman; Dandekar, Thomas

2014-01-01

Software design and sustainable software engineering are essential for the long-term development of bioinformatics software. Typical challenges in an academic environment are short-term contracts, island solutions, pragmatic approaches and loose documentation. Upcoming new challenges are big data, complex data sets, software compatibility and rapid changes in data representation. Our approach to cope with these challenges consists of iterative intertwined cycles of development (“ Butterfly” paradigm) for key steps in scientific software engineering. User feedback is valued as well as software planning in a sustainable and interoperable way. Tool usage should be easy and intuitive. A middleware supports a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) as well as a database/tool development independently. We validated the approach of our own software development and compared the different design paradigms in various software solutions. PMID:25383181

Animal models in epigenetic research: institutional animal care and use committee considerations across the lifespan.

PubMed

Harris, Craig

2012-01-01

The rapid expansion and evolution of epigenetics as a core scientific discipline have raised new questions about how endogenous and environmental factors can inform the mechanisms through which biological form and function are regulated. Existing and proposed animal models used for epigenetic research have targeted a myriad of health and disease endpoints that may be acute, chronic, and transgenerational in nature. Initiating events and outcomes may extend across the entire lifespan to elicit unanticipated phenotypes that are of particular concern to institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs). The dynamics and plasticity of epigenetic mechanisms produce effects and consequences that are manifest differentially within discreet spatial and temporal contexts, including prenatal development, stem cells, assisted reproductive technologies, production of sexual dimorphisms, senescence, and others. Many dietary and nutritional interventions have also been shown to have a significant impact on biological functions and disease susceptibilities through altered epigenetic programming. The environmental, chemical, toxic, therapeutic, and psychosocial stressors used in animal studies to elicit epigenetic changes can become extreme and should raise IACUC concerns for the well-being and proper care of all research animals involved. Epigenetics research is rapidly becoming an integral part of the search for mechanisms in every major area of biomedical and behavioral research and will foster the continued development of new animal models. From the IACUC perspective, care must be taken to acknowledge the particular needs and concerns created by superimposition of epigenetic mechanisms over diverse fields of investigation to ensure the proper care and use of animals without impeding scientific progress.

The INNs and outs of antibody nonproprietary names

PubMed Central

Jones, Tim D.; Carter, Paul J.; Plückthun, Andreas; Vásquez, Max; Holgate, Robert G.E.; Hötzel, Isidro; Popplewell, Andrew G.; Parren, Paul W.H.I.; Enzelberger, Markus; Rademaker, Hendrik J.; Clark, Michael R.; Lowe, David C.; Dahiyat, Bassil I.; Smith, Victoria; Lambert, John M.; Wu, Herren; Reilly, Mary; Haurum, John S.; Dübel, Stefan; Huston, James S.; Schirrmann, Thomas; Janssen, Richard A.J.; Steegmaier, Martin; Gross, Jane A.; Bradbury, Andrew R.M.; Burton, Dennis R.; Dimitrov, Dimiter S.; Chester, Kerry A.; Glennie, Martin J.; Davies, Julian; Walker, Adam; Martin, Steve; McCafferty, John; Baker, Matthew P.

2016-01-01

An important step in drug development is the assignment of an International Nonproprietary Name (INN) by the World Health Organization (WHO) that provides healthcare professionals with a unique and universally available designated name to identify each pharmaceutical substance. Monoclonal antibody INNs comprise a –mab suffix preceded by a substem indicating the antibody type, e.g., chimeric (-xi-), humanized (-zu-), or human (-u-). The WHO publishes INN definitions that specify how new monoclonal antibody therapeutics are categorized and adapts the definitions to new technologies. However, rapid progress in antibody technologies has blurred the boundaries between existing antibody categories and created a burgeoning array of new antibody formats. Thus, revising the INN system for antibodies is akin to aiming for a rapidly moving target. The WHO recently revised INN definitions for antibodies now to be based on amino acid sequence identity. These new definitions, however, are critically flawed as they are ambiguous and go against decades of scientific literature. A key concern is the imposition of an arbitrary threshold for identity against human germline antibody variable region sequences. This leads to inconsistent classification of somatically mutated human antibodies, humanized antibodies as well as antibodies derived from semi-synthetic/synthetic libraries and transgenic animals. Such sequence-based classification implies clear functional distinction between categories (e.g., immunogenicity). However, there is no scientific evidence to support this. Dialog between the WHO INN Expert Group and key stakeholders is needed to develop a new INN system for antibodies and to avoid confusion and miscommunication between researchers and clinicians prescribing antibodies. PMID:26716992

Towards adaptive, streaming analysis of x-ray tomography data

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

Thomas, Mathew; Kleese van Dam, Kerstin; Marshall, Matthew J.

2015-03-04

Temporal and spatial resolution of chemical imaging methodologies such as x-ray tomography are rapidly increasing, leading to more complex experimental procedures and fast growing data volumes. Automated analysis pipelines and big data analytics are becoming essential to effectively evaluate the results of such experiments. Offering those data techniques in an adaptive, streaming environment can further substantially improve the scientific discovery process, by enabling experimental control and steering based on the evaluation of emerging phenomena as they are observed by the experiment. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)’ Chemical Imaging Initiative (CII - http://imaging.pnnl.gov/ ) has worked since 2011 towards developing amore » framework that allows users to rapidly compose and customize high throughput experimental analysis pipelines for multiple instrument types. The framework, named ‘Rapid Experimental Analysis’ (REXAN) Framework [1], is based on the idea of reusable component libraries and utilizes the PNNL developed collaborative data management and analysis environment ‘Velo’, to provide a user friendly analysis and data management environment for experimental facilities. This article will, discuss the capabilities established for X-Ray tomography, discuss lessons learned, and provide an overview of our more recent work in the Analysis in Motion Initiative (AIM - http://aim.pnnl.gov/ ) at PNNL to provide REXAN capabilities in a streaming environment.« less

Strategic Reading, Ontologies, and the Future of Scientific Publishing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renear, Allen H.; Palmer, Carole L.

2009-08-01

The revolution in scientific publishing that has been promised since the 1980s is about to take place. Scientists have always read strategically, working with many articles simultaneously to search, filter, scan, link, annotate, and analyze fragments of content. An observed recent increase in strategic reading in the online environment will soon be further intensified by two current trends: (i) the widespread use of digital indexing, retrieval, and navigation resources and (ii) the emergence within many scientific disciplines of interoperable ontologies. Accelerated and enhanced by reading tools that take advantage of ontologies, reading practices will become even more rapid and indirect, transforming the ways in which scientists engage the literature and shaping the evolution of scientific publishing.

Scientific Training in the Era of Big Data: A New Pedagogy for Graduate Education.

PubMed

Aikat, Jay; Carsey, Thomas M; Fecho, Karamarie; Jeffay, Kevin; Krishnamurthy, Ashok; Mucha, Peter J; Rajasekar, Arcot; Ahalt, Stanley C

2017-03-01

The era of "big data" has radically altered the way scientific research is conducted and new knowledge is discovered. Indeed, the scientific method is rapidly being complemented and even replaced in some fields by data-driven approaches to knowledge discovery. This paradigm shift is sometimes referred to as the "fourth paradigm" of data-intensive and data-enabled scientific discovery. Interdisciplinary research with a hard emphasis on translational outcomes is becoming the norm in all large-scale scientific endeavors. Yet, graduate education remains largely focused on individual achievement within a single scientific domain, with little training in team-based, interdisciplinary data-oriented approaches designed to translate scientific data into new solutions to today's critical challenges. In this article, we propose a new pedagogy for graduate education: data-centered learning for the domain-data scientist. Our approach is based on four tenets: (1) Graduate training must incorporate interdisciplinary training that couples the domain sciences with data science. (2) Graduate training must prepare students for work in data-enabled research teams. (3) Graduate training must include education in teaming and leadership skills for the data scientist. (4) Graduate training must provide experiential training through academic/industry practicums and internships. We emphasize that this approach is distinct from today's graduate training, which offers training in either data science or a domain science (e.g., biology, sociology, political science, economics, and medicine), but does not integrate the two within a single curriculum designed to prepare the next generation of domain-data scientists. We are in the process of implementing the proposed pedagogy through the development of a new graduate curriculum based on the above four tenets, and we describe herein our strategy, progress, and lessons learned. While our pedagogy was developed in the context of graduate education, the general approach of data-centered learning can and should be applied to students and professionals at any stage of their education, including at the K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. We believe that the time is right to embed data-centered learning within our educational system and, thus, generate the talent required to fully harness the potential of big data.

The Role of University Science Faculty in Promoting Meaningful Educational Change Through Inservice Teacher Professional Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuster, D. A.

2005-12-01

The role of university faculty in promoting meaningful educational change through inservice teacher professional development has long been theorized, but seldom modeled. Cordial relations and clear mutual goals shared between discipline specialists, such as university scientists and the K - 12 staff development communities, have not existed, and dysfunctional relationships between K-12 schools and the university over the past century have inhibited the solidification of these meaningful professional development partnerships. Our research suggest that inservice teachers tend to learn more about scientific processes in settings where they have the opportunity to interact and engage in an environment where opportunities for learning are promoted by participation and work with professionals in the sciences: University scientists that fostered collaborative flexible environments and treated teachers as professionals appear to have had greater impacts on teachers' learning about the creative, imaginative, social, and cultural aspect of science than the university scientists who treated teachers as technicians. Our work challenges many of the seminal studies and in-depth literature reviews of the last 15 years that assert that an explicit/reflective approach is most effective in promoting adequate conceptions of science among both prospective and practicing teachers. It should be noted, however, that all of these previous studies were conducted in the context of preservice elementary and secondary science methods courses and the process of generalizing these findings to practicing teachers appears to have occurred only in literature reviews and is not clearly substantiated in published research reports. Our study recommends that science teacher professional development should involve initiating inservice teachers into the ideas and practices of the scientific community. Teaching is a learning profession and professional development contexts need to assign teachers a certain amount of responsibility for their own learning. The work of science teaching cannot be accomplished without teacher learning, and teachers of science learn about scientific communities when scientists invite them to engage in the context of scientific practice. Unfortunately, numerous state and federal policies do not support science teachers as they seek to achieve these ends. Many of these policies push schools and universities to design professional development offerings that attempt to generate social capital in order to improve the school as an organization and do not the enrich the individual science teacher. However, these systems of professional development do not acknowledge that scientific knowledge is rapidly changing and K - 12 science teachers and curricula require continual renewal if they are to be accessible and relevant to students' lives. The university is uniquely situated to provide contexts through which inservice teachers can realize the "social and cultural embeddedness of scientific knowledge" (Lederman et. al., 2002).

Nanopore Sequencing as a Rapidly Deployable Ebola Outbreak Tool

PubMed Central

Groseth, Allison; Rosenke, Kyle; Fischer, Robert J.; Hoenen, Andreas; Judson, Seth D.; Martellaro, Cynthia; Falzarano, Darryl; Marzi, Andrea; Squires, R. Burke; Wollenberg, Kurt R.; de Wit, Emmie; Prescott, Joseph; Safronetz, David; van Doremalen, Neeltje; Bushmaker, Trenton; Feldmann, Friederike; McNally, Kristin; Bolay, Fatorma K.; Fields, Barry; Sealy, Tara; Rayfield, Mark; Nichol, Stuart T.; Zoon, Kathryn C.; Massaquoi, Moses; Munster, Vincent J.; Feldmann, Heinz

2016-01-01

Rapid sequencing of RNA/DNA from pathogen samples obtained during disease outbreaks provides critical scientific and public health information. However, challenges exist for exporting samples to laboratories or establishing conventional sequencers in remote outbreak regions. We successfully used a novel, pocket-sized nanopore sequencer at a field diagnostic laboratory in Liberia during the current Ebola virus outbreak. PMID:26812583

Comprehensive review on herbal medicine for energy intake suppression.

PubMed

Yuliana, N D; Jahangir, M; Korthout, H; Choi, Y H; Kim, H K; Verpoorte, R

2011-07-01

The obesity drug development is present not a bright and successful story. So far, drugs reported to be effective, either from synthetic or natural sources, mostly stimulated controversy because of serious adverse effects, which ended with stopping clinical trials or even withdrawal from the market. However, obesity and its comorbidities have become rapidly a major problem in both developed and developing countries. This has encouraged pharmaceutical companies and academia to keep on struggling on developing novel effective but safe obesity drugs, and on characterizing novel obesity drug targets. From existing scientific work on obesity drug discovery and commercial slimming preparations, compounds originating from nature, especially from plants, seem to be the first choice. Traditional belief that herbal medicine is safer than synthetic ones is one of the classical arguments, although scientifically this is not always true (e.g. ban on Ephedra). But in general, it has been widely acknowledged that a plant compound, with its unique scaffolds and rich diversity is an unlimited source of novel lead compounds. This paper aims to summarize all works focused on screening plant materials by targeting important pathways related to energy intake regulation, either by in vivo or in vitro experiments. © 2010 The Authors. obesity reviews © 2010 International Association for the Study of Obesity.

Scientific Integrity and Professional Ethics at AGU - The Establishment and Evolution of an Ethics Program at a Large Scientific Society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McPhaden, Michael; Leinen, Margaret; McEntee, Christine; Townsend, Randy; Williams, Billy

2016-04-01

The American Geophysical Union, a scientific society of 62,000 members worldwide, has established a set of scientific integrity and professional ethics guidelines for the actions of its members, for the governance of the union in its internal activities, and for the operations and participation in its publications and scientific meetings. This presentation will provide an overview of the Ethics program at AGU, highlighting the reasons for its establishment, the process of dealing ethical breaches, the number and types of cases considered, how AGU helps educate its members on Ethics issues, and the rapidly evolving efforts at AGU to address issues related to the emerging field of GeoEthics. The presentation will also cover the most recent AGU Ethics program focus on the role for AGU and other scientific societies in addressing sexual harassment, and AGU's work to provide additional program strength in this area.

Adaptable data management for systems biology investigations

PubMed Central

Boyle, John; Rovira, Hector; Cavnor, Chris; Burdick, David; Killcoyne, Sarah; Shmulevich, Ilya

2009-01-01

Background Within research each experiment is different, the focus changes and the data is generated from a continually evolving barrage of technologies. There is a continual introduction of new techniques whose usage ranges from in-house protocols through to high-throughput instrumentation. To support these requirements data management systems are needed that can be rapidly built and readily adapted for new usage. Results The adaptable data management system discussed is designed to support the seamless mining and analysis of biological experiment data that is commonly used in systems biology (e.g. ChIP-chip, gene expression, proteomics, imaging, flow cytometry). We use different content graphs to represent different views upon the data. These views are designed for different roles: equipment specific views are used to gather instrumentation information; data processing oriented views are provided to enable the rapid development of analysis applications; and research project specific views are used to organize information for individual research experiments. This management system allows for both the rapid introduction of new types of information and the evolution of the knowledge it represents. Conclusion Data management is an important aspect of any research enterprise. It is the foundation on which most applications are built, and must be easily extended to serve new functionality for new scientific areas. We have found that adopting a three-tier architecture for data management, built around distributed standardized content repositories, allows us to rapidly develop new applications to support a diverse user community. PMID:19265554

ShakeMap manual: technical manual, user's guide, and software guide

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wald, David J.; Worden, Bruce C.; Quitoriano, Vincent; Pankow, Kris L.

2005-01-01

ShakeMap (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/shakemap) --rapidly, automatically generated shaking and intensity maps--combines instrumental measurements of shaking with information about local geology and earthquake location and magnitude to estimate shaking variations throughout a geographic area. The results are rapidly available via the Web through a variety of map formats, including Geographic Information System (GIS) coverages. These maps have become a valuable tool for emergency response, public information, loss estimation, earthquake planning, and post-earthquake engineering and scientific analyses. With the adoption of ShakeMap as a standard tool for a wide array of users and uses came an impressive demand for up-to-date technical documentation and more general guidelines for users and software developers. This manual is meant to address this need. ShakeMap, and associated Web and data products, are rapidly evolving as new advances in communications, earthquake science, and user needs drive improvements. As such, this documentation is organic in nature. We will make every effort to keep it current, but undoubtedly necessary changes in operational systems take precedence over producing and making documentation publishable.

[Scientific advice by the nationally competent authority and by the EMEA on the conduct of clinical trials].

PubMed

Dejas-Eckertz, P; Schäffner, G

2005-04-01

Scientific advice for potential applicants for marketing authorization for medicinal products has been part of the tasks of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) ever since its establishment in 1995, and has been of increasing significance. Based on Article 56(3) of Regulation (EC) No. 726/2004, this task is now the responsibility of an independent working group of the EMEA, the Scientific Advice Working Party (SAWP). National scientific and regulatory advice has also been part of the work of two national authorities in Germany, the Federal Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (BfArM) and the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) for several years, but has gained in significance especially over the past 3 years. The basis for advice at a national level is Article 71c of the Law on Administrative Procedures (Verwaltungs-Verfahrensgesetz), the Drug Law, the Guidelines for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (Arzneimittelprufrichtlinien), and relevant guidelines defining the scientific state of the art. A company developing medicinal products may consult the EMEA or the national authority at any time in order to obtain opinions on the investigations and studies on the pharmaceutical, preclinical and clinical development required for a particular stage of development. In this context, the focus is exclusively on the data required for the planned authorization and the assessment of the evaluation strategy suggested by the company itself. The agreement between the company and the regulatory authority prior to marketing approval is designed to achieve a more effective development of the product and to obtain a more rapid decision on a future authorization procedure. An important component of the scientific advice procedure is the discussion between the company and the agencies. The results of this oral exchange is always summarised in writing. Advice is available for all medicinal products, including "orphan drugs". At the European level, the authorization procedure is prepared with the EMEA which provides administrative and legal support, whereas the scientific opinion itself is elaborated by the members of SAWP, and is adopted by CHMP after a maximum of 3 months following the application. In addition to the written opinions elaborated by two members of SAWP, acting as coordinators, and the internal discussion, the exchange of positions within a "discussion meeting" is also an important part of the European procedure. Scientific advice is a fee-paying procedure, with certain exceptions. Experience from previous advice from the EMEA and the BfArM has shown a certain acceleration in subsequent procedures. This experience, however, also shows very clearly that it is the data actually established in the investigation, especially on efficacy and safety, which are important for a successful and fast approval procedure.

Rapid identification of triterpenoid sulfates and hydroxy fatty acids including two new constituents from Tydemania expeditionis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Zhang, Jian-Long; Kubanek, Julia; Hay, Mark E; Aalbersberg, William; Ye, Wen-Cai; Jiang, Ren-Wang

2011-09-01

Tydemania expeditionis Weber-van Bosse (Udoteaceae) is a weakly calcified green alga. In the present paper, liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection and electrospray mass spectrometry was developed to identify the fingerprint components. A total of four triterpenoid sulfates and three hydroxy fatty acids in the ethyl acetate fraction of the crude extract were structurally characterized on the basis of retention time, online UV spectrum, and mass fragmentation pattern. Furthermore, a detailed liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis revealed two new hydroxy fatty acids, which were then prepared and characterized by extensive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. The proposed method provides a scientific and technical platform for the rapid identification of triterpenoid sulfates and hydroxy fatty acids in similar marine algae and terrestrial plants. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Real-Time Continuous Identification of Greenhouse Plant Pathogens Based on Recyclable Microfluidic Bioassay System.

PubMed

Qu, Xiangmeng; Li, Min; Zhang, Hongbo; Lin, Chenglie; Wang, Fei; Xiao, Mingshu; Zhou, Yi; Shi, Jiye; Aldalbahi, Ali; Pei, Hao; Chen, Hong; Li, Li

2017-09-20

The development of a real-time continuous analytical platform for the pathogen detection is of great scientific importance for achieving better disease control and prevention. In this work, we report a rapid and recyclable microfluidic bioassay system constructed from oligonucleotide arrays for selective and sensitive continuous identification of DNA targets of fungal pathogens. We employ the thermal denaturation method to effectively regenerate the oligonucleotide arrays for multiple sample detection, which could considerably reduce the screening effort and costs. The combination of thermal denaturation and laser-induced fluorescence detection technique enables real-time continuous identification of multiple samples (<10 min per sample). As a proof of concept, we have demonstrated that two DNA targets of fungal pathogens (Botrytis cinerea and Didymella bryoniae) can be sequentially analyzed using our rapid microfluidic bioassay system, which provides a new paradigm in the design of microfluidic bioassay system and will be valuable for chemical and biomedical analysis.

2010 MULTIPHOTON PROCESSES GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE, JUNE 6-11, 2010, TILTON, NH

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

Mette Gaarde

2010-06-11

The Gordon Research Conference on Multiphoton Processes will be held for the 15th time in 2010. The meeting continues to evolve as it embraces both the rapid technological and intellectual growth in the field as well as the multi-disciplinary expertise of the participants. This time the sessions will focus on: (1) Ultrafast coherent control; (2) Free-electron laser experiments and theory; (3) Generation of harmonics and attosecond pulses; (4) Ultrafast imaging; (5) Applications of very high intensity laser fields; (6) Strong-field processes in molecules and solids; (7) Attosecond science; and (8) Controlling light. The scientific program will blur traditional disciplinary boundariesmore » as the presenters and discussion leaders involve chemists, physicists, and optical engineers, representing both experiment and theory. The broad range of expertise and different perspectives of attendees should provide a stimulating and unique environment for solving problems and developing new ideas in this rapidly evolving field.« less

Visual Display of Scientific Studies, Methods, and Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saltus, R. W.; Fedi, M.

2015-12-01

The need for efficient and effective communication of scientific ideas becomes more urgent each year.A growing number of societal and economic issues are tied to matters of science - e.g., climate change, natural resource availability, and public health. Societal and political debate should be grounded in a general understanding of scientific work in relevant fields. It is difficult for many participants in these debates to access science directly because the formal method for scientific documentation and dissemination is the journal paper, generally written for a highly technical and specialized audience. Journal papers are very effective and important for documentation of scientific results and are essential to the requirements of science to produce citable and repeatable results. However, journal papers are not effective at providing a quick and intuitive summary useful for public debate. Just as quantitative data are generally best viewed in graphic form, we propose that scientific studies also can benefit from visual summary and display. We explore the use of existing methods for diagramming logical connections and dependencies, such as Venn diagrams, mind maps, flow charts, etc., for rapidly and intuitively communicating the methods and results of scientific studies. We also discuss a method, specifically tailored to summarizing scientific papers that we introduced last year at AGU. Our method diagrams the relative importance and connections between data, methods/models, results/ideas, and implications/importance using a single-page format with connected elements in these four categories. Within each category (e.g., data) the spatial location of individual elements (e.g., seismic, topographic, gravity) indicates relative novelty (e.g., are these new data?) and importance (e.g., how critical are these data to the results of the paper?). The goal is to find ways to rapidly and intuitively share both the results and the process of science, both for communication between scientists and for communication more generally between scientists and other non-scientists.

Science Autonomy in Robotic Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roush, Ted L.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Historical mission operations have involved: (1) return of scientific data; (2) evaluation of these data by scientists; (3) recommendations for future mission activity by scientists; (4) commands for these transmitted to the craft; and (5) the activity being undertaken. This cycle is repeated throughout the mission with command opportunities once or twice per day. For a rover, this historical cycle is not amenable to rapid long range traverses or rapid response to any novel or unexpected situations. In addition to real-time response issues, imaging and/or spectroscopic devices can produce tremendous data volumes during a traverse. However, such data volumes can rapidly exceed on-board memory capabilities prior to the ability to transmit it to Earth. Additionally, the necessary communication band-widths are restrictive enough so that only a small portion of these data can actually be returned to Earth. Such scenarios suggest enabling some science decisions to be made on-board the robots. These decisions involve automating various aspects of scientific discovery instead of the electromechanical control, health, and navigation issues associated with robotic operations. The robot retains access to the full data fidelity obtained by its scientific sensors, and is in the best position to implement actions based upon these data. Such an approach would eventually enable the robot to alter observations and assure only the highest quality data is obtained for analysis. Additionally, the robot can begin to understand what is scientifically interesting and implement alternative observing sequences, because the observed data deviate from expectations based upon current theories/models of planetary processes. Such interesting data and/or conclusions can then be prioritized and selectively transmitted to Earth; reducing memory and communications demands. Results of Ames' current work in this area will be presented.

Robotic Exploration: The Role of Science Autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roush, Ted L.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Historical mission operations have involved: (1) return of scientific data; (2) evaluation of these data by scientists; (3) recommendations for future mission activity by scientists; (4) commands for these transmitted to the craft; and (5) the activity being, undertaken. This cycle is repeated throughout the mission with command opportunities once or twice per day. For a rover, this historical cycle is not amenable to rapid long range traverses or rapid response to any novel or unexpected situations. In addition to real-time response issues, imaging and/or spectroscopic devices can produce tremendous data volumes during a traverse. However, such data volumes can rapidly exceed on-board memory capabilities prior to the ability to transmit it to Earth. Additionally, the necessary communication band-widths are restrictive enough so that only a small portion of these data can actually be returned to Earth. Such scenarios suggest enabling some science decisions to be made on-board the robots. These decisions involve automating various aspects of scientific discovery instead of the electromechanical control, health, and navigation issues associated with robotic operations. The robot retains access to the full data fidelity obtained by its scientific sensors, and is in the best position to implement actions based upon these data. Such an approach would eventually enable the robot to alter observations and assure only the highest quality data is obtained for analysis. Additionally, the robot can begin to understand what is scientifically interesting and implement alternative observing sequences, because the observed data deviate from expectations based upon current theories/models of planetary processes. Such interesting data and/or conclusions can then be prioritized and selectively transmitted to Earth; reducing memory and communications demands. Results of Ames' current work in this area will be presented.

Retrogressive development: transcendental anatomy and teratology in nineteenth-century Britain.

PubMed

Bates, Alan W H

2014-01-01

In 1855 the leading British transcendental anatomist Robert Knox proposed a theory of retrogressive development according to which the human embryo could give rise to ancestral types or races and the animal embryo to other species within the same family. Unlike monsters attributed to the older theory of arrested development, new forms produced by retrogression were neither imperfect nor equivalent to a stage in the embryo's development. Instead, Knox postulated that embryos contained all possible specific forms in potentia. Retrogressive development could account for examples of atavism or racial throwbacks, and formed part of Knox's theory of rapid (saltatory) species change. Knox's evolutionary theorizing was soon eclipsed by the better presented and more socially acceptable Darwinian gradualism, but the concept of retrogressive development remained influential in anthropology and the social sciences, and Knox's work can be seen as the scientific basis for theories of physical, mental and cultural degeneracy.

Sustainable Development vs. Post-Industrial Transformation: Possibilities for Russia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhironkin, Sergey; Gasanov, Magerram; Barysheva, Galina; Gasanov, Eyvaz; Zhironkina, Olga; Kayachev, Gennady

2017-11-01

Today the theory of postindustrial society is one of the most widespread concepts which allow adequately comprehending the largescale changes that have occurred in the ecological consciousness of Western societies for the last thirty years. Offered in the late 1960s and early 1970s by American and European researchers in the field of economics, social philosophy, and ecology, the integrated idea of sustainable development in postindustrial era incorporated the best elements of the scientific tradition dating back to the Age of Enlightenment. The article emphasizes that the key to modern social progress is the rapid technological development based on the transformation of science into a direct productive force. The measure of such progress is a shift from pure economic growth to the sustainable development. The authors describe the ways of changing Russian Government's attitude to economy regulation in postindustrial development to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

Gamma--Ray burst afterglows with the Watcher robotic telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Topinka, M.; Hanlon, L.; Meehan, S.; Tisdall, P.; Jelínek, M.; Kubánek, P.; van Heerden, H.; Meintjes, P.

2014-12-01

The main scientific goal of the Watcher robotic telescope is the rapid follow-up observation of gamma--ray burst afterglows. Some examples of recent observations, including GRB 120327A and GRB 130606A, at a redshift of 5.9, are presented. The telescope has recently been successfully integrated into the GLORIA global robotic telescope network, which allows users to use the array for their own scientific projects.

[Changing surgical therapy because of clinical studies?].

PubMed

Schwenk, W; Haase, O; Müller, J M

2002-04-01

The randomised controlled clinical trial (RCT) is a powerful instrument to evaluate different therapeutic regimens. In a survey among 115 physicians visiting the 25th annual meeting of the Surgical Society of Berlin and Brandenburg, the RCT was judged to be very important when changes of therapeutic strategies are discussed. 90 % of all participants claimed to use data from RCTs in the clinical routine and 89 % would participate in such a trial. In official (e. g. discussions during coffee breaks at scientific meetings) or non-medical (e. g. non-scientific press or media) sources of information were assessed as irrelevant for decisions regarding therapeutic strategies. However, in contrast to this view laparoscopic cholecystectomy was introduced into clinical practice rapidly because patients informed by external (non-medical) sources preferred to be operated on with the "modern" technique. Clinical trials with a high level of evidence had no relevant influence on the rapid distribution of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Controversial discussions concerning the extent of lymphadenectomy with gastric resection for carcinoma demonstrate that the value of excellent clinical RCTs is low if their results challenge a stable paradigma of the surgical scientific society. To allow a rational judgement, new surgical technologies should undergo a scientific gradual evaluation in agreement with the principles of evidence based medicine.

Use of the computational-informational web-GIS system for the development of climatology students' skills in modeling and understanding climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordova, Yulia; Martynova, Yulia; Shulgina, Tamara

2015-04-01

The current situation with the training of specialists in environmental sciences is complicated by the fact that the very scientific field is experiencing a period of rapid development. Global change has caused the development of measurement techniques and modeling of environmental characteristics, accompanied by the expansion of the conceptual and mathematical apparatus. Understanding and forecasting processes in the Earth system requires extensive use of mathematical modeling and advanced computing technologies. As a rule, available training programs in the environmental sciences disciplines do not have time to adapt to such rapid changes in the domain content. As a result, graduates of faculties do not understand processes and mechanisms of the global change, have only superficial knowledge of mathematical modeling of processes in the environment. They do not have the required skills in numerical modeling, data processing and analysis of observations and computation outputs and are not prepared to work with the meteorological data. For adequate training of future specialists in environmental sciences we propose the following approach, which reflects the new "research" paradigm in education. We believe that the training of such specialists should be done not in an artificial learning environment, but based on actual operating information-computational systems used in environment studies, in the so-called virtual research environment via development of virtual research and learning laboratories. In the report the results of the use of computational-informational web-GIS system "Climate" (http://climate.scert.ru/) as a prototype of such laboratory are discussed. The approach is realized at Tomsk State University to prepare bachelors in meteorology. Student survey shows that their knowledge has become deeper and more systemic after undergoing training in virtual learning laboratory. The scientific team plans to assist any educators to utilize the system in earth science education. This work is partially supported by SB RAS project VIII.80.2.1, RFBR grants 13-05-12034 and 14-05-00502.

Chemical regulation on fire: rapid policy advances on flame retardants.

PubMed

Cordner, Alissa; Mulcahy, Margaret; Brown, Phil

2013-07-02

Chemicals that are widely used in consumer products offer challenges to product manufacturers, risk managers, environmental regulators, environmental scientists, and the interested public. However, the factors that cause specific chemicals to rise to the level of regulatory, scientific, and social movement concern and scrutiny are not well documented, and scientists are frequently unclear about exactly how their research impacts policy. Through a case study of advocacy around flame retardant chemicals, this paper traces the pathways through which scientific evidence and concern is marshaled by both advocacy groups and media sources to affect policy change. We focus our analysis around a broad coalition of environmental and public health advocacy organizations and an investigative journalism series published in 2012 in the Chicago Tribune. We demonstrate that the Tribune series both brought the issue to a wider public audience and precipitated government action, including state policy revisions and federal Senate hearings. We also show how a broad and successful flame retardant coalition developed, leveraged a media event, and influenced policy at multiple institutional levels. The analysis draws on over 110 in-depth interviews, literature and Web site reviews, and observations at a flame retardant manufacturing company, government offices, and scientific and advocacy conferences.

VESL: The Virtual Earth Sheet Laboratory for Ice Sheet Modeling and Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, D. L. C.; Larour, E. Y.; Quinn, J. D.; Halkides, D. J.

2016-12-01

We introduce the Virtual Earth System Laboratory (VESL), a scientific modeling and visualization tool delivered through an integrated web portal for dissemination of data, simulation of physical processes, and promotion of climate literacy. The current prototype leverages NASA's Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM), a state-of-the-art polar ice sheet dynamics model developed at the Jet Propulsion Lab and UC Irvine. We utilize the Emscripten source-to-source compiler to convert the C/C++ ISSM engine core to JavaScript, and bundled pre/post-processing JS scripts to be compatible with the existing ISSM Python/Matlab API. Researchers using VESL will be able to effectively present their work for public dissemination with little-to-no additional post-processing. This will allow for faster publication in peer-reviewed journals and adaption of results for educational applications. Through future application of this concept to multiple aspects of the Earth System, VESL has the potential to broaden data applications in the geosciences and beyond. At this stage, we seek feedback from the greater scientific and public outreach communities regarding the ease of use and feature set of VESL, as we plan its expansion, and aim to achieve more rapid communication and presentation of scientific results.

'Sciencenet'--towards a global search and share engine for all scientific knowledge.

PubMed

Lütjohann, Dominic S; Shah, Asmi H; Christen, Michael P; Richter, Florian; Knese, Karsten; Liebel, Urban

2011-06-15

Modern biological experiments create vast amounts of data which are geographically distributed. These datasets consist of petabytes of raw data and billions of documents. Yet to the best of our knowledge, a search engine technology that searches and cross-links all different data types in life sciences does not exist. We have developed a prototype distributed scientific search engine technology, 'Sciencenet', which facilitates rapid searching over this large data space. By 'bringing the search engine to the data', we do not require server farms. This platform also allows users to contribute to the search index and publish their large-scale data to support e-Science. Furthermore, a community-driven method guarantees that only scientific content is crawled and presented. Our peer-to-peer approach is sufficiently scalable for the science web without performance or capacity tradeoff. The free to use search portal web page and the downloadable client are accessible at: http://sciencenet.kit.edu. The web portal for index administration is implemented in ASP.NET, the 'AskMe' experiment publisher is written in Python 2.7, and the backend 'YaCy' search engine is based on Java 1.6.

Opinions on population.

PubMed

1994-01-01

Great friction currently exists between family planning advocates and institutions opposed to contraception or abortion on religious grounds as the time draws near to convene the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development. A rift is also open between those who understand rapid population growth as a symptom of deep social inequities and those who see it only as a disease unto itself. The Human Development Report 1994 notes that human development like women's education is often the most powerful contraceptive, while the Vatican complains that the conference is about cultural imperialism. Planned Parenthood, however, counters that the Vatican has its head in the sand with regard to modern life and lifestyles. Other short comments are listed by the Executive Coordinator of the conference, the founder of Scientific American, and the Schiller Institute.

Biology and Medicine Division annual report, 1987

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

Not Available

Modern biology is characterized by rapid change. The development of new tools and the results derived from their application to various biological systems require significant shifts in our concepts and the strategies that are adopted to analyze and elucidate mechanisms. In parallel with exciting new scientific developments our organizational structure and programmatic emphases have altered. These changes and developments have enabled the life sciences at LBL to be better positioned to create and respond to new opportunities. The work summarized in this annual report reflects a vital multifaceted research program that is in the vanguard of the areas represented. Wemore » are committed to justifying the confidence expressed by LBL through the new mission statement and reorganizational changes designed to give greater prominence to the life sciences.« less

Animal Models of Zika Virus Infection, Pathogenesis, and Immunity

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that now causes epidemics affecting millions of people on multiple continents. The virus has received global attention because of some of its unusual epidemiological and clinical features, including persistent infection in the male reproductive tract and sexual transmission, an ability to cross the placenta during pregnancy and infect the developing fetus to cause congenital malformations, and its association with Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. This past year has witnessed an intensive effort by the global scientific community to understand the biology of ZIKV and to develop pathogenesis models for the rapid testing of possible countermeasures. Here, we review the recent advances in and utility and limitations of newly developed mouse and nonhuman primate models of ZIKV infection and pathogenesis. PMID:28148798

DECISION-MAKING ALIGNED WITH RAPID-CYCLE EVALUATION IN HEALTH CARE.

PubMed

Schneeweiss, Sebastian; Shrank, William H; Ruhl, Michael; Maclure, Malcolm

2015-01-01

Availability of real-time electronic healthcare data provides new opportunities for rapid-cycle evaluation (RCE) of health technologies, including healthcare delivery and payment programs. We aim to align decision-making processes with stages of RCE to optimize the usefulness and impact of rapid results. Rational decisions about program adoption depend on program effect size in relation to externalities, including implementation cost, sustainability, and likelihood of broad adoption. Drawing on case studies and experience from drug safety monitoring, we examine how decision makers have used scientific evidence on complex interventions in the past. We clarify how RCE alters the nature of policy decisions; develop the RAPID framework for synchronizing decision-maker activities with stages of RCE; and provide guidelines on evidence thresholds for incremental decision-making. In contrast to traditional evaluations, RCE provides early evidence on effectiveness and facilitates a stepped approach to decision making in expectation of future regularly updated evidence. RCE allows for identification of trends in adjusted effect size. It supports adapting a program in midstream in response to interim findings, or adapting the evaluation strategy to identify true improvements earlier. The 5-step RAPID approach that utilizes the cumulating evidence of program effectiveness over time could increase policy-makers' confidence in expediting decisions. RCE enables a step-wise approach to HTA decision-making, based on gradually emerging evidence, reducing delays in decision-making processes after traditional one-time evaluations.

Exploring a road map to counter misconceptions about the cervicovaginal microbiome and disease.

PubMed

Macklaim, Jean M; Cohen, Craig R; Donders, Gilbert; Gloor, Gregory B; Hill, Janet E; Parham, Groesbeck P; Ravel, Jacques; Spear, Gregory; van de Wijgert, Janneke; Reid, Gregor

2012-11-01

Urogenital diseases, especially infection and cancer, are major causes of death and morbidity in females. Yet, millions of women in the developing world have no access to basic urogynecological care, and the diagnosis and treatment of widespread aberrant bacterial conditions (bacterial vaginosis [BV] and aerobic vaginitis [AV]) remain suboptimal the world over. Samples from women living in resource-disadvantaged and developed countries have been analyzed by high-throughput sequencing to reveal the diversity of bacteria in the vagina, how rapidly the bacterial population fluctuates over time, and how rapidly the switch occurs between healthy and aberrant conditions. Unfortunately, clinical diagnostic methods are inefficient and too often outdated therapies are administered. The net result is suboptimal care and recurrent disease that adversely affects the quality of life. This viewpoint outlines a scientific and translational road map designed to improve the cervicovaginal health and treatment of disease. This comprises (1) improving education of women and physicians on the vaginal microbiota; (2) having agencies target funding for research to improve diagnosis and test new therapies; and (3) making sure that new approaches are accessible in developing countries, empowering to women, and are acceptable and appropriate for different populations.

Exploring a Road Map to Counter Misconceptions About the Cervicovaginal Microbiome and Disease

PubMed Central

Macklaim, Jean M.; Cohen, Craig R.; Donders, Gilbert; Gloor, Gregory B.; Hill, Janet E.; Parham, Groesbeck P.; Ravel, Jacques; Spear, Gregory; van de Wijgert, Janneke

2012-01-01

Urogenital diseases, especially infection and cancer, are major causes of death and morbidity in females. Yet, millions of women in the developing world have no access to basic urogynecological care, and the diagnosis and treatment of widespread aberrant bacterial conditions (bacterial vaginosis [BV] and aerobic vaginitis [AV]) remain suboptimal the world over. Samples from women living in resource-disadvantaged and developed countries have been analyzed by high-throughput sequencing to reveal the diversity of bacteria in the vagina, how rapidly the bacterial population fluctuates over time, and how rapidly the switch occurs between healthy and aberrant conditions. Unfortunately, clinical diagnostic methods are inefficient and too often outdated therapies are administered. The net result is suboptimal care and recurrent disease that adversely affects the quality of life. This viewpoint outlines a scientific and translational road map designed to improve the cervicovaginal health and treatment of disease. This comprises (1) improving education of women and physicians on the vaginal microbiota; (2) having agencies target funding for research to improve diagnosis and test new therapies; and (3) making sure that new approaches are accessible in developing countries, empowering to women, and are acceptable and appropriate for different populations. PMID:22614624

A gradient analysis on urban sprawl and urban landscape pattern between 1985 and 2000 in the Pearl River Delta, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, Erfu; Wu, Zhuo; Du, Xiaodian

2017-04-01

Urbanization is an irreversible trend worldwide, especially in rapidly developing China. Accelerated urbanization has resulted in rapid urban sprawl and urban landscape pattern changes. Quantifying the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban land use and landscape pattern not only can reveal the characteristics of social transfer and economic development, but also can provide insights into the driving mechanisms of land use changes. In this study, we integrated remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS), landscape metrics, and gradient analysis to quantitatively compare the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use, urban sprawl, and landscape pattern for nine cities in the Pearl River Delta from 1985‒2000. For the whole study region, urbanization was obvious. The results show an increase in urban buildup land and shrinkage of cropland in the Pearl River Delta. However, the nine cities differed greatly in terms of the process and magnitude of urban sprawl for both the spatial and temporal dimensions. This was most evident for the cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Gradient analysis on urban landscape changes could deepen understanding of the stages of urban development and provide a scientific foundation for future urban planning and land management strategies in China.

Development of urban green space monitoring technique with remote sensing and its application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gradinaru, Cristian; Herban, Ioan Sorin; Gabor, Cristian

2016-06-01

City is the important area of earth's surface material, energy, and information exchanging; also it is the centre of national, regional political, economic, scientific and cultural aspects. A mere 10% of the global population were urban dwellers in 1900, but that percentage exceeds 50% now (Grimm et al. 2008). With the rapid economic development, city is suffering from a series of serious problems such as air pollution, solid waste pollution, vegetation reduction, deterioration of water quality and living environment. Threats to our environment represent a clear danger in the context of climate change, which is part of the "Global Change", and it is obvious that action is needed right now to protect our quality of life, particularly for those most vulnerable to health threats from environmental and technological disasters. Therefore, our top priority should be to avoid human and material losses. The security area is not only defined by disaster management, but by a wide variety of events that could affect the environment and the population's health. Following the rapid development of urban areas, a present tendency is represented by the study of those factors that place some areas in categories with high risk for natural and anthropic hazard.

Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiegmann, Bruce M.

2015-01-01

A recent six month investigation focused on: "Determining the benefits of propelling a scientific spacecraft by an 'Electric Sail' propulsion system to the edge of our solar system (the Heliopause), a distance of 100 to 120 AU, in ten years or less" has recently been completed by the Advance Concepts Office at NASA's MSFC. The concept investigated has been named the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) by the MSFC team. The HERTS is a revolutionary propellant-less propulsion concept that is ideal for deep space missions to the Outer Planets, Heliopause, and beyond. It is unique in that it uses momentum exchange from naturally occurring solar wind protons to propel a spacecraft within the heliosphere. The propulsion system consists of an array of electrically positively-biased wires that extend outward 20 km from a rotating (one revolution per hour) spacecraft. It was determined that the HERTS system can accelerate a spacecraft to velocities as much as two to three times that possible by any realistic extrapolation of current state-of-the-art propulsion technologies- including solar electric and solar sail propulsion systems. The data produced show that a scientific spacecraft could reach distances of 100AU in less than 10 years. Moreover, it can be reasonably expected that this system could be developed within a decade and provide meaningful Heliophysics Science and Outer Planetary Science returns in the 2025-2035 timeframe.

Crowd-Sourcing Seismic Data: Lessons Learned from the Quake-Catcher Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cochran, E. S.; Sumy, D. F.; DeGroot, R. M.; Clayton, R. W.

2015-12-01

The Quake Catcher Network (QCN; qcn.caltech.edu) uses low cost micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensors hosted by volunteers to collect seismic data. Volunteers use accelerometers internal to laptop computers, phones, tablets or small (the size of a matchbox) MEMS sensors plugged into desktop computers using a USB connector to collect scientifically useful data. Data are collected and sent to a central server using the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) distributed computing software. Since 2008, when the first citizen scientists joined the QCN project, sensors installed in museums, schools, offices, and residences have collected thousands of earthquake records. We present and describe the rapid installations of very dense sensor networks that have been undertaken following several large earthquakes including the 2010 M8.8 Maule Chile, the 2010 M7.1 Darfield, New Zealand, and the 2015 M7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake. These large data sets allowed seismologists to develop new rapid earthquake detection capabilities and closely examine source, path, and site properties that impact ground shaking at a site. We show how QCN has engaged a wide sector of the public in scientific data collection, providing the public with insights into how seismic data are collected and used. Furthermore, we describe how students use data recorded by QCN sensors installed in their classrooms to explore and investigate earthquakes that they felt, as part of 'teachable moment' exercises.

Nondestructive sensing technologies using micro-optical elements for applications in the NIR-MIR spectral regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, Thomas; Saupe, Ray; Bruch, Reinhard F.; Fritzsch, Uwe; Stock, Volker; Gessner, Thomas; Afanasyeva, Natalia I.

2001-11-01

The field of microtechnology is an important industrial and scientific resource for the 21st century. There is a great interest in spectroscopic sensors in the near and middle infrared (NIR-MIR) wavelength regions (1 - 2.5 micrometers ; 2.5 - 4.5 micrometers ; 4 - 6 micrometers ). The potential for cheap and small devices for nondestructive, remote sensing techniques at a molecular level has stimulated the design and development of more compact analyzer systems. Therefore we will try to build analyzers using micro optical components such as micromirrors and embossed micro gratings optimized for the above mentioned spectral ranges. Potentially, infrared sensors can be used for rapid nondestructive diagnostics of surfaces, liquids, gases, polymers and complex biological systems including proteins, blood, cells and cellular debris as well as body tissue. Furthermore, NIR-MIR microsensing spectroscopy will be utilized to monitor the chemical composition of petrochemical products like gasoline and diesel. In addition, miniature analyzers will be used for rapid measuring of food, in particular oil, starch and meat. In this paper we will present an overview of several new approaches for subsurface and surface sensing technologies based on the integration of optical micro devices, the most promising sensors for biomedical, environmental and industrial applications, data processing and evaluation algorithms for classification of the results. Both scientific and industrial applications will be discussed.

How chemistry supports cell biology: the chemical toolbox at your service.

PubMed

Wijdeven, Ruud H; Neefjes, Jacques; Ovaa, Huib

2014-12-01

Chemical biology is a young and rapidly developing scientific field. In this field, chemistry is inspired by biology to create various tools to monitor and modulate biochemical and cell biological processes. Chemical contributions such as small-molecule inhibitors and activity-based probes (ABPs) can provide new and unique insights into previously unexplored cellular processes. This review provides an overview of recent breakthroughs in chemical biology that are likely to have a significant impact on cell biology. We also discuss the application of several chemical tools in cell biology research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Solar Sail Propulsion for Interplanetary Cubesats

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Les; Sobey, Alex; Sykes, Kevin

2015-01-01

NASA is developing two small satellite missions as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program, both of which will use a solar sail to enable their scientific objectives. Solar sails use sunlight to propel vehicles through space by reflecting solar photons from a large, mirror-like sail made of a lightweight, highly reflective material. This continuous photon pressure provides propellantless thrust, allowing for very high (Delta)V maneuvers on long-duration, deep space exploration. Since reflected light produces thrust, solar sails require no onboard propellant. Solar sail technology is rapidly maturing for space propulsion applications within NASA and around the world.

Scientific Programming Using Java and C: A Remote Sensing Example

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prados, Donald; Johnson, Michael; Mohamed, Mohamed A.; Cao, Chang-Yong; Gasser, Jerry; Powell, Don; McGregor, Lloyd

1999-01-01

This paper presents results of a project to port code for processing remotely sensed data from the UNIX environment to Windows. Factors considered during this process include time schedule, cost, resource availability, reuse of existing code, rapid interface development, ease of integration, and platform independence. The approach selected for this project used both Java and C. By using Java for the graphical user interface and C for the domain model, the strengths of both languages were utilized and the resulting code can easily be ported to other platforms. The advantages of this approach are discussed in this paper.

TUTORIAL: 'Mind the gap': science and ethics in nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mnyusiwalla, Anisa; Daar, Abdallah S.; Singer, Peter A.

2003-03-01

Nanotechnology (NT) is a rapidly progressing field. Advances will have a tremendous impact on fields such as materials, electronics, and medicine. A thorough review of the current literature, governmental funding, and policy documents was undertaken. Despite the potential impact of NT, and the abundance of funds, our research revealed that there is a paucity of serious, published research into the ethical, legal, and social implications of NT. As the science leaps ahead, the ethics lags behind. There is danger of derailing NT if the study of ethical, legal, and social implications does not catch up with the speed of scientific development.

The LSST Data Mining Research Agenda

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borne, K.; Becla, J.; Davidson, I.; Szalay, A.; Tyson, J. A.

2008-12-01

We describe features of the LSST science database that are amenable to scientific data mining, object classification, outlier identification, anomaly detection, image quality assurance, and survey science validation. The data mining research agenda includes: scalability (at petabytes scales) of existing machine learning and data mining algorithms; development of grid-enabled parallel data mining algorithms; designing a robust system for brokering classifications from the LSST event pipeline (which may produce 10,000 or more event alerts per night) multi-resolution methods for exploration of petascale databases; indexing of multi-attribute multi-dimensional astronomical databases (beyond spatial indexing) for rapid querying of petabyte databases; and more.

Recent advances and versatility of MAGE towards industrial applications.

PubMed

Singh, Vijai; Braddick, Darren

2015-12-01

The genome engineering toolkit has expanded significantly in recent years, allowing us to study the functions of genes in cellular networks and assist in over-production of proteins, drugs, chemicals and biofuels. Multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE) has been recently developed and gained more scientific interest towards strain engineering. MAGE is a simple, rapid and efficient tool for manipulating genes simultaneously in multiple loci, assigning genetic codes and integrating non-natural amino acids. MAGE can be further expanded towards the engineering of fast, robust and over-producing strains for chemicals, drugs and biofuels at industrial scales.

[In Process Citation].

PubMed

Akner, Gunnar; Järhult, Bengt

2016-05-17

The international trend »value-based care« (VbC) started with a book by Porter and Olmsted Teisberg in 2006 followed by Porter's 7-point proposal for value-based reform of health care in 2009. VbC may have relevance for delimited, procedure-related health problems with a foreseeable course of development. Most health problems in health care, however, do not involve such delimited problems. VbC is probably not suited as a steering model for chronic health conditions or for multiple health problems. VbC is being rapidly introduced to steer health care without scientific evidence.

Research approach and first results on agglomerate compaction in protoplanetary dust simulation in the Cloud Manipulation System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vedernikov, Andrei; Blum, Jurgen; Ingo Von Borstel, Olaf; Schraepler, Rainer; Balapanov, Daniyar; Cecere, Anselmo

2016-07-01

Nanometre and micrometre-sized solid particles are ubiquitous in space and on Earth - from galaxies, interstellar space, protoplanetary and debris disks to planetary rings and atmospheres, planetary surfaces, comets, interplanetary space, Earth's atmosphere. Apparently, the most intriguing problem in the picture of the formation of planets is the transition from individual microscopic dust grains to kilometre-sized planetesimals. Revealing the mechanisms of this transition is one of the main tasks of the European Space Agency's project Interaction in Cosmic and Atmospheric Particle Systems (ICAPS). It was found that Brownian motion driven agglomeration could not provide the transition within reasonable time scale. As a result, at this stage top scientific goals shifted towards forced agglomeration and concentration of particles, targeting revealing the onset of compaction, experimental study of the evolution of fractal dimensions, size and mass distribution, occurrence of bouncing. The main tasks comprise 1) development of the rapid agglomeration model 2) development of the experimental facilities creating big fractal-type agglomerates from 10 to 1000 μm from a cloud of micrometre-size grains; 3) experimental realization of the rapid agglomeration in microgravity and ground conditions; and 4) in situ investigation of the morphology, mobility, mechanical and optical properties of the free-floating agglomerates, including investigation of thermophoresis, photophoresis of the agglomerates and of the two-phase flow phenomena. To solve the experimental part of the tasks we developed a Cloud Manipulation System, realized as a breadboard (CMS BB) for long duration microgravity platforms and a simplified laboratory version (CMS LV) mostly oriented on short duration microgravity and ground tests. The new system is based on the use of thermophoresis, most favourable for cloud manipulation without creating additional particle-particle forces in the cloud with a possibility of growing single agglomerate out of the whole cloud. The cloud manipulation system additionally provides temperature stabilization or, on the contrary, high temperature variation in the observation volume; formation of controlled temperature gradients, intensive three-dimensional periodic shear flow or three-dimensional gas density pulsations of the contraction-expansion type; application of electrostatic gradients including electro dynamic balancing; imposing of photophoretic force, etc. Their choice and/or combination depend upon particular experimental task. Experiments on forced agglomeration in short duration microgravity conditions of the Bremen drop tower succeeded in rapid growth of extended agglomerates, formation of complex three-dimensional cloud patterns, allowed observing controlled cloud displacement, cloud trapping, particle separation with respect to their electrical charge. The breadboard (CMS BB) and the laboratory version of the Cloud Manipulation System (CMS LV) are new types of scientific instrument with high scientific potential. ESA PRODEX program, the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, DLR project 50WM1223, ZARM Drop Tower Operation and Service Company Ltd. are greatly acknowledged.

MIMI: multimodality, multiresource, information integration environment for biomedical core facilities.

PubMed

Szymanski, Jacek; Wilson, David L; Zhang, Guo-Qiang

2009-10-01

The rapid expansion of biomedical research has brought substantial scientific and administrative data management challenges to modern core facilities. Scientifically, a core facility must be able to manage experimental workflow and the corresponding set of large and complex scientific data. It must also disseminate experimental data to relevant researchers in a secure and expedient manner that facilitates collaboration and provides support for data interpretation and analysis. Administratively, a core facility must be able to manage the scheduling of its equipment and to maintain a flexible and effective billing system to track material, resource, and personnel costs and charge for services to sustain its operation. It must also have the ability to regularly monitor the usage and performance of its equipment and to provide summary statistics on resources spent on different categories of research. To address these informatics challenges, we introduce a comprehensive system called MIMI (multimodality, multiresource, information integration environment) that integrates the administrative and scientific support of a core facility into a single web-based environment. We report the design, development, and deployment experience of a baseline MIMI system at an imaging core facility and discuss the general applicability of such a system in other types of core facilities. These initial results suggest that MIMI will be a unique, cost-effective approach to addressing the informatics infrastructure needs of core facilities and similar research laboratories.

Transformative Impact of Proteomics on Cardiovascular Health and Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

PubMed

Lindsey, Merry L; Mayr, Manuel; Gomes, Aldrin V; Delles, Christian; Arrell, D Kent; Murphy, Anne M; Lange, Richard A; Costello, Catherine E; Jin, Yu-Fang; Laskowitz, Daniel T; Sam, Flora; Terzic, Andre; Van Eyk, Jennifer; Srinivas, Pothur R

2015-09-01

The year 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the coining of the term proteomics. The purpose of this scientific statement is to summarize advances over this period that have catalyzed our capacity to address the experimental, translational, and clinical implications of proteomics as applied to cardiovascular health and disease and to evaluate the current status of the field. Key successes that have energized the field are delineated; opportunities for proteomics to drive basic science research, facilitate clinical translation, and establish diagnostic and therapeutic healthcare algorithms are discussed; and challenges that remain to be solved before proteomic technologies can be readily translated from scientific discoveries to meaningful advances in cardiovascular care are addressed. Proteomics is the result of disruptive technologies, namely, mass spectrometry and database searching, which drove protein analysis from 1 protein at a time to protein mixture analyses that enable large-scale analysis of proteins and facilitate paradigm shifts in biological concepts that address important clinical questions. Over the past 20 years, the field of proteomics has matured, yet it is still developing rapidly. The scope of this statement will extend beyond the reaches of a typical review article and offer guidance on the use of next-generation proteomics for future scientific discovery in the basic research laboratory and clinical settings. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Linking Big and Small Data Across the Social, Engineering, and Earth Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. S.; de Sherbinin, A. M.; Levy, M. A.; Downs, R. R.

2014-12-01

The challenges of sustainable development cut across the social, health, ecological, engineering, and Earth sciences, across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, and across the spectrum from basic to applied research and decision making. The rapidly increasing availability of data and information in digital form from a variety of data repositories, networks, and other sources provides new opportunities to link and integrate both traditional data holdings as well as emerging "big data" resources in ways that enable interdisciplinary research and facilitate the use of objective scientific data and information in society. Taking advantage of these opportunities not only requires improved technical and scientific data interoperability across disciplines, scales, and data types, but also concerted efforts to bridge gaps and barriers between key communities, institutions, and networks. Given the long time perspectives required in planning sustainable approaches to development, it is also imperative to address user requirements for long-term data continuity and stewardship by trustworthy repositories. We report here on lessons learned by CIESIN working on a range of sustainable development issues to integrate data across multiple repositories and networks. This includes CIESIN's roles in developing policy-relevant climate and environmental indicators, soil data for African agriculture, and exposure and risk measures for hazards, disease, and conflict, as well as CIESIN's participation in a range of national and international initiatives related both to sustainable development and to open data access, interoperability, and stewardship.

Ethics issues in scientific data and service provision: evidence and challenges for the European Plate Observing System (EPOS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cocco, Massimo; Freda, Carmela; Haslinger, Florian; Consortium, Epos

2016-04-01

Addressing Ethics issues is nowadays a relevant challenge for any initiative, program or project dealing with scientific data and products provision, access to services for scientific purposes and communication with different stakeholders, including society. This is corroborated by the evidence that Ethics has very high priority in EU funded research. Indeed, all the activities carried out under Horizon 2020 must comply with ethical principles and national, Union and international legislation. This implies that "For all activities funded by the European Union, Ethics is an integral part of research from beginning to end, and ethical compliance is seen as pivotal to achieve real research excellence." Here, we present the experience of EPOS, a public pan-European research infrastructure. EPOS aims at integrating data, data products, services and software (DDSS) for solid Earth science generated and provided by monitoring networks, observing systems and facilities belonging to European countries. EPOS fosters the integrated use of multidisciplinary solid Earth data to improve the understanding of physical and chemical processes controlling earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis as well as those driving tectonics and surface dynamics. The EPOS integration plan will make significant contributions to understanding and mitigating geo-hazards, yielding data for hazard assessment, data products for engaging different stakeholders, and services for training, education and communication to society. Numerous national research infrastructures engaged in EPOS are deployed for the monitoring of areas prone to geo-hazards and for the surveillance of the national territory including areas used for exploiting geo-resources. The EPOS community is therefore already trained to provide services to public (civil defence agencies, local and national authorities) and private (petroleum industry, mining industry, geothermal companies, aviation security) stakeholders. Our ability to monitor planet Earth is rapidly evolving through the development of new sensor technology and we can deliver this information with increasing rapidity, integrate it, provide solutions to scientific challenges and furnish essential information for decision makers. EPOS is aware that the research promoted by its data and service provision can have a profound influence on the environment, human health and wellbeing, economic development, national security, and other facets of human societies. For these reasons EPOS must address Ethics issues associated with the exploitation of its achievements involving security issues, use and misuse of data, environmental protection and risk communication. The EPOS community feels the obligation to adopt a responsible conduct, both within the scientific community and in the broader society, exploring the implications of open provisioning of data and services, up to imposing justified constraints. This requires that contributing to the DDSS provision cannot be simply limited to activities fostering the capacity (i.e., ability) to access scientific products, but must promote the creation of capabilities (i.e., conscious use of data) and the functioning (i.e., activities constitutive of a scientist's being) to access and use scientific products in an ethically consistent way. We will present and discuss Ethics issues envisaged in EPOS, focusing on the most relevant for its implementation phase: protection of personal data, misuse of data, communication, and societal impact.

The Sustainable Development of Space: Astro-environmental and dynamical considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boley, Aaron; Byers, Michael; Russell, Sara

2018-04-01

The sustainable development of space is a global (and exo-global) challenge that is not limited by borders or research disciplines. Sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". While the development of space brings new economic and scientific possibilities, it also carries significant political, legal, and technical uncertainties. For example, the rapidly increasing accessibility of space is motivating states to unilaterally adopt legislation for the new era of space use, which may have significant unintended consequences, such as increased risks to space assets, disputes among state as well as non-state actors, and changes to unique astro-environments. Any policy or legal position must be informed by the dynamical and astrophysical realities of space use, creating complex and interwoven challenges. Here, we explore several of these potential challenges related to astro-environmentalism, space minining operations, and the associated dynamics.

A knowledgebase system to enhance scientific discovery: Telemakus

PubMed Central

Fuller, Sherrilynne S; Revere, Debra; Bugni, Paul F; Martin, George M

2004-01-01

Background With the rapid expansion of scientific research, the ability to effectively find or integrate new domain knowledge in the sciences is proving increasingly difficult. Efforts to improve and speed up scientific discovery are being explored on a number of fronts. However, much of this work is based on traditional search and retrieval approaches and the bibliographic citation presentation format remains unchanged. Methods Case study. Results The Telemakus KnowledgeBase System provides flexible new tools for creating knowledgebases to facilitate retrieval and review of scientific research reports. In formalizing the representation of the research methods and results of scientific reports, Telemakus offers a potential strategy to enhance the scientific discovery process. While other research has demonstrated that aggregating and analyzing research findings across domains augments knowledge discovery, the Telemakus system is unique in combining document surrogates with interactive concept maps of linked relationships across groups of research reports. Conclusion Based on how scientists conduct research and read the literature, the Telemakus KnowledgeBase System brings together three innovations in analyzing, displaying and summarizing research reports across a domain: (1) research report schema, a document surrogate of extracted research methods and findings presented in a consistent and structured schema format which mimics the research process itself and provides a high-level surrogate to facilitate searching and rapid review of retrieved documents; (2) research findings, used to index the documents, allowing searchers to request, for example, research studies which have studied the relationship between neoplasms and vitamin E; and (3) visual exploration interface of linked relationships for interactive querying of research findings across the knowledgebase and graphical displays of what is known as well as, through gaps in the map, what is yet to be tested. The rationale and system architecture are described and plans for the future are discussed. PMID:15507158

Networking for High Energy and Nuclear Physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, Harvey B.

2007-07-01

This report gives an overview of the status and outlook for the world's research networks and major international links used by the high energy physics and other scientific communities, network technology advances on which our community depends and in which we have an increasingly important role, and the problem of the Digital Divide, which is a primary focus of ICFA's Standing Committee on Inter-regional Connectivity (SCIC). Wide area networks of sufficient, and rapidly increasing end-to-end capability are vital for every phase of high energy physicists' work. Our bandwidth usage, and the typical capacity of the major national backbones and intercontinental links used by our field have progressed by a factor of more than 1000 over the past decade, and the outlook is for a similar increase over the next decade. This striking exponential growth trend, outstripping the growth rates in other areas of information technology, has continued in the past year, with many of the major national, continental and transoceanic networks supporting research and education progressing from a 10 Gigabits/sec (Gbps) backbone to multiple 10 Gbps links in their core. This is complemented by the use of point-to-point "light paths" to support the most demanding applications, including high energy physics, in a growing list of cases. As we approach the era of LHC physics, the growing need to access and transport Terabyte-scale and later 10 to 100 Terabyte datasets among more than 100 "Tier1" and "Tier2" centers at universities and laboratories spread throughout the world has brought the key role of networks, and the ongoing need for their development, sharply into focus. Bandwidth itself on an increasing scale is not enough. Realizing the scientific wealth of the LHC and our other major scientific programs depends crucially on our ability to use the bandwidth efficiently and reliably, with reliable high rates of data throughput, and effectively, where many parallel large-scale data transfers serving the community complete with high probability, often while coexisting with many other streams of network traffic. Responding to these needs, and to the scientific mission, physicists working with network engineers and computer scientists have made substantial progress in the development of protocols and systems that promise to meet these needs, placing our community among the world leaders in the development as well as use of large-scale networks. A great deal of work remains, and is continuing. As we advance in these areas, often (as in the past year) with great rapidity, there is a growing danger that we will leave behind our collaborators in regions with less-developed networks, or with regulatory frameworks or business models that put the required networks financially out of reach. This threatens to further open the Digital Divide that already exists among the regions of the world. In 2002, the SCIC recognized the threat that this Divide represents to our global scientific collaborations, and since that time has worked assiduously to reduce or eliminate it; both within our community, and more broadly in the world research community of which HEP is a part.

Environmental health impacts of unconventional natural gas development: a review of the current strength of evidence.

PubMed

Werner, Angela K; Vink, Sue; Watt, Kerrianne; Jagals, Paul

2015-02-01

Rapid global expansion of unconventional natural gas development (UNGD) raises environmental health concerns. Many studies present information on these concerns, yet the strength of epidemiological evidence remains tenuous. This paper is a review of the strength of evidence in scientific reporting of environmental hazards from UNGD activities associated with adverse human health outcomes. Studies were drawn from peer-reviewed and grey literature following a systematic search. Five databases were searched for studies published from January 1995 through March 2014 using key search terms relevant to environmental health. Studies were screened, ranked and then reviewed according to the strength of the evidence presented on adverse environmental health outcomes associated with UNGD. The initial searches yielded >1000 studies, but this was reduced to 109 relevant studies after the ranking process. Only seven studies were considered highly relevant based on strength of evidence. Articles spanned several relevant topics, but most focussed on impacts on typical environmental media, such as water and air, with much of the health impacts inferred rather than evidenced. Additionally, the majority of studies focussed on short-term, rather than long-term, health impacts, which is expected considering the timeframe of UNGD; therefore, very few studies examined health outcomes with longer latencies such as cancer or developmental outcomes. Current scientific evidence for UNGD that demonstrates associations between adverse health outcomes directly with environmental health hazards resulting from UNGD activities generally lacks methodological rigour. Importantly, however, there is also no evidence to rule out such health impacts. While the current evidence in the scientific research reporting leaves questions unanswered about the actual environmental health impacts, public health concerns remain intense. This is a clear gap in the scientific knowledge that requires urgent attention. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Procedural apprenticeship in school science: Constructivist enabling of connoisseurship

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bencze, J. Lawrence

2000-11-01

In many parts of the world, school science, especially at the secondary school level, is a sort of selection and training camp for future scientists and engineers. For most students, their general lack of cultural capital (Apple, 1990) minimizes their opportunities to survive the rapid coverage of large volumes of abstract, decontextualized laws, theories, and inventions so typical of school science. Most graduates and drop-outs become relatively scientifically and technologically illiterate. They either have forgotten or have confused conceptions of scientific and technological knowledge; often view science and technology as relatively certain, unbiased, and benign with respect to effects on society and the environment; and lack resources necessary to effectively judge products and processes of science and technology or, crucially, to create their own explanations for and changes to phenomena. Citizens with illiteracy to this extent may have little control over their own thoughts and actions and be prey to whims of those who control knowledge, its production and dissemination. Curriculum frameworks are required that enable all students to achieve their maximum potential literacy and, as well, to create their own knowledge, to develop in directions unique to their needs, interests, abilities, and perspectives; that is, to become self-actualized. This latter goal can, in part, be achieved through apprenticeship education in schools, such that students acquire a measure of scientific and technological connoisseurship - expertise enabling them to conduct open-ended scientific investigations and invention projects of their design. In collaboration with five teachers of secondary school science, such a framework was, indeed, developed, and field-tested. Through a spiraling, cyclical process involving synchronous reconstruction of conceptual and procedural understandings, evidence suggests students were able to carry out experiments, studies, and tests of their inventions with minimal teacher involvement. Furthermore, they appeared to accommodate more realistic conceptions of scientific and technological work. Moreover, many seemed to have made progress toward intellectual independence; able to judge knowledge claims independent of authorities. It is hoped that with more schools, systems, and teachers enabling development of such connoisseurship, all students will be better served by school science and, as well, the larger society will be more diverse, adaptable, and free.

JACOB: an enterprise framework for computational chemistry.

PubMed

Waller, Mark P; Dresselhaus, Thomas; Yang, Jack

2013-06-15

Here, we present just a collection of beans (JACOB): an integrated batch-based framework designed for the rapid development of computational chemistry applications. The framework expedites developer productivity by handling the generic infrastructure tier, and can be easily extended by user-specific scientific code. Paradigms from enterprise software engineering were rigorously applied to create a scalable, testable, secure, and robust framework. A centralized web application is used to configure and control the operation of the framework. The application-programming interface provides a set of generic tools for processing large-scale noninteractive jobs (e.g., systematic studies), or for coordinating systems integration (e.g., complex workflows). The code for the JACOB framework is open sourced and is available at: www.wallerlab.org/jacob. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

NASA Advanced Computing Environment for Science and Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Biswas, Rupak

2017-01-01

Vision: To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind. Mission: To pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research. Aeronautics Research (ARMD): Pioneer and prove new flight technologies for safer, more secure, efficient, and environmental friendly air transportation. Human Exploration and Operations (HEOMD): Focus on ISS operations; and develop new spacecraft and other capabilities for affordable, sustainable exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Science (SCMD): Explore the Earth, solar system, and universe beyond; chart best route for discovery; and reap the benefits of Earth and space exploration for society. Space Technology (STMD): Rapidly develop, demonstrate, and infuse revolutionary, high-payoff technologies through collaborative partnerships, expanding the boundaries of aerospace enterprise.

A temporal phase unwrapping algorithm for photoelastic stress analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldi, Antonio; Bertolino, Filippo; Ginesu, Francesco

2007-05-01

Photoelastic stress analysis is a full-field optical technique for experimental stress analysis whose automation has received considerable research attention over the last 15 years. The latest developments have been made possible largely due to the availability of powerful calculators with large memory capacity and colour, high resolution, cameras. A further stimulus is provided by the photoelastic resins now used for rapid prototyping. However, one critical aspect which still deserves attention is phase unwrapping. The algorithms most commonly used for this purpose have been developed in other scientific areas (classical interferometry, profilometry, moiré, etc.) for solving different problems. In this article a new algorithm is proposed for temporal phase unwrapping, which offers several advantages over those used today.

Expanding the reach of probiotics through social enterprises.

PubMed

Reid, G; Kort, R; Alvarez, S; Bourdet-Sicard, R; Benoit, V; Cunningham, M; Saulnier, D M; van Hylckama Vlieg, J E T; Verstraelen, H; Sybesma, W

2018-05-25

The rapid rise in microbiome and probiotic science has led to estimates of product creation and sales exceeding $50 billion within five years. However, many people do not have access to affordable products, and regulatory agencies have stifled progress. The objective of a discussion group at the 2017 meeting of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics was to identify mechanisms to confer the benefits of probiotics to a larger portion of the world's population. Three initiatives, built around fermented food, were discussed with different methods of targeting populations that face enormous challenges of malnutrition, infectious disease, poverty and violent conflict. As new candidate probiotic strains emerge, and the market diversifies towards more personalised interventions, manufacturing processes will need to evolve. Information dissemination through scientific channels and social media is projected to provide consumers and healthcare providers with rapid access to clinical results, and to identify the nearest location of sites making new and affordable probiotic food and supplements. This rapid translation of science to individual well-being will not only expand the beneficiaries of probiotics, but also fuel new social enterprises and economic business models.

The Economic Burden of Malnutrition in Pregnant Women and Children under 5 Years of Age in Cambodia

PubMed Central

Moench-Pfanner, Regina; Silo, Sok; Laillou, Arnaud; Wieringa, Frank; Hong, Rathamony; Hong, Rathavuth; Poirot, Etienne; Bagriansky, Jack

2016-01-01

Malnutrition is locked in a vicious cycle of increased mortality, poor health, impaired cognitive development, slow physical growth, reduced learning capacity, inferior performance, and ultimately lower adult work performance and productivity. The consensus of global scientific evidence indicates that lowering the rates of malnutrition will be an indispensable component of any successful program to raise the quality of human capital and resources. This study used a “consequence model” to apply the coefficient risk-deficit on economic losses, established in the global scientific literature, to Cambodian health, demographic, and economic data to develop a national estimate of the value of economic losses due to malnutrition. The impact of the indicators of malnutrition analyzed represent a burden to the national economy of Cambodia estimated at 266 million USD annually (1.7% of GDP). Stunting is reducing the Cambodian economic output by more than 120 million USD, and iodine deficiency disorders alone by 57 million USD. This economic burden is too high in view of Cambodia’s efforts to drive economic development. The government should rapidly expand a range of low-cost effective nutrition interventions to break the current cycle of increased mortality, poor health and ultimately lower work performance, productivity, and earnings. PMID:27187462

Nanomaterial characterization: considerations and needs for hazard assessment and safety evaluation.

PubMed

Boverhof, Darrell R; David, Raymond M

2010-02-01

Nanotechnology is a rapidly emerging field of great interest and promise. As new materials are developed and commercialized, hazard information also needs to be generated to reassure regulators, workers, and consumers that these materials can be used safely. The biological properties of nanomaterials are closely tied to the physical characteristics, including size, shape, dissolution rate, agglomeration state, and surface chemistry, to name a few. Furthermore, these properties can be altered by the medium used to suspend or disperse these water-insoluble particles. However, the current toxicology literature lacks much of the characterization information that allows toxicologists and regulators to develop "rules of thumb" that could be used to assess potential hazards. To effectively develop these rules, toxicologists need to know the characteristics of the particle that interacts with the biological system. This void leaves the scientific community with no options other than to evaluate all materials for all potential hazards. Lack of characterization could also lead to different laboratories reporting discordant results on seemingly the same test material because of subtle differences in the particle or differences in the dispersion medium used that resulted in altered properties and toxicity of the particle. For these reasons, good characterization using a minimal characterization data set should accompany and be required of all scientific publications on nanomaterials.

System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) v. 2.1.4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conrad, O.; Bechtel, B.; Bock, M.; Dietrich, H.; Fischer, E.; Gerlitz, L.; Wehberg, J.; Wichmann, V.; Böhner, J.

2015-02-01

The System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) is an open-source Geographic Information System (GIS), mainly licensed under the GNU General Public License. Since its first release in 2004, SAGA has rapidly developed from a specialized tool for digital terrain analysis to a comprehensive and globally established GIS platform for scientific analysis and modeling. SAGA is coded in C++ in an object oriented design and runs under several operating systems including Windows and Linux. Key functional features of the modular organized software architecture comprise an application programming interface for the development and implementation of new geoscientific methods, an easily approachable graphical user interface with many visualization options, a command line interpreter, and interfaces to scripting and low level programming languages like R and Python. The current version 2.1.4 offers more than 700 tools, which are implemented in dynamically loadable libraries or shared objects and represent the broad scopes of SAGA in numerous fields of geoscientific endeavor and beyond. In this paper, we inform about the system's architecture, functionality, and its current state of development and implementation. Further, we highlight the wide spectrum of scientific applications of SAGA in a review of published studies with special emphasis on the core application areas digital terrain analysis, geomorphology, soil science, climatology and meteorology, as well as remote sensing.

System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) v. 2.1.4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conrad, O.; Bechtel, B.; Bock, M.; Dietrich, H.; Fischer, E.; Gerlitz, L.; Wehberg, J.; Wichmann, V.; Böhner, J.

2015-07-01

The System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA) is an open source geographic information system (GIS), mainly licensed under the GNU General Public License. Since its first release in 2004, SAGA has rapidly developed from a specialized tool for digital terrain analysis to a comprehensive and globally established GIS platform for scientific analysis and modeling. SAGA is coded in C++ in an object oriented design and runs under several operating systems including Windows and Linux. Key functional features of the modular software architecture comprise an application programming interface for the development and implementation of new geoscientific methods, a user friendly graphical user interface with many visualization options, a command line interpreter, and interfaces to interpreted languages like R and Python. The current version 2.1.4 offers more than 600 tools, which are implemented in dynamically loadable libraries or shared objects and represent the broad scopes of SAGA in numerous fields of geoscientific endeavor and beyond. In this paper, we inform about the system's architecture, functionality, and its current state of development and implementation. Furthermore, we highlight the wide spectrum of scientific applications of SAGA in a review of published studies, with special emphasis on the core application areas digital terrain analysis, geomorphology, soil science, climatology and meteorology, as well as remote sensing.

The Economic Burden of Malnutrition in Pregnant Women and Children under 5 Years of Age in Cambodia.

PubMed

Moench-Pfanner, Regina; Silo, Sok; Laillou, Arnaud; Wieringa, Frank; Hong, Rathamony; Hong, Rathavuth; Poirot, Etienne; Bagriansky, Jack

2016-05-14

Malnutrition is locked in a vicious cycle of increased mortality, poor health, impaired cognitive development, slow physical growth, reduced learning capacity, inferior performance, and ultimately lower adult work performance and productivity. The consensus of global scientific evidence indicates that lowering the rates of malnutrition will be an indispensable component of any successful program to raise the quality of human capital and resources. This study used a "consequence model" to apply the coefficient risk-deficit on economic losses, established in the global scientific literature, to Cambodian health, demographic, and economic data to develop a national estimate of the value of economic losses due to malnutrition. The impact of the indicators of malnutrition analyzed represent a burden to the national economy of Cambodia estimated at 266 million USD annually (1.7% of GDP). Stunting is reducing the Cambodian economic output by more than 120 million USD, and iodine deficiency disorders alone by 57 million USD. This economic burden is too high in view of Cambodia's efforts to drive economic development. The government should rapidly expand a range of low-cost effective nutrition interventions to break the current cycle of increased mortality, poor health and ultimately lower work performance, productivity, and earnings.

Update on US EPA's Revision to the 1985 Guidelines for ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

National Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Uses (Stephan et al. 1985), to reflect the current state-of-the-science for aquatic effects assessments. Following a 2015 public meeting soliciting early input from the scientific community, EPA decided to undertake two overarching parallel tracks for this revision: 1) updating and refining methods for deriving state-of-the-science criteria through comprehensive analyses, and 2) developing criteria more rapidly for the broader protection of aquatic life from the potential adverse effects of the large number of chemicals released into the aquatic environment. The first track reflects that for a smaller group of chemicals, criteria development may be scientifically complex, and deriving robust criteria for these chemicals may require detailed investigation. The second track reflects the recognition that extensive testing of all chemicals is infeasible and there is a need to efficiently derive criteria using approaches that estimate safe environmental concentrations with limited empirical data. Based on these objectives, EPA will develop two criteria documents for this revision: 1) a Comprehensive Guidelines Document, intended to directly update and expand upon approaches presented in the 1985 Guidelines, and that will describe methods that provide criteria for chemicals requiring a more detailed level of evaluation, and 2) an Expedited Guidelines Document, which will focus on criteri

Databases on biotechnology and biosafety of GMOs.

PubMed

Degrassi, Giuliano; Alexandrova, Nevena; Ripandelli, Decio

2003-01-01

Due to the involvement of scientific, industrial, commercial and public sectors of society, the complexity of the issues concerning the safety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for the environment, agriculture, and human and animal health calls for a wide coverage of information. Accordingly, development of the field of biotechnology, along with concerns related to the fate of released GMOs, has led to a rapid development of tools for disseminating such information. As a result, there is a growing number of databases aimed at collecting and storing information related to GMOs. Most of the sites deal with information on environmental releases, field trials, transgenes and related sequences, regulations and legislation, risk assessment documents, and literature. Databases are mainly established and managed by scientific, national or international authorities, and are addressed towards scientists, government officials, policy makers, consumers, farmers, environmental groups and civil society representatives. This complexity can lead to an overlapping of information. The purpose of the present review is to analyse the relevant databases currently available on the web, providing comments on their vastly different information and on the structure of the sites pertaining to different users. A preliminary overview on the development of these sites during the last decade, at both the national and international level, is also provided.

The ADVANCE Code of Conduct for collaborative vaccine studies.

PubMed

Kurz, Xavier; Bauchau, Vincent; Mahy, Patrick; Glismann, Steffen; van der Aa, Lieke Maria; Simondon, François

2017-04-04

Lessons learnt from the 2009 (H1N1) flu pandemic highlighted factors limiting the capacity to collect European data on vaccine exposure, safety and effectiveness, including lack of rapid access to available data sources or expertise, difficulties to establish efficient interactions between multiple parties, lack of confidence between private and public sectors, concerns about possible or actual conflicts of interest (or perceptions thereof) and inadequate funding mechanisms. The Innovative Medicines Initiative's Accelerated Development of VAccine benefit-risk Collaboration in Europe (ADVANCE) consortium was established to create an efficient and sustainable infrastructure for rapid and integrated monitoring of post-approval benefit-risk of vaccines, including a code of conduct and governance principles for collaborative studies. The development of the code of conduct was guided by three core and common values (best science, strengthening public health, transparency) and a review of existing guidance and relevant published articles. The ADVANCE Code of Conduct includes 45 recommendations in 10 topics (Scientific integrity, Scientific independence, Transparency, Conflicts of interest, Study protocol, Study report, Publication, Subject privacy, Sharing of study data, Research contract). Each topic includes a definition, a set of recommendations and a list of additional reading. The concept of the study team is introduced as a key component of the ADVANCE Code of Conduct with a core set of roles and responsibilities. It is hoped that adoption of the ADVANCE Code of Conduct by all partners involved in a study will facilitate and speed-up its initiation, design, conduct and reporting. Adoption of the ADVANCE Code of Conduct should be stated in the study protocol, study report and publications and journal editors are encouraged to use it as an indication that good principles of public health, science and transparency were followed throughout the study. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Anatomy of open access publishing: a study of longitudinal development and internal structure

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Open access (OA) is a revolutionary way of providing access to the scholarly journal literature made possible by the Internet. The primary aim of this study was to measure the volume of scientific articles published in full immediate OA journals from 2000 to 2011, while observing longitudinal internal shifts in the structure of OA publishing concerning revenue models, publisher types and relative distribution among scientific disciplines. The secondary aim was to measure the share of OA articles of all journal articles, including articles made OA by publishers with a delay and individual author-paid OA articles in subscription journals (hybrid OA), as these subsets of OA publishing have mostly been ignored in previous studies. Methods Stratified random sampling of journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (n = 787) was performed. The annual publication volumes spanning 2000 to 2011 were retrieved from major publication indexes and through manual data collection. Results An estimated 340,000 articles were published by 6,713 full immediate OA journals during 2011. OA journals requiring article-processing charges have become increasingly common, publishing 166,700 articles in 2011 (49% of all OA articles). This growth is related to the growth of commercial publishers, who, despite only a marginal presence a decade ago, have grown to become key actors on the OA scene, responsible for 120,000 of the articles published in 2011. Publication volume has grown within all major scientific disciplines, however, biomedicine has seen a particularly rapid 16-fold growth between 2000 (7,400 articles) and 2011 (120,900 articles). Over the past decade, OA journal publishing has steadily increased its relative share of all scholarly journal articles by about 1% annually. Approximately 17% of the 1.66 million articles published during 2011 and indexed in the most comprehensive article-level index of scholarly articles (Scopus) are available OA through journal publishers, most articles immediately (12%) but some within 12 months of publication (5%). Conclusions OA journal publishing is disrupting the dominant subscription-based model of scientific publishing, having rapidly grown in relative annual share of published journal articles during the last decade. PMID:23088823

Scientific basis for risk analysis of food-related substances with particular reference to health effects on children.

PubMed

Hayashi, Yuzo

2009-01-01

Based on the advance of toxicology and related sciences, a regulatory regime for the safety of chemicals related to daily life has been rapidly established. Especially for the food-related substances, the process of risk analysis has facilitated the collaboration by all the players including consumers toward the security of their safety. On the other hand, except for pharmaceuticals, science-based decisions and governmental actions on safety issues have not always gained confidence of the public. One of the reasons was the inadequacy in the way of use of scientific knowledge, or in other words, inappropriateness of decision making by "the regulatory science". Regulatory science is a science to warrant the decision making processes for governmental acts (Mitsuru Uchiyama). In the case of chemical safety, it can be redefined as a theoretical concept to complements the uncertainty of scientific knowledge for the decision of governmental acts that is adequate in both scientific and social ways. Therefore, the regulatory science is an indispensable discipline to effectively apply risk analysis. Here, the significance of the regulatory science for the hazard assessment of the chemicals, especially for children is described. In the past, the hazard effects of chemicals have been assessed for adults. Recently, however, the importance of the assessment for children has gained international emphases. Not only for pharmaceuticals, but for food-related substances, the acceptable daily intake (ADI) and tolerable daily intake (TDI) are often set differently for adults and children. The child-specific responses against chemicals are related not only to the physiological factors such as body weight, basal metabolism, but also rapid growth of the body with developmental status of various organs. General knowledge on these issues will be discussed mainly referring the World Health Organization (WHO) documents. Although the cutting edge technology backs up the development of toxicology, it would appear that it is reaching a turning point from technology-centrism to look toward the direction for contribution to society from the stand point of regulatory science.

Reference management: A critical element of scientific writing

PubMed Central

Kali, Arunava

2016-01-01

With the rapid growth of medical science, the number of scientific writing contributing to medical literature has increased significantly in recent years. Owing to considerable variation of formatting in different citation styles, strict adherence to the accurate referencing manually is labor intensive and challenging. However, the introduction of referencing tools has decreased the complexity to a great extent. These software have advanced overtime to include newer features to support effective reference management. Since scientific writing is an essential component of medical curriculum, it is imperative for medical graduates to understand various referencing systems to effectively make use of these tools in their dissertations and future researches. PMID:26952149

Reference management: A critical element of scientific writing.

PubMed

Kali, Arunava

2016-01-01

With the rapid growth of medical science, the number of scientific writing contributing to medical literature has increased significantly in recent years. Owing to considerable variation of formatting in different citation styles, strict adherence to the accurate referencing manually is labor intensive and challenging. However, the introduction of referencing tools has decreased the complexity to a great extent. These software have advanced overtime to include newer features to support effective reference management. Since scientific writing is an essential component of medical curriculum, it is imperative for medical graduates to understand various referencing systems to effectively make use of these tools in their dissertations and future researches.

Information needs of oncologists, general practitioners and other professionals caring for patients with cancer.

PubMed

Ciarlo, G; Liebl, P; Zell, J; Fessler, J; Koester, M J; Ruetters, D; Mugele, K; Huebner, J

2016-11-01

Oncology is a rapidly developing field with a growing number of publications every year. The main goal of this survey was to learn more about the information needs of oncologists and general practitioners. Data were collected using a standardised questionnaire developed in collaboration with the German Cancer Society (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft) and the German Association of General Practitioners (Deutscher Hausärzteverband). A total of 495 questionnaires could be evaluated. Medical congresses were the preferred source of information for all participants. General practitioners preferred textbooks, while oncologists preferred journals and the Internet (all p < .001). Reasons for a lack of confidence during patient consultation were lack of time (60% of participants), lack of knowledge (61% of general practitioners and 26% of oncologists) and lack of data (>50%). Oncologists felt more confident in searching scientific databases than general practitioners did. Both groups required rapid access to transparent information. For general practitioners, reviews and comments by experts helped to put new information in the context of cancer treatment. Oncologists and general practitioners showed significantly different information needs and different ways to access specific information. In order to better integrate general practitioners while simultaneously serving the needs of oncologists, a database that is up to date, rapidly accessible and does not incur high costs would be helpful. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Bioethics destiny].

PubMed

Fagot-Largeault, Anne

2015-01-01

The paper is about the links between ethics and science, at a time (1974-2014) when the life sciences expanded rapidly. First (1974-1994), the development of a principlist ethics, set out by philosophers, sustained the research, and the scientists, expected to behave responsibly, felt like they could easily converge towards impeccable and consensual solutions to any problem arising from scientific innovations. Later on (1994-2014), however, while yielding ground to social sciences and ground work, bioethics took an empirical turn; then it became clear that behaving responsibly was compatible with a plurality of divergent normative convictions. Ethics crumbled. Local or national policies restored order, so-called bioethical laws short-circuited ethical reflection. And far from being respected as the wise men, apt to recommend the very best solutions to problems raised by new scientific advances, researchers happened to be deemed irresponsible, as some of them were suspected of lacking intellectual integrity. Copyright © 2015 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Virtual Interactomics of Proteins from Biochemical Standpoint

PubMed Central

Kubrycht, Jaroslav; Sigler, Karel; Souček, Pavel

2012-01-01

Virtual interactomics represents a rapidly developing scientific area on the boundary line of bioinformatics and interactomics. Protein-related virtual interactomics then comprises instrumental tools for prediction, simulation, and networking of the majority of interactions important for structural and individual reproduction, differentiation, recognition, signaling, regulation, and metabolic pathways of cells and organisms. Here, we describe the main areas of virtual protein interactomics, that is, structurally based comparative analysis and prediction of functionally important interacting sites, mimotope-assisted and combined epitope prediction, molecular (protein) docking studies, and investigation of protein interaction networks. Detailed information about some interesting methodological approaches and online accessible programs or databases is displayed in our tables. Considerable part of the text deals with the searches for common conserved or functionally convergent protein regions and subgraphs of conserved interaction networks, new outstanding trends and clinically interesting results. In agreement with the presented data and relationships, virtual interactomic tools improve our scientific knowledge, help us to formulate working hypotheses, and they frequently also mediate variously important in silico simulations. PMID:22928109

3D Printing of Plant Golgi Stacks from Their Electron Tomographic Models.

PubMed

Mai, Keith Ka Ki; Kang, Madison J; Kang, Byung-Ho

2017-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an effective tool for preparing tangible 3D models from computer visualizations to assist in scientific research and education. With the recent popularization of 3D printing processes, it is now possible for individual laboratories to convert their scientific data into a physical form suitable for presentation or teaching purposes. Electron tomography is an electron microscopy method by which 3D structures of subcellular organelles or macromolecular complexes are determined at nanometer-level resolutions. Electron tomography analyses have revealed the convoluted membrane architectures of Golgi stacks, chloroplasts, and mitochondria. But the intricacy of their 3D organizations is difficult to grasp from tomographic models illustrated on computer screens. Despite the rapid development of 3D printing technologies, production of organelle models based on experimental data with 3D printing has rarely been documented. In this chapter, we present a simple guide to creating 3D prints of electron tomographic models of plant Golgi stacks using the two most accessible 3D printing technologies.

Automatic Parallelization of Numerical Python Applications using the Global Arrays Toolkit

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

Daily, Jeffrey A.; Lewis, Robert R.

2011-11-30

Global Arrays is a software system from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory that enables an efficient, portable, and parallel shared-memory programming interface to manipulate distributed dense arrays. The NumPy module is the de facto standard for numerical calculation in the Python programming language, a language whose use is growing rapidly in the scientific and engineering communities. NumPy provides a powerful N-dimensional array class as well as other scientific computing capabilities. However, like the majority of the core Python modules, NumPy is inherently serial. Using a combination of Global Arrays and NumPy, we have reimplemented NumPy as a distributed drop-in replacement calledmore » Global Arrays in NumPy (GAiN). Serial NumPy applications can become parallel, scalable GAiN applications with only minor source code changes. Scalability studies of several different GAiN applications will be presented showing the utility of developing serial NumPy codes which can later run on more capable clusters or supercomputers.« less

CONSISTENCY UNDER SAMPLING OF EXPONENTIAL RANDOM GRAPH MODELS.

PubMed

Shalizi, Cosma Rohilla; Rinaldo, Alessandro

2013-04-01

The growing availability of network data and of scientific interest in distributed systems has led to the rapid development of statistical models of network structure. Typically, however, these are models for the entire network, while the data consists only of a sampled sub-network. Parameters for the whole network, which is what is of interest, are estimated by applying the model to the sub-network. This assumes that the model is consistent under sampling , or, in terms of the theory of stochastic processes, that it defines a projective family. Focusing on the popular class of exponential random graph models (ERGMs), we show that this apparently trivial condition is in fact violated by many popular and scientifically appealing models, and that satisfying it drastically limits ERGM's expressive power. These results are actually special cases of more general results about exponential families of dependent random variables, which we also prove. Using such results, we offer easily checked conditions for the consistency of maximum likelihood estimation in ERGMs, and discuss some possible constructive responses.

The dual Green Revolutions in South Korea: reforestation and agricultural revolution under the authoritarian regime.

PubMed

Moon, Manyong

2012-01-01

In South Korea, the Green Revolution has been commonly understood as the development and dissemination of new rice varieties ('Tongil' rice) and the rapid increase of rice yield in the 1970s. However, revolutionary success in agriculture was not the only green revolution South Korea experienced; another green revolution lay in the success of reforestation projects. In the 1970s, South Korea's forest greening was closely related to its agricultural revolution in several ways. Therefore, South Korea's Green Revolution was an intrinsically linked double feature of agriculture and forestry. This two-pronged revolution was initiated by scientific research - yet accomplished by the strong administrative mobilization of President Park Chung Hee's regime. The process of setting goals and meeting them through a military-like strategy in a short time was made possible under the authoritarian regime, known as 'Yushin', though the administration failed to fully acknowledge scientific expertise in the process of pushing to achieve goals.

CONSISTENCY UNDER SAMPLING OF EXPONENTIAL RANDOM GRAPH MODELS

PubMed Central

Shalizi, Cosma Rohilla; Rinaldo, Alessandro

2015-01-01

The growing availability of network data and of scientific interest in distributed systems has led to the rapid development of statistical models of network structure. Typically, however, these are models for the entire network, while the data consists only of a sampled sub-network. Parameters for the whole network, which is what is of interest, are estimated by applying the model to the sub-network. This assumes that the model is consistent under sampling, or, in terms of the theory of stochastic processes, that it defines a projective family. Focusing on the popular class of exponential random graph models (ERGMs), we show that this apparently trivial condition is in fact violated by many popular and scientifically appealing models, and that satisfying it drastically limits ERGM’s expressive power. These results are actually special cases of more general results about exponential families of dependent random variables, which we also prove. Using such results, we offer easily checked conditions for the consistency of maximum likelihood estimation in ERGMs, and discuss some possible constructive responses. PMID:26166910

Towards the responsible conduct of scientific research: is ethics education enough?

PubMed Central

Novossiolova, Tatyana; Sture, Judi

2012-01-01

Much of the discourse on ‘beyond the laboratory door’ biosecurity to date has focused on the need to raise awareness among the scientific community of the risks posed by the rapid advancement of biotechnology in recent decades. While education is undoubtedly important, a growing body of evidence suggests that ethics education does not necessarily translate into ethical behaviour. This trend has already been reported in clinical settings, where research has highlighted doctors’ own reports of ethically dubious practices and challenges when confronted with moral dilemmas in their everyday work. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the practical value of ethics education and show why it is an essential, although insufficient, measure for promoting a culture of responsible conduct of research. We conclude by highlighting the importance of continuing professional development as a way of maintaining life scientists’ engagement with biosecurity issues and supporting them in active roles in the effective implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). PMID:22606762

Scientific, technological, and economic aspects of rapid tooling by electric arc spray forming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grant, P. S.; Duncan, S. R.; Roche, A.; Johnson, C. F.

2006-12-01

For the last seven years, Oxford University and Ford Motor Company personnel have been researching jointly the development of the large-scale spray forming of steel tooling capable for use in mass production, particularly for the pressing of sheet metal in automotive applications. These investigations have involved: the comprehensive microstructure and property studies, modeling of shape evolution and heat flow, realtime feedback control of tool temperature to eliminate tool distortion, high-speed imaging and particle image velocimetry of droplet deposition on three-dimensional (3D) shapes, testing of full-scale tools for different applications in the production environment, and detailed studies of the cost and time savings realized for different tooling applications. This paper provides an overview of the scientific and technical progress to date, presents the latest results, and describes the current state-of-the-art. Many of the insights described have relevance and applicability across the family of thermal spray processes and applications.

Rapid Scientific Promotion of Scientific Productions in Stem Cells According to The Indexed Papers in The ISI (web of knowledge).

PubMed

Alijani, Rahim

2015-01-01

In recent years emphasis has been placed on evaluation studies and the publication of scientific papers in national and international journals. In this regard the publication of scientific papers in journals in the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) database is highly recommended. The evaluation of scientific output via articles in journals indexed in the ISI database will enable the Iranian research authorities to allocate and organize research budgets and human resources in a way that maximises efficient science production. The purpose of the present paper is to publish a general and valid view of science production in the field of stem cells. In this research, outputs in the field of stem cell research are evaluated by survey research, the method of science assessment called Scientometrics in this branch of science. A total of 1528 documents was extracted from the ISI database and analysed using descriptive statistics software in Excel. The results of this research showed that 1528 papers in the stem cell field in the Web of Knowledge database were produced by Iranian researchers. The top ten Iranian researchers in this field have produced 936 of these papers, equivalent to 61.3% of the total. Among the top ten, Soleimani M. has occupied the first place with 181 papers. Regarding international scientific participation, Iranian researchers have cooperated to publish papers with researchers from 50 countries. Nearly 32% (452 papers) of the total research output in this field has been published in the top 10 journals. These results show that a small number of researchers have published the majority of papers in the stem cell field. International participation in this field of research unacceptably low. Such participation provides the opportunity to import modern science and international experience into Iran. This not only causes scientific growth, but also improves the research and enhances opportunities for employment and professional development. Iranian scientific outputs from stem cell research should not be limited to only a few specific journals.

Research on the Construction Management and Sustainable Development of Large-Scale Scientific Facilities in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guiquan, Xi; Lin, Cong; Xuehui, Jin

2018-05-01

As an important platform for scientific and technological development, large -scale scientific facilities are the cornerstone of technological innovation and a guarantee for economic and social development. Researching management of large-scale scientific facilities can play a key role in scientific research, sociology and key national strategy. This paper reviews the characteristics of large-scale scientific facilities, and summarizes development status of China's large-scale scientific facilities. At last, the construction, management, operation and evaluation of large-scale scientific facilities is analyzed from the perspective of sustainable development.

Consensus Statement on Electronic Health Predictive Analytics: A Guiding Framework to Address Challenges

PubMed Central

Amarasingham, Ruben; Audet, Anne-Marie J.; Bates, David W.; Glenn Cohen, I.; Entwistle, Martin; Escobar, G. J.; Liu, Vincent; Etheredge, Lynn; Lo, Bernard; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Ram, Sudha; Saria, Suchi; Schilling, Lisa M.; Shahi, Anand; Stewart, Walter F.; Steyerberg, Ewout W.; Xie, Bin

2016-01-01

Context: The recent explosion in available electronic health record (EHR) data is motivating a rapid expansion of electronic health care predictive analytic (e-HPA) applications, defined as the use of electronic algorithms that forecast clinical events in real time with the intent to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs. There is an urgent need for a systematic framework to guide the development and application of e-HPA to ensure that the field develops in a scientifically sound, ethical, and efficient manner. Objectives: Building upon earlier frameworks of model development and utilization, we identify the emerging opportunities and challenges of e-HPA, propose a framework that enables us to realize these opportunities, address these challenges, and motivate e-HPA stakeholders to both adopt and continuously refine the framework as the applications of e-HPA emerge. Methods: To achieve these objectives, 17 experts with diverse expertise including methodology, ethics, legal, regulation, and health care delivery systems were assembled to identify emerging opportunities and challenges of e-HPA and to propose a framework to guide the development and application of e-HPA. Findings: The framework proposed by the panel includes three key domains where e-HPA differs qualitatively from earlier generations of models and algorithms (Data Barriers, Transparency, and Ethics) and areas where current frameworks are insufficient to address the emerging opportunities and challenges of e-HPA (Regulation and Certification; and Education and Training). The following list of recommendations summarizes the key points of the framework: Data Barriers: Establish mechanisms within the scientific community to support data sharing for predictive model development and testing.Transparency: Set standards around e-HPA validation based on principles of scientific transparency and reproducibility.Ethics: Develop both individual-centered and society-centered risk-benefit approaches to evaluate e-HPA.Regulation and Certification: Construct a self-regulation and certification framework within e-HPA.Education and Training: Make significant changes to medical, nursing, and paraprofessional curricula by including training for understanding, evaluating, and utilizing predictive models. PMID:27141516

Consensus Statement on Electronic Health Predictive Analytics: A Guiding Framework to Address Challenges.

PubMed

Amarasingham, Ruben; Audet, Anne-Marie J; Bates, David W; Glenn Cohen, I; Entwistle, Martin; Escobar, G J; Liu, Vincent; Etheredge, Lynn; Lo, Bernard; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Ram, Sudha; Saria, Suchi; Schilling, Lisa M; Shahi, Anand; Stewart, Walter F; Steyerberg, Ewout W; Xie, Bin

2016-01-01

The recent explosion in available electronic health record (EHR) data is motivating a rapid expansion of electronic health care predictive analytic (e-HPA) applications, defined as the use of electronic algorithms that forecast clinical events in real time with the intent to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs. There is an urgent need for a systematic framework to guide the development and application of e-HPA to ensure that the field develops in a scientifically sound, ethical, and efficient manner. Building upon earlier frameworks of model development and utilization, we identify the emerging opportunities and challenges of e-HPA, propose a framework that enables us to realize these opportunities, address these challenges, and motivate e-HPA stakeholders to both adopt and continuously refine the framework as the applications of e-HPA emerge. To achieve these objectives, 17 experts with diverse expertise including methodology, ethics, legal, regulation, and health care delivery systems were assembled to identify emerging opportunities and challenges of e-HPA and to propose a framework to guide the development and application of e-HPA. The framework proposed by the panel includes three key domains where e-HPA differs qualitatively from earlier generations of models and algorithms (Data Barriers, Transparency, and ETHICS) and areas where current frameworks are insufficient to address the emerging opportunities and challenges of e-HPA (Regulation and Certification; and Education and Training). The following list of recommendations summarizes the key points of the framework: Data Barriers: Establish mechanisms within the scientific community to support data sharing for predictive model development and testing.Transparency: Set standards around e-HPA validation based on principles of scientific transparency and reproducibility. Develop both individual-centered and society-centered risk-benefit approaches to evaluate e-HPA.Regulation and Certification: Construct a self-regulation and certification framework within e-HPA.Education and Training: Make significant changes to medical, nursing, and paraprofessional curricula by including training for understanding, evaluating, and utilizing predictive models.

Earth System Model Development and Analysis using FRE-Curator and Live Access Servers: On-demand analysis of climate model output with data provenance.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radhakrishnan, A.; Balaji, V.; Schweitzer, R.; Nikonov, S.; O'Brien, K.; Vahlenkamp, H.; Burger, E. F.

2016-12-01

There are distinct phases in the development cycle of an Earth system model. During the model development phase, scientists make changes to code and parameters and require rapid access to results for evaluation. During the production phase, scientists may make an ensemble of runs with different settings, and produce large quantities of output, that must be further analyzed and quality controlled for scientific papers and submission to international projects such as the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). During this phase, provenance is a key concern:being able to track back from outputs to inputs. We will discuss one of the paths taken at GFDL in delivering tools across this lifecycle, offering on-demand analysis of data by integrating the use of GFDL's in-house FRE-Curator, Unidata's THREDDS and NOAA PMEL's Live Access Servers (LAS).Experience over this lifecycle suggests that a major difficulty in developing analysis capabilities is only partially the scientific content, but often devoted to answering the questions "where is the data?" and "how do I get to it?". "FRE-Curator" is the name of a database-centric paradigm used at NOAA GFDL to ingest information about the model runs into an RDBMS (Curator database). The components of FRE-Curator are integrated into Flexible Runtime Environment workflow and can be invoked during climate model simulation. The front end to FRE-Curator, known as the Model Development Database Interface (MDBI) provides an in-house web-based access to GFDL experiments: metadata, analysis output and more. In order to provide on-demand visualization, MDBI uses Live Access Servers which is a highly configurable web server designed to provide flexible access to geo-referenced scientific data, that makes use of OPeNDAP. Model output saved in GFDL's tape archive, the size of the database and experiments, continuous model development initiatives with more dynamic configurations add complexity and challenges in providing an on-demand visualization experience to our GFDL users.

Simple re-instantiation of small databases using cloud computing.

PubMed

Tan, Tin Wee; Xie, Chao; De Silva, Mark; Lim, Kuan Siong; Patro, C Pawan K; Lim, Shen Jean; Govindarajan, Kunde Ramamoorthy; Tong, Joo Chuan; Choo, Khar Heng; Ranganathan, Shoba; Khan, Asif M

2013-01-01

Small bioinformatics databases, unlike institutionally funded large databases, are vulnerable to discontinuation and many reported in publications are no longer accessible. This leads to irreproducible scientific work and redundant effort, impeding the pace of scientific progress. We describe a Web-accessible system, available online at http://biodb100.apbionet.org, for archival and future on demand re-instantiation of small databases within minutes. Depositors can rebuild their databases by downloading a Linux live operating system (http://www.bioslax.com), preinstalled with bioinformatics and UNIX tools. The database and its dependencies can be compressed into an ".lzm" file for deposition. End-users can search for archived databases and activate them on dynamically re-instantiated BioSlax instances, run as virtual machines over the two popular full virtualization standard cloud-computing platforms, Xen Hypervisor or vSphere. The system is adaptable to increasing demand for disk storage or computational load and allows database developers to use the re-instantiated databases for integration and development of new databases. Herein, we demonstrate that a relatively inexpensive solution can be implemented for archival of bioinformatics databases and their rapid re-instantiation should the live databases disappear.

Effects of Mobile Phones on Children's and Adolescents' Health: A Commentary.

PubMed

Hardell, Lennart

2018-01-01

The use of digital technology has grown rapidly during the last couple of decades. During use, mobile phones and cordless phones emit radiofrequency (RF) radiation. No previous generation has been exposed during childhood and adolescence to this kind of radiation. The brain is the main target organ for RF emissions from the handheld wireless phone. An evaluation of the scientific evidence on the brain tumor risk was made in May 2011 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer at World Health Organization. The scientific panel reached the conclusion that RF radiation from devices that emit nonionizing RF radiation in the frequency range 30 kHz-300 GHz is a Group 2B, that is, a "possible" human carcinogen. With respect to health implications of digital (wireless) technologies, it is of importance that neurological diseases, physiological addiction, cognition, sleep, and behavioral problems are considered in addition to cancer. Well-being needs to be carefully evaluated as an effect of changed behavior in children and adolescents through their interactions with modern digital technologies. © 2017 The Author. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

TeleMEDiana: telesurgery and telemedicine by satellite and the Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dobrosavljevic, Sneja; Welter, Roger

2002-08-01

The rapid development of technology and its integration into the spectrum of medical care are creating a pressing need for healthcare professionals to continuously update their knowledge and skills. In view of these needs the European Association of Visceral Surgery (AECV) which had been a platform for medical congresses in Luxembourg (1988, 1992, 1995, 1998) has developed TeleMEDiana a new broadband communication service introducing standards of excellence in Continuous Medical Education.TeleMEDiana broadcast a daily program with pedagogically enhanced video content in a number of therapeutic areas to MD's, professors and students in hospitals, universities and research centers. The educational programs are provided by leading European hospitals which have joined the TeleMEDiana Scientific Network TSN. The scientific integrity is certified by an international committee composed of recognized pioneers. Committed to deliver high resolution video streaming, TeleMEDiana has set up and successfully tested a new platform built on secure and cost-efficient satellite operator SES-ASTRA complemented by the Internet and can deliver programs to any workplace equipped with satellite dishes and high-quality set-top boxes. Telemediana offers herewith an optimal collaboration and dissemination platform to decisive players involved in Continuing Medical Education.

Describing Nanomaterials: A Uniform Description System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rumble, John; Freiman, Steve; Teague, Clayton

2014-03-01

Products involving nanomaterials are growing rapidly and nanoparticles also occur naturally. Materials, scientists, engineers, health officials, and regulators have realized they need a common description system. Led by CODATA and VAMAS, a Uniform Description System (UDS) for nanomaterials is being developed to meet the requirements of a broad range of scientific and technical disciplines and different user communities. The goal of the CODATA/VAMAS effort is the creation of a complete set of descriptors that can be used by all communities, e.g., materials, physics, chemistry, agricultural, medical, etc., interested in nanomaterials. The description system must be relevant to researchers, manufacturers of nanomaterials, materials selectors, and regulators. The purpose of the UDS for materials on the nanoscale is twofold: Uniqueness and Equivalency. The first step in the development of the UDS has been the creation of a Framework that will be used by the different communities to guide in the selection of descriptors relevant to their needs. This talk is a brief description of the draft of such a Framework, and how the framework will be translated into a robust description system with input from many scientific communities including physics. A contribution from the CODATA/VAMAS Working Group on the Description of Nanomaterials.

Simple re-instantiation of small databases using cloud computing

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Small bioinformatics databases, unlike institutionally funded large databases, are vulnerable to discontinuation and many reported in publications are no longer accessible. This leads to irreproducible scientific work and redundant effort, impeding the pace of scientific progress. Results We describe a Web-accessible system, available online at http://biodb100.apbionet.org, for archival and future on demand re-instantiation of small databases within minutes. Depositors can rebuild their databases by downloading a Linux live operating system (http://www.bioslax.com), preinstalled with bioinformatics and UNIX tools. The database and its dependencies can be compressed into an ".lzm" file for deposition. End-users can search for archived databases and activate them on dynamically re-instantiated BioSlax instances, run as virtual machines over the two popular full virtualization standard cloud-computing platforms, Xen Hypervisor or vSphere. The system is adaptable to increasing demand for disk storage or computational load and allows database developers to use the re-instantiated databases for integration and development of new databases. Conclusions Herein, we demonstrate that a relatively inexpensive solution can be implemented for archival of bioinformatics databases and their rapid re-instantiation should the live databases disappear. PMID:24564380

A history of calcium orthophosphates (CaPO4) and their biomedical applications.

PubMed

Dorozhkin, S V

2017-09-01

The historical development of a scientific knowledge on calcium orthophosphates (CaPO 4 ) from 1770-s till 1950 is described. Many forgotten and poorly known historical facts and approaches have been extracted from old publications and then they have been analyzed, systematized and reconsidered from the modern point of view. The chosen time scale starts with the earliest available studies of 1770-s (to the best of my findings, CaPO 4 had been unknown before), passes through the entire 19th century and finishes in 1950, because since then the amount of publications on CaPO 4 rapidly increases and the subject becomes too broad. Furthermore, since publications of the second half of the 20th century are easily accessible, the substantial amount of them has been already reviewed by other researchers. The reported historical findings clearly demonstrate that the substantial amount of the scientific facts and experimental approaches has been known for very many decades and, in fact, the considerable quantity of relatively recent investigations on CaPO 4 is just either a further development of the earlier studies or a rediscovery of the already forgotten knowledge. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The history of antiretroviral therapy and of its implementation in resource-limited areas of the world.

PubMed

Vella, Stefano; Schwartländer, Bernard; Sow, Salif Papa; Eholie, Serge Paul; Murphy, Robert L

2012-06-19

HIV/AIDS not only represents the most severe epidemic in modern times, but also the greatest public health challenge in history. The response of the scientific community has been impressive and in just a few years, turned an inevitably fatal disease into a chronic manageable although not yet curable condition. The development of antiretroviral therapy is not only the history of scientific advancements: it is the result of the passionate 'alliance' towards a common goal between researchers, doctors and nurses, pharmaceutical industries, regulators, public health officials and the community of HIV-infected patients, which is rather unique in the history of medicine. In addition, the rapid and progressive development of antiretroviral therapy has not only proven to be life-saving for many millions but has been instrumental in unveiling the inequities in access to health between rich and poor countries of the world. Optimal benefits indeed, are not accessible to all people living with HIV, with challenges to coverage and sustainability in low and middle income countries. This paper will review the progress made, starting from the initial despairing times, till the current battle towards universal access to treatment and care for all people living with HIV.

High Performance Visualization using Query-Driven Visualizationand Analytics

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

Bethel, E. Wes; Campbell, Scott; Dart, Eli

2006-06-15

Query-driven visualization and analytics is a unique approach for high-performance visualization that offers new capabilities for knowledge discovery and hypothesis testing. The new capabilities akin to finding needles in haystacks are the result of combining technologies from the fields of scientific visualization and scientific data management. This approach is crucial for rapid data analysis and visualization in the petascale regime. This article describes how query-driven visualization is applied to a hero-sized network traffic analysis problem.

Brain network: social media and the cognitive scientist.

PubMed

Stafford, Tom; Bell, Vaughan

2012-10-01

Cognitive scientists are increasingly using online social media, such as blogging and Twitter, to gather information and disseminate opinion, while linking to primary articles and data. Because of this, internet tools are driving a change in the scientific process, where communication is characterised by rapid scientific discussion, wider access to specialist debates, and increased cross-disciplinary interaction. This article serves as an introduction to and overview of this transformation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing an NGSS Pedagogy for Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Using the CLEAN Collection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manning, C. L. B.; Taylor, J.; Oonk, D.; Sullivan, S. M.; Kirk, K.; Niepold, F., III

2017-12-01

The Next Generation Science Standards and A Framework for K-12 Science Education have introduced us to 3-dimensional science instruction. Together, these provide infinite opportunities to generate interesting problems inspiring instruction and motivating student learning. Finding good resources to support 3-dimensional learning is challenging. The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) as a comprehensive source of high-quality, NGSS-aligned resources that can be quickly and easily searched. Furthermore, teachers new to NGSS are asked to do the following: synthesize high quality, scientifically vetted resources to engage students in relevant phenomena, problems and projects develop place-awareness for where students live and learn encourage data analysis, modeling, and argumentation skills energize students to participate in finding possible solutions to the problems we face. These challenges are intensified when teaching climate science and energy technology, some of the most rapidly changing science and engineering fields. Educators can turn to CLEAN to find scientifically and pedagogically vetted resources to integrate into their lessons. In this presentation, we will introduce the newly developed Harmonics Planning Template, Guidance Videos and Flowchart that guide the development of instructionally-sound, NGSS-style units using the CLEAN collection of resources. To illustrate the process, three example units will be presented: Phenology - a place-based investigation, Debating the Grid - a deliberation on optimal energy grid solutions, and History of Earth's Atmosphere and Oceans - a data-rich collaborative investigation.

Load Balancing Scientific Applications

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

Pearce, Olga Tkachyshyn

2014-12-01

The largest supercomputers have millions of independent processors, and concurrency levels are rapidly increasing. For ideal efficiency, developers of the simulations that run on these machines must ensure that computational work is evenly balanced among processors. Assigning work evenly is challenging because many large modern parallel codes simulate behavior of physical systems that evolve over time, and their workloads change over time. Furthermore, the cost of imbalanced load increases with scale because most large-scale scientific simulations today use a Single Program Multiple Data (SPMD) parallel programming model, and an increasing number of processors will wait for the slowest one atmore » the synchronization points. To address load imbalance, many large-scale parallel applications use dynamic load balance algorithms to redistribute work evenly. The research objective of this dissertation is to develop methods to decide when and how to load balance the application, and to balance it effectively and affordably. We measure and evaluate the computational load of the application, and develop strategies to decide when and how to correct the imbalance. Depending on the simulation, a fast, local load balance algorithm may be suitable, or a more sophisticated and expensive algorithm may be required. We developed a model for comparison of load balance algorithms for a specific state of the simulation that enables the selection of a balancing algorithm that will minimize overall runtime.« less

Animal Models of Zika Virus Infection, Pathogenesis, and Immunity.

PubMed

Morrison, Thomas E; Diamond, Michael S

2017-04-15

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that now causes epidemics affecting millions of people on multiple continents. The virus has received global attention because of some of its unusual epidemiological and clinical features, including persistent infection in the male reproductive tract and sexual transmission, an ability to cross the placenta during pregnancy and infect the developing fetus to cause congenital malformations, and its association with Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. This past year has witnessed an intensive effort by the global scientific community to understand the biology of ZIKV and to develop pathogenesis models for the rapid testing of possible countermeasures. Here, we review the recent advances in and utility and limitations of newly developed mouse and nonhuman primate models of ZIKV infection and pathogenesis. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Household air pollution: a call for studies into biomarkers of exposure and predictors of respiratory disease.

PubMed

Rylance, Jamie; Gordon, Stephen B; Naeher, Luke P; Patel, Archana; Balmes, John R; Adetona, Olorunfemi; Rogalsky, Derek K; Martin, William J

2013-05-01

Household air pollution (HAP) from indoor burning of biomass or coal is a leading global cause of morbidity and mortality, mostly due to its association with acute respiratory infection in children and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in adults. Interventions that have significantly reduced exposure to HAP improve health outcomes and may reduce mortality. However, we lack robust, specific, and field-ready biomarkers to identify populations at greatest risk and to monitor the effectiveness of interventions. New scientific approaches are urgently needed to develop biomarkers of human exposure that accurately reflect exposure or effect. In this Perspective, we describe the global need for such biomarkers, the aims of biomarker development, and the state of development of tests that have the potential for rapid transition from laboratory bench to field use.

Designing breathalyser technology for the developing world: how a single breath can fight the double disease burden.

PubMed

Krisher, Sarah; Riley, Alison; Mehta, Khanjan

2014-04-01

The meteoric rise in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases, alongside already high rates of infectious diseases, is exacerbating the 'double disease burden' in the developing world. There is a desperate need for affordable, accessible and ruggedized diagnostic tools that detect diseases early and direct patients to the correct channels. Breath analysis, the science of utilizing biomarkers in the breath for diagnostic measures, is growing rapidly, especially for use in clinical diagnostic settings. Breathalyser technologies are improving scientifically, but are not yet ready for productization and dissemination to address healthcare challenges. How does one ensure that these new biomedical devices will be suitable for use in developing communities? This article presents a comprehensive review of breath analysis technologies followed by a discussion on how such devices can be designed to conform with WHO's ASSURED criteria so as to reach and sustain in developing countries where they are needed the most.

Neurotech for Neuroscience: Unifying Concepts, Organizing Principles, and Emerging Tools

PubMed Central

Silver, Rae; Boahen, Kwabena; Grillner, Sten; Kopell, Nancy; Olsen, Kathie L.

2012-01-01

The ability to tackle analysis of the brain at multiple levels simultaneously is emerging from rapid methodological developments. The classical research strategies of “measure,” “model,” and “make” are being applied to the exploration of nervous system function. These include novel conceptual and theoretical approaches, creative use of mathematical modeling, and attempts to build brain-like devices and systems, as well as other developments including instrumentation and statistical modeling (not covered here). Increasingly, these efforts require teams of scientists from a variety of traditional scientific disciplines to work together. The potential of such efforts for understanding directed motor movement, emergence of cognitive function from neuronal activity, and development of neuromimetic computers are described by a team that includes individuals experienced in behavior and neuroscience, mathematics, and engineering. Funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, explore the potential of these changing frontiers of research for developing research policies and long-term planning. PMID:17978017

A component-based software environment for visualizing large macromolecular assemblies.

PubMed

Sanner, Michel F

2005-03-01

The interactive visualization of large biological assemblies poses a number of challenging problems, including the development of multiresolution representations and new interaction methods for navigating and analyzing these complex systems. An additional challenge is the development of flexible software environments that will facilitate the integration and interoperation of computational models and techniques from a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In this paper, we present a component-based software development strategy centered on the high-level, object-oriented, interpretive programming language: Python. We present several software components, discuss their integration, and describe some of their features that are relevant to the visualization of large molecular assemblies. Several examples are given to illustrate the interoperation of these software components and the integration of structural data from a variety of experimental sources. These examples illustrate how combining visual programming with component-based software development facilitates the rapid prototyping of novel visualization tools.

The development of ultrashort acting neuromuscular relaxant tropane derivatives.

PubMed

Gyermek, Laszlo; Lee, Chingmuh

2009-03-01

There is a need for neuromuscular relaxant (NMR) agents that are of the "nondepolarizing type" and produce rapidly developing and short-lasting skeletal muscle relaxation in anesthesiology. Many efforts have been directed to produce such agents. Our research focused on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of numerous "bisquaternary" derivatives of the cyclic aminoalkanes: tropane and granatane. Through systematic "steric structure-activity relationship" studies, we arrived at some new bisquaternary tropine and granatanol diesters, which in laboratory studies appeared to be the fastest and shortest acting NMRs recognized so far. Their ultrashort duration action-mechanism was, however, linked to the formation of nephrotoxic metabolites, precluding further development. Even so, we believe that the scientific information gained from more than a thousand such agents, will be useful toward developing the "ideal," ultrashort-acting NMR that could be clinically successful without the use of "reversing" agents, at least until "new biotechnology" may solve all problematic aspects of "transient" muscle relaxation.

KSC-2014-2515

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The components of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument await processing inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2508

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument arrives at the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2513

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Part of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is moved into Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2521

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is revealed inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2522

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is revealed inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

Linking Research, Education and Public Engagement in Geoscience: Leadership and Strategic Partnerships.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moosavi, S. C.

2017-12-01

By their very nature, the geosciences address societal challenges requiring a complex interplay between the research community, geoscience educators and public engagement with the general population to build their knowledge base and convince them to act appropriately to implement policies guided by scientific understanding. The most effective responses to geoscience challenges arise when strong collaborative structures connecting research, education and the public are in place to afford rapid communication and trust at all stages of the investigative and policy implementation processes. Educational programs that involve students and scientists via service learning exploring high profile issues of community interest and outreach to teachers through professional development build the network of relationships with geoscientists to respond rapidly to solve societal problems. These pre-existing personal connections simultaneously hold wider credibility with the public than unfamiliar scientific experts less accustomed to speaking to general audiences. The Geological Society of America is leveraging the research and educational experience of its members to build a self-sustaining state/regional network of K-12 professional development workshops designed to link the academic, research, governmental and industrial communities. The goal is not only to improve the content knowledge and pedagogical skills which teachers bring to their students, but also to build a diverse community of trust capable of responding to geoscience challenges in a fashion relevant to local communities. Dr. Moosavi is building this program by drawing on his background as a biogeochemistry researcher with 20 years experience focused on use of place-based approaches in general education and pre- and in-service teacher preparation in Research 1 and comprehensive universities, liberal arts and community colleges and high school. Experience with K-12 professional development working with the Minnesota Mineral Education Workshop and an undergraduate service learning research program related to beach erosion and the BP Oil Spill on Grand Isle, Louisiana are of particular value to this effort.

Rho Chi lecture. Pharmaceutical sciences in the next millennium.

PubMed

Triggle, D J

1999-02-01

Even a cursory survey of this article suggests that the pharmaceutical sciences are being rapidly transformed under the influence of both the new technologies and sciences and the economic imperatives. Of particular importance are scientific and technological advances that may greatly accelerate the critical process of discovery. The possibility of a drug discovery process built around the principles of directed diversity, self-reproduction, evolution, and self-targeting suggests a new paradigm of lead discovery, one based quite directly on the paradigms of molecular biology. Coupled with the principles of nanotechnology, we may contemplate miniature molecular machines containing directed drug factories, circulating the body and capable of self-targeting against defective cells and pathways -- the ultimate "drug delivery machine." However, science and technology are not the only factors that will transform the pharmaceutical sciences in the next century. The necessary reductions in the costs of drug discovery brought about by the rapidly increasing costs of the current drug discovery paradigms means that efforts to decrease the discovery phase and to make drug development part of drug discovery will become increasingly important. This is likely to involve increasing numbers of "alliances," as well as the creation of pharmaceutical research cells -- highly mobile and entrepreneurial groups within or outside of a pharmaceutical company that are formed to carry out specific discovery processes. Some of these will be in the biotechnology industry, but an increasing number will be in universities. The linear process from basic science to applied technology that has been the Western model since Vannevar Bush's Science: The Endless Frontier has probably never been particularly linear and, in any event, is likely to be rapidly supplanted by models where science, scientific development, and technology are more intimately linked. The pharmaceutical sciences have always been an example of use-directed basic research, but the relationships between the pharmaceutical industry, small and large, and the universities seems likely to become increasingly developed in the next century. This may serve as a significant catalyst for the continued transformation of universities into the "knowledge factories" of the 21st century. Regardless, we may expect to see major changes in the research organizational structure in the pharmaceutical sciences even as pharmaceutical companies enjoy record prosperity. And this is in anticipation of tough times to come.

Climate Change and Sea Level Rise: A Challenge to Science and Society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plag, H.

2009-12-01

Society is challenged by the risk of an anticipated rise of coastal Local Sea Level (LSL) as a consequence of future global warming. Many low-lying and often subsiding and densely populated coastal areas are under risk of increased inundation, with potentially devastating consequences for the global economy, society, and environment. Faced with a trade-off between imposing the very high costs of coastal protection and adaptation upon today's national economies and leaving the costs of potential major disasters to future generations, governments and decision makers are in need of scientific support for the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies for the coastal zone. Low-frequency to secular changes in LSL are the result of many interacting Earth system processes. The complexity of the Earth system makes it difficult to predict Global Sea Level (GSL) rise and, even more so, LSL changes over the next 100 to 200 years. Humans have re-engineered the planet and changed major features of the Earth surface and the atmosphere, thus ruling out extrapolation of past and current changes into the future as a reasonable approach. The risk of rapid changes in ocean circulation and ice sheet mass balance introduces the possibility of unexpected changes. Therefore, science is challenged with understanding and constraining the full range of plausible future LSL trajectories and with providing useful support for informed decisions. In the face of largely unpredictable future sea level changes, monitoring of the relevant processes and development of a forecasting service on realistic time scales is crucial as decision support. Forecasting and "early warning" for LSL rise would have to aim at decadal time scales, giving coastal managers sufficient time to react if the onset of rapid changes would require an immediate response. The social, environmental, and economic risks associated with potentially large and rapid LSL changes are enormous. Therefore, in the light of the current uncertainties and the unpredictable nature of some of the forcing processes for LSL changes, the focus of scientific decision support may have to shift from projections of LSL trajectories on century time scales to the development of models and monitoring systems for a forecasting service on decadal time scales. The requirements for such a LSL forecasting service and the current obstacles will be discussed.

Scenario development during commissioning operations on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battaglia, D. J.; Boyer, M. D.; Gerhardt, S.; Mueller, D.; Myers, C. E.; Guttenfelder, W.; Menard, J. E.; Sabbagh, S. A.; Scotti, F.; Bedoya, F.; Bell, R. E.; Berkery, J. W.; Diallo, A.; Ferraro, N.; Kaye, S. M.; Jaworski, M. A.; LeBlanc, B. P.; Ono, M.; Park, J.-K.; Podesta, M.; Raman, R.; Soukhanovskii, V.; NSTX-U Research, the; Operations; Engineering Team

2018-04-01

The National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) will advance the physics basis required for achieving steady-state, high-beta, and high-confinement conditions in a tokamak by accessing high toroidal fields (1 T) and plasma currents (1.0-2.0 MA) in a low aspect ratio geometry (A  =  1.6-1.8) with flexible auxiliary heating systems (12 MW NBI, 6 MW HHFW). This paper describes the progress in the development of L- and H-mode discharge scenarios and the commissioning of operational tools in the first ten weeks of operation that enable the scientific mission of NSTX-U. Vacuum field calculations completed prior to operations supported the rapid development and optimization of inductive breakdown at different values of ohmic solenoid current. The toroidal magnetic field (B T0  =  0.65 T) exceeded the maximum values achieved on NSTX and novel long-pulse L-mode discharges with regular sawtooth activity exceeded the longest pulses produced on NSTX (t pulse  >  1.8 s). The increased flux of the central solenoid facilitated the development of stationary L-mode discharges over a range of density and plasma current (I p). H-mode discharges achieved similar levels of stored energy, confinement (H98y,2  >  1) and stability (β N/β N-nowall  >  1) compared to NSTX discharges for I p  ⩽  1 MA. High-performance H-mode scenarios require an L-H transition early in the I p ramp-up phase in order to obtain low internal inductance (l i) throughout the discharge, which is conducive to maintaining vertical stability at high elongation (κ  >  2.2) and achieving long periods of MHD quiescent operations. The rapid progress in developing L- and H-mode scenarios in support of the scientific program was enabled by advances in real-time plasma control, efficient error field identification and correction, effective conditioning of the graphite wall and excellent diagnostic availability.

Robotic Exploration: The Role of Science Autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roush, Ted L.; DeVincenzi, D. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Historical mission operations have involved: (1) commands transmitted to the craft; (2) execution of commands; (3) return of scientific data; (4) evaluation of these data by scientists; and (5) recommendations for future mission activity by scientists. This cycle is repeated throughout the mission with command opportunities once or twice per day. For a rover, this historical cycle is not amenable to rapid long range traverses or rapid response to any novel or unexpected situations.

Epoetin and Darbepoetin Treatment for Adults with Cancer

MedlinePlus

... best possible care, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH) ... to the rapid flow of scientific information in oncology, new evidence may have emerged since the time ...

Rapid and simple method for binder oxidation aging

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-08-01

The last 10 years have seen an ever-increasing use of microwave radiation (dielectric heating, in-situ heating) especially in organic synthetic research, the undergraduate laboratory, and industrial production. Scientific microwave instruments are no...

Model of oronasal rehabilitation in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome undergoing rapid maxillary expansion: Research review

PubMed Central

Levrini, Luca; Lorusso, Paola; Caprioglio, Alberto; Magnani, Augusta; Diaféria, Giovana; Bittencourt, Lia; Bommarito, Silvana

2014-01-01

Rapid maxillary expansion (RME) is a widely used practice in orthodontics. Scientific evidence shows that RME can be helpful in modifying the breathing pattern in mouth-breathing patients. In order to promote the restoration of physiological breathing we have developed a rehabilitation program associated with RME in children. The aim of the study was a literature review and a model of orofacial rehabilitation in children with obstructive sleep apnea undergoing treatment with rapid maxillary expansion. Muscular training (local exercises and general ones) is the key factor of the program. It also includes hygienic and behavior instructions as well as other therapeutic procedures such as rhinosinusal washes, a postural re-education (Alexander technique) and, if necessary, a pharmacological treatment aimed to improve nasal obstruction. The program should be customized for each patient. If RME is supported by an adequate functional rehabilitation, the possibility to change the breathing pattern is considerably amplified. Awareness, motivation and collaboration of the child and their parents, as well as the cooperation among specialists, such as orthodontist, speech therapist, pediatrician and otolaryngologist, are necessary conditions to achieve the goal. PMID:26483933

The first international workshop on "Advancement of POLarimetric Observations: calibration and improved aerosol retrievals": APOLO-2017

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubovik, Oleg; Li, Zhengqiang; Mishchenko, Michael I.

2018-06-01

The international workshop on "Advancement of POLarimetric Observations: calibration and improved aerosol retrievals-2017" (APOLO-2017) took place in Hefei, China on 24 - 27 October 2017. This was the inaugural meeting of a planned series of workshops on satellite polarimetry aimed at addressing the rapidly growing interest of the scientific community in polarimetric remote-sensing observations from space. The workshop was held at the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Hefei, widely known for 15 years of experience in the development of research polarimetry sensors and for hosting the building in parallel of several orbital polarimeters.

The food industry and conflicts of interest in nutrition research: A Latin American perspective.

PubMed

Barnoya, Joaquin; Nestle, Marion

2016-12-01

Conflicts of interest arise when corporations marketing harmful products establish financial relationships with research institutions, researchers, or public health organizations. As obesity becomes a worldwide epidemic, such relationships threaten to jeopardize the integrity of scientific research. Latin America, a region undergoing rapid development, is particularly vulnerable to such conflicts. Here, we provide examples of how food and beverage companies are funding nutrition-focused research and institutions in Latin America, putting their credibility at risk. Public health organizations and institutions should take measures to identify, manage, and limit (or eliminate) conflicts of interest caused by partnerships with food companies making and marketing unhealthful products.

International Trade Professional Curriculum System Innovation and Personnel Training Model Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Yang

With the rapid development of China's foreign trade, now many universities have set up the International Trade major one after another; The University must be based on our own resources superiority to have the scientific orientation of personnel training objectives, which can make trained students meet needs of society and enterprises better. This paper based on the characteristics of International Trade major in University proposes to take the personnel training model combining with "Work, Certificate and Learning" as the objective, proceeding the orientation of professional personnel and settings of certificate testing module and teaching module, to construct the curriculum system from the innovation of theoretical and practical teaching.

PRISM software—Processing and review interface for strong-motion data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Jeanne M.; Kalkan, Erol; Stephens, Christopher D.; Ng, Peter

2017-11-28

Rapidly available and accurate ground-motion acceleration time series (seismic recordings) and derived data products are essential to quickly providing scientific and engineering analysis and advice after an earthquake. To meet this need, the U.S. Geological Survey National Strong Motion Project has developed a software package called PRISM (Processing and Review Interface for Strong-Motion data). PRISM automatically processes strong-motion acceleration records, producing compatible acceleration, velocity, and displacement time series; acceleration, velocity, and displacement response spectra; Fourier amplitude spectra; and standard earthquake-intensity measures. PRISM is intended to be used by strong-motion seismic networks, as well as by earthquake engineers and seismologists.

Institutional Oversight of Occupational Health and Safety for Research Programs Involving Biohazards

PubMed Central

Dyson, Melissa C; Carpenter, Calvin B; Colby, Lesley A

2017-01-01

Research with hazardous biologic materials (biohazards) is essential to the progress of medicine and science. The field of microbiology has rapidly advanced over the years, partially due to the development of new scientific methods such as recombinant DNA technology, synthetic biology, viral vectors, and the use of genetically modified animals. This research poses a potential risk to personnel as well as the public and the environment. Institutions must have appropriate oversight and take appropriate steps to mitigate the risks of working with these biologic hazards. This article will review responsibilities for institutional oversight of occupational health and safety for research involving biologic hazards. PMID:28662748

Recent progress of dopant-free organic hole-transporting materials in perovskite solar cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dongxue, Liu; Liu, Yongsheng

2017-01-01

Organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells have undergone especially intense research and transformation over the past seven years due to their enormous progress in conversion efficiencies. In this perspective, we review the latest developments of conventional perovskite solar cells with a main focus on dopant-free organic hole transporting materials (HTMs). Regarding the rapid progress of perovskite solar cells, stability of devices using dopant-free HTMs are also discussed to help readers understand the challenges and opportunities in high performance and stable perovskite solar cells. Project supported by the Scientific Research Starting Foundation for Overseas Introduced Talents of College of Chemistry, Nankai University.

The Follow-up Crisis: Optimizing Science in an Opportunity Rich Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vestrand, T.

Rapid follow-up tasking for robotic telescopes has been dominated by a one-dimensional uncoordinated response strategy developed for gamma-ray burst studies. However, this second-grade soccer approach is increasing showing its limitations even when there are only a few events per night. And it will certainly fail when faced with the denial-of-service attack generated by the nightly flood of new transients generated by massive variability surveys like LSST. We discuss approaches for optimizing the scientific return from autonomous robotic telescopes in the high event range limit and explore the potential of a coordinated telescope ecosystem employing heterogeneous telescopes.

Institutional Oversight of Occupational Health and Safety for Research Programs Involving Biohazards.

PubMed

Dyson, Melissa C; Carpenter, Calvin B; Colby, Lesley A

2017-06-01

Research with hazardous biologic materials (biohazards) is essential to the progress of medicine and science. The field of microbiology has rapidly advanced over the years, partially due to the development of new scientific methods such as recombinant DNA technology, synthetic biology, viral vectors, and the use of genetically modified animals. This research poses a potential risk to personnel as well as the public and the environment. Institutions must have appropriate oversight and take appropriate steps to mitigate the risks of working with these biologic hazards. This article will review responsibilities for institutional oversight of occupational health and safety for research involving biologic hazards.

A call for science preparedness for pregnant women during public health emergencies.

PubMed

Faherty, Laura J; Rasmussen, Sonja A; Lurie, Nicole

2017-01-01

Science preparedness, or the ability to conduct scientific research early in a public health emergency, is essential to increase the likelihood that important research questions regarding pregnant women will be addressed during future public health emergencies while the window of opportunity for data collection is open. Science preparedness should include formulation and human subject approval of generic protocols, which could be rapidly updated at the time of the public health emergency; development of a preexisting study network to coordinate time-sensitive research during a public health emergency; and identification of mechanisms for funding these studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ultramicroelectrode Array Based Sensors: A Promising Analytical Tool for Environmental Monitoring

PubMed Central

Orozco, Jahir; Fernández-Sánchez, César; Jiménez-Jorquera, Cecilia

2010-01-01

The particular analytical performance of ultramicroelectrode arrays (UMEAs) has attracted a high interest by the research community and has led to the development of a variety of electroanalytical applications. UMEA-based approaches have demonstrated to be powerful, simple, rapid and cost-effective analytical tools for environmental analysis compared to available conventional electrodes and standardised analytical techniques. An overview of the fabrication processes of UMEAs, their characterization and applications carried out by the Spanish scientific community is presented. A brief explanation of theoretical aspects that highlight their electrochemical behavior is also given. Finally, the applications of this transducer platform in the environmental field are discussed. PMID:22315551

Nursing and genetic biobanks.

PubMed

Sanner, Jennifer E; Yu, Erica; Udtha, Malini; Williams, Pamela Holtzclaw

2013-12-01

Biobanks function as vital components in genetic research, which often requires large disease-based or population-based biospecimens and clinical data to study complex or rare diseases. Genetic biobanks aim to provide resources for translational research focusing on rapidly moving scientific findings from the laboratory into health care practice. The nursing profession must evolve as genetic biobanking practices advance. Nursing involvement in genetic biobanking practices comes with a distinct set of educational, ethical, and practice competencies. In response to these growing competency standards, nursing science developed a conceptual framework and continues to study ethical considerations to guide genetic biobanking initiatives. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Open Labware: 3-D Printing Your Own Lab Equipment

PubMed Central

Baden, Tom; Chagas, Andre Maia; Gage, Greg; Marzullo, Timothy; Prieto-Godino, Lucia L.; Euler, Thomas

2015-01-01

The introduction of affordable, consumer-oriented 3-D printers is a milestone in the current “maker movement,” which has been heralded as the next industrial revolution. Combined with free and open sharing of detailed design blueprints and accessible development tools, rapid prototypes of complex products can now be assembled in one’s own garage—a game-changer reminiscent of the early days of personal computing. At the same time, 3-D printing has also allowed the scientific and engineering community to build the “little things” that help a lab get up and running much faster and easier than ever before. PMID:25794301

ISACS-DOC: Monitoring and Diagnostic System for AKARI and HINODE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mizutani, Mitsue; Hirose, Toshinori; Takaki, Ryoji; Honda, Hideyuki

ISACS-DOC (Intelligent Satellite Control Software-DOCtor), which is an automatic monitoring and diagnostic system for scientific satellites or spacecraft, aims to rapidly and accurately capture important changes and sign of anomaly during daily satellite operations. After three systems for deep space missions, the new generation of ISACS-DOC with a higher speed processing performance had been developed for the satellites in earth orbit, AKARI and HINODE. This paper reports on the newest ISACS-DOC about enhanced functions, operating status, and an approach to create standards to build and keep up the knowledge data base. Continuous enhancements through the actual operations are the advantage of ISACS-DOC.

Trends in clinical reproductive medicine research: 10 years of growth.

PubMed

Aleixandre-Benavent, Rafael; Simon, Carlos; Fauser, Bart C J M

2015-07-01

To study the most important metrics of publication in the field of reproductive medicine over the decade 2003-2012 to aid in discerning the clinical, social, and epidemiologic implications of this relatively new but rapidly emerging area in medical sciences. Bibliometric analysis of most-cited publications from Web of Science databases. Not applicable. None. None. Most productive and frequently cited investigators, institutions, and countries and specific areas of research, scientific collaborations, and comparison of the growth of reproductive medicine research compared with other areas of medical investigation such as obstetrics and gynecology and related science categories. We found that 90 investigators with more than 1,000 citations had jointly published 4,010 articles. A continued rise in the impact factor of reproductive medicine journals was seen. The number of publications in reproductive medicine grew more rapidly compared with other science categories. Presently 22% of highly cited articles in reproductive medicine research are published in journals belonging to science categories outside reproductive medicine. The most-cited study groups are situated in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and collaborative studies have been increasing. Reproductive medicine research and subsequent clinical development have attained scientific growth and maturity. High-quality research is increasingly being published in high-impact journals. The increase in (inter)national collaborations seems to be key to the field's success. Copyright © 2015 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The NSF ITR Project: Framework for the National Virtual Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szalay, A. S.; Williams, R. D.; NVO Collaboration

2002-05-01

Technological advances in telescope and instrument design during the last ten years, coupled with the exponential increase in computer and communications capability, have caused a dramatic and irreversible change in the character of astronomical research. Large-scale surveys of the sky from space and ground are being initiated at wavelengths from radio to x-ray, thereby generating vast amounts of high quality irreplaceable data. The potential for scientific discovery afforded by these new surveys is enormous. Entirely new and unexpected scientific results of major significance will emerge from the combined use of the resulting datasets, science that would not be possible from such sets used singly. However, their large size and complexity require tools and structures to discover the complex phenomena encoded within them. We plan to build the NVO framework both through coordinating diverse efforts already in existence and providing a focus for the development of capabilities that do not yet exist. The NVO we envisage will act as an enabling and coordinating entity to foster the development of further tools, protocols, and collaborations necessary to realize the full scientific potential of large astronomical datasets in the coming decade. The NVO must be able to change and respond to the rapidly evolving world of IT technology. In spite of its underlying complex software, the NVO should be no harder to use for the average astronomer, than today's brick-and-mortar observatories and telescopes. Development of these capabilities will require close interaction and collaboration with the information technology community and other disciplines facing similar challenges. We need to ensure that the tools that we need exist or are built, but we do not duplicate efforts, and rely on relevant experience of others.

CFD and ventilation research.

PubMed

Li, Y; Nielsen, P V

2011-12-01

There has been a rapid growth of scientific literature on the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in the research of ventilation and indoor air science. With a 1000-10,000 times increase in computer hardware capability in the past 20 years, CFD has become an integral part of scientific research and engineering development of complex air distribution and ventilation systems in buildings. This review discusses the major and specific challenges of CFD in terms of turbulence modelling, numerical approximation, and boundary conditions relevant to building ventilation. We emphasize the growing need for CFD verification and validation, suggest ongoing needs for analytical and experimental methods to support the numerical solutions, and discuss the growing capacity of CFD in opening up new research areas. We suggest that CFD has not become a replacement for experiment and theoretical analysis in ventilation research, rather it has become an increasingly important partner. We believe that an effective scientific approach for ventilation studies is still to combine experiments, theory, and CFD. We argue that CFD verification and validation are becoming more crucial than ever as more complex ventilation problems are solved. It is anticipated that ventilation problems at the city scale will be tackled by CFD in the next 10 years. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Absorption and metabolization of sex hormones and their transformation into contraceptive technologies: the paths taken by medical thought in Brazil.

PubMed

Bonan, Claudia; Teixeira, Luiz Antonio; Nakano, Andreza Rodrigues

2017-01-01

The article analyses knowledge assimilation and the development of clinical and research practices relating to sex hormones among Brazilian gynaecologists. It discusses the paths taken by medical thought from the reception of the hormones to their transformation into contraceptives. Our objective is to comprehend styles of introducing and disseminating medical technologies in the area of reproductive health in Brazil. It uses methods of historical analysis and takes as its source the Anais Brasileiros de Ginecologia, a journal published between 1936 and 1970. From the outset, the accompaniment of scientific breakthroughs in relation to sex hormones and their use to treat diverse female illnesses played a key role in the rapid medical acceptance of hormonal contraception. Scientific and technical questions (side effects, dosages) and the demographic issue formed part of the majority of the debates. Objections from the Catholic Church were considered but did not set the agenda of medical thought on contraceptives. The quest to consolidate gynaecology as a scientific, modern and cosmopolitan area of expertise, along with sanitary and demographic motives that allowed contraceptives to be classed as ethical drugs, are identified as processes underlying the assimilation and metabolization of sex hormones as hormonal contraceptives.

Best Practices of Collaboration in Arctic Research: How to Succeed, or Fail, in Cross-Disciplinary Efforts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiggins, H. V.

2014-12-01

The rapid physical and social changes currently underway in the Arctic - and changes in the way in which we study and manage the region - require coordinated research efforts to improve our understanding of the Arctic's physical, biological, and social systems. At the same time, policy-makers and Arctic communities need decision-support tools and synthesized information to respond and adapt to the "new arctic". There are enormous challenges, however, in collaboration among the disparate groups of people needed for such efforts. A carefully planned strategic approach is required to bridge the scientific disciplinary and organizational boundaries, foster cooperation between local communities and science programs, and effectively communicate between scientists and policy-makers. Efforts must draw on bodies of knowledge from project management, strategic planning, organizational development, group dynamics, and other fields. In addition, collaborations between scientific disciplines face challenges unique to scientific culture. This poster presentation will discuss best practices of building and sustaining networks of people to catalyze successful cross-disciplinary activities. Specific examples and case studies - both successes and failures - will be presented that draw on several projects at the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS; www.arcus.org), a nonprofit membership organization composed of universities and institutions that have a substantial commitment to research in the Arctic.

Tropical Cyclone Madi Approaching India

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-12-09

Tropical Cyclone Madi approaching India. Acquired by Aqua/MODIS on 12/07/2013 at 07:55 UTC. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team 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

Scenario-building for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

USGS Publications Warehouse

Machlis, Gary; McNutt, Marcia K.

2010-01-01

In May 2010, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) established a Strategic Sciences Working Group (SSWG) to assess how the Deepwater Horizon (DH) oil spill may impact the ecology, economy, and people of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). It included scientists from diverse disciplines and federal, academic, and nongovernmental organizations. The SSWG was not to conduct a scientific investigation, but to provide rapid scientific assessment of potential consequences of the spill that could provide usable knowledge to decision-makers.

Snow across the Midwest

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

On Nov. 22, 2015 at 19:15 UTC the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of Snow across the Midwest. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team 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

MODIS Sees Hurricane Gonzalo

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

On Oct. 18 at 17:35 UTC (1:35 p.m EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite saw Hurricane Gonzalo approaching Newfoundland. ..Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team..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

a New Quantitative Method for the Rapid Evaluation of Buildings against Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmoodzadeh, Amir; Mazaheri, Mohammad Mehdi

2008-07-01

At the present time there exist numerous weak buildings which are not able to withstand earthquakes. At the same time, both private and public developers are trying to use scientific methods to prioritize and allocate budget in order to reinforce the above mentioned structures. This is because of the limited financial resources and time. In the recent years the procedure of seismic assessment before rehabilitation of vulnerable buildings has been implemented in many countries. Now, it seems logical to reinforce the existing procedures with the mass of available data about the effects caused by earthquakes on buildings. The main idea is driven from FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) in quality management where the main procedure is to recognize the failure, the causes, and the priority of each cause and failure. Specifying the causes and effects which lead to a certain shortcoming in structural behavior during earthquakes, an inventory is developed and each building is rated through a yes-or-no procedure. In this way, the rating of the structure is based on some standard forms which along with relative weights are developed in this study. The resulted criteria by rapid assessment will indicate whether the structure is to be demolished, has a high, medium or low vulnerability or is invulnerable.

Recommender systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lü, Linyuan; Medo, Matúš; Yeung, Chi Ho; Zhang, Yi-Cheng; Zhang, Zi-Ke; Zhou, Tao

2012-10-01

The ongoing rapid expansion of the Internet greatly increases the necessity of effective recommender systems for filtering the abundant information. Extensive research for recommender systems is conducted by a broad range of communities including social and computer scientists, physicists, and interdisciplinary researchers. Despite substantial theoretical and practical achievements, unification and comparison of different approaches are lacking, which impedes further advances. In this article, we review recent developments in recommender systems and discuss the major challenges. We compare and evaluate available algorithms and examine their roles in the future developments. In addition to algorithms, physical aspects are described to illustrate macroscopic behavior of recommender systems. Potential impacts and future directions are discussed. We emphasize that recommendation has great scientific depth and combines diverse research fields which makes it interesting for physicists as well as interdisciplinary researchers.

SARS and MERS: recent insights into emerging coronaviruses.

PubMed

de Wit, Emmie; van Doremalen, Neeltje; Falzarano, Darryl; Munster, Vincent J

2016-08-01

The emergence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in 2012 marked the second introduction of a highly pathogenic coronavirus into the human population in the twenty-first century. The continuing introductions of MERS-CoV from dromedary camels, the subsequent travel-related viral spread, the unprecedented nosocomial outbreaks and the high case-fatality rates highlight the need for prophylactic and therapeutic measures. Scientific advancements since the 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) pandemic allowed for rapid progress in our understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenesis of MERS-CoV and the development of therapeutics. In this Review, we detail our present understanding of the transmission and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, and discuss the current state of development of measures to combat emerging coronaviruses.

Use of an UROV to develop 3-D optical models of submarine environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Null, W. D.; Landry, B. J.

2017-12-01

The ability to rapidly obtain high-fidelity bathymetry is crucial for a broad range of engineering, scientific, and defense applications ranging from bridge scour, bedform morphodynamics, and coral reef health to unexploded ordnance detection and monitoring. The present work introduces the use of an Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (UROV) to develop 3-D optical models of submarine environments. The UROV used a Raspberry Pi camera mounted to a small servo which allowed for pitch control. Prior to video data collection, in situ camera calibration was conducted with the system. Multiple image frames were extracted from the underwater video for 3D reconstruction using Structure from Motion (SFM). This system provides a simple and cost effective solution to obtaining detailed bathymetry in optically clear submarine environments.

The field of forensic psychology in Israel--the state of the discipline.

PubMed

Zaki, Moshe

2009-12-01

The process of the establishment of forensic psychology in Israel begins in the eighties; while at the past 6 years after the creation of the Department of Psychology, Law and Ethics--The International Center for Health, Law and Ethics at Haifa University, the field continues to grow rapidly. Today, the development of forensic psychology is reflected in the scientific practice at Haifa University as at others (academic courses for different graduate levels and research concerning professional and ethical issues); as well as in the practical professional development of professional organizations, practice standards and training programs. Now as a specialty, forensic psychology must continue to make an effort to enrich in science and in professional practice, its aid in the administration of justice by assisting legal decision-makers.

Precise positioning with current multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite Systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.

PubMed

Li, Xingxing; Zhang, Xiaohong; Ren, Xiaodong; Fritsche, Mathias; Wickert, Jens; Schuh, Harald

2015-02-09

The world of satellite navigation is undergoing dramatic changes with the rapid development of multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs). At the moment more than 70 satellites are already in view, and about 120 satellites will be available once all four systems (BeiDou + Galileo + GLONASS + GPS) are fully deployed in the next few years. This will bring great opportunities and challenges for both scientific and engineering applications. In this paper we develop a four-system positioning model to make full use of all available observations from different GNSSs. The significant improvement of satellite visibility, spatial geometry, dilution of precision, convergence, accuracy, continuity and reliability that a combining utilization of multi-GNSS brings to precise positioning are carefully analyzed and evaluated, especially in constrained environments.

Chromatin: Its history, current research, and the seminal researchers and their philosophy.

PubMed

Deichmann, Ute

2015-01-01

The concept of chromatin as a complex of nucleic acid and proteins in the cell nucleus was developed by cytologists and biochemists in the late 19th century. It was the starting point for biochemical research on DNA and nuclear proteins. Although interest in chromatin declined rapidly at the beginning of the 20th century, a few decades later a new focus on chromatin emerged, which was not only related to its structure, but also to its function in gene regulatory processes in the development of higher organisms. Since the late 20th century, research on chromatin modifications has also been conducted under the label of epigenetics. This article highlights the major phases of chromatin research until the present time and introduces major investigators and their scientific and philosophical outlooks.

Visualization and Enabling Science at PO.DAAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tauer, E.; To, C.

2017-12-01

Facilitating the identification of appropriate data for scientific inquiry is important for efficient progress, but mechanisms for that identification vary, as does the effectiveness of those mechanisms. Appropriately crafted visualizations provide the means to quickly assess science data and scientific features, but providing the right visualization to the right application can present challenges. Even greater is the challenge of generating and/or re-constituting visualizations on the fly, particularly for large datasets. One avenue to mitigate the challenge is to arrive at an optimized intermediate data format that is tuned for rapid processing without sacrificing the provenance trace back to the original source data. This presentation will discuss the results of trading several current approaches towards an intermediate data format, and suggest a list of key attributes that will facilitate rapid visualization, and in the process, facilitate the identification of the right data for a given application.

NASA Sees Typhoon Soudelor's Remnants Over Eastern China

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

On August 9 at 03:00 UTC (Aug. 8 at 11 p.m. EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite passed over the remnant clouds of Typhoon Soudelor when it was over eastern China. By 22:35 UTC (6:35 p.m. EDT) on August 8, 2015, Typhoon Soudelor had made landfall in eastern China and was rapidly dissipating. Maximum sustained winds had dropped to 45 knots (51.7 mph/83.3 kph) after landfall, making it a tropical storm. Image credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team/Jeff Schmaltz..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

Typhoon Neoguri Approaching Japan

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-07-09

NASA's Terra satellite captured this visible image on July 9 at 02:30 UTC (July 8 at 10:30 p.m. EDT) as Typhoon Neoguri was approaching Kyushu, Japan. The visible image revealed that Neoguri's eye had disappeared and the center has become somewhat elongated as the storm weakened into a tropical storm. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that an upper level analysis revealed that Neoguri is now in a more harsh environment as northerly vertical wind shear increased to as much as 30 knots. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response 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

MoMa: From Molecules to Man: Space Research Applied to the improvement of the Quality of Life of the Ageing Population on Earth. Evolution of a project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zambito, Anna Maria; Curcio, Francesco; Meli, Antonella; Saverio Ambesi-Impiombato, Francesco

The "MoMa" project: "From Molecules to Man: Space Research Applied to the improvement of the Quality of Life of the Ageing Population on Earth started June 16 2006 and finished right on schedule June 25 2009, has been the biggest of the three projects funded by ASI in the sector "Medicine and Biotechnology. In the last years the scientific community had formed a national chain of biomedical spatial research with different research areas. MoMa responds to the necessity of unification in ASI of the two areas "Radiobiology and Protection" and "Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology" in a line of joint research: "Biotechnological Applications" were the interests of all groups would be combined and unified in a goal of social relevance. MoMa is the largest project ever developed in the biomedical area in Italy, the idea was born thinking about the phenomenon of acceleration of the aging process observed in space, and already described in literature, and the aim of studying the effects of the space environment at cellular, molecular and human organism level. "MoMa" was divided into three primary areas of study: Molecules, Cells and Man with an industrial area alongside. This allowed to optimize the work and information flows within the scientific research more similar and more culturally homogeneous and allowed a perfect industrial integration in a project of great scientific importance. Within three scientific areas 10 scientific lines in total are identified, each of them coordinated by a subcontractor. The rapid and efficient exchange of information between different areas of science and the development of industrial applications in various areas of interest have been assured by a strong work of Scientific Coordination of System Engineering and Quality Control. After three years of intense and coordinated activities within the MoMa project, the objectives achieved are very significant not only as regards the scientific results and the important hardware produced but also as regard of the employment targets with the delivery of approximately 250 scholarships for researchers and doctoral students and financing to industries and SMEs Italian. The scientific and industrial MoMa community is aware that a so important and challenging project can not expire and is now ready to take advantage of the huge potentiality gained to compete successfully at international level in this new phase of space exploration.

CHAMBARA: The changing hydrography and man made biomass burning in Africa: a concept for earth observations from the International Space Station.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muller, Christian

2010-05-01

In parallel to vegetation mapping exemplified by VEGETATION and spectral thematic instruments as MERIS, other important natural and man-made phenomena characterize the equatorial and low latitude regions region covered especially well by the International Space Station orbit. The agreement between the space agencies evolves now to a lifetime of the ISS up to 2025. Two themes can be proposed: hydrography and biomass burning. Hydrography has an extreme human importance as human life and agriculture depend on water, transport as well; also the hydroelectric energy which could be harnessed from the hydrological network is tremendous and would allow a sustainable development of the entire region. The CHAMBARA proposed concept differs from other satellite observation programmes in a sense that the images are taken either according either to pre-planned scientific campaigns controlled from an operation centre either according to real time unexpected events or emergencies. For example, biomass burning imaging campaigns are organised at the end of the dry season, while deltas and lake are monitored at specific points of the dry seasons and, if the cloud cover allows it, at periods of the wet season. In exceptional cases, as natural disasters or rapidly varying scenes, the operation centre will reschedule the programme and even ask for exceptional crew assistance. This project aims at this point to the European and African scientific communities specialized on Sub-Saharan Africa which is currently studied by several Belgian scientific institutions but its techniques could also be extended to the Amazon basin, tropical Asia and Oceania. The equipment proposed will be an advanced true colour rapid camera, external mounting is wished in order to free the optical window but nadir pointing should be the nominal position. An example of the concept is given by the serendipitous image ISS004E11 Central African observation (ISS photograph, May 16, 2002, centered near 8.6 degrees south latitude, 27.4 degrees east longitude, NASA document). This image is a unique representation of the start of a slash and burn process on several agricultural plots, it exemplifies the requirement for a rapid camera able to follow the evolution of plumes and other variable earth surface phenomena. This communication describes the integrated concept proposed from image collecting operations to data distribution.

Designing a Micromixer for Rolling Circle Amplification in Cancer Biomarker Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altural, Hayriye

2015-03-01

Rolling circle amplification (RCA) is an alternative method to the Polymerase Chain Reaction based amplification for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis. In future personalized cancer diagnostic for POC applications, smaller, faster and cheaper methods are needed instead of costly and time-consuming laboratory tests. Microfluidic chips can perform the detection of cancer biomarkers within less analysis time, and provide for improvement in the sensitivity and specificity required for biochemical analysis as well. Rapid mixing is essential in the chips used in cancer diagnostic. The goal of this study is to design a micromixer for rapid RCA-based analysis and develop the assay time in cancer biomarker detection. By combining assays with micromixers, multi-step bioreactions in microfluidic chips may be achieved with minimal external control. Here, simulation results related to the micromixer are obtained by COMSOL software. The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) is acknowledged for granting of H. Altural postdoctoral study in the framework of TUBITAK-BIDEB 2219-International Postdoctoral Research Scholarship Program.

Engineering approaches to immunotherapy.

PubMed

Swartz, Melody A; Hirosue, Sachiko; Hubbell, Jeffrey A

2012-08-22

As the science of immunology grows increasingly mechanistic, motivation for developing quantitative, design-based engineering approaches has also evolved, both for therapeutic interventions and for elucidating immunological pathways in human disease. This has seeded the nascent field of "immunoengineering," which seeks to apply engineering analyses and design approaches to problems in translational immunology. For example, cell engineers are creating ways to tailor and use immune cells as living therapeutics; protein engineers are devising new methods of rapid antibody discovery; biomaterials scientists are guiding vaccine delivery and immune-cell activation with novel constructs; and systems immunologists are deciphering the evolution and maintenance of T and B cell receptor repertoires, which could help guide vaccine design. The field is multidisciplinary and collaborative, with engineers and immunologists working together to better understand and treat disease. We discuss the scientific progress in this young, yet rapidly evolving research area, which has yielded numerous start-up companies that are betting on impact in clinical and commercial translation in the near future.

Rapidly quantifying the relative distention of a human bladder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Companion, John A. (Inventor); Heyman, Joseph S. (Inventor); Mineo, Beth A. (Inventor); Cavalier, Albert R. (Inventor); Blalock, Travis N. (Inventor)

1991-01-01

A device and method was developed to rapidly quantify the relative distention of the bladder of a human subject. An ultrasonic transducer is positioned on the human subject near the bladder. A microprocessor controlled pulser excites the transducer by sending an acoustic wave into the human subject. This wave interacts with the bladder walls and is reflected back to the ultrasonic transducer where it is received, amplified, and processed by the receiver. The resulting signal is digitized by an analog to digital converter, controlled by the microprocessor again, and is stored in data memory. The software in the microprocessor determines the relative distention of the bladder as a function of the propagated ultrasonic energy. Based on programmed scientific measurements and the human subject's past history as contained in program memory, the microprocessor sends out a signal to turn on any or all of the available alarms. The alarm system includes and audible alarm, the visible alarm, the tactile alarm, and the remote wireless alarm.

Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines for Tomorrow's Energy-Efficient Vehicles

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

2016-03-01

A new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiative is accelerating the introduction of affordable, scalable, and sustainable biofuels and high-efficiency, low-emission vehicle engines. The simultaneous fuels and vehicles research and development (R&D) is designed to deliver maximum energy savings, emissions reduction, and on-road vehicle performance. The initiative's integrated approach combines the previously independent areas of biofuels and combustion R&D, bringing together two DOE Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy research offices, nine national laboratories, and numerous industry and academic partners to more rapidly identify commercially viable solutions. This multi-year project will provide industry with the scientific underpinnings required tomore » move new biofuels and advanced engine systems to market faster while identifying and addressing barriers to their commercialization. This project's ambitious, first-of-its-kind approach simultaneously tackles fuel and engine innovation to co-optimize performance of both elements and provide dramatic and rapid cuts in fuel use and emissions.« less

Observational evidence of a long-term increase in precipitation due to urbanization effects and its implications for sustainable urban living.

PubMed

Wai, K M; Wang, X M; Lin, T H; Wong, M S; Zeng, S K; He, N; Ng, E; Lau, K; Wang, D H

2017-12-01

Although projected precipitation increases in East Asia due to future climate change have aroused concern, less attention has been paid by the scientific community and public to the potential long-term increase in precipitation due to rapid urbanization. A ten-year precipitation dataset was analysed for both a rapidly urbanized megacity and nearby suburban/rural stations in southern China. Rapid urbanization in the megacity was evident from satellite observations. A statistically significant, long-term, increasing trend of precipitation existed only at the megacity station (45.6mm per decade) and not at the other stations. The increase was attributed to thermal and dynamical modifications of the tropospheric boundary layer related to urbanization, which was confirmed by the results of our WRF-SLUCM simulations. The results also suggested that a long-term regional increase in precipitation, caused by greenhouse gas-induced climate change, for instance, was not evident within the study period. The urbanization-induced increase was found to be higher than the precipitation increase (18.3mm per decade) expected from future climate change. The direct climate impacts due to rapid urbanization is highlighted with strong implications for urban sustainable development and the planning of effective adaptation strategies for issues such as coastal defenses, mosquito-borne disease spread and heat stress mortality. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nicolaus Copernicus and the rapid vascular responses to aldosterone.

PubMed

Barton, Matthias; Meyer, Matthias R

2015-08-01

For decades, rapid steroid responses initiated by membrane receptors have been a primary research focus. G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) is activated by 17β-estradiol and participates in functional crosstalk with other steroid receptors. With reference to the physician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), who used rigorous scientific approaches to shift paradigms and change dogma, we discuss whether GPER can also be considered an aldosterone receptor. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The ASTER emergency scheduling system: A new project linking near-real-time satellite monitoring of disasters to the acquisition of high-resolution remote sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramsey, M.; Dehn, J.; Wessels, R.; Byrnes, J.; Duda, K.; Maldonado, L.; Dwyer, J.

2004-12-01

Numerous government agencies and university partnerships are currently utilizing orbital instruments with high-temporal/low-spatial resolution (e.g. MODIS, AVHRR) to monitor hazards. These hazards are varied and include both natural (volcanic eruptions, severe weather, wildfires, earthquake damage) and anthropogenic (environmental damage, urban terrorism). Although monitoring a hazardous situation is critical, a key strategy of NASA's Earth science program is to develop a scientific understanding of the Earth system and its responses to changes, as well as to improve prediction of hazard onset. In order to develop a quantitative scientific basis from which to model transient geological and climatological hazards, much higher spatial/spectral resolution datasets are required. Such datasets are sparse, currently available from certain government (e.g. ASTER, Hyperion) and commercial (e.g. IKONOS, QuickBird) instruments. However, only ASTER has the capability to acquire high spatial resolution data from the visible to thermal infrared (TIR) wavelength region in conjunction with digital elevation models (DEM) generation. These capabilities are particularly useful for numerous aspects of volcanic remote sensing. For example, multispectral TIR data are critical for monitoring low temperature anomalies and mapping both chemical and textural variations on volcanic surfaces. Because ASTER data are scheduled in advance and the raw data are sent to Japan for calibration processing, rapid acquisition of hazards becomes problematic. However, a "rapid response" mode does exist for ASTER data scheduling and processing, but its availability is limited and requires significant human interaction. A newly-funded NASA ASTER science team project seeks to link this ASTER rapid response pathway to larger-scale monitoring alerts, which are already in-place and in-use by other organizations. By refining the initial event detection criteria and improving interfaces between these organizations and the ASTER project, we expect to minimize lag time and use existing monitoring tools as triggers for the emergency response of ASTER. The first phase of this project will be integrated into the Alaska Volcano Observatory's current near-real-time volcanic monitoring system, which relies on high temporal/low spatial resolution orbital data. This synergy will allow small-scale activity to be targeted for science and response, and a calibration baseline between each sensor to be established. If successful, this will be the first time that high spatial resolution, multispectral satellite data will be routinely scheduled, acquired, and analyzed in a "rapid response" mode within an existing hazard monitoring framework. Initial testing of this system is now underway using data from previous eruptions in the north Pacific region, and modifications to the rapid data flow procedure within the ASTER science and support structure has begun.

Root gravitropism is regulated by a transient lateral auxin gradient controlled by a tipping-point mechanism

PubMed Central

Band, Leah R.; Wells, Darren M.; Larrieu, Antoine; Sun, Jianyong; Middleton, Alistair M.; French, Andrew P.; Brunoud, Géraldine; Sato, Ethel Mendocilla; Wilson, Michael H.; Péret, Benjamin; Oliva, Marina; Swarup, Ranjan; Sairanen, Ilkka; Parry, Geraint; Ljung, Karin; Beeckman, Tom; Garibaldi, Jonathan M.; Estelle, Mark; Owen, Markus R.; Vissenberg, Kris; Hodgman, T. Charlie; Pridmore, Tony P.; King, John R.; Vernoux, Teva; Bennett, Malcolm J.

2012-01-01

Gravity profoundly influences plant growth and development. Plants respond to changes in orientation by using gravitropic responses to modify their growth. Cholodny and Went hypothesized over 80 years ago that plants bend in response to a gravity stimulus by generating a lateral gradient of a growth regulator at an organ's apex, later found to be auxin. Auxin regulates root growth by targeting Aux/IAA repressor proteins for degradation. We used an Aux/IAA-based reporter, domain II (DII)-VENUS, in conjunction with a mathematical model to quantify auxin redistribution following a gravity stimulus. Our multidisciplinary approach revealed that auxin is rapidly redistributed to the lower side of the root within minutes of a 90° gravity stimulus. Unexpectedly, auxin asymmetry was rapidly lost as bending root tips reached an angle of 40° to the horizontal. We hypothesize roots use a “tipping point” mechanism that operates to reverse the asymmetric auxin flow at the midpoint of root bending. These mechanistic insights illustrate the scientific value of developing quantitative reporters such as DII-VENUS in conjunction with parameterized mathematical models to provide high-resolution kinetics of hormone redistribution. PMID:22393022

Recent Progress in Electronic Skin

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiandi; Dong, Lin; Zhang, Hanlu; Yu, Ruomeng; Wang, Zhong Lin

2015-01-01

The skin is the largest organ of the human body and can sense pressure, temperature, and other complex environmental stimuli or conditions. The mimicry of human skin's sensory ability via electronics is a topic of innovative research that could find broad applications in robotics, artificial intelligence, and human–machine interfaces, all of which promote the development of electronic skin (e‐skin). To imitate tactile sensing via e‐skins, flexible and stretchable pressure sensor arrays are constructed based on different transduction mechanisms and structural designs. These arrays can map pressure with high resolution and rapid response beyond that of human perception. Multi‐modal force sensing, temperature, and humidity detection, as well as self‐healing abilities are also exploited for multi‐functional e‐skins. Other recent progress in this field includes the integration with high‐density flexible circuits for signal processing, the combination with wireless technology for convenient sensing and energy/data transfer, and the development of self‐powered e‐skins. Future opportunities lie in the fabrication of highly intelligent e‐skins that can sense and respond to variations in the external environment. The rapidly increasing innovations in this area will be important to the scientific community and to the future of human life. PMID:27980911

Planetary perspective. Report of Working Group Number 4

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rossbacher, L. A.

1985-01-01

The study of global megageomorphology from a planetary perspective requires that, philosophically, we view the Earth as a planet like any other; one among a number of bodies of varied size and composition which, together with the Sun, form the Solar System. A first step in the study of the Earth from the planetary perspective is the development of global distribution maps of surface factors as landforms, tectonics, and of key processes operating on Earth. Data of other types, such as gravity and magnetism, should also be included and, so far as possible, multiple data sets should be developed. The compilation of maps would serve as a catalyst for research and a basis for interpretation. They could be used scientifically to document changes such as glacial variations and their relationships to climate, volcanic eruptions and their effects, and coastal alterations. Slow and rapid changes should be studied together with the relationships between scale and the rapidity of change. A study of the relationship of geomorphology (i.e., surficial processes) to lithology and structure is needed. The planetary perspective can also help in the identification and investigation of exotic features such as suspect terrains.

Root gravitropism is regulated by a transient lateral auxin gradient controlled by a tipping-point mechanism.

PubMed

Band, Leah R; Wells, Darren M; Larrieu, Antoine; Sun, Jianyong; Middleton, Alistair M; French, Andrew P; Brunoud, Géraldine; Sato, Ethel Mendocilla; Wilson, Michael H; Péret, Benjamin; Oliva, Marina; Swarup, Ranjan; Sairanen, Ilkka; Parry, Geraint; Ljung, Karin; Beeckman, Tom; Garibaldi, Jonathan M; Estelle, Mark; Owen, Markus R; Vissenberg, Kris; Hodgman, T Charlie; Pridmore, Tony P; King, John R; Vernoux, Teva; Bennett, Malcolm J

2012-03-20

Gravity profoundly influences plant growth and development. Plants respond to changes in orientation by using gravitropic responses to modify their growth. Cholodny and Went hypothesized over 80 years ago that plants bend in response to a gravity stimulus by generating a lateral gradient of a growth regulator at an organ's apex, later found to be auxin. Auxin regulates root growth by targeting Aux/IAA repressor proteins for degradation. We used an Aux/IAA-based reporter, domain II (DII)-VENUS, in conjunction with a mathematical model to quantify auxin redistribution following a gravity stimulus. Our multidisciplinary approach revealed that auxin is rapidly redistributed to the lower side of the root within minutes of a 90° gravity stimulus. Unexpectedly, auxin asymmetry was rapidly lost as bending root tips reached an angle of 40° to the horizontal. We hypothesize roots use a "tipping point" mechanism that operates to reverse the asymmetric auxin flow at the midpoint of root bending. These mechanistic insights illustrate the scientific value of developing quantitative reporters such as DII-VENUS in conjunction with parameterized mathematical models to provide high-resolution kinetics of hormone redistribution.

Proceedings: international regulatory considerations on development pathways for cell therapies.

PubMed

Feigal, Ellen G; Tsokas, Katherine; Viswanathan, Sowmya; Zhang, Jiwen; Priest, Catherine; Pearce, Jonathan; Mount, Natalie

2014-08-01

Regenerative medicine is a rapidly evolving field that faces novel scientific and regulatory challenges. In September 2013, the International Workshop on Regulatory Pathways for Cell Therapies was convened to discuss the nature of these challenges and potential solutions and to highlight opportunities for potential convergence between different regulatory bodies that might assist the field's development. The workshop discussions generated potentially actionable steps in five main areas that could mitigate cell therapy development pathway risk and accelerate moving promising therapies to patients. These included the need for convergence of regulatory guidelines on donor eligibility and suitability of lines for use in clinical trials and subsequent commercialization for cell therapies to move forward on a global basis; the need to challenge and encourage investigators in the regenerative medicine field to share information and provide examples of comparability studies related to master cell banks; the need for convergence of guidelines across regulatory jurisdictions on requirements for tumorigenicity studies, based on particular cell types and on biodistribution studies; the need to increase transparency in sharing clinical trial information more broadly and disseminating results more rapidly; and the need to establish a forum for sharing the experiences of various approaches being developed to expedite regulatory approvals and access for patients to innovative cell and regenerative therapies in the different regulatory jurisdictions and to assess their potential strengths and weaknesses. ©AlphaMed Press.

Low Latency Workflow Scheduling and an Application of Hyperspectral Brightness Temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, P. T.; Chapman, D. R.; Halem, M.

2012-12-01

New system analytics for Big Data computing holds the promise of major scientific breakthroughs and discoveries from the exploration and mining of the massive data sets becoming available to the science community. However, such data intensive scientific applications face severe challenges in accessing, managing and analyzing petabytes of data. While the Hadoop MapReduce environment has been successfully applied to data intensive problems arising in business, there are still many scientific problem domains where limitations in the functionality of MapReduce systems prevent its wide adoption by those communities. This is mainly because MapReduce does not readily support the unique science discipline needs such as special science data formats, graphic and computational data analysis tools, maintaining high degrees of computational accuracies, and interfacing with application's existing components across heterogeneous computing processors. We address some of these limitations by exploiting the MapReduce programming model for satellite data intensive scientific problems and address scalability, reliability, scheduling, and data management issues when dealing with climate data records and their complex observational challenges. In addition, we will present techniques to support the unique Earth science discipline needs such as dealing with special science data formats (HDF and NetCDF). We have developed a Hadoop task scheduling algorithm that improves latency by 2x for a scientific workflow including the gridding of the EOS AIRS hyperspectral Brightness Temperatures (BT). This workflow processing algorithm has been tested at the Multicore Computing Center private Hadoop based Intel Nehalem cluster, as well as in a virtual mode under the Open Source Eucalyptus cloud. The 55TB AIRS hyperspectral L1b Brightness Temperature record has been gridded at the resolution of 0.5x1.0 degrees, and we have computed a 0.9 annual anti-correlation to the El Nino Southern oscillation in the Nino 4 region, as well as a 1.9 Kelvin decadal Arctic warming in the 4u and 12u spectral regions. Additionally, we will present the frequency of extreme global warming events by the use of a normalized maximum BT in a grid cell relative to its local standard deviation. A low-latency Hadoop scheduling environment maintains data integrity and fault tolerance in a MapReduce data intensive Cloud environment while improving the "time to solution" metric by 35% when compared to a more traditional parallel processing system for the same dataset. Our next step will be to improve the usability of our Hadoop task scheduling system, to enable rapid prototyping of data intensive experiments by means of processing "kernels". We will report on the performance and experience of implementing these experiments on the NEX testbed, and propose the use of a graphical directed acyclic graph (DAG) interface to help us develop on-demand scientific experiments. Our workflow system works within Hadoop infrastructure as a replacement for the FIFO or FairScheduler, thus the use of Apache "Pig" latin or other Apache tools may also be worth investigating on the NEX system to improve the usability of our workflow scheduling infrastructure for rapid experimentation.

Science in Emergency Response at CDC: Structure and Functions.

PubMed

Iskander, John; Rose, Dale A; Ghiya, Neelam D

2017-09-01

Recent high-profile activations of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) include responses to the West African Ebola and Zika virus epidemics. Within the EOC, emergency responses are organized according to the Incident Management System, which provides a standardized structure and chain of command, regardless of whether the EOC activation occurs in response to an outbreak, natural disaster, or other type of public health emergency. By embedding key scientific roles, such as the associate director for science, and functions within a Scientific Response Section, the current CDC emergency response structure ensures that both urgent and important science issues receive needed attention. Key functions during emergency responses include internal coordination of scientific work, data management, information dissemination, and scientific publication. We describe a case example involving the ongoing Zika virus response that demonstrates how the scientific response structure can be used to rapidly produce high-quality science needed to answer urgent public health questions and guide policy. Within the context of emergency response, longer-term priorities at CDC include both streamlining administrative requirements and funding mechanisms for scientific research.

The scientific, the literary and the popular: Commerce and the reimagining of the scientific journal in Britain, 1813–1825

PubMed Central

Topham, Jonathan R.

2016-01-01

As scientists question the recent dominance of the scientific journal, the varied richness of its past offers useful materials for reflection. This paper examines four innovative journals founded and run by leading publishers and men of science in the 1810s and 1820s, which contributed to a significant reimagining of the form. Relying on a new distinction between the ‘literary’ and the ‘scientific’ to define their market, those who produced the journals intended to maximize their readership and profits by making them to some extent ‘popular’. While these attempts ended in commercial failure, not least because of the rapidly diversifying periodical market in which they operated, their history makes clear the important role that commerce has played both in defining the purposes and audiences of scientific journals and in the conceptualization of the scientific project. It also informs the ongoing debate concerning how the multiple audiences for science can be addressed in ways that are commercially and practically viable.

KSC-2014-2505

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument waits to be removed from the truck that delivered it to the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2504

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A truck carrying NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument arrives outside the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2523

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The components of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument rest side by side after removal of their shipping cover inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2506

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A component of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is moved via forklift into the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2518

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Part of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is revealed after removal of its shipping container inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2514

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The components of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument are moved into a laboratory inside Kennedy Space Center's Space Station Processing Facility. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2511

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Part of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is visible inside its protective enclosure as it arrives at the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2507

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A component of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is moved via forklift into the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2510

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A component of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is removed from a truck at the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2509

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A component of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument is removed from the truck that delivered it to the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

KSC-2014-2512

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-05-12

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The components of NASA's International Space Station-RapidScat scatterometer instrument arrive at the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ISS-RapidScat is the first scientific Earth-observing instrument designed to operate from the exterior of the space station. It will measure Earth's ocean surface wind speed and direction, providing data to be used in weather and marine forecasting. Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ISS-RapidScat is slated to fly on the SpaceX-4 commercial cargo resupply flight in 2014. For more information, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/iss-rapidscat. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

[The history of plastic surgery in Israel].

PubMed

Wiser, Itay; Scheflan, Michael; Heller, Lior

2014-09-01

The medical institutions in the country have advanced together with the development of the state of Israel. Plastic surgery, which has progressed significantly during the 20th century, has also grown rapidly in the new state. The arrival of Jewish plastic surgeons from all over the world with the knowledge and experience gained in their countries of origin, as well as the need for reconstructive surgical treatment for many combat injured soldiers, also contributed to the development of plastic surgery. This review tells the story of plastic surgery in Israel, since its foundation until nowadays. This article reviews the work of the founders of plastic surgery in Israel, indicating significant milestones in its development, and clinical and scientific contribution to the international plastic surgery profession. Moreover, the article describes the current condition of the field of plastic surgery in Israel and presents the trends and the future challenges facing the next generation of plastic surgery in Israel.

Case Studies of Ecological Integrative Information Systems: The Luquillo and Sevilleta Information Management Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

San Gil, Inigo; White, Marshall; Melendez, Eda; Vanderbilt, Kristin

The thirty-year-old United States Long Term Ecological Research Network has developed extensive metadata to document their scientific data. Standard and interoperable metadata is a core component of the data-driven analytical solutions developed by this research network Content management systems offer an affordable solution for rapid deployment of metadata centered information management systems. We developed a customized integrative metadata management system based on the Drupal content management system technology. Building on knowledge and experience with the Sevilleta and Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research sites, we successfully deployed the first two medium-scale customized prototypes. In this paper, we describe the vision behind our Drupal based information management instances, and list the features offered through these Drupal based systems. We also outline the plans to expand the information services offered through these metadata centered management systems. We will conclude with the growing list of participants deploying similar instances.

Monitoring fungal growth on brown rice grains using rapid and non-destructive hyperspectral imaging.

PubMed

Siripatrawan, U; Makino, Y

2015-04-16

This research aimed to develop a rapid, non-destructive, and accurate method based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for monitoring spoilage fungal growth on stored brown rice. Brown rice was inoculated with a non-pathogenic strain of Aspergillus oryzae and stored at 30 °C and 85% RH. Growth of A. oryzae on rice was monitored using viable colony counts, expressed as colony forming units per gram (CFU/g). The fungal development was observed using scanning electron microscopy. The HSI system was used to acquire reflectance images of the samples covering the visible and near-infrared (NIR) wavelength range of 400-1000 nm. Unsupervised self-organizing map (SOM) was used to visualize data classification of different levels of fungal infection. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to predict fungal growth on rice grains from the HSI reflectance spectra. The HSI spectral signals decreased with increasing colony counts, while conserving similar spectral pattern during the fungal growth. When integrated with SOM, the proposed HSI method could be used to classify rice samples with different levels of fungal infection without sample manipulation. Moreover, HSI was able to rapidly identify infected rice although the samples showed no symptoms of fungal infection. Based on PLS regression, the coefficient of determination was 0.97 and root mean square error of prediction was 0.39 log (CFU/g), demonstrating that the HSI technique was effective for prediction of fungal infection in rice grains. The ability of HSI to detect fungal infection at early stage would help to prevent contaminated rice grains from entering the food chain. This research provides scientific information on the rapid, non-destructive, and effective fungal detection system for rice grains. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial characterization of the meltwater field from icebergs in the Weddell Sea.

PubMed

Helly, John J; Kaufmann, Ronald S; Vernet, Maria; Stephenson, Gordon R

2011-04-05

We describe the results from a spatial cyberinfrastructure developed to characterize the meltwater field around individual icebergs and integrate the results with regional- and global-scale data. During the course of the cyberinfrastructure development, it became clear that we were also building an integrated sampling planning capability across multidisciplinary teams that provided greater agility in allocating expedition resources resulting in new scientific insights. The cyberinfrastructure-enabled method is a complement to the conventional methods of hydrographic sampling in which the ship provides a static platform on a station-by-station basis. We adapted a sea-floor mapping method to more rapidly characterize the sea surface geophysically and biologically. By jointly analyzing the multisource, continuously sampled biological, chemical, and physical parameters, using Global Positioning System time as the data fusion key, this surface-mapping method enables us to examine the relationship between the meltwater field of the iceberg to the larger-scale marine ecosystem of the Southern Ocean. Through geospatial data fusion, we are able to combine very fine-scale maps of dynamic processes with more synoptic but lower-resolution data from satellite systems. Our results illustrate the importance of spatial cyberinfrastructure in the overall scientific enterprise and identify key interfaces and sources of error that require improved controls for the development of future Earth observing systems as we move into an era of peta- and exascale, data-intensive computing.

Spatial characterization of the meltwater field from icebergs in the Weddell Sea

PubMed Central

Helly, John J.; Kaufmann, Ronald S.; Vernet, Maria; Stephenson, Gordon R.

2011-01-01

We describe the results from a spatial cyberinfrastructure developed to characterize the meltwater field around individual icebergs and integrate the results with regional- and global-scale data. During the course of the cyberinfrastructure development, it became clear that we were also building an integrated sampling planning capability across multidisciplinary teams that provided greater agility in allocating expedition resources resulting in new scientific insights. The cyberinfrastructure-enabled method is a complement to the conventional methods of hydrographic sampling in which the ship provides a static platform on a station-by-station basis. We adapted a sea-floor mapping method to more rapidly characterize the sea surface geophysically and biologically. By jointly analyzing the multisource, continuously sampled biological, chemical, and physical parameters, using Global Positioning System time as the data fusion key, this surface-mapping method enables us to examine the relationship between the meltwater field of the iceberg to the larger-scale marine ecosystem of the Southern Ocean. Through geospatial data fusion, we are able to combine very fine-scale maps of dynamic processes with more synoptic but lower-resolution data from satellite systems. Our results illustrate the importance of spatial cyberinfrastructure in the overall scientific enterprise and identify key interfaces and sources of error that require improved controls for the development of future Earth observing systems as we move into an era of peta- and exascale, data-intensive computing. PMID:21444769

[Direct to consumer genetic testing: is it the moment?].

PubMed

Lamoril, Jérôme; Bogard, Marc

2016-01-01

Since the development of new human genome sequencing technologies at the beginning of the 2000, commercial companies have developped direct to consumer genomic services, which means without medical prescription. From 2007 to 2013, many companies have offered services assesing associated risk with human public health in the world especially in the United States. This kind of company is forbidden in France. From 2009 to 2013, in United States, under the pressure of national or state health administrations, these companies have been progressively forbidden. However, in certain parts of the world, companies are still offering such services. The latter raise many different questions such as ethical, juridical, medical, scientific, educative, professional one. Many studies and debates have demonstrated their limit and the lack of usefulness and advantage in the field of human health for the time being. The commercialization of this type of services has arrived all too soon et is not yet ripe. In our time of globalization, with the lack of international rules controlling direct access to genetic services in the field of human health, there is an urgent need to regulate. International administrations and politicians must act fast. Inevitably, under the pressure of lobbies and citizens, companies (multinational or not) will develop especially as 1) new sequencing technologies evolve rapidly, 2) are cheaper from year to year, 3) scientific and medical knowledges are progressing quickly, 4) services are spreading faster through the web and other networks.

Time for a change: addressing R&D and commercialization challenges for antibacterials

PubMed Central

Payne, David J.; Miller, Linda Federici; Findlay, David; Anderson, James; Marks, Lynn

2015-01-01

The antibacterial therapeutic area has been described as the perfect storm. Resistance is increasing to the point that our hospitals encounter patients infected with untreatable pathogens, the overall industry pipeline is described as dry and most multinational pharmaceutical companies have withdrawn from the area. Major contributing factors to the declining antibacterial industry pipeline include scientific challenges, clinical/regulatory hurdles and low return on investment. This paper examines these challenges and proposes approaches to address them. There is a need for a broader scientific agenda to explore new approaches to discover and develop antibacterial agents. Additionally, ideas of how industry and academia could be better integrated will be presented. While promising progress in the regulatory environment has been made, more streamlined regulatory paths are still required and the solutions will lie in global harmonization and clearly defined guidance. Creating the right incentives for antibacterial research and development is critical and a new commercial model for antibacterial agents will be proposed. One key solution to help resolve both the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and lack of new drug development are rapid, cost-effective, accurate point of care diagnostics that will transform antibacterial prescribing and enable more cost-effective and efficient antibacterial clinical trials. The challenges of AMR are too great for any one group to resolve and success will require leadership and partnerships among academia, industry and governments globally. PMID:25918443

Human perception testing methodology for evaluating EO/IR imaging systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graybeal, John J.; Monfort, Samuel S.; Du Bosq, Todd W.; Familoni, Babajide O.

2018-04-01

The U.S. Army's RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) Perception Lab is tasked with supporting the development of sensor systems for the U.S. Army by evaluating human performance of emerging technologies. Typical research questions involve detection, recognition and identification as a function of range, blur, noise, spectral band, image processing techniques, image characteristics, and human factors. NVESD's Perception Lab provides an essential bridge between the physics of the imaging systems and the performance of the human operator. In addition to quantifying sensor performance, perception test results can also be used to generate models of human performance and to drive future sensor requirements. The Perception Lab seeks to develop and employ scientifically valid and efficient perception testing procedures within the practical constraints of Army research, including rapid development timelines for critical technologies, unique guidelines for ethical testing of Army personnel, and limited resources. The purpose of this paper is to describe NVESD Perception Lab capabilities, recent methodological improvements designed to align our methodology more closely with scientific best practice, and to discuss goals for future improvements and expanded capabilities. Specifically, we discuss modifying our methodology to improve training, to account for human fatigue, to improve assessments of human performance, and to increase experimental design consultation provided by research psychologists. Ultimately, this paper outlines a template for assessing human perception and overall system performance related to EO/IR imaging systems.

Exploring multiliteracies, student voice, and scientific practices in two elementary classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allison, Elizabeth Rowland

This study explored the voices of children in a changing world with evolving needs and new opportunities. The workplaces of rapidly moving capitalist societies value creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking skills which are of growing importance and manifesting themselves in modern K-12 science classroom cultures (Gee, 2000; New London Group, 2000). This study explored issues of multiliteracies and student voice set within the context of teaching and learning in 4th and 5th grade science classrooms. The purpose of the study was to ascertain what and how multiliteracies and scientific practices (NGSS Lead States, 2013c) are implemented, explore how multiliteracies influence students' voices, and investigate teacher and student perceptions of multiliteracies, student voice, and scientific practices. Grounded in a constructivist framework, a multiple case study was employed in two elementary classrooms. Through observations, student focus groups and interviews, and teacher interviews, a detailed narrative was created to describe a range of multiliteracies, student voice, and scientific practices that occurred with the science classroom context. Using grounded theory analysis, data were coded and analyzed to reveal emergent themes. Data analysis revealed that these two classrooms were enriched with multiliteracies that serve metaphorically as breeding grounds for student voice. In the modern classroom, defined as a space where information is instantly accessible through the Internet, multiliteracies can be developed through inquiry-based, collaborative, and technology-rich experiences. Scientific literacy, cultivated through student communication and collaboration, is arguably a multiliteracy that has not been considered in the literature, and should be, as an integral component of overall individual literacy in the 21st century. Findings revealed four themes. Three themes suggest that teachers address several modes of multiliteracies in science, but identify barriers to integrating multiliteracies and scientific practices into science teaching. The issues include time, increased standards accountability, and lack of comfort with effective integration of technology. The fourth theme revealed that students have the ability to shape and define their learning while supporting other voices through collaborative science experiences.

Development and validation of a SYBR Green real-time PCR assay for rapid and quantitative detection of goose interferons and proinflammatory cytokines.

PubMed

Zhou, Hao; Chen, Shun; Qi, Yulin; Wang, Mingshu; Jia, Renyong; Zhu, Dekang; Liu, Mafeng; Liu, Fei; Chen, Xiaoyue; Cheng, Anchun

2015-10-01

Real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) based on SYBR-Green I binding is a quick, reliable, and easy method for analyzing small amounts of mRNA. Viral pathogens are recognized at the time of infection by pattern recognition receptors; thus, the inflammatory cytokines (IL1β, IL6, and IL18) and antiviral cytokines (IFNα, IFNγ) are secreted by innate immune cells and induced to respond to the pathogens. The objective of this study was to develop an effective and sensitive RT-qPCR assay for the rapid and accurate quantification of goose cytokines: IFNα, IFNγ, IL1β, IL6, and IL18. Subsequently, the established methods were employed to detect the immune response in agonist-stimulated goose spleen cells in vitro. These data indicated that the established RT-qPCR is a reliable method for determining relative gene expression. The results revealed that Imiquimod led to the significant upregulation of goose IFNα (P < 0.01), IFNγ (P < 0.01), IL1β (P < 0.01), IL6 (P < 0.01), and IL18 (P < 0.05). The established methods are important for scientific research and clinical applications, which require rapid and accurate results in a short period of time. The technique can potentially be used in the further research of goose molecular immunology, which will help us understand the interactions between hosts and pathogens. © 2015 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Enabling the transition towards Earth Observation Science 2.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Desnos, Yves-Louis

2015-04-01

Science 2.0 refers to the rapid and systematic changes in doing Research and organising Science driven by the rapid advances in ICT and digital technologies combined with a growing demand to do Science for Society (actionable research) and in Society (co-design of knowledge). Nowadays, teams of researchers around the world can easily access a wide range of open data across disciplines and remotely process them on the Cloud, combining them with their own data to generate knowledge, develop information products for societal applications, and tackle complex integrative complex problems that could not be addressed a few years ago. Such rapid exchange of digital data is fostering a new world of data-intensive research, characterized by openness, transparency, and scrutiny and traceability of results, access to large volume of complex data, availability of community open tools, unprecedented level of computing power, and new collaboration among researchers and new actors such as citizen scientists. The EO scientific community is now facing the challenge of responding to this new paradigm in science 2.0 in order to make the most of the large volume of complex and diverse data delivered by the new generation of EO missions, and in particular the Sentinels. In this context, ESA - in particular within the framework of the Scientific Exploitation of Operational Missions (SEOM) element - is supporting a variety of activities in partnership with research communities to ease the transition and make the most of the data. These include the generation of new open tools and exploitation platforms, exploring new ways to exploit data on cloud-based platforms, dissiminate data, building new partnership with citizen scientists, and training the new generation of data scientists. The paper will give a brief overview of some of ESA activities aiming to facilitate the exploitation of large amount of data from EO missions in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and open way, from science to applications and education.

Astronomical Publishing: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huchra, John

Just in the last few years scientific publishing has moved rapidly away from the modes that served it well for over two centuries. As "digital natives" take over the field and rapid and open access comes to dominate the way we communicate, both scholarly journals and libraries need to adopt new business models to serve their communities. This is best done by identifying new "added value" such as databases, full text searching, full cross indexing while at the same time retaining the high quality of peer reviewed publication.

Mobile Applications for Extension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drill, Sabrina L.

2012-01-01

Mobile computing devices (smart phones, tablets, etc.) are rapidly becoming the dominant means of communication worldwide and are increasingly being used for scientific investigation. This technology can further our Extension mission by increasing our power for data collection, information dissemination, and informed decision-making. Mobile…

Media-Savvy Scientific Literacy: Developing Critical Evaluation Skills by Investigating Scientific Claims

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brickman, Peggy; Gormally, Cara; Francom, Greg; Jardeleza, Sarah E.; Schutte, Virginia G. W.; Jordan, Carly; Kanizay, Lisa

2012-01-01

Students must learn content knowledge and develop scientific literacy skills to evaluate and use scientific information in real-world situations. Recognizing the accessibility of scientific information to the average citizen, we developed an instructional approach to help students learn how to judge the quality of claims. We describe a…

Bringing Legacy Visualization Software to Modern Computing Devices via Application Streaming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fisher, Ward

2014-05-01

Planning software compatibility across forthcoming generations of computing platforms is a problem commonly encountered in software engineering and development. While this problem can affect any class of software, data analysis and visualization programs are particularly vulnerable. This is due in part to their inherent dependency on specialized hardware and computing environments. A number of strategies and tools have been designed to aid software engineers with this task. While generally embraced by developers at 'traditional' software companies, these methodologies are often dismissed by the scientific software community as unwieldy, inefficient and unnecessary. As a result, many important and storied scientific software packages can struggle to adapt to a new computing environment; for example, one in which much work is carried out on sub-laptop devices (such as tablets and smartphones). Rewriting these packages for a new platform often requires significant investment in terms of development time and developer expertise. In many cases, porting older software to modern devices is neither practical nor possible. As a result, replacement software must be developed from scratch, wasting resources better spent on other projects. Enabled largely by the rapid rise and adoption of cloud computing platforms, 'Application Streaming' technologies allow legacy visualization and analysis software to be operated wholly from a client device (be it laptop, tablet or smartphone) while retaining full functionality and interactivity. It mitigates much of the developer effort required by other more traditional methods while simultaneously reducing the time it takes to bring the software to a new platform. This work will provide an overview of Application Streaming and how it compares against other technologies which allow scientific visualization software to be executed from a remote computer. We will discuss the functionality and limitations of existing application streaming frameworks and how a developer might prepare their software for application streaming. We will also examine the secondary benefits realized by moving legacy software to the cloud. Finally, we will examine the process by which a legacy Java application, the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), is to be adapted for tablet computing via Application Streaming.

Modifications to the rapid melt/rapid quench and transparent polymer video furnaces for the KC-135

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Guy A.; Kosten, Sue E.; Workman, Gary L.

1990-01-01

Given here is a summary of tasks performed on two furnace systems, the Transparent Polymer (TPF) and the Rapid Melt/Rapid Quench (RMRQ) furnaces, to be used aboard NASA's KC-135. It was determined that major changes were needed for both furnaces to operate according to the scientific investigators' experiment parameters. Discussed here are what the problems were, what was required to solve the problems, and possible future enhancements. It was determined that the enhancements would be required for the furnaces to perform at their optimal levels. Services provided include hardware and software modifications, Safety DataPackage documentation, ground based testing, transportation to and from Ellington Air Field, operation of hardware during KC-135 flights, and post-flight data processing.

Citizen Science Initiatives: Engaging the Public and Demystifying Science

PubMed Central

Van Vliet, Kim; Moore, Claybourne

2016-01-01

The Internet and smart phone technologies have opened up new avenues for collaboration among scientists around the world. These technologies have also expanded citizen science opportunities and public participation in scientific research (PPSR). Here we discuss citizen science, what it is, who does it, and the variety of projects and methods used to increase scientific knowledge and scientific literacy. We describe a number of different types of citizen-science projects. These greatly increase the number of people involved, helping to speed the pace of data analysis and allowing science to advance more rapidly. As a result of the numerous advantages of citizen-science projects, these opportunities are likely to expand in the future and increase the rate of novel discoveries. PMID:27047582

Citizen Science Initiatives: Engaging the Public and Demystifying Science.

PubMed

Van Vliet, Kim; Moore, Claybourne

2016-03-01

The Internet and smart phone technologies have opened up new avenues for collaboration among scientists around the world. These technologies have also expanded citizen science opportunities and public participation in scientific research (PPSR). Here we discuss citizen science, what it is, who does it, and the variety of projects and methods used to increase scientific knowledge and scientific literacy. We describe a number of different types of citizen-science projects. These greatly increase the number of people involved, helping to speed the pace of data analysis and allowing science to advance more rapidly. As a result of the numerous advantages of citizen-science projects, these opportunities are likely to expand in the future and increase the rate of novel discoveries.

Large and linked in scientific publishing

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

We are delighted to announce the launch of GigaScience, an online open-access journal that focuses on research using or producing large datasets in all areas of biological and biomedical sciences. GigaScience is a new type of journal that provides standard scientific publishing linked directly to a database that hosts all the relevant data. The primary goals for the journal, detailed in this editorial, are to promote more rapid data release, broader use and reuse of data, improved reproducibility of results, and direct, easy access between analyses and their data. Direct and permanent connections of scientific analyses and their data (achieved by assigning all hosted data a citable DOI) will enable better analysis and deeper interpretation of the data in the future. PMID:23587310

Large and linked in scientific publishing.

PubMed

Goodman, Laurie; Edmunds, Scott C; Basford, Alexandra T

2012-07-12

We are delighted to announce the launch of GigaScience, an online open-access journal that focuses on research using or producing large datasets in all areas of biological and biomedical sciences. GigaScience is a new type of journal that provides standard scientific publishing linked directly to a database that hosts all the relevant data. The primary goals for the journal, detailed in this editorial, are to promote more rapid data release, broader use and reuse of data, improved reproducibility of results, and direct, easy access between analyses and their data. Direct and permanent connections of scientific analyses and their data (achieved by assigning all hosted data a citable DOI) will enable better analysis and deeper interpretation of the data in the future.

Quasi-isochronous muon collection channels

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

Ankenbrandt, Charles M.; Neuffer, David; Johnson, Rolland P.

2015-04-26

Intense muon beams have many potential commercial and scientific applications, ranging from low-energy investigations of the basic properties of matter using spin resonance to large energy-frontier muon colliders. However, muons originate from a tertiary process that produces a diffuse swarm. To make useful beams, the swarm must be rapidly captured and cooled before the muons decay. In this STTR project a promising new concept for the collection and cooling of muon beams to increase their intensity and reduce their emittances was investigated, namely, the use of a nearly isochronous helical cooling channel (HCC) to facilitate capture of the muons intomore » RF bunches. The muon beam can then be cooled quickly and coalesced efficiently to optimize the luminosity of a muon collider, or could provide compressed muon beams for other applications. Optimal ways to integrate such a subsystem into the rest of a muon collection and cooling system, for collider and other applications, were developed by analysis and simulation. The application of quasi-isochronous helical cooling channels (QIHCC) for RF capture of muon beams was developed. Innovative design concepts for a channel incorporating straight solenoids, a matching section, and an HCC, including RF and absorber, were developed, and its subsystems were simulated. Additionally, a procedure that uses an HCC to combine bunches for a muon collider was invented and simulated. Difficult design aspects such as matching sections between subsystems and intensity-dependent effects were addressed. The bunch recombination procedure was developed into a complete design with 3-D simulations. Bright muon beams are needed for many commercial and scientific reasons. Potential commercial applications include low-dose radiography, muon catalyzed fusion, and the use of muon beams to screen cargo containers for homeland security. Scientific uses include low energy beams for rare process searches, muon spin resonance applications, muon beams for neutrino factories, and muon colliders as Higgs factories or energy-frontier discovery machines.« less

Standardising Responsibility? The Significance of Interstitial Spaces.

PubMed

Wickson, Fern; Forsberg, Ellen-Marie

2015-10-01

Modern society is characterised by rapid technological development that is often socially controversial and plagued by extensive scientific uncertainty concerning its socio-ecological impacts. Within this context, the concept of 'responsible research and innovation' (RRI) is currently rising to prominence in international discourse concerning science and technology governance. As this emerging concept of RRI begins to be enacted through instruments, approaches, and initiatives, it is valuable to explore what it is coming to mean for and in practice. In this paper we draw attention to a realm that is often backgrounded in the current discussions of RRI but which has a highly significant impact on scientific research, innovation and policy-namely, the interstitial space of international standardization. Drawing on the case of nanoscale sciences and technologies to make our argument, we present examples of how international standards are already entangled in the development of RRI and yet, how the process of international standardization itself largely fails to embody the norms proposed as characterizing RRI. We suggest that although current models for RRI provide a promising attempt to make research and innovation more responsive to societal needs, ethical values and environmental challenges, such approaches will need to encompass and address a greater diversity of innovation system agents and spaces if they are to prove successful in their aims.

Water Planning in Phoenix: Managing Risk in the Face of Climatic Uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gober, P.

2009-12-01

The Decision Center for a Desert City (DCDC) was founded in 2004 to develop scientifically-credible support tools to improve water management decisions in the face of growing climatic uncertainty and rapid urbanization in metropolitan Phoenix. At the center of DCDC's effort is WaterSim, a model that integrates information about water supply from groundwater, the Colorado River, and upstream watersheds and water demand from land use change and population growth. Decision levers enable users to manipulate model outcomes in response to climate change scenarios, drought conditions, population growth rates, technology innovations, lifestyle changes, and policy decisions. WaterSim allows users to examine the risks of water shortage from global climate change, the tradeoffs between groundwater sustainability and lifestyle choices, the effects of various policy decisions, and the consequences of delaying policy for the exposure to risk. WaterSim is an important point of contact for DCDC’s relationships with local decision makers. Knowledge, tools, and visualizations are co-produced—by scientists and policy makers, and the Center’s social scientists mine this co-production process for new insights about model development and application. WaterSim is less a static scientific product and more a dynamic process of engagement between decision makers and scientists.

Remote sensing for the sustainable management and conservation of forest environments biodiversity: the conservation managers perspective.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilar-Amuchas, N.; Henebry, G. M.; Blanchard, J.; Sutter, R.

2008-12-01

The potential use of remote sensing for the design and implementation of sustainable management, conservation, and monitoring of forest biodiversity has been well documented in the scientific literature. However, when we look into how often remote sensing is actually being used in the decision making processes affecting biodiversity conservation and sustainable management, we find that, apart from specific study cases, its use is not as widespread as we know it should. There is an enormous gap between our scientific achievements and their use in the real world towards the preservation of a rapidly vanishing biodiversity. Conservation managers understand the potential remote sensing has. However, logistical constraints and high technical skills requirements render the use of remote sensing data difficult. Sound and easy approaches need to be developed and implemented. We present two study cases that illustrate 1st. How the interaction between tropical forest managers and remote sensing specialist allowed developing a simple method for the identification of priority areas for field surveys of tropical forests management ecological sustainability indicators and, 2nd. How remote sensing is being used by The Nature Conservancy as a first level approach towards the assessment of forest conservation strategies effectiveness in for areas located in 11 states, covering different forest types and a variety of conservation objectives.

NASA Sees First Land-falling Tropical Cyclone in Yemen

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

On Nov. 3, 2015 at 07:20 UTC (2:20 a.m. EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of Tropical Cyclone Chapala over Yemen. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team 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

Hurricane Patricia over Mexico

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

On Oct. 23 at 17:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. EDT) the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite saw Hurricane Patricia moving over Mexico. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team 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