Effects of polychlorinated biphenyls and nutritional restriction on barbituate-induced sleeping times and selected blood characteristics in raccoons (Procyon lotor)

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

Montz, W.E.; Card, W.C.; Kirkpatrick, R.L.

1982-05-01

Hepatic microsomal enzyme activity was induced in wild-trapped raccoons (Procyon lotor) and selected blood characteristics were measured in an effort to detect responses due to PCB ingestion, nutritional restriction, and their interactions. Barbiturate-induced sleeping times were used as an index of hepatic microsomal activity because they have been used reliably by other workers. Blood characteristics examined in the study were nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), cholesterol, and three ketone bodies (D-(-)-3-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and acetone). Results show a reduction in sleeping times, elevated NEFA and D-(-)-3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations, and lower cholesterol concentrations in PCB-treated groups. A highly significant interaction between PCB treatment andmore » nutritional restriction was observed in acetoacetate concentrations. (JMT)« less

Visual analytics in cheminformatics: user-supervised descriptor selection for QSAR methods.

PubMed

Martínez, María Jimena; Ponzoni, Ignacio; Díaz, Mónica F; Vazquez, Gustavo E; Soto, Axel J

2015-01-01

The design of QSAR/QSPR models is a challenging problem, where the selection of the most relevant descriptors constitutes a key step of the process. Several feature selection methods that address this step are concentrated on statistical associations among descriptors and target properties, whereas the chemical knowledge is left out of the analysis. For this reason, the interpretability and generality of the QSAR/QSPR models obtained by these feature selection methods are drastically affected. Therefore, an approach for integrating domain expert's knowledge in the selection process is needed for increase the confidence in the final set of descriptors. In this paper a software tool, which we named Visual and Interactive DEscriptor ANalysis (VIDEAN), that combines statistical methods with interactive visualizations for choosing a set of descriptors for predicting a target property is proposed. Domain expertise can be added to the feature selection process by means of an interactive visual exploration of data, and aided by statistical tools and metrics based on information theory. Coordinated visual representations are presented for capturing different relationships and interactions among descriptors, target properties and candidate subsets of descriptors. The competencies of the proposed software were assessed through different scenarios. These scenarios reveal how an expert can use this tool to choose one subset of descriptors from a group of candidate subsets or how to modify existing descriptor subsets and even incorporate new descriptors according to his or her own knowledge of the target property. The reported experiences showed the suitability of our software for selecting sets of descriptors with low cardinality, high interpretability, low redundancy and high statistical performance in a visual exploratory way. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the resulting tool allows the integration of a chemist's expertise in the descriptor selection process with a low cognitive effort in contrast with the alternative of using an ad-hoc manual analysis of the selected descriptors. Graphical abstractVIDEAN allows the visual analysis of candidate subsets of descriptors for QSAR/QSPR. In the two panels on the top, users can interactively explore numerical correlations as well as co-occurrences in the candidate subsets through two interactive graphs.

Selected field and analytical methods and analytical results in the Dutch Flats area, western Nebraska, 1995-99

USGS Publications Warehouse

Verstraeten, Ingrid M.; Steele, G.V.; Cannia, J.C.; Bohlke, J.K.; Kraemer, T.E.; Hitch, D.E.; Wilson, K.E.; Carnes, A.E.

2001-01-01

A study of the water resources of the Dutch Flats area in the western part of the North Platte Natural Resources District, western Nebraska, was conducted from 1995 through 1999 to describe the surface water and hydrogeology, the spatial distribution of selected water-quality constituents in surface and ground water, and the surface-water/ground-water interaction in selected areas. This report describes the selected field and analytical methods used in the study and selected analytical results from the study not previously published. Specifically, dissolved gases, age-dating data, and other isotopes collected as part of an intensive sampling effort in August and November 1998 and all uranium and uranium isotope data collected through the course of this study are included in the report.

Tuning Ni-catalyzed CO 2 hydrogenation selectivity via Ni-ceria support interactions and Ni-Fe bimetallic formation

DOE PAGES

Winter, Lea R.; Gomez, Elaine; Yan, Binhang; ...

2017-10-16

CO 2 hydrogenation over Fe-modified Ni/CeO 2 catalysts was investigated in a batch reactor using time-resolved in situ FTIR spectroscopy. Low loading of Ni/CeO 2 was associated with high selectivity to CO over CH 4, while higher Ni loading improved CO 2 hydrogenation activity with a reduced CO selectivity. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analysis revealed Ni to be metallic for all catalysts including the CO-selective low loading 0.5% Ni catalyst, suggesting that the selectivity trend is due to structural rather than oxidation state effects. The loading amount of 1.5% Ni was selected for co-impregnation with Fe, based on themore » significant shift in product selectivity towards CH 4 for that loading amount, in order to shift the selectivity towards CO while maintaining high activity. Temperature programmed reduction (TPR) results indicated bimetallic interactions between Ni and Fe, and XANES analysis showed that about 70% of Fe in the bimetallic catalysts was oxidized. The Ni-Fe catalysts demonstrated improved selectivity towards CO without significantly compromising activity, coupling the high activity of Ni catalysts and the high CO selectivity of Fe. The general trends in Ni loading and bimetallic modification should guide efforts to develop non-precious metal catalysts for the selective production of CO by CO 2 hydrogenation.« less

Suffering in silence: why a developmental psychopathology perspective on selective mutism is needed.

PubMed

Cohan, Sharon L; Price, Joseph M; Stein, Murray B

2006-08-01

A developmental psychopathology perspective is offered in an effort to organize the existing literature regarding the etiology of selective mutism (SM), a relatively rare disorder in which a child consistently fails to speak in 1 or more social settings (e.g., school) despite speaking normally in other settings (e.g., home). Following a brief description of the history, prevalence, and course of the disorder, multiple pathways to the development of SM are discussed, with a focus on the various genetic, temperamental, psychological, and social/environmental systems that may be important in conceptualizing this unusual childhood disorder. The authors propose that SM develops due to a series of complex interactions among the various systems reviewed (e.g., a strong genetic loading for anxiety interacts with an existing communication disorder, resulting in heightened sensitivity to verbal interactions and mutism in some settings). Suggestions are provided for future longitudinal, twin/adoption, molecular genetic, and neuroimaging studies that would be particularly helpful in testing the pathways perspective on SM.

Experimental comparison of residual stresses for a thermomechanical model for the simulation of selective laser melting

DOE PAGES

Hodge, N. E.; Ferencz, R. M.; Vignes, R. M.

2016-05-30

Selective laser melting (SLM) is an additive manufacturing process in which multiple, successive layers of metal powders are heated via laser in order to build a part. Modeling of SLM requires consideration of the complex interaction between heat transfer and solid mechanics. Here, the present work describes the authors initial efforts to validate their first generation model. In particular, the comparison of model-generated solid mechanics results, including both deformation and stresses, is presented. Additionally, results of various perturbations of the process parameters and modeling strategies are discussed.

Evolving effective behaviours to interact with tag-based populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yucel, Osman; Crawford, Chad; Sen, Sandip

2015-07-01

Tags and other characteristics, externally perceptible features that are consistent among groups of animals or humans, can be used by others to determine appropriate response strategies in societies. This usage of tags can be extended to artificial environments, where agents can significantly reduce cognitive effort spent on appropriate strategy choice and behaviour selection by reusing strategies for interacting with new partners based on their tags. Strategy selection mechanisms developed based on this idea have successfully evolved stable cooperation in games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma game but relies upon payoff sharing and matching methods that limit the applicability of the tag framework. Our goal is to develop a general classification and behaviour selection approach based on the tag framework. We propose and evaluate alternative tag matching and adaptation schemes for a new, incoming individual to select appropriate behaviour against any population member of an existing, stable society. Our proposed approach allows agents to evolve both the optimal tag for the environment as well as appropriate strategies for existing agent groups. We show that these mechanisms will allow for robust selection of optimal strategies by agents entering a stable society and analyse the various environments where this approach is effective.

Hit to lead optimization of pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as B-Raf kinase inhibitors.

PubMed

Gopalsamy, Ariamala; Ciszewski, Greg; Shi, Mengxiao; Berger, Dan; Hu, Yongbo; Lee, Frederick; Feldberg, Larry; Frommer, Eileen; Kim, Steven; Collins, Karen; Wojciechowicz, Donald; Mallon, Robert

2009-12-15

Our continued effort towards optimization of the pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine scaffold as B-Raf kinase inhibitors is described. Structure guided design was utilized to introduce kinase hinge region interacting groups in the 2-position of the scaffold. This strategy led to the identification of lead compound 9 with enhanced enzyme and cellular potency, while maintaining good selectivity over a number of kinases.

Synergy and other ineffective mixture risk definitions.

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

Hertzberg, R.; MacDonell, M.; Environmental Assessment

2002-04-08

A substantial effort has been spent over the past few decades to label toxicologic interaction outcomes as synergistic, antagonistic, or additive. Although useful in influencing the emotions of the public and the press, these labels have contributed fairly little to our understanding of joint toxic action. Part of the difficulty is that their underlying toxicological concepts are only defined for two chemical mixtures, while most environmental and occupational exposures are to mixtures of many more chemicals. Furthermore, the mathematical characterizations of synergism and antagonism are inextricably linked to the prevailing definition of 'no interaction,' instead of some intrinsic toxicological property.more » For example, the US EPA has selected dose addition as the no-interaction definition for mixture risk assessment, so that synergism would represent toxic effects that exceed those predicted from dose addition. For now, labels such as synergism are useful to regulatory agencies, both for qualitative indications of public health risk as well as numerical decision tools for mixture risk characterization. Efforts to quantify interaction designations for use in risk assessment formulas, however, are highly simplified and carry large uncertainties. Several research directions, such as pharmacokinetic measurements and models, and toxicogenomics, should promote significant improvements by providing multi-component data that will allow biologically based mathematical models of joint toxicity to replace these pairwise interaction labels in mixture risk assessment procedures.« less

Juvenile honest food solicitation and parental investment as a life history strategy: A kin demographic selection model.

PubMed

Garay, József; Csiszár, Villő; Móri, Tamás F; Szilágyi, András; Varga, Zoltán; Számadó, Szabolcs

2018-01-01

Parent-offspring communication remains an unresolved challenge for biologist. The difficulty of the challenge comes from the fact that it is a multifaceted problem with connections to life-history evolution, parent-offspring conflict, kin selection and signalling. Previous efforts mainly focused on modelling resource allocation at the expense of the dynamic interaction during a reproductive season. Here we present a two-stage model of begging where the first stage models the interaction between nestlings and parents within a nest and the second stage models the life-history trade-offs. We show in an asexual population that honest begging results in decreased variance of collected food between siblings, which leads to mean number of surviving offspring. Thus, honest begging can be seen as a special bet-hedging against informational uncertainty, which not just decreases the variance of fitness but also increases the arithmetic mean.

Juvenile honest food solicitation and parental investment as a life history strategy: A kin demographic selection model

PubMed Central

Szilágyi, András; Varga, Zoltán

2018-01-01

Parent-offspring communication remains an unresolved challenge for biologist. The difficulty of the challenge comes from the fact that it is a multifaceted problem with connections to life-history evolution, parent-offspring conflict, kin selection and signalling. Previous efforts mainly focused on modelling resource allocation at the expense of the dynamic interaction during a reproductive season. Here we present a two-stage model of begging where the first stage models the interaction between nestlings and parents within a nest and the second stage models the life-history trade-offs. We show in an asexual population that honest begging results in decreased variance of collected food between siblings, which leads to mean number of surviving offspring. Thus, honest begging can be seen as a special bet-hedging against informational uncertainty, which not just decreases the variance of fitness but also increases the arithmetic mean. PMID:29494630

The enemy within: Targeting host–parasite interaction for antileishmanial drug discovery

PubMed Central

Späth, Gerald F.; Rachidi, Najma; Prina, Eric

2017-01-01

The state of antileishmanial chemotherapy is strongly compromised by the emergence of drug-resistant Leishmania. The evolution of drug-resistant phenotypes has been linked to the parasites’ intrinsic genome instability, with frequent gene and chromosome amplifications causing fitness gains that are directly selected by environmental factors, including the presence of antileishmanial drugs. Thus, even though the unique eukaryotic biology of Leishmania and its dependence on parasite-specific virulence factors provide valid opportunities for chemotherapeutical intervention, all strategies that target the parasite in a direct fashion are likely prone to select for resistance. Here, we review the current state of antileishmanial chemotherapy and discuss the limitations of ongoing drug discovery efforts. We finally propose new strategies that target Leishmania viability indirectly via mechanisms of host–parasite interaction, including parasite-released ectokinases and host epigenetic regulation, which modulate host cell signaling and transcriptional regulation, respectively, to establish permissive conditions for intracellular Leishmania survival. PMID:28594938

The enemy within: Targeting host-parasite interaction for antileishmanial drug discovery.

PubMed

Lamotte, Suzanne; Späth, Gerald F; Rachidi, Najma; Prina, Eric

2017-06-01

The state of antileishmanial chemotherapy is strongly compromised by the emergence of drug-resistant Leishmania. The evolution of drug-resistant phenotypes has been linked to the parasites' intrinsic genome instability, with frequent gene and chromosome amplifications causing fitness gains that are directly selected by environmental factors, including the presence of antileishmanial drugs. Thus, even though the unique eukaryotic biology of Leishmania and its dependence on parasite-specific virulence factors provide valid opportunities for chemotherapeutical intervention, all strategies that target the parasite in a direct fashion are likely prone to select for resistance. Here, we review the current state of antileishmanial chemotherapy and discuss the limitations of ongoing drug discovery efforts. We finally propose new strategies that target Leishmania viability indirectly via mechanisms of host-parasite interaction, including parasite-released ectokinases and host epigenetic regulation, which modulate host cell signaling and transcriptional regulation, respectively, to establish permissive conditions for intracellular Leishmania survival.

Stay tuned: active amplification tunes tree cricket ears to track temperature-dependent song frequency.

PubMed

Mhatre, Natasha; Pollack, Gerald; Mason, Andrew

2016-04-01

Tree cricket males produce tonal songs, used for mate attraction and male-male interactions. Active mechanics tunes hearing to conspecific song frequency. However, tree cricket song frequency increases with temperature, presenting a problem for tuned listeners. We show that the actively amplified frequency increases with temperature, thus shifting mechanical and neuronal auditory tuning to maintain a match with conspecific song frequency. Active auditory processes are known from several taxa, but their adaptive function has rarely been demonstrated. We show that tree crickets harness active processes to ensure that auditory tuning remains matched to conspecific song frequency, despite changing environmental conditions and signal characteristics. Adaptive tuning allows tree crickets to selectively detect potential mates or rivals over large distances and is likely to bestow a strong selective advantage by reducing mate-finding effort and facilitating intermale interactions. © 2016 The Author(s).

Semantic-gap-oriented active learning for multilabel image annotation.

PubMed

Tang, Jinhui; Zha, Zheng-Jun; Tao, Dacheng; Chua, Tat-Seng

2012-04-01

User interaction is an effective way to handle the semantic gap problem in image annotation. To minimize user effort in the interactions, many active learning methods were proposed. These methods treat the semantic concepts individually or correlatively. However, they still neglect the key motivation of user feedback: to tackle the semantic gap. The size of the semantic gap of each concept is an important factor that affects the performance of user feedback. User should pay more efforts to the concepts with large semantic gaps, and vice versa. In this paper, we propose a semantic-gap-oriented active learning method, which incorporates the semantic gap measure into the information-minimization-based sample selection strategy. The basic learning model used in the active learning framework is an extended multilabel version of the sparse-graph-based semisupervised learning method that incorporates the semantic correlation. Extensive experiments conducted on two benchmark image data sets demonstrated the importance of bringing the semantic gap measure into the active learning process.

Investigation of Dendrimer-Membrane Interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mecke, Almut; Hessler, Jessica; Lee, Inhan; Banaszak Holl, Mark; Orr, Bradford; Patri, Anil K.; Baker, J. R.

2003-03-01

Modified Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers show great promise as targeted drug transport agents. Current research efforts point to the possibility of dramatic improvements to conventional chemotherapy by selectively delivering a therapeutic to antigen bearing tumor cells. In order to better understand the uptake mechanism of such devices into cells we are investigating dendrimer-surface adsorption and dendrimer-membrane interactions using atomic force microscopy, light scattering and computer simulations. Model systems consisting of supported DMPC lipid bilayers have shown interesting results suggesting the shape and architecture of nano-devices play an important role for their biologic activity. We are also investigating the effect of targeted drug vehicles on cells in vitro.

[The nature of personality: a co-evolutionary perspective].

PubMed

Asendorpf, J B

1996-01-01

Personality psychologists' attempts to explain human diversity have traditionally focused upon processes of person-situation interaction, and genotype-environment interaction. The great variability of genotypes and environments within cultures has remained unexplained in these efforts. Which processes may be responsible for the genetic and environmental variability within cultures? Answers to this question are sought in processes of genetic-cultural coevolution: mutation and sexual recombination of genes, innovation and synthesis of memes (units of cultural transmission), genotype-->environment and meme-->environment effects, and frequency-dependent natural and cultural selection. This twofold evolutionary explanation of personality differences within cultures suggests that a solid foundation of personality psychology requires bridging biology and cultural science.

The pharmacology of effort-related choice behavior: Dopamine, depression, and individual differences.

PubMed

Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Yohn, Samantha; Lopez Cruz, Laura; San Miguel, Noemi; Alatorre, Luisa

2016-06-01

This review paper is focused upon the involvement of mesolimbic dopamine (DA) and related brain systems in effort-based processes. Interference with DA transmission affects instrumental behavior in a manner that interacts with the response requirements of the task, such that rats with impaired DA transmission show a heightened sensitivity to ratio requirements. Impaired DA transmission also affects effort-related choice behavior, which is assessed by tasks that offer a choice between a preferred reinforcer that has a high work requirement vs. less preferred reinforcer that can be obtained with minimal effort. Rats and mice with impaired DA transmission reallocate instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks with high response costs, and show increased selection of low reinforcement/low cost options. Tests of effort-related choice have been developed into models of pathological symptoms of motivation that are seen in disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. These models are being employed to explore the effects of conditions associated with various psychopathologies, and to assess drugs for their potential utility as treatments for effort-related symptoms. Studies of the pharmacology of effort-based choice may contribute to the development of treatments for symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia, which are seen in depression and other disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Natural selection and the evolution of reproductive effort.

PubMed

Hirshfield, M F; Tinkle, D W

1975-06-01

Reproductive effort is defined as that proportion of the total energy budget of an organism that is devoted to reproductive processes. Reproductive effort at a given age within a species will be selected to maximize reproductive value at that age. Reproductive effort is not directly affected by changes in juvenile survivorship, nor necessarily reduced by an increase in adult survivorship. Selection for high levels of reproductive effort should occur when extrinsic adult mortality is high, in environments with constant juvenile survivorship, and in good years for juvenile survivorship in a variable environment, provided that the quality of the year is predictable by adults. Data necessary to measure reproductive effort and to understand how selection results in different levels of effort between individuals and species are discussed. We make several predictions about the effect of increased resource availability on reproductive effort. The empirical bases for testing these predictions are presently inadequate, and we consider data on energy budgets of organisms in nature to be essential for such test. We also conclude that variance in life table parameters must be known in detail to understand the selective bases of levels of reproductive effort.

Immediate effects of transcutaneous electrical stimulation on physiological swallowing effort in older versus young adults.

PubMed

Berretin-Felix, Giédre; Sia, Isaac; Barikroo, Ali; Carnaby, Giselle D; Crary, Michael A

2016-09-01

This study compared the immediate impact of different transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) amplitudes on physiological swallowing effort in healthy older adults versus young adults. Swallowing physiology changes with age. Reduced physiological swallowing effort in older adults including lower lingua-palatal and pharyngeal pressures may increase risk for swallowing dysfunction (i.e. dysphagia). Transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) has been advocated as an adjunctive modality to enhance outcomes in exercise-based therapy for individuals with dysphagia. However, significant variation in how TES is applied during therapy remains and the physiological swallowing response to TES is poorly studied, especially in older adults. Physiological change in swallowing associated with no stimulation, sensory stimulation and motor stimulation was compared in 20 young adults versus 14 older adults. Lingua-palatal and pharyngeal manometric pressures assessed physiological swallowing effort. Multivariate analyses identified interactions between age and stimulation amplitude on lingual and pharyngeal functions. Motor stimulation reduced anterior tongue pressure in both age groups but selectively reduced posterior lingua-palatal pressures in young adults only. Sensory stimulation increased base of tongue (BOT) pressures in older adults but decreased BOT pressures in young adults. Motor stimulation increased hypopharyngeal pressures in both groups. Age and TES level interact in determining immediate physiological responses on swallow performance. A one-size-fit-all approach to TES in dysphagia rehabilitation may be misdirected. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S and The Gerodontology Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Targeting protein-protein interactions in hematologic malignancies: still a challenge or a great opportunity for future therapies?

PubMed Central

Cierpicki, Tomasz; Grembecka, Jolanta

2015-01-01

Summary Over the past several years, there has been an increasing research effort focused on inhibition of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) to develop novel therapeutic approaches for cancer, including hematologic malignancies. These efforts have led to development of small molecule inhibitors of PPIs, some of which already advanced to the stage of clinical trials while others are at different stages of pre-clinical optimization, emphasizing PPIs as an emerging and attractive class of drug targets. Here, we review several examples of recently developed inhibitors of protein-protein interactions highly relevant to hematologic cancers. We address the existing skepticism about feasibility of targeting PPIs and emphasize potential therapeutic benefit from blocking PPIs in hematologic malignancies. We then use these examples to discuss the approaches for successful identification of PPI inhibitors and provide analysis of the protein-protein interfaces, with the goal to address ‘druggability’ of new PPIs relevant to hematology. We discuss lessons learned to improve the success of targeting new protein-protein interactions and evaluate prospects and limits of the research in this field. We conclude that not all PPIs are equally tractable for blocking by small molecules, and detailed analysis of PPI interfaces is critical for selection of those with the highest chance of success. Together, our analysis uncovers patterns that should help to advance drug discovery in hematologic malignancies by successful targeting of new protein-protein interactions. PMID:25510283

Carboxamide Spleen Tyrosine Kinase (Syk) Inhibitors: Leveraging Ground State Interactions To Accelerate Optimization.

PubMed

Ellis, J Michael; Altman, Michael D; Cash, Brandon; Haidle, Andrew M; Kubiak, Rachel L; Maddess, Matthew L; Yan, Youwei; Northrup, Alan B

2016-12-08

Optimization of a series of highly potent and kinome selective carbon-linked carboxamide spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitors with favorable drug-like properties is described. A pervasive Ames liability in an analogous nitrogen-linked carboxamide series was obviated by replacement with a carbon-linked moiety. Initial efforts lacked on-target potency, likely due to strain induced between the hinge binding amide and solvent front heterocycle. Consideration of ground state and bound state energetics allowed rapid realization of improved solvent front substituents affording subnanomolar Syk potency and high kinome selectivity. These molecules were also devoid of mutagenicity risk as assessed via the Ames test using the TA97a Salmonella strain.

Carboxamide Spleen Tyrosine Kinase (Syk) Inhibitors: Leveraging Ground State Interactions To Accelerate Optimization

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Optimization of a series of highly potent and kinome selective carbon-linked carboxamide spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) inhibitors with favorable drug-like properties is described. A pervasive Ames liability in an analogous nitrogen-linked carboxamide series was obviated by replacement with a carbon-linked moiety. Initial efforts lacked on-target potency, likely due to strain induced between the hinge binding amide and solvent front heterocycle. Consideration of ground state and bound state energetics allowed rapid realization of improved solvent front substituents affording subnanomolar Syk potency and high kinome selectivity. These molecules were also devoid of mutagenicity risk as assessed via the Ames test using the TA97a Salmonella strain. PMID:27994755

Engineering chemical interactions in microbial communities.

PubMed

Kenny, Douglas J; Balskus, Emily P

2018-03-05

Microbes living within host-associated microbial communities (microbiotas) rely on chemical communication to interact with surrounding organisms. These interactions serve many purposes, from supplying the multicellular host with nutrients to antagonizing invading pathogens, and breakdown of chemical signaling has potentially negative consequences for both the host and microbiota. Efforts to engineer microbes to take part in chemical interactions represent a promising strategy for modulating chemical signaling within these complex communities. In this review, we discuss prominent examples of chemical interactions found within host-associated microbial communities, with an emphasis on the plant-root microbiota and the intestinal microbiota of animals. We then highlight how an understanding of such interactions has guided efforts to engineer microbes to participate in chemical signaling in these habitats. We discuss engineering efforts in the context of chemical interactions that enable host colonization, promote host health, and exclude pathogens. Finally, we describe prominent challenges facing this field and propose new directions for future engineering efforts.

Interactions Among Working Memory, Reinforcement Learning, and Effort in Value-Based Choice: A New Paradigm and Selective Deficits in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Collins, Anne G E; Albrecht, Matthew A; Waltz, James A; Gold, James M; Frank, Michael J

2017-09-15

When studying learning, researchers directly observe only the participants' choices, which are often assumed to arise from a unitary learning process. However, a number of separable systems, such as working memory (WM) and reinforcement learning (RL), contribute simultaneously to human learning. Identifying each system's contributions is essential for mapping the neural substrates contributing in parallel to behavior; computational modeling can help to design tasks that allow such a separable identification of processes and infer their contributions in individuals. We present a new experimental protocol that separately identifies the contributions of RL and WM to learning, is sensitive to parametric variations in both, and allows us to investigate whether the processes interact. In experiments 1 and 2, we tested this protocol with healthy young adults (n = 29 and n = 52, respectively). In experiment 3, we used it to investigate learning deficits in medicated individuals with schizophrenia (n = 49 patients, n = 32 control subjects). Experiments 1 and 2 established WM and RL contributions to learning, as evidenced by parametric modulations of choice by load and delay and reward history, respectively. They also showed interactions between WM and RL, where RL was enhanced under high WM load. Moreover, we observed a cost of mental effort when controlling for reinforcement history: participants preferred stimuli they encountered under low WM load. Experiment 3 revealed selective deficits in WM contributions and preserved RL value learning in individuals with schizophrenia compared with control subjects. Computational approaches allow us to disentangle contributions of multiple systems to learning and, consequently, to further our understanding of psychiatric diseases. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Mediating and Moderating Effects of Workplace Social Capital on the Associations between Adverse Work Characteristics and Psychological Distress among Japanese Workers

PubMed Central

OSHIO, Takashi; INOUE, Akiomi; TSUTSUMI, Akizumi

2014-01-01

Our current study investigated how workplace social capital (WSC) mediates and moderates the associations between adverse work characteristics and psychological distress among Japanese workers. We collected cross-sectional data (N=9,350) from a baseline survey of an occupational Japanese cohort study. We focused on individual WSC and considered job demands/control, effort/reward, and two types (i.e., procedural and interactional) of organizational justice as work-characteristic variables. We defined psychological distress as a score of ≥5 on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6 scale). Multivariate logistic regression analyses predicted a binary variable of psychological distress by individual WSC and adverse work characteristics, adjusting for individual-level covariates. Individual WSC mediated the associations between adverse work characteristics and psychological distress in almost all model specifications. Additionally, individual WSC moderated the associations of psychological distress with high job demands, high effort, and low interactional justice when we used a high WSC cutoff point. In contrast, individual WSC did not moderate such interactions with low job control, reward, or procedural justice. We concluded that individual WSC mediated the associations between adverse work characteristics and psychological distress among Japanese workers while selectively moderating their associations at high levels of WSC. PMID:24705803

The effects of freedom of choice in action selection on perceived mental effort and the sense of agency.

PubMed

Barlas, Zeynep; Hockley, William E; Obhi, Sukhvinder S

2017-10-01

Previous research showed that increasing the number of action alternatives enhances the sense of agency (SoA). Here, we investigated whether choice space could affect subjective judgments of mental effort experienced during action selection and examined the link between subjective effort and the SoA. Participants performed freely selected (among two, three, or four options) and instructed actions that produced pleasant or unpleasant tones. We obtained action-effect interval estimates to quantify intentional binding - the perceived interval compression between actions and outcomes and feeling of control (FoC) ratings. Additionally, participants reported the degree of mental effort they experienced during action selection. We found that both binding and FoC were systematically enhanced with increasing choice-level. Outcome valence did not influence binding, while FoC was stronger for pleasant than unpleasant outcomes. Finally, freely chosen actions were associated with low subjective effort and slow responses (i.e., higher reaction times), and instructed actions were associated with high effort and fast responses. Although the conditions that yielded the greatest and least subjective effort also yielded the greatest and least binding and FoC, there was no significant correlation between subjective effort and SoA measures. Overall, our results raise interesting questions about how agency may be influenced by response selection demands (i.e., indexed by speed of responding) and subjective mental effort. Our work also highlights the importance of understanding how subjective mental effort and response speed are related to popular notions of fluency in response selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structure-Based Design of N-Substituted 1-Hydroxy-4-sulfamoyl-2-naphthoates as Selective Inhibitors of the Mcl-1 Oncoprotein

PubMed Central

Lanning, Maryanna E.; Yu, Wenbo; Yap, Jeremy L.; Chauhan, Jay; Chen, Lijia; Whiting, Ellis; Pidugu, Lakshmi S.; Atkinson, Tyler; Bailey, Hala; Li, Willy; Roth, Braden M.; Hynicka, Lauren; Chesko, Kirsty; Toth, Eric A.; Shapiro, Paul; MacKerell, Alexander D.; Wilder, Paul T.; Fletcher, Steven

2016-01-01

Structure-based drug design was utilized to develop novel, 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoate-based small-molecule inhibitors of Mcl-1. Ligand design was driven by exploiting a salt bridge with R263 and interactions with the p2 and p3 pockets of the protein. Significantly, target molecules were accessed in just two synthetic steps, suggesting further optimization will require minimal synthetic effort. Molecular modeling using the Site-Identification by Ligand Competitive Saturation (SILCS) approach was used to qualitatively direct ligand design as well as develop quantitative models for inhibitor binding affinity to Mcl-1 and the Bcl-2 relative Bcl-xL as well as for the specificity of binding to the two proteins. Results indicated hydrophobic interactions with the p2 pockets dominate the affinity of the most favourable binding ligand (3bl: Ki = 31 nM). Compounds were up to 20-fold selective for Mcl-1 over Bcl-xL. Selectivity of the inhibitors was driven by interactions with the deeper p2 pocket in Mcl-1 versus Bcl-xL. The SILCS-based SAR of the present compounds represents the foundation for the development of Mcl-1 specific inhibitors with the potential to treat a wide range of solid tumours and hematological cancers, including acute myeloid leukaemia. PMID:26985630

Phorate can reverse P450 metabolism-based herbicide resistance in Lolium rigidum.

PubMed

Busi, Roberto; Gaines, Todd Adam; Powles, Stephen

2017-02-01

Organophosphate insecticides can inhibit specific cytochrome P450 enzymes involved in metabolic herbicide resistance mechanisms, leading to synergistic interactions between the insecticide and the herbicide. In this study we report synergistic versus antagonistic interactions between the organophosphate insecticide phorate and five different herbicides observed in a population of multiple herbicide-resistant Lolium rigidum. Phorate synergised with three different herbicide modes of action, enhancing the activity of the ALS inhibitor chlorsulfuron (60% LD 50 reduction), the VLCFAE inhibitor pyroxasulfone (45% LD 50 reduction) and the mitosis inhibitor trifluralin (70% LD 50 reduction). Conversely, phorate antagonised the two thiocarbamate herbicides prosulfocarb and triallate with a 12-fold LD 50 increase. We report the selective reversal of P450-mediated metabolic multiple resistance to chlorsulfuron and trifluralin in the grass weed L. rigidum by synergistic interaction with the insecticide phorate, and discuss the putative mechanistic basis. This research should encourage diversity in herbicide use patterns for weed control as part of a long-term integrated management effort to reduce the risk of selection of metabolism-based multiple herbicide resistance in L. rigidum. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Latent feature decompositions for integrative analysis of multi-platform genomic data

PubMed Central

Gregory, Karl B.; Momin, Amin A.; Coombes, Kevin R.; Baladandayuthapani, Veerabhadran

2015-01-01

Increased availability of multi-platform genomics data on matched samples has sparked research efforts to discover how diverse molecular features interact both within and between platforms. In addition, simultaneous measurements of genetic and epigenetic characteristics illuminate the roles their complex relationships play in disease progression and outcomes. However, integrative methods for diverse genomics data are faced with the challenges of ultra-high dimensionality and the existence of complex interactions both within and between platforms. We propose a novel modeling framework for integrative analysis based on decompositions of the large number of platform-specific features into a smaller number of latent features. Subsequently we build a predictive model for clinical outcomes accounting for both within- and between-platform interactions based on Bayesian model averaging procedures. Principal components, partial least squares and non-negative matrix factorization as well as sparse counterparts of each are used to define the latent features, and the performance of these decompositions is compared both on real and simulated data. The latent feature interactions are shown to preserve interactions between the original features and not only aid prediction but also allow explicit selection of outcome-related features. The methods are motivated by and applied to, a glioblastoma multiforme dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas to predict patient survival times integrating gene expression, microRNA, copy number and methylation data. For the glioblastoma data, we find a high concordance between our selected prognostic genes and genes with known associations with glioblastoma. In addition, our model discovers several relevant cross-platform interactions such as copy number variation associated gene dosing and epigenetic regulation through promoter methylation. On simulated data, we show that our proposed method successfully incorporates interactions within and between genomic platforms to aid accurate prediction and variable selection. Our methods perform best when principal components are used to define the latent features. PMID:26146492

Life-history tactics: a review of the ideas.

PubMed

Stearns, S C

1976-03-01

This review organizes ideas on the evolution of life histories. The key life-history traits are brood size, size of young, the age distribution of reproductive effort, the interaction of reproductive effort with adult mortality, and the variation in these traits among an individual's progeny. The general theoretical problem is to predict which combinations of traits will evolve in organisms living in specified circumstances. First consider single traits. Theorists have made the following predictions: (1) Where adult exceeds juvenile mortality, the organism should reproduce only once in its lifetime. Where juvenile exceeds adult mortality, the organism should reproduce several times. (2) Brood size should macimize the number of young surviving to maturity, summed over the lifetime of the parent. But when optimum brood-size unpredictably in time, smaller broods should be favored because they decrease the chances of total failure on a given attempt. (3) In expanding populations, selection should minimize age at maturity. In stable populations, when reproductive success depends on size, age, or social status, or when adult exceeds juvenile mortality, then maturation should be delayed, as it should be in declining populations. (4) Young should increase in size at birth with increased predation risk, and decrease in size with increased resource availability. Theorists have also predicted that only particular combinations of traits should occur in specified circumstances. (5) In growing populations, age at maturity should be minimized, reproductive effort concentrated early in life, and brood size increased. (6) One view holds that in stable environments, late maturity, broods, a few, large young, parental care, and small reproductive efforts should be favored (K-selection). In fluctuating environments, early maturity, many small young, reduced parental care, and large reproductive efforts should be favored (r-selection). (7) But another view holds that when juvenile mortality fluctuates more than adult mortality, the traits associated with stable and fluctuating environments should be reversed. We need experiments that test the assumptions and predictions reviewed here, more comprehensive theory that makes more readily falsifiable predictions, and examination of different definitions of fitness.

Effort in emotion work and well-being: The role of goal attainment.

PubMed

Wong, Elena; Tschan, Franziska; Semmer, Norbert K

2017-02-01

It is well established that regulating one's emotion display in social settings entails psychological costs such as lower well-being. However, regulating emotion display may also help achieving goals, and goal attainment is known to enhance well-being. We therefore investigated the hypothesis that success in attaining goals during social interactions would reduce the negative impact of regulatory effort on well-being. In an experience sampling study, 115 Swiss employees reported their social encounters for 7 consecutive days. For each interaction, participants were asked to report their effort in regulating their emotions, their level of goal attainment, and their momentary well-being after the interaction. Data being nested (Level 1: interactions; Level 2: person), multilevel analyses were conducted. Continuous level 1 predictors were group mean centered, implying that their effects on well-being were strictly intraindividual. Gender, age, extraversion, and neuroticism were controlled on the person level, the context of the interaction (private vs. work) as well as positive and negative emotions felt during the social encounter were controlled on the situation level. Analysis of 1,674 social interactions containing a goal confirmed that regulatory effort predicted lower well-being after social interactions (Hypothesis 1), that degree of goal attainment predicted better well-being after these interactions (Hypothesis 2), and that degree of goal attainment buffered the negative effect of effort (Hypothesis 3). Research and theory should pay more attention to the fact that emotions often are regulated in the service of goals, and that attaining these goals may, at least partially, compensate for the effort invested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

An accurate binding interaction model in de novo computational protein design of interactions: if you build it, they will bind.

PubMed

London, Nir; Ambroggio, Xavier

2014-02-01

Computational protein design efforts aim to create novel proteins and functions in an automated manner and, in the process, these efforts shed light on the factors shaping natural proteins. The focus of these efforts has progressed from the interior of proteins to their surface and the design of functions, such as binding or catalysis. Here we examine progress in the development of robust methods for the computational design of non-natural interactions between proteins and molecular targets such as other proteins or small molecules. This problem is referred to as the de novo computational design of interactions. Recent successful efforts in de novo enzyme design and the de novo design of protein-protein interactions open a path towards solving this problem. We examine the common themes in these efforts, and review recent studies aimed at understanding the nature of successes and failures in the de novo computational design of interactions. While several approaches culminated in success, the use of a well-defined structural model for a specific binding interaction in particular has emerged as a key strategy for a successful design, and is therefore reviewed with special consideration. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Towards vast libraries of scaffold-diverse, conformationally constrained oligomers.

PubMed

Kodadek, Thomas; McEnaney, Patrick J

2016-05-04

There is great interest in the development of probe molecules and drug leads that would bind tightly and selectively to protein surfaces that are difficult to target with traditional molecules, such as those involved in protein-protein interactions. The currently available evidence suggests that this will require molecules that are larger and have quite different chemical properties than typical Lipinski-compliant molecules that target enzyme active sites. We describe here efforts to develop vast libraries of conformationally constrained oligomers as a potentially rich source of these molecules.

Turnkey CAD/CAM systems' integration with IPAD systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blauth, R. E.

1980-01-01

Today's commercially available turnkey CAD/CAM systems provide a highly interactive environment, and support many specialized application functions for the design/drafting/manufacturing process. This paper presents an overview of several aerospace companies which have successfully integrated turnkey CAD/CAM systems with their own company wide engineering and manufacturing systems. It also includes a vendor's view of the benefits as well as the disadvantages of such integration efforts. Specific emphasis is placed upon the selection of standards for representing geometric engineering data and for communicating such information between different CAD/CAM systems.

A study of design trade (OFFS) using a computer model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coughlin, S.

1975-01-01

The interaction between the efficiency of the structural design and the cost of the structure used was studied. It is shown that future effort is best directed at producing a low cost structure of medium efficiency, but with the ability to withstand normal service wear. The trade-off between aerodynamic drag and structure weight in selecting a length to diameter ratio for the hull is evaluated along with the implications of power plan type and fuel cost on the economics of the airship. The choice of lifting gas is considered.

A structural biology perspective on bioactive small molecules and their plant targets.

PubMed

Kumari, Selva; van der Hoorn, Renier A L

2011-10-01

Structural biology efforts in recent years have generated numerous co-crystal structures of bioactive small molecules interacting with their plant targets. These studies include the targets of various phytohormones, pathogen-derived effectors, herbicides and other bioactive compounds. Here we discuss that this collection of structures contains excellent examples of nine collective observations: molecular glues, allostery, inhibitors, molecular mimicry, promiscuous binding sites, unexpected electron densities, natural selection at atomic resolution, and applications in structure-guided mutagenesis and small molecule design. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards Vast Libraries of Scaffold-Diverse, Conformationally Constrained Oligomers

PubMed Central

Kodadek, Thomas; McEnaney, Patrick

2016-01-01

There is great interest in the development of probe molecules and drug leads that would bind tightly and selectively to protein surfaces that are difficult to target with traditional molecules, such as those involved in protein-protein interactions. The currently available evidence suggests that this will require molecules that are larger and have quite different chemical properties than typical Lipinski-compliant molecules that target enzyme active sites. We describe here efforts to develop vast libraries of conformationally constrained oligomers as a potentially rich source of these molecules. PMID:26996593

Design and analytical study of a rotor airfoil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dadone, L. U.

1978-01-01

An airfoil section for use on helicopter rotor blades was defined and analyzed by means of potential flow/boundary layer interaction and viscous transonic flow methods to meet as closely as possible a set of advanced airfoil design objectives. The design efforts showed that the first priority objectives, including selected low speed pitching moment, maximum lift and drag divergence requirements can be met, though marginally. The maximum lift requirement at M = 0.5 and most of the profile drag objectives cannot be met without some compromise of at least one of the higher order priorities.

Design, Synthesis, and Structure–Activity Relationship Studies of a Series of [4-(4-Carboxamidobutyl)]-1-arylpiperazines: Insights into Structural Features Contributing to Dopamine D3 versus D2 Receptor Subtype Selectivity

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Antagonist and partial agonist modulators of the dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) have emerged as promising therapeutics for the treatment of substance abuse and neuropsychiatric disorders. However, development of druglike lead compounds with selectivity for the D3 receptor has been challenging because of the high sequence homology between the D3R and the dopamine D2 receptor (D2R). In this effort, we synthesized a series of acylaminobutylpiperazines incorporating aza-aromatic units and evaluated their binding and functional activities at the D3 and D2 receptors. Docking studies and results from evaluations against a set of chimeric and mutant receptors suggest that interactions at the extracellular end of TM7 contribute to the D3R versus D2R selectivity of these ligands. Molecular insights from this study could potentially enable rational design of potent and selective D3R ligands. PMID:25126833

Effects of Mode of Target Task Selection on Learning about Plants in a Mobile Learning Environment: Effortful Manual Selection versus Effortless QR-Code Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Yuan; Liu, Tzu-Chien; Paas, Fred

2016-01-01

This study compared the effects of effortless selection of target plants using quick respond (QR) code technology to effortful manual search and selection of target plants on learning about plants in a mobile device supported learning environment. In addition, it was investigated whether the effectiveness of the 2 selection methods was…

New insights into the interaction between pyrrolyl diketoacids and HIV-1 integrase active site and comparison with RNase H.

PubMed

Corona, Angela; di Leva, Francesco Saverio; Rigogliuso, Giuseppe; Pescatori, Luca; Madia, Valentina Noemi; Subra, Frederic; Delelis, Olivier; Esposito, Francesca; Cadeddu, Marta; Costi, Roberta; Cosconati, Sandro; Novellino, Ettore; di Santo, Roberto; Tramontano, Enzo

2016-10-01

HIV-1 integrase (IN) inhibitors are one of the most recent innovations in the treatment of HIV infection. The selection of drug resistance viral strains is however a still open issue requiring constant efforts to identify new anti-HIV-1 drugs. Pyrrolyl diketo acid (DKA) derivatives inhibit HIV-1 replication by interacting with the Mg 2+ cofactors within the HIV-1 IN active site or within the HIV-1 reverse-transcriptase associated ribonuclease H (RNase H) active site. While the interaction mode of pyrrolyl DKAs with the RNase H active site has been recently reported and substantiated by mutagenesis experiments, their interaction within the IN active site still lacks a detailed understanding. In this study, we investigated the binding mode of four pyrrolyl DKAs to the HIV-1 IN active site by molecular modeling coupled with site-directed mutagenesis studies showing that the DKA pyrrolyl scaffold primarily interacts with the IN amino residues P145, Q146 and Q148. Importantly, the tested DKAs demonstrated good effectiveness against HIV-1 Raltegravir resistant Y143A and N155H INs, thus showing an interaction pattern with relevant differences if compared with the first generation IN inhibitors. These data provide precious insights for the design of new HIV inhibitors active on clinically selected Raltegravir resistant variants. Furthermore, this study provides new structural information to modulate IN and RNase H inhibitory activities for development of dual-acting anti-HIV agents. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predicting individual action switching in covert and continuous interactive tasks using the fluid events model

DOE PAGES

Radvansky, Gabriel A.; D’Mello, Sidney K.; Abbott, Robert G.; ...

2016-01-27

The Fluid Events Model is aimed at predicting changes in the actions people take on a moment-by-moment basis. In contrast with other research on action selection, this work does not investigate why some course of action was selected, but rather the likelihood of discontinuing the current course of action and selecting another in the near future. This is done using both task-based and experience-based factors. Prior work evaluated this model in the context of trial-by-trial, independent, interactive events, such as choosing how to copy a figure of a line drawing. In this paper, we extend this model to more covertmore » event experiences, such as reading narratives, as well as to continuous interactive events, such as playing a video game. To this end, the model was applied to existing data sets of reading time and event segmentation for written and picture stories. It was also applied to existing data sets of performance in a strategy board game, an aerial combat game, and a first person shooter game in which a participant’s current state was dependent on prior events. The results revealed that the model predicted behavior changes well, taking into account both the theoretically defined structure of the described events, as well as a person’s prior experience. Hence, theories of event cognition can benefit from efforts that take into account not only how events in the world are structured, but also how people experience those events.« less

Predicting Individual Action Switching in Covert and Continuous Interactive Tasks Using the Fluid Events Model

PubMed Central

Radvansky, Gabriel A.; D’Mello, Sidney K.; Abbott, Robert G.; Bixler, Robert E.

2016-01-01

The Fluid Events Model is aimed at predicting changes in the actions people take on a moment-by-moment basis. In contrast with other research on action selection, this work does not investigate why some course of action was selected, but rather the likelihood of discontinuing the current course of action and selecting another in the near future. This is done using both task-based and experience-based factors. Prior work evaluated this model in the context of trial-by-trial, independent, interactive events, such as choosing how to copy a figure of a line drawing. In this paper, we extend this model to more covert event experiences, such as reading narratives, as well as to continuous interactive events, such as playing a video game. To this end, the model was applied to existing data sets of reading time and event segmentation for written and picture stories. It was also applied to existing data sets of performance in a strategy board game, an aerial combat game, and a first person shooter game in which a participant’s current state was dependent on prior events. The results revealed that the model predicted behavior changes well, taking into account both the theoretically defined structure of the described events, as well as a person’s prior experience. Thus, theories of event cognition can benefit from efforts that take into account not only how events in the world are structured, but also how people experience those events. PMID:26858673

Predicting Individual Action Switching in Covert and Continuous Interactive Tasks Using the Fluid Events Model.

PubMed

Radvansky, Gabriel A; D'Mello, Sidney K; Abbott, Robert G; Bixler, Robert E

2016-01-01

The Fluid Events Model is aimed at predicting changes in the actions people take on a moment-by-moment basis. In contrast with other research on action selection, this work does not investigate why some course of action was selected, but rather the likelihood of discontinuing the current course of action and selecting another in the near future. This is done using both task-based and experience-based factors. Prior work evaluated this model in the context of trial-by-trial, independent, interactive events, such as choosing how to copy a figure of a line drawing. In this paper, we extend this model to more covert event experiences, such as reading narratives, as well as to continuous interactive events, such as playing a video game. To this end, the model was applied to existing data sets of reading time and event segmentation for written and picture stories. It was also applied to existing data sets of performance in a strategy board game, an aerial combat game, and a first person shooter game in which a participant's current state was dependent on prior events. The results revealed that the model predicted behavior changes well, taking into account both the theoretically defined structure of the described events, as well as a person's prior experience. Thus, theories of event cognition can benefit from efforts that take into account not only how events in the world are structured, but also how people experience those events.

Predicting individual action switching in covert and continuous interactive tasks using the fluid events model

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

Radvansky, Gabriel A.; D’Mello, Sidney K.; Abbott, Robert G.

The Fluid Events Model is aimed at predicting changes in the actions people take on a moment-by-moment basis. In contrast with other research on action selection, this work does not investigate why some course of action was selected, but rather the likelihood of discontinuing the current course of action and selecting another in the near future. This is done using both task-based and experience-based factors. Prior work evaluated this model in the context of trial-by-trial, independent, interactive events, such as choosing how to copy a figure of a line drawing. In this paper, we extend this model to more covertmore » event experiences, such as reading narratives, as well as to continuous interactive events, such as playing a video game. To this end, the model was applied to existing data sets of reading time and event segmentation for written and picture stories. It was also applied to existing data sets of performance in a strategy board game, an aerial combat game, and a first person shooter game in which a participant’s current state was dependent on prior events. The results revealed that the model predicted behavior changes well, taking into account both the theoretically defined structure of the described events, as well as a person’s prior experience. Hence, theories of event cognition can benefit from efforts that take into account not only how events in the world are structured, but also how people experience those events.« less

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

Winter, Lea R.; Gomez, Elaine; Yan, Binhang

CO 2 hydrogenation over Fe-modified Ni/CeO 2 catalysts was investigated in a batch reactor using time-resolved in situ FTIR spectroscopy. Low loading of Ni/CeO 2 was associated with high selectivity to CO over CH 4, while higher Ni loading improved CO 2 hydrogenation activity with a reduced CO selectivity. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analysis revealed Ni to be metallic for all catalysts including the CO-selective low loading 0.5% Ni catalyst, suggesting that the selectivity trend is due to structural rather than oxidation state effects. The loading amount of 1.5% Ni was selected for co-impregnation with Fe, based on themore » significant shift in product selectivity towards CH 4 for that loading amount, in order to shift the selectivity towards CO while maintaining high activity. Temperature programmed reduction (TPR) results indicated bimetallic interactions between Ni and Fe, and XANES analysis showed that about 70% of Fe in the bimetallic catalysts was oxidized. The Ni-Fe catalysts demonstrated improved selectivity towards CO without significantly compromising activity, coupling the high activity of Ni catalysts and the high CO selectivity of Fe. The general trends in Ni loading and bimetallic modification should guide efforts to develop non-precious metal catalysts for the selective production of CO by CO 2 hydrogenation.« less

The ACT Vision Mission Study Simulation Effort

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wunderer, C. B.; Kippen, R. M.; Bloser, P. F.; Boggs, S. E.; McConnell, M. L.; Hoover, A.; Oberlack, U.; Sturner, S.; Tournear, D.; Weidenspointner, G.; Zoglauer, A.

2004-12-01

The Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) has been selected by NASA for a one-year "Vision Mission" study. The main goal of this study is to determine feasible instrument configurations to achieve ACT's sensitivity requirements, and to give recommendations for technology development. Space-based instruments operating in the energy range of nuclear lines are subject to complex backgrounds generated by cosmic-ray interactions and diffuse gamma rays; typically measurements are significantly background-dominated. Therefore accurate, detailed simulations of the background induced in different ACT configurations, and exploration of event selection and reconstruction techniques for reducing these backgrounds, are crucial to determining both the capabilities of a given instrument configuration and the technology enhancements that would result in the most significant performance improvements. The ACT Simulation team has assembled a complete suite of tools that allows the generation of particle backgrounds for a given orbit (based on CREME96), their propagation through any instrument and spacecraft geometry (using MGGPOD) - including delayed photon emission from instrument activation - as well as the event selection and reconstruction of Compton-scatter events in the given detectors (MEGAlib). The package can deal with polarized photon beams as well as e.g. anticoincidence shields. We will report on the progress of the ACT simulation effort and the suite of tools used. We thank Elena Novikova at NRL for her contributions, and NASA for support of this research.

Fluid management in the optimization of space construction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snyder, Howard

1990-01-01

Fluid management impacts strongly on the optimization of space construction. Large quantities of liquids are needed for propellants and life support. The mass of propellant liquids is comparable to that required for the structures. There may be a strong dynamic interaction between the stored liquids and the space structure unless the design minimizes the interaction. The constraints of cost and time required optimization of the supply/resupply strategy. The proper selection and design of the fluid management methods for: slosh control; stratification control; acquisition; transfer; gauging; venting; dumping; contamination control; selection of tank configuration and size; the storage state and the control system can improve the entire system performance substantially. Our effort consists of building mathematical/computer models of the various fluid management methods and testing them against the available experimental data. The results of the models are used as inputs to the system operations studies. During the past year, the emphasis has been on modeling: the transfer of cryogens; sloshing and the storage configuration. The work has been intermeshed with ongoing NASA design and development studies to leverage the funds provided by the Center.

Barriers to patient involvement in health service planning and evaluation: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Gagliardi, Anna R; Lemieux-Charles, Louise; Brown, Adalsteinn D; Sullivan, Terrence; Goel, Vivek

2008-02-01

Patient involvement in health service planning and evaluation is considered important yet not widely practiced. This study explored stakeholder beliefs about patient participation in performance indicator selection to better understand hypothesized barriers. Interviews with 30 cancer patients and health professionals from two teaching hospitals were analyzed qualitatively. All groups believed patients, not members of the public, should be involved in the selection of indicators. Ongoing, interactive methods such as committee involvement, rather than single, passive efforts such as surveys were preferred. Health professionals recommended patients assume a consultative, rather than decision-making role. Older patients agreed with this. Variable patient interest, health professional attitudes, and a lack of insight on appropriate methods may be limiting patient involvement in this, and other service planning and evaluation activities. More research is required to validate expressed views among the populations these stakeholders represent, and to establish effective methods for engaging patients. Efforts to encourage a change in health professional attitude may be required, along with dedicated organizational resources, coordinators and training. Methods to engage patients should involve deliberation, which can be achieved through modified Delphi panel or participatory research approaches.

The Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) Design, Trades, and Analyses Performed in the First Year of a Two Year Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiegmann, Bruce M.

2016-01-01

The Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS)1 was one of the seven total Phase II NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) that was down-selected in 2015 for continued funding and research. In Phase I we learned that a spacecraft propelled by an Electric Sail (E-Sail) can travel great astronomical distances, such as to the Heliopause region of the solar system (approx.100 to 120 AU) in approximately one quarter of the time (10 years) versus the time it took the Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 (36 years). The current work within the Phase II NIAC effort builds upon the work that was done in the Phase I NIAC and is focused on: 1) Testing of plasma interaction with a charged wire in a unique MSFC test chamber, 2) Development of a Particle-in-Cell (PIC) models that are validated in the plasma testing and used to extrapolate to the E-Sail propulsion system design. 3) Further down select of a wire deployment and control approach from those narrowed down in the Phase I effort. This paper will document the findings to date (June, 2016) of the above focused areas.

Drug target identification in protozoan parasites.

PubMed

Müller, Joachim; Hemphill, Andrew

2016-08-01

Despite the fact that diseases caused by protozoan parasites represent serious challenges for public health, animal production and welfare, only a limited panel of drugs has been marketed for clinical applications. Herein, the authors investigate two strategies, namely whole organism screening and target-based drug design. The present pharmacopoeia has resulted from whole organism screening, and the mode of action and targets of selected drugs are discussed. However, the more recent extensive genome sequencing efforts and the development of dry and wet lab genomics and proteomics that allow high-throughput screening of interactions between micromolecules and recombinant proteins has resulted in target-based drug design as the predominant focus in anti-parasitic drug development. Selected examples of target-based drug design studies are presented, and calcium-dependent protein kinases, important drug targets in apicomplexan parasites, are discussed in more detail. Despite the enormous efforts in target-based drug development, this approach has not yet generated market-ready antiprotozoal drugs. However, whole-organism screening approaches, comprising of both in vitro and in vivo investigations, should not be disregarded. The repurposing of already approved and marketed drugs could be a suitable strategy to avoid fastidious approval procedures, especially in the case of neglected or veterinary parasitoses.

Evaluation of the leap motion controller as a new contact-free pointing device.

PubMed

Bachmann, Daniel; Weichert, Frank; Rinkenauer, Gerhard

2014-12-24

This paper presents a Fitts' law-based analysis of the user's performance in selection tasks with the Leap Motion Controller compared with a standard mouse device. The Leap Motion Controller (LMC) is a new contact-free input system for gesture-based human-computer interaction with declared sub-millimeter accuracy. Up to this point, there has hardly been any systematic evaluation of this new system available. With an error rate of 7.8% for the LMC and 2.8% for the mouse device, movement times twice as large as for a mouse device and high overall effort ratings, the Leap Motion Controller's performance as an input device for everyday generic computer pointing tasks is rather limited, at least with regard to the selection recognition provided by the LMC.

Evaluation of the Leap Motion Controller as a New Contact-Free Pointing Device

PubMed Central

Bachmann, Daniel; Weichert, Frank; Rinkenauer, Gerhard

2015-01-01

This paper presents a Fitts' law-based analysis of the user's performance in selection tasks with the Leap Motion Controller compared with a standard mouse device. The Leap Motion Controller (LMC) is a new contact-free input system for gesture-based human-computer interaction with declared sub-millimeter accuracy. Up to this point, there has hardly been any systematic evaluation of this new system available. With an error rate of 7.8 % for the LMC and 2.8% for the mouse device, movement times twice as large as for a mouse device and high overall effort ratings, the Leap Motion Controller's performance as an input device for everyday generic computer pointing tasks is rather limited, at least with regard to the selection recognition provided by the LMC. PMID:25609043

Executive Functions, Memory, and Social Cognitive Deficits and Recovery in Chronic Alcoholism: A Critical Review to Inform Future Research.

PubMed

Le Berre, Anne-Pascale; Fama, Rosemary; Sullivan, Edith V

2017-08-01

Alcoholism is a complex and dynamic disease, punctuated by periods of abstinence and relapse, and influenced by a multitude of vulnerability factors. Chronic excessive alcohol consumption is associated with cognitive deficits, ranging from mild to severe, in executive functions, memory, and metacognitive abilities, with associated impairment in emotional processes and social cognition. These deficits can compromise efforts in initiating and sustaining abstinence by hampering efficacy of clinical treatment and can obstruct efforts in enabling good decision making success in interpersonal/social interactions, and awareness of cognitive and behavioral dysfunctions. Despite evidence for differences in recovery levels of selective cognitive processes, certain deficits can persist even with prolonged sobriety. Herein is presented a review of alcohol-related cognitive impairments affecting component processes of executive functioning, memory, and the recently investigated cognitive domains of metamemory, social cognition, and emotional processing; also considered are trajectories of cognitive recovery with abstinence. Finally, in the spirit of critical review, limitations of current knowledge are noted and avenues for new research efforts are proposed that focus on (i) the interaction among emotion-cognition processes and identification of vulnerability factors contributing to the development of emotional and social processing deficits and (ii) the time line of cognitive recovery by tracking alcoholism's dynamic course of sobriety and relapse. Knowledge about the heterochronicity of cognitive recovery in alcoholism has the potential of indicating at which points during recovery intervention may be most beneficial. Copyright © 2017 by the Research Society on Alcoholism.

Selective androgen receptor modulators as function promoting therapies.

PubMed

Bhasin, Shalender; Jasuja, Ravi

2009-05-01

The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented discovery effort to develop selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) that improve physical function and bone health without adversely affecting the prostate and cardiovascular outcomes. This review describes the historical evolution, the rationale for SARM development, and the mechanisms of testosterone action and SARM selectivity. Although steroidal SARMs have been around since the 1940s, a number of nonsteroidal SARMs that do not serve as substrates for CYP19 aromatase or 5alpha-reductase, act as full agonists in muscle and bone and as partial agonists in prostate are in development. The differing interactions of steroidal and nonsteroidal compounds with androgen receptor (AR) contribute to their unique pharmacologic actions. Ligand binding induces specific conformational changes in the ligand-binding domain, which could modulate surface topology and protein-protein interactions between AR and coregulators, resulting in tissue-specific gene regulation. Preclinical studies have demonstrated the ability of SARMs to increase muscle and bone mass in preclinical rodent models with varying degree of prostate sparing. Phase I trials of SARMs in humans have reported modest increments in fat-free mass. SARMs hold promise as a new class of function promoting anabolic therapies for a number of clinical indications, including functional limitations associated with aging and chronic disease, frailty, cancer cachexia, and osteoporosis.

Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) as Function Promoting Therapies

PubMed Central

Bhasin, Shalender; Jasuja, Ravi

2010-01-01

Purpose of review The last decade has witnessed unprecedented discovery effort to develop selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) that improve physical function and bone health without adversely affecting the prostate and cardiovascular outcomes. This review describes the historical evolution, the rationale for SARM development, and the mechanisms of testosterone action and SARM selectivity. Recent Findings While steroidal SARMs have been around since the 1940s, a number of nonsteroidal SARMs that do not serve as substrates for CYP19 aromatase or 5α-reductase, act as full agonists in muscle and bone and as partial agonists in prostate are in development. The differing interactions of steroidal and nonsteroidal compounds with AR contribute to their unique pharmacologic actions. Ligand binding induces specific conformational changes in the ligand binding domain, which could modulate surface topology and protein-protein interactions between AR and coregulators, resulting in tissue-specific gene regulation. Preclinical studies have demonstrated the ability of SARMs to increase muscle and bone mass in preclinical rodent models with varying degree of prostate sparing. Phase I trials of SARMs in humans have reported modest increments in fat-free mass. Summary SARMs hold promise as a new class of function promoting anabolic therapies for a number of clinical indications, including functional limitations associated with aging and chronic disease, frailty, cancer cachexia, and osteoporosis. PMID:19357508

Age trends of genetic parameters, early selection and family by site interactions for growth traits in Larix kaempferi open-pollinated families.

PubMed

Diao, Shu; Hou, Yimei; Xie, Yunhui; Sun, Xiaomei

2016-07-07

Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) as a successful exotic species has become one of the most important economic and ecological conifers in China. In order to broaden the genetic resource of Larix kaempferi, an effort was made in 1996 to introduce 128 families from seven seed orchards in Japan, with which to establish two progeny trials in climatically different environments. The experiment was aimed to determine the strategy of early selection, particularly important for long-rotated Japanese larch, and the optimal breeding program for specific environments. Growth trajectories revealed different growth performances of stem height (HGT) and diameter at breast height (DBH) in two different environments, Hubei and Liaoning. In both sites, there were marked variabilities in HGT, DBH and volume (VOL) among families at each year. The trends of individual and family heritability and age-age correlations were found to follow a certain dynamic pattern. Based on these trends, the optimum selection age was determined at four years for HGT and five years for DBH in Hubei and Liaoning. Genetic gains for VOL were 34.4 and 6.04 % in Hubei and Liaoning respectively when selection ratio was 10 % at age 16. Type-B correlations were less than 0.67 and rank correlations of breeding value were less than 0.4 for HGT, DBH and VOL between the two sites, revealing that there exist pronounced family-by-site interactions for the growth traits of Larix kaempferi. Early selection for Larix kaempferi is an effective strategy to overcome its long rotation age. In early selection, dual growth trait selection is more effective than single one. Regionalization deployment should be considered in Larix. kaempferi breeding program based on different environmental factors.

Structure and function of μ-conotoxins, peptide-based sodium channel blockers with analgesic activity

PubMed Central

Green, Brad R; Bulaj, Grzegorz; Norton, Raymond S

2015-01-01

μ-Conotoxins block voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) and compete with tetrodotoxin for binding to the sodium conductance pore. Early efforts identified μ-conotoxins that preferentially blocked the skeletal muscle subtype (NaV1.4). However, the last decade witnessed a significant increase in the number of μ-conotoxins and the range of VGSC subtypes inhibited (NaV1.2, NaV1.3 or NaV1.7). Twenty μ-conotoxin sequences have been identified to date and structure–activity relationship studies of several of these identified key residues responsible for interactions with VGSC subtypes. Efforts to engineer-in subtype specificity are driven by in vivo analgesic and neuromuscular blocking activities. This review summarizes structural and pharmacological studies of μ-conotoxins, which show promise for development of selective blockers of NaV1.2, and perhaps also NaV1.1,1.3 or 1.7. PMID:25406007

Plasma contactor development for Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Michael J.; Hamley, John A.; Sarmiento, Charles J.; Manzella, David H.; Sarver-Verhey, Timothy; Soulas, George C.; Nelson, Amy

1993-01-01

Plasma contactors have been baselined for the Space Station (SS) to control the electrical potentials of surfaces to eliminate/mitigate damaging interactions with the space environment. The system represents a dual-use technology which is a direct outgrowth of the NASA electric propulsion program and, in particular, the technology development effort on ion thrustor systems. The plasma contactor subsystems include the plasma contactor unit, a power electronics unit, and an expellant management unit. Under this pre-flight development program these will all be brought to breadboard or engineering model status. Development efforts for the plasma contactor include optimizing the design and configuration of the contactor, validating its required lifetime, and characterizing the contactor plume and electromagnetic interference. The plasma contactor unit design selected for the SS is an enclosed keeper, xenon hollow cathode plasma source. This paper discusses the test results and development status of the plasma contactor unit subsystem for the SS.

Plasma contactor development for Space Station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patterson, Michael J.; Hamley, John A.; Sarmiento, Charles J.; Manzella, David H.; Sarver-Verhey, Timothy; Soulas, George C.; Nelson, Amy

1993-12-01

Plasma contactors have been baselined for the Space Station (SS) to control the electrical potentials of surfaces to eliminate/mitigate damaging interactions with the space environment. The system represents a dual-use technology which is a direct outgrowth of the NASA electric propulsion program and, in particular, the technology development effort on ion thrustor systems. The plasma contactor subsystems include the plasma contactor unit, a power electronics unit, and an expellant management unit. Under this pre-flight development program these will all be brought to breadboard or engineering model status. Development efforts for the plasma contactor include optimizing the design and configuration of the contactor, validating its required lifetime, and characterizing the contactor plume and electromagnetic interference. The plasma contactor unit design selected for the SS is an enclosed keeper, xenon hollow cathode plasma source. This paper discusses the test results and development status of the plasma contactor unit subsystem for the SS.

The Behavioral Pharmacology of Effort-related Choice Behavior: Dopamine, Adenosine and Beyond

PubMed Central

Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Nunes, Eric J; Randall, Patrick A; Pardo, Marta

2012-01-01

For many years, it has been suggested that drugs that interfere with dopamine (DA) transmission alter the “rewarding” impact of primary reinforcers such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in effort-related choice behavior. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA-depleted rats show a heightened sensitivity to response costs, especially ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and show increased selection of low reinforcement/low cost options. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum) also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders. PMID:22287808

The behavioral pharmacology of effort-related choice behavior: dopamine, adenosine and beyond.

PubMed

Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Nunes, Eric J; Randall, Patrick A; Pardo, Marta

2012-01-01

For many years, it has been suggested that drugs that interfere with dopamine (DA) transmission alter the "rewarding" impact of primary reinforcers such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in effort-related choice behavior. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA-depleted rats show a heightened sensitivity to response costs, especially ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and show increased selection of low reinforcement/low cost options. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum) also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as symptoms such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders.

Discovery of a Potent, Dual Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The objective of the described research effort was to identify a novel serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) with improved norepinephrine transporter activity and acceptable metabolic stability and exhibiting minimal drug–drug interaction. We describe herein the discovery of a series of 3-substituted pyrrolidines, exemplified by compound 1. Compound 1 is a selective SNRI in vitro and in vivo, has favorable ADME properties, and retains inhibitory activity in the formalin model of pain behavior. Compound 1 thus represents a potential new probe to explore utility of SNRIs in central nervous system disorders, including chronic pain conditions. PMID:24900709

The impact of real-time, Internet experiments versus interactive, asynchronous replays of experiments on high school students science concepts and attitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubasko, Dennis S., Jr.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether students' learning experiences were similar or different with an interactive, live connection via the Internet in real-time to an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) versus a stored replay of AFM experiments. Did the two treatments influence students' attitudes towards the learning experience? Are there differences in students' understandings of viruses and science investigations? In addition, this study investigated treatment effects on students' understandings of the nature of science. The present study drew upon the research that examined students' attitudes toward science, students' views of the nature of science, instructional technology in education, and prior research on the nanoManipulator. Specific efforts have been made to address reform efforts in science education throughout the literature review. Eighty-five high school biology students participated in the nanoManipulator experience (44 males, 41 females, 64 Euro-American, 16 African-American, and 5 of other ethnicities). Two high school classes were randomly selected and administered the interactive, real-time treatment. Two different high school classes were randomly selected and administered the limited-interaction, experimental replay treatment. The intervention occurred over a one-week period. Qualitative and quantitative measures were used to examine the differences between two treatment conditions. Experiential, affective, cognitive, and the nature of science domains were assessed. Findings show that the questions and statements made in synchronous time by the live treatment group were significantly different than students' questions and statements in asynchronous communication. Students in the replay treatment made more statements about what they learned or knew about the experience than did students in the live experience. Students in both groups showed significant gains in understanding viruses (particularly viral dimensionality and shape). Students' attitudes towards learning about science concepts weren't different from one group to the other, but all students changed their views independent of treatment condition. Across treatment groups students performed similarly on all assessment instruments used to measure the nature of science domain. Furthermore, there were no significant differences, pre-test to post-test between groups or due to interaction. These findings show that students' investigations using the Internet and stored replay experiences can assist science educators in providing student with more inquiry-based experiences.

dictyExpress: a Dictyostelium discoideum gene expression database with an explorative data analysis web-based interface.

PubMed

Rot, Gregor; Parikh, Anup; Curk, Tomaz; Kuspa, Adam; Shaulsky, Gad; Zupan, Blaz

2009-08-25

Bioinformatics often leverages on recent advancements in computer science to support biologists in their scientific discovery process. Such efforts include the development of easy-to-use web interfaces to biomedical databases. Recent advancements in interactive web technologies require us to rethink the standard submit-and-wait paradigm, and craft bioinformatics web applications that share analytical and interactive power with their desktop relatives, while retaining simplicity and availability. We have developed dictyExpress, a web application that features a graphical, highly interactive explorative interface to our database that consists of more than 1000 Dictyostelium discoideum gene expression experiments. In dictyExpress, the user can select experiments and genes, perform gene clustering, view gene expression profiles across time, view gene co-expression networks, perform analyses of Gene Ontology term enrichment, and simultaneously display expression profiles for a selected gene in various experiments. Most importantly, these tasks are achieved through web applications whose components are seamlessly interlinked and immediately respond to events triggered by the user, thus providing a powerful explorative data analysis environment. dictyExpress is a precursor for a new generation of web-based bioinformatics applications with simple but powerful interactive interfaces that resemble that of the modern desktop. While dictyExpress serves mainly the Dictyostelium research community, it is relatively easy to adapt it to other datasets. We propose that the design ideas behind dictyExpress will influence the development of similar applications for other model organisms.

dictyExpress: a Dictyostelium discoideum gene expression database with an explorative data analysis web-based interface

PubMed Central

Rot, Gregor; Parikh, Anup; Curk, Tomaz; Kuspa, Adam; Shaulsky, Gad; Zupan, Blaz

2009-01-01

Background Bioinformatics often leverages on recent advancements in computer science to support biologists in their scientific discovery process. Such efforts include the development of easy-to-use web interfaces to biomedical databases. Recent advancements in interactive web technologies require us to rethink the standard submit-and-wait paradigm, and craft bioinformatics web applications that share analytical and interactive power with their desktop relatives, while retaining simplicity and availability. Results We have developed dictyExpress, a web application that features a graphical, highly interactive explorative interface to our database that consists of more than 1000 Dictyostelium discoideum gene expression experiments. In dictyExpress, the user can select experiments and genes, perform gene clustering, view gene expression profiles across time, view gene co-expression networks, perform analyses of Gene Ontology term enrichment, and simultaneously display expression profiles for a selected gene in various experiments. Most importantly, these tasks are achieved through web applications whose components are seamlessly interlinked and immediately respond to events triggered by the user, thus providing a powerful explorative data analysis environment. Conclusion dictyExpress is a precursor for a new generation of web-based bioinformatics applications with simple but powerful interactive interfaces that resemble that of the modern desktop. While dictyExpress serves mainly the Dictyostelium research community, it is relatively easy to adapt it to other datasets. We propose that the design ideas behind dictyExpress will influence the development of similar applications for other model organisms. PMID:19706156

The effect of compression on individual pressure vessel nickel/hydrogen components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manzo, Michelle A.; Perez-Davis, Marla E.

1988-01-01

Compression tests were performed on representative Individual Pressure Vessel (IPV) Nickel/Hydrogen cell components in an effort to better understand the effects of force on component compression and the interactions of components under compression. It appears that the separator is the most easily compressed of all of the stack components. It will typically partially compress before any of the other components begin to compress. The compression characteristics of the cell components in assembly differed considerably from what would be predicted based on individual compression characteristics. Component interactions played a significant role in the stack response to compression. The results of the compression tests were factored into the design and selection of Belleville washers added to the cell stack to accommodate nickel electrode expansion while keeping the pressure on the stack within a reasonable range of the original preset.

NASA Space Sciences Symposium-1977

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

The primary objective of the symposium was to motivate American Indians and other minority youths and women to select science and engineering as viable career choices, thereby making them available to the technical work force. Other objectives were: (1) to determine how aerospace technology careers and aerospace activities can be made more relevant to minorities and women; (2) to provide an opportunity for key NASA officials to interact with teachers and counselors of the participating schools; (3) to stimulate a greater interest among American Indian organizations and students in NASA's research and development programs; (4) to help NASA's efforts in the recruiting of minorities and women into its work force; and (5) to provide opportunities for minority aerospace scientists and engineers to interact with the minority community, particularly with youths at the junior high school and high school levels.

Movement reveals scale dependence in habitat selection of a large ungulate

USGS Publications Warehouse

Northrup, Joseph; Anderson, Charles R.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Wittemyer, George

2016-01-01

Ecological processes operate across temporal and spatial scales. Anthropogenic disturbances impact these processes, but examinations of scale dependence in impacts are infrequent. Such examinations can provide important insight to wildlife–human interactions and guide management efforts to reduce impacts. We assessed spatiotemporal scale dependence in habitat selection of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Piceance Basin of Colorado, USA, an area of ongoing natural gas development. We employed a newly developed animal movement method to assess habitat selection across scales defined using animal-centric spatiotemporal definitions ranging from the local (defined from five hour movements) to the broad (defined from weekly movements). We extended our analysis to examine variation in scale dependence between night and day and assess functional responses in habitat selection patterns relative to the density of anthropogenic features. Mule deer displayed scale invariance in the direction of their response to energy development features, avoiding well pads and the areas closest to roads at all scales, though with increasing strength of avoidance at coarser scales. Deer displayed scale-dependent responses to most other habitat features, including land cover type and habitat edges. Selection differed between night and day at the finest scales, but homogenized as scale increased. Deer displayed functional responses to development, with deer inhabiting the least developed ranges more strongly avoiding development relative to those with more development in their ranges. Energy development was a primary driver of habitat selection patterns in mule deer, structuring their behaviors across all scales examined. Stronger avoidance at coarser scales suggests that deer behaviorally mediated their interaction with development, but only to a degree. At higher development densities than seen in this area, such mediation may not be possible and thus maintenance of sufficient habitat with lower development densities will be a critical best management practice as development expands globally.

Development of an activity-directed selection system enabled significant improvement of the carboxylation efficiency of Rubisco.

PubMed

Cai, Zhen; Liu, Guoxia; Zhang, Junli; Li, Yin

2014-07-01

Photosynthetic CO(2) fixation is the ultimate source of organic carbon on earth and thus is essential for crop production and carbon sequestration. Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) catalyzes the first step of photosynthetic CO(2) fixation. However, the extreme low carboxylation efficiency of Rubisco makes it the most attractive target for improving photosynthetic efficiency. Extensive studies have focused on re-engineering a more efficient enzyme, but the effort has been impeded by the limited understanding of its structure-function relationships and the lack of an efficient selection system towards its activity. To address the unsuccessful molecular engineering of Rubisco, we developed an Escherichia coli-based activity-directed selection system which links the growth of host cell solely to the Rubisco activity therein. A Synechococcus sp. PCC7002 Rubisco mutant with E49V and D82G substitutions in the small subunit was selected from a total of 15,000 mutants by one round of evolution. This mutant showed an 85% increase in specific carboxylation activity and a 45% improvement in catalytic efficiency towards CO(2). The small-subunit E49V mutation was speculated to influence holoenzyme catalysis through interaction with the large-subunit Q225. This interaction is conserved among various Rubisco from higher plants and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Knowledge of these might provide clues for engineering Rubisco from higher plants, with the potential of increasing the crop yield.

The Interaction Between Punishment Sensitivity and Effortful Control for Emerging Adults' Substance Use Behaviors.

PubMed

Kahn, Rachel E; Chiu, Pearl H; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Hochgraf, Anna K; King-Casas, Brooks; Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen

2018-01-08

Within the dual systems perspective, high reward sensitivity and low punishment sensitivity in conjunction with deficits in cognitive control may contribute to high levels of risk taking, such as substance use. The current study examined whether the individual components of effortful control (inhibitory control, attentional control, and activation control) serve as regulators and moderate the association between reward or punishment sensitivity and substance use behaviors. A total of 1,808 emerging adults from a university setting (Mean age = 19.48; 72% female) completed self-report measures of reward and punishment sensitivity, effortful control, and substance use. Findings indicated significant two-way interactions for punishment sensitivity and inhibitory control for alcohol and marijuana use. The form of these interactions revealed a significant negative association between punishment sensitivity and alcohol and marijuana use at low levels of inhibitory control. No significant interactions emerged for reward sensitivity or other components of effortful control. The current findings provide preliminary evidence suggesting the dual systems theorized to influence risk taking behavior interact to make joint contributions to health risk behaviors such as substance use in emerging adults.

High-throughput platform assay technology for the discovery of pre-microrna-selective small molecule probes.

PubMed

Lorenz, Daniel A; Song, James M; Garner, Amanda L

2015-01-21

MicroRNAs (miRNA) play critical roles in human development and disease. As such, the targeting of miRNAs is considered attractive as a novel therapeutic strategy. A major bottleneck toward this goal, however, has been the identification of small molecule probes that are specific for select RNAs and methods that will facilitate such discovery efforts. Using pre-microRNAs as proof-of-concept, herein we report a conceptually new and innovative approach for assaying RNA-small molecule interactions. Through this platform assay technology, which we term catalytic enzyme-linked click chemistry assay or cat-ELCCA, we have designed a method that can be implemented in high throughput, is virtually free of false readouts, and is general for all nucleic acids. Through cat-ELCCA, we envision the discovery of selective small molecule ligands for disease-relevant miRNAs to promote the field of RNA-targeted drug discovery and further our understanding of the role of miRNAs in cellular biology.

Effortful control and school adjustment: The moderating role of classroom chaos.

PubMed

Berger, Rebecca H; Valiente, Carlos; Eisenberg, Nancy; Hernandez, Maciel M; Thompson, Marilyn; Spinrad, Tracy; VanSchyndel, Sarah; Silva, Kassondra; Southworth, Jody

2017-11-01

Guided by the person by environment framework, the primary goal of this study was to determine whether classroom chaos moderated the relation between effortful control and kindergarteners' school adjustment. Classroom observers reported on children's ( N = 301) effortful control in the fall. In the spring, teachers reported on classroom chaos and school adjustment outcomes (teacher-student relationship closeness and conflict, and school liking and avoidance). Cross-level interactions between effortful control and classroom chaos predicting school adjustment outcomes were assessed. A consistent pattern of interactions between effortful control and classroom chaos indicated that the relations between effortful control and the school adjustment outcomes were strongest in high chaos classrooms. Post-hoc analyses indicated that classroom chaos was associated with poor school adjustment when effortful control was low, suggesting that the combination of high chaos and low effortful control was associated with the poorest school outcomes.

High-Throughput Screening To Identify Potent and Specific Inhibitors of Microbial Sulfate Reduction.

PubMed

Carlson, Hans K; Mullan, Mark R; Mosqueda, Lorraine A; Chen, Steven; Arkin, Michelle R; Coates, John D

2017-06-20

The selective perturbation of complex microbial ecosystems to predictably influence outcomes in engineered and industrial environments remains a grand challenge for geomicrobiology. In some industrial ecosystems, such as oil reservoirs, sulfate reducing microorganisms (SRM) produce hydrogen sulfide which is toxic, explosive, and corrosive. Despite the economic cost of sulfidogenesis, there has been minimal exploration of the chemical space of possible inhibitory compounds, and very little work has quantitatively assessed the selectivity of putative souring treatments. We have developed a high-throughput screening strategy to identify potent and selective inhibitors of SRM, quantitatively ranked the selectivity and potency of hundreds of compounds and identified previously unrecognized SRM selective inhibitors and synergistic interactions between inhibitors. Zinc pyrithione is the most potent inhibitor of sulfidogenesis that we identified, and is several orders of magnitude more potent than commonly used industrial biocides. Both zinc and copper pyrithione are also moderately selective against SRM. The high-throughput (HT) approach we present can be readily adapted to target SRM in diverse environments and similar strategies could be used to quantify the potency and selectivity of inhibitors of a variety of microbial metabolisms. Our findings and approach are relevant to efforts to engineer environmental ecosystems and also to understand the role of natural gradients in shaping microbial niche space.

Discovery of a novel class of potent coumarin monoamine oxidase B inhibitors: development and biopharmacological profiling of 7-[(3-chlorobenzyl)oxy]-4-[(methylamino)methyl]-2H-chromen-2-one methanesulfonate (NW-1772) as a highly potent, selective, reversible, and orally active monoamine oxidase B inhibitor.

PubMed

Pisani, Leonardo; Muncipinto, Giovanni; Miscioscia, Teresa Fabiola; Nicolotti, Orazio; Leonetti, Francesco; Catto, Marco; Caccia, Carla; Salvati, Patricia; Soto-Otero, Ramon; Mendez-Alvarez, Estefania; Passeleu, Celine; Carotti, Angelo

2009-11-12

In an effort to discover novel selective monoamine oxidase (MAO) B inhibitors with favorable physicochemical and pharmacokinetic profiles, 7-[(m-halogeno)benzyloxy]coumarins bearing properly selected polar substituents at position 4 were designed, synthesized, and evaluated as MAO inhibitors. Several compounds with MAO-B inhibitory activity in the nanomolar range and excellent MAO-B selectivity (selectivity index SI > 400) were identified. Structure-affinity relationships and docking simulations provided valuable insights into the enzyme-inhibitor binding interactions at position 4, which has been poorly explored. Furthermore, computational and experimental studies led to the identification and biopharmacological characterization of 7-[(3-chlorobenzyl)oxy]-4-[(methylamino)methyl]-2H-chromen-2-one methanesulfonate 22b (NW-1772) as an in vitro and in vivo potent and selective MAO-B inhibitor, with rapid blood-brain barrier penetration, short-acting and reversible inhibitory activity, slight inhibition of selected cytochrome P450s, and low in vitro toxicity. On the basis of this preliminary preclinical profile, inhibitor 22b might be viewed as a promising clinical candidate for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

A review of human factors challenges of complex adaptive systems: discovering and understanding chaos in human performance.

PubMed

Karwowski, Waldemar

2012-12-01

In this paper, the author explores a need for a greater understanding of the true nature of human-system interactions from the perspective of the theory of complex adaptive systems, including the essence of complexity, emergent properties of system behavior, nonlinear systems dynamics, and deterministic chaos. Human performance, more often than not, constitutes complex adaptive phenomena with emergent properties that exhibit nonlinear dynamical (chaotic) behaviors. The complexity challenges in the design and management of contemporary work systems, including service systems, are explored. Examples of selected applications of the concepts of nonlinear dynamics to the study of human physical performance are provided. Understanding and applications of the concepts of theory of complex adaptive and dynamical systems should significantly improve the effectiveness of human-centered design efforts of a large system of systems. Performance of many contemporary work systems and environments may be sensitive to the initial conditions and may exhibit dynamic nonlinear properties and chaotic system behaviors. Human-centered design of emergent human-system interactions requires application of the theories of nonlinear dynamics and complex adaptive system. The success of future human-systems integration efforts requires the fusion of paradigms, knowledge, design principles, and methodologies of human factors and ergonomics with those of the science of complex adaptive systems as well as modern systems engineering.

Application of solidifiers for oil spill containment: A review.

PubMed

Motta, Fernanda L; Stoyanov, Stanislav R; Soares, João B P

2018-03-01

The need for new and/or improvement of existing oil spill remediation measures has increased substantially amidst growing public concern with the increased transportation of unconventional crudes, such as diluted bitumen products. Solidifiers may be a very good spill response measure to contain and mitigate the effects of oil discharge incidents, as these interact with the oil to limit hydrocarbon release into air and water, prevent it from adhering onto sediment and debris, and could allow for oil recovery and reuse. Solidifiers change the physical state of the spilled oil from liquid to a coherent mass by chemical interactions between the spilled oil and the solidifier. Currently, the use of solidifiers is limited to small spills near shorelines. To extend their use to large-scale spill containment operations, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of solidifier action and to establish consistent criteria for evaluation of their effectiveness. The research effort to date has been focused mainly on gelators and cross-linking agents, with particularly impressive advancements in the areas of phase-selective polymeric and small-molecule gelators. Substantial research efforts are needed to improve solidifier performance and integrate solidifiers as part of spill response procedures, particularly for acute oil spills involving unconventional petroleum products. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assembling oppositely charged lock and key responsive colloids: A mesoscale analog of adaptive chemistry

PubMed Central

Mihut, Adriana M.; Stenqvist, Björn; Lund, Mikael; Schurtenberger, Peter; Crassous, Jérôme J.

2017-01-01

We have seen a considerable effort in colloid sciences to copy Nature’s successful strategies to fabricate complex functional structures through self-assembly. This includes attempts to design colloidal building blocks and their intermolecular interactions, such as creating the colloidal analogs of directional molecular interactions, molecular recognition, host-guest systems, and specific binding. We show that we can use oppositely charged thermoresponsive particles with complementary shapes, such as spherical and bowl-shaped particles, to implement an externally controllable lock-and-key self-assembly mechanism. The use of tunable electrostatic interactions combined with the temperature-dependent size and shape and van der Waals interactions of these building blocks provides an exquisite control over the selectivity and specificity of the interactions and self-assembly process. The dynamic nature of the mechanism allows for reversibly cycling through various structures that range from weakly structured dense liquids to well-defined molecule-shaped clusters with different configurations through variations in temperature and ionic strength. We link this complex and dynamic self-assembly behavior to the relevant molecular interactions, such as screened Coulomb and van der Waals forces and the geometrical complementarity of the two building blocks, and discuss our findings in the context of the concepts of adaptive chemistry recently introduced to molecular systems. PMID:28929133

Social facilitation in virtual reality-enhanced exercise: competitiveness moderates exercise effort of older adults.

PubMed

Anderson-Hanley, Cay; Snyder, Amanda L; Nimon, Joseph P; Arciero, Paul J

2011-01-01

This study examined the effect of virtual social facilitation and competitiveness on exercise effort in exergaming older adults. Fourteen exergaming older adults participated. Competitiveness was assessed prior to the start of exercise. Participants were trained to ride a "cybercycle;" a virtual reality-enhanced stationary bike with interactive competition. After establishing a cybercycling baseline, competitive avatars were introduced. Pedaling effort (watts) was assessed. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant group (high vs low competitiveness) × time (pre- to post-avatar) interaction (F[1,12] = 13.1, P = 0.003). Virtual social facilitation increased exercise effort among more competitive exercisers. Exercise programs that match competitiveness may maximize exercise effort.

Social facilitation in virtual reality-enhanced exercise: competitiveness moderates exercise effort of older adults

PubMed Central

Anderson-Hanley, Cay; Snyder, Amanda L; Nimon, Joseph P; Arciero, Paul J

2011-01-01

This study examined the effect of virtual social facilitation and competitiveness on exercise effort in exergaming older adults. Fourteen exergaming older adults participated. Competitiveness was assessed prior to the start of exercise. Participants were trained to ride a “cybercycle;” a virtual reality-enhanced stationary bike with interactive competition. After establishing a cybercycling baseline, competitive avatars were introduced. Pedaling effort (watts) was assessed. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant group (high vs low competitiveness) × time (pre- to post-avatar) interaction (F[1,12] = 13.1, P = 0.003). Virtual social facilitation increased exercise effort among more competitive exercisers. Exercise programs that match competitiveness may maximize exercise effort. PMID:22087067

The Synechocystis PCC6803 MerA-like enzyme operates in the reduction of both mercury and uranium under the control of the glutaredoxin 1 enzyme.

PubMed

Marteyn, Benoit; Sakr, Samer; Farci, Sandrine; Bedhomme, Mariette; Chardonnet, Solenne; Decottignies, Paulette; Lemaire, Stéphane D; Cassier-Chauvat, Corinne; Chauvat, Franck

2013-09-01

In a continuing effort to analyze the selectivity/redundancy of the three glutaredoxin (Grx) enzymes of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803, we have characterized an enzyme system that plays a crucial role in protection against two toxic metal pollutants, mercury and uranium. The present data show that Grx1 (Slr1562 in CyanoBase) selectively interacts with the presumptive mercuric reductase protein (Slr1849). This MerA enzyme plays a crucial role in cell defense against both mercuric and uranyl ions, in catalyzing their NADPH-driven reduction. Like MerA, Grx1 operates in cell protection against both mercury and uranium. The Grx1-MerA interaction requires cysteine 86 (C86) of Grx1 and C78 of MerA, which is critical for its reductase activity. MerA can be inhibited by glutathionylation and subsequently reactivated by Grx1, likely through deglutathionylation. The two Grx1 residues C31, which belongs to the redox active site (CX(2)C), and C86, which operates in MerA interactions, are both required for reactivation of MerA. These novel findings emphasize the role of glutaredoxins in tolerance to metal stress as well as the evolutionary conservation of the glutathionylation process, so far described mostly for eukaryotes.

The Synechocystis PCC6803 MerA-Like Enzyme Operates in the Reduction of Both Mercury and Uranium under the Control of the Glutaredoxin 1 Enzyme

PubMed Central

Marteyn, Benoit; Sakr, Samer; Farci, Sandrine; Bedhomme, Mariette; Chardonnet, Solenne; Decottignies, Paulette; Lemaire, Stéphane D.; Cassier-Chauvat, Corinne

2013-01-01

In a continuing effort to analyze the selectivity/redundancy of the three glutaredoxin (Grx) enzymes of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803, we have characterized an enzyme system that plays a crucial role in protection against two toxic metal pollutants, mercury and uranium. The present data show that Grx1 (Slr1562 in CyanoBase) selectively interacts with the presumptive mercuric reductase protein (Slr1849). This MerA enzyme plays a crucial role in cell defense against both mercuric and uranyl ions, in catalyzing their NADPH-driven reduction. Like MerA, Grx1 operates in cell protection against both mercury and uranium. The Grx1-MerA interaction requires cysteine 86 (C86) of Grx1 and C78 of MerA, which is critical for its reductase activity. MerA can be inhibited by glutathionylation and subsequently reactivated by Grx1, likely through deglutathionylation. The two Grx1 residues C31, which belongs to the redox active site (CX2C), and C86, which operates in MerA interactions, are both required for reactivation of MerA. These novel findings emphasize the role of glutaredoxins in tolerance to metal stress as well as the evolutionary conservation of the glutathionylation process, so far described mostly for eukaryotes. PMID:23852862

Drug target identification in protozoan parasites

PubMed Central

Müller, Joachim; Hemphill, Andrew

2016-01-01

Introduction Despite the fact that diseases caused by protozoan parasites represent serious challenges for public health, animal production and welfare, only a limited panel of drugs has been marketed for clinical applications. Areas covered Herein, the authors investigate two strategies, namely whole organism screening and target-based drug design. The present pharmacopoeia has resulted from whole organism screening, and the mode of action and targets of selected drugs are discussed. However, the more recent extensive genome sequencing efforts and the development of dry and wet lab genomics and proteomics that allow high-throughput screening of interactions between micromolecules and recombinant proteins has resulted in target-based drug design as the predominant focus in anti-parasitic drug development. Selected examples of target-based drug design studies are presented, and calcium-dependent protein kinases, important drug targets in apicomplexan parasites, are discussed in more detail. Expert opinion Despite the enormous efforts in target-based drug development, this approach has not yet generated market-ready antiprotozoal drugs. However, whole-organism screening approaches, comprising of both in vitro and in vivo investigations, should not be disregarded. The repurposing of already approved and marketed drugs could be a suitable strategy to avoid fastidious approval procedures, especially in the case of neglected or veterinary parasitoses. PMID:27238605

Selection of applicants for the air traffic controller occupation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-07-01

This report covers personnel research efforts during the past nine years directed toward improving the selection of applicants to work in the Air Traffic Control occupation. The report summarizes the various research efforts and makes specific recomm...

MIPS: analysis and annotation of genome information in 2007

PubMed Central

Mewes, H. W.; Dietmann, S.; Frishman, D.; Gregory, R.; Mannhaupt, G.; Mayer, K. F. X.; Münsterkötter, M.; Ruepp, A.; Spannagl, M.; Stümpflen, V.; Rattei, T.

2008-01-01

The Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS-GSF, Neuherberg, Germany) combines automatic processing of large amounts of sequences with manual annotation of selected model genomes. Due to the massive growth of the available data, the depth of annotation varies widely between independent databases. Also, the criteria for the transfer of information from known to orthologous sequences are diverse. To cope with the task of global in-depth genome annotation has become unfeasible. Therefore, our efforts are dedicated to three levels of annotation: (i) the curation of selected genomes, in particular from fungal and plant taxa (e.g. CYGD, MNCDB, MatDB), (ii) the comprehensive, consistent, automatic annotation employing exhaustive methods for the computation of sequence similarities and sequence-related attributes as well as the classification of individual sequences (SIMAP, PEDANT and FunCat) and (iii) the compilation of manually curated databases for protein interactions based on scrutinized information from the literature to serve as an accepted set of reliable annotated interaction data (MPACT, MPPI, CORUM). All databases and tools described as well as the detailed descriptions of our projects can be accessed through the MIPS web server (http://mips.gsf.de). PMID:18158298

MIPS: analysis and annotation of genome information in 2007.

PubMed

Mewes, H W; Dietmann, S; Frishman, D; Gregory, R; Mannhaupt, G; Mayer, K F X; Münsterkötter, M; Ruepp, A; Spannagl, M; Stümpflen, V; Rattei, T

2008-01-01

The Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS-GSF, Neuherberg, Germany) combines automatic processing of large amounts of sequences with manual annotation of selected model genomes. Due to the massive growth of the available data, the depth of annotation varies widely between independent databases. Also, the criteria for the transfer of information from known to orthologous sequences are diverse. To cope with the task of global in-depth genome annotation has become unfeasible. Therefore, our efforts are dedicated to three levels of annotation: (i) the curation of selected genomes, in particular from fungal and plant taxa (e.g. CYGD, MNCDB, MatDB), (ii) the comprehensive, consistent, automatic annotation employing exhaustive methods for the computation of sequence similarities and sequence-related attributes as well as the classification of individual sequences (SIMAP, PEDANT and FunCat) and (iii) the compilation of manually curated databases for protein interactions based on scrutinized information from the literature to serve as an accepted set of reliable annotated interaction data (MPACT, MPPI, CORUM). All databases and tools described as well as the detailed descriptions of our projects can be accessed through the MIPS web server (http://mips.gsf.de).

Basic and Applied Materials Science Research Efforts at MSFC Germane to NASA Goals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

Presently, a number of investigations are ongoing that blend basic research with engineering applications in support of NASA goals. These include (1) "Pore Formation and Mobility (PFMI) " An ISS Glovebox Investigation" NASA Selected Project - 400-34-3D; (2) "Interactions Between Rotating Bodies" Center Director's Discretionary Fund (CDDF) Project - 279-62-00-16; (3) "Molybdenum - Rhenium (Mo-Re) Alloys for Nuclear Fuel Containment" TD Collaboration - 800-11-02; (4) "Fabrication of Alumina - Metal Composites for Propulsion Components" ED Collaboration - 090-50-10; (5) "Radiation Shielding for Deep-Space Missions" SD Effort; (6) "Other Research". In brief, "Pore Formation and Mobility" is an experiment to be conducted in the ISS Microgravity Science Glovebox that will systematically investigate the development, movement, and interactions of bubbles (porosity) during the controlled directional solidification of a transparent material. In addition to promoting our general knowledge of porosity physics, this work will serve as a guide to future ISS experiments utilizing metal alloys. "Interactions Between Rotating Bodies" is a CDDF sponsored project that is critically examining, through theory and experiment, claims of "new" physics relating to gravity modification and electric field effects. "Molybdenum - Rhenium Alloys for Nuclear Fuel Containment" is a TD collaboration in support of nuclear propulsion. Mo-Re alloys are being evaluated and developed for nuclear fuel containment. "Fabrication of Alumina - Metal Composites for Propulsion Components" is an ED collaboration with the intent of increasing strength and decreasing weight of metal engine components through the incorporation of nanometer-sized alumina fibers. "Radiation Shielding for Deep-Space Missions" is an SD effort aimed at minimizing the health risk from radiation to human space voyagers; work to date has been primarily programmatic but experiments to develop hydrogen-rich materials for shielding are planned. "Other Research" includes: BUNDLE (Bridgman Unidirectional Dendrite in a Liquid Experiment) activities (primarily crucible development), vibrational float-zone processing (with Vanderbilt University), use of ultrasonics in materials processing (with UAH), rotational effects on microstructural development, and application of magnetic fields for mixing.

Generation of American elm trees with tolerance to Dutch elm disease through controlled crosses and selection

Treesearch

James M. Slavicek; Kathleen S. Knight

2012-01-01

The goal of our research and development efforts is to generate new and/or improved selections of the American elm (Ulmus americana L.) with tolerance/resistance to Dutch elm disease (DED). The approaches we are taking for this effort include: 1) controlled breeding using known DED -tolerant selections, 2) controlled breeding using DED-tolerant...

Strategies to balance covalent and non-covalent biomolecule attachment within collagen-GAG biomaterials.

PubMed

Pence, Jacquelyn C; Gonnerman, Emily A; Bailey, Ryan C; Harley, Brendan A C

2014-09-01

Strategies to integrate instructive biomolecular signals into a biomaterial are becoming increasingly complex and bioinspired. While a large majority of reports still use repeated treatments with soluble factors, this approach can be prohibitively costly and difficult to translate in vivo for applications where spatial control over signal presentation is necessary. Recent efforts have explored the use of covalent immobilization of biomolecules to the biomaterial, via both bulk (ubiquitous) as well as spatially-selective light-based crosslinking, as a means to both enhance stability and bioactivity. However, little is known about how processing conditions during immobilization impact the degree of unintended non-covalent interactions, or fouling, that takes place between the biomaterial and the biomolecule of interest. Here we demonstrate the impact of processing conditions for bulk carbodiimide (EDC) and photolithography-based benzophenone (BP) crosslinking on specific attachment vs. fouling of a model protein (Concanavalin A, ConA) within collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) scaffolds. Collagen source significantly impacts the selectivity of biomolecule immobilization. EDC crosslinking intensity and ligand concentration significantly impacted selective immobilization. For benzophenone photoimmobilization we observed that increased UV exposure time leads to increased ConA immobilization. Immobilization efficiency for both EDC and BP strategies was maximal at physiological pH. Increasing ligand concentration during immobilization process led to enhanced immobilization for EDC chemistry, no impact on BP immobilization, but significant increases in non-specific fouling. Given recent efforts to covalently immobilize biomolecules to a biomaterial surface to enhance bioactivity, improved understanding of the impact of crosslinking conditions on selective attachment versus non-specific fouling will inform the design of instructive biomaterials for applications across tissue engineering.

Recovery Act: Planned Efforts and Challenges in Evaluating Compliance with Maintenance of Effort and Similar Provisions. Report to the Republican Leader, U.S. Senate. GAO-10-247

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodaro, Gene L.

2009-01-01

To help prevent the substitution of federal funds for state, local, or private funds, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) contains maintenance of effort and similar provisions requiring that recipients maintain certain levels of spending for selected programs. This report provides information on selected programs in…

Allosteric modulation model of the mu opioid receptor by herkinorin, a potent not alkaloidal agonist

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marmolejo-Valencia, A. F.; Martínez-Mayorga, K.

2017-05-01

Modulation of opioid receptors is the primary choice for pain management and structural information studies have gained new horizons with the recently available X-ray crystal structures. Herkinorin is one of the most remarkable salvinorin A derivative with high affinity for the mu opioid receptor, moderate selectivity and lack of nitrogen atoms on its structure. Surprisingly, binding models for herkinorin are lacking. In this work, we explore binding models of herkinorin using automated docking, molecular dynamics simulations, free energy calculations and available experimental information. Our herkinorin D-ICM-1 binding model predicted a binding free energy of -11.52 ± 1.14 kcal mol-1 by alchemical free energy estimations, which is close to the experimental values -10.91 ± 0.2 and -10.80 ± 0.05 kcal mol-1 and is in agreement with experimental structural information. Specifically, D-ICM-1 molecular dynamics simulations showed a water-mediated interaction between D-ICM-1 and the amino acid H2976.52, this interaction coincides with the co-crystallized ligands. Another relevant interaction, with N1272.63, allowed to rationalize herkinorin's selectivity to mu over delta opioid receptors. Our suggested binding model for herkinorin is in agreement with this and additional experimental data. The most remarkable observation derived from our D-ICM-1 model is that herkinorin reaches an allosteric sodium ion binding site near N1503.35. Key interactions in that region appear relevant for the lack of β-arrestin recruitment by herkinorin. This interaction is key for downstream signaling pathways involved in the development of side effects, such as tolerance. Future SAR studies and medicinal chemistry efforts will benefit from the structural information presented in this work.

Design strategies and functionality of the Visual Interface for Virtual Interaction Development (VIVID) tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nguyen, Lac; Kenney, Patrick J.

1993-01-01

Development of interactive virtual environments (VE) has typically consisted of three primary activities: model (object) development, model relationship tree development, and environment behavior definition and coding. The model and relationship tree development activities are accomplished with a variety of well-established graphic library (GL) based programs - most utilizing graphical user interfaces (GUI) with point-and-click interactions. Because of this GUI format, little programming expertise on the part of the developer is necessary to create the 3D graphical models or to establish interrelationships between the models. However, the third VE development activity, environment behavior definition and coding, has generally required the greatest amount of time and programmer expertise. Behaviors, characteristics, and interactions between objects and the user within a VE must be defined via command line C coding prior to rendering the environment scenes. In an effort to simplify this environment behavior definition phase for non-programmers, and to provide easy access to model and tree tools, a graphical interface and development tool has been created. The principal thrust of this research is to effect rapid development and prototyping of virtual environments. This presentation will discuss the 'Visual Interface for Virtual Interaction Development' (VIVID) tool; an X-Windows based system employing drop-down menus for user selection of program access, models, and trees, behavior editing, and code generation. Examples of these selection will be highlighted in this presentation, as will the currently available program interfaces. The functionality of this tool allows non-programming users access to all facets of VE development while providing experienced programmers with a collection of pre-coded behaviors. In conjunction with its existing, interfaces and predefined suite of behaviors, future development plans for VIVID will be described. These include incorporation of dual user virtual environment enhancements, tool expansion, and additional behaviors.

Bayesian Peak Picking for NMR Spectra

PubMed Central

Cheng, Yichen; Gao, Xin; Liang, Faming

2013-01-01

Protein structure determination is a very important topic in structural genomics, which helps people to understand varieties of biological functions such as protein-protein interactions, protein–DNA interactions and so on. Nowadays, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has often been used to determine the three-dimensional structures of protein in vivo. This study aims to automate the peak picking step, the most important and tricky step in NMR structure determination. We propose to model the NMR spectrum by a mixture of bivariate Gaussian densities and use the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm as the computational tool to solve the problem. Under the Bayesian framework, the peak picking problem is casted as a variable selection problem. The proposed method can automatically distinguish true peaks from false ones without preprocessing the data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort in the literature that tackles the peak picking problem for NMR spectrum data using Bayesian method. PMID:24184964

Interactive information retrieval systems with minimalist representation

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

Domeshek, E.; Kedar, S.; Gordon, A.

Almost any information you might want is becoming available on-line. The problem is how to find what you need. One strategy to improve access to existing information sources, is intelligent information agents - an approach based on extensive representation and inference. Another alternative is to simply concentrate on better information organization and indexing. Our systems use a form of conceptual indexing sensitive to users` task-specific information needs. We aim for minimalist representation, coding only select aspects of stored items. Rather than supporting reliable automated inference, the primary purpose of our representations is to provide sufficient discrimination and guidance to amore » user for a given domain and task. This paper argues, using case studies, that minimal representations can make strong contributions to the usefulness and usability of interactive information systems, while minimizing knowledge engineering effort. We demonstrate this approach in several broad spectrum applications including video retrieval and advisory systems.« less

Structural insights into human heme oxygenase-1 inhibition by potent and selective azole-based compounds

PubMed Central

Rahman, Mona N.; Vukomanovic, Dragic; Vlahakis, Jason Z.; Szarek, Walter A.; Nakatsu, Kanji; Jia, Zongchao

2013-01-01

The development of heme oxygenase (HO) inhibitors, especially those that are isozyme-selective, promises powerful pharmacological tools to elucidate the regulatory characteristics of the HO system. It is already known that HO has cytoprotective properties and may play a role in several disease states, making it an enticing therapeutic target. Traditionally, the metalloporphyrins have been used as competitive HO inhibitors owing to their structural similarity with the substrate, heme. However, given heme's important role in several other proteins (e.g. cytochromes P450, nitric oxide synthase), non-selectivity is an unfortunate side-effect. Reports that azalanstat and other non-porphyrin molecules inhibited HO led to a multi-faceted effort to develop novel compounds as potent, selective inhibitors of HO. This resulted in the creation of non-competitive inhibitors with selectivity for HO, including a subset with isozyme selectivity for HO-1. Using X-ray crystallography, the structures of several complexes of HO-1 with novel inhibitors have been elucidated, which provided insightful information regarding the salient features required for inhibitor binding. This included the structural basis for non-competitive inhibition, flexibility and adaptability of the inhibitor binding pocket, and multiple, potential interaction subsites, all of which can be exploited in future drug-design strategies. PMID:23097500

Not virtual, but a real, live, online, interactive reference service.

PubMed

Jerant, Lisa Lott; Firestein, Kenneth

2003-01-01

In today's fast-paced environment, traditional medical reference services alone are not adequate to meet users' information needs. Efforts to find new ways to provide comprehensive service to users, where and when needed, have often included the use of new and developing technologies. This paper describes the experience of an academic health science library in developing and providing an online, real-time reference service. Issues discussed include selecting software, training librarians, staffing the service, and considering the future of the service. Use statistics, question type analysis, and feedback from users of the service and librarians who staff the service, are also presented.

Towards a more comprehensive concept for prebiotics.

PubMed

Bindels, Laure B; Delzenne, Nathalie M; Cani, Patrice D; Walter, Jens

2015-05-01

The essential role of the gut microbiota for health has generated tremendous interest in modulating its composition and metabolic function. One of these strategies is prebiotics, which typically refer to selectively fermented nondigestible food ingredients or substances that specifically support the growth and/or activity of health-promoting bacteria that colonize the gastrointestinal tract. In this Perspective, we argue that advances in our understanding of diet-microbiome-host interactions challenge important aspects of the current concept of prebiotics, and especially the requirement for effects to be 'selective' or 'specific'. We propose to revise this concept in an effort to shift the focus towards ecological and functional features of the microbiota more likely to be relevant for host physiology. This revision would provide a more rational basis for the identification of prebiotic compounds, and a framework by which the therapeutic potential of modulating the gut microbiota could be more fully materialized.

Probabilistic Structural Analysis Methods (PSAM) for select space propulsion system components, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The technical effort and computer code enhancements performed during the sixth year of the Probabilistic Structural Analysis Methods program are summarized. Various capabilities are described to probabilistically combine structural response and structural resistance to compute component reliability. A library of structural resistance models is implemented in the Numerical Evaluations of Stochastic Structures Under Stress (NESSUS) code that included fatigue, fracture, creep, multi-factor interaction, and other important effects. In addition, a user interface was developed for user-defined resistance models. An accurate and efficient reliability method was developed and was successfully implemented in the NESSUS code to compute component reliability based on user-selected response and resistance models. A risk module was developed to compute component risk with respect to cost, performance, or user-defined criteria. The new component risk assessment capabilities were validated and demonstrated using several examples. Various supporting methodologies were also developed in support of component risk assessment.

Game, cloud architecture and outreach for The BIG Bell Test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abellan, Carlos; Tura, Jordi; Garcia, Marta; Beduini, Federica; Hirschmann, Alina; Pruneri, Valerio; Acin, Antonio; Marti, Maria; Mitchell, Morgan

The BIG Bell test uses the input from the Bellsters, self-selected human participants introducing zeros and ones through an online videogame, to perform a suite of quantum physics experiments. In this talk, we will explore the videogame, the data infrastructure and the outreach efforts of the BIG Bell test collaboration. First, we will discuss how the game was designed so as to eliminate possible feedback mechanisms that could influence people's behavior. Second, we will discuss the cloud architecture design for scalability as well as explain how we sent each individual bit from the users to the labs. Also, and using all the bits collected via the BIG Bell test interface, we will show a data analysis on human randomness, e.g. are younger Bellsters more random than older Bellsters? Finally, we will talk about the outreach and communication efforts of the BIG Bell test collaboration, exploring both the social media campaigns as well as the close interaction with teachers and educators to bring the project into classrooms.

The special effort processing of FGGE data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The basic FGGE level IIb data set was enhanced. It focused on removing deficiencies in the objective methods of quality assurance, removing efficiencies in certain types of operationally produced satellite soundings, and removing deficiencies in certain types of operationally produced cloud tracked winds. The Special Effort was a joint NASA-NOAA-University of Wisconsin effort. The University of Wisconsin installed an interactive McIDAS capability on the Amdahl computer at the Goddard Laboratory of Atmospheric Sciences (GLAS) with one interactive video terminal at Goddard and the other at the World Weather Building. With this interactive capability a joint processing effort was undertaken to reprocess certain FGGE data sets. NOAA produced a specially edited data set for the special observing periods (SOPs) of FGGE. NASA produced an enhanced satellite sounding data set for the SOPs while the University of Wisconsin produced an enhanced cloud tracked wind set from the Japanese geostationary satellite images.

Specific Binding of Tetratricopeptide Repeat Proteins to Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70) and Heat Shock Protein 90 (Hsp90) Is Regulated by Affinity and Phosphorylation.

PubMed

Assimon, Victoria A; Southworth, Daniel R; Gestwicki, Jason E

2015-12-08

Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) require the help of tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain-containing cochaperones for many of their functions. Each monomer of Hsp70 or Hsp90 can interact with only a single TPR cochaperone at a time, and each member of the TPR cochaperone family brings distinct functions to the complex. Thus, competition for TPR binding sites on Hsp70 and Hsp90 appears to shape chaperone activity. Recent structural and biophysical efforts have improved our understanding of chaperone-TPR contacts, focusing on the C-terminal EEVD motif that is present in both chaperones. To better understand these important protein-protein interactions on a wider scale, we measured the affinity of five TPR cochaperones, CHIP, Hop, DnaJC7, FKBP51, and FKBP52, for the C-termini of four members of the chaperone family, Hsc70, Hsp72, Hsp90α, and Hsp90β, in vitro. These studies identified some surprising selectivity among the chaperone-TPR pairs, including the selective binding of FKBP51/52 to Hsp90α/β. These results also revealed that other TPR cochaperones are only able to weakly discriminate between the chaperones or between their paralogs. We also explored whether mimicking phosphorylation of serine and threonine residues near the EEVD motif might impact affinity and found that pseudophosphorylation had selective effects on binding to CHIP but not other cochaperones. Together, these findings suggest that both intrinsic affinity and post-translational modifications tune the interactions between the Hsp70 and Hsp90 proteins and the TPR cochaperones.

hBfl-1/hNOXA Interaction Studies Provide New Insights on the Role of Bfl-1 in Cancer Cell Resistance and for the Design of Novel Anticancer Agents

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Upregulation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins in certain tumors confers cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy or radiations. Members of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 proteins, including Bcl-2, Mcl-1, Bcl-xL, Bcl-w, and Bfl-1, inhibit apoptosis by selectively binding to conserved α-helical regions, named BH3 domains, of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bim, tBid, Bad, or NOXA. Five antiapoptotic proteins have been identified that interact with various selectivity with BH3 containing pro-apoptotic counterparts. Cancer cells present various and variable levels of these proteins, making the design of effective apoptosis based therapeutics challenging. Recently, BH3 profiling was introduced as a method to classify cancer cells based on their ability to resist apoptosis following exposure to selected BH3 peptides. However, these studies were based on binding affinities measured with model BH3 peptides and Bcl-2-proteins taken from mouse sequences. While the majority of these interactions are conserved between mice and humans, we found surprisingly that human NOXA binds to human Bfl-1 potently and covalently via conserved Cys residues, with over 2 orders of magnitude increased affinity over hMcl-1. Our data suggest that some assumptions of the original BH3 profiling need to be revisited and that perhaps further targeting efforts should be redirected toward Bfl-1, for which no suitable specific inhibitors or pharmacological tools have been reported. In this regard, we also describe the initial design and characterizations of novel covalent BH3-based agents that potently target Bfl-1. These molecules could provide a novel platform on which to design effective Bfl-1 targeting therapeutics. PMID:28026162

Parenting and Child "DRD4" Genotype Interact to Predict Children's Early Emerging Effortful Control

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Heather J.; Sheikh, Haroon I.; Dyson, Margaret W.; Olino, Thomas M.; Laptook, Rebecca S.; Durbin, C. Emily; Hayden, Elizabeth P.; Singh, Shiva M.; Klein, Daniel N.

2012-01-01

Effortful control (EC), or the trait-like capacity to regulate dominant responses, has important implications for children's development. Although genetic factors and parenting likely influence EC, few studies have examined whether they interact to predict its development. This study examined whether the "DRD4" exon III variable number tandem…

The Long-Term Effectiveness of the Family Check-up on Peer Preference: Parent-Child Interaction and Child Effortful Control as Sequential Mediators.

PubMed

Chang, Hyein; Shaw, Daniel S; Shelleby, Elizabeth C; Dishion, Thomas J; Wilson, Melvin N

2017-05-01

We examined the longitudinal effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention beginning in toddlerhood on children's peer preference at school-age. Specifically, a sequential mediational model was proposed in which the FCU was hypothesized to promote peer preference (i.e., higher acceptance and lower rejection by peers) in middle childhood through its positive effects on parent-child interaction and child effortful control in early childhood. Participants were 731 low-income families (49 % female). Qualities of parent-child interaction were observed during structured activities at 2 to 5 years, child effortful control was assessed using behavioral tasks at 5 years, and peer acceptance and rejection were rated by teachers at 7.5 to 10.5 years. Results indicated that the FCU indirectly predicted peer preference by sequentially improving parent-child interaction and child effortful control. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for understanding mechanisms by which early parenting-focused programs may enhance child functioning across time and context.

The Long-Term Effectiveness of the Family Check-up on Peer Preference: Parent-Child Interaction and Child Effortful Control as Sequential Mediators

PubMed Central

Shaw, Daniel S.; Shelleby, Elizabeth C.; Dishion, Thomas J.; Wilson, Melvin N.

2018-01-01

We examined the longitudinal effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention beginning in toddlerhood on children’s peer preference at school-age. Specifically, a sequential mediational model was proposed in which the FCU was hypothesized to promote peer preference (i.e., higher acceptance and lower rejection by peers) in middle childhood through its positive effects on parent-child interaction and child effortful control in early childhood. Participants were 731 low-income families (49 % female). Qualities of parent-child interaction were observed during structured activities at 2 to 5 years, child effortful control was assessed using behavioral tasks at 5 years, and peer acceptance and rejection were rated by teachers at 7.5 to 10.5 years. Results indicated that the FCU indirectly predicted peer preference by sequentially improving parent-child interaction and child effortful control. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for understanding mechanisms by which early parenting-focused programs may enhance child functioning across time and context. PMID:27558394

Operator interface for vehicles

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

Bissontz, Jay E

2015-03-10

A control interface for drivetrain braking provided by a regenerative brake and a non-regenerative brake is implemented using a combination of switches and graphic interface elements. The control interface comprises a control system for allocating drivetrain braking effort between the regenerative brake and the non-regenerative brake, a first operator actuated control for enabling operation of the drivetrain braking, and a second operator actuated control for selecting a target braking effort for drivetrain braking. A graphic display displays to an operator the selected target braking effort and can be used to further display actual braking effort achieved by drivetrain braking.

PubMed

Junne, Florian; Rieger, Monika; Michaelis, Martina; Nikendei, Christoph; Gündel, Harald; Zipfel, Stephan; Rothermund, Eva

2017-04-01

Psycho-mental stressors and increased perceived stress in workplace settings may determine the onset and course of stress-related mental and psychosomatic disorders. For the description of psycho-mental stressors three distinct models have widely been used in the analyses of the matter: the Demand-Control-Model by Karasek and Theorell, the Effort-Reward-Imbalance Model by Siegrist, and the Model of Organisational Justice.The interactional or social dimension in work-place settings can be seen as a cross-sectional dimension to the above mentioned models. Here, social conflicts and mobbing, as specific forms of interactional problems, are of importance.Besides measures of primary prevention which can be derived from applying the above mentioned models, attention is paid increasingly to secondary and tertiary preventive measures in work-place settings. Concepts such as the psychosomatic consultation-hour within the context of workplace showed to be effective measures for the early detection of people at risk or early stages of e. g. stress-related psychosomatic disorders.Furthermore, step-wise reintegration of members of the work-force play an important role within the effort to retain the ability to work and the workplace of individuals who suffered from stress-related mental disorders, as it has to be stressed that working and social interactions at the workplace may well be a resource that enhances and stipulates psycho-mental well-being and mental health.This CME-Article describes the above mentioned models and discusses selected perspectives of preventive measures to avoid stress-related mental disorders in members of the work-force. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Time to cash in on positive interactions for coral restoration

PubMed Central

Silliman, Brian R.

2017-01-01

Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse and productive ecosystems on Earth, and provide critical ecosystem services such as protein provisioning, coastal protection, and tourism revenue. Despite these benefits, coral reefs have been declining precipitously across the globe due to human impacts and climate change. Recent efforts to combat these declines are increasingly turning to restoration to help reseed corals and speed-up recovery processes. Coastal restoration theory and practice has historically favored transplanting designs that reduce potentially harmful negative species interactions, such as competition between transplants. However, recent research in salt marsh ecosystems has shown that shifting this theory to strategically incorporate positive interactions significantly enhances restoration yield with little additional cost or investment. Although some coral restoration efforts plant corals in protected areas in order to benefit from the facilitative effects of herbivores that reduce competitive macroalgae, little systematic effort has been made in coral restoration to identify the entire suite of positive interactions that could promote population enhancement efforts. Here, we highlight key positive species interactions that managers and restoration practitioners should utilize to facilitate the restoration of corals, including (i) trophic facilitation, (ii) mutualisms, (iii) long-distance facilitation, (iv) positive density-dependence, (v) positive legacy effects, and (vi) synergisms between biodiversity and ecosystem function. As live coral cover continues to decline and resources are limited to restore coral populations, innovative solutions that increase efficiency of restoration efforts will be critical to conserving and maintaining healthy coral reef ecosystems and the human communities that rely on them. PMID:28652942

Exploring Plant Co-Expression and Gene-Gene Interactions with CORNET 3.0.

PubMed

Van Bel, Michiel; Coppens, Frederik

2017-01-01

Selecting and filtering a reference expression and interaction dataset when studying specific pathways and regulatory interactions can be a very time-consuming and error-prone task. In order to reduce the duplicated efforts required to amass such datasets, we have created the CORNET (CORrelation NETworks) platform which allows for easy access to a wide variety of data types: coexpression data, protein-protein interactions, regulatory interactions, and functional annotations. The CORNET platform outputs its results in either text format or through the Cytoscape framework, which is automatically launched by the CORNET website.CORNET 3.0 is the third iteration of the web platform designed for the user exploration of the coexpression space of plant genomes, with a focus on the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. Here we describe the platform: the tools, data, and best practices when using the platform. We indicate how the platform can be used to infer networks from a set of input genes, such as upregulated genes from an expression experiment. By exploring the network, new target and regulator genes can be discovered, allowing for follow-up experiments and more in-depth study. We also indicate how to avoid common pitfalls when evaluating the networks and how to avoid over interpretation of the results.All CORNET versions are available at http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/cornet/ .

Communicative interactions involving plants: information, evolution, and ecology.

PubMed

Mescher, Mark C; Pearse, Ian S

2016-08-01

The role of information obtained via sensory cues and signals in mediating the interactions of organisms with their biotic and abiotic environments has been a major focus of work on sensory and behavioral ecology. Information-mediated interactions also have important implications for broader ecological patterns emerging at the community and ecosystem levels that are only now beginning to be explored. Given the extent to which plants dominate the sensory landscapes of terrestrial ecosystems, information-mediated interactions involving plants should be a major focus of efforts to elucidate these broader patterns. Here we explore how such efforts might be enhanced by a clear understanding of information itself-a central and potentially unifying concept in biology that has nevertheless been the subject of considerable confusion-and of its relationship to adaptive evolution and ecology. We suggest that information-mediated interactions should be a key focus of efforts to more fully integrate evolutionary biology and ecology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sexual selection affects the evolution of lifespan and ageing in the decorated cricket Gryllodes sigillatus.

PubMed

Archer, C R; Zajitschek, F; Sakaluk, S K; Royle, N J; Hunt, J

2012-10-01

Recent work suggests that sexual selection can influence the evolution of ageing and lifespan by shaping the optimal timing and relative costliness of reproductive effort in the sexes. We used inbred lines of the decorated cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus, to estimate the genetic (co)variance between age-dependent reproductive effort, lifespan, and ageing within and between the sexes. Sexual selection theory predicts that males should die sooner and age more rapidly than females. However, a reversal of this pattern may be favored if reproductive effort increases with age in males but not in females. We found that male calling effort increased with age, whereas female fecundity decreased, and that males lived longer and aged more slowly than females. These divergent life-history strategies were underpinned by a positive genetic correlation between early-life reproductive effort and ageing rate in both sexes, although this relationship was stronger in females. Despite these sex differences in life-history schedules, age-dependent reproductive effort, lifespan, and ageing exhibited strong positive intersexual genetic correlations. This should, in theory, constrain the independent evolution of these traits in the sexes and may promote intralocus sexual conflict. Our study highlights the importance of sexual selection to the evolution of sex differences in ageing and lifespan in G. sigillatus. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database: update 2017.

PubMed

Davis, Allan Peter; Grondin, Cynthia J; Johnson, Robin J; Sciaky, Daniela; King, Benjamin L; McMorran, Roy; Wiegers, Jolene; Wiegers, Thomas C; Mattingly, Carolyn J

2017-01-04

The Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD; http://ctdbase.org/) provides information about interactions between chemicals and gene products, and their relationships to diseases. Core CTD content (chemical-gene, chemical-disease and gene-disease interactions manually curated from the literature) are integrated with each other as well as with select external datasets to generate expanded networks and predict novel associations. Today, core CTD includes more than 30.5 million toxicogenomic connections relating chemicals/drugs, genes/proteins, diseases, taxa, Gene Ontology (GO) annotations, pathways, and gene interaction modules. In this update, we report a 33% increase in our core data content since 2015, describe our new exposure module (that harmonizes exposure science information with core toxicogenomic data) and introduce a novel dataset of GO-disease inferences (that identify common molecular underpinnings for seemingly unrelated pathologies). These advancements centralize and contextualize real-world chemical exposures with molecular pathways to help scientists generate testable hypotheses in an effort to understand the etiology and mechanisms underlying environmentally influenced diseases. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Effect of curcumin analogs onα-synuclein aggregation and cytotoxicity

PubMed Central

Jha, Narendra Nath; Ghosh, Dhiman; Das, Subhadeep; Anoop, Arunagiri; Jacob, Reeba S.; Singh, Pradeep K.; Ayyagari, Narasimham; Namboothiri, Irishi N. N.; Maji, Samir K.

2016-01-01

Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) aggregation into oligomers and fibrils is associated with dopaminergic neuron loss occurring in Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathogenesis. Compounds that modulate α-Syn aggregation and interact with preformed fibrils/oligomers and convert them to less toxic species could have promising applications in the drug development efforts against PD. Curcumin is one of the Asian food ingredient which showed promising role as therapeutic agent against many neurological disorders including PD. However, the instability and low solubility makes it less attractive for the drug development. In this work, we selected various curcumin analogs and studied their toxicity, stability and efficacy to interact with different α-Syn species and modulation of their toxicity. We found a subset of curcumin analogs with higher stability and showed that curcumin and its various analogs interact with preformed fibrils and oligomers and accelerate α-Syn aggregation to produce morphologically different amyloid fibrils in vitro. Furthermore, these curcumin analogs showed differential binding with the preformed α-Syn aggregates. The present data suggest the potential role of curcumin analogs in modulating α-Syn aggregation. PMID:27338805

Relations of Effortful Control, Reactive Undercontrol, and Anger to Chinese Children’s Adjustment

PubMed Central

Eisenberg, Nancy; Ma, Yue; Chang, Lei; Zhou, Qing; West, Stephen G.; Aiken, Leona

2006-01-01

The purpose of the study was to examine the zero-order and unique relations of effortful attentional and behavioral regulation, reactive impulsivity, and anger/frustration to Chinese first and second graders’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as the prediction of adjustment from the interaction of anger/frustration and effortful control or impulsivity. A parent and teacher reported on children’s anger/frustration, effortful control, and impulsivity; parents reported on children’s internalizing symptoms; and teachers and peers reported on children’s externalizing symptoms. Children were classified as relatively high on externalizing (or comorbid), internalizing, or nondisordered. High impulsivity and teacher-reported anger/frustration, and low effortful control, were associated with externalizing problems whereas low effortful control and high parent-reported anger were predictive of internalizing problems. Unique prediction from effortful and reactive control was obtained and these predictors (especially when reported by teachers) often interacted with anger/frustration when predicting problem behavior classification. PMID:17459176

Investigating Student Communities with Network Analysis of Interactions in a Physics Learning Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brewe, Eric; Kramer, Laird; O'Brien, George

2009-11-01

We describe our initial efforts at implementing social network analysis to visualize and quantify student interactions in Florida International University's Physics Learning Center. Developing a sense of community among students is one of the three pillars of an overall reform effort to increase participation in physics, and the sciences more broadly, at FIU. Our implementation of a research and learning community, embedded within a course reform effort, has led to increased recruitment and retention of physics majors. Finn and Rock [1997] link the academic and social integration of students to increased rates of retention. To identify these interactions, we have initiated an investigation that utilizes social network analysis to identify primary community participants. Community interactions are then characterized through the network's density and connectivity, shedding light on learning communities and participation. Preliminary results, further research questions, and future directions utilizing social network analysis are presented.

Herbivory at marginal populations: Consequences for maternal fitness and vegetative differentiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castilla, Antonio R.; Alonso, Conchita; Herrera, Carlos M.

2013-05-01

Margins of distribution of plant species constitute natural areas where the impact of the antagonistic interactions is expected to be higher and where changes in the dynamics of plant-herbivore coevolution could promote intraspecific differentiation in (co)evolving plant traits. In the present study, we investigated how differences in the average herbivory level affect maternal fitness in core continuous and marginal disjunct populations of Daphne laureola in an effort to assess the role of herbivores limiting plant distribution. Furthermore, we investigated intraspecific differentiation in vegetative traits and their potential connection to divergent selection by herbivores in both groups of populations. Our results did not support increased herbivory at the species margin but did support a difference in the effect of herbivory on maternal fitness between core continuous and marginal disjunct populations of D. laureola. In addition, herbivores did not exert phenotypic selection consistent with the geographic variation in studied plant traits. Therefore, the geographic variation of vegetative traits of D. laureola seems to be consequence of environmental heterogeneity more than result of geographically divergent selection by herbivores.

Porous materials with pre-designed single-molecule traps for CO2 selective adsorption

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

Li, JR; Yu, JM; Lu, WG

2013-02-26

Despite tremendous efforts, precise control in the synthesis of porous materials with pre-designed pore properties for desired applications remains challenging. Newly emerged porous metal-organic materials, such as metal-organic polyhedra and metal-organic frameworks, are amenable to design and property tuning, enabling precise control of functionality by accurate design of structures at the molecular level. Here we propose and validate, both experimentally and computationally, a precisely designed cavity, termed a 'single-molecule trap', with the desired size and properties suitable for trapping target CO2 molecules. Such a single-molecule trap can strengthen CO2-host interactions without evoking chemical bonding, thus showing potential for CO2 capture.more » Molecular single-molecule traps in the form of metal-organic polyhedra are designed, synthesised and tested for selective adsorption of CO2 over N-2 and CH4, demonstrating the trapping effect. Building these pre-designed single-molecule traps into extended frameworks yields metal-organic frameworks with efficient mass transfer, whereas the CO2 selective adsorption nature of single-molecule traps is preserved.« less

Patient satisfaction with quality of primary health care in Benghazi, Libya.

PubMed

Salam, Asharaf Abdul; Alshekteria, Amina Abdulla; Abd Alhadi, Hana; Ahmed, Mariam; Mohammed, Anees

2010-10-21

The Libyan National Health System (LNHS) is debated for the paradox of its performance versus impact. It has poor performance, but the national health statistics are good and competitive. There are concerted efforts to manage health care services and to regain the lost trust. A primary health care (PHC) system that focuses on preventive and promotive care is the core focus of LNHS efforts. To assess patient satisfaction with quality of PHC assessed in terms of (a) customer profile, (b) patient satisfaction, and (c) health care-seeking behavior. A sample of nine health centers and seven polyclinics from various locations in Benghazi, Libya were selected for gathering information by structured face-to-face interviews. A total of 310 beneficiaries were interviewed by using an Arabic translation of the Charleston Psychiatric Outpatient Satisfaction Scale. The beneficiaries appear to be quite satisfied with the quality of services. Geographical zone, marital status of beneficiary, and type of facility are satisfaction-related factors. There are preferences for facilities located within the City Centre over those located elsewhere. There is also an interaction effect of the geographical zone and the type of facility in creating differences in satisfaction. A customer-friendly facility concept that emphasizes reception, physician interaction, and cordiality shall add value. Polyclinics require more attention as does the Al Slawy area. A few utility services might also be considered.

The reciprocal relationship between sickness presenteeism and psychological distress in response to job stressors: evidence from a three-wave cohort study.

PubMed

Oshio, Takashi; Tsutsumi, Akizumi; Inoue, Akiomi; Suzuki, Tomoko; Miyaki, Koichi

2017-11-25

Sickness presenteeism (SP) is postulated as workers' response to their general state of health; hence, SP is expected to affect workers' future health. In the present study, we examined the reciprocal relationship between SP and health in response to job stressors, with specific reference to psychological distress (PD) as workers' state of health. We conducted mediation analysis, using data from a three-wave cohort occupational survey conducted at 1-year intervals in Japan; it involved 1,853 employees (1,661 men and 192 women) of a manufacturing firm. We measured SP and PD, using the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire and Kessler 6 score, respectively. For job stressors, we considered job demands and control, effort and reward, and procedural and interactional justice. PD mediated 11.5%-36.2% of the impact of job control, reward, and procedural and interactional justice on SP, whereas SP mediated their impact on PD, albeit to a much lesser extent in the range of 3.4%-11.3%. Unlike in the cases of these job stressors related to job resources, neither SP nor PD mediated the impact of job demands or effort. Our results confirmed the reciprocal relationship between SP and PD in response to selected types of job stressors, emphasizing the need for more in-depth analysis of the dynamics of these associations.

A facile method to prepare a versatile surface coating with fibrinolytic activity, vascular cell selectivity and antibacterial properties.

PubMed

Jin, Sheng; Gu, Hao; Chen, Xianshuang; Liu, Xiaoli; Zhan, Wenjun; Wei, Ting; Sun, Xuebo; Ren, Chuanlu; Chen, Hong

2018-07-01

Clot and thrombus formation on surfaces that come into contact with blood is still the most serious problem for blood contacting devices. Despite many years of continuous efforts in developing hemocompatible materials, it is still of great interest to develop multifunctional materials to enable vascular cell selectivity (to favor rapid endothelialization while inhibiting smooth muscle cell proliferation) and improve hemocompatibility. In addition, biomaterial-associated infections also cause the failure of biomedical implants and devices. However, it remains a challenging task to design materials that are multifunctional, since one of their functions will usually be compromised by the introduction of another function. In the present work, the gold substrate was first layer-by-layer (LbL) deposited with a multilayered polyelectrolyte film containing chitosan (positively charged) and a copolymer of sodium 4-vinylbenzenesulfonate (SS) and the "guest" adamantane monomer 1-adamantan-1-ylmethyl methacrylate (P(SS-co-Ada), negatively charged) via electro-static interactions, referred to as Au-LbL. The chitosan and P(SS-co-Ada) were intended to provide, respectively, resistance to bacteria and heparin-like properties. Then, "host" β-cyclodextrin derivatives bearing seven lysine ligands (CD-L) were immobilized on the Au-LbL surface by host-guest interactions between adamantane residues and CD-L, referred to as Au-LbL/CD-L. Finally, a versatile surface coating with fibrinolytic activity (lysis of nascent clots), vascular cell selectivity and antibacterial properties was developed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Systematized contact between inventors and industry. Final technical report

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

Not Available

1992-07-31

A total of 139 inventions by private (individual) inventors were submitted to Technology Targeting Incorporated. Each inventor was told of the nature of the DOE-supported Project, through informational and promotional efforts by TTI, and each completed an Invention Submittal Form developed by TTI to describe the essential nature of the claimed invention. Many also submitted detailed descriptions, drawings, technical reports and similar supplemental materials giving a more comprehensive view of their inventions. Each invention was reviewed for technical and commercial merit, as well as for appropriateness of marketing through the Technology Targeting DataBase{trademark} (hereafter ``DATABASE). Overall, participating inventors were enthusiasticmore » about the Project and felt participation in it was rewording. Even when not selected for marketing, inventors were given an analysis of their inventions which could help them enhance the inventions and improve marketing efforts. Inventors whose inventions were selected for marketing were shown how to professionally market the inventions, including the format for Non Confidential Invention Summaries, the preferred form for Confidential Disclosure Agreements, targeting of business decision-makers responsible for technology evaluation, and the like; some of these inventors are still interacting with industrial contacts provided by TTI through this Project. All inventors received copies of patent abstracts uncovered in the prior art searches for their inventions and a copy of TTI`s booklet, Patent Law Basics for Individual Inventors.« less

Systematized contact between inventors and industry. [Final Technical Report

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

Not Available

1992-07-31

A total of 139 inventions by private (individual) inventors were submitted to Technology Targeting Incorporated. Each inventor was told of the nature of the DOE-supported Project, through informational and promotional efforts by TTI, and each completed an Invention Submittal Form developed by TTI to describe the essential nature of the claimed invention. Many also submitted detailed descriptions, drawings, technical reports and similar supplemental materials giving a more comprehensive view of their inventions. Each invention was reviewed for technical and commercial merit, as well as for appropriateness of marketing through the Technology Targeting DataBase[trademark] (hereafter DATABASE). Overall, participating inventors were enthusiasticmore » about the Project and felt participation in it was rewording. Even when not selected for marketing, inventors were given an analysis of their inventions which could help them enhance the inventions and improve marketing efforts. Inventors whose inventions were selected for marketing were shown how to professionally market the inventions, including the format for Non Confidential Invention Summaries, the preferred form for Confidential Disclosure Agreements, targeting of business decision-makers responsible for technology evaluation, and the like; some of these inventors are still interacting with industrial contacts provided by TTI through this Project. All inventors received copies of patent abstracts uncovered in the prior art searches for their inventions and a copy of TTI's booklet, Patent Law Basics for Individual Inventors.« less

Indicators and metrics for the assessment of climate engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oschlies, A.; Held, H.; Keller, D.; Keller, K.; Mengis, N.; Quaas, M.; Rickels, W.; Schmidt, H.

2017-01-01

Selecting appropriate indicators is essential to aggregate the information provided by climate model outputs into a manageable set of relevant metrics on which assessments of climate engineering (CE) can be based. From all the variables potentially available from climate models, indicators need to be selected that are able to inform scientists and society on the development of the Earth system under CE, as well as on possible impacts and side effects of various ways of deploying CE or not. However, the indicators used so far have been largely identical to those used in climate change assessments and do not visibly reflect the fact that indicators for assessing CE (and thus the metrics composed of these indicators) may be different from those used to assess global warming. Until now, there has been little dedicated effort to identifying specific indicators and metrics for assessing CE. We here propose that such an effort should be facilitated by a more decision-oriented approach and an iterative procedure in close interaction between academia, decision makers, and stakeholders. Specifically, synergies and trade-offs between social objectives reflected by individual indicators, as well as decision-relevant uncertainties should be considered in the development of metrics, so that society can take informed decisions about climate policy measures under the impression of the options available, their likely effects and side effects, and the quality of the underlying knowledge base.

Using an International Medical Advisory Board to guide clinical governance in a corporate refractive surgery model.

PubMed

Vukich, John A

2009-07-01

To describe the role played by the International Medical Advisory Board (IMAB) in clinical and corporate governance at Optical Express, a corporate provider of refractive surgery. A review of goals, objectives, and actions of the IMAB. The IMAB has contributed to study design, data analysis, and selection of instruments and procedures. Through interactions with Optical Express corporate and clinical staff, the IMAB has supported management's effort to craft a corporate culture focused on continuous improvement in the safety and visual outcomes of refractive surgery. The IMAB has fashioned significant changes in corporate policies and procedures and has had an impact on corporate culture at Optical Express.

Composite structural materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ansell, G. S.; Loewy, R. G.; Wiberley, S. E.

1981-01-01

The composite aircraft program component (CAPCOMP) is a graduate level project conducted in parallel with a composite structures program. The composite aircraft program glider (CAPGLIDE) is an undergraduate demonstration project which has as its objectives the design, fabrication, and testing of a foot launched ultralight glider using composite structures. The objective of the computer aided design (COMPAD) portion of the composites project is to provide computer tools for the analysis and design of composite structures. The major thrust of COMPAD is in the finite element area with effort directed at implementing finite element analysis capabilities and developing interactive graphics preprocessing and postprocessing capabilities. The criteria for selecting research projects to be conducted under the innovative and supporting research (INSURE) program are described.

Hearing Aid Selection and Evaluation for Pre-school Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tachiiri, Hajime

1996-01-01

Focuses upon the selection and fitting of hearing aids for young children in Japan. Explains fitting methods and their evaluation. Suggests that although most of the schools for the deaf are making serious efforts to establish binaural fitting and use of residual hearing, lack of professional training hinders those efforts. (AA)

Movement reveals scale dependence in habitat selection of a large ungulate.

PubMed

Northrup, Joseph M; Anderson, Charles R; Hooten, Mevin B; Wittemyer, George

2016-12-01

Ecological processes operate across temporal and spatial scales. Anthropogenic disturbances impact these processes, but examinations of scale dependence in impacts are infrequent. Such examinations can provide important insight to wildlife-human interactions and guide management efforts to reduce impacts. We assessed spatiotemporal scale dependence in habitat selection of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in the Piceance Basin of Colorado, USA, an area of ongoing natural gas development. We employed a newly developed animal movement method to assess habitat selection across scales defined using animal-centric spatiotemporal definitions ranging from the local (defined from five hour movements) to the broad (defined from weekly movements). We extended our analysis to examine variation in scale dependence between night and day and assess functional responses in habitat selection patterns relative to the density of anthropogenic features. Mule deer displayed scale invariance in the direction of their response to energy development features, avoiding well pads and the areas closest to roads at all scales, though with increasing strength of avoidance at coarser scales. Deer displayed scale-dependent responses to most other habitat features, including land cover type and habitat edges. Selection differed between night and day at the finest scales, but homogenized as scale increased. Deer displayed functional responses to development, with deer inhabiting the least developed ranges more strongly avoiding development relative to those with more development in their ranges. Energy development was a primary driver of habitat selection patterns in mule deer, structuring their behaviors across all scales examined. Stronger avoidance at coarser scales suggests that deer behaviorally mediated their interaction with development, but only to a degree. At higher development densities than seen in this area, such mediation may not be possible and thus maintenance of sufficient habitat with lower development densities will be a critical best management practice as development expands globally. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

Complex network models reveal correlations among network metrics, exercise intensity and role of body changes in the fatigue process

PubMed Central

Pereira, Vanessa Helena; Gama, Maria Carolina Traina; Sousa, Filipe Antônio Barros; Lewis, Theodore Gyle; Gobatto, Claudio Alexandre; Manchado - Gobatto, Fúlvia Barros

2015-01-01

The aims of the present study were analyze the fatigue process at distinct intensity efforts and to investigate its occurrence as interactions at distinct body changes during exercise, using complex network models. For this, participants were submitted to four different running intensities until exhaustion, accomplished in a non-motorized treadmill using a tethered system. The intensities were selected according to critical power model. Mechanical (force, peak power, mean power, velocity and work) and physiological related parameters (heart rate, blood lactate, time until peak blood lactate concentration (lactate time), lean mass, anaerobic and aerobic capacities) and IPAQ score were obtained during exercises and it was used to construction of four complex network models. Such models have both, theoretical and mathematical value, and enables us to perceive new insights that go beyond conventional analysis. From these, we ranked the influences of each node at the fatigue process. Our results shows that nodes, links and network metrics are sensibility according to increase of efforts intensities, been the velocity a key factor to exercise maintenance at models/intensities 1 and 2 (higher time efforts) and force and power at models 3 and 4, highlighting mechanical variables in the exhaustion occurrence and even training prescription applications. PMID:25994386

Complex network models reveal correlations among network metrics, exercise intensity and role of body changes in the fatigue process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, Vanessa Helena; Gama, Maria Carolina Traina; Sousa, Filipe Antônio Barros; Lewis, Theodore Gyle; Gobatto, Claudio Alexandre; Manchado-Gobatto, Fúlvia Barros

2015-05-01

The aims of the present study were analyze the fatigue process at distinct intensity efforts and to investigate its occurrence as interactions at distinct body changes during exercise, using complex network models. For this, participants were submitted to four different running intensities until exhaustion, accomplished in a non-motorized treadmill using a tethered system. The intensities were selected according to critical power model. Mechanical (force, peak power, mean power, velocity and work) and physiological related parameters (heart rate, blood lactate, time until peak blood lactate concentration (lactate time), lean mass, anaerobic and aerobic capacities) and IPAQ score were obtained during exercises and it was used to construction of four complex network models. Such models have both, theoretical and mathematical value, and enables us to perceive new insights that go beyond conventional analysis. From these, we ranked the influences of each node at the fatigue process. Our results shows that nodes, links and network metrics are sensibility according to increase of efforts intensities, been the velocity a key factor to exercise maintenance at models/intensities 1 and 2 (higher time efforts) and force and power at models 3 and 4, highlighting mechanical variables in the exhaustion occurrence and even training prescription applications.

The Influence of Parenting Style and Child Temperament on Child-Parent-Dentist Interactions.

PubMed

Aminabadi, Naser Asl; Deljavan, Alireza Sighari; Jamali, Zahra; Azar, Fatemeh Pournaghi; Oskouei, Sina Ghertasi

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the interaction between parenting style and child's temperament as modulators of anxiety and behavior in children during the dental procedure. Healthy four- to six-year-olds (n equals 288), with carious primary molars scheduled to receive amalgam fillings were selected. The Primary Caregivers Practices Report was used to assess the parenting style, and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire-Very Short Form was used to evaluate child temperament. Children were managed using common behavior management strategies. Child behavior and anxiety during the procedure were assessed using the Frankl behavior rating scale and the verbal skill scale, respectively. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to examine the correlation among variables. Authoritative parenting style was positively related to positive child's behavior (P<.05) and negatively related to child's anxiety (P<.05). A positive relationship existed between permissive subscale and negative behaviors (P<.05) and child's anxiety (P<.05). There was a significant direct effect of authoritative parenting style on the effortful control trait (P<.05) and permissive parent style on the child negative affectivity (P<.05). Parenting style appeared to mediate child temperament and anxiety, and was related to the child's behavior. Parenting style should be considered in the selection of behavior guidance techniques.

Hierarchthis: An Interactive Interface for Identifying Mission-Relevant Components of the Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Litomisky, Krystof

2012-01-01

Even though NASA's space missions are many and varied, there are some tasks that are common to all of them. For example, all spacecraft need to communicate with other entities, and all spacecraft need to know where they are. These tasks use tools and services that can be inherited and reused between missions, reducing systems engineering effort and therefore reducing cost.The Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System, or AMMOS, is a collection of multimission tools and services, whose development and maintenance are funded by NASA. I created HierarchThis, a plugin designed to provide an interactive interface to help customers identify mission-relevant tools and services. HierarchThis automatically creates diagrams of the AMMOS database, and then allows users to show/hide specific details through a graphical interface. Once customers identify tools and services they want for a specific mission, HierarchThis can automatically generate a contract between the Multimission Ground Systems and Services Office, which manages AMMOS, and the customer. The document contains the selected AMMOS components, along with their capabilities and satisfied requirements. HierarchThis reduces the time needed for the process from service selections to having a mission-specific contract from the order of days to the order of minutes.

Modulation of trichloroethylene in vitro metabolism by different drugs in human.

PubMed

Cheikh Rouhou, Mouna; Haddad, Sami

2014-08-01

Toxicological interactions with drugs have the potential to modulate the toxicity of trichloroethylene (TCE). Our objective is to identify metabolic interactions between TCE and 14 widely used drugs in human suspended hepatocytes and characterize the strongest using microsomal assays. Changes in concentrations of TCE and its metabolites were measured by headspace GC-MS. Results with hepatocytes show that amoxicillin, cimetidine, ibuprofen, mefenamic acid and ranitidine caused no significant interactions. Naproxen and salicylic acid showed to increase both TCE metabolites levels, whereas acetaminophen, carbamazepine and erythromycin rather decreased them. Finally, diclofenac, gliclazide, sulphasalazine and valproic acid had an impact on the levels of only one metabolite. Among the 14 tested drugs, 5 presented the most potent interactions and were selected for confirmation with microsomes, namely naproxen, salicylic acid, acetaminophen, carbamazepine and valproic acid. Characterization in human microsomes confirmed interaction with naproxen by competitively inhibiting trichloroethanol (TCOH) glucuronidation (Ki=2.329 mM). Inhibition of TCOH formation was also confirmed for carbamazepine (partial non-competitive with Ki=70 μM). Interactions with human microsomes were not observed with salicylic acid and acetaminophen, similar to prior results in rat material. For valproic acid, interactions with microsomes were observed in rat but not in human. Inhibition patterns were shown to be similar in human and rat hepatocytes, but some differences in mechanisms were noted in microsomal material between species. Next research efforts will focus on determining the adequacy between in vitro observations and the in vivo situation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Temporal Dynamics of Sensorimotor Networks in Effort-Based Cost-Benefit Valuation: Early Emergence and Late Net Value Integration.

PubMed

Harris, Alison; Lim, Seung-Lark

2016-07-06

Although physical effort can impose significant costs on decision-making, when and how effort cost information is incorporated into choice remains contested, reflecting a larger debate over the role of sensorimotor networks in specifying behavior. Serial information processing models, in which motor circuits simply implement the output of cognitive systems, hypothesize that effort cost factors into decisions relatively late, via integration with stimulus values into net (combined) value signals in dorsomedial frontal cortex (dmFC). In contrast, ethology-inspired approaches suggest a more active role for the dorsal sensorimotor stream, with effort cost signals emerging rapidly after stimulus onset. Here we investigated the time course of effort cost integration using event-related potentials in hungry human subjects while they made decisions about expending physical effort for appetitive foods. Consistent with the ethological perspective, we found that effort cost was represented from as early as 100-250 ms after stimulus onset, localized to dorsal sensorimotor regions including middle cingulate, somatosensory, and motor/premotor cortices. However, examining the same data time-locked to motor output revealed net value signals combining stimulus value and effort cost approximately -400 ms before response, originating from sensorimotor areas including dmFC, precuneus, and posterior parietal cortex. Granger causal connectivity analysis of the motor effector signal in the time leading to response showed interactions between these sensorimotor regions and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, a structure associated with adjusting behavior-response mappings. These results suggest that rapid activation of sensorimotor regions interacts with cognitive valuation systems, producing a net value signal reflecting both physical effort and reward contingencies. Although physical effort imposes a cost on choice, when and how effort cost influences neural correlates of decision-making remains contested. This dispute reflects a larger disagreement between cognitive neuroscience and ethology over the role of sensorimotor systems in behavior: are sensorimotor circuits merely implementing the late-stage output of cognitive systems, or engaged rapidly and interactively from early in decision-making? We find that, although early representation of effort cost is associated with sensorimotor regions, these signals are also integrated with cognitive stimulus value representations in the time leading up to motor response. These data suggest that sensorimotor networks interact dynamically with cognitive systems to guide decision-making, providing a first step toward reconciling differing perspectives on sensorimotor roles in valuation and choice. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/367167-17$15.00/0.

"What did you say?" Using review of tape-recorded interactions to increase social acknowledgments by trainees in a community-based vocational program.

PubMed

Grossi, T A; Kimball, J W; Heward, W L

1994-01-01

Dana and Rick, two adults with developmental disabilities enrolled in a restaurant training program, had poor prospects for long-term employment because of inappropriate social behavior. They often made no response, mumbled inaudibly, or made a negative remark when spoken to by their supervisors or other employees. Each trainee's Individual Vocational Plan (IVP) included goals of prompt and polite acknowledgement of coworker initiations. Previous efforts to improve Dana and Rick's acknowledging behavior had been unsuccessful. Throughout the study, each trainee's responses to 20 verbal initiations by coworkers (i.e., requests, questions, corrective feedback, praise, and social comments) were recorded during each of two observation periods per workshift. Throughout one of the observation periods during the intervention phases, the trainees carried in their work aprons a small, audio cassette recorder that recorded their interactions with coworkers. The primary intervention consisted of a preworkshift meeting in which the trainee and experimenter reviewed five randomly selected interactions recorded during the previous day's shift. The review included self-evaluation, praise, corrective feedback, and role-play. A multiple baseline across subjects design showed each trainee acknowledged a greater number of coworker initiations as a function of the intervention. Each trainee also acknowledged more coworker initiations during the second observation period when the tape recorder was never worn. In a subsequent intervention phase, Dana reviewed her tape-recorded interactions prior to randomly selected shifts. Rick's acknowledgments increased to a socially valid level when the review procedure was supplemented with graphic feedback. Both trainees continued to acknowledge their coworkers' initiations at levels equal to nondisabled restaurant employees when they no longer wore the tape recorder during a final phase and during follow-up observations 4 to 8 weeks later.

To kill, stay or flee: the effects of lions and landscape factors on habitat and kill site selection of cheetahs in South Africa.

PubMed

Rostro-García, Susana; Kamler, Jan F; Hunter, Luke T B

2015-01-01

Understanding how animals utilize available space is important for their conservation, as it provides insight into the ecological needs of the species, including those related to habitat, prey and inter and intraspecific interactions. We used 28 months of radio telemetry data and information from 200 kill locations to assess habitat selection at the 3rd order (selection of habitats within home ranges) and 4th order (selection of kill sites within the habitats used) of a reintroduced population of cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus in Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa. Along with landscape characteristics, we investigated if lion Panthera leo presence affected habitat selection of cheetahs. Our results indicated that cheetah habitat selection was driven by a trade-off between resource acquisition and lion avoidance, and the balance of this trade-off varied with scale: more open habitats with high prey densities were positively selected within home ranges, whereas more closed habitats with low prey densities were positively selected for kill sites. We also showed that habitat selection, feeding ecology, and avoidance of lions differed depending on the sex and reproductive status of cheetahs. The results highlight the importance of scale when investigating a species' habitat selection. We conclude that the adaptability of cheetahs, together with the habitat heterogeneity found within Phinda, explained their success in this small fenced reserve. The results provide information for the conservation and management of this threatened species, especially with regards to reintroduction efforts in South Africa.

To Kill, Stay or Flee: The Effects of Lions and Landscape Factors on Habitat and Kill Site Selection of Cheetahs in South Africa

PubMed Central

Rostro-García, Susana; Kamler, Jan F.; Hunter, Luke T. B.

2015-01-01

Understanding how animals utilize available space is important for their conservation, as it provides insight into the ecological needs of the species, including those related to habitat, prey and inter and intraspecific interactions. We used 28 months of radio telemetry data and information from 200 kill locations to assess habitat selection at the 3rd order (selection of habitats within home ranges) and 4th order (selection of kill sites within the habitats used) of a reintroduced population of cheetahs Acinonyx jubatus in Phinda Private Game Reserve, South Africa. Along with landscape characteristics, we investigated if lion Panthera leo presence affected habitat selection of cheetahs. Our results indicated that cheetah habitat selection was driven by a trade-off between resource acquisition and lion avoidance, and the balance of this trade-off varied with scale: more open habitats with high prey densities were positively selected within home ranges, whereas more closed habitats with low prey densities were positively selected for kill sites. We also showed that habitat selection, feeding ecology, and avoidance of lions differed depending on the sex and reproductive status of cheetahs. The results highlight the importance of scale when investigating a species’ habitat selection. We conclude that the adaptability of cheetahs, together with the habitat heterogeneity found within Phinda, explained their success in this small fenced reserve. The results provide information for the conservation and management of this threatened species, especially with regards to reintroduction efforts in South Africa. PMID:25693067

The adenosine A2A antagonist MSX-3 reverses the effects of the dopamine antagonist haloperidol on effort-related decision making in a T-maze cost/benefit procedure

PubMed Central

Mott, Allison M.; Nunes, Eric J.; Collins, Lyndsey E.; Port, Russell G.; Sink, Kelly S.; Hockemeyer, Jörg; Müller, Christa E.

2010-01-01

Rationale Mesolimbic dopamine (DA) is a critical component of the brain circuitry regulating behavioral activation and effort-related processes. Research involving choice tasks has shown that rats with impaired DA transmission reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks with high response requirements and instead select less effortful food-seeking behaviors. Objective Previous work showed that adenosine A2A antagonism can reverse the effects of the DA antagonist haloperidol in an operant task that assesses effort-related choice. The present work used a T-maze choice procedure to assess the effects of adenosine A2A and A1 antagonism. Materials and methods With this task, the two arms of the maze have different reinforcement densities (four vs. two food pellets), and a vertical 44 cm barrier is positioned in the arm with the higher density, presenting the animal with an effort-related challenge. Untreated rats strongly prefer the arm with the high density of food reward and climb the barrier in order to obtain the food. Results Haloperidol produced a dose-related (0.05–0.15 mg/kg i.p.) reduction in the number of trials in which the rats chose the high-barrier arm. Co-administration of the adenosine A2A receptor antagonist MSX-3 (0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 mg/kg i.p.), but not the A1 antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 mg/kg i.p.), reversed the effects of haloperidol on effort-related choice and latency. Conclusions Adenosine A2A and D2 receptors interact to regulate effort-related decision making, which may have implications for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms such as psychomotor slowing or anergia that can be observed in depression, parkinsonism, and other disorders. PMID:19132351

The adenosine A2A antagonist MSX-3 reverses the effects of the dopamine antagonist haloperidol on effort-related decision making in a T-maze cost/benefit procedure.

PubMed

Mott, Allison M; Nunes, Eric J; Collins, Lyndsey E; Port, Russell G; Sink, Kelly S; Hockemeyer, Jörg; Müller, Christa E; Salamone, John D

2009-05-01

Mesolimbic dopamine (DA) is a critical component of the brain circuitry regulating behavioral activation and effort-related processes. Research involving choice tasks has shown that rats with impaired DA transmission reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks with high response requirements and instead select less effortful food-seeking behaviors. Previous work showed that adenosine A(2A) antagonism can reverse the effects of the DA antagonist haloperidol in an operant task that assesses effort-related choice. The present work used a T-maze choice procedure to assess the effects of adenosine A(2A) and A(1) antagonism. With this task, the two arms of the maze have different reinforcement densities (four vs. two food pellets), and a vertical 44 cm barrier is positioned in the arm with the higher density, presenting the animal with an effort-related challenge. Untreated rats strongly prefer the arm with the high density of food reward and climb the barrier in order to obtain the food. Haloperidol produced a dose-related (0.05-0.15 mg/kg i.p.) reduction in the number of trials in which the rats chose the high-barrier arm. Co-administration of the adenosine A(2A) receptor antagonist MSX-3 (0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 mg/kg i.p.), but not the A(1) antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 mg/kg i.p.), reversed the effects of haloperidol on effort-related choice and latency. Adenosine A(2A) and D2 receptors interact to regulate effort-related decision making, which may have implications for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms such as psychomotor slowing or anergia that can be observed in depression, parkinsonism, and other disorders.

Overcommitment but not effort-reward imbalance relates to stress-induced coagulation changes in teachers.

PubMed

von Känel, Roland; Bellingrath, Silja; Kudielka, Brigitte M

2009-02-01

Stress-related hypercoagulability might link job stress with atherosclerosis. This paper aims to study whether overcommitment, effort-reward imbalance, and the overcommitment by effort-reward imbalance interaction relate to an exaggerated procoagulant stress response. We assessed job stress in 52 healthy teachers (49 +/- 8 years, 63% women) at study entry and, after a mean follow-up of 21 +/- 4 months, when they underwent an acute psychosocial stressor and had coagulation measures determined in plasma. In order to increase the reliability of job stress measures, entry and follow-up scores of overcommitment and of effort-reward imbalance were added up to total scores. During recovery from stress, elevated overcommitment correlated with D-dimer increase and with smaller fibrinogen decrease. In contrast, overcommitment was not associated with coagulation changes from pre-stress to immediately post-stress. Effort-reward imbalance and the interaction between overcommitment and effort-reward imbalance did not correlate with stress-induced changes in coagulation measures. Overcommitment predicted acute stress-induced hypercoagulability, particularly during the recovery period.

Partial reversal of the effort-related motivational effects of tetrabenazine with the MAO-B inhibitor deprenyl (selegiline): Implications for treating motivational dysfunctions.

PubMed

Contreras-Mora, Hector; Rowland, Margaret A; Yohn, Samantha E; Correa, Merce; Salamone, John D

2018-03-01

People with depression and Parkinsonism frequently show effort-related motivational symptoms, such as anergia, psychomotor retardation, and fatigue. Tasks that assess effort-related choice are being used as animal models of these motivational symptoms. The present studies characterized the ability of monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors with varying selectivity profiles to reverse the low effort bias induced by the monoamine storage inhibitor tetrabenazine. Tetrabenazine produces depressive symptoms in humans, and because of its selective inhibition of VMAT-2, it preferentially depletes DA at low doses. Effort-based decision making is studied with tasks offering choices between high effort options leading to highly valued reinforcers vs. low effort/low reward options. Tetrabenazine shifted choice behavior, reducing selection of fixed ratio 5 lever pressing, but increasing intake of the concurrently available but less preferred lab chow. These effects of 0.75mg/kg tetrabenazine were attenuated by co-administration of the MAO-B inhibitor deprenyl (selegiline). The ability of deprenyl to reverse the effects of tetrabenazine was marked by an inverted-U shaped dose response curve, with the middle dose (2.5mg/kg) being effective. In contrast, neither the MAO-A selective antagonist moclobemide nor the nonselective drug pargyline reversed the effects of tetrabenazine, and moclobemide decreased lever pressing when administered alone. Deprenyl was originally developed as an antiparkinsonian drug, but it also has been shown to have antidepressant effects in humans and induce antidepressant-like effects in classical rodent models of depression. These studies have implications for the potential use of MAO-B inhibitors as treatments for the motivational symptoms of depression and Parkinsonism. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The E-3 Project: A Collaborative Curriculum Development Effort.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Lynn R.; And Others

This paper chronicles the effort of a curriculum development team to alter the high school social studies curriculum, its content, and instructional methods. Specifically, Entrepreneur/Economic Education (E-3) is the focus of this curriculum reform effort. The E-3 program is designed as a four-year cooperative effort involving selected teachers,…

Discrete choice modeling of shovelnose sturgeon habitat selection in the Lower Missouri River

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bonnot, T.W.; Wildhaber, M.L.; Millspaugh, J.J.; DeLonay, A.J.; Jacobson, R.B.; Bryan, J.L.

2011-01-01

Substantive changes to physical habitat in the Lower Missouri River, resulting from intensive management, have been implicated in the decline of pallid (Scaphirhynchus albus) and shovelnose (S. platorynchus) sturgeon. To aid in habitat rehabilitation efforts, we evaluated habitat selection of gravid, female shovelnose sturgeon during the spawning season in two sections (lower and upper) of the Lower Missouri River in 2005 and in the upper section in 2007. We fit discrete choice models within an information theoretic framework to identify selection of means and variability in three components of physical habitat. Characterizing habitat within divisions around fish better explained selection than habitat values at the fish locations. In general, female shovelnose sturgeon were negatively associated with mean velocity between them and the bank and positively associated with variability in surrounding depths. For example, in the upper section in 2005, a 0.5 m s-1 decrease in velocity within 10 m in the bank direction increased the relative probability of selection 70%. In the upper section fish also selected sites with surrounding structure in depth (e.g., change in relief). Differences in models between sections and years, which are reinforced by validation rates, suggest that changes in habitat due to geomorphology, hydrology, and their interactions over time need to be addressed when evaluating habitat selection. Because of the importance of variability in surrounding depths, these results support an emphasis on restoring channel complexity as an objective of habitat restoration for shovelnose sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River.

A Combinatorial Platform for the Optimization of Peptidomimetic Methyl-Lysine Reader Antagonists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnash, Kimberly D.

Post-translational modification of histone N-terminal tails mediates chromatin compaction and, consequently, DNA replication, transcription, and repair. While numerous post-translational modifications decorate histone tails, lysine methylation is an abundant mark important for both gene activation and repression. Methyl-lysine (Kme) readers function through binding mono-, di-, or trimethyl-lysine. Chemical intervention of Kme readers faces numerous challenges due to the broad surface-groove interactions between readers and their cognate histone peptides; yet, the increasing interest in understanding chromatin-modifying complexes suggests tractable lead compounds for Kme readers are critical for elucidating the mechanisms of chromatin dysregulation in disease states and validating the druggability of these domains and complexes. The successful discovery of a peptide-derived chemical probe, UNC3866, for the Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) chromodomain Kme readers has proven the potential for selective peptidomimetic inhibition of reader function. Unfortunately, the systematic modification of peptides-to-peptidomimetics is a costly and inefficient strategy for target-class hit discovery against Kme readers. Through the exploration of biased chemical space via combinatorial on-bead libraries, we have developed two concurrent methodologies for Kme reader chemical probe discovery. We employ biased peptide combinatorial libraries as a hit discovery strategy with subsequent optimization via iterative targeted libraries. Peptide-to-peptidomimetic optimization through targeted library design was applied based on structure-guided library design around the interaction of the endogenous peptide ligand with three target Kme readers. Efforts targeting the WD40 reader EED led to the discovery of the 3-mer peptidomimetic ligand UNC5115 while combinatorial repurposing of UNC3866 for off-target chromodomains resulted in the discovery of UNC4991, a CDYL/2-selective ligand, and UNC4848, a MPP8 and CDYL/2 ligand. Ultimately, our efforts demonstrate the generalizability of a peptidomimetic combinatorial platform for the optimization of Kme reader ligands in a target class manner.

Patient-centered communication of community treatment assistants in Tanzania predicts coverage of future mass drug administration for trachoma.

PubMed

Jenson, Alexander; Roter, Debra L; Mkocha, Harran; Munoz, Beatriz; West, Sheila

2018-06-01

Prevention of Trachoma, the leading cause of infectious blindness, requires community treatment assistants (CTAs) to perform mass drug administration (MDA) of azithromycin. Previous research has shown that female CTAs have higher MDA coverage, but no studies have focused on the content of conversation. We hypothesize that female CTAs had more patient-centered communication and higher MDA coverage. In 2011, CTAs from 23 distribution sites undergoing MDA as part of the Partnership for Rapid Elimination of Trachoma were selected. CTA - villager interactions were audio recorded. Audio was analyzed using an adaptation of the Roter Interaction Analysis System. The outcome of interest was the proportion of adults receiving MDA in 2011 who returned in 2012. 58 CTAs and 3122 interactions were included. Sites with female CTAs had significantly higher patient-centeredness ratio (0.548 vs 0.400) when compared to sites with male CTAs. Sites with more patient-centered interactions had higher proportion of patients return (p = 0.009). Female CTAs had higher proportion of patient-centered communication. Patient centered communication was associated with higher rates of return for MDA. Greater patient-centered connection with health care providers affects participation in public health efforts, even when those providers are lay health workers. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Drug-nutrient interactions in three long-term-care facilities.

PubMed

Lewis, C W; Frongillo, E A; Roe, D A

1995-03-01

To assess the risk of drug-nutrient interactions (DNIs) in three long-term-care facilities. Retrospective audit of charts. Three long-term-care facilities in central New York State. Fifty-three patients selected randomly from each facility. Data were collected from the medical record of each patient for a period of 6 months. A computerized algorithm was used to assess the risk for DNIs. Mean drug use, most frequently consumed drugs, incidence of potential DNIs, and the most commonly observed potential DNIs are reported. In facilities A, B, and C, respectively, patients consumed a mean of 4.86, 4.04, and 5.27 drugs per patient per month and were at risk for a mean of 1.43, 2.69, and 1.43 potential DNIs per patient per month. The most commonly observed potential DNIs were gastrointestinal interactions affecting drug bioavailability and interactions affecting electrolyte status. Patients in long-term-care facilities, who are primarily elderly and chronically ill and who consume multiple medications, are at notable risk for certain DNIs. Efforts need to be made to ensure appropriate pharmacologic and nutrition therapies as well as adequate and timely monitoring of patients in these facilities. Dietitians can play an important role in training other health professionals and in designing policies to prevent DNIs.

Paint your plate: effectiveness of a point-of-purchase display.

PubMed

Colapinto, Cynthia K; Malaviarachchi, Darshaka

2009-01-01

This study was conducted to determine consumer understanding and retention of nutrition information presented at grocery stores during the Paint Your Plate campaign via two approaches: interactive display events and brochure distribution. Data were collected at 17 grocery stores in northern Ontario. Eleven stores held interactive display events with public health staff, a display, resources, and food samples. Six stores only distributed brochures. A total of 688 participants completed a baseline questionnaire, and 432 consented to a three-month follow-up telephone call. Of these, 201 were randomly selected to participate. Participants at interactive display events were six times more likely than participants receiving brochures to identify a serving size of fruit and vegetables (odds ratio [OR]=5.88; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.05, 8.54) and 23 times more likely to identify the recommended number of servings of fruit and vegetables (OR=22.67; 95% CI: 14.29, 35.98). However, at follow-up, there was no significant difference between type of event and the ability to answer correctly. Interactive displays increased immediate knowledge but failed to increase retention, a finding that suggests consistent presence of the message is needed to reinforce initial understanding and retention. More emphasis should be placed on directing funding toward increasing the frequency and duration of promotional efforts.

Druggable protein interaction sites are more predisposed to surface pocket formation than the rest of the protein surface.

PubMed

Johnson, David K; Karanicolas, John

2013-01-01

Despite intense interest and considerable effort via high-throughput screening, there are few examples of small molecules that directly inhibit protein-protein interactions. This suggests that many protein interaction surfaces may not be intrinsically "druggable" by small molecules, and elevates in importance the few successful examples as model systems for improving our fundamental understanding of druggability. Here we describe an approach for exploring protein fluctuations enriched in conformations containing surface pockets suitable for small molecule binding. Starting from a set of seven unbound protein structures, we find that the presence of low-energy pocket-containing conformations is indeed a signature of druggable protein interaction sites and that analogous surface pockets are not formed elsewhere on the protein. We further find that ensembles of conformations generated with this biased approach structurally resemble known inhibitor-bound structures more closely than equivalent ensembles of unbiased conformations. Collectively these results suggest that "druggability" is a property encoded on a protein surface through its propensity to form pockets, and inspire a model in which the crude features of the predisposed pocket(s) restrict the range of complementary ligands; additional smaller conformational changes then respond to details of a particular ligand. We anticipate that the insights described here will prove useful in selecting protein targets for therapeutic intervention.

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

Mohamed, Eddaoudi; Zaworotko, Michael; Space, Brian

Statement of Objectives: 1. Synthesize viable porous MOFs for high H2 storage at ambient conditions to be assessed by measuring H2 uptake. 2. Develop a better understanding of the operative interactions of the sorbed H2 with the organic and inorganic constituents of the sorbent MOF by means of inelastic neutron scattering (INS, to characterize the H2-MOF interactions) and computational studies (to interpret the data and predict novel materials suitable for high H2 uptake at moderate temperatures and relatively low pressures). 3. Synergistically combine the outcomes of objectives 1 and 2 to construct a made-to-order inexpensive MOF that is suitable formore » super H2 storage and meets the DOE targets - 6% H2 per weight (2kWh/kg) by 2010 and 9% H2 per weight (3kWh/kg) by 2015. The ongoing research is a collaborative experimental and computational effort focused on assessing H2 storage and interactions with pre-selected metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and zeolite-like MOFs (ZMOFs), with the eventual goal of synthesizing made-to-order high H2 storage materials to achieve the DOE targets for mobile applications. We proposed in this funded research to increase the amount of H2 uptake, as well as tune the interactions (i.e. isosteric heats of adsorption), by targeting readily tunable MOFs:« less

Probing a 2-aminobenzimidazole library for binding to RNA internal loops via two-dimensional combinatorial screening.

PubMed

Velagapudi, Sai Pradeep; Pushechnikov, Alexei; Labuda, Lucas P; French, Jonathan M; Disney, Matthew D

2012-11-16

There are many potential RNA drug targets in bacterial, viral, and human transcriptomes. However, there are few small molecules that modulate RNA function. This is due, in part, to a lack of fundamental understanding about RNA-ligand interactions including the types of small molecules that bind to RNA structural elements and the RNA structural elements that bind to small molecules. In an effort to better understand RNA-ligand interactions, we diversified the 2-aminobenzimidazole core (2AB) and probed the resulting library for binding to a library of RNA internal loops. We chose the 2AB core for these studies because it is a privileged scaffold for binding RNA based on previous reports. These studies identified that N-methyl pyrrolidine, imidazole, and propylamine diversity elements at the R1 position increase binding to internal loops; variability at the R2 position is well tolerated. The preferred RNA loop space was also determined for five ligands using a statistical approach and identified trends that lead to selective recognition.

Bayesian peak picking for NMR spectra.

PubMed

Cheng, Yichen; Gao, Xin; Liang, Faming

2014-02-01

Protein structure determination is a very important topic in structural genomics, which helps people to understand varieties of biological functions such as protein-protein interactions, protein-DNA interactions and so on. Nowadays, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has often been used to determine the three-dimensional structures of protein in vivo. This study aims to automate the peak picking step, the most important and tricky step in NMR structure determination. We propose to model the NMR spectrum by a mixture of bivariate Gaussian densities and use the stochastic approximation Monte Carlo algorithm as the computational tool to solve the problem. Under the Bayesian framework, the peak picking problem is casted as a variable selection problem. The proposed method can automatically distinguish true peaks from false ones without preprocessing the data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first effort in the literature that tackles the peak picking problem for NMR spectrum data using Bayesian method. Copyright © 2013. Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd.

When increasing distraction helps learning: Distractor number and content interact in their effects on memory.

PubMed

Nussenbaum, Kate; Amso, Dima; Markant, Julie

2017-11-01

Previous work has demonstrated that increasing the number of distractors in a search array can reduce interference from distractor content during target processing. However, it is unclear how this reduced interference influences learning of target information. Here, we investigated how varying the amount and content of distraction present in a learning environment affects visual search and subsequent memory for target items. In two experiments, we demonstrate that the number and content of competing distractors interact in their influence on target selection and memory. Specifically, while increasing the number of distractors present in a search array made target detection more effortful, it did not impair learning and memory for target content. Instead, when the distractors contained category information that conflicted with the target, increasing the number of distractors from one to three actually benefitted learning and memory. These data suggest that increasing numbers of distractors may reduce interference from conflicting conceptual information during encoding.

Protein-protein interaction networks: unraveling the wiring of molecular machines within the cell.

PubMed

De Las Rivas, Javier; Fontanillo, Celia

2012-11-01

Mapping and understanding of the protein interaction networks with their key modules and hubs can provide deeper insights into the molecular machinery underlying complex phenotypes. In this article, we present the basic characteristics and definitions of protein networks, starting with a distinction of the different types of associations between proteins. We focus the review on protein-protein interactions (PPIs), a subset of associations defined as physical contacts between proteins that occur by selective molecular docking in a particular biological context. We present such definition as opposed to other types of protein associations derived from regulatory, genetic, structural or functional relations. To determine PPIs, a variety of binary and co-complex methods exist; however, not all the technologies provide the same information and data quality. A way of increasing confidence in a given protein interaction is to integrate orthogonal experimental evidences. The use of several complementary methods testing each single interaction assesses the accuracy of PPI data and tries to minimize the occurrence of false interactions. Following this approach there have been important efforts to unify primary databases of experimentally proven PPIs into integrated databases. These meta-databases provide a measure of the confidence of interactions based on the number of experimental proofs that report them. As a conclusion, we can state that integrated information allows the building of more reliable interaction networks. Identification of communities, cliques, modules and hubs by analysing the topological parameters and graph properties of the protein networks allows the discovery of central/critical nodes, which are candidates to regulate cellular flux and dynamics.

Influences of sampling effort on detected patterns and structuring processes of a Neotropical plant-hummingbird network.

PubMed

Vizentin-Bugoni, Jeferson; Maruyama, Pietro K; Debastiani, Vanderlei J; Duarte, L da S; Dalsgaard, Bo; Sazima, Marlies

2016-01-01

Virtually all empirical ecological interaction networks to some extent suffer from undersampling. However, how limitations imposed by sampling incompleteness affect our understanding of ecological networks is still poorly explored, which may hinder further advances in the field. Here, we use a plant-hummingbird network with unprecedented sampling effort (2716 h of focal observations) from the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, to investigate how sampling effort affects the description of network structure (i.e. widely used network metrics) and the relative importance of distinct processes (i.e. species abundances vs. traits) in determining the frequency of pairwise interactions. By dividing the network into time slices representing a gradient of sampling effort, we show that quantitative metrics, such as interaction evenness, specialization (H2 '), weighted nestedness (wNODF) and modularity (Q; QuanBiMo algorithm) were less biased by sampling incompleteness than binary metrics. Furthermore, the significance of some network metrics changed along the sampling effort gradient. Nevertheless, the higher importance of traits in structuring the network was apparent even with small sampling effort. Our results (i) warn against using very poorly sampled networks as this may bias our understanding of networks, both their patterns and structuring processes, (ii) encourage the use of quantitative metrics little influenced by sampling when performing spatio-temporal comparisons and (iii) indicate that in networks strongly constrained by species traits, such as plant-hummingbird networks, even small sampling is sufficient to detect their relative importance for the frequencies of interactions. Finally, we argue that similar effects of sampling are expected for other highly specialized subnetworks. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2015 British Ecological Society.

The adenosine A2A antagonist MSX-3 reverses the effort-related effects of dopamine blockade: differential interaction with D1 and D2 family antagonists.

PubMed

Worden, Lila T; Shahriari, Mona; Farrar, Andrew M; Sink, Kelly S; Hockemeyer, Jörg; Müller, Christa E; Salamone, John D

2009-04-01

Brain dopamine (DA) participates in the modulation of instrumental behavior, including aspects of behavioral activation and effort-related choice behavior. Rats with impaired DA transmission reallocate their behavior away from food-seeking behaviors that have high response requirements, and instead select less effortful alternatives. Although accumbens DA is considered a critical component of the brain circuitry regulating effort-related choice behavior, emerging evidence demonstrates a role for adenosine A(2A) receptors. Adenosine A(2A) receptor antagonism has been shown to reverse the effects of DA antagonism. The present experiments were conducted to determine if this effect was dependent upon the subtype of DA receptor that was antagonized to produce the changes in effort-related choice. The adenosine A(2A) receptor antagonist MSX-3 (0.5-2.0 mg/kg IP) was assessed for its ability to reverse the effects of the D1 family antagonist SCH39166 (ecopipam; 0.2 mg/kg IP) and the D2 family antagonist eticlopride (0.08 mg/kg IP), using a concurrent lever pressing/chow feeding procedure. MSX-3 produced a substantial dose-related reversal of the effects of eticlopride on lever pressing and chow intake. At the highest dose of MSX-3, there was a complete reversal of the effects of eticlopride on lever pressing. In contrast, MSX-3 produced only a minimal attenuation of the effects of SCH39166, as measured by regression and effect size analyses. The greater ability of MSX-3 to reverse the effects of D2 vs. D1 blockade may be related to the colocalization of D2 and adenosine A(2A) receptors on the same population of striatal neurons.

Listening Effort Through Depth of Processing in School-Age Children.

PubMed

Hsu, Benson Cheng-Lin; Vanpoucke, Filiep; van Wieringen, Astrid

A reliable and practical measure of listening effort is crucial in the aural rehabilitation of children with communication disorders. In this article, we propose a novel behavioral paradigm designed to measure listening effort in school-age children based on different depths and levels of verbal processing. The paradigm consists of a classic word recognition task performed in quiet and in noise coupled to one of three additional tasks asking the children to judge the color of simple pictures or a certain semantic category of the presented words. The response time (RT) from the categorization tasks is considered the primary indicator of listening effort. The listening effort paradigm was evaluated in a group of 31 normal-hearing, normal-developing children 7 to 12 years of age. A total of 146 Dutch nouns were selected for the experiment after surveying 14 local Dutch-speaking children. Windows-based custom software was developed to administer the behavioral paradigm from a conventional laptop computer. A separate touch screen was used as a response interface to gather the RT data from the participants. Verbal repetition of each presented word was scored by the tester and a percentage-correct word recognition score (WRS) was calculated for each condition. Randomized lists of target words were presented in one of three signal to noise ratios (SNR) to examine the effect of background noise on the two outcome measures of WRS and RT. Three novel categorization tasks, each corresponding to a different depth or elaboration level of semantic processing, were developed to examine the effect of processing level on either WRS or RT. It was hypothesized that, while listening effort as measured by RT would be affected by both noise and processing level, WRS performance would be affected by changes in noise level only. The RT measure was also hypothesized to increase more from an increase in noise level in categorization conditions demanding a deeper or more elaborate form of semantic processing. There was a significant effect of SNR level on school-age children's WRS: their word recognition performance tended to decrease with increasing background noise level. However, depth of processing did not seem to affect WRS. Moreover, a repeated-measure analysis of variance fitted to transformed RT data revealed that this measure of listening effort in normal-hearing school-age children was significantly affected by both SNR level and the depth of semantic processing. There was no significant interaction between noise level and the type of categorization task with regard to RT. The observed patterns of WRS and RT supported the hypotheses regarding the effects of background noise and depth of processing on word recognition performance and a behavioral measure of listening effort. The magnitude of noise-induced change in RT did not differ between categorization tasks, however. Our findings point to future research directions regarding the potential effects of age, working memory capacity, and cross-modality interaction when measuring listening effort in different levels of semantic processing.

Increasing community capacity to reduce tobacco-related health disparities in African American communities.

PubMed

Jones, Pamela R; Waters, Catherine M; Oka, Roberta K; McGhee, Eva M

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to understand the processes and interactions that African American tobacco control organizations use to engage African American communities in tobacco control efforts. The study used grounded theory methods to interpret participant's perspectives on tobacco control. The study sample consisted of African American tobacco control program directors from African American tobacco control organizations throughout the United States. Data collection involved 1 interview per participant using a semistructured interview at a location selected by the participant. Each interview lasted approximately 30-90 min. The results showed that organizations used specific strategies to involve African Americans in tobacco control. The tobacco control organizations built community capacity using 3 processes: developing relationships and partnerships, raising awareness, and creating collective power. Contextual, cultural processes, and historical references used by African American tobacco control organizations provide insight into how to engage African American communities in tobacco control efforts and achieve tobacco-related health parity. Public health professionals and nurses should be aware of these and other strategies that may increase the involvement of African American communities in tobacco control. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Functional Testing of the Space Station Plasma Contactor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patterson, Michael J.; Hamley, John A.; Sarver-Verhey, Timothy R.; Soulas, George C.

1995-01-01

A plasma contactor system has been baselined for the International Space Station Alpha (ISSA) to control the electrical potentials of surfaces to eliminate/mitigate damaging interactions with the space environment. The system represents a dual-use technology which is a direct outgrowth of the NASA electric propulsion program and, in particular, the technology development effort on ion thruster systems. The plasma contactor subsystems include a hollow cathode assembly, a power electronics unit, and an expellant management unit. Under a pre-flight development program these subsystems are being developed to the level of maturity appropriate for transfer to U.S. industry for final development. Development efforts for the hollow cathode assembly include design selection and refinement, validating its required lifetime, and quantifying the cathode performance and interface specifications. To date, cathode components have demonstrated over 10,000 hours lifetime, and a hollow cathode assembly has demonstrated over 3,000 ignitions. Additionally, preliminary integration testing of a hollow cathode assembly with a breadboard power electronics unit has been completed. This paper discusses test results and the development status of the plasma contactor subsystems for ISSA, and in particular, the hollow cathode assembly.

Structure-Based Virtual Screening and Biochemical Evaluation for the Identification of Novel Trypanosoma Brucei Aldolase Inhibitors.

PubMed

Ferreira, Leonardo L G; Ferreira, Rafaela S; Palomino, David L; Andricopulo, Adriano D

2018-04-27

The glycolytic enzyme fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase is a validated molecular target in human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) drug discovery, a neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma brucei. Herein, a structure-based virtual screening (SBVS) approach to the identification of novel T. brucei aldolase inhibitors is described. Distinct molecular docking algorithms were used to screen more than 500,000 compounds against the X-ray structure of the enzyme. This SBVS strategy led to the selection of a series of molecules which were evaluated for their activity on recombinant T. brucei aldolase. The effort led to the discovery of structurally new ligands able to inhibit the catalytic activity the enzyme. The predicted binding conformations were additionally investigated in molecular dynamics simulations, which provided useful insights into the enzyme-inhibitor intermolecular interactions. The molecular modeling results along with the enzyme inhibition data generated practical knowledge to be explored in further structure-based drug design efforts in HAT drug discovery. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Drug Discovery Targeting Bromodomain-Containing Protein 4

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

BRD4, the most extensively studied member of the BET family, is an epigenetic regulator that localizes to DNA via binding to acetylated histones and controls the expression of therapeutically important gene regulatory networks through the recruitment of transcription factors to form mediator complexes, phosphorylating RNA polymerase II, and by its intrinsic histone acetyltransferase activity. Disrupting the protein–protein interactions between BRD4 and acetyl-lysine has been shown to effectively block cell proliferation in cancer, cytokine production in acute inflammation, and so forth. To date, significant efforts have been devoted to the development of BRD4 inhibitors, and consequently, a dozen have progressed to human clinical trials. Herein, we summarize the advances in drug discovery and development of BRD4 inhibitors by focusing on their chemotypes, in vitro and in vivo activity, selectivity, relevant mechanisms of action, and therapeutic potential. Opportunities and challenges to achieve selective and efficacious BRD4 inhibitors as a viable therapeutic strategy for human diseases are also highlighted. PMID:28195723

Investigation of materials for inert electrodes in aluminum electrodeposition cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haggerty, J. S.; Sadoway, D. R.

1987-09-01

Work was divided into major efforts. The first was the growth and characterization of specimens; the second was Hall cell performance testing. Cathode and anode materials were the subject of investigation. Preparation of specimens included growth of single crystals and synthesis of ultra high purity powders. Special attention was paid to ferrites as they were considered to be the most promising anode materials. Ferrite anode corrosion rates were studied and the electrical conductivities of a set of copper-manganese ferrites were measured. Float Zone, Pendant Drop Cryolite Experiments were undertaken because unsatisfactory choices of candidate materials were being made on the basis of a flawed set of selection criteria applied to an incomplete and sometimes inaccurate data base. This experiment was then constructed to determine whether the apparatus used for float zone crystal growth could be adapted to make a variety of important based melts and their interactions with candidate inert anode materials. Compositions), driven by our perception that the basis for prior selection of candidate materials was inadequate. Results are presented.

Analogues of doxanthrine reveal differences between the dopamine D 1 receptor binding properties of chromanoisoquinolines and hexahydrobenzo[a]phenanthridines

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cueva, J.P.; Chemel, B.R.; Juncosa, J.I.; Lill, M.A.; Watts, V.J.; Nichols, D.E.

2012-01-01

Efforts to develop selective agonists for dopamine D 1-like receptors led to the discovery of dihydrexidine and doxanthrine, two bioisosteric ??-phenyldopamine-type full agonist ligands that display selectivity and potency at D 1-like receptors. We report herein an improved methodology for the synthesis of substituted chromanoisoquinolines (doxanthrine derivatives) and the evaluation of several new compounds for their ability to bind to D 1- and D 2-like receptors. Identical pendant phenyl ring substitutions on the dihydrexidine and doxanthrine templates surprisingly led to different effects on D 1-like receptor binding, suggesting important differences between the interactions of these ligands with the D 1 receptor. We propose, based on the biological results and molecular modeling studies, that slight conformational differences between the tetralin and chroman-based compounds lead to a shift in the location of the pendant ring substituents within the receptor. ?? 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preemptive spatial competition under a reproduction-mortality constraint.

PubMed

Allstadt, Andrew; Caraco, Thomas; Korniss, G

2009-06-21

Spatially structured ecological interactions can shape selection pressures experienced by a population's different phenotypes. We study spatial competition between phenotypes subject to antagonistic pleiotropy between reproductive effort and mortality rate. The constraint we invoke reflects a previous life-history analysis; the implied dependence indicates that although propagation and mortality rates both vary, their ratio is fixed. We develop a stochastic invasion approximation predicting that phenotypes with higher propagation rates will invade an empty environment (no biotic resistance) faster, despite their higher mortality rate. However, once population density approaches demographic equilibrium, phenotypes with lower mortality are favored, despite their lower propagation rate. We conducted a set of pairwise invasion analyses by simulating an individual-based model of preemptive competition. In each case, the phenotype with the lowest mortality rate and (via antagonistic pleiotropy) the lowest propagation rate qualified as evolutionarily stable among strategies simulated. This result, for a fixed propagation to mortality ratio, suggests that a selective response to spatial competition can extend the time scale of the population's dynamics, which in turn decelerates phenotypic evolution.

The Effect of a Stricter Academic Dismissal Policy on Course Selection, Student Effort, and Grading Leniency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keng, Shao-Hsun

2016-01-01

This paper uses data from a four-year college in Taiwan to examine the effect of adopting a stricter dismissal policy on course selection, student effort, and grading practices. Under the new rule, students are dismissed if they fail 50 percent or more credits in "any" two semesters as opposed to two "consecutive" semesters.…

Profiling lethal factor interacting proteins from human stomach using T7 phage display screening.

PubMed

Cardona-Correa, Albin; Rios-Velazquez, Carlos

2016-05-01

The anthrax lethal factor (LF) is a zinc dependent metalloproteinase that cleaves the majority of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases and a member of NOD-like receptor proteins, inducing cell apoptosis. Despite efforts to fully understand the Bacillus anthracis toxin components, the gastrointestinal (GI) anthrax mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Previous studies demonstrated gastric ulceration, and a substantial bacterial growth rate in Peyer's patches. However, the complete molecular pathways of the disease that results in tissue damage by LF proteolytic activity remains unclear. In the present study, to identify the profile of the proteins potentially involved in GI anthrax, protein‑protein interactions were investigated using human stomach T7 phage display (T7PD) cDNA libraries. T7PD is a high throughput technique that allows the expression of cloned DNA sequences as peptides on the phage surface, enabling the selection and identification of protein ligands. A wild type and mutant LF (E687A) were used to differentiate interaction sites. A total of 124 clones were identified from 194 interacting‑phages, at both the DNA and protein level, by in silico analysis. Databases revealed that the selected candidates were proteins from different families including lipase, peptidase‑A1 and cation transport families, among others. Furthermore, individual T7PD candidates were tested against LF in order to detect their specificity to the target molecule, resulting in 10 LF‑interacting peptides. With a minimum concentration of LF for interaction at 1 µg/ml, the T7PD isolated pepsin A3 pre‑protein (PAP) demonstrated affinity to both types of LF. In addition, PAP was isolated in various lengths for the same protein, exhibiting common regions following PRALINE alignment. These findings will help elucidate and improve the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of GI anthrax, and aid in the development of potential therapeutic agents.

From Extraction of Local Structures of Protein Energy Landscapes to Improved Decoy Selection in Template-Free Protein Structure Prediction.

PubMed

Akhter, Nasrin; Shehu, Amarda

2018-01-19

Due to the essential role that the three-dimensional conformation of a protein plays in regulating interactions with molecular partners, wet and dry laboratories seek biologically-active conformations of a protein to decode its function. Computational approaches are gaining prominence due to the labor and cost demands of wet laboratory investigations. Template-free methods can now compute thousands of conformations known as decoys, but selecting native conformations from the generated decoys remains challenging. Repeatedly, research has shown that the protein energy functions whose minima are sought in the generation of decoys are unreliable indicators of nativeness. The prevalent approach ignores energy altogether and clusters decoys by conformational similarity. Complementary recent efforts design protein-specific scoring functions or train machine learning models on labeled decoys. In this paper, we show that an informative consideration of energy can be carried out under the energy landscape view. Specifically, we leverage local structures known as basins in the energy landscape probed by a template-free method. We propose and compare various strategies of basin-based decoy selection that we demonstrate are superior to clustering-based strategies. The presented results point to further directions of research for improving decoy selection, including the ability to properly consider the multiplicity of native conformations of proteins.

Directional Selection from Host Plants Is a Major Force Driving Host Specificity in Magnaporthe Species.

PubMed

Zhong, Zhenhui; Norvienyeku, Justice; Chen, Meilian; Bao, Jiandong; Lin, Lianyu; Chen, Liqiong; Lin, Yahong; Wu, Xiaoxian; Cai, Zena; Zhang, Qi; Lin, Xiaoye; Hong, Yonghe; Huang, Jun; Xu, Linghong; Zhang, Honghong; Chen, Long; Tang, Wei; Zheng, Huakun; Chen, Xiaofeng; Wang, Yanli; Lian, Bi; Zhang, Liangsheng; Tang, Haibao; Lu, Guodong; Ebbole, Daniel J; Wang, Baohua; Wang, Zonghua

2016-05-06

One major threat to global food security that requires immediate attention, is the increasing incidence of host shift and host expansion in growing number of pathogenic fungi and emergence of new pathogens. The threat is more alarming because, yield quality and quantity improvement efforts are encouraging the cultivation of uniform plants with low genetic diversity that are increasingly susceptible to emerging pathogens. However, the influence of host genome differentiation on pathogen genome differentiation and its contribution to emergence and adaptability is still obscure. Here, we compared genome sequence of 6 isolates of Magnaporthe species obtained from three different host plants. We demonstrated the evolutionary relationship between Magnaporthe species and the influence of host differentiation on pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis showed that evolution of pathogen directly corresponds with host divergence, suggesting that host-pathogen interaction has led to co-evolution. Furthermore, we identified an asymmetric selection pressure on Magnaporthe species. Oryza sativa-infecting isolates showed higher directional selection from host and subsequently tends to lower the genetic diversity in its genome. We concluded that, frequent gene loss or gain, new transposon acquisition and sequence divergence are host adaptability mechanisms for Magnaporthe species, and this coevolution processes is greatly driven by directional selection from host plants.

Directional Selection from Host Plants Is a Major Force Driving Host Specificity in Magnaporthe Species

PubMed Central

Zhong, Zhenhui; Norvienyeku, Justice; Chen, Meilian; Bao, Jiandong; Lin, Lianyu; Chen, Liqiong; Lin, Yahong; Wu, Xiaoxian; Cai, Zena; Zhang, Qi; Lin, Xiaoye; Hong, Yonghe; Huang, Jun; Xu, Linghong; Zhang, Honghong; Chen, Long; Tang, Wei; Zheng, Huakun; Chen, Xiaofeng; Wang, Yanli; Lian, Bi; Zhang, Liangsheng; Tang, Haibao; Lu, Guodong; Ebbole, Daniel J.; Wang, Baohua; Wang, Zonghua

2016-01-01

One major threat to global food security that requires immediate attention, is the increasing incidence of host shift and host expansion in growing number of pathogenic fungi and emergence of new pathogens. The threat is more alarming because, yield quality and quantity improvement efforts are encouraging the cultivation of uniform plants with low genetic diversity that are increasingly susceptible to emerging pathogens. However, the influence of host genome differentiation on pathogen genome differentiation and its contribution to emergence and adaptability is still obscure. Here, we compared genome sequence of 6 isolates of Magnaporthe species obtained from three different host plants. We demonstrated the evolutionary relationship between Magnaporthe species and the influence of host differentiation on pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis showed that evolution of pathogen directly corresponds with host divergence, suggesting that host-pathogen interaction has led to co-evolution. Furthermore, we identified an asymmetric selection pressure on Magnaporthe species. Oryza sativa-infecting isolates showed higher directional selection from host and subsequently tends to lower the genetic diversity in its genome. We concluded that, frequent gene loss or gain, new transposon acquisition and sequence divergence are host adaptability mechanisms for Magnaporthe species, and this coevolution processes is greatly driven by directional selection from host plants. PMID:27151494

Understanding the stereospecific interactions of 3-deoxyphosphatidylinositol derivatives with the PTEN phosphatase domain

PubMed Central

Wang, Qin; Wei, Yang; Mottamal, Madhusoodanan; Roberts, Mary F.; Krilov, Goran

2011-01-01

PTEN is an important control element of PI3K/AKT signaling involved in controlling the processes of embryonic development, cell migration and apoptosis. While its dysfunction is implicated in a large fraction of cancers, PTEN activity in the same pathway may also contribute to metabolic syndromes such as diabetes. In those cases, selective inhibitors of PTEN may be useful. A new class of chiral PTEN inhibitors based on the 3-deoxy-phosphatidylinositol derivatives was recently identified [Wang et al. (2008) J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 7746]. However, lack of detailed understanding of protein-ligand interactions has hampered efforts to develop effective agonists or antagonists of PTEN. Here, we use computational modeling to characterize the interactions of the diverse 3-deoxyphosphatidylinositol inhibitors with the PTEN protein. We show that, while each of the compounds binds with the inositol headgroup inserting into the proposed active site of the PTEN phosphatase domain, hydrogen bonding restrictions lead to distinct binding geometries for ligand pairs of opposite chirality. We furthermore demonstrate that the binding modes differ primarily in the orientation of acyl tails of the ligands and that the activity of the compounds is primarily controlled by the effectiveness of tail-protein contacts. These findings are confirmed by binding affinity calculations which are in good agreement with experiment. Finally, we show that while more potent D-series ligands bind in a manner similar to that of the native substrate, an alternate hydrophobic pocket suitable for binding the opposite chirality L-series inhibitors exists, offering the possibility of designing highly selective PTEN- targeting compounds. PMID:20538496

A Challenge for Developers: Preserving the Interactivity of Human Relations in a Standalone Application.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazur, F. E.

1993-01-01

Describes the efforts taken by the Cornell Interactive Theater Ensemble to provide interactive human relations training on date rape using live dramatizations, video with facilitated audience participation, and an electronic multimedia format with decision trees for interactive involvement. (EA)

Bell miner provisioning calls are more similar among relatives and are used by helpers at the nest to bias their effort towards kin

PubMed Central

McDonald, Paul G.; Wright, Jonathan

2011-01-01

Kin selection predicts that helpers in cooperative systems should preferentially aid relatives to maximize fitness. In family-based groups, this can be accomplished simply by assisting all group members. In more complex societies, where large numbers of kin and non-kin regularly interact, more sophisticated kin-recognition mechanisms are needed. Bell miners (Manorina melanophrys) are just such a system where individuals regularly interact with both kin and non-kin within large colonies. Despite this complexity, individual helpers of both sexes facultatively work harder when provisioning the young of closer genetic relatedness. We investigated the mechanism by which such adaptive discrimination occurs by assessing genetic kinship influences on the structure of more than 1900 provisioning vocalizations of 185 miners. These ‘mew’ calls showed a significant, positive linear increase in call similarity with increasing genetic relatedness, most especially in comparisons between male helpers and the breeding male. Furthermore, individual helping effort was more heavily influenced by call similarity to breeding males than to genetic relatedness, as predicted if call similarity is indeed the rule-of-thumb used to discriminate kin in this system. Individual mew call structure appeared to be inflexible and innate, providing an effective mechanism by which helpers can assess their relatedness to any individual. This provides, to our knowledge, the first example of a mechanism for fine-scale kin discrimination in a complex avian society. PMID:21450738

A Case Study on the Geocuration of Multidisciplinary Data Products and Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

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

2015-12-01

Data curation at an interdisciplinary scientific data center that focuses on human interactions in the environment provides opportunities for the geocuration of data from diverse natural, social, health, and engineering disciplines to offer data products and services to users representing a variety of fields of inquiry, levels of expertise, and vocations. Addressing pressing issues such as disaster risk management, climate change, resource depletion, and environment-conflict interactions requires accessing and integrating different types of data from diverse sources, often collected with quite disparate methods, scales, levels of uncertainty and quality, and access and usage rights. Particular challenges for geocuration include identifying relevant data sets from diverse sources, assessing their suitability for integration, conversion to forms that enhance interoperability, obtaining suitable access and usage rights for data, documentation of methods in ways understandable to diverse users, and evaluation of the effectiveness of geocuration efforts. We describe here a number of efforts to develop geocurated data collections in such areas as environmental indicators, land use/land cover change, and human settlements and infrastructure. In addition to describing the incremental development of these collections, we examine how planning and anticipation of the needs of user communities are important to the collection development process. We assess the development and continuing enhancement of the cyberinfrastructure and capabilities needed to support efficient and effective geocuration throughout the data lifecycle. We conclude with selected observations and lessons learned from the development of these geocurated collections.

The reciprocal relationship between sickness presenteeism and psychological distress in response to job stressors: evidence from a three-wave cohort study

PubMed Central

Oshio, Takashi; Tsutsumi, Akizumi; Inoue, Akiomi; Suzuki, Tomoko; Miyaki, Koichi

2017-01-01

Objectives: Sickness presenteeism (SP) is postulated as workers' response to their general state of health; hence, SP is expected to affect workers' future health. In the present study, we examined the reciprocal relationship between SP and health in response to job stressors, with specific reference to psychological distress (PD) as workers' state of health. Methods: We conducted mediation analysis, using data from a three-wave cohort occupational survey conducted at 1-year intervals in Japan; it involved 1,853 employees (1,661 men and 192 women) of a manufacturing firm. We measured SP and PD, using the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire and Kessler 6 score, respectively. For job stressors, we considered job demands and control, effort and reward, and procedural and interactional justice. Results: PD mediated 11.5%-36.2% of the impact of job control, reward, and procedural and interactional justice on SP, whereas SP mediated their impact on PD, albeit to a much lesser extent in the range of 3.4%-11.3%. Unlike in the cases of these job stressors related to job resources, neither SP nor PD mediated the impact of job demands or effort. Conclusions: Our results confirmed the reciprocal relationship between SP and PD in response to selected types of job stressors, emphasizing the need for more in-depth analysis of the dynamics of these associations. PMID:28993575

Fluid dynamic mechanisms and interactions within separated flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dutton, J. C.; Addy, A. L.

1990-02-01

The significant results of a joint research effort investigating the fundamental fluid dynamic mechanisms and interactions within high-speed separated flows are presented in detail. The results have obtained through analytical and numerical approaches, but with primary emphasis on experimental investigations of missile and projectile base flow-related configurations. The objectives of the research program focus on understanding the component mechanisms and interactions which establish and maintain high-speed separated flow regions. The analytical and numerical efforts have centered on unsteady plume-wall interactions in rocket launch tubes and on predictions of the effects of base bleed on transonic and supersonic base flowfields. The experimental efforts have considered the development and use of a state-of-the-art two component laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) system for experiments with planar, two-dimensional, small-scale models in supersonic flows. The LDV experiments have yielded high quality, well documented mean and turbulence velocity data for a variety of high-speed separated flows including initial shear layer development, recompression/reattachment processes for two supersonic shear layers, oblique shock wave/turbulent boundary layer interactions in a compression corner, and two-stream, supersonic, near-wake flow behind a finite-thickness base.

Prediction of Children's Empathy-Related Responding from Their Effortful Control and Parents' Expressivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valiente, Carlos; Eisenberg, Nancy; Fabes, Richard A.; Shepard, Stephanie A.; Cumberland, Amanda; Losoya, Sandra H.

2004-01-01

In this study, the linear and interactive relations of children's effortful control and parents' emotional expressivity to children's empathy-related responses were examined. Participants were 214 children, 4.5 to 8 years old. Children's effortful control was negatively related to their personal distress and was positively related to their…

Enhanced Hydrogen Dipole Physisorption, Final Report

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

Ahn, Channing

2014-01-03

The hydrogen gas adsorption effort at Caltech was designed to probe and apply our understanding of known interactions between molecular hydrogen and adsorbent surfaces as part of a materials development effort to enable room temperature storage of hydrogen at nominal pressure. The work we have performed over the past five years has been tailored to address the outstanding issues associated with weak hydrogen sorbent interactions in order to find an adequate solution for storage tank technology.

Wave-Sediment Interaction in Muddy Environments: A Field Experiment

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

in Years 1 and 2 (2007-2008) and a data analysis and modeling effort in Year 3 (2009). 2. “A System for Monitoring Wave-Sediment Interaction in...project was to conduct a pilot field experiment to test instrumentation and data analysis procedures for the major field experiment effort scheduled in...Chou et al., 1993; Foda et al., 1993). With the exception of liquefaction processes, these models assume a single, well- defined mud phase

Information-processing under incremental levels of physical loads: comparing racquet to combat sports.

PubMed

Mouelhi Guizani, S; Tenenbaum, G; Bouzaouach, I; Ben Kheder, A; Feki, Y; Bouaziz, M

2006-06-01

Skillful performance in combat and racquet sports consists of proficient technique accompanied with efficient information-processing while engaged in moderate to high physical effort. This study examined information processing and decision-making using simple reaction time (SRT) and choice reaction time (CRT) paradigms in athletes of combat sports and racquet ball games while undergoing incrementally increasing physical effort ranging from low to high intensities. Forty national level experienced athletics in the sports of tennis, table tennis, fencing, and boxing were selected for this study. Each subject performed both simple (SRT) and four-choice reaction time (4-CRT) tasks at rest, and while pedaling on a cycle ergometer at 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% of their own maximal aerobic power (Pmax). RM MANCOVA revealed significant sport-type by physical load interaction effect mainly on CRT. Least significant difference (LSD) posthoc contrasts indicated that fencers and tennis players process information faster with incrementally increasing workload, while different patterns were obtained for boxers and table-tennis players. The error rate remained stable for each sport type over all conditions. Between-sport differences in SRT and CRT among the athletes were also noted. Findings provide evidence that the 4-CRT is a task that more closely corresponds to the original task athletes are familiar with and utilize in their practices and competitions. However, additional tests that mimic the real world experiences of each sport must be developed and used to capture the nature of information processing and response-selection in specific sports.

Toward a 30m resolution time series of historical global urban expansion: exploring variation in North American cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stuhlmacher, M.; Wang, C.; Georgescu, M.; Tellman, B.; Balling, R.; Clinton, N. E.; Collins, L.; Goldblatt, R.; Hanson, G.

2016-12-01

Global representations of modern day urban land use and land cover (LULC) extent are becoming increasingly prevalent. Yet considerable uncertainties in the representation of built environment extent (i.e. global classifications generated from 250m resolution MODIS imagery or the United States' National Land Cover Database) remain because of the lack of a systematic, globally consistent methodological approach. We aim to increase resolution, accuracy, and improve upon past efforts by establishing a data-driven definition of the urban landscape, based on Landsat 5, 7 & 8 imagery and ancillary data sets. Continuous and discrete machine learning classification algorithms have been developed in Google Earth Engine (GEE), a powerful online cloud-based geospatial storage and parallel-computing platform. Additionally, thousands of ground truth points have been selected from high resolution imagery to fill in the previous lack of accurate data to be used for training and validation. We will present preliminary classification and accuracy assessments for select cities in the United States and Mexico. Our approach has direct implications for development of projected urban growth that is grounded on realistic identification of urbanizing hot-spots, with consequences for local to regional scale climate change, energy demand, water stress, human health, urban-ecological interactions, and efforts used to prioritize adaptation and mitigation strategies to offset large-scale climate change. Future work to apply the built-up detection algorithm globally and yearly is underway in a partnership between GEE, University of California in San Diego, and Arizona State University.

Prospector II: Towards a knowledge base for mineral deposits

USGS Publications Warehouse

McCammon, R.B.

1994-01-01

What began in the mid-seventies as a research effort in designing an expert system to aid geologists in exploring for hidden mineral deposits has in the late eighties become a full-sized knowledge-based system to aid geologists in conducting regional mineral resource assessments. Prospector II, the successor to Prospector, is interactive-graphics oriented, flexible in its representation of mineral deposit models, and suited to regional mineral resource assessment. In Prospector II, the geologist enters the findings for an area, selects the deposit models or examples of mineral deposits for consideration, and the program compares the findings with the models or the examples selected, noting the similarities, differences, and missing information. The models or the examples selected are ranked according to scores that are based on the comparisons with the findings. Findings can be reassessed and the process repeated if necessary. The results provide the geologist with a rationale for identifying those mineral deposit types that the geology of an area permits. In future, Prospector II can assist in the creation of new models used in regional mineral resource assessment and in striving toward an ultimate classification of mineral deposits. ?? 1994 International Association for Mathematical Geology.

Recent Advances in Pd-Based Membranes for Membrane Reactors.

PubMed

Arratibel Plazaola, Alba; Pacheco Tanaka, David Alfredo; Van Sint Annaland, Martin; Gallucci, Fausto

2017-01-01

Palladium-based membranes for hydrogen separation have been studied by several research groups during the last 40 years. Much effort has been dedicated to improving the hydrogen flux of these membranes employing different alloys, supports, deposition/production techniques, etc. High flux and cheap membranes, yet stable at different operating conditions are required for their exploitation at industrial scale. The integration of membranes in multifunctional reactors (membrane reactors) poses additional demands on the membranes as interactions at different levels between the catalyst and the membrane surface can occur. Particularly, when employing the membranes in fluidized bed reactors, the selective layer should be resistant to or protected against erosion. In this review we will also describe a novel kind of membranes, the pore-filled type membranes prepared by Pacheco Tanaka and coworkers that represent a possible solution to integrate thin selective membranes into membrane reactors while protecting the selective layer. This work is focused on recent advances on metallic supports, materials used as an intermetallic diffusion layer when metallic supports are used and the most recent advances on Pd-based composite membranes. Particular attention is paid to improvements on sulfur resistance of Pd based membranes, resistance to hydrogen embrittlement and stability at high temperature.

Outcomes of Brood Parasite–Host Interactions Mediated by Egg Matching: Common Cuckoos Cuculus canorus versus Fringilla Finches

PubMed Central

Vikan, Johan Reinert; Fossøy, Frode; Huhta, Esa; Moksnes, Arne; Røskaft, Eivin; Stokke, Bård Gunnar

2011-01-01

Background Antagonistic species often interact via matching of phenotypes, and interactions between brood parasitic common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) and their hosts constitute classic examples. The outcome of a parasitic event is often determined by the match between host and cuckoo eggs, giving rise to potentially strong associations between fitness and egg phenotype. Yet, empirical efforts aiming to document and understand the resulting evolutionary outcomes are in short supply. Methods/Principal Findings We used avian color space models to analyze patterns of egg color variation within and between the cuckoo and two closely related hosts, the nomadic brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) and the site fidelic chaffinch (F. coelebs). We found that there is pronounced opportunity for disruptive selection on brambling egg coloration. The corresponding cuckoo host race has evolved egg colors that maximize fitness in both sympatric and allopatric brambling populations. By contrast, the chaffinch has a more bimodal egg color distribution consistent with the evolutionary direction predicted for the brambling. Whereas the brambling and its cuckoo host race show little geographical variation in their egg color distributions, the chaffinch's distribution becomes increasingly dissimilar to the brambling's distribution towards the core area of the brambling cuckoo host race. Conclusion High rates of brambling gene flow is likely to cool down coevolutionary hot spots by cancelling out the selection imposed by a patchily distributed cuckoo host race, thereby promoting a matching equilibrium. By contrast, the site fidelic chaffinch is more likely to respond to selection from adapting cuckoos, resulting in a markedly more bimodal egg color distribution. The geographic variation in the chaffinch's egg color distribution could reflect a historical gradient in parasitism pressure. Finally, marked cuckoo egg polymorphisms are unlikely to evolve in these systems unless the hosts evolve even more exquisite egg recognition capabilities than currently possessed. PMID:21559400

Basic Science and Public Policy: Informed Regulation for Nicotine and Tobacco Products.

PubMed

Fowler, Christie D; Gipson, Cassandra D; Kleykamp, Bethea A; Rupprecht, Laura E; Harrell, Paul T; Rees, Vaughan W; Gould, Thomas J; Oliver, Jason; Bagdas, Deniz; Damaj, M Imad; Schmidt, Heath D; Duncan, Alexander; De Biasi, Mariella

2018-06-07

Scientific discoveries over the past few decades have provided significant insight into the abuse liability and negative health consequences associated with tobacco and nicotine-containing products. While many of these advances have led to the development of policies and laws that regulate access to and formulations of these products, further research is critical to guide future regulatory efforts, especially as novel nicotine-containing products are introduced and selectively marketed to vulnerable populations. In this narrative review, we provide an overview of the scientific findings that have impacted regulatory policy and discuss considerations for further translation of science into policy decisions. We propose that open, bidirectional communication between scientists and policy makers is essential to develop transformative preventive- and intervention-focused policies and programs to reduce appeal, abuse liability, and toxicity of the products. Through these types of interactions, collaborative efforts to inform and modify policy have the potential to significantly decrease the use of tobacco and alternative nicotine products and thus enhance health outcomes for individuals. This work addresses current topics in the nicotine and tobacco research field to emphasize the importance of basic science research and provide examples of how it can be utilized to inform public policy. In addition to relaying current thoughts on the topic from experts in the field, the article encourages continued efforts and communication between basic scientists and policy officials.

Life cycles of transient planetary waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nathan, Terrence

1993-01-01

In recent years there has been an increasing effort devoted to understanding the physical and dynamical processes that govern the global-scale circulation of the atmosphere. This effort has been motivated, in part, from: (1) a wealth of new satellite data; (2) an urgent need to assess the potential impact of chlorofluorocarbons on our climate; (3) an inadequate understanding of the interactions between the troposphere and stratosphere and the role that such interactions play in short and long-term climate variability; and (4) the realization that addressing changes in our global climate requires understanding the interactions among various components of the earth system. The research currently being carried out represents an effort to address some of these issues by carrying out studies that combine radiation, ozone, seasonal thermal forcing and dynamics. Satellite and ground-based data that is already available is being used to construct basic states for our analytical and numerical models. Significant accomplishments from 1991-1992 are presented and include the following: ozone-dynamics interaction; (2) periodic local forcing and low frequency variability; and (3) steady forcing and low frequency variability.

Suitability of oyster restoration sites along the Louisiana coast: Examining site and stock × site interaction

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schwarting Miller, Lindsay; La Peyre, Jerome F.; LaPeyre, Megan K.

2017-01-01

Recognition of the global loss of subtidal oyster reefs has led to a rise in reef restoration efforts, including in the Gulf of Mexico. Created reef success depends entirely on selecting a location that supports long-term oyster growth and survival, including the recruitment and survival of on-reef oysters. Significant changes in estuarine salinity through management of freshwater inflows and through changed precipitation patterns may significantly impact the locations of optimal oyster restoration sites. These rapid shifts in conditions necessitate a need to better understand both impacts to on-reef oyster growth and population development, and variation in oyster stock performance. Oyster growth, mortality, condition, and disease prevalence were examined in three different stocks of oysters located in protected cages, as well as oyster recruitment and mortality on experimental reef units in three different locations representing a salinity gradient, along the Louisiana Gulf coast in 2011 and 2012. Over a 2-y period, the high-salinity site had highest oyster growth rate in protected cages but demonstrated the least likelihood for reef development based on on-reef oyster population failure, likely because of predation-related mortality (high recruitment and 100% mortality). In contrast, the midsalinity site with moderate oyster growth and on-reef recruitment and low mortality demonstrated a higher likelihood for reef development. The lowest salinity site exhibited extreme variability in all oyster responses between years because of extreme variation in environmental conditions during the study, indicating a low likelihood of long-term reef development. Whereas limited differences in stock performance between sites were found, the range of site environmental conditions tested was ultimately much lower than expected and may not have provided a wide enough range of conditions. In areas with limited, low recruitment, or rapidly changing environmental conditions, seeding with stocks selected for best growth and survival under expected future environmental conditions could better ensure reef development by using oyster populations best suited to the predicted conditions. With rapidly changing estuarine conditions from anthropogenic activities and climate change, siting of oyster reef restoration incorporating both oyster population dynamics and in situ biotic and abiotic interactions is critical in better directing site selection for reef restoration efforts.

A Computational Investigation of Small-Molecule Engagement of Hot Spots at Protein-Protein Interaction Interfaces.

PubMed

Xu, David; Si, Yubing; Meroueh, Samy O

2017-09-25

The binding affinity of a protein-protein interaction is concentrated at amino acids known as hot spots. It has been suggested that small molecules disrupt protein-protein interactions by either (i) engaging receptor protein hot spots or (ii) mimicking hot spots of the protein ligand. Yet, no systematic studies have been done to explore how effectively existing small-molecule protein-protein interaction inhibitors mimic or engage hot spots at protein interfaces. Here, we employ explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations and end-point MM-GBSA free energy calculations to explore this question. We select 36 compounds for which high-quality binding affinity and cocrystal structures are available. Five complexes that belong to three classes of protein-protein interactions (primary, secondary, and tertiary) were considered, namely, BRD4•H4, XIAP•Smac, MDM2•p53, Bcl-xL•Bak, and IL-2•IL-2Rα. Computational alanine scanning using MM-GBSA identified hot-spot residues at the interface of these protein interactions. Decomposition energies compared the interaction of small molecules with individual receptor hot spots to those of the native protein ligand. Pharmacophore analysis was used to investigate how effectively small molecules mimic the position of hot spots of the protein ligand. Finally, we study whether small molecules mimic the effects of the native protein ligand on the receptor dynamics. Our results show that, in general, existing small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions do not optimally mimic protein-ligand hot spots, nor do they effectively engage protein receptor hot spots. The more effective use of hot spots in future drug design efforts may result in smaller compounds with higher ligand efficiencies that may lead to greater success in clinical trials.

Interactive Spacecraft Trajectory Design Strategies Featuring Poincare Map Topology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schlei, Wayne R.

Space exploration efforts are shifting towards inexpensive and more agile vehicles. Versatility regarding spacecraft trajectories refers to the agility to correct deviations from an intended path or even the ability to adapt the future path to a new destination--all with limited spaceflight resources (i.e., small DeltaV budgets). Trajectory design methods for such nimble vehicles incorporate equally versatile procedures that allow for rapid and interactive decision making while attempting to reduce Delta V budgets, leading to a versatile trajectory design platform. A versatile design paradigm requires the exploitation of Poincare map topology , or the interconnected web of dynamical structures, existing within the chaotic dynamics of multi-body gravitational models to outline low-Delta V transfer options residing nearby to a current path. This investigation details an autonomous procedure to extract the periodic orbits (topology nodes) and correlated asymptotic flow structures (or the invariant manifolds representing topology links). The autonomous process summarized in this investigation (termed PMATE) overcomes discontinuities on the Poincare section that arise in the applied multi-body model (the planar circular restricted three-body problem) and detects a wide variety of novel periodic orbits. New interactive capabilities deliver a visual analytics foundation for versatile spaceflight design, especially for initial guess generation and manipulation. Such interactive strategies include the selection of states and arcs from Poincare section visualizations and the capabilities to draw and drag trajectories to remove dependency on initial state input. Furthermore, immersive selection is expanded to cull invariant manifold structures, yielding low-DeltaV or even DeltaV-free transfers between periodic orbits. The application of interactive design strategies featuring a dense extraction of Poincare map topology is demonstrated for agile spaceflight with a simple spacecraft rerouting scenario incorporating a very limited Delta V budget. In the Earth-Moon system, a low-DeltaV transfer from low Earth orbit (LEO) to the distant retrograde orbit (DRO) vicinity is derived with interactive topology-based design tactics. Finally, Poincare map topology is exploited in the Saturn-Enceladus system to explore a possible ballistic capture scenario around Enceladus.

Complex Genotype by Environment interactions and changing genetic architectures across thermal environments in the Australian field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Biologists studying adaptation under sexual selection have spent considerable effort assessing the relative importance of two groups of models, which hinge on the idea that females gain indirect benefits via mate discrimination. These are the good genes and genetic compatibility models. Quantitative genetic studies have advanced our understanding of these models by enabling assessment of whether the genetic architectures underlying focal phenotypes are congruent with either model. In this context, good genes models require underlying additive genetic variance, while compatibility models require non-additive variance. Currently, we know very little about how the expression of genotypes comprised of distinct parental haplotypes, or how levels and types of genetic variance underlying key phenotypes, change across environments. Such knowledge is important, however, because genotype-environment interactions can have major implications on the potential for evolutionary responses to selection. Results We used a full diallel breeding design to screen for complex genotype-environment interactions, and genetic architectures underlying key morphological traits, across two thermal environments (the lab standard 27°C, and the cooler 23°C) in the Australian field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus. In males, complex three-way interactions between sire and dam parental haplotypes and the rearing environment accounted for up to 23 per cent of the scaled phenotypic variance in the traits we measured (body mass, pronotum width and testes mass), and each trait harboured significant additive genetic variance in the standard temperature (27°C) only. In females, these three-way interactions were less important, with interactions between the paternal haplotype and rearing environment accounting for about ten per cent of the phenotypic variance (in body mass, pronotum width and ovary mass). Of the female traits measured, only ovary mass for crickets reared at the cooler temperature (23°C), exhibited significant levels of additive genetic variance. Conclusions Our results show that the genetics underlying phenotypic expression can be complex, context-dependent and different in each of the sexes. We discuss the implications of these results, particularly in terms of the evolutionary processes that hinge on good and compatible genes models. PMID:21791118

NASTRAN analysis of Tokamak vacuum vessel using interactive graphics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, A.; Badrian, M.

1978-01-01

Isoparametric quadrilateral and triangular elements were used to represent the vacuum vessel shell structure. For toroidally symmetric loadings, MPCs were employed across model boundaries and rigid format 24 was invoked. Nonsymmetric loadings required the use of the cyclic symmetry analysis available with rigid format 49. NASTRAN served as an important analysis tool in the Tokamak design effort by providing a reliable means for assessing structural integrity. Interactive graphics were employed in the finite element model generation and in the post-processing of results. It was felt that model generation and checkout with interactive graphics reduced the modelling effort and debugging man-hours significantly.

Private Speech Moderates the Effects of Effortful Control on Emotionality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Day, Kimberly L.; Smith, Cynthia L.; Neal, Amy; Dunsmore, Julie C.

2018-01-01

Research Findings: In addition to being a regulatory strategy, children's private speech may enhance or interfere with their effortful control used to regulate emotion. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether children's private speech during a selective attention task moderated the relations of their effortful control to their…

Success in Kashmir: a positive trend in civil-military integration during humanitarian assistance operations.

PubMed

Thompson, Wiley C

2010-01-01

The modern cast of disaster relief actors includes host nations, non-governmental organisations, private volunteer organisations, military organisations and others. Each group, civilian or military, has valuable skills and experiences critical to disaster relief work. The goal of this paper is to supplement the study of civil-military relief efforts with contemporary anecdotal experience. The paper examines the interaction between US military forces and other disaster relief actors during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief effort. The author uses direct observations made while working in Pakistan to contrast the relationships and activities from that effort with other accounts in prevailing scholarly disaster literature and military doctrine. Finally, this paper suggests that the Kashmir model of integration, coordination and transparency of intent creates a framework in which future humanitarian assistance operations could be successfully executed. Recommendations to improve civil-military interaction in future relief efforts will also be addressed.

A Model of Auditory-Cognitive Processing and Relevance to Clinical Applicability.

PubMed

Edwards, Brent

2016-01-01

Hearing loss and cognitive function interact in both a bottom-up and top-down relationship. Listening effort is tied to these interactions, and models have been developed to explain their relationship. The Ease of Language Understanding model in particular has gained considerable attention in its explanation of the effect of signal distortion on speech understanding. Signal distortion can also affect auditory scene analysis ability, however, resulting in a distorted auditory scene that can affect cognitive function, listening effort, and the allocation of cognitive resources. These effects are explained through an addition to the Ease of Language Understanding model. This model can be generalized to apply to all sounds, not only speech, representing the increased effort required for auditory environmental awareness and other nonspeech auditory tasks. While the authors have measures of speech understanding and cognitive load to quantify these interactions, they are lacking measures of the effect of hearing aid technology on auditory scene analysis ability and how effort and attention varies with the quality of an auditory scene. Additionally, the clinical relevance of hearing aid technology on cognitive function and the application of cognitive measures in hearing aid fittings will be limited until effectiveness is demonstrated in real-world situations.

The Effort Paradox: Effort Is Both Costly and Valued.

PubMed

Inzlicht, Michael; Shenhav, Amitai; Olivola, Christopher Y

2018-04-01

According to prominent models in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and economics, effort (be it physical or mental) is costly: when given a choice, humans and non-human animals alike tend to avoid effort. Here, we suggest that the opposite is also true and review extensive evidence that effort can also add value. Not only can the same outcomes be more rewarding if we apply more (not less) effort, sometimes we select options precisely because they require effort. Given the increasing recognition of effort's role in motivation, cognitive control, and value-based decision-making, considering this neglected side of effort will not only improve formal computational models, but also provide clues about how to promote sustained mental effort across time. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estrogen-Cholinergic Interactions: Implications for Cognitive Aging

PubMed Central

Newhouse, Paul; Dumas, Julie

2015-01-01

While many studies in humans have investigated the effects of estrogen and hormone therapy on cognition, potential neurobiological correlates of these effects have been less well studied. An important site of action for estrogen in the brain is the cholinergic system. Several decades of research support the critical role of CNS cholinergic systems in cognition in humans, particularly in learning and memory formation and attention. In humans, the cholinergic system has been implicated in many aspects of cognition including the partitioning of attentional resources, working memory, inhibition of irrelevant information, and improved performance on effort-demanding tasks. Studies support the hypothesis that estradiol helps to maintain aspects of attention and verbal and visual memory. Such cognitive domains are exactly those modulated by cholinergic systems and extensive basic and preclinical work over the past several decades has clearly shown that basal forebrain cholinergic systems are dependent on estradiol support for adequate functioning. This paper will review recent human studies from our laboratories and others that have extended preclinical research examining estrogen-cholinergic interactions to humans. Studies examined include estradiol and cholinergic antagonist reversal studies in normal older women, examinations of the neural representations of estrogen-cholinergic interactions using functional brain imaging, and studies of the ability of selective estrogen receptor modulators such as tamoxifen to interact with cholinergic-mediated cognitive performance. We also discuss the implications of these studies for the underlying hypotheses of cholinergic-estrogen interactions and cognitive aging, and indications for prophylactic and therapeutic potential that may exploit these effects. PMID:26187712

Experimental reduction in interaction intensity strongly affects biotic selection.

PubMed

Sletvold, Nina; Ågren, Jon

2016-11-01

The link between biotic interaction intensity and strength of selection is of fundamental interest for understanding biotically driven diversification and predicting the consequences of environmental change. The strength of selection resulting from biotic interactions is determined by the strength of the interaction and by the covariance between fitness and the trait under selection. When the relationship between trait and absolute fitness is constant, selection strength should be a direct function of mean population interaction intensity. To test this prediction, we excluded pollinators for intervals of different length to induce five levels of pollination intensity within a single plant population. Pollen limitation (PL) increased from 0 to 0.77 across treatments, accompanied by a fivefold increase in the opportunity for selection. Trait-fitness covariance declined with PL for number of flowers, but varied little for other traits. Pollinator-mediated selection on plant height, corolla size, and spur length increased by 91%, 34%, and 330%, respectively, in the most severely pollen-limited treatment compared to open-pollinated plants. The results indicate that realized biotic selection can be predicted from mean population interaction intensity when variation in trait-fitness covariance is limited, and that declines in pollination intensity will strongly increase selection on traits involved in the interaction. © 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.

What makes a reach movement effortful? Physical effort discounting supports common minimization principles in decision making and motor control

PubMed Central

Ulbrich, Philipp; Gail, Alexander

2017-01-01

When deciding between alternative options, a rational agent chooses on the basis of the desirability of each outcome, including associated costs. As different options typically result in different actions, the effort associated with each action is an essential cost parameter. How do humans discount physical effort when deciding between movements? We used an action-selection task to characterize how subjective effort depends on the parameters of arm transport movements and controlled for potential confounding factors such as delay discounting and performance. First, by repeatedly asking subjects to choose between 2 arm movements of different amplitudes or durations, performed against different levels of force, we identified parameter combinations that subjects experienced as identical in effort (isoeffort curves). Movements with a long duration were judged more effortful than short-duration movements against the same force, while movement amplitudes did not influence effort. Biomechanics of the movements also affected effort, as movements towards the body midline were preferred to movements away from it. Second, by introducing movement repetitions, we further determined that the cost function for choosing between effortful movements had a quadratic relationship with force, while choices were made on the basis of the logarithm of these costs. Our results show that effort-based action selection during reaching cannot easily be explained by metabolic costs. Instead, force-loaded reaches, a widely occurring natural behavior, imposed an effort cost for decision making similar to cost functions in motor control. Our results thereby support the idea that motor control and economic choice are governed by partly overlapping optimization principles. PMID:28586347

The interactive systems framework applied to the strategic prevention framework: the Rhode Island experience.

PubMed

Florin, Paul; Friend, Karen B; Buka, Stephen; Egan, Crystelle; Barovier, Linda; Amodei, Brenda

2012-12-01

The Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF) was introduced as a heuristic systems level model to help bridge the gap between research and practice (Wandersman et al., in Am J Commun Psychol 41:171-181, 2008). This model describes three interacting systems with distinct functions that (1) distill knowledge to develop innovations; (2) provide supportive training and technical assistance for dissemination to; (3) a prevention delivery system responsible for implementation in the field. The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) is a major prevention innovation launched by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The SPF offers a structured, sequential, data-driven approach that explicitly targets environmental conditions in the community and aims for change in substance use and problems at the population level. This paper describes how the ISF was applied to the challenges of implementing the SPF in 14 Rhode Island communities, with a focus on the development of a new Training and Technical Assistance Resources Center to support SPF efforts. More specifically, we (1) describe each of the three ISF interacting systems as they evolved in Rhode Island; (2) articulate the lines of communication between the three systems; and (3) examine selected evaluation data to understand relationships between training and technical assistance and SPF implementation and outcomes.

Druggable Protein Interaction Sites Are More Predisposed to Surface Pocket Formation than the Rest of the Protein Surface

PubMed Central

Johnson, David K.; Karanicolas, John

2013-01-01

Despite intense interest and considerable effort via high-throughput screening, there are few examples of small molecules that directly inhibit protein-protein interactions. This suggests that many protein interaction surfaces may not be intrinsically “druggable” by small molecules, and elevates in importance the few successful examples as model systems for improving our fundamental understanding of druggability. Here we describe an approach for exploring protein fluctuations enriched in conformations containing surface pockets suitable for small molecule binding. Starting from a set of seven unbound protein structures, we find that the presence of low-energy pocket-containing conformations is indeed a signature of druggable protein interaction sites and that analogous surface pockets are not formed elsewhere on the protein. We further find that ensembles of conformations generated with this biased approach structurally resemble known inhibitor-bound structures more closely than equivalent ensembles of unbiased conformations. Collectively these results suggest that “druggability” is a property encoded on a protein surface through its propensity to form pockets, and inspire a model in which the crude features of the predisposed pocket(s) restrict the range of complementary ligands; additional smaller conformational changes then respond to details of a particular ligand. We anticipate that the insights described here will prove useful in selecting protein targets for therapeutic intervention. PMID:23505360

Agreement for NASA/OAST - USAF/AFSC space interdependency on spacecraft environment interaction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pike, C. P.; Stevens, N. J.

1980-01-01

A joint AF/NASA comprehensive program on spacecraft environment interactions consists of combined contractual and in house efforts aimed at understanding spacecraft environment ineraction phenomena and relating ground test results to space conditions. Activities include: (1) a concerted effort to identify project related environmental interactions; (2) a materials investigation to measure the basic properties of materials and develop or modify materials as needed; and (3) a ground simulation investigation to evaluate basic plasma interaction phenomena and provide inputs to the analytical modeling investigation. Systems performance is evaluated by both ground tests and analysis. There is an environmental impact investigation to determine the effect of future large spacecraft on the charged particle environment. Space flight investigations are planned to verify the results. The products of this program are test standards and design guidelines which summarize the technology, specify test criteria, and provide techniques to minimize or eliminate system interactions with the charged particle environment.

Rodent-Mediated Interactions Among Seed Species of Differing Quality in a Shrubsteppe Ecosystem

USGS Publications Warehouse

Beard, Karen H.; Faulhaber, Craig A.; Howe, Frank P.; Edwards, Thomas C.

2013-01-01

Interactions among seeds, mediated by granivorous rodents, are likely to play a strong role in shrubsteppe ecosystem restoration. Past studies typically consider only pairwise interactions between preferred and less preferred seed species, whereas rangeland seedings are likely to contain more than 2 seed species, potentially leading to complex interactions. We examined how the relative proportion of seeds in a 3-species polyculture changes rodent seed selectivity (i.e., removal) and indirect interactions among seeds. We presented 2 rodent species, Peromyscus maniculatus (deer mice) and Perognathus parvus (pocket mice), in arenas with 3-species seed mixtures that varied in the proportion of a highly preferred, moderately preferred, and least preferred seed species, based on preferences determined in this study. We then conducted a field experiment in a pocket mouse—dominated ecosystem with the same 3-species seed mixtures in both “treated” (reduced shrub and increased forb cover) and “untreated” shrubsteppe. In the arena experiment, we found that rodents removed more of the highly preferred seed when the proportions of all 3 seeds were equal. Moderately preferred seeds experienced increased removal when the least preferred seed was in highest proportion. Removal of the least preferred seed increased when the highly preferred seed was in highest proportion. In the field experiment, results were similar to those from the arena experiment and did not differ between treated and untreated shrubsteppe areas. Though our results suggest that 3-species mixtures induce complex interactions among seeds, managers applying these results to restoration efforts should carefully consider the rodent community present and the potential fate of removed seeds.

Noradrenaline and dopamine neurons in the reward/effort trade-off: a direct electrophysiological comparison in behaving monkeys.

PubMed

Varazzani, Chiara; San-Galli, Aurore; Gilardeau, Sophie; Bouret, Sebastien

2015-05-20

Motivation determines multiple aspects of behavior, including action selection and energization of behavior. Several components of the underlying neural systems have been examined closely, but the specific role of the different neuromodulatory systems in motivation remains unclear. Here, we compare directly the activity of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra pars compacta and noradrenergic neurons from the locus coeruleus in monkeys performing a task manipulating the reward/effort trade-off. Consistent with previous reports, dopaminergic neurons encoded the expected reward, but we found that they also anticipated the upcoming effort cost in connection with its negative influence on action selection. Conversely, the firing of noradrenergic neurons increased with both pupil dilation and effort production in relation to the energization of behavior. Therefore, this work underlines the contribution of dopamine to effort-based decision making and uncovers a specific role of noradrenaline in energizing behavior to face challenges. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/357866-12$15.00/0.

The role of ecology in speciation by sexual selection: a systematic empirical review.

PubMed

Scordato, Elizabeth S C; Symes, Laurel B; Mendelson, Tamra C; Safran, Rebecca J

2014-01-01

Theoretical and empirical research indicates that sexual selection interacts with the ecological context in which mate choice occurs, suggesting that sexual and natural selection act together during the evolution of premating reproductive isolation. However, the relative importance of natural and sexual selection to speciation remains poorly understood. Here, we applied a recent conceptual framework for examining interactions between mate choice divergence and ecological context to a review of the empirical literature on speciation by sexual selection. This framework defines two types of interactions between mate choice and ecology: internal interactions, wherein natural and sexual selection jointly influence divergence in sexual signal traits and preferences, and external interactions, wherein sexual selection alone acts on traits and preferences but ecological context shapes the transmission efficacy of sexual signals. The objectives of this synthesis were 3-fold: to summarize the traits, ecological factors, taxa, and geographic contexts involved in studies of mate choice divergence; to analyze patterns of association between these variables; and to identify the most common types of interactions between mate choice and ecological factors. Our analysis revealed that certain traits are consistently associated with certain ecological factors. Moreover, among studies that examined a divergent sexually selected trait and an ecological factor, internal interactions were more common than external interactions. Trait-preference associations may thus frequently be subject to both sexual and natural selection in cases of divergent mate choice. Our results highlight the importance of interactions between sexual selection and ecology in mate choice divergence and suggest areas for future research. © The American Genetic Association. 2014. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The Determinants of Parental Effort in Education Production: Do Parents Respond to Changes in Class Size?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonesronning, Hans

2004-01-01

The present paper supplements the traditional class size literature by exploring the causal relationship between class size and parental effort in education production. Class size variation that is exogenous to parental effort comes from interaction between enrollment and a maximum class size rule of 30 students in the lower secondary school in…

Overview of NASA GRC's Efforts In SWBLI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Long-Davis, Mary Jo

2017-01-01

Overview of NASA Efforts (related to SWBLI research) An overview of NASA's restructured ARMD Program and the resulting new projects. Areas of research pertaining to shock wave boundary layer interaction are highlighted. Plans and status for specific tasks are presented.

Information Architecture for Interactive Archives at the Community Coordianted Modeling Center

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Zeeuw, D.; Wiegand, C.; Kuznetsova, M.; Mullinix, R.; Boblitt, J. M.

2017-12-01

The Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) is upgrading its meta-data system for model simulations to be compliant with the SPASE meta-data standard. This work is helping to enhance the SPASE standards for simulations to better describe the wide variety of models and their output. It will enable much more sophisticated and automated metrics and validation efforts at the CCMC, as well as much more robust searches for specific types of output. The new meta-data will also allow much more tailored run submissions as it will allow some code options to be selected for Run-On-Request models. We will also demonstrate data accessibility through an implementation of the Heliophysics Application Programmer's Interface (HAPI) protocol of data otherwise available throught the integrated space weather analysis system (iSWA).

Recent Progress in Technologies for Tactile Sensors

PubMed Central

Sun, Xuguang; Xue, Ning; Li, Tong; Liu, Chang

2018-01-01

Over the last two decades, considerable scientific and technological efforts have been devoted to developing tactile sensing based on a variety of transducing mechanisms, with prospective applications in many fields such as human–machine interaction, intelligent robot tactile control and feedback, and tactile sensorized minimally invasive surgery. This paper starts with an introduction of human tactile systems, followed by a presentation of the basic demands of tactile sensors. State-of-the-art tactile sensors are reviewed in terms of their diverse sensing mechanisms, design consideration, and material selection. Subsequently, typical performances of the sensors, along with their advantages and disadvantages, are compared and analyzed. Two major potential applications of tactile sensing systems are discussed in detail. Lastly, we propose prospective research directions and market trends of tactile sensing systems. PMID:29565835

Tabletop computed lighting for practical digital photography.

PubMed

Mohan, Ankit; Bailey, Reynold; Waite, Jonathan; Tumblin, Jack; Grimm, Cindy; Bodenheimer, Bobby

2007-01-01

We apply simplified image-based lighting methods to reduce the equipment, cost, time, and specialized skills required for high-quality photographic lighting of desktop-sized static objects such as museum artifacts. We place the object and a computer-steered moving-head spotlight inside a simple foam-core enclosure and use a camera to record photos as the light scans the box interior. Optimization, guided by interactive user sketching, selects a small set of these photos whose weighted sum best matches the user-defined target sketch. Unlike previous image-based relighting efforts, our method requires only a single area light source, yet it can achieve high-resolution light positioning to avoid multiple sharp shadows. A reduced version uses only a handheld light and may be suitable for battery-powered field photography equipment that fits into a backpack.

Boulder Capture System Design Options for the Asteroid Robotic Redirect Mission Alternate Approach Trade Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belbin, Scott P.; Merrill, Raymond G.

2014-01-01

This paper presents a boulder acquisition and asteroid surface interaction electromechanical concept developed for the Asteroid Robotic Redirect Mission (ARRM) option to capture a free standing boulder on the surface of a 100 m or larger Near Earth Asteroid (NEA). It details the down select process and ranking of potential boulder capture methods, the evolution of a simple yet elegant articulating spaceframe, and ongoing risk reduction and concept refinement efforts. The capture system configuration leverages the spaceframe, heritage manipulators, and a new microspine technology to enable the ARRM boulder capture. While at the NEA it enables attenuation of terminal descent velocity, ascent to escape velocity, boulder collection and restraint. After departure from the NEA it enables, robotic inspection, sample caching, and crew Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA).

Recent Progress in Technologies for Tactile Sensors.

PubMed

Chi, Cheng; Sun, Xuguang; Xue, Ning; Li, Tong; Liu, Chang

2018-03-22

Over the last two decades, considerable scientific and technological efforts have been devoted to developing tactile sensing based on a variety of transducing mechanisms, with prospective applications in many fields such as human-machine interaction, intelligent robot tactile control and feedback, and tactile sensorized minimally invasive surgery. This paper starts with an introduction of human tactile systems, followed by a presentation of the basic demands of tactile sensors. State-of-the-art tactile sensors are reviewed in terms of their diverse sensing mechanisms, design consideration, and material selection. Subsequently, typical performances of the sensors, along with their advantages and disadvantages, are compared and analyzed. Two major potential applications of tactile sensing systems are discussed in detail. Lastly, we propose prospective research directions and market trends of tactile sensing systems.

Spacecraft environmental interactions: A joint Air Force and NASA research and technology program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pike, C. P.; Purvis, C. K.; Hudson, W. R.

1985-01-01

A joint Air Force/NASA comprehensive research and technology program on spacecraft environmental interactions to develop technology to control interactions between large spacecraft systems and the charged-particle environment of space is described. This technology will support NASA/Department of Defense operations of the shuttle/IUS, shuttle/Centaur, and the force application and surveillance and detection missions, planning for transatmospheric vehicles and the NASA space station, and the AFSC military space system technology model. The program consists of combined contractual and in-house efforts aimed at understanding spacecraft environmental interaction phenomena and relating results of ground-based tests to space conditions. A concerted effort is being made to identify project-related environmental interactions of concern. The basic properties of materials are being investigated to develop or modify the materials as needed. A group simulation investigation is evaluating basic plasma interaction phenomena to provide inputs to the analytical modeling investigation. Systems performance is being evaluated by both groundbased tests and analysis.

Integrated Omics and Computational Glycobiology Reveal Structural Basis for Influenza A Virus Glycan Microheterogeneity and Host Interactions.

PubMed

Khatri, Kshitij; Klein, Joshua A; White, Mitchell R; Grant, Oliver C; Leymarie, Nancy; Woods, Robert J; Hartshorn, Kevan L; Zaia, Joseph

2016-06-01

Despite sustained biomedical research effort, influenza A virus remains an imminent threat to the world population and a major healthcare burden. The challenge in developing vaccines against influenza is the ability of the virus to mutate rapidly in response to selective immune pressure. Hemagglutinin is the predominant surface glycoprotein and the primary determinant of antigenicity, virulence and zoonotic potential. Mutations leading to changes in the number of HA glycosylation sites are often reported. Such genetic sequencing studies predict at best the disruption or creation of sequons for N-linked glycosylation; they do not reflect actual phenotypic changes in HA structure. Therefore, combined analysis of glycan micro and macro-heterogeneity and bioassays will better define the relationships among glycosylation, viral bioactivity and evolution. We present a study that integrates proteomics, glycomics and glycoproteomics of HA before and after adaptation to innate immune system pressure. We combined this information with glycan array and immune lectin binding data to correlate the phenotypic changes with biological activity. Underprocessed glycoforms predominated at the glycosylation sites found to be involved in viral evolution in response to selection pressures and interactions with innate immune-lectins. To understand the structural basis for site-specific glycan microheterogeneity at these sites, we performed structural modeling and molecular dynamics simulations. We observed that the presence of immature, high-mannose type glycans at a particular site correlated with reduced accessibility to glycan remodeling enzymes. Further, the high mannose glycans at sites implicated in immune lectin recognition were predicted to be capable of forming trimeric interactions with the immune-lectin surfactant protein-D. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

LocFuse: human protein-protein interaction prediction via classifier fusion using protein localization information.

PubMed

Zahiri, Javad; Mohammad-Noori, Morteza; Ebrahimpour, Reza; Saadat, Samaneh; Bozorgmehr, Joseph H; Goldberg, Tatyana; Masoudi-Nejad, Ali

2014-12-01

Protein-protein interaction (PPI) detection is one of the central goals of functional genomics and systems biology. Knowledge about the nature of PPIs can help fill the widening gap between sequence information and functional annotations. Although experimental methods have produced valuable PPI data, they also suffer from significant limitations. Computational PPI prediction methods have attracted tremendous attentions. Despite considerable efforts, PPI prediction is still in its infancy in complex multicellular organisms such as humans. Here, we propose a novel ensemble learning method, LocFuse, which is useful in human PPI prediction. This method uses eight different genomic and proteomic features along with four types of different classifiers. The prediction performance of this classifier selection method was found to be considerably better than methods employed hitherto. This confirms the complex nature of the PPI prediction problem and also the necessity of using biological information for classifier fusion. The LocFuse is available at: http://lbb.ut.ac.ir/Download/LBBsoft/LocFuse. The results revealed that if we divide proteome space according to the cellular localization of proteins, then the utility of some classifiers in PPI prediction can be improved. Therefore, to predict the interaction for any given protein pair, we can select the most accurate classifier with regard to the cellular localization information. Based on the results, we can say that the importance of different features for PPI prediction varies between differently localized proteins; however in general, our novel features, which were extracted from position-specific scoring matrices (PSSMs), are the most important ones and the Random Forest (RF) classifier performs best in most cases. LocFuse was developed with a user-friendly graphic interface and it is freely available for Linux, Mac OSX and MS Windows operating systems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Discovering Tradeoffs, Vulnerabilities, and Dependencies within Water Resources Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reed, P. M.

2015-12-01

There is a growing recognition and interest in using emerging computational tools for discovering the tradeoffs that emerge across complex combinations infrastructure options, adaptive operations, and sign posts. As a field concerned with "deep uncertainties", it is logically consistent to include a more direct acknowledgement that our choices for dealing with computationally demanding simulations, advanced search algorithms, and sensitivity analysis tools are themselves subject to failures that could adversely bias our understanding of how systems' vulnerabilities change with proposed actions. Balancing simplicity versus complexity in our computational frameworks is nontrivial given that we are often exploring high impact irreversible decisions. It is not always clear that accepted models even encompass important failure modes. Moreover as they become more complex and computationally demanding the benefits and consequences of simplifications are often untested. This presentation discusses our efforts to address these challenges through our "many-objective robust decision making" (MORDM) framework for the design and management water resources systems. The MORDM framework has four core components: (1) elicited problem conception and formulation, (2) parallel many-objective search, (3) interactive visual analytics, and (4) negotiated selection of robust alternatives. Problem conception and formulation is the process of abstracting a practical design problem into a mathematical representation. We build on the emerging work in visual analytics to exploit interactive visualization of both the design space and the objective space in multiple heterogeneous linked views that permit exploration and discovery. Many-objective search produces tradeoff solutions from potentially competing problem formulations that can each consider up to ten conflicting objectives based on current computational search capabilities. Negotiated design selection uses interactive visualization, reformulation, and optimization to discover desirable designs for implementation. Multi-city urban water supply portfolio planning will be used to illustrate the MORDM framework.

Prescreening of Nicotine Hapten Linkers in Vitro To Select Hapten-Conjugate Vaccine Candidates for Pharmacokinetic Evaluation in Vivo.

PubMed

Arutla, Viswanath; Leal, Joseph; Liu, Xiaowei; Sokalingam, Sriram; Raleigh, Michael; Adaralegbe, Adejimi; Liu, Li; Pentel, Paul R; Hecht, Sidney M; Chang, Yung

2017-05-08

Since the demonstration of nicotine vaccines as a possible therapeutic intervention for the effects of tobacco smoke, extensive effort has been made to enhance nicotine specific immunity. Linker modifications of nicotine haptens have been a focal point for improving the immunogenicity of nicotine, in which the evaluation of these modifications usually relies on in vivo animal models, such as mice, rats or nonhuman primates. Here, we present two in vitro screening strategies to estimate and predict the immunogenic potential of our newly designed nicotine haptens. One utilizes a competition enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) to profile the interactions of nicotine haptens or hapten-protein conjugates with nicotine specific antibodies, both polyclonal and monoclonal. Another relies on computational modeling of the interactions between haptens and amino acid residues near the conjugation site of the carrier protein to infer linker-carrier protein conjugation effect on antinicotine antibody response. Using these two in vitro methods, we ranked the haptens with different linkers for their potential as viable vaccine candidates. The ELISA-based hapten ranking was in an agreement with the results obtained by in vivo nicotine pharmacokinetic analysis. A correlation was found between the average binding affinity (IC 50 ) of the haptens to an anti-Nic monoclonal antibody and the average brain nicotine concentration in the immunized mice. The computational modeling of hapten and carrier protein interactions helps exclude conjugates with strong linker-carrier conjugation effects and low in vivo efficacy. The simplicity of these in vitro screening strategies should facilitate the selection and development of more effective nicotine conjugate vaccines. In addition, these data highlight a previously under-appreciated contribution of linkers and hapten-protein conjugations to conjugate vaccine immunogenicity by virtue of their inclusion in the epitope that binds and activates B cells.

The First Negative Allosteric Modulator for Dopamine D2 and D3 Receptors, SB269652 May Lead to a New Generation of Antipsychotic Drugs.

PubMed

Rossi, Mario; Fasciani, Irene; Marampon, Francesco; Maggio, Roberto; Scarselli, Marco

2017-06-01

D 2 and D 3 dopamine receptors belong to the largest family of cell surface proteins in eukaryotes, the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Considering their crucial physiologic functions and their relatively accessible cellular locations, GPCRs represent one of the most important classes of therapeutic targets. Until recently, the only strategy to develop drugs regulating GPCR activity was through the identification of compounds that directly acted on the orthosteric sites for endogenous ligands. However, many efforts have recently been made to identify small molecules that are able to interact with allosteric sites. These sites are less well-conserved, therefore allosteric ligands have greater selectivity on the specific receptor. Strikingly, the use of allosteric modulators can provide specific advantages, such as an increased selectivity for GPCR subunits and the ability to introduce specific beneficial therapeutic effects without disrupting the integrity of complex physiologically regulated networks. In 2010, our group unexpectedly found that N -[(1r,4r)-4-[2-(7-cyano-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolin-2-yl)ethyl]cyclohexyl]-1H-indole-2-carboxamide (SB269652), a compound supposed to interact with the orthosteric binding site of dopamine receptors, was actually a negative allosteric modulator of D 2 - and D 3 -receptor dimers, thus identifying the first allosteric small molecule acting on these important therapeutic targets. This review addresses the progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms of interaction between the negative modulator SB269652 and D 2 and D 3 dopamine receptor monomers and dimers, and surveys the prospects for developing new dopamine receptor allosteric drugs with SB269652 as the leading compound. U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright.

Protein crystallization studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lyne, James Evans

1996-01-01

The Structural Biology laboratory at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center uses x-ray crystallographic techniques to conduct research into the three-dimensional structure of a wide variety of proteins. A major effort in the laboratory involves an ongoing study of human serum albumin (the principal protein in human plasma) and its interaction with various endogenous substances and pharmaceutical agents. Another focus is on antigenic and functional proteins from several pathogenic organisms including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the widespread parasitic genus, Schistosoma. My efforts this summer have been twofold: first, to identify clinically significant drug interactions involving albumin binding displacement and to initiate studies of the three-dimensional structure of albumin complexed with these agents, and secondly, to establish collaborative efforts to extend the lab's work on human pathogens.

Sensory motor mechanisms unify psychology: the embodiment of culture

PubMed Central

Soliman, Tamer; Gibson, Alison; Glenberg, Arthur M.

2013-01-01

Sensorimotor mechanisms can unify explanations at cognitive, social, and cultural levels. As an example, we review how anticipated motor effort is used by individuals and groups to judge distance: the greater the anticipated effort the greater the perceived distance. Anticipated motor effort can also be used to understand cultural differences. People with interdependent self- construals interact almost exclusively with in-group members, and hence there is little opportunity to tune their sensorimotor systems for interaction with out-group members. The result is that interactions with out-group members are expected to be difficult and out-group members are perceived as literally more distant. In two experiments we show (a) interdependent Americans, compared to independent Americans, see American confederates (in-group) as closer; (b) interdependent Arabs, compared to independent Arabs, perceive Arab confederates (in- group) as closer, whereas interdependent Americans perceive Arab confederates (out-group) as farther. These results demonstrate how the same embodied mechanism can seamlessly contribute to explanations at the cognitive, social, and cultural levels. PMID:24348439

Geographic overlaps between priority areas for forest carbon-storage efforts and those for delivering peacebuilding programs: implications for policy design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castro-Nunez, Augusto; Mertz, Ole; Sosa, Chrystian C.

2017-05-01

Of the countries considering national-level policies for incentivizing reductions in forest-based greenhouse gas emissions (REDD+), some 25 are experiencing (or are emerging from) armed-conflicts. It has been hypothesized that the outcomes of the interactions between carbon-storage and peacebuilding efforts could result in either improved or worsened forest conservation and likewise increased or decreased conflict. Hence, for this study we explore potential interactions between forest carbon-storage and peacebuilding efforts, with Colombia as a case study. Spatial associations between biomass carbon and three conflict-related variables suggest that such interactions may exist. Nonetheless, while priority areas for carbon-focused conservation are presumably those at highest risks of deforestation, our research indicates that forests with lower risk of deforestation are typically those affected by armed-conflict. Our findings moreover highlight three possible roles played by Colombian forested municipalities in armed groups’ military strategies: venues for battle, hideouts, and sources of natural resources to finance war.

Predicting internalizing problems in Chinese children: the unique and interactive effects of parenting and child temperament.

PubMed

Muhtadie, Luma; Zhou, Qing; Eisenberg, Nancy; Wang, Yun

2013-08-01

The additive and interactive relations of parenting styles (authoritative and authoritarian parenting) and child temperament (anger/frustration, sadness, and effortful control) to children's internalizing problems were examined in a 3.8-year longitudinal study of 425 Chinese children (aged 6-9 years) from Beijing. At Wave 1, parents self-reported on their parenting styles, and parents and teachers rated child temperament. At Wave 2, parents, teachers, and children rated children's internalizing problems. Structural equation modeling indicated that the main effect of authoritative parenting and the interactions of Authoritarian Parenting × Effortful Control and Authoritative Parenting × Anger/Frustration (parents' reports only) prospectively and uniquely predicted internalizing problems. The above results did not vary by child sex and remained significant after controlling for co-occurring externalizing problems. These findings suggest that (a) children with low effortful control may be particularly susceptible to the adverse effect of authoritarian parenting and (b) the benefit of authoritative parenting may be especially important for children with high anger/frustration.

Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking analysis of 3-methyl-1-phenylchromeno[4,3-c]pyrazol-4(1H)-ones as potential cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors.

PubMed

Grover, Jagdeep; Kumar, Vivek; Sobhia, M Elizabeth; Jachak, Sanjay M

2014-10-01

As a part of our continued efforts to discover new COX inhibitors, a series of 3-methyl-1-phenylchromeno[4,3-c]pyrazol-4(1H)-ones were synthesized and evaluated for in vitro COX inhibitory potential. Within this series, seven compounds (3a-d, 3h, 3k and 3q) were identified as potential and selective COX-2 inhibitors (COX-2 IC50's in 1.79-4.35μM range; COX-2 selectivity index (SI)=6.8-16.7 range). Compound 3b emerged as most potent (COX-2 IC50=1.79μM; COX-1 IC50 >30μM) and selective COX-2 inhibitor (SI >16.7). Further, compound 3b displayed superior anti-inflammatory activity (59.86% inhibition of edema at 5h) in comparison to celecoxib (51.44% inhibition of edema at 5h) in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema assay. Structure-activity relationship studies suggested that N-phenyl ring substituted with p-CF3 substituent (3b, 3k and 3q) leads to more selective inhibition of COX-2. To corroborate obtained experimental biological data, molecular docking study was carried out which revealed that compound 3b showed stronger binding interaction with COX-2 as compared to COX-1. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Semi-automatic central-chest lymph-node definition from 3D MDCT images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Kongkuo; Higgins, William E.

2010-03-01

Central-chest lymph nodes play a vital role in lung-cancer staging. The three-dimensional (3D) definition of lymph nodes from multidetector computed-tomography (MDCT) images, however, remains an open problem. This is because of the limitations in the MDCT imaging of soft-tissue structures and the complicated phenomena that influence the appearance of a lymph node in an MDCT image. In the past, we have made significant efforts toward developing (1) live-wire-based segmentation methods for defining 2D and 3D chest structures and (2) a computer-based system for automatic definition and interactive visualization of the Mountain central-chest lymph-node stations. Based on these works, we propose new single-click and single-section live-wire methods for segmenting central-chest lymph nodes. The single-click live wire only requires the user to select an object pixel on one 2D MDCT section and is designed for typical lymph nodes. The single-section live wire requires the user to process one selected 2D section using standard 2D live wire, but it is more robust. We applied these methods to the segmentation of 20 lymph nodes from two human MDCT chest scans (10 per scan) drawn from our ground-truth database. The single-click live wire segmented 75% of the selected nodes successfully and reproducibly, while the success rate for the single-section live wire was 85%. We are able to segment the remaining nodes, using our previously derived (but more interaction intense) 2D live-wire method incorporated in our lymph-node analysis system. Both proposed methods are reliable and applicable to a wide range of pulmonary lymph nodes.

Population Cycles, Disease, and Networks of Ecological Knowledge.

PubMed

Jones, Susan D

2017-05-01

Wildlife populations in the northern reaches of the globe have long been observed to fluctuate or cycle periodically, with dramatic increases followed by catastrophic crashes. Focusing on the early work of Charles S. Elton, this article analyzes how investigations into population cycles shaped the development of Anglo-American animal ecology during the 1920s-1930s. Population cycling revealed patterns that challenged ideas about the "balance" of nature; stimulated efforts to quantify population data; and brought animal ecology into conversation with intellectual debates about natural selection. Elton used the problem of understanding wildlife population cycles to explore a central tension in ecological thought: the relative influences of local conditions (food supply, predation) and universal forces (such as climate change and natural selection) in regulating wild animal populations. He also sought patronage and built research practices and the influential Bureau of Animal Population around questions of population regulation during the 1930s. Focusing on disease as a local population regulator that could interact with global climatic influences, Elton facilitated an interdisciplinary and population-based approach in early animal ecology. Elton created a network of epidemiologists, conservationists, pathologists and mathematicians, who contributed to population cycle research. I argue that, although these people often remained peripheral to ecology, their ideas shaped the young discipline. Particularly important were the concepts of abundance, density, and disease; and the interactions between these factors and natural selection. However, Elton's reliance on density dependence unwittingly helped set up conditions conducive to the development of controversies in animal ecology in later years. While ecologists did not come to consensus on the ultimate causes of population cycles, this phenomenon was an important early catalyst for the development of theory and practice in animal ecology.

Inference on the Strength of Balancing Selection for Epistatically Interacting Loci

PubMed Central

Buzbas, Erkan Ozge; Joyce, Paul; Rosenberg, Noah A.

2011-01-01

Existing inference methods for estimating the strength of balancing selection in multi-locus genotypes rely on the assumption that there are no epistatic interactions between loci. Complex systems in which balancing selection is prevalent, such as sets of human immune system genes, are known to contain components that interact epistatically. Therefore, current methods may not produce reliable inference on the strength of selection at these loci. In this paper, we address this problem by presenting statistical methods that can account for epistatic interactions in making inference about balancing selection. A theoretical result due to Fearnhead (2006) is used to build a multi-locus Wright-Fisher model of balancing selection, allowing for epistatic interactions among loci. Antagonistic and synergistic types of interactions are examined. The joint posterior distribution of the selection and mutation parameters is sampled by Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, and the plausibility of models is assessed via Bayes factors. As a component of the inference process, an algorithm to generate multi-locus allele frequencies under balancing selection models with epistasis is also presented. Recent evidence on interactions among a set of human immune system genes is introduced as a motivating biological system for the epistatic model, and data on these genes are used to demonstrate the methods. PMID:21277883

Aerosol-Radiation-Cloud Interactions in the South-East Atlantic: Model-Relevant Observations and the Beneficiary Modeling Efforts in the Realm of the EVS-2 Project ORACLES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Redemann, Jens

2018-01-01

Globally, aerosols remain a major contributor to uncertainties in assessments of anthropogenically-induced changes to the Earth climate system, despite concerted efforts using satellite and suborbital observations and increasingly sophisticated models. The quantification of direct and indirect aerosol radiative effects, as well as cloud adjustments thereto, even at regional scales, continues to elude our capabilities. Some of our limitations are due to insufficient sampling and accuracy of the relevant observables, under an appropriate range of conditions to provide useful constraints for modeling efforts at various climate scales. In this talk, I will describe (1) the efforts of our group at NASA Ames to develop new airborne instrumentation to address some of the data insufficiencies mentioned above; (2) the efforts by the EVS-2 ORACLES project to address aerosol-cloud-climate interactions in the SE Atlantic and (3) time permitting, recent results from a synergistic use of A-Train aerosol data to test climate model simulations of present-day direct radiative effects in some of the AEROCOM phase II global climate models.

Auto-phosphorylation Represses Protein Kinase R Activity.

PubMed

Wang, Die; de Weerd, Nicole A; Willard, Belinda; Polekhina, Galina; Williams, Bryan R G; Sadler, Anthony J

2017-03-10

The central role of protein kinases in controlling disease processes has spurred efforts to develop pharmaceutical regulators of their activity. A rational strategy to achieve this end is to determine intrinsic auto-regulatory processes, then selectively target these different states of kinases to repress their activation. Here we investigate auto-regulation of the innate immune effector protein kinase R, which phosphorylates the eukaryotic initiation factor 2α to inhibit global protein translation. We demonstrate that protein kinase R activity is controlled by auto-inhibition via an intra-molecular interaction. Part of this mechanism of control had previously been reported, but was then controverted. We account for the discrepancy and extend our understanding of the auto-inhibitory mechanism by identifying that auto-inhibition is paradoxically instigated by incipient auto-phosphorylation. Phosphor-residues at the amino-terminus instigate an intra-molecular interaction that enlists both of the N-terminal RNA-binding motifs of the protein with separate surfaces of the C-terminal kinase domain, to co-operatively inhibit kinase activation. These findings identify an innovative mechanism to control kinase activity, providing insight for strategies to better regulate kinase activity.

Probing a 2-Aminobenzimidazole Library for Binding to RNA Internal Loops via Two-Dimensional Combinatorial Screening

PubMed Central

Velegapudi, Sai Pradeep; Pushechnikov, Alexei; Labuda, Lucas P.; French, Jonathan M.; Disney, Matthew D.

2012-01-01

There are many potential RNA drug targets in bacterial, viral, and the human transcriptomes. However, there are few small molecules that modulate RNA function. This is due, in part, to a lack of fundamental understanding about RNA-ligand interactions including the types of small molecules that bind to RNA structural elements and the RNA structural elements that bind to small molecules. In an effort to better understand RNA-ligand interactions, we diversified the 2-aminobenzimidazole core (2AB) and probed the resulting library for binding to a library of RNA internal loops. We chose the 2AB core for these studies because it is a privileged scaffold for binding RNA based on previous reports. These studies identified that N-methyl pyrrolidine, imidazole, and propylamine diversity elements at the R1 position increase binding to internal loops; variability at the R2 position is well tolerated. The preferred RNA loop space was also determined for five ligands using a statistical approach and identified trends that lead to selective recognition. PMID:22958065

Seeking Comfort: Women Mental Health Process in I. R. Iran: A Grounded Theory Study

PubMed Central

Mohammadi, Farahnaz; Eftekhari, Monir Baradaran; Dejman, Masoumeh; Forouzan, Ameneh Setareh; Mirabzadeh, Arash

2014-01-01

Background: Psychosocial factor is considered as intermediate social determinant of health, because it has powerful effects on health especially in women. Hence deeper understanding of the mental-health process needed for its promotion. The aim of this study was to explore women's experience of the mental-health problem and related action-interactions activities to design the appropriate interventions. Methods: In-depth interviews with women 18-65 years were analyzed according to the grounded theory method. The selection of Participants was based on purposeful and theoretical sampling. Results: In this study, a substantive theory was generated; explaining how female with the mental-health problem handled their main concern, which was identified as their effort to achieve comfort (core variable). The other six categories are elements in this process. Daily stress as a trigger, satisfaction is the end point, marriage is the key point and action - interaction activities in this process are strengthening human essence, Developing life skills and help seeking. Conclusions: Better understanding the mental-health process might be useful to design the interventional program among women with mental-health problems. PMID:24627750

A new serotonin 5-HT6 receptor antagonist with procognitive activity - Importance of a halogen bond interaction to stabilize the binding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Vera, Juan A.; Medina, Rocío A.; Martín-Fontecha, Mar; Gonzalez, Angel; de La Fuente, Tania; Vázquez-Villa, Henar; García-Cárceles, Javier; Botta, Joaquín; McCormick, Peter J.; Benhamú, Bellinda; Pardo, Leonardo; López-Rodríguez, María L.

2017-01-01

Serotonin 5-HT6 receptor has been proposed as a promising therapeutic target for cognition enhancement though the development of new antagonists is still needed to validate these molecules as a drug class for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other pathologies associated with memory deficiency. As part of our efforts to target the 5-HT6 receptor, new benzimidazole-based compounds have been designed and synthesized. Site-directed mutagenesis and homology models show the importance of a halogen bond interaction between a chlorine atom of the new class of 5-HT6 receptor antagonists identified herein and a backbone carbonyl group in transmembrane domain 4. In vitro pharmacological characterization of 5-HT6 receptor antagonist 7 indicates high affinity and selectivity over a panel of receptors including 5-HT2B subtype and hERG channel, which suggests no major cardiac issues. Compound 7 exhibited in vivo procognitive activity (1 mg/kg, ip) in the novel object recognition task as a model of memory deficit.

Kin discrimination within honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies: An analysis of the evidence.

PubMed

Breed, M D; Welch, C K; Cruz, R

1994-12-01

Compelling evolutionary arguments lead to the prediction that honey bee workers should discriminate between supersisters and half-sisters within colonies. We review the theoretical support for discrimination during swarming, queen rearing, feeding, and grooming. A survey of the data that tests whether such discrimination takes place shows that, despite substantial effort in a number of laboratories, there is no conclusive evidence for intracolony discrimination in any of the postulated contexts. The strongest suggestive data is in the critical context of queen rearing, but flaws in experimental design or analysis make the best available tests inconclusive. We present new data that shows that cues exist on which discriminations can be made among adult workers in nestmate recognition interactions and in feeding interactions, but our data does not differentiate between subfamily recognition and recognition associated with color phenotypes. We conclude that while selection may favor discrimination between supersisters and half-sisters, as a practical matter such discriminations play no role, or only a minor role, in the biology of the honey bee. Copyright © 1994. Published by Elsevier B.V.

All-boron fullerene exhibits a strong affinity to inorganic anions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colherinhas, Guilherme; Fileti, Eudes Eterno; Chaban, Vitaly V.

2017-03-01

Experimentally observed all-boron fullerene, B-80, inspires systematic investigation of its physical chemical properties and search for possible applications. We hereby report density functional theory calculations to characterize interactions of B-80 with the selected imidazolium room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), dimethylimidazolium nitrate and dimethylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate. Whereas the imidazolium cation exhibits a rather poor affinity to B-80, the inorganic anions form polar covalent bonds with the boron atom occupying a central position within a B-6 hexagon. Attachment of the RTIL ion pairs leads to a significant alteration of the electronic spectra, charge density distribution, valence and conduction molecular orbitals. The total binding energies keeping the RTIL@B80 complexes together range 200-250 kcal mol-1, being higher than the energies of many interactions in chemistry. The observed phenomenon predicts an excellent solubility of B-80 in the considered RTILs, but may also reveal a poor stability of B-80 in the polar media. Our results motivate further efforts in studying the behavior of the all-boron fullerene in polar environments.

Selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms in FOXE1, SERPINA5, FTO, EVPL, TICAM1 and SCARB1 are associated with papillary and follicular thyroid cancer risk: replication study in a German population

PubMed Central

Sigurdson, Alice J.; Brenner, Alina V.; Roach, James A.; Goudeva, Lilia; Müller, Jörg A.; Nerlich, Kai; Reiners, Christoph; Schwab, Robert; Pfeiffer, Liliane; Waldenberger, Melanie; Braganza, Melissa; Xu, Li; Sturgis, Erich M.; Yeager, Meredith; Chanock, Stephen J.; Pfeiffer, Ruth M.; Abend, Michael; Port, Matthias

2016-01-01

Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with papillary and follicular thyroid cancer (PTC and FTC, respectively) risk, but few have replicated. After analyzing 17525 tag SNPs in 1129 candidate genes, we found associations with PTC risk in SERPINA5, FTO, HEMGN (near FOXE1) and other genes. Here, we report results from a replication effort in a large independent PTC/FTC case–control study conducted in Germany. We evaluated the best tagging SNPs from our previous PTC study and additionally included SNPs in or near FOXE1 and NKX2-1 genes, known susceptibility loci for thyroid cancer. We genotyped 422 PTC and 130 FTC cases and 752 controls recruited from three German clinical centers. We used polytomous logistic regression to simultaneously estimate PTC and FTC associations for 79 SNPs based on log-additive models. We assessed effect modification by body mass index (BMI), gender and age for all SNPs, and selected SNP by SNP interactions. We confirmed associations with PTC and SNPs in FOXE1/HEMGN, SERPINA5 (rs2069974), FTO (rs8047395), EVPL (rs2071194), TICAM1 (rs8120) and SCARB1 (rs11057820) genes. We found associations with SNPs in FOXE1, SERPINA5, FTO, TICAM1 and HSPA6 and FTC. We found two significant interactions between FTO (rs8047395) and BMI (P = 0.0321) and between TICAM1 (rs8120) and FOXE1 (rs10984377) (P = 0.0006). Besides the known associations with FOXE1 SNPs, we confirmed additional PTC SNP associations reported previously. We also found several new associations with FTC risk and noteworthy interactions. We conclude that multiple variants and host factors might interact in complex ways to increase risk of PTC and FTC. PMID:27207655

Selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms in FOXE1, SERPINA5, FTO, EVPL, TICAM1 and SCARB1 are associated with papillary and follicular thyroid cancer risk: replication study in a German population.

PubMed

Sigurdson, Alice J; Brenner, Alina V; Roach, James A; Goudeva, Lilia; Müller, Jörg A; Nerlich, Kai; Reiners, Christoph; Schwab, Robert; Pfeiffer, Liliane; Waldenberger, Melanie; Braganza, Melissa; Xu, Li; Sturgis, Erich M; Yeager, Meredith; Chanock, Stephen J; Pfeiffer, Ruth M; Abend, Michael; Port, Matthias

2016-07-01

Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been associated with papillary and follicular thyroid cancer (PTC and FTC, respectively) risk, but few have replicated. After analyzing 17525 tag SNPs in 1129 candidate genes, we found associations with PTC risk in SERPINA5, FTO, HEMGN (near FOXE1) and other genes. Here, we report results from a replication effort in a large independent PTC/FTC case-control study conducted in Germany. We evaluated the best tagging SNPs from our previous PTC study and additionally included SNPs in or near FOXE1 and NKX2-1 genes, known susceptibility loci for thyroid cancer. We genotyped 422 PTC and 130 FTC cases and 752 controls recruited from three German clinical centers. We used polytomous logistic regression to simultaneously estimate PTC and FTC associations for 79 SNPs based on log-additive models. We assessed effect modification by body mass index (BMI), gender and age for all SNPs, and selected SNP by SNP interactions. We confirmed associations with PTC and SNPs in FOXE1/HEMGN, SERPINA5 (rs2069974), FTO (rs8047395), EVPL (rs2071194), TICAM1 (rs8120) and SCARB1 (rs11057820) genes. We found associations with SNPs in FOXE1, SERPINA5, FTO, TICAM1 and HSPA6 and FTC. We found two significant interactions between FTO (rs8047395) and BMI (P = 0.0321) and between TICAM1 (rs8120) and FOXE1 (rs10984377) (P = 0.0006). Besides the known associations with FOXE1 SNPs, we confirmed additional PTC SNP associations reported previously. We also found several new associations with FTC risk and noteworthy interactions. We conclude that multiple variants and host factors might interact in complex ways to increase risk of PTC and FTC. Published by Oxford University Press 2016.

The Development and Application of the RAND Program Classification Tool. The RAND Toolkit, Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

one may be selected.)  Pretest /baseline only  Posttest only  Pre-post  Pre-post with comparison group ...following outcome data (used to identify the results of a program’s efforts)? (More than one may be selected.)  Pretest /baseline only  Posttest only...results of a program’s efforts)? o Pretest /baseline only o Posttest only o Pre-post o Pre-post with comparison group o Randomized controlled trial

A high-level 3D visualization API for Java and ImageJ.

PubMed

Schmid, Benjamin; Schindelin, Johannes; Cardona, Albert; Longair, Mark; Heisenberg, Martin

2010-05-21

Current imaging methods such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Confocal microscopy, Electron Microscopy (EM) or Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) yield three-dimensional (3D) data sets in need of appropriate computational methods for their analysis. The reconstruction, segmentation and registration are best approached from the 3D representation of the data set. Here we present a platform-independent framework based on Java and Java 3D for accelerated rendering of biological images. Our framework is seamlessly integrated into ImageJ, a free image processing package with a vast collection of community-developed biological image analysis tools. Our framework enriches the ImageJ software libraries with methods that greatly reduce the complexity of developing image analysis tools in an interactive 3D visualization environment. In particular, we provide high-level access to volume rendering, volume editing, surface extraction, and image annotation. The ability to rely on a library that removes the low-level details enables concentrating software development efforts on the algorithm implementation parts. Our framework enables biomedical image software development to be built with 3D visualization capabilities with very little effort. We offer the source code and convenient binary packages along with extensive documentation at http://3dviewer.neurofly.de.

An integrated approach to the optimum design of actively controlled composite wings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Livne, E.

1989-01-01

The importance of interactions among the various disciplines in airplane wing design has been recognized for quite some time. With the introduction of high gain, high authority control systems and the design of thin, flexible, lightweight composite wings, the integrated treatment of control systems, flight mechanics and dynamic aeroelasticity became a necessity. A research program is underway now aimed at extending structural synthesis concepts and methods to the integrated synthesis of lifting surfaces, spanning the disciplines of structures, aerodynamics and control for both analysis and design. Mathematical modeling techniques are carefully selected to be accurate enough for preliminary design purposes of the complicated, built-up lifting surfaces of real aircraft with their multiple design criteria and tight constraints. The presentation opens with some observations on the multidisciplinary nature of wing design. A brief review of some available state of the art practical wing optimization programs and a brief review of current research effort in the field serve to illuminate the motivation and support the direction taken in our research. The goals of this research effort are presented, followed by a description of the analysis and behavior sensitivity techniques used. The presentation concludes with a status report and some forecast of upcoming progress.

H-P adaptive methods for finite element analysis of aerothermal loads in high-speed flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, H. J.; Bass, J. M.; Tworzydlo, W.; Oden, J. T.

1993-01-01

The commitment to develop the National Aerospace Plane and Maneuvering Reentry Vehicles has generated resurgent interest in the technology required to design structures for hypersonic flight. The principal objective of this research and development effort has been to formulate and implement a new class of computational methodologies for accurately predicting fine scale phenomena associated with this class of problems. The initial focus of this effort was to develop optimal h-refinement and p-enrichment adaptive finite element methods which utilize a-posteriori estimates of the local errors to drive the adaptive methodology. Over the past year this work has specifically focused on two issues which are related to overall performance of a flow solver. These issues include the formulation and implementation (in two dimensions) of an implicit/explicit flow solver compatible with the hp-adaptive methodology, and the design and implementation of computational algorithm for automatically selecting optimal directions in which to enrich the mesh. These concepts and algorithms have been implemented in a two-dimensional finite element code and used to solve three hypersonic flow benchmark problems (Holden Mach 14.1, Edney shock on shock interaction Mach 8.03, and the viscous backstep Mach 4.08).

Conceptual Design of In-Space Vehicles for Human Exploration of the Outer Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, R. B.; Alexander, R. A.; Chapman, J. M.; Fincher, S. S.; Hopkins, R. C.; Philips, A. D.; Polsgrove, T. T.; Litchford, R. J.; Patton, B. W.; Statham, G.

2003-01-01

During FY-2002, a team of engineers from TD30/Advanced Concepts and TD40/Propulsion Research Center embarked on a study of potential crewed missions to the outer solar system. The study was conducted under the auspices of the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts activity administered by Langley Research Center (LaRC). The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) team interacted heavily with teams from other Centers including Glenn Research Center, LaRC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Johnson Space Center. The MSFC team generated five concept missions for this project. The concept missions use a variety of technologies, including magnetized target fusion (MTF), magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters, solid core reactors, and molten salt reactors in various combinations. The Technical Publication (TP) reviews these five concepts and the methods used to generate them. The analytical methods used are described for all significant disciplines and subsystems. The propulsion and power technologies selected for each vehicle are reviewed in detail. The MSFC team also expended considerable effort refining the MTF concept for use with this mission. The results from this effort are also contained within this TP. Finally, the lessons learned from this activity are summarized in the conclusions section.

Ultra-High Foraging Rates of Harbor Porpoises Make Them Vulnerable to Anthropogenic Disturbance.

PubMed

Wisniewska, Danuta Maria; Johnson, Mark; Teilmann, Jonas; Rojano-Doñate, Laia; Shearer, Jeanne; Sveegaard, Signe; Miller, Lee A; Siebert, Ursula; Madsen, Peter Teglberg

2016-06-06

The question of how individuals acquire and allocate resources to maximize fitness is central in evolutionary ecology. Basic information on prey selection, search effort, and capture rates are critical for understanding a predator's role in its ecosystem and for predicting its response to natural and anthropogenic disturbance. Yet, for most marine species, foraging interactions cannot be observed directly. The high costs of thermoregulation in water require that small marine mammals have elevated energy intakes compared to similar-sized terrestrial mammals [1]. The combination of high food requirements and their position at the apex of most marine food webs may make small marine mammals particularly vulnerable to changes within the ecosystem [2-4], but the lack of detailed information about their foraging behavior often precludes an informed conservation effort. Here, we use high-resolution movement and prey echo recording tags on five wild harbor porpoises to examine foraging interactions in one of the most metabolically challenged cetacean species. We report that porpoises forage nearly continuously day and night, attempting to capture up to 550 small (3-10 cm) fish prey per hour with a remarkable prey capture success rate of >90%. Porpoises therefore target fish that are smaller than those of commercial interest, but must forage almost continually to meet their metabolic demands with such small prey, leaving little margin for compensation. Thus, for these "aquatic shrews," even a moderate level of anthropogenic disturbance in the busy shallow waters they share with humans may have severe fitness consequences at individual and population levels. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

SABRINA: an interactive solid geometry modeling program for Monte Carlo

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

West, J.T.

SABRINA is a fully interactive three-dimensional geometry modeling program for MCNP. In SABRINA, a user interactively constructs either body geometry, or surface geometry models, and interactively debugs spatial descriptions for the resulting objects. This enhanced capability significantly reduces the effort in constructing and debugging complicated three-dimensional geometry models for Monte Carlo Analysis.

Discovery of 3-morpholino-imidazole[1,5- a ]pyrazine BTK inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis

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

Boga, Sobhana Babu; Alhassan, Abdul-Basit; Liu, Jian

8-Amino-imidazo[1,5-a]pyrazine-based Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, such as 6, exhibited potent inhibition of BTK but required improvements in both kinase and hERG selectivity (Liu et al., 2016; Gao et al., 2017). In an effort to maintain the inhibitory activity of these analogs and improve their selectivity profiles, we carried out SAR exploration of groups at the 3-position of pyrazine compound 6. This effort led to the discovery of the morpholine group as an optimized pharmacophore. Compounds 13, 23 and 38 displayed excellent BTK potencies, kinase and hERG selectivities, and pharmacokinetic profiles.

Macrocycle peptides delineate locked-open inhibition mechanism for microorganism phosphoglycerate mutases

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

Yu, Hao; Dranchak, Patricia; Li, Zhiru

Glycolytic interconversion of phosphoglycerate isomers is catalysed in numerous pathogenic microorganisms by a cofactor-independent mutase (iPGM) structurally distinct from the mammalian cofactor-dependent (dPGM) isozyme. The iPGM active site dynamically assembles through substrate-triggered movement of phosphatase and transferase domains creating a solvent inaccessible cavity. Here we identify alternate ligand binding regions using nematode iPGM to select and enrich lariat-like ligands from an mRNA-display macrocyclic peptide library containing >1012 members. Functional analysis of the ligands, named ipglycermides, demonstrates sub-nanomolar inhibition of iPGM with complete selectivity over dPGM. The crystal structure of an iPGM macrocyclic peptide complex illuminated an allosteric, locked-open inhibition mechanismmore » placing the cyclic peptide at the bi-domain interface. This binding mode aligns the pendant lariat cysteine thiolate for coordination with the iPGM transition metal ion cluster. The extended charged, hydrophilic binding surface interaction rationalizes the persistent challenges these enzymes have presented to small-molecule screening efforts highlighting the important roles of macrocyclic peptides in expanding chemical diversity for ligand discovery.« less

A simple rule for the evolution of cooperation on graphs and social networks.

PubMed

Ohtsuki, Hisashi; Hauert, Christoph; Lieberman, Erez; Nowak, Martin A

2006-05-25

A fundamental aspect of all biological systems is cooperation. Cooperative interactions are required for many levels of biological organization ranging from single cells to groups of animals. Human society is based to a large extent on mechanisms that promote cooperation. It is well known that in unstructured populations, natural selection favours defectors over cooperators. There is much current interest, however, in studying evolutionary games in structured populations and on graphs. These efforts recognize the fact that who-meets-whom is not random, but determined by spatial relationships or social networks. Here we describe a surprisingly simple rule that is a good approximation for all graphs that we have analysed, including cycles, spatial lattices, random regular graphs, random graphs and scale-free networks: natural selection favours cooperation, if the benefit of the altruistic act, b, divided by the cost, c, exceeds the average number of neighbours, k, which means b/c > k. In this case, cooperation can evolve as a consequence of 'social viscosity' even in the absence of reputation effects or strategic complexity.

Predictive Suppression of Cortical Excitability and Its Deficit in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Schroeder, Charles E.; Leitman, David I.

2013-01-01

Recent neuroscience advances suggest that when interacting with our environment, along with previous experience, we use contextual cues and regularities to form predictions that guide our perceptions and actions. The goal of such active “predictive sensing” is to selectively enhance the processing and representation of behaviorally relevant information in an efficient manner. Since a hallmark of schizophrenia is impaired information selection, we tested whether this deficiency stems from dysfunctional predictive sensing by measuring the degree to which neuronal activity predicts relevant events. In healthy subjects, we established that these mechanisms are engaged in an effort-dependent manner and that, based on a correspondence between human scalp and intracranial nonhuman primate recordings, their main role is a predictive suppression of excitability in task-irrelevant regions. In contrast, schizophrenia patients displayed a reduced alignment of neuronal activity to attended stimuli, which correlated with their behavioral performance deficits and clinical symptoms. These results support the relevance of predictive sensing for normal and aberrant brain function, and highlight the importance of neuronal mechanisms that mold internal ongoing neuronal activity to model key features of the external environment. PMID:23843536

Controlling patient participation during robot-assisted gait training

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The overall goal of this paper was to investigate approaches to controlling active participation in stroke patients during robot-assisted gait therapy. Although active physical participation during gait rehabilitation after stroke was shown to improve therapy outcome, some patients can behave passively during rehabilitation, not maximally benefiting from the gait training. Up to now, there has not been an effective method for forcing patient activity to the desired level that would most benefit stroke patients with a broad variety of cognitive and biomechanical impairments. Methods Patient activity was quantified in two ways: by heart rate (HR), a physiological parameter that reflected physical effort during body weight supported treadmill training, and by a weighted sum of the interaction torques (WIT) between robot and patient, recorded from hip and knee joints of both legs. We recorded data in three experiments, each with five stroke patients, and controlled HR and WIT to a desired temporal profile. Depending on the patient's cognitive capabilities, two different approaches were taken: either by allowing voluntary patient effort via visual instructions or by forcing the patient to vary physical effort by adapting the treadmill speed. Results We successfully controlled patient activity quantified by WIT and by HR to a desired level. The setup was thereby individually adaptable to the specific cognitive and biomechanical needs of each patient. Conclusion Based on the three successful approaches to controlling patient participation, we propose a metric which enables clinicians to select the best strategy for each patient, according to the patient's physical and cognitive capabilities. Our framework will enable therapists to challenge the patient to more activity by automatically controlling the patient effort to a desired level. We expect that the increase in activity will lead to improved rehabilitation outcome. PMID:21429200

Controlling patient participation during robot-assisted gait training.

PubMed

Koenig, Alexander; Omlin, Ximena; Bergmann, Jeannine; Zimmerli, Lukas; Bolliger, Marc; Müller, Friedemann; Riener, Robert

2011-03-23

The overall goal of this paper was to investigate approaches to controlling active participation in stroke patients during robot-assisted gait therapy. Although active physical participation during gait rehabilitation after stroke was shown to improve therapy outcome, some patients can behave passively during rehabilitation, not maximally benefiting from the gait training. Up to now, there has not been an effective method for forcing patient activity to the desired level that would most benefit stroke patients with a broad variety of cognitive and biomechanical impairments. Patient activity was quantified in two ways: by heart rate (HR), a physiological parameter that reflected physical effort during body weight supported treadmill training, and by a weighted sum of the interaction torques (WIT) between robot and patient, recorded from hip and knee joints of both legs. We recorded data in three experiments, each with five stroke patients, and controlled HR and WIT to a desired temporal profile. Depending on the patient's cognitive capabilities, two different approaches were taken: either by allowing voluntary patient effort via visual instructions or by forcing the patient to vary physical effort by adapting the treadmill speed. We successfully controlled patient activity quantified by WIT and by HR to a desired level. The setup was thereby individually adaptable to the specific cognitive and biomechanical needs of each patient. Based on the three successful approaches to controlling patient participation, we propose a metric which enables clinicians to select the best strategy for each patient, according to the patient's physical and cognitive capabilities. Our framework will enable therapists to challenge the patient to more activity by automatically controlling the patient effort to a desired level. We expect that the increase in activity will lead to improved rehabilitation outcome.

Training outreach workers for AIDS prevention in rural India: is it sustainable?

PubMed

Sivaram, S; Celentano, D D

2003-12-01

Through a process of community diagnosis and participation, a non-governmental organization in rural Karnataka state in India selected and trained peer outreach workers to implement and sustain AIDS prevention education activities. This activity was part of a larger AIDS education project that aimed at creating awareness and promoting risk-reducing behaviours in the community. This paper describes efforts of the project to identify and train peer educators during its implementation phase and discusses strategies used to facilitate sustainability. We evaluate the impact of these efforts by conducting an analysis in the project area 2 years after the end of the project. The findings reveal generalized interest among rural communities in HIV prevention issues. The project originally conducted an extensive survey to understand community organization and composition, which helped to identify potential partners and peer educators. Training peer educators was a multi-step process, and one with high attrition. While individual peer educators were an excellent resource during the life of the project, peer educators affiliated with village level institutions had the interest, access to resources and willingness to sustain project efforts. However, the sustainability of their efforts was associated with the quality of interactions with the project implementation team, the strength and leadership of their own institutions, the perceived benefits of implementing AIDS education activities after project life and the gender of the outreach worker. Non-sustainers did not have an organizational structure to backstop their work, were often poor and unemployed persons who later found gainful employment, and overwhelmingly, were female. We present a conceptual model based on these findings to help future projects plan for and achieve sustainability.

A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks.

PubMed

Dehaene, S; Kerszberg, M; Changeux, J P

1998-11-24

A minimal hypothesis is proposed concerning the brain processes underlying effortful tasks. It distinguishes two main computational spaces: a unique global workspace composed of distributed and heavily interconnected neurons with long-range axons, and a set of specialized and modular perceptual, motor, memory, evaluative, and attentional processors. Workspace neurons are mobilized in effortful tasks for which the specialized processors do not suffice. They selectively mobilize or suppress, through descending connections, the contribution of specific processor neurons. In the course of task performance, workspace neurons become spontaneously coactivated, forming discrete though variable spatio-temporal patterns subject to modulation by vigilance signals and to selection by reward signals. A computer simulation of the Stroop task shows workspace activation to increase during acquisition of a novel task, effortful execution, and after errors. We outline predictions for spatio-temporal activation patterns during brain imaging, particularly about the contribution of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate to the workspace.

A specific role for serotonin in overcoming effort cost.

PubMed

Meyniel, Florent; Goodwin, Guy M; Deakin, Jf William; Klinge, Corinna; MacFadyen, Christine; Milligan, Holly; Mullings, Emma; Pessiglione, Mathias; Gaillard, Raphaël

2016-11-08

Serotonin is implicated in many aspects of behavioral regulation. Theoretical attempts to unify the multiple roles assigned to serotonin proposed that it regulates the impact of costs, such as delay or punishment, on action selection. Here, we show that serotonin also regulates other types of action costs such as effort. We compared behavioral performance in 58 healthy humans treated during 8 weeks with either placebo or the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor escitalopram. The task involved trading handgrip force production against monetary benefits. Participants in the escitalopram group produced more effort and thereby achieved a higher payoff. Crucially, our computational analysis showed that this effect was underpinned by a specific reduction of effort cost, and not by any change in the weight of monetary incentives. This specific computational effect sheds new light on the physiological role of serotonin in behavioral regulation and on the clinical effect of drugs for depression. ISRCTN75872983.

Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex Mediates Effort-related Responding in Rats.

PubMed

Münster, Alexandra; Hauber, Wolfgang

2017-11-17

The medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) is known to support flexible control of goal-directed behavior. However, limited evidence suggests that the mOFC also mediates the ability of organisms to work with vigor towards a selected goal, a hypothesis that received little consideration to date. Here we show that excitotoxic mOFC lesion increased responding under a progressive ratio (PR) schedule of reinforcement, that is, the highest ratio achieved, and increased the preference for the high effort-high reward option in an effort-related decision-making task, but left intact outcome-selective Pavlovian-instrumental transfer and outcome-specific devaluation. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of the mOFC increased, while pharmacological stimulation reduced PR responding. In addition, pharmacological mOFC stimulation attenuated methylphenidate-induced increase of PR responding. Intact rats tested for PR responding displayed higher numbers of c-Fos positive mOFC neurons than appropriate controls; however, mOFC neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens did not show a selective increase in neuronal activation implying that they may not play a major role in regulating PR responding. Collectively, these results suggest that the mOFC plays a major role in mediating effort-related motivational functions. Moreover, our data demonstrate for the first time that the mOFC modulates effort-related effects of psychostimulant drugs. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Interactions among mechanisms of sexual selection on male body size and head shape in a sexually dimorphic fly.

PubMed

Bonduriansky, Russell; Rowe, Locke

2003-09-01

Darwin envisaged male-male and male-female interactions as mutually supporting mechanisms of sexual selection, in which the best armed males were also the most attractive to females. Although this belief continues to predominate today, it has been challenged by sexual conflict theory, which suggests that divergence in the interests of males and females may result in conflicting sexual selection. This raises the empirical question of how multiple mechanisms of sexual selection interact to shape targeted traits. We investigated sexual selection on male morphology in the sexually dimorphic fly Prochyliza xanthostoma, using indices of male performance in male-male and male-female interactions in laboratory arenas to calculate gradients of direct, linear selection on male body size and an index of head elongation. In male-male combat, the first interaction with a new opponent selected for large body size but reduced head elongation, whereas multiple interactions with the same opponent favored large body size only. In male-female interactions, females preferred males with relatively elongated heads, but male performance of the precopulatory leap favored large body size and, possibly, reduced head elongation. In addition, the amount of sperm transferred (much of which is ingested by females) was an increasing function of both body size and head elongation. Thus, whereas both male-male and male-female interactions favored large male body size, male head shape appeared to be subject to conflicting sexual selection. We argue that conflicting sexual selection may be a common result of divergence in the interests of the sexes.

Speech Perception as a Cognitive Process: The Interactive Activation Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elman, Jeffrey L.; McClelland, James L.

Research efforts to model speech perception in terms of a processing system in which knowledge and processing are distributed over large numbers of highly interactive--but computationally primative--elements are described in this report. After discussing the properties of speech that demand a parallel interactive processing system, the report…

Characterizing Interactive Engagement Activities in a Flipped Introductory Physics Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Anna K.; Galloway, Ross K.; Donnelly, Robyn; Hardy, Judy

2016-01-01

Interactive engagement activities are increasingly common in undergraduate physics teaching. As research efforts move beyond simply showing that interactive engagement pedagogies work towards developing an understanding of "how" they lead to improved learning outcomes, a detailed analysis of the way in which these activities are used in…

An Agro-Climatological Early Warning Tool Based on the Google Earth Engine to Support Regional Food Security Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landsfeld, M. F.; Daudert, B.; Friedrichs, M.; Morton, C.; Hegewisch, K.; Husak, G. J.; Funk, C. C.; Peterson, P.; Huntington, J. L.; Abatzoglou, J. T.; Verdin, J. P.; Williams, E. L.

2015-12-01

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) focuses on food insecurity in developing nations and provides objective, evidence based analysis to help government decision-makers and relief agencies plan for and respond to humanitarian emergencies. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) is a platform provided by Google Inc. to support scientific research and analysis of environmental data in their cloud environment. The intent is to allow scientists and independent researchers to mine massive collections of environmental data and leverage Google's vast computational resources to detect changes and monitor the Earth's surface and climate. GEE hosts an enormous amount of satellite imagery and climate archives, one of which is the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations dataset (CHIRPS). The CHIRPS dataset is land based, quasi-global (latitude 50N-50S), 0.05 degree resolution, and has a relatively long term period of record (1981-present). CHIRPS is on a continuous monthly feed into the GEE as new data fields are generated each month. This precipitation dataset is a key input for FEWS NET monitoring and forecasting efforts. FEWS NET intends to leverage the GEE in order to provide analysts and scientists with flexible, interactive tools to aid in their monitoring and research efforts. These scientists often work in bandwidth limited regions, so lightweight Internet tools and services that bypass the need for downloading massive datasets to analyze them, are preferred for their work. The GEE provides just this type of service. We present a tool designed specifically for FEWS NET scientists to be utilized interactively for investigating and monitoring for agro-climatological issues. We are able to utilize the enormous GEE computing power to generate on-the-fly statistics to calculate precipitation anomalies, z-scores, percentiles and band ratios, and allow the user to interactively select custom areas for statistical time series comparisons and predictions.

Compensatory Effort Parallels Midbrain Deactivation during Mental Fatigue: An fMRI Study

PubMed Central

Nakagawa, Seishu; Sugiura, Motoaki; Akitsuki, Yuko; Hosseini, S. M. Hadi; Kotozaki, Yuka; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Yomogida, Yukihito; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Kawashima, Ryuta

2013-01-01

Fatigue reflects the functioning of our physiological negative feedback system, which prevents us from overworking. When fatigued, however, we often try to suppress this system in an effort to compensate for the resulting deterioration in performance. Previous studies have suggested that the effect of fatigue on neurovascular demand may be influenced by this compensatory effort. The primary goal of the present study was to isolate the effect of compensatory effort on neurovascular demand. Healthy male volunteers participated in a series of visual and auditory divided attention tasks that steadily increased fatigue levels for 2 hours. Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed during the first and last quarter of the study (Pre and Post sessions, respectively). Tasks with low and high attentional load (Low and High conditions, respectively) were administrated in alternating blocks. We assumed that compensatory effort would be greater under the High-attentional-load condition compared with the Low-load condition. The difference was assessed during the two sessions. The effect of compensatory effort on neurovascular demand was evaluated by examining the interaction between load (High vs. Low) and time (Pre vs. Post). Significant fatigue-induced deactivation (i.e., Pre>Post) was observed in the frontal, temporal, occipital, and parietal cortices, in the cerebellum, and in the midbrain in both the High and Low conditions. The interaction was significantly greater in the High than in the Low condition in the midbrain. Neither significant fatigue-induced activation (i.e., Pre[PreE– PostE]) may reflect suppression of the negative feedback system that normally triggers recuperative rest to maintain homeostasis. PMID:23457592

The adenosine A2A antagonist MSX-3 reverses the effort-related effects of dopamine blockade: differential interaction with D1 and D2 family antagonists

PubMed Central

Worden, Lila T.; Shahriari, Mona; Farrar, Andrew M.; Sink, Kelly S.; Hockemeyer, Jörg; Müller, Christa E.

2010-01-01

Rationale Brain dopamine (DA) participates in the modulation of instrumental behavior, including aspects of behavioral activation and effort-related choice behavior. Rats with impaired DA transmission reallocate their behavior away from food-seeking behaviors that have high response requirements, and instead select less effortful alternatives. Although accumbens DA is considered a critical component of the brain circuitry regulating effort-related choice behavior, emerging evidence demonstrates a role for adenosine A2A receptors. Objective Adenosine A2A receptor antagonism has been shown to reverse the effects of DA antagonism. The present experiments were conducted to determine if this effect was dependent upon the subtype of DA receptor that was antagonized to produce the changes in effort-related choice. Materials and methods The adenosine A2A receptor antagonist MSX-3 (0.5–2.0 mg/kg IP) was assessed for its ability to reverse the effects of the D1 family antagonist SCH39166 (ecopipam; 0.2 mg/kg IP) and the D2 family antagonist eticlopride (0.08 mg/kg IP), using a concurrent lever pressing/chow feeding procedure. Results MSX-3 produced a substantial dose-related reversal of the effects of eticlopride on lever pressing and chow intake. At the highest dose of MSX-3, there was a complete reversal of the effects of eticlopride on lever pressing. In contrast, MSX-3 produced only a minimal attenuation of the effects of SCH39166, as measured by regression and effect size analyses. Conclusions The greater ability of MSX-3 to reverse the effects of D2 vs. D1 blockade may be related to the colocalization of D2 and adenosine A2A receptors on the same population of striatal neurons. PMID:19048234

Simulating sterilization, vaccination, and test-and-remove as brucellosis control measures in bison

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ebinger, M.; Cross, P.; Wallen, Rick; White, P.J.; Treanor, John

2011-01-01

Brucella abortus, the causative agent of bovine brucellosis, infects wildlife, cattle, and humans worldwide, but management of the disease is often hindered by the logistics of controlling its prevalence in wildlife reservoirs. We used an individually based epidemiological model to assess the relative efficacies of three management interventions (sterilization, vaccination, and test-and-remove). The model was parameterized with demographic and epidemiological data from bison in Yellowstone National Park, USA. Sterilization and test-and-remove were most successful at reducing seroprevalence when they were targeted at young seropositive animals, which are the most likely age and sex category to be infectious. However, these approaches also required the most effort to implement. Vaccination was less effective (even with a perfect vaccine) but also required less effort to implement. For the treatment efforts we explored (50–100 individuals per year or 2.5–5% of the female population), sterilization had little impact upon the bison population growth rate when selectively applied. The population growth rate usually increased by year 25 due to the reduced number of Brucella-induced abortions. Initial declines in seroprevalence followed by rapid increases (>15% increase in 5 years) occurred in 3–13% of simulations with sterilization and test-and-remove, but not vaccination. We believe this is due to the interaction of superspreading events and the loss of herd immunity in the later stages of control efforts as disease prevalence declines. Sterilization provided a mechanism for achieving large disease reductions while simultaneously limiting population growth, which may be advantageous in some management scenarios. However, the field effort required to find the small segment of the population that is infectious rather than susceptible or recovered will likely limit the utility of this approach in many free-ranging wildlife populations. Nevertheless, we encourage scientists and policy makers to consider sterilization as part of a suite of available brucellosis management tools.

2016 Billion-Ton Report: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from Volume 1 (Volume 2)

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

Efroymson, R. A.; Langholtz, M. H.; Johnson, K. E.

On behalf of all the authors and contributors, it is a great privilege to present the 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16), volume 2: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from volume 1. This report represents the culmination of several years of collaborative effort among national laboratories, government agencies, academic institutions, and industry. BT16 was developed to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s efforts towards national goals of energy security and associated quality of life.

Genetic control of complex traits, with a focus on reproduction in pigs.

PubMed

Zak, Louisa J; Gaustad, Ann Helen; Bolarin, Alfonso; Broekhuijse, Marleen L W J; Walling, Grant A; Knol, Egbert F

2017-09-01

Reproductive traits are complex, and desirable reproductive phenotypes, such as litter size or semen quality, are true polygenetic traits determined by multiple gene regulatory pathways. Each individual gene contributes to the overall variation in these traits, so genetic improvements can be achieved using conventional selection methodology. In the past, a pedigree-based-relationship matrix was used; this is now replaced by a combination of pedigree-based- and genomic-relationship matrices. The heritability of reproductive traits is low to moderate, so large-scale data recording is required to identify specific, selectable attributes. Male reproductive traits-including ejaculate volume and sperm progressive motility-are moderately heritable, and could be used in selection programs. A few high-merit artificial-insemination boars can impact many sow populations, so additional knowledge about male reproduction-specifically pre-pubertal detection of infertility and the technologies of semen cryopreservation and sex sorting-should further improve global breeding efforts. Conversely, female pig reproduction is currently a limiting factor of genetic improvement. Litter size and farrowing interval are the main obstacles to increasing selection intensity and to reducing generation interval in a breeding program. Age at puberty and weaning-to-estrus interval can be selected for, thereby reducing the number of non-productive days. The number of piglets born alive and litter weights are also reliably influenced by genetic selection. Characterization of genotype-environment interactions will provide opportunities to match genetics to specific farm systems. Continued investment to understand physiological models for improved phenotyping and the development of technologies to facilitate pig embryo production for genetic selection are warranted to ensure optimal breeding in future generations. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Small molecule inhibitors of mesotrypsin from a structure-based docking screen

DOE PAGES

Kayode, Olumide; Huang, Zunnan; Soares, Alexei S.; ...

2017-05-02

PRSS3/mesotrypsin is an atypical isoform of trypsin, the upregulation of which has been implicated in promoting tumor progression. To date there are no mesotrypsin-selective pharmacological inhibitors which could serve as tools for deciphering the pathological role of this enzyme, and could potentially form the basis for novel therapeutic strategies targeting mesotrypsin. A virtual screen of the Natural Product Database (NPD) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Drug Database was conducted by high-throughput molecular docking utilizing crystal structures of mesotrypsin. Twelve high-scoring compounds were selected for testing based on lowest free energy docking scores, interaction with key mesotrypsin active sitemore » residues, and commercial availability. Diminazene (C1D22956468), along with two similar compounds presenting the bis-benzamidine substructure, was validated as a competitive inhibitor of mesotrypsin and other human trypsin isoforms. Diminazene is the most potent small molecule inhibitor of mesotrypsin reported to date with an inhibitory constant (K i) of 3.6±0.3 pM. Diminazene was subsequently co-crystalized with mesotrypsin and the crystal structure was solved and refined to 1.25 Å resolution. This high resolution crystal structure can now offer a foundation for structure-guided efforts to develop novel and potentially more selective mesotrypsin inhibitors based on similar molecular substructures.« less

Small molecule inhibitors of mesotrypsin from a structure-based docking screen

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

Kayode, Olumide; Huang, Zunnan; Soares, Alexei S.

PRSS3/mesotrypsin is an atypical isoform of trypsin, the upregulation of which has been implicated in promoting tumor progression. To date there are no mesotrypsin-selective pharmacological inhibitors which could serve as tools for deciphering the pathological role of this enzyme, and could potentially form the basis for novel therapeutic strategies targeting mesotrypsin. A virtual screen of the Natural Product Database (NPD) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Drug Database was conducted by high-throughput molecular docking utilizing crystal structures of mesotrypsin. Twelve high-scoring compounds were selected for testing based on lowest free energy docking scores, interaction with key mesotrypsin active sitemore » residues, and commercial availability. Diminazene (C1D22956468), along with two similar compounds presenting the bis-benzamidine substructure, was validated as a competitive inhibitor of mesotrypsin and other human trypsin isoforms. Diminazene is the most potent small molecule inhibitor of mesotrypsin reported to date with an inhibitory constant (K i) of 3.6±0.3 pM. Diminazene was subsequently co-crystalized with mesotrypsin and the crystal structure was solved and refined to 1.25 Å resolution. This high resolution crystal structure can now offer a foundation for structure-guided efforts to develop novel and potentially more selective mesotrypsin inhibitors based on similar molecular substructures.« less

Explaining negative kin discrimination in a cooperative mammal society

PubMed Central

Cant, Michael A.; Sanderson, Jennifer L.; Gilchrist, Jason S.; Bell, Matthew B. V.; Hodge, Sarah J.; Johnstone, Rufus A.

2017-01-01

Kin selection theory predicts that, where kin discrimination is possible, animals should typically act more favorably toward closer genetic relatives and direct aggression toward less closely related individuals. Contrary to this prediction, we present data from an 18-y study of wild banded mongooses, Mungos mungo, showing that females that are more closely related to dominant individuals are specifically targeted for forcible eviction from the group, often suffering severe injury, and sometimes death, as a result. This pattern cannot be explained by inbreeding avoidance or as a response to more intense local competition among kin. Instead, we use game theory to show that such negative kin discrimination can be explained by selection for unrelated targets to invest more effort in resisting eviction. Consistent with our model, negative kin discrimination is restricted to eviction attempts of older females capable of resistance; dominants exhibit no kin discrimination when attempting to evict younger females, nor do they discriminate between more closely or less closely related young when carrying out infanticidal attacks on vulnerable infants who cannot defend themselves. We suggest that in contexts where recipients of selfish acts are capable of resistance, the usual prediction of positive kin discrimination can be reversed. Kin selection theory, as an explanation for social behavior, can benefit from much greater exploration of sequential social interactions. PMID:28439031

Background noise spectra of global seismic stations

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

Wada, M.M.; Claassen, J.P.

1996-08-01

Over an extended period of time station noise spectra were collected from various sources for use in estimating the detection and location performance of global networks of seismic stations. As the database of noise spectra enlarged and duplicate entries became available, an effort was mounted to more carefully select station noise spectra while discarding others. This report discusses the methodology and criteria by which the noise spectra were selected. It also identifies and illustrates the station noise spectra which survived the selection process and which currently contribute to the modeling efforts. The resulting catalog of noise statistics not only benefitsmore » those who model network performance but also those who wish to select stations on the basis of their noise level as may occur in designing networks or in selecting seismological data for analysis on the basis of station noise level. In view of the various ways by which station noise were estimated by the different contributors, it is advisable that future efforts which predict network performance have available station noise data and spectral estimation methods which are compatible with the statistics underlying seismic noise. This appropriately requires (1) averaging noise over seasonal and/or diurnal cycles, (2) averaging noise over time intervals comparable to those employed by actual detectors, and (3) using logarithmic measures of the noise.« less

Toward the development of a new selection battery for air traffic control specialists.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-09-01

In an effort to update and refine the selection battery for air traffic controllers, five experimental tests measuring aptitudes and skills considered important in air traffic work were administered to newly selected Air Traffic Control Specialist (A...

Druggable orthosteric and allosteric hot spots to target protein-protein interactions.

PubMed

Ma, Buyong; Nussinov, Ruth

2014-01-01

Drug designing targeting protein-protein interactions is challenging. Because structural elucidation and computational analysis have revealed the importance of hot spot residues in stabilizing these interactions, there have been on-going efforts to develop drugs which bind the hot spots and out-compete the native protein partners. The question arises as to what are the key 'druggable' properties of hot spots in protein-protein interactions and whether these mimic the general hot spot definition. Identification of orthosteric (at the protein- protein interaction site) and allosteric (elsewhere) druggable hot spots is expected to help in discovering compounds that can more effectively modulate protein-protein interactions. For example, are there any other significant features beyond their location in pockets in the interface? The interactions of protein-protein hot spots are coupled with conformational dynamics of protein complexes. Currently increasing efforts focus on the allosteric drug discovery. Allosteric drugs bind away from the native binding site and can modulate the native interactions. We propose that identification of allosteric hot spots could similarly help in more effective allosteric drug discovery. While detection of allosteric hot spots is challenging, targeting drugs to these residues has the potential of greatly increasing the hot spot and protein druggability.

Systems Biology-Based Investigation of Host-Plasmodium Interactions.

PubMed

Smith, Maren L; Styczynski, Mark P

2018-05-18

Malaria is a serious, complex disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium. Plasmodium parasites affect multiple tissues as they evade immune responses, replicate, sexually reproduce, and transmit between vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. The explosion of omics technologies has enabled large-scale collection of Plasmodium infection data, revealing systems-scale patterns, mechanisms of pathogenesis, and the ways that host and pathogen affect each other. Here, we provide an overview of recent efforts using systems biology approaches to study host-Plasmodium interactions and the biological themes that have emerged from these efforts. We discuss some of the challenges in using systems biology for this goal, key research efforts needed to address those issues, and promising future malaria applications of systems biology. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design of Phase I Combination Trials: Recommendations of the Clinical Trial Design Task Force of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee

PubMed Central

Paller, Channing J.; Bradbury, Penelope A.; Ivy, S. Percy; Seymour, Lesley; LoRusso, Patricia M.; Baker, Laurence; Rubinstein, Larry; Huang, Erich; Collyar, Deborah; Groshen, Susan; Reeves, Steven; Ellis, Lee M.; Sargent, Daniel J.; Rosner, Gary L.; LeBlanc, Michael L.; Ratain, Mark J.

2014-01-01

Anticancer drugs are combined in an effort to treat a heterogeneous tumor or to maximize the pharmacodynamic effect. The development of combination regimens, while desirable, poses unique challenges. These include the selection of agents for combination therapy that may lead to improved efficacy while maintaining acceptable toxicity, the design of clinical trials that provide informative results for individual agents and combinations, and logistical and regulatory challenges. The phase 1 trial is often the initial step in the clinical evaluation of a combination regimen. In view of the importance of combination regimens and the challenges associated with developing them, the Clinical Trial Design (CTD) Task Force of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Investigational Drug Steering Committee developed a set of recommendations for the phase 1 development of a combination regimen. The first two recommendations focus on the scientific rationale and development plans for the combination regimen; subsequent recommendations encompass clinical design aspects. The CTD Task Force recommends that selection of the proposed regimens be based on a biological or pharmacological rationale supported by clinical and/or robust and validated preclinical evidence, and accompanied by a plan for subsequent development of the combination. The design of the phase 1 clinical trial should take into consideration the potential pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions as well as overlapping toxicity. Depending on the specific hypothesized interaction, the primary endpoint may be dose optimization, pharmacokinetics, and/or pharmacodynamic (i.e., biomarker). PMID:25125258

Structural optimization of mangiferin binding to cancer molecular targets: a guide for synthetic derivatization.

PubMed

Taiwo, Bamigboye J; Olubiyi, Olujide O; van Heerden, Fanie R

2018-03-20

Nigerian medicinal plants have been demonstrated to be veritable source of lead compounds for drug discovery efforts. One such example is mangiferin. Mangiferin was originally isolated from the Nigerian plant Ceiba pentandra (Mombacaceae), after which its structure was elucidated with the aid of spectroscopy. Mangiferin, a xanthone glycoside, has also been reported in certain other plant families including Gentianaceae and Anacardiaceae. In certain other climes and different parts of the world, folkloric and traditional medicine has extensively employed Mangifera indica (another source of mangiferin) in treating different diseases. For many of such cultural uses carefully designed experimental investigations have been conducted confirming mangiferin's efficacies in those different pathologies which have included but not limited to cytotoxic as well as chemopreventive properties in selected cancer cell lines. In this study, computational techniques were employed to profile the interaction of the xanthone glycoside at the atomistic level against nine selected molecular targets with clinical relevance in tumorigenesis. In attempt to investigate the potential of the mangiferin structure as a viable starting point for synthetic exploration of mangiferin-based analogs, extensive structural modifications were performed. By analyzing the resulting structure-energetic pattern, critical points capable of improving mangiferin interaction with the profiled targets were identified. The outcome of this study provides both direction and impetus for synthetic derivitization of the mangiferin molecule into novel optimized inhibitors for anticancer lead development. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Equipment selection and site installation for LTPP SPS WIM sites

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-08-01

The Long-Term Pavement Performance Program (LTPP) has intensified its efforts to obtain sufficient quantities of research quality loading data at a number of Specific Pavement Studies (SPS) sites. As one part of this effort, the Federal Highway Admin...

Three-dimensional, position-sensitive radiation detection

DOEpatents

He, Zhong; Zhang, Feng

2010-04-06

Disclosed herein is a method of determining a characteristic of radiation detected by a radiation detector via a multiple-pixel event having a plurality of radiation interactions. The method includes determining a cathode-to-anode signal ratio for a selected interaction of the plurality of radiation interactions based on electron drift time data for the selected interaction, and determining the radiation characteristic for the multiple-pixel event based on both the cathode-to-anode signal ratio and the electron drift time data. In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a correction factor for the radiation characteristic based on an interaction depth of the plurality of radiation interactions, a lateral distance between the selected interaction and a further interaction of the plurality of radiation interactions, and the lateral positioning of the plurality of radiation interactions.

Estrogen-cholinergic interactions: Implications for cognitive aging.

PubMed

Newhouse, Paul; Dumas, Julie

2015-08-01

This article is part of a Special Issue "Estradiol and Cognition". While many studies in humans have investigated the effects of estrogen and hormone therapy on cognition, potential neurobiological correlates of these effects have been less well studied. An important site of action for estrogen in the brain is the cholinergic system. Several decades of research support the critical role of CNS cholinergic systems in cognition in humans, particularly in learning and memory formation and attention. In humans, the cholinergic system has been implicated in many aspects of cognition including the partitioning of attentional resources, working memory, inhibition of irrelevant information, and improved performance on effort-demanding tasks. Studies support the hypothesis that estradiol helps to maintain aspects of attention and verbal and visual memory. Such cognitive domains are exactly those modulated by cholinergic systems and extensive basic and preclinical work over the past several decades has clearly shown that basal forebrain cholinergic systems are dependent on estradiol support for adequate functioning. This paper will review recent human studies from our laboratories and others that have extended preclinical research examining estrogen-cholinergic interactions to humans. Studies examined include estradiol and cholinergic antagonist reversal studies in normal older women, examinations of the neural representations of estrogen-cholinergic interactions using functional brain imaging, and studies of the ability of selective estrogen receptor modulators such as tamoxifen to interact with cholinergic-mediated cognitive performance. We also discuss the implications of these studies for the underlying hypotheses of cholinergic-estrogen interactions and cognitive aging, and indications for prophylactic and therapeutic potential that may exploit these effects. Published by Elsevier Inc.

PREFACE: 27th Summer School and International Symposium on the Physics of Ionized Gases (SPIG 2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marić, Dragana; Milosavljević, Aleksandar R.; Mijatović, Zoran

2014-12-01

This volume of Journal of Physics: Conference Series contains a selection of papers presented at the 27th Summer School and International Symposium on the Physics of Ionized Gases - SPIG 2014, as General Invited Lectures, Topical Invited Lectures, Progress Reports and associated Workshop Lectures. The conference was held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 26-29 August 2014 at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It was organized by the Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade and Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia. A rare virtue of a SPIG conference is that it covers a wide range of topics, bringing together leading scientists worldwide to present and discuss state-of-the art research and the most recent applications, thus stimulating a modern approach of interdisciplinary science. The Invited lectures and Contributed papers are related to the following research fields: 1. Atomic Collision Processes (Electron and Photon Interactions with Atomic Particles, Heavy Particle Collisions, Swarms and Transport Phenomena) 2. Particle and Laser Beam Interactions with Solids (Atomic Collisions in Solids, Sputtering and Deposition, Laser and Plasma Interaction with Surfaces) 3. Low Temperature Plasmas (Plasma Spectroscopy and other Diagnostic Methods, Gas Discharges, Plasma Applications and Devices) 4. General Plasmas (Fusion Plasmas, Astrophysical Plasmas and Collective Phenomena) Additionally, the 27th SPIG encompassed three workshops that are closely related to the scope of the conference: • The Workshop on Dissociative Electron Attachment (DEA) - Chaired by Prof. Nigel J Mason, OBE, The Open University, United Kingdom • The Workshop on X-ray Interaction with Biomolecules in Gas Phase (XiBiGP), Chaired by Dr. Christophe Nicolas, Synchrotron SOLEIL, France • The 3rd International Workshop on Non-Equilibrium Processes (NonEqProc) - Chaired by Prof. Zoran Lj. Petrović, Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Serbia The Editors would like to thank the members of the Scientific and Advisory Committees of SPIG conference for their efforts in proposing the program of the conference and to the referees that have reviewed submitted papers, as well as the chairmen of the associated workshops for their efforts and help in organizing them and a selection of excellent invited talks. We particularly acknowledge the efforts of all the members of the Local Organizing Committee in the organization of the Conference. We are grateful to all sponsors of the conference: SOLEIL synchrotron, RoentDek Handels GmbH, Klett Publishing House Ltd, Springer (EPJD and EPJ TI), IOP Publishing (IOP Conference Series), DEA club, Austrian Cultural Forum Belgrade, Institut français de Serbie and Collegium Hungaricum Belgrade. Holding on to a long tradition is never easy and the only way to achieve that is to have a large number of people who appreciate the conference, so we would like to thank all the invited speakers and participants for taking part in the 27th SPIG conference. Editors of the issue: Dr Dragana Marić (Instutute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade Dr Aleksandar R. Milosavljević (Instutute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade) Prof Zoran Mijatović (Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad)

Racial Differences in the Prediction of Class ’A’ School Grades

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-06-01

is the latest in a series of efforts to provide the educationally disadvantaged with an opportunity for technical training in...to find new ways to measure the talents of the educationally disadvantaged and train them in an appropriate rating. A recent effort looked at...has expended considerable research effort at- tempting to increase the number of educationally disadvantaged personnel selected for technical

Multivariate Relationships of Specific Impression Cues with Teacher Expectations and Dyadic Interactions in Elementary Physical Education Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinek, Thomas J.; Karper, William B.

1984-01-01

This study determined multivariate relationships of the impression cues of attractiveness and effort with teacher expectations and dyadic interaction in two groups of elementary school children. (Author/JMK)

Guidelines for the air-sea interaction special study: An element of the NASA climate research program, JPL/SIO workshop report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

A program in the area of air sea interactions is introduced. A space capability is discussed for global observations of climate parameters which will contribute to the understanding of the processes which influence climate and its predictability. The following recommendations are some of the suggestions made for air sea interaction studies: (1) a major effort needs to be devoted to the preparation of space based climatic data sets; (2) NASA should create a group or center for climatic data analysis due to the substantial long term effort that is needed in research and development; (3) funding for the analyses of existing data sets should be augmented and continued beyond the termination of present programs; (4) NASA should fund studies in universities, research institutions and governments' centers; and (5) the planning for an air sea interaction mission should be an early task.

The Lion King and the Hyaena Queen: large carnivore interactions and coexistence.

PubMed

Périquet, Stéphanie; Fritz, Hervé; Revilla, Eloy

2015-11-01

Interactions among species, which range from competition to facilitation, have profound effects on ecosystem functioning. Large carnivores are of particular importance in shaping community structure since they are at the top of the food chain, and many efforts are made to conserve such keystone species. Despite this, the mechanisms of carnivore interactions are far from understood, yet they are key to enabling or hindering their coexistence and hence are highly relevant for their conservation. The goal of this review is thus to provide detailed information on the extents of competition and facilitation between large carnivores and their impact in shaping their life histories. Here, we use the example of spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) and lions (Panthera leo) and provide a comprehensive knowledge of their interactions based on meta-analyses from available literature (148 publications). Despite their strong potential for both exploitation and interference competition (range and diet overlap, intraguild predation and kleptoparasitism), we underline some mechanisms facilitating their coexistence (different prey-age selection and scavenging opportunities). We stress the fact that prey abundance is key to their coexistence and that hyaenas forming very large groups in rich ecosystems could have a negative impact on lions. We show that the coexistence of spotted hyaenas and lions is a complex balance between competition and facilitation, and that prey availability within the ecosystem determines which predator is dominant. However, there are still many gaps in our knowledge such as the spatio-temporal dynamics of their interactions. As both species' survival becomes increasingly dependent on protected areas, where their densities can be high, it is critical to understand their interactions to inform both reintroduction programs and protected area management. © 2014 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Prenatal Ultrasound Screening: False Positive Soft Markers May Alter Maternal Representations and Mother-Infant Interaction

PubMed Central

Viaux-Savelon, Sylvie; Dommergues, Marc; Rosenblum, Ouriel; Bodeau, Nicolas; Aidane, Elizabeth; Philippon, Odile; Mazet, Philippe; Vibert-Guigue, Claude; Vauthier-Brouzes, Danièle; Feldman, Ruth; Cohen, David

2012-01-01

Background In up to 5% of pregnancies, ultrasound screening detects a “soft marker” (SM) that places the foetus at risk for a severe abnormality. In most cases, prenatal diagnostic work-up rules out a severe defect. We aimed to study the effects of false positive SM on maternal emotional status, maternal representations of the infant, and mother-infant interaction. Methodology and Principal Findings Utilizing an extreme-case prospective case control design, we selected from a group of 244 women undergoing ultrasound, 19 pregnant women whose foetus had a positive SM screening and a reassuring diagnostic work up, and 19 controls without SM matched for age and education. In the third trimester of pregnancy, within one week after delivery, and 2 months postpartum, we assessed anxiety, depression, and maternal representations. Mother-infant interactions were videotaped during feeding within one week after delivery and again at 2 months postpartum and coded blindly using the Coding Interactive Behavior (CIB) scales. Anxiety and depression scores were significantly higher at all assessment points in the SM group. Maternal representations were also different between SM and control groups at all study time. Perturbations to early mother-infant interactions were observed in the SM group. These dyads showed greater dysregulation, lower maternal sensitivity, higher maternal intrusive behaviour and higher infant avoidance. Multivariate analysis showed that maternal representation and depression at third trimester predicted mother-infant interaction. Conclusion False positive ultrasound screenings for SM are not benign and negatively affect the developing maternal-infant attachment. Medical efforts should be directed to minimize as much as possible such false diagnoses, and to limit their psychological adverse consequences. PMID:22292077

Discovery of 3-morpholino-imidazole[1,5-a]pyrazine BTK inhibitors for rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed

Boga, Sobhana Babu; Alhassan, Abdul-Basit; Liu, Jian; Guiadeen, Deodial; Krikorian, Arto; Gao, Xiaolei; Wang, James; Yu, Younong; Anand, Rajan; Liu, Shilan; Yang, Chundao; Wu, Hao; Cai, Jiaqiang; Zhu, Hugh; Desai, Jagdish; Maloney, Kevin; Gao, Ying-Duo; Fischmann, Thierry O; Presland, Jeremy; Mansueto, My; Xu, Zangwei; Leccese, Erica; Knemeyer, Ian; Garlisi, Charles G; Bays, Nathan; Stivers, Peter; Brandish, Philip E; Hicks, Alexandra; Cooper, Alan; Kim, Ronald M; Kozlowski, Joseph A

2017-08-15

8-Amino-imidazo[1,5-a]pyrazine-based Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, such as 6, exhibited potent inhibition of BTK but required improvements in both kinase and hERG selectivity (Liu et al., 2016; Gao et al., 2017). In an effort to maintain the inhibitory activity of these analogs and improve their selectivity profiles, we carried out SAR exploration of groups at the 3-position of pyrazine compound 6. This effort led to the discovery of the morpholine group as an optimized pharmacophore. Compounds 13, 23 and 38 displayed excellent BTK potencies, kinase and hERG selectivities, and pharmacokinetic profiles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How motivation affects academic performance: a structural equation modelling analysis.

PubMed

Kusurkar, R A; Ten Cate, Th J; Vos, C M P; Westers, P; Croiset, G

2013-03-01

Few studies in medical education have studied effect of quality of motivation on performance. Self-Determination Theory based on quality of motivation differentiates between Autonomous Motivation (AM) that originates within an individual and Controlled Motivation (CM) that originates from external sources. To determine whether Relative Autonomous Motivation (RAM, a measure of the balance between AM and CM) affects academic performance through good study strategy and higher study effort and compare this model between subgroups: males and females; students selected via two different systems namely qualitative and weighted lottery selection. Data on motivation, study strategy and effort was collected from 383 medical students of VU University Medical Center Amsterdam and their academic performance results were obtained from the student administration. Structural Equation Modelling analysis technique was used to test a hypothesized model in which high RAM would positively affect Good Study Strategy (GSS) and study effort, which in turn would positively affect academic performance in the form of grade point averages. This model fit well with the data, Chi square = 1.095, df = 3, p = 0.778, RMSEA model fit = 0.000. This model also fitted well for all tested subgroups of students. Differences were found in the strength of relationships between the variables for the different subgroups as expected. In conclusion, RAM positively correlated with academic performance through deep strategy towards study and higher study effort. This model seems valid in medical education in subgroups such as males, females, students selected by qualitative and weighted lottery selection.

Student Effort and Performance over the Semester

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krohn, Gregory A.; O'Connor, Catherine M.

2005-01-01

The authors extend the standard education production function and student time allocation analysis to focus on the interactions between student effort and performance over the semester. The purged instrumental variable technique is used to obtain consistent estimators of the structural parameters of the model using data from intermediate…

Experimental validation of predicted cancer genes using FRET

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guala, Dimitri; Bernhem, Kristoffer; Ait Blal, Hammou; Jans, Daniel; Lundberg, Emma; Brismar, Hjalmar; Sonnhammer, Erik L. L.

2018-07-01

Huge amounts of data are generated in genome wide experiments, designed to investigate diseases with complex genetic causes. Follow up of all potential leads produced by such experiments is currently cost prohibitive and time consuming. Gene prioritization tools alleviate these constraints by directing further experimental efforts towards the most promising candidate targets. Recently a gene prioritization tool called MaxLink was shown to outperform other widely used state-of-the-art prioritization tools in a large scale in silico benchmark. An experimental validation of predictions made by MaxLink has however been lacking. In this study we used Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer, an established experimental technique for detection of protein-protein interactions, to validate potential cancer genes predicted by MaxLink. Our results provide confidence in the use of MaxLink for selection of new targets in the battle with polygenic diseases.

Progress in the biosensing techniques for trace-level heavy metals.

PubMed

Mehta, Jyotsana; Bhardwaj, Sanjeev K; Bhardwaj, Neha; Paul, A K; Kumar, Pawan; Kim, Ki-Hyun; Deep, Akash

2016-01-01

Diverse classes of sensors have been developed over the past few decades for on-site detections of heavy metals. Most of these sensor systems have exploited optical, electrochemical, piezoelectric, ion-selective (electrode), and electrochemical measurement techniques. As such, numerous efforts have been made to explore the role of biosensors in the detection of heavy metals based on well-known interactions between heavy metals and biomolecules (e.g. proteins, peptides, enzymes, antibodies, whole cells, and nucleic acids). In this review, we cover the recent progress made on different types of biosensors for the detection of heavy metals. Our major focus was examining the use of biomolecules for constructing these biosensors. The discussion is extended further to cover the biosensors' performance along with challenges and opportunities for practical utilization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural network based visualization of collaborations in a citizen science project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morais, Alessandra M. M.; Santos, Rafael D. C.; Raddick, M. Jordan

2014-05-01

Citizen science projects are those in which volunteers are asked to collaborate in scientific projects, usually by volunteering idle computer time for distributed data processing efforts or by actively labeling or classifying information - shapes of galaxies, whale sounds, historical records are all examples of citizen science projects in which users access a data collecting system to label or classify images and sounds. In order to be successful, a citizen science project must captivate users and keep them interested on the project and on the science behind it, increasing therefore the time the users spend collaborating with the project. Understanding behavior of citizen scientists and their interaction with the data collection systems may help increase the involvement of the users, categorize them accordingly to different parameters, facilitate their collaboration with the systems, design better user interfaces, and allow better planning and deployment of similar projects and systems. Users behavior can be actively monitored or derived from their interaction with the data collection systems. Records of the interactions can be analyzed using visualization techniques to identify patterns and outliers. In this paper we present some results on the visualization of more than 80 million interactions of almost 150 thousand users with the Galaxy Zoo I citizen science project. Visualization of the attributes extracted from their behaviors was done with a clustering neural network (the Self-Organizing Map) and a selection of icon- and pixel-based techniques. These techniques allows the visual identification of groups of similar behavior in several different ways.

A systematic analysis of scoring functions in rigid-body protein docking: The delicate balance between the predictive rate improvement and the risk of overtraining.

PubMed

Barradas-Bautista, Didier; Moal, Iain H; Fernández-Recio, Juan

2017-07-01

Protein-protein interactions play fundamental roles in biological processes including signaling, metabolism, and trafficking. While the structure of a protein complex reveals crucial details about the interaction, it is often difficult to acquire this information experimentally. As the number of interactions discovered increases faster than they can be characterized, protein-protein docking calculations may be able to reduce this disparity by providing models of the interacting proteins. Rigid-body docking is a widely used docking approach, and is often capable of generating a pool of models within which a near-native structure can be found. These models need to be scored in order to select the acceptable ones from the set of poses. Recently, more than 100 scoring functions from the CCharPPI server were evaluated for this task using decoy structures generated with SwarmDock. Here, we extend this analysis to identify the predictive success rates of the scoring functions on decoys from three rigid-body docking programs, ZDOCK, FTDock, and SDOCK, allowing us to assess the transferability of the functions. We also apply set-theoretic measure to test whether the scoring functions are capable of identifying near-native poses within different subsets of the benchmark. This information can provide guides for the use of the most efficient scoring function for each docking method, as well as instruct future scoring functions development efforts. Proteins 2017; 85:1287-1297. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Predicting Internalizing Problems in Chinese Children: the Unique and Interactive Effects of Parenting and Child Temperament

PubMed Central

Muhtadie, Luma; Zhou, Qing; Eisenberg, Nancy; Wang, Yun

2012-01-01

The additive and interactive relations of parenting styles (authoritative and authoritarian parenting) and child temperament (anger/frustration, sadness, and effortful control) to children’s internalizing problems were examined in a 3.8-year longitudinal study of 425 Chinese children (6 – 9 years) from Beijing. At Wave 1, parents self-reported on their parenting styles, and parents and teachers rated child temperament. At Wave 2, parents, teachers, and children rated children’s internalizing problems. Structural equation modeling indicated that the main effect of authoritative parenting, and the interactions of authoritarian parenting × effortful control and authoritative parenting × anger/frustration (parents’ reports only) prospectively and uniquely predicted internalizing problems. The above results did not vary by child sex and remained significant after controlling for co-occurring externalizing problems. These findings suggest that: a) children with low effortful control may be particularly susceptible to the adverse effect of authoritarian parenting, and b) the benefit of authoritative parenting may be especially important for children with high anger/frustration. PMID:23880383

The role of temperament by family environment interactions in child maladjustment.

PubMed

Chen, Nan; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Bell, Martha Ann

2014-11-01

In order to advance our understanding of the etiology of individual differences in child maladjustment (i.e., conduct and emotional problems), we tested hypotheses about the statistical interactions between child temperament and two aspects of the family environment: maternal negativity and positivity, and household chaos (e.g., crowding, noise, lack of routines). Mothers (n = 149) reported on their child's effortful control, negative affect, surgency, and behavioral/emotional problems. The age range of the children was 3 to 7 years old and half of the sample was girls. Observers rated maternal negativity and positivity based on brief structured interaction tasks in the laboratory. Child temperament moderated the association between maternal negativity/positivity and child maladjustment. Maternal negativity and child problem behavior were associated only for those children who also were high in surgency or negative affectivity. Maternal positivity was associated with less child problem behavior for those high in surgency. Child effortful control interacted with both maternal negativity and chaos. Maternal negativity and child problem behavior were most strongly associated for children who were low in effortful control and living in chaotic homes. The results point to distinct transactions between child temperament and maternal negativity/positivity that depend in part on the dimensions of temperament and parenting behavior in question.

The Role of Temperament by Family Environment Interactions in Child Maladjustment

PubMed Central

Chen, Nan; Deater-Deckard, Kirby; Bell, Martha Ann

2014-01-01

In order to advance our understanding of the etiology of individual differences in child maladjustment (i.e., conduct and emotional problems), we tested hypotheses about the statistical interactions between child temperament and two aspects of the family environment: maternal negativity and positivity, and household chaos (e.g., crowding, noise, lack of routines). Mothers (n = 149) reported on their child’s effortful control, negative affect, surgency, and behavioral/emotional problems. The age range of the children was 3 to 7 years old and half of the sample was girls. Observers rated maternal negativity and positivity based on brief structured interaction tasks in the laboratory. Child temperament moderated the association between maternal negativity/positivity and child maladjustment. Maternal negativity and child problem behavior were associated only for those children who also were high in surgency or negative affectivity. Maternal positivity was associated with less child problem behavior for those high in surgency. Child effortful control interacted with both maternal negativity and chaos. Maternal negativity and child problem behavior were most strongly associated for children who were low in effortful control and living in chaotic homes. The results point to distinct transactions between child temperament and maternal negativity/positivity that depend in part on the dimensions of temperament and parenting behavior in question. PMID:24691836

Wave-Sediment Interaction in Muddy Environments: A Field Experiment

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

Geosciences project includes a field experiment on the Atchafalaya shelf, Louisiana, in Years 1 and 2 (2007-2008) and a data analysis and modeling effort in... analysis procedures. During the major field experiment effort in 2008 (Year 2), a total of 5 tripods were deployed at locations fronting the Atchafalaya...experiment effort. This final year of the project (2009, Year 3) has been focused upon data analysis and preparation of publications. APPROACH

REGIONAL PRIORITIZATIONS OF BIODIVERSITY AND SEDIMENT RETENTION FUNCTIONS: FINDINGS AND MANAGEMENT RELEVANCE

EPA Science Inventory

The synoptic approach is a landscape-level assessment tool for geographic prioritization of wetland protection and restoration efforts. Prioritization becomes necessary when effort ? including time and money ? is limited, forcing managers to select a subset of locations. The ap...

Mechanical effort predicts the selection of ankle over hip strategies in nonstepping postural responses

PubMed Central

Jonkers, Ilse; De Schutter, Joris; De Groote, Friedl

2016-01-01

Experimental studies have shown that a continuum of ankle and hip strategies is used to restore posture following an external perturbation. Postural responses can be modeled by feedback control with feedback gains that optimize a specific objective. On the one hand, feedback gains that minimize effort have been used to predict muscle activity during perturbed standing. On the other hand, hip and ankle strategies have been predicted by minimizing postural instability and deviation from upright posture. It remains unclear, however, whether and how effort minimization influences the selection of a specific postural response. We hypothesize that the relative importance of minimizing mechanical work vs. postural instability influences the strategy used to restore upright posture. This hypothesis was investigated based on experiments and predictive simulations of the postural response following a backward support surface translation. Peak hip flexion angle was significantly correlated with three experimentally determined measures of effort, i.e., mechanical work, mean muscle activity and metabolic energy. Furthermore, a continuum of ankle and hip strategies was predicted in simulation when changing the relative importance of minimizing mechanical work and postural instability, with increased weighting of mechanical work resulting in an ankle strategy. In conclusion, the combination of experimental measurements and predictive simulations of the postural response to a backward support surface translation showed that the trade-off between effort and postural instability minimization can explain the selection of a specific postural response in the continuum of potential ankle and hip strategies. PMID:27489362

Dramatic action: A theater-based paradigm for analyzing human interactions

PubMed Central

Raindel, Noa; Alon, Uri

2018-01-01

Existing approaches to describe social interactions consider emotional states or use ad-hoc descriptors for microanalysis of interactions. Such descriptors are different in each context thereby limiting comparisons, and can also mix facets of meaning such as emotional states, short term tactics and long-term goals. To develop a systematic set of concepts for second-by-second social interactions, we suggest a complementary approach based on practices employed in theater. Theater uses the concept of dramatic action, the effort that one makes to change the psychological state of another. Unlike states (e.g. emotions), dramatic actions aim to change states; unlike long-term goals or motivations, dramatic actions can last seconds. We defined a set of 22 basic dramatic action verbs using a lexical approach, such as ‘to threaten’–the effort to incite fear, and ‘to encourage’–the effort to inspire hope or confidence. We developed a set of visual cartoon stimuli for these basic dramatic actions, and find that people can reliably and reproducibly assign dramatic action verbs to these stimuli. We show that each dramatic action can be carried out with different emotions, indicating that the two constructs are distinct. We characterized a principal valence axis of dramatic actions. Finally, we re-analyzed three widely-used interaction coding systems in terms of dramatic actions, to suggest that dramatic actions might serve as a common vocabulary across research contexts. This study thus operationalizes and tests dramatic action as a potentially useful concept for research on social interaction, and in particular on influence tactics. PMID:29518101

Convergence in Multispecies Interactions.

PubMed

Bittleston, Leonora S; Pierce, Naomi E; Ellison, Aaron M; Pringle, Anne

2016-04-01

The concepts of convergent evolution and community convergence highlight how selective pressures can shape unrelated organisms or communities in similar ways. We propose a related concept, convergent interactions, to describe the independent evolution of multispecies interactions with similar physiological or ecological functions. A focus on convergent interactions clarifies how natural selection repeatedly favors particular kinds of associations among species. Characterizing convergent interactions in a comparative context is likely to facilitate prediction of the ecological roles of organisms (including microbes) in multispecies interactions and selective pressures acting in poorly understood or newly discovered multispecies systems. We illustrate the concept of convergent interactions with examples: vertebrates and their gut bacteria; ectomycorrhizae; insect-fungal-bacterial interactions; pitcher-plant food webs; and ants and ant-plants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Human Reliability Based Usability Evaluation Method for Safety-Critical Software

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

Phillippe Palanque; Regina Bernhaupt; Ronald Boring

2006-04-01

Recent years have seen an increasing use of sophisticated interaction techniques including in the field of safety critical interactive software [8]. The use of such techniques has been required in order to increase the bandwidth between the users and systems and thus to help them deal efficiently with increasingly complex systems. These techniques come from research and innovation done in the field of humancomputer interaction (HCI). A significant effort is currently being undertaken by the HCI community in order to apply and extend current usability evaluation techniques to these new kinds of interaction techniques. However, very little has been donemore » to improve the reliability of software offering these kinds of interaction techniques. Even testing basic graphical user interfaces remains a challenge that has rarely been addressed in the field of software engineering [9]. However, the non reliability of interactive software can jeopardize usability evaluation by showing unexpected or undesired behaviors. The aim of this SIG is to provide a forum for both researchers and practitioners interested in testing interactive software. Our goal is to define a roadmap of activities to cross fertilize usability and reliability testing of these kinds of systems to minimize duplicate efforts in both communities.« less

Discrimination of correlated and entangling quantum channels with selective process tomography

DOE PAGES

Dumitrescu, Eugene; Humble, Travis S.

2016-10-10

The accurate and reliable characterization of quantum dynamical processes underlies efforts to validate quantum technologies, where discrimination between competing models of observed behaviors inform efforts to fabricate and operate qubit devices. We present a protocol for quantum channel discrimination that leverages advances in direct characterization of quantum dynamics (DCQD) codes. We demonstrate that DCQD codes enable selective process tomography to improve discrimination between entangling and correlated quantum dynamics. Numerical simulations show selective process tomography requires only a few measurement configurations to achieve a low false alarm rate and that the DCQD encoding improves the resilience of the protocol to hiddenmore » sources of noise. Lastly, our results show that selective process tomography with DCQD codes is useful for efficiently distinguishing sources of correlated crosstalk from uncorrelated noise in current and future experimental platforms.« less

THE IDENTIFICATION AND TESTING OF INTERACTION PATTERNS

EPA Science Inventory

This paper presents a method for identifying and assessing the significance of interaction patterns among various chemicals and chemical classes of importance to regulatory toxicologists. To this end, efforts were made to assemble and evaluate experimental data on toxicologically...

The Development of Effortful Control in Children Born Preterm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poehlmann, Julie; Schwichtenberg, A. J. Miller; Shah, Prachi E.; Shlafer, Rebecca J.; Hahn, Emily; Maleck, Sarah

2010-01-01

This prospective longitudinal study examined emerging effortful control skills at 24- and 36-months postterm in 172 children born preterm (less than 36 weeks gestation). Infant (neonatal health risks), family (sociodemographic risks), and maternal risk factors (depressive symptoms, anger expressions during play interactions) were assessed at six…

POWER AND SAMPLE SIZE CALCULATIONS FOR LINEAR HYPOTHESES ASSOCIATED WITH MIXTURES OF MANY COMPONENTS USING FIXED-RATIO RAY DESIGNS

EPA Science Inventory

Response surface methodology, often supported by factorial designs, is the classical experimental approach that is widely accepted for detecting and characterizing interactions among chemicals in a mixture. In an effort to reduce the experimental effort as the number of compound...

Advancing Diversity and Inclusion through Strategic Multilevel Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takayama, Kathy; Kaplan, Matthew; Cook-Sather, Alison

2017-01-01

In this article, the authors describe how five institutions have employed the dynamic relationship between university-wide leadership efforts (the macro level); interactions and initiatives within the school, college, or department (the meso level); and efforts by individual instructors and activists (the micro level) to create change at their…

Interactive Electronic Storybooks for Kindergartners to Promote Vocabulary Growth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smeets, Daisy J. H.; Bus, Adriana G.

2012-01-01

The goals of this study were to examine (a) whether extratextual vocabulary instructions embedded in electronic storybooks facilitated word learning over reading alone and (b) whether instructional formats that required children to invest more effort were more effective than formats that required less effort. A computer-based "assistant" was added…

The Kibbutz in the 1970's: From Utopia Towards Modernization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rayman, Paula

The document examines the evolution of kibbutzim in Israel. The author suggests that a primary factor in the kibbutz development is the nature and structure of Israeli modernization efforts. The efforts encompass national ideology, industrialization, and legitimization of certain forms of social interaction. This mode of modernization stands in…

Moisture, plant-plant interactions and herbivory as drivers of rangeland restoration success in the western US

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Restoration efforts in the western US occur across a diverse array of plant communities and climatic conditions. Restoration is likely constrained by different factors in different locations, but few efforts have compared the outcomes of rangeland restoration experiments across broad spatial scales....

Focal Suppression of Distractor Sounds by Selective Attention in Auditory Cortex.

PubMed

Schwartz, Zachary P; David, Stephen V

2018-01-01

Auditory selective attention is required for parsing crowded acoustic environments, but cortical systems mediating the influence of behavioral state on auditory perception are not well characterized. Previous neurophysiological studies suggest that attention produces a general enhancement of neural responses to important target sounds versus irrelevant distractors. However, behavioral studies suggest that in the presence of masking noise, attention provides a focal suppression of distractors that compete with targets. Here, we compared effects of attention on cortical responses to masking versus non-masking distractors, controlling for effects of listening effort and general task engagement. We recorded single-unit activity from primary auditory cortex (A1) of ferrets during behavior and found that selective attention decreased responses to distractors masking targets in the same spectral band, compared with spectrally distinct distractors. This suppression enhanced neural target detection thresholds, suggesting that limited attention resources serve to focally suppress responses to distractors that interfere with target detection. Changing effort by manipulating target salience consistently modulated spontaneous but not evoked activity. Task engagement and changing effort tended to affect the same neurons, while attention affected an independent population, suggesting that distinct feedback circuits mediate effects of attention and effort in A1. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Helping effort increases with relatedness in bell miners, but ‘unrelated’ helpers of both sexes still provide substantial care

PubMed Central

Wright, Jonathan; McDonald, Paul G.; te Marvelde, Luc; Kazem, Anahita J. N.; Bishop, Charles M.

2010-01-01

Indirect fitness benefits from kin selection can explain why non-breeding individuals help raise the young of relatives. However, the evolution of helping by non-relatives requires direct fitness benefits, for example via group augmentation. Here, we examine nest visit rates, load sizes and prey types delivered by breeding pairs and their helpers in the cooperatively breeding bell miner (Manorina melanophrys). In this system, males remain in their natal colony while young females typically disperse, and helpers of both sexes often assist at multiple nests concurrently. We found extremely clear evidence for the expected effect of genetic relatedness on individual helping effort per nest within colonies. This positive incremental effect of kinship was facultative—i.e. largely the result of within-individual variation in helping effort. Surprisingly, no sex differences were detectable in any aspect of helping, and even non-relatives provided substantial aid. Helpers and breeders of both sexes regulated their provisioning effort by responding visit-by-visit to changes in nestling begging. Helping behaviour in bell miners therefore appears consistent with adaptive cooperative investment in the brood, and kin-selected care by relatives. Similar investment by ‘unrelated’ helpers of both sexes argues against direct fitness benefits, but is perhaps explained by kin selection at the colony level. PMID:19846458

Multi-atlas segmentation enables robust multi-contrast MRI spleen segmentation for splenomegaly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huo, Yuankai; Liu, Jiaqi; Xu, Zhoubing; Harrigan, Robert L.; Assad, Albert; Abramson, Richard G.; Landman, Bennett A.

2017-02-01

Non-invasive spleen volume estimation is essential in detecting splenomegaly. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to facilitate splenomegaly diagnosis in vivo. However, achieving accurate spleen volume estimation from MR images is challenging given the great inter-subject variance of human abdomens and wide variety of clinical images/modalities. Multi-atlas segmentation has been shown to be a promising approach to handle heterogeneous data and difficult anatomical scenarios. In this paper, we propose to use multi-atlas segmentation frameworks for MRI spleen segmentation for splenomegaly. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that integrates multi-atlas segmentation for splenomegaly as seen on MRI. To address the particular concerns of spleen MRI, automated and novel semi-automated atlas selection approaches are introduced. The automated approach interactively selects a subset of atlases using selective and iterative method for performance level estimation (SIMPLE) approach. To further control the outliers, semi-automated craniocaudal length based SIMPLE atlas selection (L-SIMPLE) is proposed to introduce a spatial prior in a fashion to guide the iterative atlas selection. A dataset from a clinical trial containing 55 MRI volumes (28 T1 weighted and 27 T2 weighted) was used to evaluate different methods. Both automated and semi-automated methods achieved median DSC > 0.9. The outliers were alleviated by the L-SIMPLE (≍1 min manual efforts per scan), which achieved 0.9713 Pearson correlation compared with the manual segmentation. The results demonstrated that the multi-atlas segmentation is able to achieve accurate spleen segmentation from the multi-contrast splenomegaly MRI scans.

Multi-atlas Segmentation Enables Robust Multi-contrast MRI Spleen Segmentation for Splenomegaly.

PubMed

Huo, Yuankai; Liu, Jiaqi; Xu, Zhoubing; Harrigan, Robert L; Assad, Albert; Abramson, Richard G; Landman, Bennett A

2017-02-11

Non-invasive spleen volume estimation is essential in detecting splenomegaly. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to facilitate splenomegaly diagnosis in vivo. However, achieving accurate spleen volume estimation from MR images is challenging given the great inter-subject variance of human abdomens and wide variety of clinical images/modalities. Multi-atlas segmentation has been shown to be a promising approach to handle heterogeneous data and difficult anatomical scenarios. In this paper, we propose to use multi-atlas segmentation frameworks for MRI spleen segmentation for splenomegaly. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that integrates multi-atlas segmentation for splenomegaly as seen on MRI. To address the particular concerns of spleen MRI, automated and novel semi-automated atlas selection approaches are introduced. The automated approach interactively selects a subset of atlases using selective and iterative method for performance level estimation (SIMPLE) approach. To further control the outliers, semi-automated craniocaudal length based SIMPLE atlas selection (L-SIMPLE) is proposed to introduce a spatial prior in a fashion to guide the iterative atlas selection. A dataset from a clinical trial containing 55 MRI volumes (28 T1 weighted and 27 T2 weighted) was used to evaluate different methods. Both automated and semi-automated methods achieved median DSC > 0.9. The outliers were alleviated by the L-SIMPLE (≈1 min manual efforts per scan), which achieved 0.9713 Pearson correlation compared with the manual segmentation. The results demonstrated that the multi-atlas segmentation is able to achieve accurate spleen segmentation from the multi-contrast splenomegaly MRI scans.

Elaborate cellulosome architecture of Acetivibrio cellulolyticus revealed by selective screening of cohesin-dockerin interactions.

PubMed

Hamberg, Yuval; Ruimy-Israeli, Vered; Dassa, Bareket; Barak, Yoav; Lamed, Raphael; Cameron, Kate; Fontes, Carlos M G A; Bayer, Edward A; Fried, Daniel B

2014-01-01

Cellulosic waste represents a significant and underutilized carbon source for the biofuel industry. Owing to the recalcitrance of crystalline cellulose to enzymatic degradation, it is necessary to design economical methods of liberating the fermentable sugars required for bioethanol production. One route towards unlocking the potential of cellulosic waste lies in a highly complex class of molecular machines, the cellulosomes. Secreted mainly by anaerobic bacteria, cellulosomes are structurally diverse, cell surface-bound protein assemblies that can contain dozens of catalytic components. The key feature of the cellulosome is its modularity, facilitated by the ultra-high affinity cohesin-dockerin interaction. Due to the enormous number of cohesin and dockerin modules found in a typical cellulolytic organism, a major bottleneck in understanding the biology of cellulosomics is the purification of each cohesin- and dockerin-containing component, prior to analyses of their interaction. As opposed to previous approaches, the present study utilized proteins contained in unpurified whole-cell extracts. This strategy was made possible due to an experimental design that allowed for the relevant proteins to be "purified" via targeted affinity interactions as a function of the binding assay. The approach thus represents a new strategy, appropriate for future medium- to high-throughput screening of whole genomes, to determine the interactions between cohesins and dockerins. We have selected the cellulosome of Acetivibrio cellulolyticus for this work due to its exceptionally complex cellulosome systems and intriguing diversity of its cellulosomal modular components. Containing 41 cohesins and 143 dockerins, A. cellulolyticus has one of the largest number of potential cohesin-dockerin interactions of any organism, and contains unusual and novel cellulosomal features. We have surveyed a representative library of cohesin and dockerin modules spanning the cellulosome's total cohesin and dockerin sequence diversity, emphasizing the testing of unusual and previously-unknown protein modules. The screen revealed several novel cell-bound cellulosome architectures, thus expanding on those previously known, as well as soluble cellulose systems that are not bound to the bacterial cell surface. This study sets the stage for screening the entire complement of cellulosomal components from A. cellulolyticus and other organisms with large cellulosome systems. The knowledge gained by such efforts brings us closer to understanding the exceptional catalytic abilities of cellulosomes and will allow the use of novel cellulosomal components in artificial assemblies and in enzyme cocktails for sustainable energy-related research programs.

Studies of Solar Wind Interaction and Ionospheric Processes at Venus and Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bogan, Denis (Technical Monitor); Nagy, Andrew F.

2003-01-01

This is the final report summarizing the work done during the last three years under NASA Grant NAG5-8946. Our efforts centered on a systematic development of a new generation of three dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) numerical code, which models the interaction processes of the solar wind or fast flowing magnetospheric plasma with 'non-magnetic' solar system bodies (e.g. Venus, Mars, Europa, Titan). We have also worked on a number of different, more specific and discrete studies, as various opportunities arose. In the next few pages we briefly summarize these efforts.

THE ROLE OF GIS IN SELECTING SITES FOR RIPARIAN RESTORATION BASED ON HYDROLOGY AND LAND USE

EPA Science Inventory

Successful long-term wetland restoration efforts require consideration of hydrology and surrounding land use during the site selection process. This article describes an approach to initial site selection in the San Luis Rey River watershed in southern California that uses waters...

48 CFR 35.009 - Subcontracting research and development effort.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... ACQUISITION REGULATION SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTING 35.009 Subcontracting research and development effort. Since the selection of R&D contractors is substantially based on... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Subcontracting research...

How attention gates social interactions.

PubMed

Capozzi, Francesca; Ristic, Jelena

2018-05-25

Social interactions are at the core of social life. However, humans selectively choose their exchange partners and do not engage in all available opportunities for social encounters. In this review, we argue that attentional systems play an important role in guiding the selection of social interactions. Supported by both classic and emerging literature, we identify and characterize the three core processes-perception, interpretation, and evaluation-that interact with attentional systems to modulate selective responses to social environments. Perceptual processes facilitate attentional prioritization of social cues. Interpretative processes link attention with understanding of cues' social meanings and agents' mental states. Evaluative processes determine the perceived value of the source of social information. The interplay between attention and these three routes of processing places attention in a powerful role to manage the selection of the vast amount of social information that individuals encounter on a daily basis and, in turn, gate the selection of social interactions. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

A synthetic intrabody-based selective and generic inhibitor of GPCR endocytosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Eshan; Srivastava, Ashish; Baidya, Mithu; Kumari, Punita; Dwivedi, Hemlata; Nidhi, Kumari; Ranjan, Ravi; Dogra, Shalini; Koide, Akiko; Yadav, Prem N.; Sidhu, Sachdev S.; Koide, Shohei; Shukla, Arun K.

2017-12-01

Beta-arrestins (βarrs) critically mediate desensitization, endocytosis and signalling of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and they scaffold a large number of interaction partners. However, allosteric modulation of their scaffolding abilities and direct targeting of their interaction interfaces to modulate GPCR functions selectively have not been fully explored yet. Here we identified a series of synthetic antibody fragments (Fabs) against different conformations of βarrs from phage display libraries. Several of these Fabs allosterically and selectively modulated the interaction of βarrs with clathrin and ERK MAP kinase. Interestingly, one of these Fabs selectively disrupted βarr-clathrin interaction, and when expressed as an intrabody, it robustly inhibited agonist-induced endocytosis of a broad set of GPCRs without affecting ERK MAP kinase activation. Our data therefore demonstrate the feasibility of selectively targeting βarr interactions using intrabodies and provide a novel framework for fine-tuning GPCR functions with potential therapeutic implications.

Integrating HCI into IDT: Charting the Human Computer Interaction Competencies Necessary for Instructional Media Production Coursework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Abbie; Sugar, William

2004-01-01

A report on the efforts made to describe the range of human-computer interaction skills necessary to complete a program of study in Instructional Design Technology. Educators responsible for instructional media production courses have not yet articulated which among the wide range of possible interactions students must master for instructional…

Learning with Web-Based Interactive Objects: An Investigation into Student Perceptions of Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salajan, Florin D.; Perschbacher, Susanne; Cash, Mindy; Talwar, Reena; El-Badrawy, Wafa; Mount, Greg J.

2009-01-01

In its efforts to continue the modernization of its curriculum, the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto has developed a series of web-based interactive learning applications. This article presents the production cycle of these new interactive learning objects and the preliminary study conducted to measure the students' perception of…

Levels and limits in artificial selection of communities.

PubMed

Blouin, Manuel; Karimi, Battle; Mathieu, Jérôme; Lerch, Thomas Z

2015-10-01

Artificial selection of individuals has been determinant in the elaboration of the Darwinian theory of natural selection. Nowadays, artificial selection of ecosystems has proven its efficiency and could contribute to a theory of natural selection at several organisation levels. Here, we were not interested in identifying mechanisms of adaptation to selection, but in establishing the proof of principle that a specific structure of interaction network emerges under ecosystem artificial selection. We also investigated the limits in ecosystem artificial selection to evaluate its potential in terms of managing ecosystem function. By artificially selecting microbial communities for low CO2 emissions over 21 generations (n = 7560), we found a very high heritability of community phenotype (52%). Artificial selection was responsible for simpler interaction networks with lower interaction richness. Phenotype variance and heritability both decreased across generations, suggesting that selection was more likely limited by sampling effects than by stochastic ecosystem dynamics. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Developing tools for the study of molluscan immunity: The sequencing of the genome of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica.

PubMed

Gómez-Chiarri, Marta; Warren, Wesley C; Guo, Ximing; Proestou, Dina

2015-09-01

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, provides important ecological and economical services, making it the target of restoration projects and supporting a significant fishery/aquaculture industry with landings valued at more than $100 million in 2012 in the United States of America. Due to the impact of infectious diseases on wild, restored, and cultured populations, the eastern oyster has been the focus of studies on host-pathogen interactions and immunity, as well as the target of selective breeding efforts for disease resistant oyster lines. Despite these efforts, relatively little is known about the genetic basis of resistance to diseases or environmental stress, not only in eastern oyster, but also in other molluscan species of commercial interest worldwide. In order to develop tools and resources to assist in the elucidation of the genomic basis of traits of commercial, biological, and ecological interest in oysters, a team of genome and bioinformatics experts, in collaboration with the oyster research community, is sequencing, assembling, and annotating the first reference genome for the eastern oyster and producing an exhaustive transcriptome from a variety of oyster developmental stages and tissues in response to a diverse set of environmentally-relevant stimuli. These transcriptomes and reference genome for the eastern oyster, added to the already available genome and transcriptomes for the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and other bivalve species, will be an essential resource for the discovery of candidate genes and markers associated with traits of commercial, biological, and ecologic importance in bivalve molluscs, including those related to host-pathogen interactions and immunity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predicting Brook Trout occurrence in stream reaches throughout their native range in the eastern United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeWeber, Jefferson Tyrell; Wagner, Tyler

2015-01-01

The Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis is an important species of conservation concern in the eastern USA. We developed a model to predict Brook Trout population status within individual stream reaches throughout the species’ native range in the eastern USA. We utilized hierarchical logistic regression with Bayesian estimation to predict Brook Trout occurrence probability, and we allowed slopes and intercepts to vary among ecological drainage units (EDUs). Model performance was similar for 7,327 training samples and 1,832 validation samples based on the area under the receiver operating curve (∼0.78) and Cohen's kappa statistic (0.44). Predicted water temperature had a strong negative effect on Brook Trout occurrence probability at the stream reach scale and was also negatively associated with the EDU average probability of Brook Trout occurrence (i.e., EDU-specific intercepts). The effect of soil permeability was positive but decreased as EDU mean soil permeability increased. Brook Trout were less likely to occur in stream reaches surrounded by agricultural or developed land cover, and an interaction suggested that agricultural land cover also resulted in an increased sensitivity to water temperature. Our model provides a further understanding of how Brook Trout are shaped by habitat characteristics in the region and yields maps of stream-reach-scale predictions, which together can be used to support ongoing conservation and management efforts. These decision support tools can be used to identify the extent of potentially suitable habitat, estimate historic habitat losses, and prioritize conservation efforts by selecting suitable stream reaches for a given action. Future work could extend the model to account for additional landscape or habitat characteristics, include biotic interactions, or estimate potential Brook Trout responses to climate and land use changes.

1994-2004 : Ten years of European effort for education in Seismology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virieux, J.; Zollo, A.; Lomax, A.; Berenguer, J.; Laj, C.; Bobbio, A.

2004-12-01

Following trends of the pioneer PEPP project in USA, an European group has investigated since 1994 how to promote physics and earth sciences and, more specifically, how to educate scientifically and socially young generations to environmental hazards. Seismology has been selected as the vehicle for a prototypical ten-years experience of teaching and learning sciences in European high schools accounting for the specificity and differencies of educational systems in each country. This general purpose has required competences and strong interactions of both teachers, researchers and high school students. Over ten years of continuous activities, these people have found that the target was very ambitious and that both high-tech efforts as well as very focused teaching procedures must be set on. Dedicated instruments were developped in two years through interactions between researchers,teachers and students in order to fit both the scientific quality but also pedagogical features and were installed in different parts of Europe. The sequence of Colfiorito Earthquakes in September-October 1997 was the first data collected simultaneously in different European schools. Since then, more thant 50 stations have been deployed over Europe and data have been made available for education purposes. Data from these seismic stations have been used as the back-bone for interactions between students/pupils, teachers and researchers leading to the development of dedicated teaching and learning materials as software tools for data analysis, simple experimentations and so on. The framework for such an European initiative has been provided by Italian and French national funds and put together under the banner of the so-called EDUSEIS projet. This EDUcational SEISmological European Network (http://www.eduseis.org/) has shown that indeed environmental education is possible with its typical feature of long-term efforts. Funding through Europe will certainly increase the cohesion of this experience and will be very welcome. Taking into account the number of schools in Europe where modern communication tools are available and not used during the night, one may foresee that a large number of multi-parametric data acquisition could be installed and operated in schools with a relatively small man-power and hardware resources. Based on the EduSeis experience, an operational team composed by teachers and researchers could deploy in schools 1K prototype systems for continuous monitoring of environmental parameters as soil vibrations, air gas composition, temperature, atmospheric pressure, rainfall ... The expected huge data-flow should be carefully analyzed, handled and processed in order to make it available for educational purposes and for actions aiming at the increasing awareness about environmental problems. One may hope that an international coordination should appear because the required level of interaction is the whole Earth planet on which we all are living.

Social-Emotional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Lyndsey R.; Lengua, Liliana J.; Zalewski, Maureen

2013-01-01

Interactions between reactive and regulatory dimensions of temperament may be particularly relevant to children's adjustment but are examined infrequently. This study investigated these interactions by examining effortful control as a moderator of the relations of fear and frustration reactivity to children's social competence, internalizing, and…

Big Data & Datamining: Using APIs to computationally determine who follows space science, & what do they care about?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gay, Pamela L.; Bakerman, Maya; Graziano, Nancy; Murph, Susan; Reiheld, Alison; CosmoQuest

2017-10-01

In today's connected world, scientists & space science projects are turning to social media outlets like Twitter to share our achievements, request aid, & discuss the issues of our profession. Maintaining these disparate feeds requires time & resources that are already in short supply. To justify these efforts, we must examine the data to determine: are we speaking to our intended audiences; are our varied efforts needed; & what types of messages achieve the greatest interactions. The software used to support this project is available on GitHub.Previously, it has been unclear if our day-to-day social media efforts have been merely preaching to one homogeneous choir from which we have all drawn our audiences, or if our individual efforts have been able to reach into different communities to multiply our impact. In this preliminary study, we examine the social media audiences of several space science Twitter feeds that relate to: podcasting; professional societies; individual programs; & individuals. This study directly measures the overlap in audiences & the diversity of interests held by these audiences. Through statistical analysis, we can discern if these audiences are all drawn from one single population, or if we are sampling different base populations with different feeds.The data generated in this project allow us to look beyond how our audiences interact with space science, with the added benefit of revealing their other interests. These interests are reflected by the non-space science accounts they follow on Twitter. This information will allow us to effectively recruit new people from space science adjacent interests.After applying large data analytics & statistics to social media interactions, we can model online communications, audience population types, & the causal relationships between how we tweet &how our audiences interact. With this knowledge, we are then able to institute reliable communications & effective interactions with our target audience.This work is supported through NASA cooperative agreement NNX17AD20A.

Continuous Improvement through Baldridge in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siri, Diane K.; Miller, Ruth

2001-01-01

Describes efforts of the Baldrige in Education Center and Quality Leadership Academy in Santa Cruz County, California, to support teacher and administrator efforts to improve student performance in selected schools through the use of continuous-improvement techniques adopted by many American corporations to improve product quality and increase…

Electrofishing Effort Required to Estimate Biotic Condition in Southern Idaho Rivers

EPA Science Inventory

An important issue surrounding biomonitoring in large rivers is the minimum sampling effort required to collect an adequate number of fish for accurate and precise determinations of biotic condition. During the summer of 2002, we sampled 15 randomly selected large-river sites in...

The knowledge translation status in selected Eastern-Mediterranean universities and research institutes.

PubMed

Maleki, Katayoun; Hamadeh, Randah R; Gholami, Jaleh; Mandil, Ahmed; Hamid, Saima; Butt, Zahid Ahmad; Bin Saeed, Abdulaziz; El Kheir, Dalia Y M; Saleem, Mohammed; Maqsoud, Sahar; Safi, Najibullah; Abdul-Majeed, Ban A; Majdzadeh, Reza

2014-01-01

A serious worldwide effort to strengthen research based knowledge translation (KT) has begun in recent years and some countries, particularly developed ones, are trying to incorporate KT in their health and health research systems. Keeping in mind the recent economic depression and the need to perform more efficient research, we aimed to assess and compare the KT status of selected health research institutes in the Eastern Mediterranean Regions' countries, and to identify their strengths and weaknesses in the field. After finding the focal points that would steer the focus group discussions (FGDs) and help complete the 'Self Assessment Tool for Research Institutes' (SATORI) tool, each focal point held two FGDs in which researchers, research authorities and other individuals specified in detail further in the study were held. The scores obtained by each institute were evaluated quantitatively, and the transcriptions were analyzed qualitatively with OpenCode software. For ease of analysis the 50 items of the SATORI were classified into 7 main domains: 'priority setting', 'research quality and timeliness', 'researchers' KT capacities', 'facilities and pre-requisites of KT', 'processes and regulations supporting KT', 'interaction with research users', and 'promoting and evaluating the use of knowledge'. Based on the scoring system, the strongest domain was 'research quality and timeliness'. 'Priority setting' was the weakest domain of all. The remaining domains were more or less equal in strength and were not in a favorable state. The qualitative findings confirmed the quantitative findings. The main problem, it seems, is that a KT climate does not exist in the region. And despite the difference in the contexts, there are many similarities in the region's institutes included in this study. Collaborative efforts can play a role in creating this climate by steering countries towards KT and suggesting regional strategic directions according to their needs.

Johnny Depp, Reconsidered: How Category-Relative Processing Fluency Determines the Appeal of Gender Ambiguity

PubMed Central

Owen, Helen E.; Halberstadt, Jamin; Carr, Evan W.; Winkielman, Piotr

2016-01-01

Individuals that combine features of both genders–gender blends–are sometimes appealing and sometimes not. Heretofore, this difference was explained entirely in terms of sexual selection. In contrast, we propose that part of individuals’ preference for gender blends is due to the cognitive effort required to classify them, and that such effort depends on the context in which a blend is judged. In two studies, participants judged the attractiveness of male-female morphs. Participants did so after classifying each face in terms of its gender, which was selectively more effortful for gender blends, or classifying faces on a gender-irrelevant dimension, which was equally effortful for gender blends. In both studies, gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first classified by gender, despite an overall preference for feminine features in all conditions. Critically, the preferences were mediated by the effort of stimulus classification. The results suggest that the variation in attractiveness of gender-ambiguous faces may derive from context-dependent requirements to determine gender membership. More generally, the results show that the difficulty of resolving social category membership–not just attitudes toward a social category–feed into perceivers’ overall evaluations toward category members. PMID:26845341

Johnny Depp, Reconsidered: How Category-Relative Processing Fluency Determines the Appeal of Gender Ambiguity.

PubMed

Owen, Helen E; Halberstadt, Jamin; Carr, Evan W; Winkielman, Piotr

2016-01-01

Individuals that combine features of both genders-gender blends-are sometimes appealing and sometimes not. Heretofore, this difference was explained entirely in terms of sexual selection. In contrast, we propose that part of individuals' preference for gender blends is due to the cognitive effort required to classify them, and that such effort depends on the context in which a blend is judged. In two studies, participants judged the attractiveness of male-female morphs. Participants did so after classifying each face in terms of its gender, which was selectively more effortful for gender blends, or classifying faces on a gender-irrelevant dimension, which was equally effortful for gender blends. In both studies, gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first classified by gender, despite an overall preference for feminine features in all conditions. Critically, the preferences were mediated by the effort of stimulus classification. The results suggest that the variation in attractiveness of gender-ambiguous faces may derive from context-dependent requirements to determine gender membership. More generally, the results show that the difficulty of resolving social category membership-not just attitudes toward a social category-feed into perceivers' overall evaluations toward category members.

Hybridity in Vietnamese Universities: An Analysis of the Interactions between Vietnamese Traditions and Foreign Influences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tran, Ly Thi; Ngo, Mai; Nguyen, Nhai; Dang, Xuan Thu

2017-01-01

Vietnam's history has witnessed the nation's constant effort to learn from the outside world. This effort paradoxically co-exists with the country's aspiration to escape from foreign domination, to protect national independence and to preserve national identity. Discussions of foreign influences in the Vietnamese education system should be…

Respiratory Patterns and Strategies during Feeding in Preterm Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vice, Frank L.; Gewolb, Ira H.

2008-01-01

Because patterns of integration of respiration into rhythmic suck-swallow efforts are highly variable, we examined the vagaries of respiratory efforts as they evolve from the first tentative attempts at integration through more complex rhythmic interactions, with a focus on several strategies in which breathing and suck-swallow are coordinated.…

Effect of Learning Activity on Students' Motivation, Physical Activity Levels and Effort/Persistence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Zan; Lee, Amelia M.; Xiang, Ping; Kosma, Maria

2011-01-01

The type of learning activity offered in physical education may influence students' motivational beliefs, physical activity participation and effort/persistence in class. However, most empirical studies have focused on the individual level rather than on the learner-content interactions. Accordingly, the potential effects of learning activities on…

Development of multi-metal interaction model for Daphnia magna: Significance of metallothionein in cellular redistribution.

PubMed

Wang, Xiangrui; Liu, Jianyu; Tan, Qiaoguo; Ren, Jinqian; Liang, Dingyuan; Fan, Wenhong

2018-04-30

Despite the great progress made in metal-induced toxicity mechanisms, a critical knowledge gap still exists in predicting adverse effects of heavy metals on living organisms in the natural environment, particularly during exposure to multi-metals. In this study, a multi-metal interaction model of Daphnia manga was developed in an effort to provide reasonable explanations regarding the joint effects resulting from exposure to multi-metals. Metallothionein (MT), a widely used biomarker, was selected. In this model, MT was supposed to play the role of a crucial transfer protein rather than detoxifying protein. Therefore, competitive complexation of metals to MT could highly affect the cellular metal redistribution. Thus, competitive complexation of MT in D. magna with metals like Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ and Cu 2+ was qualitatively studied. The results suggested that Cd 2+ had the highest affinity towards MT, followed by Pb 2+ and Cu 2+ . On the other hand, the combination of MT with Cu 2+ appeared to alter its structure which resulted in higher affinity towards Pb 2+ . Overall, the predicted bioaccumulation of metals under multi-metal exposure was consisted with earlier reported studies. This model provided an alternative angle for joint effect through a combination of kinetic process and internal interactions, which could help to develop future models predicting toxicity to multi-metal exposure. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Smoking improves divided attention in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ahlers, Eike; Hahn, Eric; Ta, Thi Minh Tam; Goudarzi, Elnaz; Dettling, Michael; Neuhaus, Andres H

2014-10-01

Smoking is highly prevalent in schizophrenia, and there is evidence for beneficial effects on neurocognition. Smoking is therefore hypothesized a self-medication in schizophrenia. Although much effort is devoted to characterize those cognitive domains that potentially benefit from smoking, divided attention has not yet been investigated. The aim of this study was to analyze the interactional effects of diagnosis of schizophrenia and smoking history on divided attention. We investigated behavioral measures of divided attention in a sample of 48 schizophrenic patients and 48 controls (24 current smokers and non-smokers each) carefully matched for age, sex, education, verbal IQ, and smoking status with general linear models. Most important within the scope of this study, significant interactions were found for valid reactions and errors of omission: Performance substantially increased in smoking schizophrenic patients, but not in controls. Further, these interactions were modified by sex, driven by female schizophrenic patients who showed a significant behavioral advantage of smokers over non-smokers, other than male schizophrenic patients or healthy controls who did not express this sex-specific pattern. Results suggest a positive effect of smoking history on divided attention in schizophrenic patients. This study provides first evidence that the complex attention domain of divided attention is improved by smoking, which further substantiates the self-medication hypothesis of smoking in schizophrenia, although this has been shown mainly for sustained and selective attention. Gender-specific effects on cognition need to be further investigated.

Double-edged swords as cancer therapeutics: novel, orally active, small molecules simultaneously inhibit p53-MDM2 interaction and the NF-κB pathway.

PubMed

Zhuang, Chunlin; Miao, Zhenyuan; Wu, Yuelin; Guo, Zizhao; Li, Jin; Yao, Jianzhong; Xing, Chengguo; Sheng, Chunquan; Zhang, Wannian

2014-02-13

Simultaneous inactivation of p53 and hyperactivation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a common occurrence in human cancer. Currently, antitumor agents are being designed to selectively activate p53 or inhibit NF-κB. However, there is no concerted effort yet to deliberately design inhibitors that can simultaneously do both. This paper provided a proof-of-concept study that p53-MDM2 interaction and NF-κB pathway can be simultaneously targeted by a small-molecule inhibitor. A series of pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrazole derivatives were rationally designed and synthesized as the first-in-class inhibitors of p53-MDM2 interaction and NF-κB pathway. Most of the compounds were identified to possess nanomolar p53-MDM2 inhibitory activity. Compounds 5q and 5s suppressed NF-κB activation through inhibition of IκBα phosphorylation and elevation of the cytoplasmic levels of p65 and phosphorylated IKKα/β. Biochemical assay for the kinases also supported the fact that pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrazole compounds directly targeted the NF-κB pathway. In addition, four compounds (5j, 5q, 5s, and 5u) effectively inhibited tumor growth in the A549 xenograft model. Further pharmacokinetic study revealed that compound 5q exhibited excellent oral bioavailability (72.9%).

Body as Echoes: Cyber Archiving of Dazu Rock Carvings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, W.-W.

2017-08-01

"Body As Echoes: Cyber Archiving of Dazu Rock Carvings (BAE project in short)" strives to explore the tangible/intangible aspects of digital heritage conservation. Aiming at Dazu Rock Carvings - World Heritage Site of Sichuan Province, BAE project utilizes photogrammetry and digital sculpting technique to investigate digital narrative of cultural heritage conservation. It further provides collaborative opportunities to conduct the high-resolution site survey for scholars and institutions at local authorities. For preserving and making sustainable of the tangible cultural heritage at Dazu Rock Carvings, BAE project cyber-archives the selected niches and the caves at Dazu, and transform them into high-resolution, three-dimensional models. For extending the established results and making the digital resources available to broader audiences, BAE project will further develop interactive info-motion interface and apply the knowledge of digital heritage from BAE project to STEM education. BAE project expects to bridge the platform for archeology, computer graphics, and interactive info-motion design. Digital sculpting, projection mapping, interactive info-motion and VR will be the core techniques to explore the narrative of digital heritage conservation. For further protecting, educating and consolidating "building dwelling thinking" through digital heritage preservation, BAE project helps to preserve the digital humanity, and reach out to museum staffs and academia. By the joint effort of global institutions and local authorities, BAE project will also help to foster and enhance the mutual understanding through intercultural collaborations.

Enhanced Management of and Access to Hurricane Sandy Ocean and Coastal Mapping Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eakins, B.; Neufeld, D.; Varner, J. D.; McLean, S. J.

2014-12-01

NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) has significantly improved the discovery and delivery of its geophysical data holdings, initially targeting ocean and coastal mapping (OCM) data in the U.S. coastal region impacted by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. We have developed a browser-based, interactive interface that permits users to refine their initial map-driven data-type choices prior to bulk download (e.g., by selecting individual surveys), including the ability to choose ancillary files, such as reports or derived products. Initial OCM data types now available in a U.S. East Coast map viewer, as well as underlying web services, include: NOS hydrographic soundings and multibeam sonar bathymetry. Future releases will include trackline geophysics, airborne topographic and bathymetric-topographic lidar, bottom sample descriptions, and digital elevation models.This effort also includes working collaboratively with other NOAA offices and partners to develop automated methods to receive and verify data, stage data for archive, and notify data providers when ingest and archive are completed. We have also developed improved metadata tools to parse XML and auto-populate OCM data catalogs, support the web-based creation and editing of ISO-compliant metadata records, and register metadata in appropriate data portals. This effort supports a variety of NOAA mission requirements, from safe navigation to coastal flood forecasting and habitat characterization.

How cognitive heuristics can explain social interactions in spatial movement.

PubMed

Seitz, Michael J; Bode, Nikolai W F; Köster, Gerta

2016-08-01

The movement of pedestrian crowds is a paradigmatic example of collective motion. The precise nature of individual-level behaviours underlying crowd movements has been subject to a lively debate. Here, we propose that pedestrians follow simple heuristics rooted in cognitive psychology, such as 'stop if another step would lead to a collision' or 'follow the person in front'. In other words, our paradigm explicitly models individual-level behaviour as a series of discrete decisions. We show that our cognitive heuristics produce realistic emergent crowd phenomena, such as lane formation and queuing behaviour. Based on our results, we suggest that pedestrians follow different cognitive heuristics that are selected depending on the context. This differs from the widely used approach of capturing changes in behaviour via model parameters and leads to testable hypotheses on changes in crowd behaviour for different motivation levels. For example, we expect that rushed individuals more often evade to the side and thus display distinct emergent queue formations in front of a bottleneck. Our heuristics can be ranked according to the cognitive effort that is required to follow them. Therefore, our model establishes a direct link between behavioural responses and cognitive effort and thus facilitates a novel perspective on collective behaviour. © 2016 The Author(s).

How cognitive heuristics can explain social interactions in spatial movement

PubMed Central

Köster, Gerta

2016-01-01

The movement of pedestrian crowds is a paradigmatic example of collective motion. The precise nature of individual-level behaviours underlying crowd movements has been subject to a lively debate. Here, we propose that pedestrians follow simple heuristics rooted in cognitive psychology, such as ‘stop if another step would lead to a collision’ or ‘follow the person in front’. In other words, our paradigm explicitly models individual-level behaviour as a series of discrete decisions. We show that our cognitive heuristics produce realistic emergent crowd phenomena, such as lane formation and queuing behaviour. Based on our results, we suggest that pedestrians follow different cognitive heuristics that are selected depending on the context. This differs from the widely used approach of capturing changes in behaviour via model parameters and leads to testable hypotheses on changes in crowd behaviour for different motivation levels. For example, we expect that rushed individuals more often evade to the side and thus display distinct emergent queue formations in front of a bottleneck. Our heuristics can be ranked according to the cognitive effort that is required to follow them. Therefore, our model establishes a direct link between behavioural responses and cognitive effort and thus facilitates a novel perspective on collective behaviour. PMID:27581483

Artists Make the Invisible VIsible

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burko, D.

2013-12-01

As artists cross academic boundaries with increasing frequency to investigate, observe, and translate our environment and its complex processes - scientific institutions and museums are bringing this new activity to the attention of the public. The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) is one organization pioneering this effort with its yearlong art exhibition Sensing Change featuring eight nationally recognized artists. CHF is using the exhibition as a framework within which to question the artists' motivations for creating works dedicated to local and global environmental change. They also explore the tools each artists uses and the artists' efforts to engage the public. In addition to the exhibition, CHF is scheduling "related programming and scholarship that explore daily shifts in our environment and long-term climate change; the visualization of data and largely invisible natural processes; and the potential role of art in science communication.' To that end they have developed an interactive web site that features the following: 1) video interviews with each of the eight artists 2) oral histories from a broad selection of atmospheric scientists on our ever evolving understanding of air 3) histories of the scientific instruments in the CHF collection that measure environmental and atmospheric data My presentation will review these elements and serve as a template to hopefully inspire the adaptation of this model by other scientific and educational bodies.

Children's food choice process in the home environment. A qualitative descriptive study.

PubMed

Holsten, Joanna E; Deatrick, Janet A; Kumanyika, Shiriki; Pinto-Martin, Jennifer; Compher, Charlene W

2012-02-01

This qualitative descriptive study explored children's food choices in the home with particular attention to environmental influences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11- to 14-year-old children (n=47) from one middle school. A data-driven content analysis using selected principles of grounded theory was performed. Children's food choices in the home emerged as a process that involved three interacting components, the child, the parent, and the food, embedded within the context of time. Children's structured activities throughout the day, week, and year provided an overall context for food choices. Parents affected children's food choices through their presence in the home, time pressure and activity prioritization, incorporation of family members' preferences, food preparation effort and skills, and financial and health concerns. Parents created food options through food purchasing and preparation and indirectly affected children's food choices by setting rules, providing information, and modeling behaviors. Children affected parents' decisions by communicating food preferences. For children, important aspects of the food itself included its availability at home and attributes related to taste, preparation, and cost. Children evaluated potential food options based on their hunger level, food preferences, time pressure and activity prioritization, food preparation effort and skills, and expected physical consequences of food. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lightweight Adaptation of Classifiers to Users and Contexts: Trends of the Emerging Domain

PubMed Central

Vildjiounaite, Elena; Gimel'farb, Georgy; Kyllönen, Vesa; Peltola, Johannes

2015-01-01

Intelligent computer applications need to adapt their behaviour to contexts and users, but conventional classifier adaptation methods require long data collection and/or training times. Therefore classifier adaptation is often performed as follows: at design time application developers define typical usage contexts and provide reasoning models for each of these contexts, and then at runtime an appropriate model is selected from available ones. Typically, definition of usage contexts and reasoning models heavily relies on domain knowledge. However, in practice many applications are used in so diverse situations that no developer can predict them all and collect for each situation adequate training and test databases. Such applications have to adapt to a new user or unknown context at runtime just from interaction with the user, preferably in fairly lightweight ways, that is, requiring limited user effort to collect training data and limited time of performing the adaptation. This paper analyses adaptation trends in several emerging domains and outlines promising ideas, proposed for making multimodal classifiers user-specific and context-specific without significant user efforts, detailed domain knowledge, and/or complete retraining of the classifiers. Based on this analysis, this paper identifies important application characteristics and presents guidelines to consider these characteristics in adaptation design. PMID:26473165

Mobility and Navigation among the Yucatec Maya: Sex Differences Reflect Parental Investment, Not Mating Competition.

PubMed

Cashdan, Elizabeth; Kramer, Karen L; Davis, Helen E; Padilla, Lace; Greaves, Russell D

2016-03-01

Sex differences in range size and navigation are widely reported, with males traveling farther than females, being less spatially anxious, and in many studies navigating more effectively. One explanation holds that these differences are the result of sexual selection, with larger ranges conferring mating benefits on males, while another explanation focuses on greater parenting costs that large ranges impose on reproductive-aged females. We evaluated these arguments with data from a community of highly monogamous Maya farmers. Maya men and women do not differ in distance traveled over the region during the mate-seeking years, suggesting that mating competition does not affect range size in this monogamous population. However, men's regional and daily travel increases after marriage, apparently in pursuit of resources that benefit families, whereas women reduce their daily travel after marriage. This suggests that parental effort is more important than mating effort in this population. Despite the relatively modest overall sex difference in mobility, Maya men were less spatially anxious than women, thought themselves to be better navigators, and pointed more accurately to distant locations. A structural equation model showed that the sex by marital status interaction had a direct effect on mobility, with a weaker indirect effect of sex on mobility mediated by navigational ability.

The Interaction of Sexual Identity With Sexual Behavior and Its Influence on HIV Risk Among Latino Men: Results of a Community Survey in Northern San Diego County, California

PubMed Central

Zellner, Jennifer A.; Sañudo, Fernando; Fernández-Cerdeño, Araceli; Sipan, Carol L.; Hovell, Melbourne F.; Carrillo, Héctor

2009-01-01

Objectives. We examined the sexual behavior, sexual identities, and HIV risk factors of a community sample of Latino men to inform efforts to reduce Latinos' HIV risk. Methods. In 2005 and 2006, 680 Latino men in San Diego County, California, in randomly selected, targeted community venues, completed an anonymous, self-administered survey. Results. Most (92.3%) respondents self-identified as heterosexual, with 2.2%, 4.9%, and 0.6% self-identifying as bisexual, gay, or other orientation, respectively. Overall, 4.8% of heterosexually identified men had a lifetime history of anal intercourse with other men. Compared with behaviorally heterosexual men, heterosexually identified men who had sex with both men and women were more likely to have had a sexually transmitted infection, to have unprotected sexual intercourse with female partners, and to report having sex while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Bisexually identified men who had sex with men and women did not differ from behaviorally heterosexual men in these risk factors. Conclusions. Latino men who have a heterosexual identity and bisexual practices are at greater risk of HIV infection, and efforts to reduce HIV risk among Latinos should target this group. PMID:19008512

Dis-integration of communication in healthcare education: Workplace learning challenges and opportunities.

PubMed

Rosenbaum, Marcy E

2017-11-01

The purpose of this paper, based on a 2016 Heidelberg International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH) plenary presentation, is to examine a key problem in communication skills training for health professional learners. Studies have pointed to a decline in medical students' communication skills and attitudes as they proceed through their education, particularly during their clinical workplace training experiences. This paper explores some of the key factors in this disintegration, drawing on selected literature and highlighting some curriculum efforts and research conducted at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine as a case study of these issues. Five key factors contributing to the disintegration of communication skills and attitudes are presented including: 1) lack of formal communication skills training during clinical clerkships; 2) informal workplace teaching failing to explicitly address learner clinical communication skills; 3) emphasizing content over process in relation to clinician-patient interactions; 4) the relationship between ideal communication models and the realities of clinical practice; and 5) clinical teachers' lack of knowledge and skills to effectively teach about communication in the clinical workplace. Within this discussion, potential practical responses by individual clinical teachers and broader curricular and faculty development efforts to address each of these factors are presented. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of 1982 selective speed enforcement projects in Virginia.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-01-01

This report describes and evaluates Virginia's FY 1982 selective speed enforcement projects. The state allocates federal monies among competing state and local police agencies to fund their efforts to reduce identified crash problems. As a condition ...

Measuring CAMD technique performance. 2. How "druglike" are drugs? Implications of Random test set selection exemplified using druglikeness classification models.

PubMed

Good, Andrew C; Hermsmeier, Mark A

2007-01-01

Research into the advancement of computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) has a tendency to focus on the discipline of algorithm development. Such efforts are often wrought to the detriment of the data set selection and analysis used in said algorithm validation. Here we highlight the potential problems this can cause in the context of druglikeness classification. More rigorous efforts are applied to the selection of decoy (nondruglike) molecules from the ACD. Comparisons are made between model performance using the standard technique of random test set creation with test sets derived from explicit ontological separation by drug class. The dangers of viewing druglike space as sufficiently coherent to permit simple classification are highlighted. In addition the issues inherent in applying unfiltered data and random test set selection to (Q)SAR models utilizing large and supposedly heterogeneous databases are discussed.

The hydrophilicity vs. ion interaction selectivity plot revisited: The effect of mobile phase pH and buffer concentration on hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography selectivity behavior.

PubMed

Iverson, Chad D; Gu, Xinyun; Lucy, Charles A

2016-08-05

This work systematically investigates the selectivity changes on many HILIC phases from w(w)pH 3.7-6.8, at 5 and 25mM buffer concentrations. Hydrophilicity (kcytosine/kuracil) vs. ion interaction (kBTMA/kuracil) selectivity plots developed by Ibrahim et al. (J. Chromatogr. A 1260 (2012) 126-131) are used to investigate the effect of mobile phase changes on the selectivity of 18 HILIC columns from various classes. "Selectivity change plots" focus on the change in hydrophilicity and ion interaction that the columns exhibit upon changing mobile phase conditions. In general, the selectivity behavior of most HILIC columns is dominated by silanol activity. Minimal changes in selectivity are observed upon changing pH between w(w)pH 5 and 6.8. However, a reduction in ionic interaction is observed when the buffer concentration is increased at w(w)pH≥5.0 due to ionic shielding. Reduction of the w(w)pH to<5.0 results in decreasing cation exchange activity due to silanol protonation. Under all eluent conditions, the majority of phases show little change in their hydrophilicity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interface design and human factors considerations for model-based tight glycemic control in critical care.

PubMed

Ward, Logan; Steel, James; Le Compte, Aaron; Evans, Alicia; Tan, Chia-Siong; Penning, Sophie; Shaw, Geoffrey M; Desaive, Thomas; Chase, J Geoffrey

2012-01-01

Tight glycemic control (TGC) has shown benefits but has been difficult to implement. Model-based methods and computerized protocols offer the opportunity to improve TGC quality and compliance. This research presents an interface design to maximize compliance, minimize real and perceived clinical effort, and minimize error based on simple human factors and end user input. The graphical user interface (GUI) design is presented by construction based on a series of simple, short design criteria based on fundamental human factors engineering and includes the use of user feedback and focus groups comprising nursing staff at Christchurch Hospital. The overall design maximizes ease of use and minimizes (unnecessary) interaction and use. It is coupled to a protocol that allows nurse staff to select measurement intervals and thus self-manage workload. The overall GUI design is presented and requires only one data entry point per intervention cycle. The design and main interface are heavily focused on the nurse end users who are the predominant users, while additional detailed and longitudinal data, which are of interest to doctors guiding overall patient care, are available via tabs. This dichotomy of needs and interests based on the end user's immediate focus and goals shows how interfaces must adapt to offer different information to multiple types of users. The interface is designed to minimize real and perceived clinical effort, and ongoing pilot trials have reported high levels of acceptance. The overall design principles, approach, and testing methods are based on fundamental human factors principles designed to reduce user effort and error and are readily generalizable. © 2012 Diabetes Technology Society.

Interface Design and Human Factors Considerations for Model-Based Tight Glycemic Control in Critical Care

PubMed Central

Ward, Logan; Steel, James; Le Compte, Aaron; Evans, Alicia; Tan, Chia-Siong; Penning, Sophie; Shaw, Geoffrey M; Desaive, Thomas; Chase, J Geoffrey

2012-01-01

Introduction Tight glycemic control (TGC) has shown benefits but has been difficult to implement. Model-based methods and computerized protocols offer the opportunity to improve TGC quality and compliance. This research presents an interface design to maximize compliance, minimize real and perceived clinical effort, and minimize error based on simple human factors and end user input. Method The graphical user interface (GUI) design is presented by construction based on a series of simple, short design criteria based on fundamental human factors engineering and includes the use of user feedback and focus groups comprising nursing staff at Christchurch Hospital. The overall design maximizes ease of use and minimizes (unnecessary) interaction and use. It is coupled to a protocol that allows nurse staff to select measurement intervals and thus self-manage workload. Results The overall GUI design is presented and requires only one data entry point per intervention cycle. The design and main interface are heavily focused on the nurse end users who are the predominant users, while additional detailed and longitudinal data, which are of interest to doctors guiding overall patient care, are available via tabs. This dichotomy of needs and interests based on the end user's immediate focus and goals shows how interfaces must adapt to offer different information to multiple types of users. Conclusions The interface is designed to minimize real and perceived clinical effort, and ongoing pilot trials have reported high levels of acceptance. The overall design principles, approach, and testing methods are based on fundamental human factors principles designed to reduce user effort and error and are readily generalizable. PMID:22401330

Work stress and depressive symptoms in older employees: impact of national labour and social policies.

PubMed

Lunau, Thorsten; Wahrendorf, Morten; Dragano, Nico; Siegrist, Johannes

2013-11-21

Maintaining health and work ability among older employees is a primary target of national labour and social policies (NLSP) in Europe. Depression makes a significant contribution to early retirement, and chronic work-related stress is associated with elevated risks of depression. We test this latter association among older employees and explore to what extent indicators of distinct NLSP modify the association between work stress and depressive symptoms. We choose six indicators, classified in three categories: (1) investment in active labour market policies, (2) employment protection, (3) level of distributive justice. We use data from three longitudinal ageing studies (SHARE, HRS, ELSA) including 5650 men and women in 13 countries. Information on work stress (effort-reward imbalance, low work control) and depressive symptoms (CES-D, EURO-D) was obtained. Six NLSP indicators were selected from OECD databases. Associations of work stress (2004) with depressive symptoms (2006) and their modification by policy indicators were analysed using logistic multilevel models. Risk of depressive symptoms at follow-up is higher among those experiencing effort-reward imbalance (OR: 1.55 95% CI 1.27-1.89) and low control (OR: 1.46 95% CI 1.19-1.79) at work. Interaction terms indicate a modifying effect of a majority of protective NLSP indicators on the strength of associations of effort - reward imbalance with depressive symptoms. Work stress is associated with elevated risk of prospective depressive symptoms among older employees from 13 European countries. Protective labour and social policies modify the strength of these associations. If further supported findings may have important policy implications.

Characterizing Normal Groundwater Chemistry in Hawaii

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tachera, D.; Lautze, N. C.; Thomas, D. M.; Whittier, R. B.; Frazer, L. N.

2017-12-01

Hawaii is dependent on groundwater resources, yet how water moves through the subsurface is not well understood in many locations across the state. As marine air moves across the islands water evaporates from the ocean, along with trace amounts of sea-salt ions, and interacts with the anthropogenic and volcanic aerosols (e.g. sulfuric acid, ammonium sulfate, HCl), creating a slightly more acidic rain. When this rain falls, it has a chemical signature distinctive of past processes. As this precipitation infiltrates through soil it may pick up another distinctive chemical signature associated with land use and degree of soil development, and as it flows through the underlying geology, its chemistry is influenced by the host rock. We are currently conducting an investigation of groundwater chemistry in selected aquifer areas of Hawaii, having diverse land use, land cover, and soil development conditions, in an effort to investigate and document what may be considered a "normal" water chemistry for an area. Through this effort, we believe we better assess anomalies due to contamination events, hydrothermal alteration, and other processes; and we can use this information to better understand groundwater flow direction. The project has compiled a large amount of precipitation, soil, and groundwater chemistry data in the three focus areas distributed across in the State of Hawaii. Statistical analyses of these data sets will be performed in an effort to determine what is "normal" and what is anomalous chemistry for a given area. Where possible, results will be used to trace groundwater flow paths. Methods and preliminary results will be presented.

Work stress and depressive symptoms in older employees: impact of national labour and social policies

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Maintaining health and work ability among older employees is a primary target of national labour and social policies (NLSP) in Europe. Depression makes a significant contribution to early retirement, and chronic work-related stress is associated with elevated risks of depression. We test this latter association among older employees and explore to what extent indicators of distinct NLSP modify the association between work stress and depressive symptoms. We choose six indicators, classified in three categories: (1) investment in active labour market policies, (2) employment protection, (3) level of distributive justice. Methods We use data from three longitudinal ageing studies (SHARE, HRS, ELSA) including 5650 men and women in 13 countries. Information on work stress (effort-reward imbalance, low work control) and depressive symptoms (CES-D, EURO-D) was obtained. Six NLSP indicators were selected from OECD databases. Associations of work stress (2004) with depressive symptoms (2006) and their modification by policy indicators were analysed using logistic multilevel models. Results Risk of depressive symptoms at follow-up is higher among those experiencing effort-reward imbalance (OR: 1.55 95% CI 1.27-1.89) and low control (OR: 1.46 95% CI 1.19-1.79) at work. Interaction terms indicate a modifying effect of a majority of protective NLSP indicators on the strength of associations of effort - reward imbalance with depressive symptoms. Conclusions Work stress is associated with elevated risk of prospective depressive symptoms among older employees from 13 European countries. Protective labour and social policies modify the strength of these associations. If further supported findings may have important policy implications. PMID:24256638

"Fire Moss" Cover and Function in Severely Burned Forests of the Western United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grover, H.; Doherty, K.; Sieg, C.; Robichaud, P. R.; Fulé, P. Z.; Bowker, M.

2017-12-01

With wildfires increasing in severity and extent throughout the Western United States, land managers need new tools to stabilize recently burned ecosystems. "Fire moss" consists of three species, Ceratodon purpureus, Funaria hygrometrica, and Bryum argentum. These mosses colonize burned landscapes quickly, aggregate soils, have extremely high water holding capacity, and can be grown rapidly ex-situ. In this talk, I will focus on our efforts to understand how Fire Moss naturally interacts with severely burned landscapes. We examined 14 fires in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, and Idaho selecting a range of times since fire, and stratified plots within each wildfire by winter insolation and elevation. At 75+ plots we measured understory plant cover, ground cover, Fire Moss cover, and Fire Moss reproductive effort. On plots in the Southwest, we measured a suite of soil characteristics on moss covered and adjacent bare soil including aggregate stability, shear strength, compressional strength, and infiltration rates. Moss cover ranged from 0-75% with a mean of 16% across all plots and was inversely related to insolation (R2 = .32, p = <.01), directly related to elevation (R2 = .13, p = .02), and not related to slope (R2 = .02, p =.41). Moss covered areas had twice as much shear strength and compressional strength, and three times higher aggregate stability and infiltration rates as adjacent bare ground. These results will allow us to model locations where Fire Moss will naturally increase postfire hillslope soil stability, locations for targeting moss restoration efforts, and suggest that Fire Moss could be a valuable tool to mitigate post wildfire erosion.

Modeling activity recognition of multi resident using label combination of multi label classification in smart home

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohamed, Raihani; Perumal, Thinagaran; Sulaiman, Md Nasir; Mustapha, Norwati; Zainudin, M. N. Shah

2017-10-01

Pertaining to the human centric concern and non-obtrusive way, the ambient sensor type technology has been selected, accepted and embedded in the environment in resilient style. Human activities, everyday are gradually becoming complex and thus complicate the inferences of activities when it involving the multi resident in the same smart environment. Current works solutions focus on separate model between the resident, activities and interactions. Some study use data association and extra auxiliary of graphical nodes to model human tracking information in an environment and some produce separate framework to incorporate the auxiliary for interaction feature model. Thus, recognizing the activities and which resident perform the activity at the same time in the smart home are vital for the smart home development and future applications. This paper will cater the above issue by considering the simplification and efficient method using the multi label classification framework. This effort eliminates time consuming and simplifies a lot of pre-processing tasks comparing with previous approach. Applications to the multi resident multi label learning in smart home problems shows the LC (Label Combination) using Decision Tree (DT) as base classifier can tackle the above problems.

Free-Living Nematodes in the Freshwater Food Web: A Review

PubMed Central

Majdi, Nabil; Traunspurger, Walter

2015-01-01

Free-living nematodes are well-recognized as an abundant and ubiquitous component of benthic communities in inland waters. Compelling evidence from soil and marine ecosystems has highlighted the importance of nematodes as trophic intermediaries between microbial production and higher trophic levels. However, the paucity of empirical evidence of their role in freshwater ecosystems has hampered their inclusion in our understanding of freshwater food web functioning. This literature survey provides an overview of research efforts in the field of freshwater nematode ecology and of the complex trophic interactions between free-living nematodes and microbes, other meiofauna, macro-invertebrates, and fishes. Based on an analysis of the relevant literature and an appreciation of the potential of emerging approaches for the evaluation of nematode trophic ecology, we point out research gaps and recommend relevant directions for further research. The latter include (i) interactions of nematodes with protozoans and fungi; (ii) nonconsumptive effects of nematodes on microbial activity and the effects of nematodes on associated key ecosystem processes (decomposition, primary production); and (iii) the feeding selectivity and intraspecific feeding variability of nematodes and their potential impacts on the structure of benthic communities. PMID:25861114

Systematic detection of positive selection in the human-pathogen interactome and lasting effects on infectious disease susceptibility.

PubMed

Corona, Erik; Wang, Liuyang; Ko, Dennis; Patel, Chirag J

2018-01-01

Infectious disease has shaped the natural genetic diversity of humans throughout the world. A new approach to capture positive selection driven by pathogens would provide information regarding pathogen exposure in distinct human populations and the constantly evolving arms race between host and disease-causing agents. We created a human pathogen interaction database and used the integrated haplotype score (iHS) to detect recent positive selection in genes that interact with proteins from 26 different pathogens. We used the Human Genome Diversity Panel to identify specific populations harboring pathogen-interacting genes that have undergone positive selection. We found that human genes that interact with 9 pathogen species show evidence of recent positive selection. These pathogens are Yersenia pestis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) 1, Zaire ebolavirus, Francisella tularensis, dengue virus, human respiratory syncytial virus, measles virus, Rubella virus, and Bacillus anthracis. For HIV-1, GWAS demonstrate that some naturally selected variants in the host-pathogen protein interaction networks continue to have functional consequences for susceptibility to these pathogens. We show that selected human genes were enriched for HIV susceptibility variants (identified through GWAS), providing further support for the hypothesis that ancient humans were exposed to lentivirus pandemics. Human genes in the Italian, Miao, and Biaka Pygmy populations that interact with Y. pestis show significant signs of selection. These results reveal some of the genetic footprints created by pathogens in the human genome that may have left lasting marks on susceptibility to infectious disease.

Satellite Technology Demonstration; Executive Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Federation of Rocky Mountain States, Inc., Denver, CO.

The Federation of Rocky Mountain States and the Satellite Technology Demonstration project (STD) have collaborated in an effort to provide low cost information delivery to rural areas of the Rockies. Though the goals and the financial support of this joint effort were initially confused, sites have now been selected, the communications technology…

Has selection for improved agronomic traits made reed canarygrass invasive?

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Breeding efforts will play a critical role in meeting the increasing demand for cellulosic bioenergy feedstocks. However, a major concern is the potential development of novel invasive species that result from breeder’s efforts to improve agronomic traits in a crop. We use reed canarygrass as a case...

Women in Trade Unions: Organizing the Unorganized.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martens, Margaret Hosmer, Ed.; Mitter, Swasti, Ed.

This book contains a comparative survey of efforts to organize female workers in trade unions in both developing and industrialized nations and 19 case studies of efforts to organize female workers in selected occupations. The following papers are included: "A Comparative Survey" (Swasti Mitter); "The Union of Women Domestic…

Cuban/US Research Interactions Since 1995

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamargo, Maria C.

Interactions between Cuban physicists and researchers in the United States are difficult, to say the least. The complexities associated with communication and travel between Cuba and the US greatly hamper these efforts. Nevertheless, scientific interactions are permitted within the limits of the US embargo, and travel to Cuba to attend international scientific conferences or for well-documented research and educational purposes is allowed.

A Correlational Study on Interactive Technology Use and Student Persistence in eLearning Classes at an Online University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Carol T.

2017-01-01

The increase in enrollments in online courses in higher education have led to a corresponding decrease in student persistence. Educators in an effort to increase student persistence have included interactive technologies in some of their courses. However, there was no empirical evidence on whether the use of interactive technology in on online…

The neurobiological impact of postpartum maternal depression: prevention and intervention approaches

PubMed Central

Scaramella, Laura; Zeanah, Charles H.

2016-01-01

The lasting negative impact of postpartum depression (PPD) on offspring is well established. PDD appears to impact neurobiological pathways linked to socio-emotional regulation, cognitive and executive function, and physiologic stress response systems, systems also associated with toxic stress and negative health trajectories across the life course. Perinatal depression is expected to have significant consequences for offspring given the shared biological processes during pregnancy and the subsequent primacy of the early maternal-child relationship in shaping the child’s neurobiological development. A substantial body of literature has examined prevention and intervention efforts during the prenatal period, including the challenges associated with the medication use during pregnancy. 1,2 Recognizing the expansive nature of the existing literature, this review take a novel focus, specifically examining the current state of research defining the effect of universal, selected and indicated interventions for PDD on infant neurodevelopment. This focus was selected because of the unique nature of this time-period for the interaction of maternal psychopathology and infant development, acknowledging that both prenatal and parental depression at later developmental times points can influence child outcomes. We begin by providing a general overview of PPD and the rapid neurodevelopmental changes occurring during the first years of life. Building upon this foundation, we then discuss the specific evidence linking postpartum depression to neurobiological consequences in the offspring. We focus on the development of neural pathways with established associations those aspects of maternal caregiving most impacted by depression, including feeding and nutrition, sleep, health monitoring, play and language, and maternal sensitivity and engagement. Lastly, we discuss specific evidence related to the efficacy of current PPD efforts on infant neurobiological outcomes, highlighting existing research gaps as well as the utility of research in this area to impact long-term health trajectories. Given the established lasting, and potentially intergenerational, negative implications of maternal depression enhanced efforts targeting increased identification and early intervention approaches for PDD that impact health outcomes in both infants and mothers represents a critical public health concern. PMID:26980123

Interactive learning and action: realizing the promise of synthetic biology for global health.

PubMed

Betten, A Wieke; Roelofsen, Anneloes; Broerse, Jacqueline E W

2013-09-01

The emerging field of synthetic biology has the potential to improve global health. For example, synthetic biology could contribute to efforts at vaccine development in a context in which vaccines and immunization have been identified by the international community as being crucial to international development efforts and, in particular, the millennium development goals. However, past experience with innovations shows that realizing a technology's potential can be difficult and complex. To achieve better societal embedding of synthetic biology and to make sure it reaches its potential, science and technology development should be made more inclusive and interactive. Responsible research and innovation is based on the premise that a broad range of stakeholders with different views, needs and ideas should have a voice in the technological development and deployment process. The interactive learning and action (ILA) approach has been developed as a methodology to bring societal stakeholders into a science and technology development process. This paper proposes an ILA in five phases for an international effort, with national case studies, to develop socially robust applications of synthetic biology for global health, based on the example of vaccine development. The design is based on results of a recently initiated ILA project on synthetic biology; results from other interactive initiatives described in the literature; and examples of possible applications of synthetic biology for global health that are currently being developed.

Generalized linear and generalized additive models in studies of species distributions: Setting the scene

USGS Publications Warehouse

Guisan, Antoine; Edwards, T.C.; Hastie, T.

2002-01-01

An important statistical development of the last 30 years has been the advance in regression analysis provided by generalized linear models (GLMs) and generalized additive models (GAMs). Here we introduce a series of papers prepared within the framework of an international workshop entitled: Advances in GLMs/GAMs modeling: from species distribution to environmental management, held in Riederalp, Switzerland, 6-11 August 2001. We first discuss some general uses of statistical models in ecology, as well as provide a short review of several key examples of the use of GLMs and GAMs in ecological modeling efforts. We next present an overview of GLMs and GAMs, and discuss some of their related statistics used for predictor selection, model diagnostics, and evaluation. Included is a discussion of several new approaches applicable to GLMs and GAMs, such as ridge regression, an alternative to stepwise selection of predictors, and methods for the identification of interactions by a combined use of regression trees and several other approaches. We close with an overview of the papers and how we feel they advance our understanding of their application to ecological modeling. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Enabling Disabled Persons to Gain Access to Digital Media

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beach, Glenn; OGrady, Ryan

2011-01-01

A report describes the first phase in an effort to enhance the NaviGaze software to enable profoundly disabled persons to operate computers. (Running on a Windows-based computer equipped with a video camera aimed at the user s head, the original NaviGaze software processes the user's head movements and eye blinks into cursor movements and mouse clicks to enable hands-free control of the computer.) To accommodate large variations in movement capabilities among disabled individuals, one of the enhancements was the addition of a graphical user interface for selection of parameters that affect the way the software interacts with the computer and tracks the user s movements. Tracking algorithms were improved to reduce sensitivity to rotations and reduce the likelihood of tracking the wrong features. Visual feedback to the user was improved to provide an indication of the state of the computer system. It was found that users can quickly learn to use the enhanced software, performing single clicks, double clicks, and drags within minutes of first use. Available programs that could increase the usability of NaviGaze were identified. One of these enables entry of text by using NaviGaze as a mouse to select keys on a virtual keyboard.

Panoramic, large-screen, 3-D flight display system design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Franklin, Henry; Larson, Brent; Johnson, Michael; Droessler, Justin; Reinhart, William F.

1995-01-01

The report documents and summarizes the results of the required evaluations specified in the SOW and the design specifications for the selected display system hardware. Also included are the proposed development plan and schedule as well as the estimated rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost to design, fabricate, and demonstrate a flyable prototype research flight display system. The thrust of the effort was development of a complete understanding of the user/system requirements for a panoramic, collimated, 3-D flyable avionic display system and the translation of the requirements into an acceptable system design for fabrication and demonstration of a prototype display in the early 1997 time frame. Eleven display system design concepts were presented to NASA LaRC during the program, one of which was down-selected to a preferred display system concept. A set of preliminary display requirements was formulated. The state of the art in image source technology, 3-D methods, collimation methods, and interaction methods for a panoramic, 3-D flight display system were reviewed in depth and evaluated. Display technology improvements and risk reductions associated with maturity of the technologies for the preferred display system design concept were identified.

Development of allosteric modulators of GPCRs for treatment of CNS disorders.

PubMed

Nickols, Hilary Highfield; Conn, P Jeffrey

2014-01-01

The discovery of allosteric modulators of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) provides a promising new strategy with potential for developing novel treatments for a variety of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Traditional drug discovery efforts targeting GPCRs have focused on developing ligands for orthosteric sites which bind endogenous ligands. Allosteric modulators target a site separate from the orthosteric site to modulate receptor function. These allosteric agents can either potentiate (positive allosteric modulator, PAM) or inhibit (negative allosteric modulator, NAM) the receptor response and often provide much greater subtype selectivity than orthosteric ligands for the same receptors. Experimental evidence has revealed more nuanced pharmacological modes of action of allosteric modulators, with some PAMs showing allosteric agonism in combination with positive allosteric modulation in response to endogenous ligand (ago-potentiators) as well as "bitopic" ligands that interact with both the allosteric and orthosteric sites. Drugs targeting the allosteric site allow for increased drug selectivity and potentially decreased adverse side effects. Promising evidence has demonstrated potential utility of a number of allosteric modulators of GPCRs in multiple CNS disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease, as well as psychiatric or neurobehavioral diseases such as anxiety, schizophrenia, and addiction. © 2013.

Function-oriented development of CXCR4 antagonists as selective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 entry inhibitors.

PubMed

Wu, Chien-Huang; Wang, Chuan-Jen; Chang, Chun-Ping; Cheng, Yung-Chi; Song, Jen-Shin; Jan, Jiing-Jyh; Chou, Ming-Chen; Ke, Yi-Yu; Ma, Jing; Wong, Ying-Chieh; Hsieh, Tsung-Chih; Tien, Yun-Chen; Gullen, Elizabeth A; Lo, Chen-Fu; Cheng, Chia-Yi; Liu, Yu-Wei; Sadani, Amit A; Tsai, Chia-Hua; Hsieh, Hsin-Pang; Tsou, Lun K; Shia, Kak-Shan

2015-02-12

Motivated by the pivotal role of CXCR4 as an HIV entry co-receptor, we herein report a de novo hit-to-lead effort on the identification of subnanomolar purine-based CXCR4 antagonists against HIV-1 infection. Compound 24, with an EC50 of 0.5 nM against HIV-1 entry into host cells and an IC50 of 16.4 nM for inhibition of radioligand stromal-derived factor-1α (SDF-1α) binding to CXCR4, was also found to be highly selective against closely related chemokine receptors. We rationalized that compound 24 complementarily interacted with the critical CXCR4 residues that are essential for binding to HIV-1 gp120 V3 loop and subsequent viral entry. Compound 24 showed a 130-fold increase in anti-HIV activity compared to that of the marketed CXCR4 antagonist, AMD3100 (Plerixafor), whereas both compounds exhibited similar potency in mobilization of CXCR4(+)/CD34(+) stem cells at a high dose. Our study offers insight into the design of anti-HIV therapeutics devoid of major interference with SDF-1α function.

Concurrent and longitudinal associations of peers' acceptance with emotion and effortful control in kindergarten

PubMed Central

Hernández, Maciel M.; Eisenberg, Nancy; Valiente, Carlos; Diaz, Anjolii; VanSchyndel, Sarah K.; Berger, Rebecca H.; Terrell, Nathan; Silva, Kassondra M.; Spinrad, Tracy L.; Southworth, Jody

2015-01-01

The purpose of the study was to evaluate bidirectional associations between peer acceptance and both emotion and effortful control during kindergarten (N = 301). In both the fall and spring semesters, we obtained peer nominations of acceptance, measures of positive and negative emotion based on naturalistic observations in school (i.e., classroom, lunch/recess), and observers’ reports of effortful control (i.e., inhibitory control, attention focusing) and emotions (i.e., positive, negative). In structural equation panel models, peer acceptance in fall predicted higher effortful control in spring. Effortful control in fall did not predict peer acceptance in spring. Negative emotion predicted lower peer acceptance across time for girls but not for boys. Peer acceptance did not predict negative or positive emotion over time. In addition, we tested interactions between positive or negative emotion and effortful control predicting peer acceptance. Positive emotion predicted higher peer acceptance for children low in effortful control. PMID:28348445

Structural Plasticity of Malaria Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase Allows Selective Binding of Diverse Chemical Scaffolds

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

Deng, Xiaoyi; Gujjar, Ramesh; El Mazouni, Farah

Malaria remains a major global health burden and current drug therapies are compromised by resistance. Plasmodium falciparum dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (PfDHODH) was validated as a new drug target through the identification of potent and selective triazolopyrimidine-based DHODH inhibitors with anti-malarial activity in vivo. Here we report x-ray structure determination of PfDHODH bound to three inhibitors from this series, representing the first of the enzyme bound to malaria specific inhibitors. We demonstrate that conformational flexibility results in an unexpected binding mode identifying a new hydrophobic pocket on the enzyme. Importantly this plasticity allows PfDHODH to bind inhibitors from different chemical classes andmore » to accommodate inhibitor modifications during lead optimization, increasing the value of PfDHODH as a drug target. A second discovery, based on small molecule crystallography, is that the triazolopyrimidines populate a resonance form that promotes charge separation. These intrinsic dipoles allow formation of energetically favorable H-bond interactions with the enzyme. The importance of delocalization to binding affinity was supported by site-directed mutagenesis and the demonstration that triazolopyrimidine analogs that lack this intrinsic dipole are inactive. Finally, the PfDHODH-triazolopyrimidine bound structures provide considerable new insight into species-selective inhibitor binding in this enzyme family. Together, these studies will directly impact efforts to exploit PfDHODH for the development of anti-malarial chemotherapy.« less

Individual differences in action co-representation: not personal distress or subclinical psychotic experiences but sex composition modulates joint action performance.

PubMed

van der Weiden, Anouk; Aarts, Henk; Prikken, Merel; van Haren, Neeltje E M

2016-02-01

Successful social interaction requires the ability to integrate as well as distinguish own and others' actions. Normally, the integration and distinction of self and other are a well-balanced process, occurring without much effort or conscious attention. However, not everyone is blessed with the ability to balance self-other distinction and integration, resulting in personal distress in reaction to other people's emotions or even a loss of self [e.g., in (subclinical) psychosis]. Previous research has demonstrated that the integration and distinction of others' actions cause interference with one's own action performance (commonly assessed with a social Simon task). The present study had two goals. First, as previous studies on the social Simon effect employed relatively small samples (N < 50 per test), we aimed for a sample size that allowed us to test the robustness of the action interference effect. Second, we tested to what extent action interference reflects individual differences in traits related to self-other distinction (i.e., personal distress in reaction to other people's emotions and subclinical psychotic symptoms). Based on a questionnaire study among a large sample (N = 745), we selected a subsample (N = 130) of participants scoring low, average, or high on subclinical psychotic symptoms, or on personal distress. The selected participants performed a social Simon task. Results showed a robust social Simon effect, regardless of individual differences in personal distress or subclinical psychotic symptoms. However, exploratory analyses revealed that the sex composition of interaction pairs modulated social Simon effects. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Development, refinement, and testing of a short term solar flare prediction algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Jesse B., Jr.

1993-01-01

During the period included in this report, the expenditure of time and effort, and progress toward performance of the tasks and accomplishing the goals set forth in the two year research grant proposal, consisted primarily of calibration and analysis of selected data sets. The heliographic limits of 30 degrees from central meridian were continued. As previously reported, all analyses are interactive and are performed by the Principal Investigator. It should also be noted that the analysis time involved by the Principal Investigator during this reporting period was limited, partially due to illness and partially resulting from other uncontrollable factors. The calibration technique (as developed by MSFC solar scientists), incorporates sets of constants which vary according to the wave length of the observation data set. One input constant is then varied interactively to correct for observing conditions, etc., to result in a maximum magnetic field strength (in the calibrated data), based on a separate analysis. There is some insecurity in the methodology and the selection of variables to yield the most self-consistent results for variable maximum field strengths and for variable observing/atmospheric conditions. Several data sets were analyzed using differing constant sets, and separate analyses to differing maximum field strength - toward standardizing methodology and technique for the most self-consistent results for the large number of cases. It may be necessary to recalibrate some of the analyses, but the sc analyses are retained on the optical disks and can still be used with recalibration where necessary. Only the extracted parameters will be changed.

Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Dynamic Human Information Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Minsoo

2013-01-01

Introduction: This study aims to understand the interactions of perception, effort, emotion, time and performance during the performance of multiple information tasks using Web information technologies. Method: Twenty volunteers from a university participated in this study. Questionnaires were used to obtain general background information and…

Human-directed local autonomy for motion guidance and coordination in an intelligent manufacturing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alford, W. A.; Kawamura, Kazuhiko; Wilkes, Don M.

1997-12-01

This paper discusses the problem of integrating human intelligence and skills into an intelligent manufacturing system. Our center has jointed the Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS) Project, an international consortium dedicated to developing holonic systems technologies. One of our contributions to this effort is in Work Package 6: flexible human integration. This paper focuses on one activity, namely, human integration into motion guidance and coordination. Much research on intelligent systems focuses on creating totally autonomous agents. At the Center for Intelligent Systems (CIS), we design robots that interact directly with a human user. We focus on using the natural intelligence of the user to simplify the design of a robotic system. The problem is finding ways for the user to interact with the robot that are efficient and comfortable for the user. Manufacturing applications impose the additional constraint that the manufacturing process should not be disturbed; that is, frequent interacting with the user could degrade real-time performance. Our research in human-robot interaction is based on a concept called human directed local autonomy (HuDL). Under this paradigm, the intelligent agent selects and executes a behavior or skill, based upon directions from a human user. The user interacts with the robot via speech, gestures, or other media. Our control software is based on the intelligent machine architecture (IMA), an object-oriented architecture which facilitates cooperation and communication among intelligent agents. In this paper we describe our research testbed, a dual-arm humanoid robot and human user, and the use of this testbed for a human directed sorting task. We also discuss some proposed experiments for evaluating the integration of the human into the robot system. At the time of this writing, the experiments have not been completed.

Modulators of 14-3-3 Protein–Protein Interactions

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Direct interactions between proteins are essential for the regulation of their functions in biological pathways. Targeting the complex network of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) has now been widely recognized as an attractive means to therapeutically intervene in disease states. Even though this is a challenging endeavor and PPIs have long been regarded as “undruggable” targets, the last two decades have seen an increasing number of successful examples of PPI modulators, resulting in growing interest in this field. PPI modulation requires novel approaches and the integrated efforts of multiple disciplines to be a fruitful strategy. This perspective focuses on the hub-protein 14-3-3, which has several hundred identified protein interaction partners, and is therefore involved in a wide range of cellular processes and diseases. Here, we aim to provide an integrated overview of the approaches explored for the modulation of 14-3-3 PPIs and review the examples resulting from these efforts in both inhibiting and stabilizing specific 14-3-3 protein complexes by small molecules, peptide mimetics, and natural products. PMID:28968506

Collaboration for Education with the Apple Learning Interchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Patrick A.; Zimmerman, T.; Knierman, K. A.

2006-12-01

We present a progressive effort to deliver online education and outreach resources in collaboration with the Apple Learning Interchange, a free community for educators. We have created a resource site with astronomy activities, video training for the activities, and the possibility of interactive training through video chat services. Also in development is an online textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in stellar evolution, featuring an updatable and annotated text with multimedia content, online lectures, podcasts, and a framework for interactive simulation activities. Both sites will be highly interactive, combining online discussions, the opportunity for live video interaction, and a growing library of student work samples. This effort promises to provide a compelling model for collaboration between science educators and corporations. As scientists, we provide content knowledge and a compelling reason to communicate, while Apple provides technical expertise, a deep knowledge of online education, and a way for us to reach a wide audience of higher education, community outreach, and K-12 educators.

Mechanical Behavior of Advanced Materials for Aerospace Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Telesman, Ignancy (Technical Monitor); Kantzos, Peter; Shannon, Brian

2003-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) loading has any deleterious synergistic effect on life when combined with the typical Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) loading present in engine disks. This interaction is particularly important in the rim region of blisk applications, where fatigue initiations from vibratory stresses (HCF) may be propagated to the disk by LCF. The primary effort in this study was focused on determining and documenting initiation sites and damage mechanisms. Under LCF loading conditions the failures were predominantly surface initiated, while HCF loading favored internal initiations. Deleterious HCF/LCF interactions would always result in a transition from internal to surface initiations. The results indicated that under the relative stress conditions evaluated there was no interaction between HCF and LCF. In FY99 this effort was extended to investigate several other loading conditions (R-ratio effects) as well as interactions between LCF and two-hour tensile dwells. The results will be published as a NASA Technical Memorandum.

The effect of talking about psychological trauma with a significant other on heart rate reactivity in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder.

PubMed

Nachar, Nadim; Lavoie, Marc E; Marchand, André; O'Connor, Kieron P; Guay, Stéphane

2014-09-30

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly make efforts to avoid trauma-oriented conversations with their significant others, which may interfere with the natural recovery process. Trauma-oriented conversations can be experienced as physiologically arousing, depending on the intensity of PTSD symptoms and perceptions of social support. In the current investigation, changes in heart rate responses to a trauma-oriented social interaction with a significant other were assessed. Perceived supportive and unsupportive or negative social interactions were examined as moderators of the association between heart rate changes to this context and intensity of PTSD symptoms. A total of 46 individuals with PTSD completed diagnostic interviews and self-report measures of symptoms and perceived supportive and negative social interactions during a trauma-oriented social interaction with a significant other. Heart rate was continuously measured during this interaction. Results showed that engagement in a trauma-oriented social interaction was predictive of elevations in heart rate that positively correlated with intensity of PTSD symptoms. The moderation hypothesis was partially supported. In addition, perceived negative social interactions positively correlated with elevations in heart rate. These findings can inform social intervention efforts for individuals with PTSD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Getting a Grip on Complexes

PubMed Central

Nie, Yan; Viola, Cristina; Bieniossek, Christoph; Trowitzsch, Simon; Vijay-achandran, Lakshmi Sumitra; Chaillet, Maxime; Garzoni, Frederic; Berger, Imre

2009-01-01

We are witnessing tremendous advances in our understanding of the organization of life. Complete genomes are being deciphered with ever increasing speed and accuracy, thereby setting the stage for addressing the entire gene product repertoire of cells, towards understanding whole biological systems. Advances in bioinformatics and mass spectrometric techniques have revealed the multitude of interactions present in the proteome. Multiprotein complexes are emerging as a paramount cornerstone of biological activity, as many proteins appear to participate, stably or transiently, in large multisubunit assemblies. Analysis of the architecture of these assemblies and their manifold interactions is imperative for understanding their function at the molecular level. Structural genomics efforts have fostered the development of many technologies towards achieving the throughput required for studying system-wide single proteins and small interaction motifs at high resolution. The present shift in focus towards large multiprotein complexes, in particular in eukaryotes, now calls for a likewise concerted effort to develop and provide new technologies that are urgently required to produce in quality and quantity the plethora of multiprotein assemblies that form the complexome, and to routinely study their structure and function at the molecular level. Current efforts towards this objective are summarized and reviewed in this contribution. PMID:20514218

Neuroplasticity of selective attention: Research foundations and preliminary evidence for a gene by intervention interaction

PubMed Central

Stevens, Courtney; Pakulak, Eric; Hampton Wray, Amanda; Bell, Theodore A.; Neville, Helen J.

2017-01-01

This article reviews the trajectory of our research program on selective attention, which has moved from basic research on the neural processes underlying selective attention to translational studies using selective attention as a neurobiological target for evidence-based interventions. We use this background to present a promising preliminary investigation of how genetic and experiential factors interact during development (i.e., gene × intervention interactions). Our findings provide evidence on how exposure to a family-based training can modify the associations between genotype (5-HTTLPR) and the neural mechanisms of selective attention in preschool children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds. PMID:28819066

Neuroplasticity of selective attention: Research foundations and preliminary evidence for a gene by intervention interaction.

PubMed

Isbell, Elif; Stevens, Courtney; Pakulak, Eric; Hampton Wray, Amanda; Bell, Theodore A; Neville, Helen J

2017-08-29

This article reviews the trajectory of our research program on selective attention, which has moved from basic research on the neural processes underlying selective attention to translational studies using selective attention as a neurobiological target for evidence-based interventions. We use this background to present a promising preliminary investigation of how genetic and experiential factors interact during development (i.e., gene × intervention interactions). Our findings provide evidence on how exposure to a family-based training can modify the associations between genotype (5-HTTLPR) and the neural mechanisms of selective attention in preschool children from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds.

Preliminary Evaluation of Air Quality Model Performance Utilizing Measurements at the University of Houston Moody Tower and others during the TexAQS-II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byun, D. W.; Rappenglueck, B.; Lefer, B.

2007-12-01

Accurate meteorological and photochemical modeling efforts are necessary to understand the measurements made during the Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS-II). The main objective of the study is to understand the meteorological and chemical processes of high ozone and regional haze events in the Eastern Texas, including the Houston-Galveston metropolitan area. Real-time and retrospective meteorological and photochemical model simulations were performed to study key physical and chemical processes in the Houston Galveston Area. In particular, the Vertical Mixing Experiment (VME) at the University of Houston campus was performed on selected days during the TexAQS-II. Results of the MM5 meteorological model and CMAQ air quality model simulations were compared with the VME and other TexAQS-II measurements to understand the interaction of the boundary layer dynamics and photochemical evolution affecting Houston air quality.

Challenges and Limits Using Antimicrobial Peptides in Boar Semen Preservation.

PubMed

Schulze, M; Grobbel, M; Müller, K; Junkes, C; Dathe, M; Rüdiger, K; Jung, M

2015-07-01

Antibiotics are of great importance for the preservation of ejaculates for livestock breading. The use of antibiotics, however, is not an appropriate compensation for a lack of hygiene standards in artificial insemination (AI) centres. Sophisticated hygiene management and the proper identification of hygienic critical control points (HCCPs) at AI centres provide the basis for counteracting the development of antibiotic resistance in contaminant bacteria and their settlement in AI centres. In recent years, efforts have been made to use antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the preservation of boar semen. Investigations have included the testing of synthetic magainin derivatives and cyclic hexapeptides. One prerequisite for the application of AMPs is that they have a minor impact on eukaryotic cells. Bacterial selectivity, proteolytic stability, thermodynamic resistance, and mechanisms including synergistic interaction with conventional antibiotics have made cyclic hexapeptides highly promising candidates for potential application as peptide antibiotics for semen preservation. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Distinguishing rational from irrational applications of pharmacogenetic synergies from the bench to clinical trials.

PubMed

Hucl, Tomas; Gallmeier, Eike; Kern, Scott E

2007-06-01

Single therapeutic agents very often fail in unselected patients. It is therefore commonplace to combine an agent specifically with a selected patient subgroup or with another agent. To support such efforts, it is useful to clarify the distinctions between the terms and the mathematical models used in analyzing combinations. To incorporate molecular disease classifications, the familiar concept of the therapeutic window is modified to define a pharmacogenetic window, which is an unambiguous numerical measure of the magnitude of interaction produced by a combination, and to define a test of pharmacogenetic synergy. In contrast, certain common comparative methods, such as vertical windows (comparing effects at a given dose) and animal models of mutational targets may be dominated by undesirable features. Although this discussion is oriented towards cancer therapy, an extension of these concepts to other comparative biologic assays is feasible and advisable.

Development of New Sensing Materials Using Combinatorial and High-Throughput Experimentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potyrailo, Radislav A.; Mirsky, Vladimir M.

New sensors with improved performance characteristics are needed for applications as diverse as bedside continuous monitoring, tracking of environmental pollutants, monitoring of food and water quality, monitoring of chemical processes, and safety in industrial, consumer, and automotive settings. Typical requirements in sensor improvement are selectivity, long-term stability, sensitivity, response time, reversibility, and reproducibility. Design of new sensing materials is the important cornerstone in the effort to develop new sensors. Often, sensing materials are too complex to predict their performance quantitatively in the design stage. Thus, combinatorial and high-throughput experimentation methodologies provide an opportunity to generate new required data to discover new sensing materials and/or to optimize existing material compositions. The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the key concepts of experimental development of sensing materials using combinatorial and high-throughput experimentation tools, and to promote additional fruitful interactions between computational scientists and experimentalists.

Current State of Theoretical and Experimental Studies of the Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC)

PubMed Central

Noskov, Sergei Yu.; Rostovtseva, Tatiana K.; Chamberlin, Adam C.; Teijido, Oscar; Jiang, Wei; Bezrukov, Sergey M.

2016-01-01

Voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), the major channel of the mitochondrial outer membrane provides a controlled pathway for respiratory metabolites in and out of the mitochondria. In spite of the wealth of experimental data from structural, biochemical, and biophysical investigations, the exact mechanisms governing selective ion and metabolite transport, especially the role of titratable charged residues and interactions with soluble cytosolic proteins, remain hotly debated in the field. The computational advances hold a promise to provide a much sought-after solution to many of the scientific disputes around solute and ion transport through VDAC and hence, across the mitochondrial outer membrane. In this review, we examine how Molecular Dynamics, Free Energy, and Brownian Dynamics simulations of the large β-barrel channel, VDAC, advanced our understanding. We will provide a short overview of non-conventional techniques and also discuss examples of how the modeling excursions into VDAC biophysics prospectively aid experimental efforts. PMID:26940625

Understanding, representing and communicating earth system processes in weather and climate within CNRCWP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sushama, Laxmi; Arora, Vivek; de Elia, Ramon; Déry, Stephen; Duguay, Claude; Gachon, Philippe; Gyakum, John; Laprise, René; Marshall, Shawn; Monahan, Adam; Scinocca, John; Thériault, Julie; Verseghy, Diana; Zwiers, Francis

2017-04-01

The Canadian Network for Regional Climate and Weather Processes (CNRCWP) provides significant advances and innovative research towards the ultimate goal of reducing uncertainty in numerical weather prediction and climate projections for Canada's Northern and Arctic regions. This talk will provide an overview of the Network and selected results related to the assessment of the added value of high-resolution modelling that has helped fill critical knowledge gaps in understanding the dynamics of extreme temperature and precipitation events and the complex land-atmosphere interactions and feedbacks in Canada's northern and Arctic regions. In addition, targeted developments in the Canadian regional climate model, that facilitate direct application of model outputs in impact and adaptation studies, particularly those related to the water, energy and infrastructure sectors will also be discussed. The close collaboration between the Network and its partners and end users contributed significantly to this effort.

Bidirectional Active Learning: A Two-Way Exploration Into Unlabeled and Labeled Data Set.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiao-Yu; Wang, Shupeng; Yun, Xiaochun

2015-12-01

In practical machine learning applications, human instruction is indispensable for model construction. To utilize the precious labeling effort effectively, active learning queries the user with selective sampling in an interactive way. Traditional active learning techniques merely focus on the unlabeled data set under a unidirectional exploration framework and suffer from model deterioration in the presence of noise. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel bidirectional active learning algorithm that explores into both unlabeled and labeled data sets simultaneously in a two-way process. For the acquisition of new knowledge, forward learning queries the most informative instances from unlabeled data set. For the introspection of learned knowledge, backward learning detects the most suspiciously unreliable instances within the labeled data set. Under the two-way exploration framework, the generalization ability of the learning model can be greatly improved, which is demonstrated by the encouraging experimental results.

Ionospheric Data Assimilation and Targeted Observation Strategies: Proof of Concept Analysis in a Geomagnetic Storm Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostelich, Eric; Durazo, Juan; Mahalov, Alex

2017-11-01

The dynamics of the ionosphere involve complex interactions between the atmosphere, solar wind, cosmic radiation, and Earth's magnetic field. Geomagnetic storms arising from solar activity can perturb these dynamics sufficiently to disrupt radio and satellite communications. Efforts to predict ``space weather,'' including ionospheric dynamics, require the development of a data assimilation system that combines observing systems with appropriate forecast models. This talk will outline a proof-of-concept targeted observation strategy, consisting of the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter, coupled with the Thermosphere Ionosphere Electrodynamics Global Circulation Model, to select optimal locations where additional observations can be made to improve short-term ionospheric forecasts. Initial results using data and forecasts from the geomagnetic storm of 26-27 September 2011 will be described. Work supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant Number FA9550-15-1-0096) and by the National Science Foundation (Grant Number DMS-0940314).

Expert reasoning within an object-oriented framework

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

Bohn, S.J.; Pennock, K.A.

1991-10-01

A large number of contaminated waste sites across the United States await site remediation efforts. These sites can be physically complex, composed of multiple, possibly interacting, contaminants distributed throughout one or more media. The Remedial Action Assessment System (RAAS) is being designed and developed to support decisions concerning the selection of remediation alternatives. The goal of this system is to broaden the consideration of remediation alternatives, while reducing the time and cost of making these considerations. The Remedial Action Assessment System was designed and constructed using object-oriented techniques. It is a hybrid system which uses a combination of quantitative andmore » qualitative reasoning to consider and suggest remediation alternatives. the reasoning process that drives this application is centered around an object-oriented organization of remediation technology information. This paper briefly describes the waste remediation problem and then discusses the information structure and organization RAAS utilizes to address it. 4 refs., 4 figs.« less

Examining Associations between Effortful Control and Teacher-Child Relationships in Relation to Head Start Children's Socioemotional Adjustment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Myers, Sonya S.; Morris, Amanda Sheffield

2009-01-01

Research Findings: The current project examined the unique and interactive relations of child effortful control and teacher-child relationships to low-income preschoolers' socioemotional adjustment. One hundred and forty Head Start children (77 boys and 63 girls), their parents, lead teachers, and teacher assistants participated in this study.…

School-Based Teacher Collaboration in Sweden and Greece: Formal Cooperation, Deprivatized Practices and Personalized Interaction in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kougioumtzis, Konstantin; Patriksson, Goran

2009-01-01

During recent years, educational restructuring efforts have commonly regarded schools as both learning communities and sites for teachers' professional development. A plethora of attributes influence prerequisites as well as outcomes of the efforts, while teachers' local cultures constitute a cornerstone. More specifically, enhanced school-based…

A Case Study of School Technology Support Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hiltz, John R.

2011-01-01

Since the last decade of the 20th Century, there has been an effort to integrate technology into classroom instruction. The success of this effort has been uneven, as teachers have resisted this change. There has been a great deal of recent research on the importance of teacher-to-teacher interactions and successful organizational change. This…

Collaborative Meaning-Making Using Video Footage: Teachers and Researchers Analyse Children's Working Theories about Friendship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hedges, Helen; Cooper, Maria

2017-01-01

Children represent their efforts to make sense of their social worlds in various ways. Having, making and being friends are common foci of children's interactions and identity development. These efforts may become visible through analysing video-recorded snippets of children's play. In particular, repeated viewing of episodes of children's…

Investigating Student Communities with Network Analysis of Interactions in a Physics Learning Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brewe, Eric; Kramer, Laird; Sawtelle, Vashti

2012-01-01

Developing a sense of community among students is one of the three pillars of an overall reform effort to increase participation in physics, and the sciences more broadly, at Florida International University. The emergence of a research and learning community, embedded within a course reform effort, has contributed to increased recruitment and…

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

Dumitrescu, Eugene; Humble, Travis S.

The accurate and reliable characterization of quantum dynamical processes underlies efforts to validate quantum technologies, where discrimination between competing models of observed behaviors inform efforts to fabricate and operate qubit devices. We present a protocol for quantum channel discrimination that leverages advances in direct characterization of quantum dynamics (DCQD) codes. We demonstrate that DCQD codes enable selective process tomography to improve discrimination between entangling and correlated quantum dynamics. Numerical simulations show selective process tomography requires only a few measurement configurations to achieve a low false alarm rate and that the DCQD encoding improves the resilience of the protocol to hiddenmore » sources of noise. Lastly, our results show that selective process tomography with DCQD codes is useful for efficiently distinguishing sources of correlated crosstalk from uncorrelated noise in current and future experimental platforms.« less

Gender and theory of mind in preschoolers' group effort: evidence for timing differences behind children's earliest social loafing.

PubMed

Thompson, R Bruce; Thornton, Bill

2014-01-01

This study explored mental state reasoning within the context of group effort and possible differences in development between boys and girls. Preschool children (59 girls, 47 boys) were assessed for theory of mind (ToM) ability using classic false belief tests. Children participated in group effort conditions that alternated from one condition, where individual effort was transparent and obvious, to one where individual effort remained anonymous. The aim was to investigate if emergent mental state reasoning, after controlling for age, was associated with the well-known phenomenon of reduced effort in group tasks ("social loafing"). Girls had slightly higher ToM scores and social loafing than boys. Hierarchical regression, controlling for age, indicated that understanding of others' false beliefs uniquely predicted social loafing and interacted weakly with gender status.

The CBT Advisor: An Expert System Program for Making Decisions about CBT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearsley, Greg

1985-01-01

Discusses structure, credibility, and use of the Computer Based Training (CBT) Advisor, an expert system designed to help managers make judgements about course selection, system selection, cost/benefits, development effort, and probable success of CBT projects. (MBR)

30 CFR 401.11 - Applications for grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE WATER RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROGRAM... support competitively selected research projects under the terms of section 104(g) of the Act. Selection... effort and encouraging regional cooperation in research areas of water management, development, and...

30 CFR 401.11 - Applications for grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE WATER RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROGRAM... support competitively selected research projects under the terms of section 104(g) of the Act. Selection... effort and encouraging regional cooperation in research areas of water management, development, and...

30 CFR 401.11 - Applications for grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE WATER RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROGRAM... support competitively selected research projects under the terms of section 104(g) of the Act. Selection... effort and encouraging regional cooperation in research areas of water management, development, and...

30 CFR 401.11 - Applications for grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE WATER RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROGRAM... support competitively selected research projects under the terms of section 104(g) of the Act. Selection... effort and encouraging regional cooperation in research areas of water management, development, and...

30 CFR 401.11 - Applications for grants.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Mineral Resources GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STATE WATER RESEARCH INSTITUTE PROGRAM... support competitively selected research projects under the terms of section 104(g) of the Act. Selection... effort and encouraging regional cooperation in research areas of water management, development, and...

Genotype × environment interaction analysis of North American shrub willow yield trials confirms superior performance of triploid hybrids

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

Fabio, Eric S.; Volk, Timothy A.; Miller, Raymond O.

Development of dedicated bioenergy crop production systems will require accurate yield estimates, which will be important for determining many of the associated environmental and economic impacts of their production. Shrub willow (Salix spp) is being promoted in areas of the USA and Canada due to its adaption to cool climates and wide genetic diversity available for breeding improvement. Willow breeding in North America is in an early stage, and selection of elite genotypes for commercialization will require testing across broad geographic regions to gain an understanding of how shrub willow interacts with the environment. We analyzed a dataset of first-rotationmore » shrub willow yields of 16 genotypes across 10 trial environments in the USA and Canada for genotype-by-environment interactions using the additive main effects and multiplicative interactions (AMMI) model. Mean genotype yields ranged from 5.22 to 8.58 oven-dry Mg ha -1 yr -1. Analysis of the main effect of genotype showed that one round of breeding improved yields by as much as 20% over check cultivars and that triploid hybrids, most notably Salix viminalis × S. miyabeana, exhibited superior yields. We also found important variability in genotypic response to environments, which suggests specific adaptability could be exploited among 16 genotypes for yield gains. Strong positive correlations were found between environment main effects and AMMI parameters and growing environment temperatures. These findings demonstrate yield improvements are possible in one generation and will be important for developing cultivar recommendations and for future breeding efforts.« less

New insight into protein-nanomaterial interactions with UV-visible spectroscopy and chemometrics: human serum albumin and silver nanoparticles.

PubMed

Wang, Yong; Ni, Yongnian

2014-01-21

In recent years, great efforts have focused on the exploration and fabrication of protein nanoconjugates due to potential applications in many fields including bioanalytical science, biosensors, biocatalysis, biofuel cells and bio-based nanodevices. An important aspect of our understanding of protein nanoconjugates is to quantitatively understand how proteins interact with nanomaterials. In this report, human serum albumin (HSA) and citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are selected as a case study of protein-nanomaterial interactions. UV-visible spectroscopy together with multivariate curve resolution by alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) algorithm is first exploited for the detailed study of AgNPs-HSA interactions. Introduction of the chemometrics tool allows extracting the kinetic profiles, spectra and distribution diagrams of two major absorbing pure species (AgNPs and AgNPs-HSA conjugate). These resolved profiles are then analysed to give the thermodynamic, kinetic and structural information of HSA binding to AgNPs. Transmission electron microscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to further characterize the complex system. Moreover, a sensitive spectroscopic biosensor for HSA is fabricated with the MCR-ALS resolved concentration of absorbing pure species. It is found that the linear range for the HSA nanosensor was from 1.9 nM to 45.0 nM with a detection limit of 0.9 nM. It is believed that the proposed method will play an important role in the fabrication and optimization of a robust nanobiosensor or cross-reactive sensors array for the detection and identification of biocomponents.

Genotype × environment interaction analysis of North American shrub willow yield trials confirms superior performance of triploid hybrids

DOE PAGES

Fabio, Eric S.; Volk, Timothy A.; Miller, Raymond O.; ...

2016-01-30

Development of dedicated bioenergy crop production systems will require accurate yield estimates, which will be important for determining many of the associated environmental and economic impacts of their production. Shrub willow (Salix spp) is being promoted in areas of the USA and Canada due to its adaption to cool climates and wide genetic diversity available for breeding improvement. Willow breeding in North America is in an early stage, and selection of elite genotypes for commercialization will require testing across broad geographic regions to gain an understanding of how shrub willow interacts with the environment. We analyzed a dataset of first-rotationmore » shrub willow yields of 16 genotypes across 10 trial environments in the USA and Canada for genotype-by-environment interactions using the additive main effects and multiplicative interactions (AMMI) model. Mean genotype yields ranged from 5.22 to 8.58 oven-dry Mg ha -1 yr -1. Analysis of the main effect of genotype showed that one round of breeding improved yields by as much as 20% over check cultivars and that triploid hybrids, most notably Salix viminalis × S. miyabeana, exhibited superior yields. We also found important variability in genotypic response to environments, which suggests specific adaptability could be exploited among 16 genotypes for yield gains. Strong positive correlations were found between environment main effects and AMMI parameters and growing environment temperatures. These findings demonstrate yield improvements are possible in one generation and will be important for developing cultivar recommendations and for future breeding efforts.« less

A Randomized Trial Comparing Classical Participatory Design to VandAID, an Interactive CrowdSourcing Platform to Facilitate User-centered Design.

PubMed

Dufendach, Kevin R; Koch, Sabine; Unertl, Kim M; Lehmann, Christoph U

2017-10-26

Early involvement of stakeholders in the design of medical software is particularly important due to the need to incorporate complex knowledge and actions associated with clinical work. Standard user-centered design methods include focus groups and participatory design sessions with individual stakeholders, which generally limit user involvement to a small number of individuals due to the significant time investments from designers and end users. The goal of this project was to reduce the effort for end users to participate in co-design of a software user interface by developing an interactive web-based crowdsourcing platform. In a randomized trial, we compared a new web-based crowdsourcing platform to standard participatory design sessions. We developed an interactive, modular platform that allows responsive remote customization and design feedback on a visual user interface based on user preferences. The responsive canvas is a dynamic HTML template that responds in real time to user preference selections. Upon completion, the design team can view the user's interface creations through an administrator portal and download the structured selections through a REDCap interface. We have created a software platform that allows users to customize a user interface and see the results of that customization in real time, receiving immediate feedback on the impact of their design choices. Neonatal clinicians used the new platform to successfully design and customize a neonatal handoff tool. They received no specific instruction and yet were able to use the software easily and reported high usability. VandAID, a new web-based crowdsourcing platform, can involve multiple users in user-centered design simultaneously and provides means of obtaining design feedback remotely. The software can provide design feedback at any stage in the design process, but it will be of greatest utility for specifying user requirements and evaluating iterative designs with multiple options.

Some experiences with the viscous-inviscid interaction approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vandalsem, W. R.; Steger, J. L.; Rao, K. V.

1987-01-01

Methods for simulating compressible viscous flow using the viscid-inviscid interaction approach are described. The formulations presented range from the more familiar full-potential/boundary-layer interaction schemes to a method for coupling Euler/Navier-Stokes and boundary-layer algorithms. An effort is made to describe the advantages and disadvantages of each formulation. Sample results are presented which illustrate the applicability of the methods.

Design of a Multi-Touch Tabletop for Simulation-Based Training

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

receive, for example using point and click mouse-based computer interactions to specify the routes that vehicles take as part of a convoy...learning, coordination and support for planning. We first provide background in tabletop interaction in general and survey earlier efforts to use...tremendous progress over the past five years. Touch detection technologies now enable multiple users to interact simultaneously on large areas with

Developing Classroom Interactions Which Signal Effective Teaching. A Module for Undergraduate Instruction in Teacher Education in the RAFT Program at Mississippi State University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Handley, Herbert M., Ed.

In this module, developed by the Research Applications for Teaching (RAFT) project, preservice teachers study the major types of classroom interactions which occur between teachers and students and review the research findings showing how these interactions are related to effective teaching. Much effort is spent on describing procedures for…

Conformational Switching of a Foldamer in a Multicomponent System by pH-Filtered Selection between Competing Noncovalent Interactions

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Biomolecular systems are able to respond to their chemical environment through reversible, selective, noncovalent intermolecular interactions. Typically, these interactions induce conformational changes that initiate a signaling cascade, allowing the regulation of biochemical pathways. In this work, we describe an artificial molecular system that mimics this ability to translate selective noncovalent interactions into reversible conformational changes. An achiral but helical foldamer carrying a basic binding site interacts selectively with the most acidic member of a suite of chiral ligands. As a consequence of this noncovalent interaction, a global absolute screw sense preference, detectable by 13C NMR, is induced in the foldamer. Addition of base, or acid, to the mixture of ligands competitively modulates their interaction with the binding site, and reversibly switches the foldamer chain between its left and right-handed conformations. As a result, the foldamer–ligand mixture behaves as a biomimetic chemical system with emergent properties, functioning as a “proton-counting” molecular device capable of providing a tunable, pH-dependent conformational response to its environment. PMID:25915163

Efforts To Curb Grade Inflation Get an F from Many Critics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gose, Ben

1997-01-01

College faculty have been concerned about grade inflation for years, particularly at selective colleges, but the few recent attempts to remedy the problem have met with resistance or proved ineffective. Institutions feel pressure to grade as others do, and have abandoned efforts to develop stricter policy. In addition, teachers who do distribute…

BAID: The Barrow Area Information Database - an interactive web mapping portal and cyberinfrastructure for scientific activities in the vicinity of Barrow, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cody, R. P.; Kassin, A.; Gaylord, A.; Brown, J.; Tweedie, C. E.

2012-12-01

The Barrow area of northern Alaska is one of the most intensely researched locations in the Arctic. The Barrow Area Information Database (BAID, www.baidims.org) is a cyberinfrastructure (CI) that details much of the historic and extant research undertaken within in the Barrow region in a suite of interactive web-based mapping and information portals (geobrowsers). The BAID user community and target audience for BAID is diverse and includes research scientists, science logisticians, land managers, educators, students, and the general public. BAID contains information on more than 9,600 Barrow area research sites that extend back to the 1940's and more than 640 remote sensing images and geospatial datasets. In a web-based setting, users can zoom, pan, query, measure distance, and save or print maps and query results. Data are described with metadata that meet Federal Geographic Data Committee standards and are archived at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) where non-proprietary BAID data can be freely downloaded. BAID has been used to: Optimize research site choice; Reduce duplication of science effort; Discover complementary and potentially detrimental research activities in an area of scientific interest; Re-establish historical research sites for resampling efforts assessing change in ecosystem structure and function over time; Exchange knowledge across disciplines and generations; Facilitate communication between western science and traditional ecological knowledge; Provide local residents access to science data that facilitates adaptation to arctic change; (and) Educate the next generation of environmental and computer scientists. This poster describes key activities that will be undertaken over the next three years to provide BAID users with novel software tools to interact with a current and diverse selection of information and data about the Barrow area. Key activities include: 1. Collecting data on research activities, generating geospatial data, and providing mapping support. 2. Maintaining, updating and innovating the existing suite of BAID geobrowsers. 3. Maintaining and updating aging server hardware supporting BAID. 4. Adding interoperability with other CI using workflows, controlled vocabularies and web services. 5. Linking BAID to data archives at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). 6. Developing a wireless sensor network that provides web based interaction with near-real time climate and other data. 7. Training next generation of environmental and computer scientists and conducting outreach.

Pair bond characteristics and maintenance in free-flying jackdaws Corvus monedula: effects of social context and season

PubMed Central

Kubitza, Robin J.; Bugnyar, Thomas; Schwab, Christine

2015-01-01

Most birds rely on cooperation between pair partners for breeding. In long-term monogamous species, pair bonds are considered the basic units of social organization, albeit these birds often form foraging, roosting or breeding groups in which they repeatedly interact with numerous conspecifics. Focusing on jackdaws Corvus monedula, we here investigated 1) the interplay between pair bond and group dynamics in several social contexts and 2) how pair partners differ in individual effort of pair bond maintenance. Based on long-term data on free-flying birds, we quantified social interactions between group members within three positive contexts (spatial proximity, feeding and sociopositive interactions) for different periods of the year (non-breeding, pre-breeding, parental care). On the group level, we found that the number of interaction partners was highest in the spatial proximity context while in the feeding and sociopositive contexts the number of interaction partners was low and moderately low, respectively. Interactions were reciprocated within almost all contexts and periods. Investigating subgrouping within the flock, results showed that interactions were preferentially directed towards the respective pair partner compared to unmated adults. When determining pair partner effort, both sexes similarly invested most into mutual proximity during late winter, thereby refreshing their bond before the onset of breeding. Paired males fed their mates over the entire year at similar rates while paired females hardly fed their mates at all but engaged in sociopositive behaviors instead. We conclude that jackdaws actively seek out positive social ties to flock members (close proximity, sociopositive behavior), at certain times of the year. Thus, the group functions as a dynamic social unit, nested within are highly cooperative pair bonds. Both sexes invested into the bond with different social behaviors and different levels of effort, yet these are likely male and female proximate mechanisms aimed at maintaining and perpetuating the pair bond. PMID:25892848

Diurnal and Reproductive Stage-Dependent Variation of Parental Behaviour in Captive Zebra Finches

PubMed Central

Morvai, Boglárka; Nanuru, Sabine; Mul, Douwe; Kusche, Nina; Milne, Gregory; Székely, Tamás; Komdeur, Jan; Miklósi, Ádám

2016-01-01

Parental care plays a key role in ontogeny, life-history trade-offs, sexual selection and intra-familial conflict. Studies focusing on understanding causes and consequences of variation in parental effort need to quantify parental behaviour accurately. The applied methods are, however, diverse even for a given species and type of parental effort, and rarely validated for accuracy. Here we focus on variability of parental behaviour from a methodological perspective to investigate the effect of different samplings on various estimates of parental effort. We used nest box cameras in a captive breeding population of zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, a widely used model system of sexual selection, intra-familial dynamics and parental care. We investigated diurnal and reproductive stage-dependent variation in parental effort (including incubation, brooding, nest attendance and number of feedings) based on 12h and 3h continuous video-recordings taken at various reproductive stages. We then investigated whether shorter (1h) sampling periods provided comparable estimates of overall parental effort and division of labour to those of longer (3h) sampling periods. Our study confirmed female-biased division of labour during incubation, and showed that the difference between female and male effort diminishes with advancing reproductive stage. We found individually consistent parental behaviours within given days of incubation and nestling provisioning. Furthermore, parental behaviour was consistent over the different stages of incubation, however, only female brooding was consistent over nestling provisioning. Parental effort during incubation did not predict parental effort during nestling provisioning. Our analyses revealed that 1h sampling may be influenced heavily by stochastic and diurnal variation. We suggest using a single longer sampling period (3h) may provide a consistent and accurate estimate for overall parental effort during incubation in zebra finches. Due to the large within-individual variation, we suggest repeated longer sampling over the reproductive stage may be necessary for accurate estimates of parental effort post-hatching. PMID:27973549

Current perspectives on selective dopamine D3 receptor antagonists as pharmacotherapeutics for addictions and related disorders

PubMed Central

Heidbreder, Christian A.; Newman, Amy H.

2011-01-01

Repeated exposure to drugs of abuse produces long-term molecular and neurochemical changes that may explain the core features of addiction, such as the compulsive seeking and taking of the drug, as well as the risk of relapse. A growing number of new molecular and cellular targets of addictive drugs have been identified, and rapid advances are being made in relating those targets to specific behavioral phenotypes in animal models of addiction. In this context, the pattern of expression of the dopamine (DA) D3 receptor in the rodent and human brain and changes in this pattern in response to drugs of abuse have contributed primarily to direct research efforts toward the development of selective DA D3 receptor antagonists. Growing preclinical evidence indicates that these compounds may actually regulate the motivation to self-administer drugs and disrupt drug-associated cue-induced craving. This report will be divided into three parts. First, preclinical evidence in support of the efficacy of selective DA D3 receptor antagonists in animal models of drug addiction will be reviewed. The effects of mixed DA D2/D3 receptor antagonists will not be discussed here because most of these compounds have low selectivity at the D3 versus D2 receptor, and their efficacy profile is related primarily to functional antagonism at D2 receptors and possibly interactions with other neurotransmitter systems. Second, major advances in medicinal chemistry for the identification and optimization of selective DA D3 receptor antagonists and partial agonists will be analyzed. Third, translational research from preclinical efficacy studies to so-called proof-of-concept studies for drug addiction indications will be discussed. PMID:20201845

Group Cooperation without Group Selection: Modest Punishment Can Recruit Much Cooperation.

PubMed

Krasnow, Max M; Delton, Andrew W; Cosmides, Leda; Tooby, John

2015-01-01

Humans everywhere cooperate in groups to achieve benefits not attainable by individuals. Individual effort is often not automatically tied to a proportionate share of group benefits. This decoupling allows for free-riding, a strategy that (absent countermeasures) outcompetes cooperation. Empirically and formally, punishment potentially solves the evolutionary puzzle of group cooperation. Nevertheless, standard analyses appear to show that punishment alone is insufficient, because second-order free riders (those who cooperate but do not punish) can be shown to outcompete punishers. Consequently, many have concluded that other processes, such as cultural or genetic group selection, are required. Here, we present a series of agent-based simulations that show that group cooperation sustained by punishment easily evolves by individual selection when you introduce into standard models more biologically plausible assumptions about the social ecology and psychology of ancestral humans. We relax three unrealistic assumptions of past models. First, past models assume all punishers must punish every act of free riding in their group. We instead allow punishment to be probabilistic, meaning punishers can evolve to only punish some free riders some of the time. This drastically lowers the cost of punishment as group size increases. Second, most models unrealistically do not allow punishment to recruit labor; punishment merely reduces the punished agent's fitness. We instead realistically allow punished free riders to cooperate in the future to avoid punishment. Third, past models usually restrict agents to interact in a single group their entire lives. We instead introduce realistic social ecologies in which agents participate in multiple, partially overlapping groups. Because of this, punitive tendencies are more expressed and therefore more exposed to natural selection. These three moves toward greater model realism reveal that punishment and cooperation easily evolve by direct selection--even in sizeable groups.

Current perspectives on selective dopamine D(3) receptor antagonists as pharmacotherapeutics for addictions and related disorders.

PubMed

Heidbreder, Christian A; Newman, Amy H

2010-02-01

Repeated exposure to drugs of abuse produces long-term molecular and neurochemical changes that may explain the core features of addiction, such as the compulsive seeking and taking of the drug, as well as the risk of relapse. A growing number of new molecular and cellular targets of addictive drugs have been identified, and rapid advances are being made in relating those targets to specific behavioral phenotypes in animal models of addiction. In this context, the pattern of expression of the dopamine (DA) D(3) receptor in the rodent and human brain and changes in this pattern in response to drugs of abuse have contributed primarily to direct research efforts toward the development of selective DA D(3) receptor antagonists. Growing preclinical evidence indicates that these compounds may actually regulate the motivation to self-administer drugs and disrupt drug-associated cue-induced craving. This report will be divided into three parts. First, preclinical evidence in support of the efficacy of selective DA D(3) receptor antagonists in animal models of drug addiction will be reviewed. The effects of mixed DA D(2)/D(3) receptor antagonists will not be discussed here because most of these compounds have low selectivity at the D(3) versus D(2) receptor, and their efficacy profile is related primarily to functional antagonism at D(2) receptors and possibly interactions with other neurotransmitter systems. Second, major advances in medicinal chemistry for the identification and optimization of selective DA D(3) receptor antagonists and partial agonists will be analyzed. Third, translational research from preclinical efficacy studies to so-called proof-of-concept studies for drug addiction indications will be discussed.

QTLs for tolerance of drought and breeding for tolerance of abiotic and biotic stress: an integrated approach.

PubMed

Dixit, Shalabh; Huang, B Emma; Sta Cruz, Ma Teresa; Maturan, Paul T; Ontoy, Jhon Christian E; Kumar, Arvind

2014-01-01

The coupling of biotic and abiotic stresses leads to high yield losses in rainfed rice (Oryza sativa L.) growing areas. While several studies target these stresses independently, breeding strategies to combat multiple stresses seldom exist. This study reports an integrated strategy that combines QTL mapping and phenotypic selection to develop rice lines with high grain yield (GY) under drought stress and non-stress conditions, and tolerance of rice blast. A blast-tolerant BC2F3-derived population was developed from the cross of tropical japonica cultivar Moroberekan (blast- and drought-tolerant) and high-yielding indica variety Swarna (blast- and drought-susceptible) through phenotypic selection for blast tolerance at the BC2F2 generation. The population was studied for segregation distortion patterns and QTLs for GY under drought were identified along with study of epistatic interactions for the trait. Segregation distortion, in favour of Moroberekan, was observed at 50 of the 59 loci. Majority of these marker loci co-localized with known QTLs for blast tolerance or NBS-LRR disease resistance genes. Despite the presence of segregation distortion, high variation for DTF, PH and GY was observed and several QTLs were identified under drought stress and non-stress conditions for the three traits. Epistatic interactions were also detected for GY which explained a large proportion of phenotypic variance observed in the population. This strategy allowed us to identify QTLs for GY along with rapid development of high-yielding purelines tolerant to blast and drought with considerably reduced efforts. Apart from this, it also allowed us to study the effects of the selection cycle for blast tolerance. The developed lines were screened at IRRI and in the target environment, and drought and blast tolerant lines with high yield were identified. With tolerance to two major stresses and high yield potential, these lines may provide yield stability in rainfed rice areas.

Optimizing larval assessment to support sea lamprey control in the Great Lakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hansen, Michael J.; Adams, Jean V.; Cuddy, Douglas W.; Richards, Jessica M.; Fodale, Michael F.; Larson, Geraldine L.; Ollila, Dale J.; Slade, Jeffrey W.; Steeves, Todd B.; Young, Robert J.; Zerrenner, Adam

2003-01-01

Elements of the larval sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) assessment program that most strongly influence the chemical treatment program were analyzed, including selection of streams for larval surveys, allocation of sampling effort among stream reaches, allocation of sampling effort among habitat types, estimation of daily growth rates, and estimation of metamorphosis rates, to determine how uncertainty in each element influenced the stream selection program. First, the stream selection model based on current larval assessment sampling protocol significantly underestimated transforming sea lam-prey abundance, transforming sea lampreys killed, and marginal costs per sea lamprey killed, compared to a protocol that included more years of data (especially for large streams). Second, larval density in streams varied significantly with Type-I habitat area, but not with total area or reach length. Third, the ratio of larval density between Type-I and Type-II habitat varied significantly among streams, and that the optimal allocation of sampling effort varied with the proportion of habitat types and variability of larval density within each habitat. Fourth, mean length varied significantly among streams and years. Last, size at metamorphosis varied more among years than within or among regions and that metamorphosis varied significantly among streams within regions. Study results indicate that: (1) the stream selection model should be used to identify streams with potentially high residual populations of larval sea lampreys; (2) larval sampling in Type-II habitat should be initiated in all streams by increasing sampling in Type-II habitat to 50% of the sampling effort in Type-I habitat; and (3) methods should be investigated to reduce uncertainty in estimates of sea lamprey production, with emphasis on those that reduce the uncertainty associated with larval length at the end of the growing season and those used to predict metamorphosis.

Clinical utility of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test-II to detect poor effort in U.S. military personnel following traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Lange, Rael T; Iverson, Grant L; Brickell, Tracey A; Staver, Tara; Pancholi, Sonal; Bhagwat, Aditya; French, Louis M

2013-06-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the clinical utility of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT-II) as an embedded marker of poor effort in military personnel undergoing neuropsychological evaluations following traumatic brain injury. Participants were 158 U.S. military service members divided into 3 groups on the basis of brain injury severity and performance (pass/fail) on 2 symptom validity tests: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI)-Pass (n = 87), MTBI-Fail (n = 42), and severe traumatic brain injury (STBI)-Pass (n = 29). The MTBI-Fail group performed worse on the majority of CPT-II measures compared with both the MTBI-Pass and STBI-Pass groups. When comparing the MTBI-Fail group and MTBI-Pass groups, the most accurate measure for identifying poor effort was the Commission T score. When selected measures were combined (i.e., Omissions, Commissions, and Perseverations), there was a very small increase in sensitivity (from .26 to .29). When comparing the MTBI-Fail group and STBI-Pass groups, the most accurate measure for identifying poor effort was the Omission and Commissions T score. When selected measures were combined, sensitivity again increased (from .24 to .45). Overall, these results suggest that individual CPT-II measures can be useful for identifying people who are suspected of providing poor effort from those who have provided adequate effort. However, due to low sensitivity and modest negative predictive power values, this measure cannot be used in isolation to detect poor effort, and is largely useful as a test to "rule in," not "rule out" poor effort. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Interactive versus passive distraction for acute pain management in young children: the role of selective attention and development.

PubMed

Wohlheiter, Karen A; Dahlquist, Lynnda M

2013-03-01

To examine whether age and developmental differences in selective attention influence young children's differential responses to interactive and passive distraction. 65 3- to 6-year-old children underwent three cold-pressor trials while receiving no intervention, playing a video game (interactive distraction), or watching a video game (passive distraction). In addition, children completed a test of selective attention, and parents completed ratings of attention. Consistent with neurocognitive models of pain, children benefited more from interactive distraction than from passive distraction. Although older children demonstrated superior pain tolerance overall, age and selective attention skills did not moderate children's responses to the distraction intervention. These findings suggest that younger preschoolers can benefit from interactive distraction to manage acute pain, provided that the distraction activity is developmentally appropriate. Research is needed to determine whether developmental issues are more important moderators of children's responses to distraction when faced with more challenging task demands.

The Arctic Observing Viewer: A Web-mapping Application for U.S. Arctic Observing Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cody, R. P.; Manley, W. F.; Gaylord, A. G.; Kassin, A.; Villarreal, S.; Barba, M.; Dover, M.; Escarzaga, S. M.; Habermann, T.; Kozimor, J.; Score, R.; Tweedie, C. E.

2015-12-01

Although a great deal of progress has been made with various arctic observing efforts, it can be difficult to assess such progress when so many agencies, organizations, research groups and others are making such rapid progress over such a large expanse of the Arctic. To help meet the strategic needs of the U.S. SEARCH-AON program and facilitate the development of SAON and other related initiatives, the Arctic Observing Viewer (AOV; http://ArcticObservingViewer.org) has been developed. This web mapping application compiles detailed information pertaining to U.S. Arctic Observing efforts. Contributing partners include the U.S. NSF, USGS, ACADIS, ADIwg, AOOS, a2dc, AON, ARMAP, BAID, IASOA, INTERACT, and others. Over 7700 observation sites are currently in the AOV database and the application allows users to visualize, navigate, select, advance search, draw, print, and more. During 2015, the web mapping application has been enhanced by the addition of a query builder that allows users to create rich and complex queries. AOV is founded on principles of software and data interoperability and includes an emerging "Project" metadata standard, which uses ISO 19115-1 and compatible web services. Substantial efforts have focused on maintaining and centralizing all database information. In order to keep up with emerging technologies, the AOV data set has been structured and centralized within a relational database and the application front-end has been ported to HTML5 to enable mobile access. Other application enhancements include an embedded Apache Solr search platform which provides users with the capability to perform advance searches and an administration web based data management system that allows administrators to add, update, and delete information in real time. We encourage all collaborators to use AOV tools and services for their own purposes and to help us extend the impact of our efforts and ensure AOV complements other cyber-resources. Reinforcing dispersed but interoperable resources in this way will help to ensure improved capacities for conducting activities such as assessing the status of arctic observing efforts, optimizing logistic operations, and for quickly accessing external and project-focused web resources for more detailed information and access to scientific data and derived products.

The Arctic Observing Viewer: A Web-mapping Application for U.S. Arctic Observing Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kassin, A.; Gaylord, A. G.; Manley, W. F.; Villarreal, S.; Tweedie, C. E.; Cody, R. P.; Copenhaver, W.; Dover, M.; Score, R.; Habermann, T.

2014-12-01

Although a great deal of progress has been made with various arctic observing efforts, it can be difficult to assess such progress when so many agencies, organizations, research groups and others are making such rapid progress. To help meet the strategic needs of the U.S. SEARCH-AON program and facilitate the development of SAON and related initiatives, the Arctic Observing Viewer (AOV; http://ArcticObservingViewer.org) has been developed. This web mapping application compiles detailed information pertaining to U.S. Arctic Observing efforts. Contributing partners include the U.S. NSF, USGS, ACADIS, ADIwg, AOOS, a2dc, AON, ARMAP, BAID, IASOA, INTERACT, and others. Over 6100 sites are currently in the AOV database and the application allows users to visualize, navigate, select, advance search, draw, print, and more. AOV is founded on principles of software and data interoperability and includes an emerging "Project" metadata standard, which uses ISO 19115-1 and compatible web services. In the last year, substantial efforts have focused on maintaining and centralizing all database information. In order to keep up with emerging technologies and demand for the application, the AOV data set has been structured and centralized within a relational database; furthermore, the application front-end has been ported to HTML5. Porting the application to HTML5 will now provide access to mobile users utilizing tablets and cell phone devices. Other application enhancements include an embedded Apache Solr search platform which provides users with the capability to perform advance searches throughout the AOV dataset, and an administration web based data management system which allows the administrators to add, update, and delete data in real time. We encourage all collaborators to use AOV tools and services for their own purposes and to help us extend the impact of our efforts and ensure AOV complements other cyber-resources. Reinforcing dispersed but interoperable resources in this way will help to ensure improved capacities for conducting activities such as assessing the status of arctic observing efforts, optimizing logistic operations, and for quickly accessing external and project-focused web resources for more detailed information and data.

Improving the Selection, Classification, and Utilization of Army Enlisted Personnel: Annual Report, 1987 Fiscal Year

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-10-01

unles so designated by other authrized documena. ’V FOREWORD This document is a descrition of the research effort of the fifth year (Fiscal Year 1987...criterion measures. This part of the effort included the design of job performance measures for the noncommissioned officers in their second tour who were...phase. In Chapter 2 the Project A analysis group reports on their efforts to use the Concurrent Validation sample results to design optimal ASVAB

Humid site stabilization and closure

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

Cutshall, N.H.

1981-01-01

The purpose of the work described here is to identify and evaluate the importance of factors that are expected to dictate the nature of site stabilization and closure requirements. Subsequent efforts will plan for implementation of such requirements. Two principal areas of site stabilization and closure effort will be pursued initially - geological management and vegetation management. The geological effort will focus on chemical weathering and surficial erosion. Such catastrophic geologic events as landslides, flooding, earthquakes, volcanos, etc. are already considered in site selection and operation and these factors will not be emphasized initially. Vegetation management will be designed tomore » control erosion, to minimize nuclide mobilization by roots and to be compatible with natural successional pressures. It is anticipated that the results of this work will be important both to site selection and operation as well as the actual stabilization and closure procedure.« less

Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS): a modular open standards approach for high performance interconnects for space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collier, Charles Patrick

2017-04-01

The Next Generation Space Interconnect Standard (NGSIS) effort is a Government-Industry collaboration effort to define a set of standards for interconnects between space system components with the goal of cost effectively removing bandwidth as a constraint for future space systems. The NGSIS team has selected the ANSI/VITA 65 OpenVPXTM standard family for the physical baseline. The RapidIO protocol has been selected as the basis for the digital data transport. The NGSIS standards are developed to provide sufficient flexibility to enable users to implement a variety of system configurations, while meeting goals for interoperability and robustness for space. The NGSIS approach and effort represents a radical departure from past approaches to achieve a Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA) for space systems and serves as an exemplar for the civil, commercial, and military Space communities as well as a broader high reliability terrestrial market.

The monoamine-oxidase B inhibitor deprenyl increases selection of high-effort activity in rats tested on a progressive ratio/chow feeding choice procedure: Implications for treating motivational dysfunctions.

PubMed

Yohn, Samantha E; Reynolds, Shanika; Tripodi, Giuseppe; Correa, Merce; Salamone, John D

2018-04-16

Motivated behaviors often are characterized by a high degree of behavioral activation and work output, and organisms frequently make effort-related decisions based upon cost/benefit analyses. Moreover, people with depression and other disorders frequently show effort-related motivational symptoms, such as anergia, psychomotor retardation, and fatigue. Tasks measuring effort-related choice are being used as animal models of these motivational symptoms. The present studies characterized the ability of the monoamine oxidase -B (MAO-B) inhibitor deprenyl (selegiline) to enhance selection of high-effort lever pressing in rats tested on a concurrent progressive ratio (PROG)/chow feeding choice task. Deprenyl is widely used as an antiparkinsonian drug, but it also has been shown to have antidepressant effects in humans, and to induce antidepressant-like effects in traditional rodent models of depression. Systemic administration of deprenyl (1.5-12.0 mg/kg IP) shifted choice behavior, significantly increasing markers of PROG lever pressing at a moderate dose (6.0 mg/kg), and decreasing chow intake at 6.0 and 12.0 mg/kg. Intracranial injections of deprenyl into nucleus accumbens (2.0 and 4.0 μg) also increased PROG lever pressing and decreased chow intake. Microdialysis studies showed that the dose of deprenyl that was effective at increasing PROG lever pressing (6.0 mg/kg) also significantly elevated extracellular dopamine in nucleus accumbens. Thus, similar to the well-known antidepressant bupropion, deprenyl is capable of increasing selection of high-effort PROG lever pressing at doses that increase extracellular dopamine in nucleus accumbens. These studies have implications for the potential use of MAO-B inhibitors as treatments for the motivational symptoms of depression and Parkinsonism. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using the Web to Market Your Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carr, Nora

2001-01-01

With careful planning and a strategic focus, today's technology can greatly enhance a district's marketing efforts. Websites can offer features such as interactive school assignment (based on home address), ability to check student progress, education portals (24-hour news channels), one-to-one communication, and interactive voice responses. (MLH)

Interactive Video Program. Final Report and Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Midwestern Higher Education Commission, Minneapolis, MN.

This report presents recommendations on interactive video transmission standards, equipment, room designs, and service plans for member institutions of the Midwestern Higher Education Commission (MHEC) and reviews MHEC's efforts to find and contract for such services with vendors. The report describes the MHEC objective of establishing a dial-up,…

Factors and Interactions Influencing Technology Integration during Situated Professional Development in an Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glazer, Evan M.; Hannafin, Michael J.; Polly, Drew; Rich, Peter

2009-01-01

This study examined factors that influence K-5 teachers' technology integration efforts during a semester-long Collaborative Apprenticeship. Results suggest that shared planning time, shared curriculum, connection to an individual, expertise, physical proximity, and comfort level influenced interactions across the community of practice. Posing and…

Curriculum Currency: Integrating Direct and Interactive Marketing Content in Introductory Marketing Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spiller, Lisa D.; Scovotti, Carol

2008-01-01

This study investigates the extent to which educators address direct and interactive marketing concepts in undergraduate introductory marketing courses. As practitioners seek more accountability from their marketing efforts, so too must academia respond with more relevant content. Results from textbook content analysis suggest that direct and…

Survey Examines Experiences of Families Entering Early Intervention. FPG Snapshot #14

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, 2004

2004-01-01

A recent FPG study looked at families' initial experiences in determining their child's eligibility for early intervention (EI) services as mandated by Part C (IDEA), interactions with medical professionals, effort required to get services, participation in planning for services, satisfaction with services, and interactions with professionals. A…

Estimating Likelihood of Fetal In Vivo Interactions Using In Vitro HTS Data (Teratology meeting)

EPA Science Inventory

Tox21/ToxCast efforts provide in vitro concentration-response data for thousands of compounds. Predicting whether chemical-biological interactions observed in vitro will occur in vivo is challenging. We hypothesize that using a modified model from the FDA guidance for drug intera...

Seeing the forest through the trees: Considering roost-site selection at multiple spatial scales

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jachowski, David S.; Rota, Christopher T.; Dobony, Christopher A.; Ford, W. Mark; Edwards, John W.

2016-01-01

Conservation of bat species is one of the most daunting wildlife conservation challenges in North America, requiring detailed knowledge about their ecology to guide conservation efforts. Outside of the hibernating season, bats in temperate forest environments spend their diurnal time in day-roosts. In addition to simple shelter, summer roost availability is as critical as maternity sites and maintaining social group contact. To date, a major focus of bat conservation has concentrated on conserving individual roost sites, with comparatively less focus on the role that broader habitat conditions contribute towards roost-site selection. We evaluated roost-site selection by a northern population of federally-endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) at Fort Drum Military Installation in New York, USA at three different spatial scales: landscape, forest stand, and individual tree level. During 2007–2011, we radiotracked 33 Indiana bats (10 males, 23 females) and located 348 roosting events in 116 unique roost trees. At the landscape scale, bat roost-site selection was positively associated with northern mixed forest, increased slope, and greater distance from human development. At the stand scale, we observed subtle differences in roost site selection based on sex and season, but roost selection was generally positively associated with larger stands with a higher basal area, larger tree diameter, and a greater sugar maple (Acer saccharum) component. We observed no distinct trends of roosts being near high-quality foraging areas of water and forest edges. At the tree scale, roosts were typically in American elm (Ulmus americana) or sugar maple of large diameter (>30 cm) of moderate decay with loose bark. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of considering day roost needs simultaneously across multiple spatial scales. Size and decay class of individual roosts are key ecological attributes for the Indiana bat, however, larger-scale stand structural components that are products of past and current land use interacting with environmental aspects such as landform also are important factors influencing roost-tree selection patterns.

Configural approaches to temperament assessment: implications for predicting risk of unintentional injury in children.

PubMed

Berry, Jack W; Schwebel, David C

2009-10-01

This study used two configural approaches to understand how temperament factors (surgency/extraversion, negative affect, and effortful control) might predict child injury risk. In the first approach, clustering procedures were applied to trait dimensions to identify discrete personality prototypes. In the second approach, two- and three-way trait interactions were considered dimensionally in regression models predicting injury outcomes. Injury risk was assessed through four measures: lifetime prevalence of injuries requiring professional medical attention, scores on the Injury Behavior Checklist, and frequency and severity of injuries reported in a 2-week injury diary. In the prototype analysis, three temperament clusters were obtained, which resembled resilient, overcontrolled, and undercontrolled types found in previous research. Undercontrolled children had greater risk of injury than children in the other groups. In the dimensional interaction analyses, an interaction between surgency/extraversion and negative affect tended to predict injury, especially when children lacked capacity for effortful control.

Maintaining a Distinction Between Possible and Impossible Topics of Conversation in the Outpatient Respiratory Medical Clinic

PubMed Central

Jensen, Lone Birgitte Skov; Larsen, Kristian; Konradsen, Hanne

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to generate a grounded theory explaining patterns of behavior among health care professionals (HCPs) during interactions with patients in outpatient respiratory medical clinics. The findings suggest that the HCPs managed contradictory expectations to the interaction by maintaining a distinction between possible and impossible topics to counseling. Three subcategories explaining the effort that maintain the impossible and possible topics separated were identified: (a) an effort to maintain the diseased lungs as the main task in counseling, (b) navigating interactions to avoid strong emotions of suffering in patients to reveal, (c) avoiding the appearance of the non-alterable life circumstances of the patients. The HCPs’ attitudes toward what patients could be offered generated a distance and a difficulty during counseling and created further suffering in the patients but likewise a discomfort and frustration among the HCPs. PMID:28462333

Maintaining a Distinction Between Possible and Impossible Topics of Conversation in the Outpatient Respiratory Medical Clinic.

PubMed

Jensen, Lone Birgitte Skov; Larsen, Kristian; Konradsen, Hanne

2016-01-01

The aim of this study is to generate a grounded theory explaining patterns of behavior among health care professionals (HCPs) during interactions with patients in outpatient respiratory medical clinics. The findings suggest that the HCPs managed contradictory expectations to the interaction by maintaining a distinction between possible and impossible topics to counseling. Three subcategories explaining the effort that maintain the impossible and possible topics separated were identified: (a) an effort to maintain the diseased lungs as the main task in counseling, (b) navigating interactions to avoid strong emotions of suffering in patients to reveal, (c) avoiding the appearance of the non-alterable life circumstances of the patients. The HCPs' attitudes toward what patients could be offered generated a distance and a difficulty during counseling and created further suffering in the patients but likewise a discomfort and frustration among the HCPs.

Interaction of post-stroke voluntary effort and functional neuromuscular electrical stimulation

PubMed Central

Makowski, Nathaniel; Knutson, Jayme; Chae, John; Crago, Patrick

2012-01-01

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) may be able to augment functional arm and hand movement after stroke. Post-stroke neuroprostheses that incorporate voluntary effort and FES to produce the desired movement need to consider how the forces generated by voluntary effort and FES combine together, even in the same muscle, in order to provide an appropriate level of stimulation to elicit the desired assistive force. The goal of this study was to determine if the force produced by voluntary effort and FES add together independently of effort, or if the increment in force is dependent on the level of voluntary effort. Isometric force matching tasks were performed under different combinations of voluntary effort and electrical stimulation. Participants reached a steady level of force and while attempting to maintain a constant effort level, FES was applied to augment the force. Results indicate that the increment in force produced by FES decreases as the level of initial voluntary effort increases. Potential mechanisms causing the change in force output are proposed, but the relative contribution of each mechanism is unknown. PMID:23516086

Alteration of the C-terminal ligand specificity of the erbin PDZ domain by allosteric mutational effects.

PubMed

Murciano-Calles, Javier; McLaughlin, Megan E; Erijman, Ariel; Hooda, Yogesh; Chakravorty, Nishant; Martinez, Jose C; Shifman, Julia M; Sidhu, Sachdev S

2014-10-23

Modulation of protein binding specificity is important for basic biology and for applied science. Here we explore how binding specificity is conveyed in PDZ (postsynaptic density protein-95/discs large/zonula occludens-1) domains, small interaction modules that recognize various proteins by binding to an extended C terminus. Our goal was to engineer variants of the Erbin PDZ domain with altered specificity for the most C-terminal position (position 0) where a Val is strongly preferred by the wild-type domain. We constructed a library of PDZ domains by randomizing residues in direct contact with position 0 and in a loop that is close to but does not contact position 0. We used phage display to select for PDZ variants that bind to 19 peptide ligands differing only at position 0. To verify that each obtained PDZ domain exhibited the correct binding specificity, we selected peptide ligands for each domain. Despite intensive efforts, we were only able to evolve Erbin PDZ domain variants with selectivity for the aliphatic C-terminal side chains Val, Ile and Leu. Interestingly, many PDZ domains with these three distinct specificities contained identical amino acids at positions that directly contact position 0 but differed in the loop that does not contact position 0. Computational modeling of the selected PDZ domains shows how slight conformational changes in the loop region propagate to the binding site and result in different binding specificities. Our results demonstrate that second-sphere residues could be crucial in determining protein binding specificity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Science learning, group membership, and identity in an urban middle school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olitsky, Stacy I.

2005-12-01

The issue of inequalities in science education outcomes among students from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds in the U.S. is related not only to access to resources, but also to schools' inability to facilitate students developing identities associated with science. While some of the obstacles to identity development in science relate to issues over which teachers and students have limited control, others are more amenable to local efforts toward change. This dissertation describes an interpretive case study of a racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse eighth grade science classroom in an urban magnet school in order to explore the relationship between school and classroom structures, student and teacher agency in enacting positive changes within classrooms, and identity formation in science. The results of this study indicate that structural issues such as the high status ascribed to science, the school's selection process, discourses surrounding the purposes of learning, resource inequalities, and negative stereotype threat can contribute to classroom interactions in which some students' claims to membership in a community centered on science are rejected, thereby interfering with group membership. While some teacher practices accentuated the impacts of these structures, others, such as de-emphasizing standardized tasks and providing students with opportunities to make unique, science-related contributions reduced them. In addition, the teacher's strategies when she was teaching out of field, which included positioning herself as a learner and making visible her "backstage" performance of exploring ideas and accessing resources were associated with a greater diversity of students participating. Further, students were able to develop interest and a sense of solidarity surrounding even new, abstract content when such content became associated with successful interaction rituals during which science language and procedures served as a mutual focus and there were sufficient opportunities for physical and emotional entrainment. Overall, the results of this study suggest that by focusing on efforts to promote classroom interactions that students will experience as successful regardless of content, teachers can facilitate a supportive environment in which students feel comfortable experimenting with using science language, asking questions, and supporting each others' learning, thereby developing a sense of solidarity and identity surrounding science.

Using vertebrate prey capture locations to identify cover type selection patterns of nocturnally foraging Burrowing Owls.

PubMed

Marsh, Alan; Bayne, Erin M; Wellicome, Troy I

2014-07-01

Studies of habitat selection often measure an animal's use of space via radiotelemetry or GPS-based technologies. Such data tend to be analyzed using a resource selection function, despite the fact that the actual resources acquired are typically not recorded. Without explicit proof of resource use, conclusions from RSF models are based on assumptions regarding an animal's behavior and the resources gained. Conservation initiatives are often based on space-use models, and could be detrimental to the target species if these assumptions are incorrect. We used GPS dataloggers and digital video recorders to determine precise locations where nocturnally foraging Burrowing Owls acquired food resources (vertebrate prey). We compared land cover type selection patterns using a presence-only resource selection function (RSF) to a model that incorporated prey capture locations (CRSF). We also compared net prey returns in each cover type to better measure reward relative to foraging effort. The RSF method did not reflect prey capture patterns and cover-type rankings from this model were quite different from models that used only locations where prey was known to have been obtained. Burrowing Owls successfully foraged across all cover types; however, return vs. effort models indicate that different cover types were of higher quality than those identified using resource selection functions. Conclusions about the type of resources acquired should not be made from RSF-style models without evidence that the actual resource of interest was acquired. Conservation efforts based on RSF models alone may be ineffective or detrimental to the target species if the limiting resource and where it is acquired are not properly identified.

How Many Fish Need to Be Measured to Effectively Evaluate Trawl Selectivity?

PubMed Central

Santos, Juan; Sala, Antonello

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to provide practitioners working with trawl selectivity with general and easily understandable guidelines regarding the fish sampling effort necessary during sea trials. In particular, we focused on how many fish would need to be caught and length measured in a trawl haul in order to assess the selectivity parameters of the trawl at a designated uncertainty level. We also investigated the dependency of this uncertainty level on the experimental method used to collect data and on the potential effects of factors such as the size structure in the catch relative to the size selection of the gear. We based this study on simulated data created from two different fisheries: the Barents Sea cod (Gadus morhua) trawl fishery and the Mediterranean Sea multispecies trawl fishery represented by red mullet (Mullus barbatus). We used these two completely different fisheries to obtain results that can be used as general guidelines for other fisheries. We found that the uncertainty in the selection parameters decreased with increasing number of fish measured and that this relationship could be described by a power model. The sampling effort needed to achieve a specific uncertainty level for the selection parameters was always lower for the covered codend method compared to the paired-gear method. In many cases, the number of fish that would need to be measured to maintain a specific uncertainty level was around 10 times higher for the paired-gear method than for the covered codend method. The trends observed for the effect of sampling effort in the two fishery cases investigated were similar; therefore the guidelines presented herein should be applicable to other fisheries. PMID:27560696

Advisory Encounters towards a Sustainable Farm Development-Interaction between Systems and Shared Lifeworlds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hockert, Jenny; Ljung, Magnus

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe and critically analyse recent advisory efforts and the prevailing discourses that have affected the advisory service in Sweden over the past 15 years. The focus is on those efforts that have had a declared aim to support farmers to become more competitive and viable. We also analyse why the…

School Connectedness Buffers the Effects of Negative Family Relations and Poor Effortful Control on Early Adolescent Conduct Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loukas, Alexandra; Roalson, Lori A.; Herrera, Denise E.

2010-01-01

This study examined the unique and interactive contributions of school connectedness, negative family relations, and effortful control to subsequent early adolescent conduct problems. Data were collected from 476 adolescents when they were initially in the 6th and 7th grades and again 1 year later. Results from hierarchical regression analyses…

Animal behaviour and algal camouflage jointly structure predation and selection.

PubMed

Start, Denon

2018-05-01

Trait variation can structure interactions between individuals, thus shaping selection. Although antipredator strategies are an important component of many aquatic systems, how multiple antipredator traits interact to influence consumption and selection remains contentious. Here, I use a common larval dragonfly (Epitheca canis) and its predator (Anax junius) to test for the joint effects of activity rate and algal camouflage on predation and survival selection. I found that active and poorly camouflaged Epitheca were more likely to be consumed, and thus, survival selection favoured inactive and well-camouflaged individuals. Notably, camouflage dampened selection on activity rate, likely by reducing attack rates when Epitheca encountered a predator. Correlational selection is therefore conferred by the ecological interaction of traits, rather than by opposing selection acting on linked traits. I suggest that antipredator traits with different adaptive functions can jointly structure patterns of consumption and selection. © 2018 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2018 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

How do marital status, work effort, and wage rates interact?

PubMed

Ahituv, Avner; Lerman, Robert I

2007-08-01

How marital status interacts with men's earnings is an important analytic and policy issue, especially in the context of debates in the United States over programs that encourage healthy marriage. This paper generates new findings about the earnings-marriage relationship by estimating the linkages among flows into and out of marriage, work effort, and wage rates. The estimates are based on National Longitudinal Survey of Youth panel data, covering 23 years of marital and labor market outcomes, and control for unobserved heterogeneity. We estimate marriage effects on hours worked (our proxy for work effort) and on wage rates for all men and for black and low-skilled men separately. The estimates reveal that entering marriage raises hours worked quickly and substantially but that marriage's effect on wage rates takes place more slowly while men continue in marriage. Together; the stimulus to hours worked and wage rates generates an 18%-19% increase in earnings, with about one-third to one-half of the marriage earnings premium attributable to higher work effort. At the same time, higher wage rates and hours worked encourage men to marry and to stay married. Thus, being married and having high earnings reinforce each other over time.

Design, development, and evaluation of a second generation interactive Simulator for Engineering Ethics Education (SEEE2).

PubMed

Alfred, Michael; Chung, Christopher A

2012-12-01

This paper describes a second generation Simulator for Engineering Ethics Education. Details describing the first generation activities of this overall effort are published in Chung and Alfred (Sci Eng Ethics 15:189-199, 2009). The second generation research effort represents a major development in the interactive simulator educational approach. As with the first generation effort, the simulator places students in first person perspective scenarios involving different types of ethical situations. Students must still gather data, assess the situation, and make decisions. The approach still requires students to develop their own ability to identify and respond to ethical engineering situations. However, were as, the generation one effort involved the use of a dogmatic model based on National Society of Professional Engineers' Code of Ethics, the new generation two model is based on a mathematical model of the actual experiences of engineers involved in ethical situations. This approach also allows the use of feedback in the form of decision effectiveness and professional career impact. Statistical comparisons indicate a 59 percent increase in overall knowledge and a 19 percent improvement in teaching effectiveness over an Internet Engineering Ethics resource based approach.

Towards evenly distributed grazing patterns: including social context in sheep management strategies.

PubMed

di Virgilio, Agustina; Morales, Juan Manuel

2016-01-01

Background. A large proportion of natural grasslands around the world is exposed to overgrazing resulting in land degradation and biodiversity loss. Although there is an increasing effort in the promotion of sustainable livestock management, rangeland degradation still occurs because animals' foraging behaviour is highly selective at different spatial scales. The assessment of the ecological mechanisms modulating the spatial distribution of grazing and how to control it has critical implications for long term conservation of resources and the sustainability of livestock production. Considering the relevance of social interactions on animals' space use patterns, our aim was to explore the potential effects of including animals' social context into management strategies using domestic sheep grazing in rangelands as case study. Methods. We used GPS data from 19 Merino sheep (approximately 10% of the flock) grazing on three different paddocks (with sizes from 80 to 1000 Ha) during a year, to estimate resource selection functions of sheep grazing in flocks of different levels of heterogeneity. We assessed the effects of sheep class (i.e., ewes, wethers, and hoggets), age, body condition and time since release on habitat selection patterns. Results. We found that social rank was reflected on sheep habitat use, where dominant individuals (i.e., reproductive females) used more intensively the most preferred areas and low-ranked (i.e., yearlings) used less preferred areas. Our results showed that when sheep grazed on more heterogeneous flocks, grazing patterns were more evenly distributed at all the paddocks considered in this study. On the other hand, when high-ranked individuals were removed from the flock, low-ranked sheep shifted their selection patterns by increasing the use of the most preferred areas and strongly avoided to use less preferred sites (i.e., a highly selective grazing behaviour). Discussion. Although homogenization and segregation of flocks by classes are common practices to increase flock productivity, we are proposing an alternative that employs behavioural interactions in heterogeneous flocks to generate more evenly distributed grazing patterns. This practice can be combined with other practices such as rotational grazing and guardian dogs (to decrease mortality levels that may be generated by sheep grazing on more risky habitats). This does not imply any modifications of livestock stocking rates and densities or any additional investments for labour and materials. Considering livestock behaviour is critical for the design of sustainable management practices that balance landscape conservation and livestock productivity.

Exploring Impact of Self-Selected Student Teams and Academic Potential on Student Satisfaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matta, Vic; Luce, Thom; Ciavarro, Gina

2011-01-01

Creation of teams in professional and student contexts has been well researched and written about. The research landscape can be divided into instructor selected and student selected teams, both of which have advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to combine the two techniques for creating teams in an effort to maximize the…

Increased prediction accuracy in wheat breeding trials using a marker x environment interaction genomic selection model

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Genomic selection (GS) models use genome-wide genetic information to predict genetic values of candidates for selection. Originally these models were developed without considering genotype ' environment interaction (GE). Several authors have proposed extensions of the cannonical GS model that accomm...

An improved wrapper-based feature selection method for machinery fault diagnosis

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

A major issue of machinery fault diagnosis using vibration signals is that it is over-reliant on personnel knowledge and experience in interpreting the signal. Thus, machine learning has been adapted for machinery fault diagnosis. The quantity and quality of the input features, however, influence the fault classification performance. Feature selection plays a vital role in selecting the most representative feature subset for the machine learning algorithm. In contrast, the trade-off relationship between capability when selecting the best feature subset and computational effort is inevitable in the wrapper-based feature selection (WFS) method. This paper proposes an improved WFS technique before integration with a support vector machine (SVM) model classifier as a complete fault diagnosis system for a rolling element bearing case study. The bearing vibration dataset made available by the Case Western Reserve University Bearing Data Centre was executed using the proposed WFS and its performance has been analysed and discussed. The results reveal that the proposed WFS secures the best feature subset with a lower computational effort by eliminating the redundancy of re-evaluation. The proposed WFS has therefore been found to be capable and efficient to carry out feature selection tasks. PMID:29261689

A socio-cultural instrumental approach to emotion regulation: Culture and the regulation of positive emotions.

PubMed

Ma, Xiaoming; Tamir, Maya; Miyamoto, Yuri

2018-02-01

We propose a sociocultural instrumental approach to emotion regulation. According to this approach, cultural differences in the tendency to savor rather than dampen positive emotions should be more pronounced when people are actively pursuing goals (i.e., contexts requiring higher cognitive effort) than when they are not (i.e., contexts requiring lower cognitive efforts), because cultural beliefs about the utility of positive emotions should become most relevant when people are engaging in active goal pursuit. Four studies provided support for our theory. First, European Americans perceived more utility and less harm of positive emotions than Japanese did (Study 1). Second, European Americans reported a stronger relative preference for positive emotions than Asians, but this cultural difference was larger in high cognitive effort contexts than in moderate or low cognitive effort contexts (Study 2). Third, European Americans reported trying to savor rather than dampen positive emotions more than Asians did when preparing to take an exam, a typical high cognitive effort context (Studies 3-4), but these cultural differences were attenuated when an exam was not expected (Study 3) and disappeared when participants expected to interact with a stranger (Study 4). These findings suggest that cultural backgrounds and situational demands interact to shape how people regulate positive emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Interactive effects in transfer-appropriate processing for event-based prospective memory: the roles of effort, ongoing task, and PM cue properties.

PubMed

Abney, Drew H; McBride, Dawn M; Petrella, Samantha N

2013-10-01

Past studies (e.g., Marsh, Hicks, & Cook Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31:68-75, 2005; Meiser & Schult European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 20:290-311, 2008) have shown that transfer-appropriate processing (TAP) effects in event-based prospective memory (PM) depend on the effort directed toward the ongoing task. In the present study, we addressed mixed findings from these studies and examined monitoring in TAP and transfer-inappropriate processing (TIP) conditions. In two experiments, a semantic or orthographic ongoing task was paired with a PM cue that either was matched in processing (TAP) or did not match in processing (TIP). Within each condition, effort was varied across trials. The results indicated that PM accuracy was higher in TAP than in TIP conditions, regardless of effort condition, supporting the findings reported by Meiser and Schult. Ex-Gaussian functions were fit to the mean reaction times (cf. Brewer Journal of Psychology 219:117-124, 2011) in order to examine monitoring across conditions. The analysis of distributional skew (τ parameter) showed sensitivity to ongoing task instructions and properties of the PM cues. These results support Meiser and Schult's suggestion that TIP conditions require more attentional processing, and they also afford novel discussion on the interactive effects of ongoing task condition, PM cue properties, and manipulations of effort.

Drought and reproductive effort interact to control growth of a temperate broadleaved tree species (Fagus sylvatica).

PubMed

Hacket-Pain, Andrew J; Lageard, Jonathan G A; Thomas, Peter A

2017-06-01

Interannual variation in radial growth is influenced by a range of physiological processes, including variation in annual reproductive effort, although the importance of reproductive allocation has rarely been quantified. In this study, we use long stand-level records of annual seed production, radial growth (tree ring width) and meteorological conditions to analyse the relative importance of summer drought and reproductive effort in controlling the growth of Fagus sylvatica L., a typical masting species. We show that both summer drought and reproductive effort (masting) influenced growth. Importantly, the effects of summer drought and masting were interactive, with the greatest reductions in growth found in years when high reproductive effort (i.e., mast years) coincided with summer drought. Conversely, mast years that coincided with non-drought summers were associated with little reduction in radial growth, as were drought years that did not coincide with mast years. The results show that the strength of an inferred trade-off between growth and reproduction in this species (the cost of reproduction) is dependent on environmental stress, with a stronger trade-off in years with more stressful growing conditions. These results have widespread implications for understanding interannual variability in growth, and observed relationships between growth and climate. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of miniature vacuum ultraviolet lamps for stability and operating characteristics, Lyman-Alpha task

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hurd, W. A.

1985-01-01

Modifications required to change the near ultraviolet source in the Optical Contamination Monitor to a source with output at or near the Lyman-Alpha hydrogen line are discussed. The effort consisted of selecting, acquiring and testing candidate miniature ultraviolet lamps with significant output in or near 121.6 nm. The effort also included selection of a miniature dc high-voltage power supply capable of operating the lamp. The power supply was required to operate from available primary power supplied by the Optical Effect Module (DEM) and it should be flight qualified or have the ability to be qualified by the user.

A Deficit in Older Adults' Effortful Selection of Cued Responses

PubMed Central

Proctor, Robert W.; Vu, Kim-Phuong L.; Pick, David F.

2007-01-01

J. J. Adam et al. (1998) provided evidence for an “age-related deficit in preparing 2 fingers on 2 hands, but not on 1 hand” (p. 870). Instead of having an anatomical basis, the deficit could result from the effortful processing required for individuals to select cued subsets of responses that do not coincide with left and right subgroups. The deficit also could involve either the ultimate benefit that can be attained or the time required to attain that benefit. The authors report 3 experiments (Ns = 40, 48, and 32 participants, respectively) in which they tested those distinctions by using an overlapped hand placement (participants alternated the index and middle fingers of the hands), a normal hand placement, and longer precuing intervals than were used in previous studies. The older adults were able to achieve the full precuing benefit shown by younger adults but required longer to achieve the maximal benefit for most pairs of responses. The deficit did not depend on whether the responses were from different hands, suggesting that it lies primarily in the effortful processing required for those subsets of cued responses that are not selected easily. PMID:16801319

Alleles versus genotypes: Genetic interactions and the dynamics of selection in sexual populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neher, Richard

2010-03-01

Physical interactions between amino-acids are essential for protein structure and activity, while protein-protein interactions and regulatory interactions are central to cellular function. As a consequence of these interactions, the combined effect of two mutations can differ from the sum of the individual effects of the mutations. This phenomenon of genetic interaction is known as epistasis. However, the importance of epistasis and its effects on evolutionary dynamics are poorly understood, especially in sexual populations where recombination breaks up existing combinations of alleles to produce new ones. Here, we present a computational model of selection dynamics involving many epistatic loci in a recombining population. We demonstrate that a large number of polymorphic interacting loci can, despite frequent recombination, exhibit cooperative behavior that locks alleles into favorable genotypes leading to a population consisting of a set of competing clones. As the recombination rate exceeds a certain critical value this ``genotype selection'' phase disappears in an abrupt transition giving way to ``allele selection'' - the phase where different loci are only weakly correlated as expected in sexually reproducing populations. Clustering of interacting sets of genes on a chromosome leads to the emergence of an intermediate regime, where localized blocks of cooperating alleles lock into genetic modules. Large populations attain highest fitness at a recombination rate just below critical, suggesting that natural selection might tune recombination rates to balance the beneficial aspect of exploration of genotype space with the breaking up of synergistic allele combinations.

A negative genetic interaction map in isogenic cancer cell lines reveals cancer cell vulnerabilities

PubMed Central

Vizeacoumar, Franco J; Arnold, Roland; Vizeacoumar, Frederick S; Chandrashekhar, Megha; Buzina, Alla; Young, Jordan T F; Kwan, Julian H M; Sayad, Azin; Mero, Patricia; Lawo, Steffen; Tanaka, Hiromasa; Brown, Kevin R; Baryshnikova, Anastasia; Mak, Anthony B; Fedyshyn, Yaroslav; Wang, Yadong; Brito, Glauber C; Kasimer, Dahlia; Makhnevych, Taras; Ketela, Troy; Datti, Alessandro; Babu, Mohan; Emili, Andrew; Pelletier, Laurence; Wrana, Jeff; Wainberg, Zev; Kim, Philip M; Rottapel, Robert; O'Brien, Catherine A; Andrews, Brenda; Boone, Charles; Moffat, Jason

2013-01-01

Improved efforts are necessary to define the functional product of cancer mutations currently being revealed through large-scale sequencing efforts. Using genome-scale pooled shRNA screening technology, we mapped negative genetic interactions across a set of isogenic cancer cell lines and confirmed hundreds of these interactions in orthogonal co-culture competition assays to generate a high-confidence genetic interaction network of differentially essential or differential essentiality (DiE) genes. The network uncovered examples of conserved genetic interactions, densely connected functional modules derived from comparative genomics with model systems data, functions for uncharacterized genes in the human genome and targetable vulnerabilities. Finally, we demonstrate a general applicability of DiE gene signatures in determining genetic dependencies of other non-isogenic cancer cell lines. For example, the PTEN−/− DiE genes reveal a signature that can preferentially classify PTEN-dependent genotypes across a series of non-isogenic cell lines derived from the breast, pancreas and ovarian cancers. Our reference network suggests that many cancer vulnerabilities remain to be discovered through systematic derivation of a network of differentially essential genes in an isogenic cancer cell model. PMID:24104479

Induced responses to competition and herbivory: natural selection on multi-trait phenotypic plasticity.

PubMed

Boege, Karina

2010-09-01

Herbivory and competition are two of the most common biotic stressors for plants. When occurring simultaneously, responses to one interaction can constrain the induction of responses to the other interaction due to resource limitation and other interactive effects. Thus, to maximize fitness when interacting with competitors and herbivores, plants are likely to express particular combinations of plastic responses. This study reports the interactive effects of herbivory and competition on responses induced in Tithonia tubaeformis plants and describes how natural selection acts on particular plastic responses and on their different combinations. Competition induced a stem elongation response, expressed through an increase in height and mean internode length, together with a decrease in basal diameter. Interestingly, realized resistance increased in both competition and herbivory treatments, suggesting a plastic response in both constitutive and induced resistance traits. Particular combinations of plastic responses defined three plant phenotypes: vigorous, elongated, and resistant plants. The ecological context in which plants grew modified the traits and the particular combinations of plastic responses that were favored by selection. Vigorous plants were favored by selection in all environments, except when they were damaged by herbivores in the absence of neighbors. The combination of responses defining an elongated plant phenotype was favored by selection in crowded conditions. Resistance was negatively selected in the absence of competition and herbivory but favored in the presence of both interactions. In addition, contextual analyses detected that population structure in heterogeneous environments can also influence the outcomes of selection. These findings suggest that natural selection can act on particular combinations of plastic responses, which may allow plants to adjust their phenotypes to those that promote greater fitness under particular ecological conditions.

77 FR 74528 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Amending...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-14

... Equities Rule 7.31(h)(7) To Permit PL Select Orders To Interact With Incoming Orders Larger Than the Size of the PL Select Order December 7, 2012. Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) \\1\\ of the Securities Exchange... permit PL Select Orders to interact with incoming orders larger than the size of the PL Select Order. The...

Creation of the selection list for the Experiment Scheduling Program (ESP)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deuermeyer, B. L.; Shannon, R. E.; Underbrink, A. J., Jr.

1986-01-01

The efforts to develop a procedure to construct selection groups to augment the Experiment Scheduling Program (ESP) are summarized. Included is a User's Guide and a sample scenario to guide in the use of the software system that implements the developed procedures.

Positioning Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) for the K-Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shahabudin, Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan; Razak, Mohamad Abdul; Khoon, Koh Aik

2012-01-01

The paper sets out to report on UKM's efforts to make research thrive in an increasingly competitive world, identifying the niches is part of our efforts towards strengthening and realization of our research goals. The niches are carefully selected to capitalize on our innate strengths, and at the same time we practice inclusivity so that no…

How to Defuse Censorship: Implementing 404.2 of the Standards for Accreditation of Montana Schools, 4th Ed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bechtold, Brian; And Others

To help defuse censorship efforts, this booklet identifies issues and strategies for handling censorship efforts and provides the instructional materials selection policies of two Montana school districts. The booklet also includes sample forms for a citizen requesting reconsideration of materials and for a school media committee's reconsideration…

The evolution of life-history variation in fishes, with particular reference to flatfishes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roff, Derek A.

This paper explores four aspects of the evolution of life-history variation in fish, with particular reference to the flatfishes: 1. genetic variation and evolutionary response; 2. the size and age at first reproduction; 3. adult lifespan and variation in recruitment; 4. the relationship between reproductive effort and age. Evolutionary response may be limited by previous evolutionary pathways (phylogenetic variation) or by lack of genetic variation due to selection for a single trait. Estimates of heritability suggest, as predicted, that selection is stronger on life-history traits than morphological traits; but there is still adequate genetic variation to permit fairly rapid evolutionary changes. Several approaches to the analysis of the optimal age and size at first reproduction are discussed in the light of a general life-history model based on the assumption that natural selection maximizes r or R 0. It is concluded that one of the most important areas of future research is the relationship between reproduction and mortality. Murphy's hypothesis that the reproductive lifespan should increase with variation in spawning success is shown to be incorrect for fish, at least at the level of interspecific comparison. The model of Charlesworth & León predicting the sufficient condition for reproductive effort to increase with age is tested: in 28 of 31 cases the model predicts an increase of reproductive effort with age. These results suggest that, in general, reproductive effort should increase with age in fish. This prediction is confirmed in the 15 species for which adequate data exist.

Assessment of fertility control efforts in a selected area of Karachi, Pakistan.

PubMed

Shirmeen, Amra; Khan, Muhammad F H; Khan, Khizer H; Khan, Khurum H

2007-09-01

To investigate the impact of fertility control efforts on reducing fertility and to study the contributory role of fertility inhibiting factors viz, age of the marriage, breast feeding and post-partum amenorrhea, abortion and use of contraceptives in selected area in Karachi, Pakistan. The aim was to estimate the gap between knowledge of contraceptives and its practice i.e. KAP-GAP as well as to determine the level of unmet need in the PIB colony in Karachi. A sample survey was conducted in PIB colony in Karachi from October 2005 to November 2005 by interviewing 340 married women in reproductive ages. The data was tabulated and John Bongaarts technique was used to analyse the success of fertility control efforts in the selected area. Of the total of 340 respondents, 38% were currently using contraceptive methods with 26% using OCP's and 12% were condom users. A slight reduction in total fertility (TFR) was noticed. The population policy of Pakistan envisages achieving population stabilization in 2020 by reducing the annual rate of population growth from 1.9% to 1.3% and TFR at 2.1. This target requires strenuous efforts to make the concept of small family an accepted milieu through an eagerly designed communication and education campaign. Concentration on proximate determinants of fertility particularly breast feeding and prolonging birth interval will not generate opposition from the community because these concepts are in accordance with Islamic injunctions and teachings.

Enabling Velocity-Resolved Science with Advanced Processing of Herschel/HIFI Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, Patrick

The Herschel/HIFI instrument was a heterodyne spectrometer with technology demonstrating and flight components built by NASA/JPL, and acquired over 9000 astronomical observations at velocity resolutions of better than 1 km/s between 480 -1910 GHz (157 - 612 microns). Its performances designed around the scientific goals of exploring the cyclical interrelation of stars and the ISM in diverse environments unified by copious amounts molecular and atomic gas and dust have resulted in over 350 refereed scientific publications, providing a successful foundation and inspiration for current and future science with terahertz instrumentation above the Earth's atmosphere. Nonetheless, almost 60% of the valid observations in the Herschel Science Archive (HSA) are unpublished. This is in largest part due to the limitations of the automated pipeline, and the complexities of interactive treatment the data to bring them to science-ready quality. New users of the archive lacking knowledge of the nuances of heterodyne instrumentation and/or experience with the data processing system are particularly challenged to optimize the data around their science interests or goals with ultra-high resolution spectra. Similarly, the effort to remove quality-degrading instrument artifacts and apply noise performance enhancements is a challenge at this stage even for more experienced users and original program observers who have not yet exploited their observations, either in part or in full as many published observations may also be further harvested for new science results. Recognizing that this situation will likely not improve over time, the HIFI instrument team put substantial effort during the funded post-cryo phase into interactively creating Highly Processed Data Products (HPDPs) from a set of observations in need of corrections and enhancements, in order to promote user accessibility and HIFI's scientific legacy. A set HPDPs created from 350 spectral mapping observations were created in an effort lead at the NASA Herschel Science Center, and delivered in November 2016 to the NASA InfraRed Science Archive (IRSA) and the HSA where they are available to the community. Due to limited resources, this effort could not cover the full list of observations in need of interactive treatments. We are proposing to cover that final set observations (spectral maps and a selection of spectral scans and point observations) in a project spread over 2 years with 0.5 FTE funding, for a guaranteed set of phased deliverables produced with optimized quality at high efficiency using expert processing and delivery procedures already in place. This effort will tackle the quality-degrading artifacts which could not be corrected in the automatic pipeline -- and becoming more and more remote for potential users to correct on their own even with scripted guidance. The expectation is that the huge investments by the funding agencies, and the successful operations of the observatory meeting and often exceeding performance requirements, can be returned to the maximum scientific extent possible. We can guarantee some of that scientific return, in a study of fundamental carbon chemistry in energetic star forming regions, using the proposed HPDPs from unpublished and partially unexploited HIFI data to probe UV- and shockdriven chemistries to explain an unexpected deficiency of C+ in the Orion KL eruptive outflow. We will test a hypothesis that C+ is depleted by production of CO rather than CH+, through a chain of reactions involving intermediate products suited to the molecular environment.

Species-specific variation in nesting and postfledging resource selection for two forest breeding migrant songbirds.

PubMed

Jenkins, Julianna M A; Thompson, Frank R; Faaborg, John

2017-01-01

Habitat selection is a fundamental component of community ecology, population ecology, and evolutionary biology and can be especially important to species with complex annual habitat requirements, such as migratory birds. Resource preferences on the breeding grounds may change during the postfledging period for migrant songbirds, however, the degree to which selection changes, timing of change, and whether all or only a few species alter their resource use is unclear. We compared resource selection for nest sites and resource selection by postfledging juvenile ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) and Acadian flycatchers (Empidonax virescens) followed with radio telemetry in Missouri mature forest fragments from 2012-2015. We used Bayesian discrete choice modeling to evaluate support for local vegetation characteristics on the probability of selection for nest sites and locations utilized by different ages of postfledging juveniles. Patterns of resource selection variation were species-specific. Resource selection models indicated that Acadian flycatcher habitat selection criteria were similar for nesting and dependent postfledging juveniles and selection criteria diverged when juveniles became independent from adults. After independence, flycatcher resource selection was more associated with understory foliage density. Ovenbirds differed in selection criteria between the nesting and postfledging periods. Fledgling ovenbirds selected areas with higher densities of understory structure compared to nest sites, and the effect of foliage density on selection increased as juveniles aged and gained independence. The differences observed between two sympatric forest nesting species, in both the timing and degree of change in resource selection criteria over the course of the breeding season, illustrates the importance of considering species-specific traits and postfledging requirements when developing conservation efforts, especially when foraging guilds or prey bases differ. We recommend that postfledging habitat selection be considered in future conservation efforts dealing with Neotropical migrants and other forest breeding songbirds.

CFD Validation with Experiment and Verification with Physics of a Propellant Damping Device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, H. Q.; Peugeot, John

2011-01-01

This paper will document our effort in validating a coupled fluid-structure interaction CFD tool in predicting a damping device performance in the laboratory condition. Consistently good comparisons of "blind" CFD predictions against experimental data under various operation conditions, design parameters, and cryogenic environment will be presented. The power of the coupled CFD-structures interaction code in explaining some unexpected phenomena of the device observed during the technology development will be illustrated. The evolution of the damper device design inside the LOX tank will be used to demonstrate the contribution of the tool in understanding, optimization and implementation of LOX damper in Ares I vehicle. It is due to the present validation effort, the LOX damper technology has matured to TRL 5. The present effort has also contributed to the transition of the technology from an early conceptual observation to the baseline design of thrust oscillation mitigation for the Ares I within a 10 month period.

Efforts to promote lifestyle change and better health: whither symbolic interactionism?

PubMed

Pezza, P E

1989-01-01

Symbolic interactionism is a body of thought which attends to how the meaning of a message may be mutually defined in the process of social interaction. As interactionism and its qualitative methodologies have been increasingly recognized as useful and appropriate complements to other approaches, health education has been slow to respond. Proposed here is the application of an interactionist perspective to the study of contemporary efforts made to promote lifestyle change and better health. A specific case is made for examining the interaction which takes place when employers strive to promote employee health. Particular attention is paid to the following questions: 1. How may employer communication of corporate goals for employee lifestyle change best be studied?; 2. Are the messages transmitted by employers and those received by employees the same?; 3. What may be some unanticipated consequences of the health promotion effort and its messages?; and 4. Can the interactionist perspective be used to enlighten the planning process for health promotion programs?

Goals-feedback conditions and episodic memory: Mechanisms for memory gains in older and younger adults.

PubMed

West, Robin L; Dark-Freudeman, Alissa; Bagwell, Dana K

2009-02-01

Research has established that challenging memory goals always lead to score increases for younger adults, and can increase older adults' scores under supportive conditions. This study examined beliefs and on-task effort as potential mechanisms for these self-regulatory gains, in particular to learn whether episodic memory gains across multiple trials of shopping list recall are controlled by the same factors for young and old people. Goals with feedback led to higher recall and strategic categorisation than a control condition. Strategy usage was the strongest predictor of gains over trials for both age groups. Age, goal condition, and effort also predicted scores across the entire sample. Older adults' gains, but not younger adults' gains, were affected significantly by the interaction of self-efficacy beliefs and goal condition, and condition interacted with locus of control to predict younger adult gains. These results emphasise the importance of self-regulatory effort and positive beliefs for facilitating goal-related memory gains.

A unifying framework for quantifying the nature of animal interactions.

PubMed

Potts, Jonathan R; Mokross, Karl; Lewis, Mark A

2014-07-06

Collective phenomena, whereby agent-agent interactions determine spatial patterns, are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. On the other hand, movement and space use are also greatly influenced by the interactions between animals and their environment. Despite both types of interaction fundamentally influencing animal behaviour, there has hitherto been no unifying framework for the models proposed in both areas. Here, we construct a general method for inferring population-level spatial patterns from underlying individual movement and interaction processes, a key ingredient in building a statistical mechanics for ecological systems. We show that resource selection functions, as well as several examples of collective motion models, arise as special cases of our framework, thus bringing together resource selection analysis and collective animal behaviour into a single theory. In particular, we focus on combining the various mechanistic models of territorial interactions in the literature with step selection functions, by incorporating interactions into the step selection framework and demonstrating how to derive territorial patterns from the resulting models. We demonstrate the efficacy of our model by application to a population of insectivore birds in the Amazon rainforest. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Tinnitus on Listening Effort in Normal-Hearing Young Adults: A Preliminary Study.

PubMed

Degeest, Sofie; Keppler, Hannah; Corthals, Paul

2017-04-14

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of chronic tinnitus on listening effort. Thirteen normal-hearing young adults with chronic tinnitus were matched with a control group for age, gender, hearing thresholds, and educational level. A dual-task paradigm was used to evaluate listening effort in different listening conditions. A primary speech-recognition task and a secondary memory task were performed both separately and simultaneously. Furthermore, subjective listening effort was questioned for various listening situations. The Tinnitus Handicap Inventory was used to control for tinnitus handicap. Listening effort significantly increased in the tinnitus group across listening conditions. There was no significant difference in listening effort between listening conditions, nor was there an interaction between groups and listening conditions. Subjective listening effort did not significantly differ between both groups. This study is a first exploration of listening effort in normal-hearing participants with chronic tinnitus showing that listening effort is increased as compared with a control group. There is a need to further investigate the cognitive functions important for speech understanding and their possible relation with the presence of tinnitus and listening effort.

Two-colored fluorescence correlation spectroscopy screening for LC3-P62 interaction inhibitors.

PubMed

Tsuganezawa, Keiko; Shinohara, Yoshiyasu; Ogawa, Naoko; Tsuboi, Shun; Okada, Norihisa; Mori, Masumi; Yokoyama, Shigeyuki; Noda, Nobuo N; Inagaki, Fuyuhiko; Ohsumi, Yoshinori; Tanaka, Akiko

2013-10-01

The fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS)-based competitive binding assay to screen for protein-protein interaction inhibitors is a highly sensitive method as compared with the fluorescent polarization assay used conventionally. However, the FCS assay identifies many false-positive compounds, which requires specifically designed orthogonal screenings. A two-colored application of the FCS-based screening was newly developed, and inhibitors of a protein-protein interaction, involving selective autophagy, were selected. We focused on the interaction of LC3 with the adaptor protein p62, because the interaction is crucial to degrade the specific target proteins recruited by p62. First, about 10,000 compounds were subjected to the FCS-based competitive assay using a TAMRA-labeled p62-derived probe, and 29 hit compounds were selected. Next, the obtained hits were evaluated by the second FCS assay, using an Alexa647-labeled p62-derived probe to remove the false-positive compounds, and six hit compounds inhibited the interaction. Finally, we tested all 29 compounds by surface plasmon resonance-based competitive binding assay to evaluate their inhibition of the LC3-p62 interaction and selected two inhibitors with IC50 values less than 2 µM. The two-colored FCS-based screening was shown to be effective to screen for protein-protein interaction inhibitors.

Thermodynamic characterization of the multivalent interactions underlying rapid and selective translocation through the nuclear pore complex

PubMed Central

Hayama, Ryo; Sparks, Samuel; Hecht, Lee M.; Dutta, Kaushik; Karp, Jerome M.; Cabana, Christina M.; Rout, Michael P.; Cowburn, David

2018-01-01

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) play important roles in many biological systems. Given the vast conformational space that IDPs can explore, the thermodynamics of the interactions with their partners is closely linked to their biological functions. Intrinsically disordered regions of Phe–Gly nucleoporins (FG Nups) that contain multiple phenylalanine–glycine repeats are of particular interest, as their interactions with transport factors (TFs) underlie the paradoxically rapid yet also highly selective transport of macromolecules mediated by the nuclear pore complex. Here, we used NMR and isothermal titration calorimetry to thermodynamically characterize these multivalent interactions. These analyses revealed that a combination of low per-FG motif affinity and the enthalpy–entropy balance prevents high-avidity interaction between FG Nups and TFs, whereas the large number of FG motifs promotes frequent FG–TF contacts, resulting in enhanced selectivity. Our thermodynamic model underlines the importance of functional disorder of FG Nups. It helps explain the rapid and selective translocation of TFs through the nuclear pore complex and further expands our understanding of the mechanisms of “fuzzy” interactions involving IDPs. PMID:29374059

Formulation, General Features and Global Calibration of a Bioenergetically-Constrained Fishery Model

PubMed Central

Bianchi, Daniele; Galbraith, Eric D.

2017-01-01

Human exploitation of marine resources is profoundly altering marine ecosystems, while climate change is expected to further impact commercially-harvested fish and other species. Although the global fishery is a highly complex system with many unpredictable aspects, the bioenergetic limits on fish production and the response of fishing effort to profit are both relatively tractable, and are sure to play important roles. Here we describe a generalized, coupled biological-economic model of the global marine fishery that represents both of these aspects in a unified framework, the BiOeconomic mArine Trophic Size-spectrum (BOATS) model. BOATS predicts fish production according to size spectra as a function of net primary production and temperature, and dynamically determines harvest spectra from the biomass density and interactive, prognostic fishing effort. Within this framework, the equilibrium fish biomass is determined by the economic forcings of catchability, ex-vessel price and cost per unit effort, while the peak harvest depends on the ecosystem parameters. Comparison of a large ensemble of idealized simulations with observational databases, focusing on historical biomass and peak harvests, allows us to narrow the range of several uncertain ecosystem parameters, rule out most parameter combinations, and select an optimal ensemble of model variants. Compared to the prior distributions, model variants with lower values of the mortality rate, trophic efficiency, and allometric constant agree better with observations. For most acceptable parameter combinations, natural mortality rates are more strongly affected by temperature than growth rates, suggesting different sensitivities of these processes to climate change. These results highlight the utility of adopting large-scale, aggregated data constraints to reduce model parameter uncertainties and to better predict the response of fisheries to human behaviour and climate change. PMID:28103280

Formulation, General Features and Global Calibration of a Bioenergetically-Constrained Fishery Model.

PubMed

Carozza, David A; Bianchi, Daniele; Galbraith, Eric D

2017-01-01

Human exploitation of marine resources is profoundly altering marine ecosystems, while climate change is expected to further impact commercially-harvested fish and other species. Although the global fishery is a highly complex system with many unpredictable aspects, the bioenergetic limits on fish production and the response of fishing effort to profit are both relatively tractable, and are sure to play important roles. Here we describe a generalized, coupled biological-economic model of the global marine fishery that represents both of these aspects in a unified framework, the BiOeconomic mArine Trophic Size-spectrum (BOATS) model. BOATS predicts fish production according to size spectra as a function of net primary production and temperature, and dynamically determines harvest spectra from the biomass density and interactive, prognostic fishing effort. Within this framework, the equilibrium fish biomass is determined by the economic forcings of catchability, ex-vessel price and cost per unit effort, while the peak harvest depends on the ecosystem parameters. Comparison of a large ensemble of idealized simulations with observational databases, focusing on historical biomass and peak harvests, allows us to narrow the range of several uncertain ecosystem parameters, rule out most parameter combinations, and select an optimal ensemble of model variants. Compared to the prior distributions, model variants with lower values of the mortality rate, trophic efficiency, and allometric constant agree better with observations. For most acceptable parameter combinations, natural mortality rates are more strongly affected by temperature than growth rates, suggesting different sensitivities of these processes to climate change. These results highlight the utility of adopting large-scale, aggregated data constraints to reduce model parameter uncertainties and to better predict the response of fisheries to human behaviour and climate change.

Transient studies of low temperature catalysts for methane conversion. Final report, [September 1992--March 1996

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

Wolf, E.E.

1996-09-30

The objective of this project is to use transient techniques to study gas surface interactions during the oxidative conversion of methane. Two groups of catalysts were studied: a double oxide of vanadium and phosphate or VPO, and double oxides of Ni, Co and Rh and lanthana. The objective of the studies involving the VPO catalyst was to understand gas-surface interactions leading to the formation of formaldehyde. In the second group of catalysts, involving metallo-oxides, the main objective was to study the gas-surface interactions that determine the selectivity to C{sub 2} hydrocarbons or synthesis gas. Transient techniques were used to studymore » the methane-surface interactions and the role of lattice oxygen. The selection of the double oxides was made on the hypothesis that the metal oxide would provide an increase interaction with methane whereas the phosphate or lanthanide would provide the sites for oxygen adsorption. The hypothesis behind this selection of catalysts was that increasing the methane interaction with the catalysts would lower the reaction temperature and thus increase the selectivity to the desired products over the total oxidation reaction. In both groups of catalysts the role of Li as a modifier of the selectivity was also studied in detail.« less

Objects and mappings: incompatible principles of display design - a critique of Marino and Mahan.

PubMed

Bennett, Kevin B

2005-01-01

Representation aiding (and similar approaches that share the general orientation) has a great deal of utility, predictive ability, and explanatory power. Marino and Mahan (2005) discuss principles that are critical to the RA approach (configurality, emergent features, and mappings) in a reasonable fashion. However, the application of these principles is far from reasonable. The authors explicitly realize the potential for interactions between nutrients: "The nutritional quality of a food product is a multidimensional concept, and higher order interactions between nutrients may exist" (p. 126). However, they made no effort to discover the nature of these interactions: "No attempt was made to identify contingent interactions between nutrients" (p. 126). Despite not knowing the nature of the interactions between nutrients, they purposely chose a highly configural display that produced numerous emergent features dependent upon these interactions: "A radial spoke display was selected because of the strong configural properties of such display formats (Bennett & Flach, 1992)" (p. 124). Finally, the authors show apparent disdain for the specific mappings among domain, agent, and display that are fundamental to the RA approach: "[O]ther configural display formats could have been used" (p. 124). It is impossible to reconcile these statements and the RA approach to display design. However, these statements make perfect sense if a perceptual object is a guiding principle in one's approach to display design. Marino and Mahan (2005) draw heavily upon the principle of a perceptual object in their design justifications, experimental predictions, and interpretations of results. As we have indicated here and elsewhere (Bennett & Flach, 1992), we believe that these two sets of organizing principles for display design (i.e., objects and mappings) are incompatible. Display design will never be an exact science; there will always be elements of art and creativity. However, the guiding principles have moved well beyond the simple strategy of throwing variables into a geometric object format and relying upon the human agent's powerful perceptual systems to carry the design.

Peptides design based on transmembrane Escherichia coli's OmpA protein through molecular dynamics simulations in water-dodecane interfaces.

PubMed

Aguilera-Segura, Sonia M; Núñez Vélez, Vanessa; Achenie, Luke; Álvarez Solano, Oscar; Torres, Rodrigo; González Barrios, Andrés Fernando

2016-07-01

Recent research efforts have focused on the production of environmentally nonthreatening products, including identifying biosurfactants that can replace conventional surfactants. In order to utilize biosurfactants in different industries such as cosmetic, food or petroleum, it is necessary to understand the underpinnings behind the interactions that could take place for biosurfactants which display potential for interface activity. This work aimed to use molecular dynamics simulations to understand the interactions of rationally obtained peptide sequences from the original sequence of the OmpA gene in Escherichia coli, based on the free energy change (ΔG) during peptide insertion at the water-dodecane interface. Seventeen OmpA-based peptide sequences were selected and analyzed based on their hydropathy index profiles. We found that free energy change due to Columbic interactions and SASA (ΔGCoul/SASA), total free energy change and MW (ΔG/MW), and free energy change due to Coulombic and van der Waals interactions (ΔGCoul/ΔGvdW) ratios could provide a better understating in the contribution of the free energy decrease at the interface. The results indicated that the peptide sequences GKNHDTGVSPVFA and THENQLGAGAFG display biosurfactant potential based on low ΔG per square nanometer, high ΔGCoul/ΔGvdW ratio, clearly defined moieties along its hydrophobic surface and sequence, and the presence of charged residues in the polar head. Clearly defined moieties and SASA were determinant for electrostatic interactions between oil-water interfaces. Experimental validations exhibited that the emulsions prepared remained stable between 3 and 27h, respectively. Even though the peptide GKNHDTGVSPVFA displays strong interactions at the interface, stabilization times showed that the peptide THENQLGAGAFG exhibited the best performance suggesting that the stability can be better described by kinetic rather than thermodynamic criteria once the emulsion is formed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Selective Adhesion of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans to Pyrite

PubMed Central

Ohmura, Naoya; Kitamura, Keiko; Saiki, Hiroshi

1993-01-01

Bacterial adhesion to mineral surfaces plays an important role not only in bacterial survival in natural ecosystems, but also in mining industry applications. Selective adhesion was investigated with Thiobacillus ferrooxidans by using four minerals, pyrite, quartz, chalcopyrite, and galena. Escherichia coli was used as a control bacterium. Contact angles were used as indicators of hydrophobicity, which was an important factor in the interaction between minerals and bacteria. The contact angle of E. coli in a 0.5% sodium chloride solution was 31°, and the contact angle of T. ferrooxidans in a pH 2.0 sulfuric acid solution was 23°. E. coli tended to adhere to more hydrophobic minerals by hydrophobic interaction, while T. ferrooxidans selectively adhered to iron-containing minerals, such as pyrite and chalcopyrite. Ferrous ion inhibited the selective adhesion of T. ferrooxidans to pyrite competitively, while ferric ion scarcely inhibited such adhesion. When selective adhesion was quenched by ferrous ion completely, adhesion of T. ferrooxidans was controlled by hydrophilic interactions. Adhesion of E. coli to pyrite exhibited a liner relationship on langmuir isotherm plots, but adhesion of T. ferrooxidans did not. T. ferrooxidans recognized the reduced iron in minerals and selectively adhered to pyrite and chalcopyrite by a strong interaction other than the physical interaction. PMID:16349106

Training experiences immediately after medical school.

PubMed

Roche, A M; Sanson-Fisher, R W; Cockburn, J

1997-01-01

Trainees in all teaching hospitals in New South Wales were surveyed using a self-completion, postal questionnaire to assess perceptions of the quality and extent of training received for interactional and technical skills. The response rate was 67.1%. Mean age was 25.4 years and 38.8% were female. Overall, training was found to be generally poor in terms of time and educational strategies used. Interactional skills were found to receive lower levels of training than technical skills both prior to and during the intern year with significantly fewer (P < 0.000) educational strategies reported for training received in interactional skills than for technical skills. Trainees' perceptions of the adequacy of training was significantly more negative for interactional than technical skills (P < 0.001). Assessment of competence was also significantly lower for interactional than technical skills (P < 0.001). On average, fewer than one in three trainees considered themselves to be competent in interactional skills compared to two-thirds who reported themselves as competent for technical skills. The findings of this study highlight the need for improved efforts with regard to both the quality and quantity of training provided during the intern year. Considerable scope exists for improved educational experiences for both interactional and technical skill areas, but particularly for interactional skills. Overall, greater use of a range of basic educational strategies such as the provision of 'observation' and 'critical feedback' is indicated. Efforts also need to be directed toward the training of clinical educators to optimize the potential of the preregistration period.

Secondary Implementation of Interactive Engagement Teaching Techniques: Choices and Challenges in a Gulf Arab Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hitt, G. W.; Isakovic, A. F.; Fawwaz, O.; Bawa'aneh, M. S.; El-Kork, N.; Makkiyil, S.; Qattan, I. A.

2014-01-01

We report on efforts to design the "Collaborative Workshop Physics" (CWP) instructional strategy to deliver the first interactive engagement (IE) physics course at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KU), United Arab Emirates (UAE). To our knowledge, this work reports the first calculus-based, introductory mechanics…

Dissecting genotype × environment interactions and trait correlations present in the Pee Dee cotton germplasm collection following seventy years of plant breeding

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Genotype × environment interactions and trait correlations significantly impact efforts to develop high yield, high quality, and environmentally stable Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars. Knowledge of both can and should be used to design optimal breeding programs and effective selectio...

Teacher-Child Relationship Quality: The Roles of Child Temperament and Teacher-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rudasill, Kathleen Moritz; Rimm-Kaufman, Sara E.

2009-01-01

Young children's relationships with teachers predict social and academic success. This study examines contributions of child temperament (shyness, effortful control) and gender to teacher-child relationship quality both directly and indirectly through the frequency of teacher-child interactions in the classroom. Using an NICHD SECCYD sample of 819…