Innovation Online Teaching Module Plus Digital Engineering Kit with Proteus Software through Hybrid Learning Method to Improve Student Skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kholis, Nur; Syariffuddien Zuhrie, Muhamad; Rahmadian, Reza

2018-04-01

Demands the competence (competence) needs of the industry today is a competent workforce to the field of work. However, during this lecture material Digital Engineering (Especially Digital Electronics Basics and Digital Circuit Basics) is limited to the delivery of verbal form of lectures (classical method) is dominated by the Lecturer (Teacher Centered). Though the subject of Digital Engineering requires learning tools and is required understanding of electronic circuits, digital electronics and high logic circuits so that learners can apply in the world of work. One effort to make it happen is by creating an online teaching module and educational aids (Kit) with the help of Proteus software that can improve the skills of learners. This study aims to innovate online teaching modules plus kits in Proteus-assisted digital engineering courses through hybrid learning approaches to improve the skills of learners. The process of innovation is done by considering the skills and mastery of the technology of students (students) Department of Electrical Engineering - Faculty of Engineering – Universitas Negeri Surabaya to produce quality graduates Use of online module plus Proteus software assisted kit through hybrid learning approach. In general, aims to obtain adequate results with affordable cost of investment, user friendly, attractive and interactive (easily adapted to the development of Information and Communication Technology). With the right design, implementation and operation, both in the form of software both in the form of Online Teaching Module, offline teaching module, Kit (Educational Viewer), and e-learning learning content (both online and off line), the use of the three tools of the expenditure will be able to adjust the standard needs of Information and Communication Technology world, both nationally and internationally.

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

None

An OpenStudio Measure is a script that can manipulate an OpenStudio model and associated data to apply energy conservation measures (ECMs), run supplemental simulations, or visualize simulation results. The OpenStudio software development kit (SDK) and accessibility of the Ruby scripting language makes measure authorship accessible to both software developers and energy modelers. This paper discusses the life cycle of an OpenStudio Measure from development, testing, and distribution, to application.

StochKit2: software for discrete stochastic simulation of biochemical systems with events.

PubMed

Sanft, Kevin R; Wu, Sheng; Roh, Min; Fu, Jin; Lim, Rone Kwei; Petzold, Linda R

2011-09-01

StochKit2 is the first major upgrade of the popular StochKit stochastic simulation software package. StochKit2 provides highly efficient implementations of several variants of Gillespie's stochastic simulation algorithm (SSA), and tau-leaping with automatic step size selection. StochKit2 features include automatic selection of the optimal SSA method based on model properties, event handling, and automatic parallelism on multicore architectures. The underlying structure of the code has been completely updated to provide a flexible framework for extending its functionality. StochKit2 runs on Linux/Unix, Mac OS X and Windows. It is freely available under GPL version 3 and can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/stochkit/. petzold@engineering.ucsb.edu.

Increasing Flight Software Reuse with OpenSatKit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McComas, David C.

2018-01-01

In January 2015 the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) released the Core Flight System (cFS) as open source under the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) license. The cFS is based on flight software (FSW) developed for 12 spacecraft spanning nearly two decades of effort and it can provide about a third of the FSW functionality for a low-earth orbiting scientific spacecraft. The cFS is a FSW framework that is portable, configurable, and extendable using a product line deployment model. However, the components are maintained separately so the user must configure, integrate, and deploy them as a cohesive functional system. This can be very challenging especially for organizations such as universities building cubesats that have minimal experience developing FSW. Supporting universities was one of the primary motivators for releasing the cFS under NOSA. This paper describes the OpenSatKit that was developed to address the cFS deployment challenges and to serve as a cFS training platform for new users. It provides a fully functional out-of-the box software system that includes NASA's cFS, Ball Aerospace's command and control system COSMOS, and a NASA dynamic simulator called 42. The kit is freely available since all of the components have been released as open source. The kit runs on a Linux platform, includes 8 cFS applications, several kit-specific applications, and built in demos illustrating how to use key application features. It also includes the software necessary to port the cFS to a Raspberry Pi and instructions for configuring COSMOS to communicate with the target. All of the demos and test scripts can be rerun unchanged with the cFS running on the Raspberry Pi. The cFS uses a 3-tiered layered architecture including a platform abstraction layer, a Core Flight Executive (cFE) middle layer, and an application layer. Similar to smart phones, the cFS application layer is the key architectural feature for users to extend the FSW functionality to meet their mission-specific requirements. The platform abstraction layer and the cFE layers go a step further than smart phones by providing a platform-agnostic Application Programmer Interface (API) that allows applications to run unchanged on different platforms. OpenSatKit can serve two significant architectural roles that will further help the adoption of the cFS and help create a community of users that can share assets. First, the kit is being enhanced to automate the integration of applications with the goal of creating a virtual cFS "App Store".. Second, a platform certification test suite can be developed that would allow users to verify the port of the cFS to a new platform. This paper will describe the current state of these efforts and future plans.

A Multi­Discipline Approach to Digitizing Historic Seismograms

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

Bartlett, Andrew

2016-04-07

Retriever Technology has developed and has made available free of charge a seismogram digitization software package called SKATE (Seismogram Kit for Automatic Trace Extraction). We have developed an extensive set of algorithms that process seismogram image files, provide editing tools, and output time series data. The software is available online and free of charge at seismo.redfish.com. To demonstrate the speed and cost effectiveness of the software, we have processed over 30,000 images.

Development of Automated Procedures to Generate Reference Building Models for ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and India’s Building Energy Code and Implementation in OpenStudio

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

Parker, Andrew; Haves, Philip; Jegi, Subhash

This paper describes a software system for automatically generating a reference (baseline) building energy model from the proposed (as-designed) building energy model. This system is built using the OpenStudio Software Development Kit (SDK) and is designed to operate on building energy models in the OpenStudio file format.

Increasing Flight Software Reuse with OpenSatKit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McComas, David

2018-01-01

In January 2015 the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) released the Core Flight System (cFS) as open source under the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) license. The cFS is based on flight software (FSW) developed for 12 spacecraft spanning nearly two decades of effort and it can provide about a third of the FSW functionality for a low-earth orbiting scientific spacecraft. The cFS is a FSW framework that is portable, configurable, and extendable using a product line deployment model. However, the components are maintained separately so the user must configure, integrate, and deploy them as a cohesive functional system. This can be very challenging especially for organizations such as universities building cubesats that have minimal experience developing FSW. Supporting universities was one of the primary motivators for releasing the cFS under NOSA. This paper describes the OpenSatKit that was developed to address the cFS deployment challenges and to serve as a cFS training platform for new users. It provides a fully functional out-of-the box software system that includes NASA's cFS, Ball Aerospaceâ€"TM"s command and control system COSMOS, and a NASA dynamic simulator called 42. The kit is freely available since all of the components have been released as open source. The kit runs on a Linux platform, includes 8 cFS applications, several kit-specific applications, and built in demos illustrating how to use key application features. It also includes the software necessary to port the cFS to a Raspberry Pi and instructions for configuring COSMOS to communicate with the target. All of the demos and test scripts can be rerun unchanged with the cFS running on the Raspberry Pi. The cFS uses a 3-tiered layered architecture including a platform abstraction layer, a Core Flight Executive (cFE) middle layer, and an application layer. Similar to smart phones, the cFS application layer is the key architectural feature for userâ€"TM"s to extend the FSW functionality to meet their mission-specific requirements. The platform abstraction layer and the cFE layers go a step further than smart phones by providing a platform-agnostic Application Programmer Interface (API) that allows applications to run unchanged on different platforms. OpenSatKit can serve two significant architectural roles that will further help the adoption of the cFS and help create a community of users that can share assets. First, the kit is being enhanced to automate the integration of applications with the goal of creating a virtual cFS 'App Store'. Second, a platform certification test suite can be developed that would allow users to verify the port of the cFS to a new platform. This paper will describe the current state of these efforts and future plans.

SIMULATION TOOL KIT FOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY AND INHALATION EXPOSURE (IAQX) VERSION 1.0 USER'S GUIDE

EPA Science Inventory

The User's Guide describes a Microsoft Windows-based indoor air quality (IAQ) simulation software package designed Simulation Tool Kit for Indoor Air Quality and Inhalation Exposure, or IAQX for short. This software complements and supplements existing IAQ simulation programs and...

Telescience Resource Kit Software Lifecycle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griner, Carolyn S.; Schneider, Michelle

1998-01-01

The challenge of a global operations capability led to the Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) project, an in-house software development project of the Mission Operations Laboratory (MOL) at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The TReK system is being developed as an inexpensive comprehensive personal computer- (PC-) based ground support system that can be used by payload users from their home sites to interact with their payloads on board the International Space Station (ISS). The TReK project is currently using a combination of the spiral lifecycle model and the incremental lifecycle model. As with any software development project, there are four activities that can be very time consuming: Software design and development, project documentation, testing, and umbrella activities, such as quality assurance and configuration management. In order to produce a quality product, it is critical that each of these activities receive the appropriate amount of attention. For TReK, the challenge was to lay out a lifecycle and project plan that provides full support for these activities, is flexible, provides a way to deal with changing risks, can accommodate unknowns, and can respond to changes in the environment quickly. This paper will provide an overview of the TReK lifecycle, a description of the project's environment, and a general overview of project activities.

JAGUAR developer's manual.

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

Chan, Ethan

2011-06-01

JAGUAR (JAva GUi for Applied Research) is a Java software tool providing an advanced text editor and graphical user interface (GUI) to manipulate DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) input specifications. This document focuses on the technical background necessary for a developer to understand JAGUAR.

Math Description Engine Software Development Kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shelton, Robert O.; Smith, Stephanie L.; Dexter, Dan E.; Hodgson, Terry R.

2010-01-01

The Math Description Engine Software Development Kit (MDE SDK) can be used by software developers to make computer-rendered graphs more accessible to blind and visually-impaired users. The MDE SDK generates alternative graph descriptions in two forms: textual descriptions and non-verbal sound renderings, or sonification. It also enables display of an animated trace of a graph sonification on a visual graph component, with color and line-thickness options for users having low vision or color-related impairments. A set of accessible graphical user interface widgets is provided for operation by end users and for control of accessible graph displays. Version 1.0 of the MDE SDK generates text descriptions for 2D graphs commonly seen in math and science curriculum (and practice). The mathematically rich text descriptions can also serve as a virtual math and science assistant for blind and sighted users, making graphs more accessible for everyone. The MDE SDK has a simple application programming interface (API) that makes it easy for programmers and Web-site developers to make graphs accessible with just a few lines of code. The source code is written in Java for cross-platform compatibility and to take advantage of Java s built-in support for building accessible software application interfaces. Compiled-library and NASA Open Source versions are available with API documentation and Programmer s Guide at http:/ / prim e.jsc.n asa. gov.

SNLSimMagic v 2.0

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

This software is an iOS (Apple) Augmented Reality (AR) application that runs on the iPhone and iPad. It is designed to scan in a photograph or graphic and "play" an associated video. This release, SNLSimMagic, was built using Wikitude Augmented Reality (AR) software development kit (SDK) integrated into Apple iOS SDK application and the Cordova libraries. These codes enable the generation of runtime targets using cloud recognition and developer-defined target features which are then accessed by means of a custom application.

Parallels in Computer-Aided Design Framework and Software Development Environment Efforts.

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-05-01

de - sign kits, and tool and design management frameworks. Also, books about software engineer- ing environments [Long 91] and electronic design...tool integration [Zarrella 90], and agreement upon a universal de - sign automation framework, such as the CAD Framework Initiative (CFI) [Malasky 91...ments: identification, control, status accounting, and audit and review. The paper by Dart ex- tracts 15 CM concepts from existing SDEs and tools

Benchmarking the ATLAS software through the Kit Validation engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Salvo, Alessandro; Brasolin, Franco

2010-04-01

The measurement of the experiment software performance is a very important metric in order to choose the most effective resources to be used and to discover the bottlenecks of the code implementation. In this work we present the benchmark techniques used to measure the ATLAS software performance through the ATLAS offline testing engine Kit Validation and the online portal Global Kit Validation. The performance measurements, the data collection, the online analysis and display of the results will be presented. The results of the measurement on different platforms and architectures will be shown, giving a full report on the CPU power and memory consumption of the Monte Carlo generation, simulation, digitization and reconstruction of the most CPU-intensive channels. The impact of the multi-core computing on the ATLAS software performance will also be presented, comparing the behavior of different architectures when increasing the number of concurrent processes. The benchmark techniques described in this paper have been used in the HEPiX group since the beginning of 2008 to help defining the performance metrics for the High Energy Physics applications, based on the real experiment software.

2MASS Catalog Server Kit Version 2.1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamauchi, C.

2013-10-01

The 2MASS Catalog Server Kit is open source software for use in easily constructing a high performance search server for important astronomical catalogs. This software utilizes the open source RDBMS PostgreSQL, therefore, any users can setup the database on their local computers by following step-by-step installation guide. The kit provides highly optimized stored functions for positional searchs similar to SDSS SkyServer. Together with these, the powerful SQL environment of PostgreSQL will meet various user's demands. We released 2MASS Catalog Server Kit version 2.1 in 2012 May, which supports the latest WISE All-Sky catalog (563,921,584 rows) and 9 major all-sky catalogs. Local databases are often indispensable for observatories with unstable or narrow-band networks or severe use, such as retrieving large numbers of records within a small period of time. This software is the best for such purposes, and increasing supported catalogs and improvements of version 2.1 can cover a wider range of applications including advanced calibration system, scientific studies using complicated SQL queries, etc. Official page: http://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/~cyamauch/2masskit/

New software for 3D fracture network analysis and visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, J.; Noh, Y.; Choi, Y.; Um, J.; Hwang, S.

2013-12-01

This study presents new software to perform analysis and visualization of the fracture network system in 3D. The developed software modules for the analysis and visualization, such as BOUNDARY, DISK3D, FNTWK3D, CSECT and BDM, have been developed using Microsoft Visual Basic.NET and Visualization TookKit (VTK) open-source library. Two case studies revealed that each module plays a role in construction of analysis domain, visualization of fracture geometry in 3D, calculation of equivalent pipes, production of cross-section map and management of borehole data, respectively. The developed software for analysis and visualization of the 3D fractured rock mass can be used to tackle the geomechanical problems related to strength, deformability and hydraulic behaviors of the fractured rock masses.

Pharmacists' views on and experiences with bowel cancer screening kits in Auckland, New Zealand.

PubMed

Martini, Nataly; Basdew, Kamlika; Kammona, Ala; Shen, Amy; Taylor, Caragh; McIntosh, Timothy R; Barnes, Joanne

2014-08-01

To explore the views of New Zealand pharmacists on bowel cancer screening, particularly with regards to faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) kits, self-perceived knowledge on FOBT kits and barriers, motivators and experiences with selling and counselling consumers with respect to FOBT kits. Semi-structured interviews were conducted face to face or by telephone with 20 community pharmacists in the Auckland region. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and data were coded and analysed using NVivo software to identify key themes. Participant pharmacists believed that they were well placed to provide advice on FOBT kits to consumers. Barriers to selling the kits included cost and perceived lack of test sensitivity of the kits, poor consumer demand, pharmacists' lack of training and information, and a belief that selling FOBT kits was outside the pharmacists' scope of practice. Motivators to selling the kits included customer convenience, ease of use, confidence in the kits and embracing new roles for pharmacists. Pharmacists were concerned that use of the kits may increase the burden on the public health system through customer anxiety over test results; however, they agreed that there was a need for bowel cancer screening and awareness and that people concerned about bowel cancer should make visiting their general practitioner a priority. Pharmacists' views were mixed. Pharmacists' training and competence with respect to the provision of bowel cancer kits, and how a bowel cancer screening service can be developed to optimise public health outcomes, need to be addressed. © 2013 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Presentation of Repeated Phrases in a Computer-Assisted Abstracting Tool Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craven, Timothy C.

2001-01-01

Discusses automatic indexing methods and describes the development of a prototype computerized abstractor's assistant. Highlights include the text network management system, TEXNET; phrase selection that follows indexing; phrase display, including Boolean capabilities; results of preliminary testing; and availability of TEXNET software. (LRW)

LK Scripting Language

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

The LK scripting language is a simple and fast computer programming language designed for easy integration with existing software to enable automation of tasks. The LK language is used by NREL’s System Advisor Model (SAM), the SAM Software Development Kit (SDK), and SolTrace products. LK is easy extensible and adaptable to new software due to its small footprint and is designed to be statically linked into other software. It is written in standard C++, is cross-platform (Windows, Linux, and OSX), and includes optional portions that enable direct integration with graphical user interfaces written in the open source C++ wxWidgets Versionmore » 3.0+ toolkit.« less

Accelerator controls at CERN: Some converging trends

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuiper, B.

1990-08-01

CERN's growing services to the high-energy physics community using frozen resources has led to the implementation of "Technical Boards", mandated to assist the management by making recommendations for rationalizations in various technological domains. The Board on Process Control and Electronics for Accelerators, TEBOCO, has emphasized four main lines which might yield economy in resources. First, a common architecture for accelerator controls has been agreed between the three accelerator divisions. Second, a common hardware/software kit has been defined, from which the large majority of future process interfacing may be composed. A support service for this kit is an essential part of the plan. Third, high-level protocols have been developed for standardizing access to process devices. They derive from agreed standard models of the devices and involve a standard control message. This should ease application development and mobility of equipment. Fourth, a common software engineering methodology and a commercial package of application development tools have been adopted. Some rationalization in the field of the man-machine interface and in matters of synchronization is also under way.

Telescience Resource Kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, Michelle; Lippincott, Jeff; Chubb, Steve; Whitaker, Jimmy; Rice, Jim; Gillis, Robert; Sims, Chris; Sellers, Donna; Bailey, Darrell (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a PC based ground control system. It can be used by a single individual or in a group environment to monitor and control spacecraft systems and payloads. Capabilities include data receipt, data processing, data storage, data management, and data transmission. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware and software have been employed to reduce development costs, operations and maintenance costs, and to effectively take advantage of new commercial products as they become available. The TReK system is currently being used to monitor and control payloads aboard the International Space Station. It is located at sites around the world.

The Interplay Between Estrogen and Replication Origins in Breast Cancer DNA Amplification

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-11-01

using the CHEF Genomic DNA Plug Kit (Biorad), following the manufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, after the labeling, cells were washed twice with...with BD-CellQuest software. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During the funded project period I

Evaluating the Medical Kit System for the International Space Station(ISS) - A Paradigm Revisited

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hailey, Melinda J.; Urbina, Michelle C.; Hughlett, Jessica L.; Gilmore, Stevan; Locke, James; Reyna, Baraquiel; Smith, Gwyn E.

2010-01-01

Medical capabilities aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been packaged to help astronaut crew medical officers (CMO) mitigate both urgent and non-urgent medical issues during their 6-month expeditions. Two ISS crewmembers are designated as CMOs for each 3-crewmember mission and are typically not physicians. In addition, the ISS may have communication gaps of up to 45 minutes during each orbit, necessitating medical equipment that can be reliably operated autonomously during flight. The retirement of the space shuttle combined with ten years of manned ISS expeditions led the Space Medicine Division at the NASA Johnson Space Center to reassess the current ISS Medical Kit System. This reassessment led to the system being streamlined to meet future logistical considerations with current Russian space vehicles and future NASA/commercial space vehicle systems. Methods The JSC Space Medicine Division coordinated the development of requirements, fabrication of prototypes, and conducted usability testing for the new ISS Medical Kit System in concert with implementing updated versions of the ISS Medical Check List and associated in-flight software applications. The teams constructed a medical kit system with the flexibility for use on the ISS, and resupply on the Russian Progress space vehicle and future NASA/commercial space vehicles. Results Prototype systems were developed, reviewed, and tested for implementation. Completion of Preliminary and Critical Design Reviews resulted in a streamlined ISS Medical Kit System that is being used for training by ISS crews starting with Expedition 27 (June 2011). Conclusions The team will present the process for designing, developing, , implementing, and training with this new ISS Medical Kit System.

Development and Validation of a Kit to Measure Drink Antioxidant Capacity Using a Novel Colorimeter.

PubMed

Priftis, Alexandros; Stagos, Dimitrios; Tzioumakis, Nikolaos; Konstantinopoulos, Konstantinos; Patouna, Anastasia; Papadopoulos, Georgios E; Tsatsakis, Aristides; Kouretas, Dimitrios

2016-08-30

Measuring the antioxidant capacity of foods is essential, as a means of quality control to ensure that the final product reaching the consumer will be of high standards. Despite the already existing assays with which the antioxidant activity is estimated, new, faster and low cost methods are always sought. Therefore, we have developed a novel colorimeter and combined it with a slightly modified DPPH assay, thus creating a kit that can assess the antioxidant capacity of liquids (e.g., different types of coffee, beer, wine, juices) in a quite fast and low cost manner. The accuracy of the colorimeter was ensured by comparing it to a fully validated Hitachi U-1900 spectrophotometer, and a coefficient was calculated to eliminate the observed differences. In addition, a new, user friendly software was developed, in order to render the procedure as easy as possible, while allowing a central monitoring of the obtained results. Overall, a novel kit was developed, with which the antioxidant activity of liquids can be measured, firstly to ensure their quality and secondly to assess the amount of antioxidants consumed with the respective food.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY AND INHALATION EXPOSURE - SIMULATION TOOL KIT

EPA Science Inventory

A Microsoft Windows-based indoor air quality (IAQ) simulation software package is presented. Named Simulation Tool Kit for Indoor Air Quality and Inhalation Exposure, or IAQX for short, this package complements and supplements existing IAQ simulation programs and is desi...

Investigation into the development of computer aided design software for space based sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pender, C. W.; Clark, W. L.

1987-01-01

The described effort is phase one of the development of a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to be used to perform radiometric sensor design. The software package will be referred to as SCAD and is directed toward the preliminary phase of the design of space based sensor system. The approach being followed is to develop a modern, graphic intensive, user friendly software package using existing software as building blocks. The emphasis will be directed toward the development of a shell containing menus, smart defaults, and interfaces, which can accommodate a wide variety of existing application software packages. The shell will offer expected utilities such as graphics, tailored menus, and a variety of drivers for I/O devices. Following the development of the shell, the development of SCAD is planned as chiefly selection and integration of appropriate building blocks. The phase one development activities have included: the selection of hardware which will be used with SCAD; the determination of the scope of SCAD; the preliminary evaluation of a number of software packages for applicability to SCAD; determination of a method for achieving required capabilities where voids exist; and then establishing a strategy for binding the software modules into an easy to use tool kit.

The South African Astronomical Observatory instrumentation software architecture and the SHOC instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Gend, Carel; Lombaard, Briehan; Sickafoose, Amanda; Whittal, Hamish

2016-07-01

Until recently, software for instruments on the smaller telescopes at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) has not been designed for remote accessibility and frequently has not been developed using modern software best-practice. We describe a software architecture we have implemented for use with new and upgraded instruments at the SAAO. The architecture was designed to allow for multiple components and to be fast, reliable, remotely- operable, support different user interfaces, employ as much non-proprietary software as possible, and to take future-proofing into consideration. Individual component drivers exist as standalone processes, communicating over a network. A controller layer coordinates the various components, and allows a variety of user interfaces to be used. The Sutherland High-speed Optical Cameras (SHOC) instruments incorporate an Andor electron-multiplying CCD camera, a GPS unit for accurate timing and a pair of filter wheels. We have applied the new architecture to the SHOC instruments, with the camera driver developed using Andor's software development kit. We have used this to develop an innovative web-based user-interface to the instrument.

Software Reviews.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dwyer, Donna; And Others

1989-01-01

Reviewed are seven software packages for Apple and IBM computers. Included are: "Toxicology"; "Science Corner: Space Probe"; "Alcohol and Pregnancy"; "Science Tool Kit Plus"; Computer Investigations: Plant Growth"; "Climatrolls"; and "Animal Watch: Whales." (CW)

Telescience Resource Kit (TReK)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lippincott, Jeff

2015-01-01

Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is one of the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) remote operations solutions. It can be used to monitor and control International Space Station (ISS) payloads from anywhere in the world. It is comprised of a suite of software applications and libraries that provide generic data system capabilities and access to HOSC services. The TReK Software has been operational since 2000. A new cross-platform version of TReK is under development. The new software is being released in phases during the 2014-2016 timeframe. The TReK Release 3.x series of software is the original TReK software that has been operational since 2000. This software runs on Windows. It contains capabilities to support traditional telemetry and commanding using CCSDS (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems) packets. The TReK Release 4.x series of software is the new cross platform software. It runs on Windows and Linux. The new TReK software will support communication using standard IP protocols and traditional telemetry and commanding. All the software listed above is compatible and can be installed and run together on Windows. The new TReK software contains a suite of software that can be used by payload developers on the ground and onboard (TReK Toolkit). TReK Toolkit is a suite of lightweight libraries and utility applications for use onboard and on the ground. TReK Desktop is the full suite of TReK software -most useful on the ground. When TReK Desktop is released, the TReK installation program will provide the option to choose just the TReK Toolkit portion of the software or the full TReK Desktop suite. The ISS program is providing the TReK Toolkit software as a generic flight software capability offered as a standard service to payloads. TReK Software Verification was conducted during the April/May 2015 timeframe. Payload teams using the TReK software onboard can reference the TReK software verification. TReK will be demonstrated on-orbit running on an ISS provided T61p laptop. Target Timeframe: September 2015 -2016. The on-orbit demonstration will collect benchmark metrics, and will be used in the future to provide live demonstrations during ISS Payload Conferences. Benchmark metrics and demonstrations will address the protocols described in SSP 52050-0047 Ku Forward section 3.3.7. (Associated term: CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP)).

Rapid prototyping of an adaptive light-source for mobile manipulators with EasyKit and EasyLab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojtczyk, Martin; Barner, Simon; Geisinger, Michael; Knoll, Alois

2008-08-01

While still not common in day-to-day business, mobile robot platforms form a growing market in robotics. Mobile platforms equipped with a manipulator for increased flexibility have been used successfully in biotech laboratories for sample management as shown on the well-known ESACT meetings. Navigation and object recognition is carried out by the utilization of a mounted machine vision camera. To cope with the different illumination conditions in a large laboratory, development of an adaptive light source was indispensable. We present our approach of rapid developing a computer controlled, adaptive LED light within one single business day, by utilizing the hardware toolbox EasyKit and our appropriate software counterpart EasyLab.

The Radio JOVE Project: A Worldwide, Ground-based Amateur Decameter-Wavelength Radio Observatory Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thieman, J.; Higgins, C.; Lauffer, G.; Ulivastro, R.; Flagg, R.; Sky, J.

2003-04-01

The Radio JOVE project (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov) began over four years ago as an education-centered program to inspire secondary school students' interest in space science through hands-on radio astronomy. Students build a radio receiver and antenna kit capable of receiving Jovian, solar, and galactic emissions at a frequency of 20.1 MHz. More than 500 of these kits have been distributed to students and interested observers (ages 10 through adult) in 24 countries. Many students and teachers do not have the time or feel comfortable building a kit of their own. The Radio JOVE project has made it possible to monitor data and streaming audio from professional radio telescopes in Florida (16 element 10-40 MHz log spiral array - http://jupiter.kochi-ct.jp) and Hawaii (17-30 MHz log periodic antenna - http://jupiter.wcc.hawaii.edu/newradiojove/main.html) using standard web browsers and/or freely downloadable software. Radio-Skypipe software (http://radiosky.com) emulates a chart recorder for ones own radio telescope. It will also display the signals being received by other observers worldwide who send out their data over the Internet using the same software package. A built-in chat feature allows the users to discuss their observations and results in real time. New software is being developed to allow network users to interactively view a multi-frequency spectroscopic display of the Hawaii radio telescope. This software may also be useful for research applications. Observers in the U.S. and Europe have been contributing data to a central archive of Jupiter and Solar observations (http://jovearchive.gsfc.nasa.gov/). We believe these data to be of value to the research community and would like to have students more directly connected to ongoing research projects to enhance their interest in participating. We welcome ideas for expanding the application of these data.

Flowfield computer graphics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Desautel, Richard

1993-01-01

The objectives of this research include supporting the Aerothermodynamics Branch's research by developing graphical visualization tools for both the branch's adaptive grid code and flow field ray tracing code. The completed research for the reporting period includes development of a graphical user interface (GUI) and its implementation into the NAS Flowfield Analysis Software Tool kit (FAST), for both the adaptive grid code (SAGE) and the flow field ray tracing code (CISS).

Project LITE - Light Inquiry Through Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brecher, K.

2004-12-01

Hands-on, inquiry-based, constructivist activity offers students a powerful way to explore, uncover and ultimately gain a feel for the nature of science. In order to make practicable a more genuine approach to learning astronomy, we have undertaken the development of hands-on (and eyes-on) materials that can be used in introductory undergraduate astronomy courses. These materials focus on light and optics. Over the past several years as part of Project LITE (Light Inquiry Through Experiments), we have developed a kit of optical materials that is integrated with a set of Java applets. The combined kit and software allows students to do actual experiments concerning geometrical optics, fluorescence, phosphorescence, polarization and other topics by making use of the photons that are emitted by their computer screens. We have also developed a suite of over 100 Flash applets that allow students to directly explore many aspects of visual perception. A major effort of the project concerns spectroscopy, since it is arguably the most important tool used by astronomers to disentangle the nature of the universe. It is also one of the most challenging subjects to teach in undergraduate astronomy courses. The spectroscopy component of Project LITE includes take-home laboratory materials and experiments that are integrated with web-based software. We have also developed a novel quantitative handheld binocular spectrometer (patent pending). Our major spectroscopic software is called the Spectrum Explorer (SPEX). It allows students to create, manipulate and explore all types of spectra including blackbody, power law, emission and absorption. We are now extending the SPEX capabilities to help students gain easy access to the astronomical spectra included in the NVO databases. All of the Project LITE software can be found http://lite.bu.edu. Project LITE is supported by Grant #DUE-0125992 from the NSF Division of Undergraduate Education.

HIGHER PERFORMANCE SOLAR CROP DRYER KIT FOR DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

EPA Science Inventory

The initial design was drawn up as a preliminary draft using Pro-Engineer software. A 4X optical CPC concentration ratio was chosen, then truncated to 3X. With a receiver (crop) width of 0.5 m, the CPC aperture width is 1.5 m. This design was used as a basis for purchasing mat...

Software Reviews.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathematics and Computer Education, 1987

1987-01-01

Presented are reviews of several microcomputer software programs. Included are reviews of: (1) Microstat (Zenith); (2) MathCAD (MathSoft); (3) Discrete Mathematics (True Basic); (4) CALCULUS (True Basic); (5) Linear-Kit (John Wiley); and (6) Geometry Sensei (Broderbund). (RH)

Space Physics Data Facility Web Services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Candey, Robert M.; Harris, Bernard T.; Chimiak, Reine A.

2005-01-01

The Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) Web services provides a distributed programming interface to a portion of the SPDF software. (A general description of Web services is available at http://www.w3.org/ and in many current software-engineering texts and articles focused on distributed programming.) The SPDF Web services distributed programming interface enables additional collaboration and integration of the SPDF software system with other software systems, in furtherance of the SPDF mission to lead collaborative efforts in the collection and utilization of space physics data and mathematical models. This programming interface conforms to all applicable Web services specifications of the World Wide Web Consortium. The interface is specified by a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file. The SPDF Web services software consists of the following components: 1) A server program for implementation of the Web services; and 2) A software developer s kit that consists of a WSDL file, a less formal description of the interface, a Java class library (which further eases development of Java-based client software), and Java source code for an example client program that illustrates the use of the interface.

Understanding Taxes. Teacher's Resource Kit. 1995 Annual Revision.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Internal Revenue Service (Dept. of Treasury), Washington, DC.

This packet contains revisions of the following sections of the "Understanding Taxes" teacher's resource kit: complete revisions of lessons 3 and 4; updated student handouts for lessons 2, 9, and 11; new glossary; and revised software user's guide. Lesson 3, "From W-4 to 1040A," is designed to acquaint students with the basic…

Simulation of the outdoor energy efficiency of an autonomous solar kit based on meteorological data for a site in Central Europa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouzaki, Mohammed Moustafa; Chadel, Meriem; Benyoucef, Boumediene; Petit, Pierre; Aillerie, Michel

2016-07-01

This contribution analyzes the energy provided by a solar kit dedicated to autonomous usage and installed in Central Europa (Longitude 6.10°; Latitude 49.21° and Altitude 160 m) by using the simulation software PVSYST. We focused the analysis on the effect of temperature and solar irradiation on the I-V characteristic of a commercial PV panel. We also consider in this study the influence of charging and discharging the battery on the generator efficiency. Meteorological data are integrated into the simulation software. As expected, the solar kit provides an energy varying all along the year with a minimum in December. In the proposed approach, we consider this minimum as the lowest acceptable energy level to satisfy the use. Thus for the other months, a lost in the available renewable energy exists if no storage system is associated.

A "Black-and-White Box" Approach to User Empowerment with Component Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kynigos, C.

2004-01-01

The paper discusses three aspects central to the 10 year-old process of design, development and use of E-slate, a construction kit for educational software. These are: (1) the design of computational media for user empowerment, (2) the socially-grounded approach to the building of user communities and (3) the issue of long-term sustainability as…

Marshall Space Flight Center Telescience Resource Kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wade, Gina

2016-01-01

Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of software applications that can be used to monitor and control assets in space or on the ground. The Telescience Resource Kit was originally developed for the International Space Station program. Since then it has been used to support a variety of NASA programs and projects including the WB-57 Ascent Vehicle Experiment (WAVE) project, the Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite (FASTSAT) project, and the Constellation Program. The Payloads Operations Center (POC), also known as the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC), provides the capability for payload users to operate their payloads at their home sites. In this environment, TReK provides local ground support system services and an interface to utilize remote services provided by the POC. TReK provides ground system services for local and remote payload user sites including International Partner sites, Telescience Support Centers, and U.S. Investigator sites in over 40 locations worldwide. General Capabilities: Support for various data interfaces such as User Datagram Protocol, Transmission Control Protocol, and Serial interfaces. Data Services - retrieve, process, record, playback, forward, and display data (ground based data or telemetry data). Command - create, modify, send, and track commands. Command Management - Configure one TReK system to serve as a command server/filter for other TReK systems. Database - databases are used to store telemetry and command definition information. Application Programming Interface (API) - ANSI C interface compatible with commercial products such as Visual C++, Visual Basic, LabVIEW, Borland C++, etc. The TReK API provides a bridge for users to develop software to access and extend TReK services. Environments - development, test, simulations, training, and flight. Includes standalone training simulators.

Using a Modular Construction Kit for the Realization of an Interactive Computer Graphics Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Reinhard; Hanisch, Frank

Recently, platform independent software components, like JavaBeans, have appeared that allow writing reusable components and composing them in a visual builder tool into new applications. This paper describes the use of such models to transform an existing course into a modular construction kit consisting of components of teaching text and program…

The Radio JOVE Project - An Inexpensive Introduction to Radio Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thieman, J. R.; Higgins, C.

2004-12-01

The Radio JOVE project began over six years ago as an education-centered program to inspire secondary school students' interest in space science through hands-on radio astronomy. The project was begun on small grants from the Goddard Space Flight Center Director's Discretionary Fund, the Initiative to Develop Education through Astronomy and Space Science (IDEAS) program, and the American Astronomical Society. Students build a radio receiver and antenna kit capable of receiving Jovian, solar, and galactic emissions at a frequency of 20.1 MHz. More than 600 of these kits have been distributed to students and interested observers (ages 10 through adult) in over 30 countries. For those who are not comfortable building their own kit, the Radio JOVE project has made it possible to monitor real-time data and streaming audio online from professional radio telescopes in Florida (http://jupiter.kochi-ct.jp) and Hawaii http://jupiter.wcc.hawaii.edu/newradiojove/main.html). Freely downloadable software called Radio-Skypipe (http://radiosky.com) emulates a chart recorder to monitor ones own radio telescope or the telescopes of other observers worldwide who send out their data over the Internet. Inexpensive spectrographs have been developed for the professional telescopes in Hawaii and Florida and freely downloadable spectrograph display software is available to receive this research-quality data. We believe the amateur network data to be of value to the research community and would like to have students more directly connected to ongoing research projects to enhance their interest in participating. Results of the project and plans for the future will be highlighted.

Full 3D visualization tool-kit for Monte Carlo and deterministic transport codes

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

Frambati, S.; Frignani, M.

2012-07-01

We propose a package of tools capable of translating the geometric inputs and outputs of many Monte Carlo and deterministic radiation transport codes into open source file formats. These tools are aimed at bridging the gap between trusted, widely-used radiation analysis codes and very powerful, more recent and commonly used visualization software, thus supporting the design process and helping with shielding optimization. Three main lines of development were followed: mesh-based analysis of Monte Carlo codes, mesh-based analysis of deterministic codes and Monte Carlo surface meshing. The developed kit is considered a powerful and cost-effective tool in the computer-aided design formore » radiation transport code users of the nuclear world, and in particular in the fields of core design and radiation analysis. (authors)« less

Software for MR image overlay guided needle insertions: the clinical translation process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ungi, Tamas; U-Thainual, Paweena; Fritz, Jan; Iordachita, Iulian I.; Flammang, Aaron J.; Carrino, John A.; Fichtinger, Gabor

2013-03-01

PURPOSE: Needle guidance software using augmented reality image overlay was translated from the experimental phase to support preclinical and clinical studies. Major functional and structural changes were needed to meet clinical requirements. We present the process applied to fulfill these requirements, and selected features that may be applied in the translational phase of other image-guided surgical navigation systems. METHODS: We used an agile software development process for rapid adaptation to unforeseen clinical requests. The process is based on iterations of operating room test sessions, feedback discussions, and software development sprints. The open-source application framework of 3D Slicer and the NA-MIC kit provided sufficient flexibility and stable software foundations for this work. RESULTS: All requirements were addressed in a process with 19 operating room test iterations. Most features developed in this phase were related to workflow simplification and operator feedback. CONCLUSION: Efficient and affordable modifications were facilitated by an open source application framework and frequent clinical feedback sessions. Results of cadaver experiments show that software requirements were successfully solved after a limited number of operating room tests.

The caCORE Software Development Kit: streamlining construction of interoperable biomedical information services.

PubMed

Phillips, Joshua; Chilukuri, Ram; Fragoso, Gilberto; Warzel, Denise; Covitz, Peter A

2006-01-06

Robust, programmatically accessible biomedical information services that syntactically and semantically interoperate with other resources are challenging to construct. Such systems require the adoption of common information models, data representations and terminology standards as well as documented application programming interfaces (APIs). The National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed the cancer common ontologic representation environment (caCORE) to provide the infrastructure necessary to achieve interoperability across the systems it develops or sponsors. The caCORE Software Development Kit (SDK) was designed to provide developers both within and outside the NCI with the tools needed to construct such interoperable software systems. The caCORE SDK requires a Unified Modeling Language (UML) tool to begin the development workflow with the construction of a domain information model in the form of a UML Class Diagram. Models are annotated with concepts and definitions from a description logic terminology source using the Semantic Connector component. The annotated model is registered in the Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR) using the UML Loader component. System software is automatically generated using the Codegen component, which produces middleware that runs on an application server. The caCORE SDK was initially tested and validated using a seven-class UML model, and has been used to generate the caCORE production system, which includes models with dozens of classes. The deployed system supports access through object-oriented APIs with consistent syntax for retrieval of any type of data object across all classes in the original UML model. The caCORE SDK is currently being used by several development teams, including by participants in the cancer biomedical informatics grid (caBIG) program, to create compatible data services. caBIG compatibility standards are based upon caCORE resources, and thus the caCORE SDK has emerged as a key enabling technology for caBIG. The caCORE SDK substantially lowers the barrier to implementing systems that are syntactically and semantically interoperable by providing workflow and automation tools that standardize and expedite modeling, development, and deployment. It has gained acceptance among developers in the caBIG program, and is expected to provide a common mechanism for creating data service nodes on the data grid that is under development.

Degraded Operational Environment: Integration of Social Network Infrastructure Concept in a Traditional Military C2 System

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

Communication Applet) UNIGE – D.I.M.E. Using a free application as “MIT APP Inventor” Android Software Development Kit DEGRADED C2 ICCRTS 2013...operate on an Android operating system up-gradable on which will be developed a simplified ACA ( Android Communication Applet) that will call C24U...Server) IP number . . . Portable COTS Devices ACA - C24U ( Android Communication Applet) Sending/receiving SEFL (Simple Exchange

Guide to NavyFOAM V1.0

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-01

NavyFOAM has been developed using an open-source CFD software tool-kit ( OpenFOAM ) that draws heavily upon object-oriented programming. The...numerical methods and the physical models in the original version of OpenFOAM have been upgraded in an effort to improve accuracy and robustness of...computational fluid dynamics OpenFOAM , Object Oriented Programming (OOP) (CFD), NavyFOAM, 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: a. REPORT UNCLASSIFIED b

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

Werner, Mike

Why this utility? After years of upgrading the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or the Java Software Development Kit (JDK/SDK), a Windows computer becomes littered with so many old versions that the machine may become a security risk due to exploits targeted at those older versions. This utility helps mitigate those vulnerabilities by searching for, and removing, versions 1.3.x thru 1.7.x of the Java JRE and/or JDK/SDK.

User-friendly tools on handheld devices for observer performance study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, Takuya; Hara, Takeshi; Shiraishi, Junji; Fukuoka, Daisuke; Abe, Hiroyuki; Matsusako, Masaki; Yamada, Akira; Zhou, Xiangrong; Fujita, Hiroshi

2012-02-01

ROC studies require complex procedures to select cases from many data samples, and to set confidence levels in each selected case to generate ROC curves. In some observer performance studies, researchers have to develop software with specific graphical user interface (GUI) to obtain confidence levels from readers. Because ROC studies could be designed for various clinical situations, it is difficult task for preparing software corresponding to every ROC studies. In this work, we have developed software for recording confidence levels during observer studies on tiny personal handheld devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. To confirm the functions of our software, three radiologists performed observer studies to detect lung nodules by using public database of chest radiograms published by Japan Society of Radiological Technology. The output in text format conformed to the format for the famous ROC kit from the University of Chicago. Times required for the reading each case was recorded very precisely.

Integration of LCoS-SLM and LabVIEW based software to simulate fundamental optics, wave optics, and Fourier optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyu, Bo-Han; Wang, Chen; Tsai, Chun-Wei

2017-08-01

Jasper Display Corp. (JDC) offer high reflectivity, high resolution Liquid Crystal on Silicon - Spatial Light Modulator (LCoS-SLM) which include an associated controller ASIC and LabVIEW based modulation software. Based on this LCoS-SLM, also called Education Kit (EDK), we provide a training platform which includes a series of optical theory and experiments to university students. This EDK not only provides a LabVIEW based operation software to produce Computer Generated Holograms (CGH) to generate some basic diffraction image or holographic image, but also provides simulation software to verity the experiment results simultaneously. However, we believe that a robust LCoSSLM, operation software, simulation software, training system, and training course can help students to study the fundamental optics, wave optics, and Fourier optics more easily. Based on these fundamental knowledges, they could develop their unique skills and create their new innovations on the optoelectronic application in the future.

Development of a Novel Electrospinning System with Automated Positioning and Control Software

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-20

a) RS232 converter kit. b) 36V power supply. The gantry is enclosed in a box made of 80/20 ® aluminum frame with window panels made of PMMA ...term application for this electrospinning system involves the development a fiber scaffold loaded with antibiotics onto an implant surface to reduce...the risk of infection. This capability would require the gantry to translate in three dimensions as well as rotate the implant such that the gap

Effect of planecta and ROSE™ on the frequency characteristics of blood pressure-transducer kits.

PubMed

Fujiwara, Shigeki; Kawakubo, Yoshifumi; Mori, Satoshi; Tachihara, Keiichi; Toyoguchi, Izumi; Yokoyama, Takeshi

2015-12-01

Pressure-transducer kits have frequency characteristics such as natural frequency and damping coefficient, which affect the monitoring accuracy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of planecta ports and a damping device (ROSE™, Argon Medical Devices, TX, USA) on the frequency characteristics of pressure-transducer kits. The FloTrac sensor kit (Edwards Lifesciences, CA, USA) and the DTXplus transducer kit (Argon Medical Devices) were prepared with planecta ports, and their frequency characteristics were tested with or without ROSE™. The natural frequency and damping coefficient of each kit were obtained using frequency characteristics analysis software and evaluated by plotting them on the Gardner's chart. By inserting a planecta port, the natural frequency markedly decreased in both the FloTrac sensor kit (from 40 to 22 Hz) and the DTXplus transducer kit (from 35 to 22 Hz). In both kits with one planecta port, the damping coefficient markedly increased by insertion of ROSE™ from 0.2 to 0.5, optimising frequency characteristics. In both kits with two planecta ports, however, the natural frequency decreased from 22 to 12 Hz. The damping coefficient increased from 0.2 to 0.8 by insertion of ROSE™; however, optimisation was not achieved even by ROSE™ insertion. Planecta ports decrease the natural frequency of the kit. ROSE™ is useful to optimise the frequency characteristics in the kits without or with one planecta port. However, optimisation is difficult with two or more planecta ports, even with the ROSE™ device.

Fault-Tolerant Sequencer Using FPGA-Based Logic Designs for Space Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-01

Prototype Board SBU single bit upset SDK software development kit SDRAM synchronous dynamic random-access memory SEB single-event burnout ...current VHDL VHSIC hardware description language VHSIC very-high-speed integrated circuits VLSI very-large- scale integration VQFP very...transient pulse, called a single-event transient (SET), or even cause permanent damage to the device in the form of a burnout or gate rupture. The SEE

Design of RNA splicing analysis null models for post hoc filtering of Drosophila head RNA-Seq data with the splicing analysis kit (Spanki)

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The production of multiple transcript isoforms from one gene is a major source of transcriptome complexity. RNA-Seq experiments, in which transcripts are converted to cDNA and sequenced, allow the resolution and quantification of alternative transcript isoforms. However, methods to analyze splicing are underdeveloped and errors resulting in incorrect splicing calls occur in every experiment. Results We used RNA-Seq data to develop sequencing and aligner error models. By applying these error models to known input from simulations, we found that errors result from false alignment to minor splice motifs and antisense stands, shifted junction positions, paralog joining, and repeat induced gaps. By using a series of quantitative and qualitative filters, we eliminated diagnosed errors in the simulation, and applied this to RNA-Seq data from Drosophila melanogaster heads. We used high-confidence junction detections to specifically interrogate local splicing differences between transcripts. This method out-performed commonly used RNA-seq methods to identify known alternative splicing events in the Drosophila sex determination pathway. We describe a flexible software package to perform these tasks called Splicing Analysis Kit (Spanki), available at http://www.cbcb.umd.edu/software/spanki. Conclusions Splice-junction centric analysis of RNA-Seq data provides advantages in specificity for detection of alternative splicing. Our software provides tools to better understand error profiles in RNA-Seq data and improve inference from this new technology. The splice-junction centric approach that this software enables will provide more accurate estimates of differentially regulated splicing than current tools. PMID:24209455

Design of RNA splicing analysis null models for post hoc filtering of Drosophila head RNA-Seq data with the splicing analysis kit (Spanki).

PubMed

Sturgill, David; Malone, John H; Sun, Xia; Smith, Harold E; Rabinow, Leonard; Samson, Marie-Laure; Oliver, Brian

2013-11-09

The production of multiple transcript isoforms from one gene is a major source of transcriptome complexity. RNA-Seq experiments, in which transcripts are converted to cDNA and sequenced, allow the resolution and quantification of alternative transcript isoforms. However, methods to analyze splicing are underdeveloped and errors resulting in incorrect splicing calls occur in every experiment. We used RNA-Seq data to develop sequencing and aligner error models. By applying these error models to known input from simulations, we found that errors result from false alignment to minor splice motifs and antisense stands, shifted junction positions, paralog joining, and repeat induced gaps. By using a series of quantitative and qualitative filters, we eliminated diagnosed errors in the simulation, and applied this to RNA-Seq data from Drosophila melanogaster heads. We used high-confidence junction detections to specifically interrogate local splicing differences between transcripts. This method out-performed commonly used RNA-seq methods to identify known alternative splicing events in the Drosophila sex determination pathway. We describe a flexible software package to perform these tasks called Splicing Analysis Kit (Spanki), available at http://www.cbcb.umd.edu/software/spanki. Splice-junction centric analysis of RNA-Seq data provides advantages in specificity for detection of alternative splicing. Our software provides tools to better understand error profiles in RNA-Seq data and improve inference from this new technology. The splice-junction centric approach that this software enables will provide more accurate estimates of differentially regulated splicing than current tools.

The caCORE Software Development Kit: Streamlining construction of interoperable biomedical information services

PubMed Central

Phillips, Joshua; Chilukuri, Ram; Fragoso, Gilberto; Warzel, Denise; Covitz, Peter A

2006-01-01

Background Robust, programmatically accessible biomedical information services that syntactically and semantically interoperate with other resources are challenging to construct. Such systems require the adoption of common information models, data representations and terminology standards as well as documented application programming interfaces (APIs). The National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed the cancer common ontologic representation environment (caCORE) to provide the infrastructure necessary to achieve interoperability across the systems it develops or sponsors. The caCORE Software Development Kit (SDK) was designed to provide developers both within and outside the NCI with the tools needed to construct such interoperable software systems. Results The caCORE SDK requires a Unified Modeling Language (UML) tool to begin the development workflow with the construction of a domain information model in the form of a UML Class Diagram. Models are annotated with concepts and definitions from a description logic terminology source using the Semantic Connector component. The annotated model is registered in the Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR) using the UML Loader component. System software is automatically generated using the Codegen component, which produces middleware that runs on an application server. The caCORE SDK was initially tested and validated using a seven-class UML model, and has been used to generate the caCORE production system, which includes models with dozens of classes. The deployed system supports access through object-oriented APIs with consistent syntax for retrieval of any type of data object across all classes in the original UML model. The caCORE SDK is currently being used by several development teams, including by participants in the cancer biomedical informatics grid (caBIG) program, to create compatible data services. caBIG compatibility standards are based upon caCORE resources, and thus the caCORE SDK has emerged as a key enabling technology for caBIG. Conclusion The caCORE SDK substantially lowers the barrier to implementing systems that are syntactically and semantically interoperable by providing workflow and automation tools that standardize and expedite modeling, development, and deployment. It has gained acceptance among developers in the caBIG program, and is expected to provide a common mechanism for creating data service nodes on the data grid that is under development. PMID:16398930

The Design and Analysis of Electrically Large Custom-Shaped Reflector Antennas

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

GEO) satellite data are imported into STK and plotted to visualize the regions of the sky that the spherical reflector must have line of sight for...Magnetic Conductor PO Physical Optics STK Systems Tool Kit TE Transverse Electric xvii Acronym Definition TLE Two Line Element TM Transverse Magnetic...study for the spherical reflector, Systems Tool Kit ( STK ) software from Analytical Graphics Inc. (AGI) is used. In completing the cross-shaped

Microsoft Kinect Sensor Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Billie, Glennoah

2011-01-01

My summer project evaluates the Kinect game sensor input/output and its suitability to perform as part of a human interface for a spacecraft application. The primary objective is to evaluate, understand, and communicate the Kinect system's ability to sense and track fine (human) position and motion. The project will analyze the performance characteristics and capabilities of this game system hardware and its applicability for gross and fine motion tracking. The software development kit for the Kinect was also investigated and some experimentation has begun to understand its development environment. To better understand the software development of the Kinect game sensor, research in hacking communities has brought a better understanding of the potential for a wide range of personal computer (PC) application development. The project also entails the disassembly of the Kinect game sensor. This analysis would involve disassembling a sensor, photographing it, and identifying components and describing its operation.

SensorKit: An End-to-End Solution for Environmental Sensor Networking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, F.; Graham, E.; Deschon, A.; Lam, Y.; Goldman, J.; Wroclawski, J.; Kaiser, W.; Benzel, T.

2008-12-01

Modern day sensor network technology has shown great promise to transform environmental data collection. However, despite the promise, these systems have remained the purview of the engineers and computer scientists who design them rather than a useful tool for the environmental scientists who need them. SensorKit is conceived of as a way to make wireless sensor networks accessible to The People: it is an advanced, powerful tool for sensor data collection that does not require advanced technological know-how. We are aiming to make wireless sensor networks for environmental science as simple as setting up a standard home computer network by providing simple, tested configurations of commercially-available hardware, free and easy-to-use software, and step-by-step tutorials. We designed and built SensorKit using a simplicity-through-sophistication approach, supplying users a powerful sensor to database end-to-end system with a simple and intuitive user interface. Our objective in building SensorKit was to make the prospect of using environmental sensor networks as simple as possible. We built SensorKit from off the shelf hardware components, using the Compact RIO platform from National Instruments for data acquisition due to its modular architecture and flexibility to support a large number of sensor types. In SensorKit, we support various types of analog, digital and networked sensors. Our modular software architecture allows us to abstract sensor details and provide users a common way to acquire data and to command different types of sensors. SensorKit is built on top of the Sensor Processing and Acquisition Network (SPAN), a modular framework for acquiring data in the field, moving it reliably to the scientist institution, and storing it in an easily-accessible database. SPAN allows real-time access to the data in the field by providing various options for long haul communication, such as cellular and satellite links. Our system also features reliable data storage and transmission, using a custody transfer mechanism that ensures data is retained until successful delivery to the scientist can be confirmed. The ability for the scientist to communicate in real-time with the sensor network in the field enables remote sensor reconfiguration and system health and status monitoring. We use a spiral approach of design, test, deploy and revise, and, by going to the field frequently and getting feedback from field scientists, we have been able to include additional functionality that is useful to the scientist while ensuring SensorKit remains intuitive to operate. Users can configure, control, and monitor SensorKit using a number of tools we have developed. An intuitive user interface running on a desktop or laptop allows scientists to setup the system, add and configure sensors, and specify when and how the data will be collected. We also have a mobile version of our interface that runs on a PDA and lets scientists calibrate sensors and "tune" the system while in the field, allowing for data validation before leaving the field and returning to the research lab. SensorKit also features SensorBase, an intuitive user interface built on top of a standard SQL database, which allows scientists to store and share their data with other researchers. SensorKit has been used for diverse scientific applications and deployed throughout the world: from studying mercury cycling in rice paddies in China, to ecological research in the neotropical rainforests of Costa Rica, to monitoring the contamination of salt lakes in Argentina.

A standardized kit for automated quantitative assessment of candidate protein biomarkers in human plasma.

PubMed

Percy, Andrew J; Mohammed, Yassene; Yang, Juncong; Borchers, Christoph H

2015-12-01

An increasingly popular mass spectrometry-based quantitative approach for health-related research in the biomedical field involves the use of stable isotope-labeled standards (SIS) and multiple/selected reaction monitoring (MRM/SRM). To improve inter-laboratory precision and enable more widespread use of this 'absolute' quantitative technique in disease-biomarker assessment studies, methods must be standardized. Results/methodology: Using this MRM-with-SIS-peptide approach, we developed an automated method (encompassing sample preparation, processing and analysis) for quantifying 76 candidate protein markers (spanning >4 orders of magnitude in concentration) in neat human plasma. The assembled biomarker assessment kit - the 'BAK-76' - contains the essential materials (SIS mixes), methods (for acquisition and analysis), and tools (Qualis-SIS software) for performing biomarker discovery or verification studies in a rapid and standardized manner.

[Development of Chinese forensic Y-STR DNA database].

PubMed

Ge, Jian-Ye; Yan, Jiang-Wei; Xie, Qun; Sun, Hong-Yu; Zhou, Huai-Gu; Li, Bin

2013-06-01

Y chromosome is a male-specific paternal inherited chromosome. The STR markers on Y chromosome have been widely used in forensic practices. This article summarizes the characteristics of Y-STR and some factors are considered of selecting appropriate Y-STR markers for Chinese population. The prospects of existing and potential forensic applications of Y-STR profiles are discussed including familial excluding, familial searching, crowd source deducing, mixture sample testing, and kinship identifying. The research, development, verification of Y-STR kit, Y-STR mutation rate, and search software are explored and some suggestions are given.

Development of a Spacecraft Materials Selector Expert System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pippin, G.; Kauffman, W. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This report contains a description of the knowledge base tool and examples of its use. A downloadable version of the Spacecraft Materials Selector (SMS) knowledge base is available through the NASA Space Environments and Effects Program. The "Spacecraft Materials Selector" knowledge base is part of an electronic expert system. The expert system consists of an inference engine that contains the "decision-making" code and the knowledge base that contains the selected body of information. The inference engine is a software package previously developed at Boeing, called the Boeing Expert System Tool (BEST) kit.

SSRP: Software for Problem Solving and Inquiry in Grades K-4. Ohio SchoolNet. ENC Focus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Julia, Ed.

1997-01-01

The number and range of instructional resources in mathematics and science education can be overwhelming to educators. The chief mission of The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC) is to help educators sort through the confusion by identifying relevant resources such as print materials, software, kits, and…

Beaming Electricity via Relay Satellites in Support of Deployed Combat Forces

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

Power kHz Kilohertz km Kilometer kW Kilowatt kW/h Kilowatt/hour LEO Low Earth Orbit MEO Medium Earth Orbit MW Megawatt RF Radio Frequency STK ...using the Satellite Tool Kit ( STK ) software suite. D. CHAPTER SUMMARY 1. Chapter II - Background This chapter contains background information to...are modeled using STK . The results of those models are presented. A description of how each model took shape was developed is provided followed

Continuous Energy Photon Transport Implementation in MCATK

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

Adams, Terry R.; Trahan, Travis John; Sweezy, Jeremy Ed

2016-10-31

The Monte Carlo Application ToolKit (MCATK) code development team has implemented Monte Carlo photon transport into the MCATK software suite. The current particle transport capabilities in MCATK, which process the tracking and collision physics, have been extended to enable tracking of photons using the same continuous energy approximation. We describe the four photoatomic processes implemented, which are coherent scattering, incoherent scattering, pair-production, and photoelectric absorption. The accompanying background, implementation, and verification of these processes will be presented.

POLARIS: Agent-based modeling framework development and implementation for integrated travel demand and network and operations simulations

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

Auld, Joshua; Hope, Michael; Ley, Hubert

This paper discusses the development of an agent-based modelling software development kit, and the implementation and validation of a model using it that integrates dynamic simulation of travel demand, network supply and network operations. A description is given of the core utilities in the kit: a parallel discrete event engine, interprocess exchange engine, and memory allocator, as well as a number of ancillary utilities: visualization library, database IO library, and scenario manager. The overall framework emphasizes the design goals of: generality, code agility, and high performance. This framework allows the modeling of several aspects of transportation system that are typicallymore » done with separate stand-alone software applications, in a high-performance and extensible manner. The issue of integrating such models as dynamic traffic assignment and disaggregate demand models has been a long standing issue for transportation modelers. The integrated approach shows a possible way to resolve this difficulty. The simulation model built from the POLARIS framework is a single, shared-memory process for handling all aspects of the integrated urban simulation. The resulting gains in computational efficiency and performance allow planning models to be extended to include previously separate aspects of the urban system, enhancing the utility of such models from the planning perspective. Initial tests with case studies involving traffic management center impacts on various network events such as accidents, congestion and weather events, show the potential of the system.« less

Biomechanical ToolKit: Open-source framework to visualize and process biomechanical data.

PubMed

Barre, Arnaud; Armand, Stéphane

2014-04-01

C3D file format is widely used in the biomechanical field by companies and laboratories to store motion capture systems data. However, few software packages can visualize and modify the integrality of the data in the C3D file. Our objective was to develop an open-source and multi-platform framework to read, write, modify and visualize data from any motion analysis systems using standard (C3D) and proprietary file formats (used by many companies producing motion capture systems). The Biomechanical ToolKit (BTK) was developed to provide cost-effective and efficient tools for the biomechanical community to easily deal with motion analysis data. A large panel of operations is available to read, modify and process data through C++ API, bindings for high-level languages (Matlab, Octave, and Python), and standalone application (Mokka). All these tools are open-source and cross-platform and run on all major operating systems (Windows, Linux, MacOS X). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Phase 1 Development Report for the SESSA Toolkit.

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

Knowlton, Robert G.; Melton, Brad J; Anderson, Robert J.

The Site Exploitation System for Situational Awareness ( SESSA ) tool kit , developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) , is a comprehensive de cision support system for crime scene data acquisition and Sensitive Site Exploitation (SSE). SESSA is an outgrowth of another SNL developed decision support system , the Building R estoration Operations Optimization Model (BROOM), a hardware/software solution for data acquisition, data management, and data analysis. SESSA was designed to meet forensic crime scene needs as defined by the DoD's Military Criminal Investigation Organiza tion (MCIO) . SESSA is a very comprehensive toolki t with a considerable amountmore » of database information managed through a Microsoft SQL (Structured Query Language) database engine, a Geographical Information System (GIS) engine that provides comprehensive m apping capabilities, as well as a an intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) . An electronic sketch pad module is included. The system also has the ability to efficiently generate necessary forms for forensic crime scene investigations (e.g., evidence submittal, laboratory requests, and scene notes). SESSA allows the user to capture photos on site, and can read and generate ba rcode labels that limit transcription errors. SESSA runs on PC computers running Windows 7, but is optimized for touch - screen tablet computers running Windows for ease of use at crime scenes and on SSE deployments. A prototype system for 3 - dimensional (3 D) mapping and measur e ments was also developed to complement the SESSA software. The mapping system employs a visual/ depth sensor that captures data to create 3D visualizations of an interior space and to make distance measurements with centimeter - level a ccuracy. Output of this 3D Model Builder module provides a virtual 3D %22walk - through%22 of a crime scene. The 3D mapping system is much less expensive and easier to use than competitive systems. This document covers the basic installation and operation of th e SESSA tool kit in order to give the user enough information to start using the tool kit . SESSA is currently a prototype system and this documentation covers the initial release of the tool kit . Funding for SESSA was provided by the Department of Defense (D oD), Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) Rapid Fielding (RF) organization. The project was managed by the Defense Forensic Science Center (DFSC) , formerly known as the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL) . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge the funding support for the development of the Site Exploitation System for Situational Awareness (SESSA) toolkit from the Department of Defense (DoD), Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD(R&E)) Rapid Fielding (RF) organization. The project was managed by the Defense Forensic Science Center (DFSC) , formerly known as the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL). Special thanks to Mr. Garold Warner, of DFSC, who served as the Project Manager. Individuals that worked on the design, functional attributes, algorithm development, system arc hitecture, and software programming include: Robert Knowlton, Brad Melton, Robert Anderson, and Wendy Amai.« less

Tethys: A Platform for Water Resources Modeling and Decision Support Apps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swain, N. R.; Christensen, S. D.; Jones, N.; Nelson, E. J.

2014-12-01

Cloud-based applications or apps are a promising medium through which water resources models and data can be conveyed in a user-friendly environment—making them more accessible to decision-makers and stakeholders. In the context of this work, a water resources web app is a web application that exposes limited modeling functionality for a scenario exploration activity in a structured workflow (e.g.: land use change runoff analysis, snowmelt runoff prediction, and flood potential analysis). The technical expertise required to develop water resources web apps can be a barrier to many potential developers of water resources apps. One challenge that developers face is in providing spatial storage, analysis, and visualization for the spatial data that is inherent to water resources models. The software projects that provide this functionality are non-standard to web development and there are a large number of free and open source software (FOSS) projects to choose from. In addition, it is often required to synthesize several software projects to provide all of the needed functionality. Another challenge for the developer will be orchestrating the use of several software components. Consequently, the initial software development investment required to deploy an effective water resources cloud-based application can be substantial. The Tethys Platform has been developed to lower the technical barrier and minimize the initial development investment that prohibits many scientists and engineers from making use of the web app medium. Tethys synthesizes several software projects including PostGIS for spatial storage, 52°North WPS for spatial analysis, GeoServer for spatial publishing, Google Earth™, Google Maps™ and OpenLayers for spatial visualization, and Highcharts for plotting tabular data. The software selection came after a literature review of software projects being used to create existing earth sciences web apps. All of the software is linked via a Python-powered software development kit (SDK). Tethys developers use the SDK to build their apps and incorporate the needed functionality from the software suite. The presentation will include several apps that have been developed using Tethys to demonstrate its capabilities. Based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1135483.

Effect of using a Planecta™ port with a three-way stopcock on the natural frequency of blood pressure transducer kits.

PubMed

Fujiwara, Shigeki; Tachihara, Keiichi; Mori, Satoshi; Ouchi, Kentaro; Yokoe, Chizuko; Imaizumi, Uno; Morimoto, Yoshinari; Miki, Yoichiro; Toyoguchi, Izumi; Yoshida, Kazu-Ichi; Yokoyama, Takeshi

2016-12-01

Blood pressure transducer kits are equipped with two types of Planecta™ ports-the flat-type Planecta™ port (FTP) and the Planecta™ port with a three-way stopcock (PTS). We reported that FTP application decreased the natural frequency of the kits. However, Planecta™ is an invaluable tool as it prevents infection, ensures technical simplicity, and excludes air. Hence, an ideal Planecta™ port that does not decrease the frequency characteristics is required. As a first step in this direction, we aimed to assess the influence of PTSs on the natural frequency of blood transducer kits. A DTXplus transducer kit (DT4812J; Argon Medical Devices, TX, USA) was used along with ≥1 PTSs (JMS, Hiroshima, Japan), and the frequency characteristics were assessed. The natural frequency and damping coefficient of each kit were obtained by using frequency characteristics analysis software, and these parameters were evaluated by plotting them on Gardner's chart. Regardless of whether one or two PTSs were inserted, the natural frequency of the kits only slightly decreased (from 42.5 to 41.1 Hz, when 2 PTSs were used). Thus, the frequency characteristics of the kits with PTSs were adequate for pressure monitoring. The insertion of ≥2 FTPs in pressure transducer kits should be avoided, as they markedly decrease the natural frequency and lead to underdamping. However, the effect of PTS insertion in pressure transducer kits on the frequency characteristics is minimal. Thus, we found that the use of PTS markedly improved the frequency characteristics as compared to the use of FTP.

OrChem - An open source chemistry search engine for Oracle(R).

PubMed

Rijnbeek, Mark; Steinbeck, Christoph

2009-10-22

Registration, indexing and searching of chemical structures in relational databases is one of the core areas of cheminformatics. However, little detail has been published on the inner workings of search engines and their development has been mostly closed-source. We decided to develop an open source chemistry extension for Oracle, the de facto database platform in the commercial world. Here we present OrChem, an extension for the Oracle 11G database that adds registration and indexing of chemical structures to support fast substructure and similarity searching. The cheminformatics functionality is provided by the Chemistry Development Kit. OrChem provides similarity searching with response times in the order of seconds for databases with millions of compounds, depending on a given similarity cut-off. For substructure searching, it can make use of multiple processor cores on today's powerful database servers to provide fast response times in equally large data sets. OrChem is free software and can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. All software is available via http://orchem.sourceforge.net.

Reviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-03-01

WE RECOMMEND Doomsday Men: the Real Dr Strangelove and the Dream of the Superweapon The relationship between scientists and ethics is explored in this fascinating history of superweaponry RAF Real-life Science A CD-ROM that combines physics activities and careers advice Seismology A booklet that covers seismology for the classroom thoroughly Ice, Rock, and Beauty: a Visual Tour of the New Solar System A beautiful book on a beautiful subject Leicester Height Measure A surprisingly multipurpose piece of equipment Learning Science Teaching: Developing a Professional Knowledge Base A study of how to become an expert science teacher Nova 5000EX A tablet PC ready-loaded with all of the software you need Seismometer Modelling Kit A useful and cheap demonstration of seismology Vibration Detector Basic equipment for measuring vibrations is very welcome Seismometer System This more advanced seismology kit is worth the price-tag WEB WATCH Gary Williams trawls the net for Earth science classroom aids

An Interactive Tool for Discrete Phase Analysis in Two-Phase Flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dejong, Frederik J.; Thoren, Stephen J.

1993-01-01

Under a NASA MSFC SBIR Phase 1 effort an interactive software package has been developed for the analysis of discrete (particulate) phase dynamics in two-phase flows in which the discrete phase does not significantly affect the continuous phase. This package contains a Graphical User Interface (based on the X Window system and the Motif tool kit) coupled to a particle tracing program, which allows the user to interactively set up and run a case for which a continuous phase grid and flow field are available. The software has been applied to a solid rocket motor problem, to demonstrate its ease of use and its suitability for problems of engineering interest, and has been delivered to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Distributed nuclear medicine applications using World Wide Web and Java technology.

PubMed

Knoll, P; Höll, K; Mirzaei, S; Koriska, K; Köhn, H

2000-01-01

At present, medical applications applying World Wide Web (WWW) technology are mainly used to view static images and to retrieve some information. The Java platform is a relative new way of computing, especially designed for network computing and distributed applications which enables interactive connection between user and information via the WWW. The Java 2 Software Development Kit (SDK) including Java2D API, Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) technology, Object Serialization and the Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) extension was used to achieve a robust, platform independent and network centric solution. Medical image processing software based on this technology is presented and adequate performance capability of Java is demonstrated by an iterative reconstruction algorithm for single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT).

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

Bouzaki, Mohammed Moustafa, E-mail: bouzaki-physique1@yahoo.fr; Chadel, Meriem; Université de Lorraine, LMOPS, EA 4423, 57070 Metz

This contribution analyzes the energy provided by a solar kit dedicated to autonomous usage and installed in Central Europe (Longitude 6.10°; Latitude 49.21° and Altitude 160 m) by using the simulation software PVSYST. We focused the analysis on the effect of temperature and solar irradiation on the I-V characteristic of a commercial PV panel. We also consider in this study the influence of charging and discharging the battery on the generator efficiency. Meteorological data are integrated into the simulation software. As expected, the solar kit provides an energy varying all along the year with a minimum in December. In themore » proposed approach, we consider this minimum as the lowest acceptable energy level to satisfy the use. Thus for the other months, a lost in the available renewable energy exists if no storage system is associated.« less

The Radio JOVE Project: A Worldwide, Ground-Based, Amateur, Decameter-Wavelength Radio Observatory Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thieman, J.; Higgins, C.; Flagg, R.; Sky, J.

2003-05-01

The Radio JOVE project began over four years ago as an education-centered program to inspire secondary school students' interest in space science through hands-on radio astronomy. Students build a radio receiver and antenna kit capable of receiving Jovian, solar, and galactic emissions at a frequency of 20.1 MHz. More than 500 of these kits have been distributed to students and interested observers (ages 10 through adult) in 24 countries. For those who are not comfortable building their own kit, the Radio JOVE project has made it possible to monitor real-time data and streaming audio online from professional radio telescopes in Florida (http://jupiter.kochi-ct.jp) and Hawaii (http://jupiter.wcc.hawaii.edu/newradiojove/main.html). Freely downloadable software called Radio-Skypipe (http://radiosky.com) emulates a chart recorder to monitor ones own radio telescope or the telescopes of other observers worldwide who send out their data over the Internet. A built-in chat feature allows the users to discuss their observations and results in real time. New software is being developed to allow network users to interactively view a multi-frequency spectroscopic display of the Hawaii radio telescope. The Radio JOVE project is also partnering with NASA's Student Observation Network (http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday/2003/networkintro.htm) in an effort to use online collaborations to monitor and track solar storms as a hands-on science experience for students. We believe the amateur network data to be of value to the research community and would like to have students more directly connected to ongoing research projects to enhance their interest in participating. Results of the project and plans for the future will be highlighted.

Mobile technology and telemedicine for shoulder range of motion: validation of a motion-based machine-learning software development kit.

PubMed

Ramkumar, Prem N; Haeberle, Heather S; Navarro, Sergio M; Sultan, Assem A; Mont, Michael A; Ricchetti, Eric T; Schickendantz, Mark S; Iannotti, Joseph P

2018-03-07

Mobile technology offers the prospect of delivering high-value care with increased patient access and reduced costs. Advances in mobile health (mHealth) and telemedicine have been inhibited by the lack of interconnectivity between devices and software and inability to process consumer sensor data. The objective of this study was to preliminarily validate a motion-based machine learning software development kit (SDK) for the shoulder compared with a goniometer for 4 arcs of motion: (1) abduction, (2) forward flexion, (3) internal rotation, and (4) external rotation. A mobile application for the SDK was developed and "taught" 4 arcs of shoulder motion. Ten subjects without shoulder pain or prior shoulder surgery performed the arcs of motion for 5 repetitions. Each motion was measured by the SDK and compared with a physician-measured manual goniometer measurement. Angular differences between SDK and goniometer measurements were compared with univariate and power analyses. The comparison between the SDK and goniometer measurement detected a mean difference of less than 5° for all arcs of motion (P > .05), with a 94% chance of detecting a large effect size from a priori power analysis. Mean differences for the arcs of motion were: abduction, -3.7° ± 3.2°; forward flexion, -4.9° ± 2.5°; internal rotation, -2.4° ± 3.7°; and external rotation -2.6° ± 3.4°. The SDK has the potential to remotely substitute for a shoulder range of motion examination within 5° of goniometer measurements. An open-source motion-based SDK that can learn complex movements, including clinical shoulder range of motion, from consumer sensors offers promise for the future of mHealth, particularly in telemonitoring before and after orthopedic surgery. Copyright © 2018 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Developing Save Your Food Kit (Sayofu Kit) to Support Inquiry, Improve Student Learning Outcomes at SMP Plus Hidayatul Mubtadiin and Public Awareness on Food Additives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astutik, J.

2017-02-01

Food additives are materials that can not be separated from the lives of students and the community. Based on the preliminary questionnaire, it indicates the lack of kit supporting material additives in some schools and communities. The research objectives of this development are (1) to develop Kit experiment (SAYOFU KIT) and supplementary books to improve student learning outcomes in the classroom and public awareness on food additives (2) to describe the feasibility and potential effectiveness of SAYOFU KIT developed (3) to analyze the practice of SAYOFU KIT and benefits for students and the community. This development study uses 4-D models Thiagarajan, et al (1974). Through some stages, they are: defining, designing, developing and disseminating which involes the students and community. The developed SAYOFU KIT includes additives sample kit, borax test kit, curcumin test kit, formaldehyde test kit, modification heater to the identification of dyes and dye test paper. The study is conducted at SMP Plus Hidayatul Mubtadiin, and TKIT Al Uswah. The products are validated by experts and education practitioners. Qualitative data processing uses descriptive method, whereas quantitative data by using the N-gain. The average yield of expert validation of SAYOFU KIT with supplementary books 76.50% teacher’s book and 76.30% student’s book are eligible. The average yield of 96.81% validation of educational practitioners criteria, piloting a small group of 83.15%, and 82.89% field trials are very decent. The average yield on the student questionnaire responses SAYOFU kit and supplementary book is 87.6% with the criteria very well worth it. N-Gain 0:56 cognitive achievement with the criteria enough. The results of the public poll showed 95% feel the benefits SAYOFU kits for testing food. Based from description indicates that SAYOFU Kit developed feasible, practical, useful to support inquiry learning and improve student learning outcomes as well as public awareness of food additives.

Control code for laboratory adaptive optics teaching system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Moonseob; Luder, Ryan; Sanchez, Lucas; Hart, Michael

2017-09-01

By sensing and compensating wavefront aberration, adaptive optics (AO) systems have proven themselves crucial in large astronomical telescopes, retinal imaging, and holographic coherent imaging. Commercial AO systems for laboratory use are now available in the market. One such is the ThorLabs AO kit built around a Boston Micromachines deformable mirror. However, there are limitations in applying these systems to research and pedagogical projects since the software is written with limited flexibility. In this paper, we describe a MATLAB-based software suite to interface with the ThorLabs AO kit by using the MATLAB Engine API and Visual Studio. The software is designed to offer complete access to the wavefront sensor data, through the various levels of processing, to the command signals to the deformable mirror and fast steering mirror. In this way, through a MATLAB GUI, an operator can experiment with every aspect of the AO system's functioning. This is particularly valuable for tests of new control algorithms as well as to support student engagement in an academic environment. We plan to make the code freely available to the community.

Leveraging OpenStudio's Application Programming Interfaces: Preprint

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

Long, N.; Ball, B.; Goldwasser, D.

2013-11-01

OpenStudio development efforts have been focused on providing Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) where users are able to extend OpenStudio without the need to compile the open source libraries. This paper will discuss the basic purposes and functionalities of the core libraries that have been wrapped with APIs including the Building Model, Results Processing, Advanced Analysis, UncertaintyQuantification, and Data Interoperability through Translators. Several building energy modeling applications have been produced using OpenStudio's API and Software Development Kits (SDK) including the United States Department of Energy's Asset ScoreCalculator, a mobile-based audit tool, an energy design assistance reporting protocol, and a portfolio scalemore » incentive optimization analysismethodology. Each of these software applications will be discussed briefly and will describe how the APIs were leveraged for various uses including high-level modeling, data transformations from detailed building audits, error checking/quality assurance of models, and use of high-performance computing for mass simulations.« less

Quantifying Uncertainties in Navigation and Orbit Propagation Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krieger, Andrew W.; Welch, Bryan W.

2017-01-01

A tool used to calculate dilution of precision (DOP) was created in order to assist the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program to analyze current and future user missions. The SCaN Center for Engineering, Networks, Integration, and Communication (SCENIC) is developing a new user interface (UI) to augment and replace the capabilities of currently used commercial software, such as Systems Tool Kit (STK). The DOP tool will be integrated in the SCENIC UI and will be used to analyze the accuracy of navigation solutions. This tool was developed using MATLAB and free and open-source tools to save cost and to use already existing orbital software libraries. GPS DOP data was collected and used for validation purposes. The similarities between the DOP tool results and GPS data show that the DOP tool is performing correctly. Additional improvements can be made in the DOP tool to improve its accuracy and performance in analyzing navigation solutions.

The Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System (AIMS) reference manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yan, Jerry; Hontalas, Philip; Listgarten, Sherry

1993-01-01

Whether a researcher is designing the 'next parallel programming paradigm,' another 'scalable multiprocessor' or investigating resource allocation algorithms for multiprocessors, a facility that enables parallel program execution to be captured and displayed is invaluable. Careful analysis of execution traces can help computer designers and software architects to uncover system behavior and to take advantage of specific application characteristics and hardware features. A software tool kit that facilitates performance evaluation of parallel applications on multiprocessors is described. The Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System (AIMS) has four major software components: a source code instrumentor which automatically inserts active event recorders into the program's source code before compilation; a run time performance-monitoring library, which collects performance data; a trace file animation and analysis tool kit which reconstructs program execution from the trace file; and a trace post-processor which compensate for data collection overhead. Besides being used as prototype for developing new techniques for instrumenting, monitoring, and visualizing parallel program execution, AIMS is also being incorporated into the run-time environments of various hardware test beds to evaluate their impact on user productivity. Currently, AIMS instrumentors accept FORTRAN and C parallel programs written for Intel's NX operating system on the iPSC family of multi computers. A run-time performance-monitoring library for the iPSC/860 is included in this release. We plan to release monitors for other platforms (such as PVM and TMC's CM-5) in the near future. Performance data collected can be graphically displayed on workstations (e.g. Sun Sparc and SGI) supporting X-Windows (in particular, Xl IR5, Motif 1.1.3).

Indoor integrated navigation and synchronous data acquisition method for Android smartphone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Chunsheng; Wei, Wenjian; Qin, Shiqiao; Wang, Xingshu; Habib, Ayman; Wang, Ruisheng

2015-08-01

Smartphones are widely used at present. Most smartphones have cameras and kinds of sensors, such as gyroscope, accelerometer and magnet meter. Indoor navigation based on smartphone is very important and valuable. According to the features of the smartphone and indoor navigation, a new indoor integrated navigation method is proposed, which uses MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), camera and magnet meter of smartphone. The proposed navigation method mainly involves data acquisition, camera calibration, image measurement, IMU calibration, initial alignment, strapdown integral, zero velocity update and integrated navigation. Synchronous data acquisition of the sensors (gyroscope, accelerometer and magnet meter) and the camera is the base of the indoor navigation on the smartphone. A camera data acquisition method is introduced, which uses the camera class of Android to record images and time of smartphone camera. Two kinds of sensor data acquisition methods are introduced and compared. The first method records sensor data and time with the SensorManager of Android. The second method realizes open, close, data receiving and saving functions in C language, and calls the sensor functions in Java language with JNI interface. A data acquisition software is developed with JDK (Java Development Kit), Android ADT (Android Development Tools) and NDK (Native Development Kit). The software can record camera data, sensor data and time at the same time. Data acquisition experiments have been done with the developed software and Sumsang Note 2 smartphone. The experimental results show that the first method of sensor data acquisition is convenient but lost the sensor data sometimes, the second method is much better in real-time performance and much less in data losing. A checkerboard image is recorded, and the corner points of the checkerboard are detected with the Harris method. The sensor data of gyroscope, accelerometer and magnet meter have been recorded about 30 minutes. The bias stability and noise feature of the sensors have been analyzed. Besides the indoor integrated navigation, the integrated navigation and synchronous data acquisition method can be applied to outdoor navigation.

OrChem - An open source chemistry search engine for Oracle®

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Registration, indexing and searching of chemical structures in relational databases is one of the core areas of cheminformatics. However, little detail has been published on the inner workings of search engines and their development has been mostly closed-source. We decided to develop an open source chemistry extension for Oracle, the de facto database platform in the commercial world. Results Here we present OrChem, an extension for the Oracle 11G database that adds registration and indexing of chemical structures to support fast substructure and similarity searching. The cheminformatics functionality is provided by the Chemistry Development Kit. OrChem provides similarity searching with response times in the order of seconds for databases with millions of compounds, depending on a given similarity cut-off. For substructure searching, it can make use of multiple processor cores on today's powerful database servers to provide fast response times in equally large data sets. Availability OrChem is free software and can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. All software is available via http://orchem.sourceforge.net. PMID:20298521

XMOS XC-2 Development Board for Mechanical Control and Data Collection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jarnot, Robert F.; Bowden, William J.

2011-01-01

The scanning microwave limb sounder (SMLS) will use technological improvements in low-noise mixers to provide precise data on the Earth s atmospheric composition with high spatial resolution. This project focuses on the design and implementation of a realtime control system needed for airborne engineering tests of the SMLS. The system must coordinate the actuation of optical components using four motors with encoder readback, while collecting synchronized telemetric data from a GPS receiver and 3-axis gyrometric system. A graphical user interface for testing the control system was also designed using Python. Although the system could have been implemented with an FPGA(fieldprogrammable gate array)-based setup, a processor development kit manufactured by XMOS was chosen. The XMOS architecture allows parallel execution of multiple tasks on separate threads, making it ideal for this application. It is easily programmed using XC (a subset of C). The necessary communication interfaces were implemented in software, including Ethernet, with significant cost and time reduction compared to an FPGA-based approach. A simple approach to control the chopper, calibration mirror, and gimbal for the airborne SMLS was needed. The XMOS board allows for multiple threads and real-time data acquisition. The XC-2 development kit is an attractive choice for synchronized, real-time, event-driven applications. The XMOS is based on the transputer microprocessor architecture developed for parallel computing, which is being revamped in this new platform. The XMOS device has multiple cores capable of running parallel applications on separate threads. The threads communicate with each other via user-defined channels capable of transmitting data within the device. XMOS provides a C-based development environment using XC, which eliminates the need for custom tool kits associated with FPGA programming. The XC-2 has four cores and necessary hardware for Ethernet I/O.

NURBS-Based Geometry for Integrated Structural Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliver, James H.

1997-01-01

This grant was initiated in April 1993 and completed in September 1996. The primary goal of the project was to exploit the emerging defacto CAD standard of Non- Uniform Rational B-spline (NURBS) based curve and surface geometry to integrate and streamline the process of turbomachinery structural analysis. We focused our efforts on critical geometric modeling challenges typically posed by the requirements of structural analysts. We developed a suite of software tools that facilitate pre- and post-processing of NURBS-based turbomachinery blade models for finite element structural analyses. We also developed tools to facilitate the modeling of blades in their manufactured (or cold) state based on nominal operating shape and conditions. All of the software developed in the course of this research is written in the C++ language using the Iris Inventor 3D graphical interface tool-kit from Silicon Graphics. In addition to enhanced modularity, improved maintainability, and efficient prototype development, this design facilitates the re-use of code developed for other NASA projects and provides a uniform and professional 'look and feel' for all applications developed by the Iowa State Team.

Adaptation of commercial biomarker kits and proposal for 'drug development kits' to support bioanalysis: call for action.

PubMed

Islam, Rafiqul; Kar, Sumit; Islam, Clarinda; Farmen, Raymond

2018-06-01

There has been an increased use of commercial kits for biomarker measurement, commensurate with the increased demand for biomarkers in drug development. However, in most cases these kits do not meet the quality attributes for use in regulated environment. The process for adaptation of these kits can be frustrating, time consuming and resource intensive. In addition, a lack of harmonized guidance for the validation of biomarker poses a significant challenge in the adaptation of kits in a regulated environment. The purpose of this perspective is to propose a tiered approach to commercial drug development kits with clearly defined quality attributes and to demonstrate how these kits can be adapted to perform analytical validation in a regulated environment.

Unraveling the spectrum of KIT mutations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors: An Indian Tertiary Cancer Center Experience.

PubMed

Pai, Trupti; Bal, Munita; Shetty, Omshree; Gurav, Mamta; Ostwal, Vikas; Ramaswamy, Anant; Ramadwar, Mukta; Desai, Sangeeta

2017-01-01

Primary mutations in the KIT gene are the driving force for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) tumorigenesis. Predictive role of KIT mutation status aids oncologists in patient management. There is a paucity of comprehensive data on the frequency of mutations in the KIT gene in GIST affecting Indian patients. The aims of this study were to determine the frequency and spectrum of molecular alterations affecting the KIT gene and assess their association with clinicopathologic features in a cohort of patients of GIST. Morphological and immunohistochemically confirmed GIST cases ( n = 114) accessioned from August 2014-June 2015 were analyzed for mutations in KIT exons 9, 11, 13, and 17 and subjected to Sanger sequencing onto the ABI 3500 Genetic Analyzer. The sequences were analyzed using sequence analysis software: SeqScape ® and Chromas Lite. KIT mutations were seen in 70% of cases and the majority of KIT mutations involved exon 11 (57%), followed by exon 9 (10%), exon 13 (3%), and exon 17 (1%). Most common exon 11 mutations were in-frame deletions (61.4%) followed by substitution mutations (19.3%). Exon 9 mutations showed identical duplication of Ala-Tyr at codons 502-503. Simultaneous mutations affecting exon 11 and 13 were discovered. Novel variations, namely, p.Q556E (c.1666C>G), p.Q556dup (c.1666_1668dupCAG), p.K558_V559delinsS (c.1672_1677delAAGGTTinsAGT), p.Y503_F504insTY (c.1509_1510insACCTAT), and p.K642R (c.1925A>G) involving exons 11, 9, and 13, respectively, were observed. First study with complete analysis of all 4 exons of KIT (exons 9, 11, 13, and 17) in Indian GIST patients. Along with well-described KIT mutations, several rare double mutations as well as novel alterations were reported in this series.

Evaluation of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and Sepsityper Kit™ for the direct identification of organisms from sterile body fluids in a Canadian pediatric hospital.

PubMed

Tadros, Manal; Petrich, Astrid

2013-01-01

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) can be used to identify bacteria directly from positive blood and sterile fluid cultures. The authors evaluated a commercially available kit - the Sepsityper Kit (Bruker Daltonik, Germany) - and MALDI-TOF MS for the rapid identification of organisms from 80 flagged positive blood culture broths, of which 73 (91.2%) were blood culture specimens and seven (8.7%) were cerebrospinal fluid specimens, in comparison with conventional identification methods. Correct identification to the genus and species levels was obtained in 75 of 80 (93.8%) and 39 of 50 (78%) blood culture broths, respectively. Applying the blood culture analysis module, a newly developed software tool, improved the species identification of Gram-negative organisms from 94.7% to 100% and of Gram-positive organisms from 66.7% to 70%. MALDI-TOF MS is a promising tool for the direct identification of organisms cultured from sterile sites.

Electrostatic Similarities between Protein and Small Molecule Ligands Facilitate the Design of Protein-Protein Interaction Inhibitors

PubMed Central

Zhang, Kam Y. J.

2013-01-01

One of the underlying principles in drug discovery is that a biologically active compound is complimentary in shape and molecular recognition features to its receptor. This principle infers that molecules binding to the same receptor may share some common features. Here, we have investigated whether the electrostatic similarity can be used for the discovery of small molecule protein-protein interaction inhibitors (SMPPIIs). We have developed a method that can be used to evaluate the similarity of electrostatic potentials between small molecules and known protein ligands. This method was implemented in a software called EleKit. Analyses of all available (at the time of research) SMPPII structures indicate that SMPPIIs bear some similarities of electrostatic potential with the ligand proteins of the same receptor. This is especially true for the more polar SMPPIIs. Retrospective analysis of several successful SMPPIIs has shown the applicability of EleKit in the design of new SMPPIIs. PMID:24130741

Development of the first standardised panel of two new microsatellite multiplex PCRs for gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.).

PubMed

Lee-Montero, I; Navarro, A; Borrell, Y; García-Celdrán, M; Martín, N; Negrín-Báez, D; Blanco, G; Armero, E; Berbel, C; Zamorano, M J; Sánchez, J J; Estévez, A; Ramis, G; Manchado, M; Afonso, J M

2013-08-01

The high number of multiplex PCRs developed for gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) from many different microsatellite markers does not allow comparison among populations. This highlights the need for developing a reproducible panel of markers, which can be used with safety and reliability by all users. In this study, the first standardised panel of two new microsatellite multiplex PCRs was developed for this species. Primers of 138 specific microsatellites from the genetic linkage map were redesigned and evaluated according to their genetic variability, allele size range and genotyping reliability. A protocol to identify and classify genotyping errors or potential errors was proposed to assess the reliability of each marker. Two new multiplex PCRs from the best assessed markers were designed with 11 markers in each, named SMsa1 and SMsa2 (SuperMultiplex Sparus aurata). Three broodstocks (59, 47 and 98 breeders) from different Spanish companies, and a sample of 80 offspring from each one, were analysed to validate the usefulness of these multiplexes in the parental assignation. It was possible to assign each offspring to a single parent pair (100% success) using the exclusion method with SMsa1 and/or SMsa2. In each genotyped a reference sample (Ref-sa) was used, and its DNA is available on request similar to the kits of bin set to genotype by genemapper (v.3.7) software (kit-SMsa1 and kit-SMsa2). This will be a robust and effective tool for pedigree analysis or characterisation of populations and will be proposed as an international panel for this species. © 2013 The Authors, Animal Genetics © 2013 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.

DAKOTA JAGUAR 3.0 user's manual.

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

Adams, Brian M.; Bauman, Lara E; Chan, Ethan

2013-05-01

JAGUAR (JAva GUi for Applied Research) is a Java software tool providing an advanced text editor and graphical user interface (GUI) to manipulate DAKOTA (Design Analysis Kit for Optimization and Terascale Applications) input specifications. This document focuses on the features necessary to use JAGUAR.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDENTIFICATION KIT FOR SPILLED HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

EPA Science Inventory

The Chemical Systems Laboratory (CSL) has developed a field kit to identify spilled hazardous materials in inland waters and on the ground. The Hazardous Materials Spills Identification Kit is a two-component kit consisting of an inverter/shortwave UV lamp unit for photochemical ...

QuBiLS-MIDAS: a parallel free-software for molecular descriptors computation based on multilinear algebraic maps.

PubMed

García-Jacas, César R; Marrero-Ponce, Yovani; Acevedo-Martínez, Liesner; Barigye, Stephen J; Valdés-Martiní, José R; Contreras-Torres, Ernesto

2014-07-05

The present report introduces the QuBiLS-MIDAS software belonging to the ToMoCoMD-CARDD suite for the calculation of three-dimensional molecular descriptors (MDs) based on the two-linear (bilinear), three-linear, and four-linear (multilinear or N-linear) algebraic forms. Thus, it is unique software that computes these tensor-based indices. These descriptors, establish relations for two, three, and four atoms by using several (dis-)similarity metrics or multimetrics, matrix transformations, cutoffs, local calculations and aggregation operators. The theoretical background of these N-linear indices is also presented. The QuBiLS-MIDAS software was developed in the Java programming language and employs the Chemical Development Kit library for the manipulation of the chemical structures and the calculation of the atomic properties. This software is composed by a desktop user-friendly interface and an Abstract Programming Interface library. The former was created to simplify the configuration of the different options of the MDs, whereas the library was designed to allow its easy integration to other software for chemoinformatics applications. This program provides functionalities for data cleaning tasks and for batch processing of the molecular indices. In addition, it offers parallel calculation of the MDs through the use of all available processors in current computers. The studies of complexity of the main algorithms demonstrate that these were efficiently implemented with respect to their trivial implementation. Lastly, the performance tests reveal that this software has a suitable behavior when the amount of processors is increased. Therefore, the QuBiLS-MIDAS software constitutes a useful application for the computation of the molecular indices based on N-linear algebraic maps and it can be used freely to perform chemoinformatics studies. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Military Interoperable Digital Hospital Testbed (MIDHT) Phase III

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

silently changed, it is common knowledge  that some  Java  Development  Kit (JDK) implementations create slightly differently  formatted PEM and  DER...tracking software  JKS  Java  KeyStore  LDAP  Lightweight Directory Access Protocol  MHS  Military Health System  MIMC  Conemaugh Miners Medical... MySQL ~ Conemaugh Health System ’-J Common Access Layer (CAL) Interface I I t J J AIIScripts I I McKe-n J Sunque.st Horizon EHR Lab Patient

Automated Liquid-Level Control of a Nutrient Reservoir for a Hydroponic System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Boris; Asumadu, Johnson A.; Dogan, Numan S.

1997-01-01

A microprocessor-based system for control of the liquid level of a nutrient reservoir for a plant hydroponic growing system has been developed. The system uses an ultrasonic transducer to sense the liquid level or height. A National Instruments' Multifunction Analog and Digital Input/Output PC Kit includes NI-DAQ DOS/Windows driver software for an IBM 486 personal computer. A Labview Full Development system for Windows is the graphical programming system being used. The system allows liquid level control to within 0.1 cm for all levels tried between 8 and 36 cm in the hydroponic system application. The detailed algorithms have been developed and a fully automated microprocessor based nutrient replenishment system has been described for this hydroponic system.

Network-based collaborative research environment LDRD final report

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

Davies, B.R.; McDonald, M.J.

1997-09-01

The Virtual Collaborative Environment (VCE) and Distributed Collaborative Workbench (DCW) are new technologies that make it possible for diverse users to synthesize and share mechatronic, sensor, and information resources. Using these technologies, university researchers, manufacturers, design firms, and others can directly access and reconfigure systems located throughout the world. The architecture for implementing VCE and DCW has been developed based on the proposed National Information Infrastructure or Information Highway and a tool kit of Sandia-developed software. Further enhancements to the VCE and DCW technologies will facilitate access to other mechatronic resources. This report describes characteristics of VCE and DCW andmore » also includes background information about the evolution of these technologies.« less

C-MORE Science Kits as a Classroom Learning Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foley, J. M.; Bruno, B. C.; Tolman, R. T.; Kagami, R. S.; Hsia, M. H.; Mayer, B.; Inazu, J. K.

2013-01-01

To support teachers in enhancing ocean literacy, the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE) has developed a series of portable, hands-on science kits on selected topics in oceanography. This paper provides an overview of kit content, describes how the kits were developed, and evaluates their efficacy as a curriculum…

Internal validation of two new retrotransposons-based kits (InnoQuant® HY and InnoTyper® 21) at a forensic lab.

PubMed

Martins, Cátia; Ferreira, Paulo Miguel; Carvalho, Raquel; Costa, Sandra Cristina; Farinha, Carlos; Azevedo, Luísa; Amorim, António; Oliveira, Manuela

2018-02-01

Obtaining a genetic profile from pieces of evidence collected at a crime scene is the primary objective of forensic laboratories. New procedures, methods, kits, software or equipment must be carefully evaluated and validated before its implementation. The constant development of new methodologies for DNA testing leads to a steady process of validation, which consists of demonstrating that the technology is robust, reproducible, and reliable throughout a defined range of conditions. The present work aims to internally validate two new retrotransposon-based kits (InnoQuant ® HY and InnoTyper ® 21), under the working conditions of the Laboratório de Polícia Científica da Polícia Judiciária (LPC-PJ). For the internal validation of InnoQuant ® HY and InnoTyper ® 21 sensitivity, repeatability, reproducibility, and mixture tests and a concordance study between these new kits and those currently in use at LPC-PJ (Quantifiler ® Duo and GlobalFiler™) were performed. The results obtained for sensitivity, repeatability, and reproducibility tests demonstrated that both InnoQuant ® HY and InnoTyper ® 21 are robust, reproducible, and reliable. The results of the concordance studies demonstrate that InnoQuant ® HY produced quantification results in nearly 29% more than Quantifiler ® Duo (indicating that this new kit is more effective in challenging samples), while the differences observed between InnoTyper ® 21 and GlobalFiler™ are not significant. Therefore, the utility of InnoTyper ® 21 has been proven, especially by the successful amplification of a greater number of complete genetic profiles (27 vs. 21). The results herein presented allowed the internal validation of both InnoQuant ® HY and InnoTyper ® 21, and their implementation in the LPC-PJ laboratory routine for the treatment of challenging samples. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Applied Computational Chemistry for the Blind and Visually Impaired

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wedler, Henry B.; Cohen, Sarah R.; Davis, Rebecca L.; Harrison, Jason G.; Siebert, Matthew R.; Willenbring, Dan; Hamann, Christian S.; Shaw, Jared T.; Tantillo, Dean J.

2012-01-01

We describe accommodations that we have made to our applied computational-theoretical chemistry laboratory to provide access for blind and visually impaired students interested in independent investigation of structure-function relationships. Our approach utilizes tactile drawings, molecular model kits, existing software, Bash and Perl scripts…

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING SYSTEM FOR RESERVOIR ANALYSIS AND RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE RED RIVER FORMATION

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

Kenneth D. Luff

2002-06-30

Integrated software has been written that comprises the tool kit for the Intelligent Computing System (ICS). Luff Exploration Company is applying these tools for analysis of carbonate reservoirs in the southern Williston Basin. The integrated software programs are designed to be used by small team consisting of an engineer, geologist and geophysicist. The software tools are flexible and robust, allowing application in many environments for hydrocarbon reservoirs. Keystone elements of the software tools include clustering and neural-network techniques. The tools are used to transform seismic attribute data to reservoir characteristics such as storage (phi-h), probable oil-water contacts, structural depths andmore » structural growth history. When these reservoir characteristics are combined with neural network or fuzzy logic solvers, they can provide a more complete description of the reservoir. This leads to better estimates of hydrocarbons in place, areal limits and potential for infill or step-out drilling. These tools were developed and tested using seismic, geologic and well data from the Red River Play in Bowman County, North Dakota and Harding County, South Dakota. The geologic setting for the Red River Formation is shallow-shelf carbonate at a depth from 8000 to 10,000 ft.« less

INTELLIGENT COMPUTING SYSTEM FOR RESERVOIR ANALYSIS AND RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE RED RIVER FORMATION

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

Kenneth D. Luff

2002-09-30

Integrated software has been written that comprises the tool kit for the Intelligent Computing System (ICS). Luff Exploration Company is applying these tools for analysis of carbonate reservoirs in the southern Williston Basin. The integrated software programs are designed to be used by small team consisting of an engineer, geologist and geophysicist. The software tools are flexible and robust, allowing application in many environments for hydrocarbon reservoirs. Keystone elements of the software tools include clustering and neural-network techniques. The tools are used to transform seismic attribute data to reservoir characteristics such as storage (phi-h), probable oil-water contacts, structural depths andmore » structural growth history. When these reservoir characteristics are combined with neural network or fuzzy logic solvers, they can provide a more complete description of the reservoir. This leads to better estimates of hydrocarbons in place, areal limits and potential for infill or step-out drilling. These tools were developed and tested using seismic, geologic and well data from the Red River Play in Bowman County, North Dakota and Harding County, South Dakota. The geologic setting for the Red River Formation is shallow-shelf carbonate at a depth from 8000 to 10,000 ft.« less

The development of the residential Fire H.E.L.P. tool kit: a resource to protect homebound older adults.

PubMed

Diekman, Shane; Huitric, Michele; Netterville, Linda

2010-01-01

This article describes the development of the Fire H.E.L.P. tool kit for training selected Meals On Wheels (MOW) staff in Texas to implement a fire safety program for homebound older adults. We used a formative evaluation approach during the tool kit's development, testing, and initial implementation stages. The tool kit includes instructional curricula on how to implement Fire H.E.L.P., a home assessment tool to determine a residence's smoke alarm needs, and fire safety educational materials. During the tool kit's pilot test, MOW participants showed enhanced fire safety knowledge and high levels of confidence about applying their newfound training skills. After the pilot test, MOW staff used the tool kit to conduct local training sessions, provide fire safety education, and install smoke alarms in the homes of older adults. We believe the approach used to develop this tool kit can be applied to education efforts for other, related healthy home topics.

Development of a platform-independent receiver control system for SISIFOS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemke, Roland; Olberg, Michael

1998-05-01

Up to now receiver control software was a time consuming development usually written by receiver engineers who had mainly the hardware in mind. We are presenting a low-cost and very flexible system which uses a minimal interface to the real hardware, and which makes it easy to adapt to new receivers. Our system uses Tcl/Tk as a graphical user interface (GUI), SpecTcl as a GUI builder, Pgplot as plotting software, a simple query language (SQL) database for information storage and retrieval, Ethernet socket to socket communication and SCPI as a command control language. The complete system is in principal platform independent but for cost saving reasons we are using it actually on a PC486 running Linux 2.0.30, which is a copylefted Unix. The only hardware dependent part are the digital input/output boards, analog to digital and digital to analog convertors. In the case of the Linux PC we are using a device driver development kit to integrate the boards fully into the kernel of the operating system, which indeed makes them look like an ordinary device. The advantage of this system is firstly the low price and secondly the clear separation between the different software components which are available for many operating systems. If it is not possible, due to CPU performance limitations, to run all the software in a single machine,the SQL-database or the graphical user interface could be installed on separate computers.

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

Jin, Zheming; Yoshii, Kazutomo; Finkel, Hal

Open Computing Language (OpenCL) is a high-level language that enables software programmers to explore Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) for application acceleration. The Intel FPGA software development kit (SDK) for OpenCL allows a user to specify applications at a high level and explore the performance of low-level hardware acceleration. In this report, we present the FPGA performance and power consumption results of the single-precision floating-point vector add OpenCL kernel using the Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL on the Nallatech 385A FPGA board. The board features an Arria 10 FPGA. We evaluate the FPGA implementations using the compute unit duplication andmore » kernel vectorization optimization techniques. On the Nallatech 385A FPGA board, the maximum compute kernel bandwidth we achieve is 25.8 GB/s, approximately 76% of the peak memory bandwidth. The power consumption of the FPGA device when running the kernels ranges from 29W to 42W.« less

Modular Mount Control System for Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mooney, J.; Cleis, R.; Kyono, T.; Edwards, M.

The Space Observatory Control Kit (SpOCK) is the hardware, computers and software used to run small and large telescopes in the RDS division of the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL). The system is used to track earth satellites, celestial objects, terrestrial objects and aerial objects. The system will track general targets when provided with state vectors in one of five coordinate systems. Client-toserver and server-to-gimbals communication occurs via human-readable s-expressions that may be evaluated by the computer language called Racket. Software verification is achieved by scripts that exercise these expressions by sending them to the server, and receiving the expressions that the server evaluates. This paper describes the adaptation of a modular mount control system developed primarily for LEO satellite imaging on large and small portable AFRL telescopes with a goal of orbit determination and the generation of satellite metrics.

ATLAS@AWS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gehrcke, Jan-Philip; Kluth, Stefan; Stonjek, Stefan

2010-04-01

We show how the ATLAS offline software is ported on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). We prepare an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) on the basis of the standard ATLAS platform Scientific Linux 4 (SL4). Then an instance of the SLC4 AMI is started on EC2 and we install and validate a recent release of the ATLAS offline software distribution kit. The installed software is archived as an image on the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and can be quickly retrieved and connected to new SL4 AMI instances using the Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS). ATLAS jobs can then configure against the release kit using the ATLAS configuration management tool (cmt) in the standard way. The output of jobs is exported to S3 before the SL4 AMI is terminated. Job status information is transferred to the Amazon SimpleDB service. The whole process of launching instances of our AMI, starting, monitoring and stopping jobs and retrieving job output from S3 is controlled from a client machine using python scripts implementing the Amazon EC2/S3 API via the boto library working together with small scripts embedded in the SL4 AMI. We report our experience with setting up and operating the system using standard ATLAS job transforms.

Recommendations for adaptation and validation of commercial kits for biomarker quantification in drug development.

PubMed

Khan, Masood U; Bowsher, Ronald R; Cameron, Mark; Devanarayan, Viswanath; Keller, Steve; King, Lindsay; Lee, Jean; Morimoto, Alyssa; Rhyne, Paul; Stephen, Laurie; Wu, Yuling; Wyant, Timothy; Lachno, D Richard

2015-01-01

Increasingly, commercial immunoassay kits are used to support drug discovery and development. Longitudinally consistent kit performance is crucial, but the degree to which kits and reagents are characterized by manufacturers is not standardized, nor are the approaches by users to adapt them and evaluate their performance through validation prior to use. These factors can negatively impact data quality. This paper offers a systematic approach to assessment, method adaptation and validation of commercial immunoassay kits for quantification of biomarkers in drug development, expanding upon previous publications and guidance. These recommendations aim to standardize and harmonize user practices, contributing to reliable biomarker data from commercial immunoassays, thus, enabling properly informed decisions during drug development.

The Liquid Argon Software Toolkit (LArSoft): Goals, Status and Plan

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

Pordes, Rush; Snider, Erica

LArSoft is a toolkit that provides a software infrastructure and algorithms for the simulation, reconstruction and analysis of events in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs). It is used by the ArgoNeuT, LArIAT, MicroBooNE, DUNE (including 35ton prototype and ProtoDUNE) and SBND experiments. The LArSoft collaboration provides an environment for the development, use, and sharing of code across experiments. The ultimate goal is to develop fully automatic processes for reconstruction and analysis of LArTPC events. The toolkit is based on the art framework and has a well-defined architecture to interface to other packages, including to GEANT4 and GENIE simulation softwaremore » and the Pandora software development kit for pattern recognition. It is designed to facilitate and support the evolution of algorithms including their transition to new computing platforms. The development of the toolkit is driven by the scientific stakeholders involved. The core infrastructure includes standard definitions of types and constants, means to input experiment geometries as well as meta and event- data in several formats, and relevant general utilities. Examples of algorithms experiments have contributed to date are: photon-propagation; particle identification; hit finding, track finding and fitting; electromagnetic shower identification and reconstruction. We report on the status of the toolkit and plans for future work.« less

Image processing, geometric modeling and data management for development of a virtual bone surgery system.

PubMed

Niu, Qiang; Chi, Xiaoyi; Leu, Ming C; Ochoa, Jorge

2008-01-01

This paper describes image processing, geometric modeling and data management techniques for the development of a virtual bone surgery system. Image segmentation is used to divide CT scan data into different segments representing various regions of the bone. A region-growing algorithm is used to extract cortical bone and trabecular bone structures systematically and efficiently. Volume modeling is then used to represent the bone geometry based on the CT scan data. Material removal simulation is achieved by continuously performing Boolean subtraction of the surgical tool model from the bone model. A quadtree-based adaptive subdivision technique is developed to handle the large set of data in order to achieve the real-time simulation and visualization required for virtual bone surgery. A Marching Cubes algorithm is used to generate polygonal faces from the volumetric data. Rendering of the generated polygons is performed with the publicly available VTK (Visualization Tool Kit) software. Implementation of the developed techniques consists of developing a virtual bone-drilling software program, which allows the user to manipulate a virtual drill to make holes with the use of a PHANToM device on a bone model derived from real CT scan data.

Megakaryocytes compensate for Kit insufficiency in murine arthritis.

PubMed

Cunin, Pierre; Penke, Loka R; Thon, Jonathan N; Monach, Paul A; Jones, Tatiana; Chang, Margaret H; Chen, Mary M; Melki, Imene; Lacroix, Steve; Iwakura, Yoichiro; Ware, Jerry; Gurish, Michael F; Italiano, Joseph E; Boilard, Eric; Nigrovic, Peter A

2017-05-01

The growth factor receptor Kit is involved in hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic development. Mice bearing Kit defects lack mast cells; however, strains bearing different Kit alleles exhibit diverse phenotypes. Herein, we investigated factors underlying differential sensitivity to IgG-mediated arthritis in 2 mast cell-deficient murine lines: KitWsh/Wsh, which develops robust arthritis, and KitW/Wv, which does not. Reciprocal bone marrow transplantation between KitW/Wv and KitWsh/Wsh mice revealed that arthritis resistance reflects a hematopoietic defect in addition to mast cell deficiency. In KitW/Wv mice, restoration of susceptibility to IgG-mediated arthritis was neutrophil independent but required IL-1 and the platelet/megakaryocyte markers NF-E2 and glycoprotein VI. In KitW/Wv mice, platelets were present in numbers similar to those in WT animals and functionally intact, and transfer of WT platelets did not restore arthritis susceptibility. These data implicated a platelet-independent role for the megakaryocyte, a Kit-dependent lineage that is selectively deficient in KitW/Wv mice. Megakaryocytes secreted IL-1 directly and as a component of circulating microparticles, which activated synovial fibroblasts in an IL-1-dependent manner. Transfer of WT but not IL-1-deficient megakaryocytes restored arthritis susceptibility to KitW/Wv mice. These findings identify functional redundancy among Kit-dependent hematopoietic lineages and establish an unanticipated capacity of megakaryocytes to mediate IL-1-driven systemic inflammatory disease.

Education kits for fiber optics, optoelectronics, and optical communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hájek, Martin; Švrček, Miroslav

2007-04-01

Our company MIKROKOM, s.r.o. is engaged for many years in development of education equipment and kits for fiber optics, optoelectronics and optical communications. We would like to inform competitors of conference about results of this long-time development. Requirements on education kits and equipment in a modern and dynamic area as is optical communications and fiber optics are quite difficult. The education kits should to clearly introduce students to given issue - the most important physical principles and technical approaches, but it should to introduce also to new and modern technologies, which are quickly changing and developing. On the other hand should be these tools and kits reasonable for the schools. In our paper we would like to describe possible ways of development of this education kits and equipment and present our results of long-time work, which covers very wide range. On the one hand we developed equipment and kits for clear demonstration of physical effects using plastic optical fibers POF, next we prepare kits with a glass fibers, which are the most used fibers in practice and after as much as the kits, which covers broad range of passive and active elements of the optical networks and systems and which makes possible to create complex optical transmission connection. This kind of systems with using corresponding tools and equipment introduce the students to properties, manipulation, measurement and usage of optical fibers, traces and many active and passive components. Furthermore, with using different sorts of optical sources, photodetectors, fiber optics couplers etc., students can get acquainted with all optoelectronics transmission system, which uses different sorts of signals. Special part will be devoted also to effort mentioned before - to implement modern technologies such as e.g. Wavelength Division Multiplex (WDM) into the education kits. Our presentation will inform auditors about development of mentioned education kits and equipment and about their potentials and practical utility at school education.

Development and evaluation of the RT-PCR kit for the rabies virus diagnosis.

PubMed

Dedkov, Vladimir G; Deviatkin, A A; Poleschuk, E M; Safonova, M V; Markelov, M L; Shipulin, G A

To improve the diagnosis, surveillance, and control for the rabies virus, a kit for hybridization-triggered fluorescence detection of rabies virus DNA by the RT-PCR technique was developed and evaluated. The analytical sensitivity of the kit was 4*10 GE per ml. High specificity of the kit was shown using representative sampling of viral, bacterial, and human nucleic acids.

The eBioKit, a stand-alone educational platform for bioinformatics.

PubMed

Hernández-de-Diego, Rafael; de Villiers, Etienne P; Klingström, Tomas; Gourlé, Hadrien; Conesa, Ana; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik

2017-09-01

Bioinformatics skills have become essential for many research areas; however, the availability of qualified researchers is usually lower than the demand and training to increase the number of able bioinformaticians is an important task for the bioinformatics community. When conducting training or hands-on tutorials, the lack of control over the analysis tools and repositories often results in undesirable situations during training, as unavailable online tools or version conflicts may delay, complicate, or even prevent the successful completion of a training event. The eBioKit is a stand-alone educational platform that hosts numerous tools and databases for bioinformatics research and allows training to take place in a controlled environment. A key advantage of the eBioKit over other existing teaching solutions is that all the required software and databases are locally installed on the system, significantly reducing the dependence on the internet. Furthermore, the architecture of the eBioKit has demonstrated itself to be an excellent balance between portability and performance, not only making the eBioKit an exceptional educational tool but also providing small research groups with a platform to incorporate bioinformatics analysis in their research. As a result, the eBioKit has formed an integral part of training and research performed by a wide variety of universities and organizations such as the Pan African Bioinformatics Network (H3ABioNet) as part of the initiative Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa), the Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SAnBio) initiative, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) hub, and the International Glossina Genome Initiative.

The eBioKit, a stand-alone educational platform for bioinformatics

PubMed Central

Conesa, Ana; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik

2017-01-01

Bioinformatics skills have become essential for many research areas; however, the availability of qualified researchers is usually lower than the demand and training to increase the number of able bioinformaticians is an important task for the bioinformatics community. When conducting training or hands-on tutorials, the lack of control over the analysis tools and repositories often results in undesirable situations during training, as unavailable online tools or version conflicts may delay, complicate, or even prevent the successful completion of a training event. The eBioKit is a stand-alone educational platform that hosts numerous tools and databases for bioinformatics research and allows training to take place in a controlled environment. A key advantage of the eBioKit over other existing teaching solutions is that all the required software and databases are locally installed on the system, significantly reducing the dependence on the internet. Furthermore, the architecture of the eBioKit has demonstrated itself to be an excellent balance between portability and performance, not only making the eBioKit an exceptional educational tool but also providing small research groups with a platform to incorporate bioinformatics analysis in their research. As a result, the eBioKit has formed an integral part of training and research performed by a wide variety of universities and organizations such as the Pan African Bioinformatics Network (H3ABioNet) as part of the initiative Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa), the Southern Africa Network for Biosciences (SAnBio) initiative, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) hub, and the International Glossina Genome Initiative. PMID:28910280

Can Programming Frameworks Bring Smartphones into the Mainstream of Psychological Science?

PubMed

Piwek, Lukasz; Ellis, David A

2016-01-01

Smartphones continue to provide huge potential for psychological science and the advent of novel research frameworks brings new opportunities for researchers who have previously struggled to develop smartphone applications. However, despite this renewed promise, smartphones have failed to become a standard item within psychological research. Here we consider the key issues that continue to limit smartphone adoption within psychological science and how these barriers might be diminishing in light of ResearchKit and other recent methodological developments. We conclude that while these programming frameworks are certainly a step in the right direction it remains challenging to create usable research-orientated applications with current frameworks. Smartphones may only become an asset for psychology and social science as a whole when development software that is both easy to use and secure becomes freely available.

Technological choices for mobile clinical applications.

PubMed

Ehrler, Frederic; Issom, David; Lovis, Christian

2011-01-01

The rise of cheaper and more powerful mobile devices make them a new and attractive platform for clinical applications. The interaction paradigm and portability of the device facilitates bedside human-machine interactions. The better accessibility to information and decision-support anywhere in the hospital improves the efficiency and the safety of care processes. In this study, we attempt to find out what are the most appropriate Operating System (OS) and Software Development Kit (SDK) to support the development of clinical applications on mobile devices. The Android platform is a Linux-based, open source platform that has many advantages. Two main SDKs are available on this platform: the native Android and the Adobe Flex SDK. Both of them have interesting features, but the latter has been preferred due its portability at comparable performance and ease of development.

JMS Proxy and C/C++ Client SDK

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolgast, Paul; Pechkam, Paul

2007-01-01

JMS Proxy and C/C++ Client SDK (JMS signifies "Java messaging service" and "SDK" signifies "software development kit") is a software package for developing interfaces that enable legacy programs (here denoted "clients") written in the C and C++ languages to communicate with each other via a JMS broker. This package consists of two main components: the JMS proxy server component and the client C library SDK component. The JMS proxy server component implements a native Java process that receives and responds to requests from clients. This component can run on any computer that supports Java and a JMS client. The client C library SDK component is used to develop a JMS client program running in each affected C or C++ environment, without need for running a Java virtual machine in the affected computer. A C client program developed by use of this SDK has most of the quality-of-service characteristics of standard Java-based client programs, including the following: Durable subscriptions; Asynchronous message receipt; Such standard JMS message qualities as "TimeToLive," "Message Properties," and "DeliveryMode" (as the quoted terms are defined in previously published JMS documentation); and Automatic reconnection of a JMS proxy to a restarted JMS broker.

The Use of Science Kits in the Professional Development of Rural Elementary School Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherman, Ann; MacDonald, A. Leo

2008-01-01

This study reports on a science professional development initiative with elementary school teachers in Canada. Grades 4 and 5 teachers were involved in the implementation and modification of science kits, together with corresponding professional development activities. Each kit was aligned to specific outcomes in the curriculum and provided a…

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Image Processing and Earth Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

The titles in this section include: 1) Expansion in Geographic Information Services for PIGWAD; 2) Modernization of the Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers; 3) Science-based Region-of-Interest Image Compression; 4) Topographic Analysis with a Stereo Matching Tool Kit; 5) Central Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project (CAVSARP) Site, Tucson, Arizona: Floodwater and Soil Moisture Investigations with Extraterrestrial Applications; 6) ASE Floodwater Classifier Development for EO-1 HYPERION Imagery; 7) Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment (ASE) Operations on EO-1 in 2004; 8) Autonomous Vegetation Cover Scene Classification of EO-1 Hyperion Hyperspectral Data; 9) Long-Term Continental Areal Reduction Produced by Tectonic Processes.

NREL Announces Third Round of Start-Ups to Participate in the Wells Fargo

Science.gov Websites

innovative commercial building technologies Photo of NREL researchers talking. George Lee and Steven Low that provide scalable solutions to reduce the energy impact of commercial buildings. Including Round 3 kit for commercial buildings. Referred to apply to program by University of Colorado Boulder Software

SAM Photovoltaic Model Technical Reference 2016 Update

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

Gilman, Paul; DiOrio, Nicholas A; Freeman, Janine M

This manual describes the photovoltaic performance model in the System Advisor Model (SAM) software, Version 2016.3.14 Revision 4 (SSC Version 160). It is an update to the 2015 edition of the manual, which describes the photovoltaic model in SAM 2015.1.30 (SSC 41). This new edition includes corrections of errors in the 2015 edition and descriptions of new features introduced in SAM 2016.3.14, including: 3D shade calculator Battery storage model DC power optimizer loss inputs Snow loss model Plane-of-array irradiance input from weather file option Support for sub-hourly simulations Self-shading works with all four subarrays, and uses same algorithm for fixedmore » arrays and one-axis tracking Linear self-shading algorithm for thin-film modules Loss percentages replace derate factors. The photovoltaic performance model is one of the modules in the SAM Simulation Core (SSC), which is part of both SAM and the SAM SDK. SAM is a user-friedly desktop application for analysis of renewable energy projects. The SAM SDK (Software Development Kit) is for developers writing their own renewable energy analysis software based on SSC. This manual is written for users of both SAM and the SAM SDK wanting to learn more about the details of SAM's photovoltaic model.« less

System Advisor Model, SAM 2014.1.14: General Description

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

Blair, Nate; Dobos, Aron P.; Freeman, Janine

2014-02-01

This document describes the capabilities of the U.S. Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory's System Advisor Model (SAM), Version 2013.9.20, released on September 9, 2013. SAM is a computer model that calculates performance and financial metrics of renewable energy systems. Project developers, policy makers, equipment manufacturers, and researchers use graphs and tables of SAM results in the process of evaluating financial, technology, and incentive options for renewable energy projects. SAM simulates the performance of photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, solar water heating, wind, geothermal, biomass, and conventional power systems. The financial model can represent financial structures for projects thatmore » either buy and sell electricity at retail rates (residential and commercial) or sell electricity at a price determined in a power purchase agreement (utility). SAM's advanced simulation options facilitate parametric and sensitivity analyses, and statistical analysis capabilities are available for Monte Carlo simulation and weather variability (P50/P90) studies. SAM can also read input variables from Microsoft Excel worksheets. For software developers, the SAM software development kit (SDK) makes it possible to use SAM simulation modules in their applications written in C/C++, C#, Java, Python, and MATLAB. NREL provides both SAM and the SDK as free downloads at http://sam.nrel.gov. Technical support and more information about the software are available on the website.« less

A Lab Assembled Microcontroller-Based Sensor Module for Continuous Oxygen Measurement in Portable Hypoxia Chambers.

PubMed

Mathupala, Saroj P; Kiousis, Sam; Szerlip, Nicholas J

2016-01-01

Hypoxia-based cell culture experiments are routine and essential components of in vitro cancer research. Most laboratories use low-cost portable modular chambers to achieve hypoxic conditions for cell cultures, where the sealed chambers are purged with a gas mixture of preset O2 concentration. Studies are conducted under the assumption that hypoxia remains unaltered throughout the 48 to 72 hour duration of such experiments. Since these chambers lack any sensor or detection system to monitor gas-phase O2, the cell-based data tend to be non-uniform due to the ad hoc nature of the experimental setup. With the availability of low-cost open-source microcontroller-based electronic project kits, it is now possible for researchers to program these with easy-to-use software, link them to sensors, and place them in basic scientific apparatus to monitor and record experimental parameters. We report here the design and construction of a small-footprint kit for continuous measurement and recording of O2 concentration in modular hypoxia chambers. The low-cost assembly (US$135) consists of an Arduino-based microcontroller, data-logging freeware, and a factory pre-calibrated miniature O2 sensor. A small, intuitive software program was written by the authors to control the data input and output. The basic nature of the kit will enable any student in biology with minimal experience in hobby-electronics to assemble the system and edit the program parameters to suit individual experimental conditions. We show the kit's utility and stability of data output via a series of hypoxia experiments. The studies also demonstrated the critical need to monitor and adjust gas-phase O2 concentration during hypoxia-based experiments to prevent experimental errors or failure due to partial loss of hypoxia. Thus, incorporating the sensor-microcontroller module to a portable hypoxia chamber provides a researcher a capability that was previously available only to labs with access to sophisticated (and expensive) cell culture incubators.

Baobab Laboratory Information Management System: Development of an Open-Source Laboratory Information Management System for Biobanking

PubMed Central

Bendou, Hocine; Sizani, Lunga; Reid, Tim; Swanepoel, Carmen; Ademuyiwa, Toluwaleke; Merino-Martinez, Roxana; Meuller, Heimo; Abayomi, Akin

2017-01-01

A laboratory information management system (LIMS) is central to the informatics infrastructure that underlies biobanking activities. To date, a wide range of commercial and open-source LIMSs are available and the decision to opt for one LIMS over another is often influenced by the needs of the biobank clients and researchers, as well as available financial resources. The Baobab LIMS was developed by customizing the Bika LIMS software (www.bikalims.org) to meet the requirements of biobanking best practices. The need to implement biobank standard operation procedures as well as stimulate the use of standards for biobank data representation motivated the implementation of Baobab LIMS, an open-source LIMS for Biobanking. Baobab LIMS comprises modules for biospecimen kit assembly, shipping of biospecimen kits, storage management, analysis requests, reporting, and invoicing. The Baobab LIMS is based on the Plone web-content management framework. All the system requirements for Plone are applicable to Baobab LIMS, including the need for a server with at least 8 GB RAM and 120 GB hard disk space. Baobab LIMS is a server–client-based system, whereby the end user is able to access the system securely through the internet on a standard web browser, thereby eliminating the need for standalone installations on all machines. PMID:28375759

Baobab Laboratory Information Management System: Development of an Open-Source Laboratory Information Management System for Biobanking.

PubMed

Bendou, Hocine; Sizani, Lunga; Reid, Tim; Swanepoel, Carmen; Ademuyiwa, Toluwaleke; Merino-Martinez, Roxana; Meuller, Heimo; Abayomi, Akin; Christoffels, Alan

2017-04-01

A laboratory information management system (LIMS) is central to the informatics infrastructure that underlies biobanking activities. To date, a wide range of commercial and open-source LIMSs are available and the decision to opt for one LIMS over another is often influenced by the needs of the biobank clients and researchers, as well as available financial resources. The Baobab LIMS was developed by customizing the Bika LIMS software ( www.bikalims.org ) to meet the requirements of biobanking best practices. The need to implement biobank standard operation procedures as well as stimulate the use of standards for biobank data representation motivated the implementation of Baobab LIMS, an open-source LIMS for Biobanking. Baobab LIMS comprises modules for biospecimen kit assembly, shipping of biospecimen kits, storage management, analysis requests, reporting, and invoicing. The Baobab LIMS is based on the Plone web-content management framework. All the system requirements for Plone are applicable to Baobab LIMS, including the need for a server with at least 8 GB RAM and 120 GB hard disk space. Baobab LIMS is a server-client-based system, whereby the end user is able to access the system securely through the internet on a standard web browser, thereby eliminating the need for standalone installations on all machines.

Quantitative ENT endoscopy: the future in the new millennium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mueller, Andreas; Schubert, Mario

1999-06-01

In Otorhinolaryngology the endoscopic appraisal of luminal dimensions of the nose, the throat, the larynx and the trachea is a daily problem. Those concerned with endoscopy know, that endoscopes distort dimensions of examined anatomical structures. To draw conclusions on luminal dimensions from the endoscopic pictures additional measuring devices are required. We developed a new method of measuring luminal dimensions in rigid or flexible endoscopy. For this a laser beam directed radially marks the anatomical lumen of interest in the videoendoscopic vision. The laser ring becomes deformed according to the form of the cavity explored. By keeping the distance defined between the laser ring and the top of the endoscope, the endoscopic video image can be measured. A piece of software developed by us calculates from the pictures the cross sectional area as well as the extension of benign or malign stenosis of the cavity explored. The result of the endoscopic measuring procedure can be visualized 3D on a PC-monitor. We are going to demonstrate the result of our clinical experience in different otorhinolaryngological diseases with the new endoscopic measuring kit in comparison to standard endoscopy. A further perspective is the endoscopic measuring kit in comparison to standard endoscopy. A further perspective is the endoscopic assisted manufacturing (EAM) of anatomical adapted stents, tubes and cannules.

Personal Computer-less (PC-less) Microcontroller Training Kit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Somantri, Y.; Wahyudin, D.; Fushilat, I.

2018-02-01

The need of microcontroller training kit is necessary for practical work of students of electrical engineering education. However, to use available training kit not only costly but also does not meet the need of laboratory requirements. An affordable and portable microcontroller kit could answer such problem. This paper explains the design and development of Personal Computer Less (PC-Less) Microcontroller Training Kit. It was developed based on Lattepanda processor and Arduino microcontroller as target. The training kit equipped with advanced input-output interfaces that adopted the concept of low cost and low power system. The preliminary usability testing proved this device can be used as a tool for microcontroller programming and industrial automation training. By adopting the concept of portability, the device could be operated in the rural area which electricity and computer infrastructure are limited. Furthermore, the training kit is suitable for student of electrical engineering student from university and vocational high school.

Telescience Resource Kit Software Capabilities and Future Enhancements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, Michelle

2004-01-01

The Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of PC-based software applications that can be used to monitor and control a payload on board the International Space Station (ISS). This software provides a way for payload users to operate their payloads from their home sites. It can be used by an individual or a team of people. TReK provides both local ground support system services and an interface to utilize remote services provided by the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC). by the POIC and to perform local data functions such as processing the data, storing it in local files, and forwarding it to other computer systems. TReK can also be used to build, send, and track payload commands. In addition to these features, work is in progress to add a new command management capability. This capability will provide a way to manage a multi- platform command environment that can include geographically distributed computers. This is intended to help those teams that need to manage a shared on-board resource such as a facility class payload. The environment can be configured such that one individual can manage all the command activities associated with that payload. This paper will provide a summary of existing TReK capabilities and a description of the new command management capability. For example, 7'ReK can be used to receive payload data distributed

Development and evaluation of a PCR-based assay kit for authentication of Zaocys dhumnades in traditional Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Zhang, Xiaomei; Zhou, Tingting; Yu, Wenjing; Ai, Jinxia; Wang, Xuesong; Gao, Lijun; Yuan, Guangxin; Li, Mingcheng

2018-01-01

We developed a kind of Zaocys dhumnades DNA test kit and it's indexes including specificity, sensitivity and stability were evaluated and compared with the method recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 edition). The bioinformatics technology was used to design primers, sequencing and blast, in conjunction with PCR technology based on the characteristics of Z. dhumnades cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene. The efficiency of nucleic acid extraction by the kit was done in accordance with Pharmacopoeia method. The kit stability results proved effective after repeated freezing and thawing 20 times. The sensitivity results indicated that the lowest amount detected by the kit was 0. 025 g of each specimen. The specificity test of the kit was 100% specific. All repeatability tests indicated the same results when conducted three times. Compared with the method recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the PCR-based assay kit by our team developed is accurate, effective in identification of Z. dhumnades, it is simple and fast, demonstrating a broad prospect in quality inspection of Z. dhumnades in the future.

Tethys: A Platform for Water Resources Modeling and Decision Support Apps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, J.; Swain, N. R.

2015-12-01

The interactive nature of web applications or "web apps" makes it an excellent medium for conveying complex scientific concepts to lay audiences and creating decision support tools that harness cutting edge modeling techniques. However, the technical expertise required to develop web apps represents a barrier for would-be developers. This barrier can be characterized by the following hurdles that developers must overcome: (1) identify, select, and install software that meet the spatial and computational capabilities commonly required for water resources modeling; (2) orchestrate the use of multiple free and open source (FOSS) projects and navigate their differing application programming interfaces; (3) learn the multi-language programming skills required for modern web development; and (4) develop a web-secure and fully featured web portal to host the app. Tethys Platform has been developed to lower the technical barrier and minimize the initial development investment that prohibits many scientists and engineers from making use of the web app medium. It includes (1) a suite of FOSS that address the unique data and computational needs common to water resources web app development, (2) a Python software development kit that streamlines development, and (3) a customizable web portal that is used to deploy the completed web apps. Tethys synthesizes several software projects including PostGIS, 52°North WPS, GeoServer, Google Maps™, OpenLayers, and Highcharts. It has been used to develop a broad array of web apps for water resources modeling and decision support for several projects including CI-WATER, HydroShare, and the National Flood Interoperability Experiment. The presentation will include live demos of some of the apps that have been developed using Tethys to demonstrate its capabilities.

Astronomy education through hands-on photography workshops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schofield, I.; Connors, M. G.; Holmberg, R.

2013-12-01

Athabasca University (AU), Athabasca University Geophysical and Geo-Space Observatories (AUGO / AUGSO), the Rotary Club of Athabasca and Science Outreach Athabasca has designed a three day science workshop entitled Photography and the Night Sky. This pilot workshop, aimed primarily at high-school aged students, serves as an introduction to observational astronomy as seen in the western Canadian night sky using digital astrophotography without the use of a telescope or tracking mount. Participants learn the layout of the night sky by proficiently photographing it using digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) kits including telephoto and wide-angle lenses, tripod and cable release. The kits are assembled with entry-level consumer-grade camera gear as to be affordable by the participants, if they so desire to purchase their own equipment after the workshop. Basic digital photo editing is covered using free photo editing software (IrfanView). Students are given an overview of observational astronomy using interactive planetarium software (Stellarium) before heading outdoors to shoot the night sky. Photography is conducted at AU's auroral observatories, both of which possess dark open sky that is ideal for night sky viewing. If space weather conditions are favorable, there are opportunities to photograph the aurora borealis, then compare results with imagery generated by the all-sky auroral imagers located at the Geo-Space observatory. The aim of this program is to develop awareness to the science and beauty of the night sky, while promoting photography as a rewarding, lifelong hobby. Moreover, emphasis is placed on western Canada's unique subauroral location that makes aurora watching highly accessible and rewarding in 2013, the maximum of the current solar cycle.

Comparison of a Simple Patched Conic Trajectory Code to Commercially Available Software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

AndersonPark, Brooke M.; Wright, Henry S.

2007-01-01

Often in spaceflight proposal development, mission designers must eva luate numerous trajectories as different design factors are investiga ted. Although there are numerous commercial software packages availab le to help develop and analyze trajectories, most take a significant amount of time to develop the trajectory itself, which isn't effectiv e when working on proposals. Thus a new code, PatCon, which is both q uick and easy to use, was developed to aid mission designers to condu ct trade studies on launch and arrival times for any given target pla net. The code is able to run quick analyses, due to the incorporation of the patched conic approximation, to determine the trajectory. PatCon provides a simple but accurate approximation of the four body moti on problem that would be needed to solve any planetary trajectory. P atCon has been compared to a patched conic test case for verification, with limited validation or comparison with other COTS software. This paper describes the patched conic technique and its implementation i n PatCon. A description of the results and comparison of PatCon to ot her more evolved codes such as AGI#s Satellite Tool Kit and JAQAR As trodynamics# Swingby Calculator is provided. The results will include percent differences in values such as C3 numbers, and Vinfinity at a rrival, and other more subjective results such as the time it takes to build the simulation, and actual calculation time.

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

Benahmed, A.; Elkarch, H.

This new portable radiological environmental monitor consists of 2 main components, Gamma ionization chamber and a FPGA-based electronic enclosure linked to convivial software for treatment and analyzing. The HPIC ion chamber is the heart of this radiation measurement system and is running in range from 0 to 100 mR/h, so that the sensitivity at the output is 20 mV/μR/h, with a nearly flat energy response from 0,07 to 10 MEV. This paper presents a contribution for developing a new nuclear measurement data acquisition system based on Cyclone III FPGA Starter Kit ALTERA, and a user-friendly software to run real-time controlmore » and data processing. It was developed to substitute the older radiation monitor RSS-112 PIC installed in CNESTEN's Laboratory in order to improve some of its functionalities related to acquisition time and data memory capacity. As for the associated acquisition software, it was conceived under the virtual LabView platform from National Instrument, and offers a variety of system setup for radiation environmental monitoring. It gives choice to display both the statistical data and the dose rate. Statistical data shows a summary of current data, current time/date and dose integrator values, and the dose rate displays the current dose rate in large numbers for viewing from a distance as well as the date and time. The prototype version of this new instrument and its data processing software has been successfully tested and validated for viewing and monitoring the environmental radiation of Moroccan nuclear center. (authors)« less

UAF: a generic OPC unified architecture framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pessemier, Wim; Deconinck, Geert; Raskin, Gert; Saey, Philippe; Van Winckel, Hans

2012-09-01

As an emerging Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) specically designed for industrial automation and process control, the OPC Unied Architecture specication should be regarded as an attractive candidate for controlling scientic instrumentation. Even though an industry-backed standard such as OPC UA can oer substantial added value to these projects, its inherent complexity poses an important obstacle for adopting the technology. Building OPC UA applications requires considerable eort, even when taking advantage of a COTS Software Development Kit (SDK). The OPC Unied Architecture Framework (UAF) attempts to reduce this burden by introducing an abstraction layer between the SDK and the application code in order to achieve a better separation of the technical and the functional concerns. True to its industrial origin, the primary requirement of the framework is to maintain interoperability by staying close to the standard specications, and by expecting the minimum compliance from other OPC UA servers and clients. UAF can therefore be regarded as a software framework to quickly and comfortably develop and deploy OPC UA-based applications, while remaining compatible to third party OPC UA-compliant toolkits, servers (such as PLCs) and clients (such as SCADA software). In the rst phase, as covered by this paper, only the client-side of UAF has been tackled in order to transparently handle discovery, session management, subscriptions, monitored items etc. We describe the design principles and internal architecture of our open-source software project, the rst results of the framework running at the Mercator Telescope, and we give a preview of the planned server-side implementation.

Kits in Motion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gee, Maureen

1975-01-01

Discusses three kits developed by museums in British Columbia for use in rural classrooms. The science kit on marine biology consists of modules which included specimens, books, audiovisual materials and student activities. (BR)

System Advisor Model (SAM) General Description (Version 2017.9.5)

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

Freeman, Janine M; DiOrio, Nicholas A; Blair, Nathan J

This document describes the capabilities of the System Advisor Model (SAM) developed and distributed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The document is for potential users and others wanting to learn about the model's capabilities. SAM is a techno-economic computer model that calculates performance and financial metrics of renewable energy projects. Project developers, policy makers, equipment manufacturers, and researchers use graphs and tables of SAM results in the process of evaluating financial, technology, and incentive options for renewable energy projects. SAM simulates the performance of photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, solar water heating, wind, geothermal, biomass, andmore » conventional power systems. The financial models are for projects that either buy and sell electricity at retail rates (residential and commercial) or sell electricity at a price determined in a power purchase agreement (PPA). SAM's simulation tools facilitate parametric and sensitivity analyses, Monte Carlo simulation and weather variability (P50/P90) studies. SAM can also read input variables from Microsoft Excel worksheets. For software developers, the SAM software development kit (SDK) makes it possible to use SAM simulation modules in their applications written in C/C plus plus, C sharp, Java, Python, MATLAB, and other languages. NREL provides both SAM and the SDK as free downloads at https://sam.nrel.gov. SAM is an open source project, so its source code is available to the public. Researchers can study the code to understand the model algorithms, and software programmers can contribute their own models and enhancements to the project. Technical support and more information about the software are available on the website.« less

Using LEGO NXT Mobile Robots with LabVIEW for Undergraduate Courses on Mechatronics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez-de-Gabriel, J. M.; Mandow, A.; Fernandez-Lozano, J.; Garcia-Cerezo, A.

2011-01-01

The paper proposes lab work and student competitions based on the LEGO NXT Mindstorms kits and standard LabVIEW. The goal of this combination is to stimulate design and experimentation with real hardware and representative software in courses where mobile robotics is adopted as a motivating platform to introduce mechatronics competencies. Basic…

MAKER-P: a tool-kit for the creation, management, and quality control of plant genome annotations

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We have optimized and extended the widely used annotation-engine MAKER for use on plant genomes. We have benchmarked the resulting software, MAKER-P, using the A. thaliana genome and the TAIR10 gene models. Here we demonstrate the ability of the MAKER-P toolkit to generate de novo repeat databases, ...

Point of Care Tuberculosis Sero-Diagnosis Kit for Wild Animals: Combination of Proteins for Improving the Diagnostic Sensitivity and Specificity.

PubMed

Veerasami, Maroudam; Venkataraman, K; Karuppannan, Chitra; Shanmugam, Arun Attur; Prudhvi, Mallepaddi Chand; Holder, Thomas; Rathnagiri, Polavarapu; Arunmozhivarman, K; Raj, Gopal Dhinakar; Vordermeier, Martin; Mohana Subramanian, B

2018-03-01

Tuberculosis is a significant problem globally for domestic animals as well as captive and free ranging wild life. Rapid point of care (POC) serology kits are well suited for the diagnosis of TB in wild animals. However, wild animals are invariably exposed to environmental non-pathogenic mycobacterium species with the development of cross reacting antibodies. In the present study, POC TB diagnosis kit was developed using a combination of pathogenic Mycobacteria specific recombinant antigens and purified protein derivatives of pathogenic and non-pathogenic Mycobacteria . To benchmark the TB antibody detection kit, particularly in respect to specificity which could not be determined in wildlife due to the lack of samples from confirmed uninfected animals, we first tested well-characterized sera from 100 M. bovis infected and 100 uninfected cattle. Then we investigated the kit's performance using sera samples from wildlife, namely Sloth Bears (n = 74), Elephants (n = 9), Cervidae (n = 14), Felidae (n = 21), Cape buffalo (n = 2), Wild bear (n = 1) and Wild dog (n = 1).In cattle, a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 90% were obtained. The diagnostic sensitivity of the kit was 94% when the kit was tested using known TB positive sloth bear sera samples. 47.4% of the in-contact sloth bears turned seropositive using the rapid POC TB diagnostic kit. Seropositivity in other wild animals was 25% when the sera samples were tested using the kit. A point of care TB sero-diagnostic kit with the combination of proteins was developed and the kit was validated using the sera samples of wild animals.

The Radio Jove Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thieman, J. R.

2010-01-01

The Radio love Project is a hands-on education and outreach project in which students, or any other interested individuals or groups build a radio telescope from a kit, operate the radio telescope, transmit the resulting signals through the internet if desired, analyze the results, and share the results with others through archives or general discussions among the observers. Radio love is intended to provide an introduction to radio astronomy for the observer. The equipment allows the user to observe radio signals from Jupiter, the Sun, the galaxy, and Earth-based radiation both natural and man-made. The project was started through a NASA Director's Discretionary Fund grant more than ten years ago. it has continued to be carried out through the dedicated efforts of a group of mainly volunteers. Dearly 1500 kits have been distributed throughout the world. Participation can also be done without building a kit. Pre-built kits are available. Users can also monitor remote radio telescopes through the internet using free downloadable software available through the radiosky.com website. There have been many stories of prize-winning projects, inspirational results, collaborative efforts, etc. We continue to build the community of observers and are always open to new thoughts about how to inspire the observers to still greater involvement in the science and technology associated with Radio Jove.

A framework for measurement and harmonization of pediatric multiple sclerosis etiologic research studies: The Pediatric MS Tool-Kit.

PubMed

Magalhaes, Sandra; Banwell, Brenda; Bar-Or, Amit; Fortier, Isabel; Hanwell, Heather E; Lim, Ming; Matt, Georg E; Neuteboom, Rinze F; O'Riordan, David L; Schneider, Paul K; Pugliatti, Maura; Shatenstein, Bryna; Tansey, Catherine M; Wassmer, Evangeline; Wolfson, Christina

2018-06-01

While studying the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) in children has several methodological advantages over studying etiology in adults, studies are limited by small sample sizes. Using a rigorous methodological process, we developed the Pediatric MS Tool-Kit, a measurement framework that includes a minimal set of core variables to assess etiological risk factors. We solicited input from the International Pediatric MS Study Group to select three risk factors: environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure, sun exposure, and vitamin D intake. To develop the Tool-Kit, we used a Delphi study involving a working group of epidemiologists, neurologists, and content experts from North America and Europe. The Tool-Kit includes six core variables to measure ETS, six to measure sun exposure, and six to measure vitamin D intake. The Tool-Kit can be accessed online ( www.maelstrom-research.org/mica/network/tool-kit ). The goals of the Tool-Kit are to enhance exposure measurement in newly designed pediatric MS studies and comparability of results across studies, and in the longer term to facilitate harmonization of studies, a methodological approach that can be used to circumvent issues of small sample sizes. We believe the Tool-Kit will prove to be a valuable resource to guide pediatric MS researchers in developing study-specific questionnaire.

Conditional Deletion of Kit in Melanocytes: White Spotting Phenotype Is Cell Autonomous.

PubMed

Aoki, Hitomi; Tomita, Hiroyuki; Hara, Akira; Kunisada, Takahiro

2015-07-01

It is well established that cell-intrinsic signaling through the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT is critical for the development of neural crest-derived melanocytes. Nevertheless, it is not entirely clear whether Kit acts exclusively in a melanocyte-autonomous manner or in addition indirectly through other cell types. To address this question in vivo, we generated a targeted allele of Kit that allowed for CRE recombinase-mediated deletion of the transmembrane domain of KIT. Mice carrying one copy of the targeted allele and expressing CRE under the melanoblast/melanocyte-specific tyrosinase promoter exhibited a white spotting phenotype that was even more extensive compared with that found in mice heterozygous for a Kit-null allele. This phenotype is unlikely the result of sequestration of KIT ligand by neighboring cells or by potentially secreted forms of KIT because the spotting phenotype could not be rescued by overexpression of KITL. Likewise, overexpression of endothelin-3 or hepatocyte growth factor was unable to rescue melanocytes in these mice. Although the severity of the observed phenotype remains to be explained, the findings indicate that melanocyte-selective impairment of Kit is sufficient to interfere with normal melanocyte development.

Indonesian kalkulator of oocytes (IKO): A smart application to determine our biological age

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wiweko, Budi; Narasati, Shabrina; Agung, Prince Gusti; Zesario, Aulia; Wibawa, Yohanes Satrya; Maidarti, Mila; Harzif, Achmad Kemal; Pratama, Gita; Sumapraja, Kanadi; Muharam, Raden; Hestiantoro, Andon

2018-02-01

Background: The use of smartphones and its associated application provides new opportunities for physicians. In current situations, there are still few applications are designed in the field of infertility and Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). A study conducted on 1616 subjects proved that AMH (Anti-Mullerian Hormone) could be used to predict a woman's biological age earlier than Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Antral Follicle Count (AFC). In this study, we describe the AMH nomogram that has been developed into a mobile application as "Indonesian Kalculator of Oocytes" (IKO). The software required to create IKO application was the Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and Java Application Development. The hardware specification that needed to develop the IKO apps were a 4.0-inch screen, 512 MB RAM (random-access memory), and CPU (central processing unit) with dual core 1.2 Ghz. The application is built using the Android SDK (Software Development Kit) and Java Application Development. In this application, we can predict the woman's biological age, some mature oocytes, and AMH level. This app is expected to help patients to plan effectively for pregnancy and help the doctor to choose the best intervention for patients who face infertility problems using Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). IKO application can be downloaded for free on Google PlayStore and Apple Store.

Toys for Early Development of the Young Blind Child: A Guide for Parents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Springfield.

A booklet is presented for parents of blind children. This booklet lists various toys that are useful for the child in his development and cognitive growth. Three kits of toys are presented. Each of these kits was developed for children of approximate age groups. Kit #1 is for the very young blind infants and contains toys that usually interest…

An indigenously developed nitrite kit to aid in the diagnosis of urinary tract infection.

PubMed

Sood, S; Upadhyaya, P; Kapil, A; Lodha, R; Jain, Y; Bagga, A

1999-09-01

To evaluate the utility of an indigenously developed nitrite kit for the rapid diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI) METHODS: 1018 urine specimens were collected from all cases where there was clinical suspicion of UTI. Samples were cultured as per standard microbiological protocol. Presence of nitrites was indicated by the development of purple color on addition of color developing solution and compared with the set of graded positive and negative controls also provided in the Kit. The results of the nitrite kit were compared with the semi-quantitative urine culture as the gold standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values were 47%, 87%, 31% and 93%, respectively. Nitrite kit as a screening test can decrease the work load in the clinical bacteriology laboratory. More importantly in a field set up that is devoid of culture facilities, it can be used to correctly predict the absence of UTI.

Can Programming Frameworks Bring Smartphones into the Mainstream of Psychological Science?

PubMed Central

Piwek, Lukasz; Ellis, David A.

2016-01-01

Smartphones continue to provide huge potential for psychological science and the advent of novel research frameworks brings new opportunities for researchers who have previously struggled to develop smartphone applications. However, despite this renewed promise, smartphones have failed to become a standard item within psychological research. Here we consider the key issues that continue to limit smartphone adoption within psychological science and how these barriers might be diminishing in light of ResearchKit and other recent methodological developments. We conclude that while these programming frameworks are certainly a step in the right direction it remains challenging to create usable research-orientated applications with current frameworks. Smartphones may only become an asset for psychology and social science as a whole when development software that is both easy to use and secure becomes freely available. PMID:27602010

OOSTethys - Open Source Software for the Global Earth Observing Systems of Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bridger, E.; Bermudez, L. E.; Maskey, M.; Rueda, C.; Babin, B. L.; Blair, R.

2009-12-01

An open source software project is much more than just picking the right license, hosting modular code and providing effective documentation. Success in advancing in an open collaborative way requires that the process match the expected code functionality to the developer's personal expertise and organizational needs as well as having an enthusiastic and responsive core lead group. We will present the lessons learned fromOOSTethys , which is a community of software developers and marine scientists who develop open source tools, in multiple languages, to integrate ocean observing systems into an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). OOSTethys' goal is to dramatically reduce the time it takes to install, adopt and update standards-compliant web services. OOSTethys has developed servers, clients and a registry. Open source PERL, PYTHON, JAVA and ASP tool kits and reference implementations are helping the marine community publish near real-time observation data in interoperable standard formats. In some cases publishing an OpenGeospatial Consortium (OGC), Sensor Observation Service (SOS) from NetCDF files or a database or even CSV text files could take only minutes depending on the skills of the developer. OOSTethys is also developing an OGC standard registry, Catalog Service for Web (CSW). This open source CSW registry was implemented to easily register and discover SOSs using ISO 19139 service metadata. A web interface layer over the CSW registry simplifies the registration process by harvesting metadata describing the observations and sensors from the “GetCapabilities” response of SOS. OPENIOOS is the web client, developed in PERL to visualize the sensors in the SOS services. While the number of OOSTethys software developers is small, currently about 10 around the world, the number of OOSTethys toolkit implementers is larger and growing and the ease of use has played a large role in spreading the use of interoperable standards compliant web services widely in the marine community.

Advantage of using a home-made ELISA kit for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection over commercially imported kits.

PubMed

Mohammadi, M; Talebkhan, Y; Khalili, G; Mahboudi, F; Massarrat, S; Zamaninia, L; Oghalaei, A

2008-01-01

To evaluate a home-made ELISA kit for detection of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection and comparison of its immunologic criteria with those of foreign commercial kits. A home-made IgG ELISA kit was developed using soluble antigenic fractions of Hp proteins. Confirmed sera were tested and serological criteria were evaluated through assessment of 199 serum samples. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity values of home-made kit were 92, 92 and 90.4%, respectively. These immunologic criteria for Trinity kit were 95.2, 95.2 and 95% in comparison with IBL kit (91.3, 92.2 and 88.5%), BIOHIT kit (72.4, 41.6 and 94.1%) and HelicoBlot2.1 (94.2, 93.4 and 100%). Kappa agreement assessment demonstrated that two of the imported ELISA kits had fair to moderate agreement with the home-made kit while the other one had a poor agreement value. Apart from comparable values between the home-made kit and the most efficient imported kit (Trinity) there was significant cost benefit. Therefore, we recommend the home-made kit as a suitable substitution for detection of Hp infection in the Iranian population.

Convenient Preparation of [(68)Ga]DKFZ-PSMA-11 Using a Robust Single-Vial Kit and Demonstration of Its Clinical Efficacy.

PubMed

Satpati, Drishty; Shinto, Ajit; Kamaleshwaran, K K; Sane, Surekha; Banerjee, Sharmila

2016-06-01

[(68)Ga]DKFZ-PSMA-11 has proved to be an important diagnostic radiotracer for targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) overexpression in both recurrent prostate cancer (PC) and relevant metastatic sites. However, the widespread, routine clinical use of such a potential radiopharmaceutical demands availability of a ready-to-use kit formulation to enable convenient radiopharmaceutical preparation. Herein, we report the development of a freeze-dried kit vial for the formulation of [(68)Ga]DKFZ-PSMA-11 and its clinical use in patients using a "shake-bake-inject" methodology. The freeze-dried kit vial was developed after optimization of ligand content (PSMA-11) and pH conditions. The kit was formulated using (68)Ga from two different commercially available generators. Positron emission tomography/X-ray computed tomography (PET/CT) images of PC patients were obtained using the kit-formulated radiotracer. [(68)Ga]DKFZ-PSMA-11 was prepared in >98 % radiochemical yield and purity using the freeze-dried kit vials. Kits were optimized for the preparation of four patient doses. The clinical utility was evaluated in patients with histologically confirmed prostate cancer, and the images were of good quality as well as conforming to tumor marker and clinical expectations. The development of a simple and ready-to-use freeze-dried DKFZ-PSMA-11 kit for the preparation of Ga-68-based radiotracers constitutes a major step towards the expedition of the widespread and economical screening of PC patients.

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

Radousky, H B

This months issue has the following articles: (1) Innovative Solutions Reap Rewards--Commentary by George H. Miller; (2) Surveillance on the Fly--An airborne surveillance system can track up to 8,000 moving objects in an area the size of a small city; (3) A Detector Radioactive Particles Can't Evade--An ultrahigh-resolution spectrometer can detect the minute thermal energy deposited by a single gamma ray or neutron; (4) Babel Speeds Communication among Programming Languages--The Babel program allows software applications in different programming languages to communicate quickly; (5) A Gem of a Software Tool--The data-mining software Sapphire allows scientists to analyze enormous data sets generatedmore » by diverse applications; (6) Interferometer Improves the Search for Planets--With externally dispersed interferometry, astronomers can use an inexpensive, compact instrument to search for distant planets; (7) Efficiently Changing the Color of Laser Light--Yttrium-calcium-oxyborate crystals provide an efficient, compact approach to wavelength conversion for high-average-power lasers; (8) Pocket-Sized Test Detects Trace Explosives--A detection kit sensitive to more than 30 explosives provides an inexpensive, easy-to-use tool for security forces everywhere; (9) Tailor-Made Microdevices Serve Big Needs--The Center for Micro- and Nanotechnology develops tiny devices for national security.« less

Resource Allocation Planning Helper (RALPH): Lessons learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

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

1990-01-01

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

Implementing and Assessing 4-H Educational Activity Kits for Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scheer, Scott D.; Yeske, Janine; Zimmer, Bruce

2011-01-01

Educational activity kits were developed and implemented through a statewide effort for 4-H Youth Development Extension programs serving 5-8 year-old children. The purpose of the kits was to promote life skills in children and assess the learning environment. Data was collected based on the observations of 577 children across 22 counties. Findings…

Basic Teaching Kit on Consumer Advertising.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Proctor and Gamble Co., Cincinnati, OH.

This advertising kit was developed by Procter and Gamble in response to requests from teachers and consumer educators who asked for materials from business about business. The kit is not intended to cover the entire field of advertising. Rather, it centers on advertising as it is known and practiced by Procter and Gamble. The purpose of the kit is…

Evolution of the ATLAS Nightly Build System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Undrus, A.

2012-12-01

The ATLAS Nightly Build System is a major component in the ATLAS collaborative software organization, validation, and code approval scheme. For over 10 years of development it has evolved into a factory for automatic release production and grid distribution. The 50 multi-platform branches of ATLAS releases provide vast opportunities for testing new packages, verification of patches to existing software, and migration to new platforms and compilers for ATLAS code that currently contains 2200 packages with 4 million C++ and 1.4 million python scripting lines written by about 1000 developers. Recent development was focused on the integration of ATLAS Nightly Build and Installation systems. The nightly releases are distributed and validated and some are transformed into stable releases used for data processing worldwide. The ATLAS Nightly System is managed by the NICOS control tool on a computing farm with 50 powerful multiprocessor nodes. NICOS provides the fully automated framework for the release builds, testing, and creation of distribution kits. The ATN testing framework of the Nightly System runs unit and integration tests in parallel suites, fully utilizing the resources of multi-core machines, and provides the first results even before compilations complete. The NICOS error detection system is based on several techniques and classifies the compilation and test errors according to their severity. It is periodically tuned to place greater emphasis on certain software defects by highlighting the problems on NICOS web pages and sending automatic e-mail notifications to responsible developers. These and other recent developments will be presented and future plans will be described.

BRISK--research-oriented storage kit for biology-related data.

PubMed

Tan, Alan; Tripp, Ben; Daley, Denise

2011-09-01

In genetic science, large-scale international research collaborations represent a growing trend. These collaborations have demanding and challenging database, storage, retrieval and communication needs. These studies typically involve demographic and clinical data, in addition to the results from numerous genomic studies (omics studies) such as gene expression, eQTL, genome-wide association and methylation studies, which present numerous challenges, thus the need for data integration platforms that can handle these complex data structures. Inefficient methods of data transfer and access control still plague research collaboration. As science becomes more and more collaborative in nature, the need for a system that adequately manages data sharing becomes paramount. Biology-Related Information Storage Kit (BRISK) is a package of several web-based data management tools that provide a cohesive data integration and management platform. It was specifically designed to provide the architecture necessary to promote collaboration and expedite data sharing between scientists. The software, documentation, Java source code and demo are available at http://genapha.icapture.ubc.ca/brisk/index.jsp. BRISK was developed in Java, and tested on an Apache Tomcat 6 server with a MySQL database. denise.daley@hli.ubc.ca.

The Radio JOVE Project - Shoestring Radio Astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thieman, J.; Flagg, R.; Greenman, W.; Higgins, C.; Reyes, F.; Sky, J.

2010-01-01

Radio JOVE is an education and outreach project intended to give students and other interested individuals hands-on experience in learning radio astronomy. They can do this through building a radio telescope from a relatively inexpensive kit that includes the parts for a receiver and an antenna as well as software for a computer chart recorder emulator (Radio Skypipe) and other reference materials

Design and Evaluation of a DIY Construction System for Educational Robot Kits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vandevelde, Cesar; Wyffels, Francis; Ciocci, Maria-Cristina; Vanderborght, Bram; Saldien, Jelle

2016-01-01

Building a robot from scratch in an educational context can be a challenging prospect. While a multitude of projects exist that simplify the electronics and software aspects of a robot, the same cannot be said for construction systems for robotics. In this paper, we present our efforts to create a low-cost do-it-yourself construction system for…

Expression profiling of c-kit and its impact after esiRNA silencing during gonadal development in catfish.

PubMed

Laldinsangi, C; Senthilkumaran, B

2018-04-03

C-kit receptor is a member of a family of growth factor receptors that have tyrosine kinase activity, and are involved in the transduction of growth regulatory signals across plasma membrane by activation of its ligand, kitl/scf. The present study analysed mRNA and protein expression profiles of c-kit in the gonads of catfish, Clarias gariepinus, using real time PCR, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Tissue distribution analysis revealed higher expression mainly in the catfish gonads. Ontogeny studies showed minimal expression during early developmental stages and highest during 50-75 days post hatch, and the dimorphic expression in gonads decreased gradually till adulthood, which might suggest an important role for this gene around later stages of sex differentiation and gonadal development. Expression of C-kit was analysed at various phases of gonadal cycle in both male and female, which showed minimal expression during the resting phase, and higher expression in male compared to females during the pre-spawning phase. In vitro and in vivo induction using human chorionic gonadotropin elevated the expression of c-kit indicating the regulatory influence of hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis. In vivo transient gene silencing using c-kit-esiRNA in adult catfish during gonadal recrudescence showed a decrease in c-kit expression, which affected the expression level of germ cell meiotic marker sycp3, as well as several factors and steroidogenic enzyme genes involved in germ cell development. Decrease in the levels of serum 11-KT and T were also observed after esiRNA silencing. The findings of this study suggest that c-kit has an important role in the process of germ cell proliferation, development and maturation during gonadal development and recrudescence in catfish. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Birth kits for safe motherhood in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Nessa, S; Arco, E S; Kabir, I A

1992-01-01

Tetanus infection remains the leading cause of high neonatal mortality in Bangladesh. Birth kits which instruct and assist in a clean, safe birth are seen as a key measure in reducing the high incidence of neonatal deaths. A multisectoral programme has developed a simple kit and tested its potential for distribution to pregnant women. Initial results are positive and development is continuing.

Hispanic Families' Perspectives on Using a Bilingual Vocabulary Kit to Enhance Their Prekindergarten Children's Vocabulary Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Query, Rebecca Robinson; Ceglowski, Deborah; Clark, Patricia; Li, Yongmei

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine Hispanic families' perspectives on using a prepared kit to enhance their preschoolers' vocabulary development at home. Families enrolled in a public prekindergarten program were provided with a bilingual (English/Spanish) home literacy kit that included ways in which to engage their children in activities…

Neutral Buoyancy Simulator - Fluid line repair kit development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Marshall's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator (NBS) is used to simulate the gravitational fields and buoyancy effects outer space has on astronauts and their ability to perform tasks in this environment. In this example, a diver performs a temporary fluid line repair task using a repair kit developed by Marshall engineers. The analysis will determine the value of this repair kit and its feasibility.

The FLEXTRA kit: a model for instructor support materials.

PubMed

Battles, J B; Sheridan, M M

1989-01-01

The FLEXTRA Kit is a model for the development of resource materials to support instructor-delivered continuing education. Each FLEXTRA Kit consists of camera-ready copy of handout materials; presentation slides, overheads, videotapes, etc.; evaluation instruments; and an instructor's guide. The FLEXTRA Kit is packaged in such a way that it can be easily shipped and stored. Desktop publishing makes the production of FLEXTRA Kits a cost-effective means of providing support to repeated and locally variable training events.

A Take-Home Physics Experiment Kit for On-Campus and Off-Campus Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turner, Joanna; Parisi, Alfio

2008-01-01

A take-home experiment kit has been developed to reinforce the concepts in a first year physics course that both on and off campus students from a variety of educational backgrounds can successfully use. The kit is inexpensive and is composed of easy to obtain items. The experiments conducted with the kit are directed experiments that require…

Evolution of a radio communication relay system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hoa G.; Pezeshkian, Narek; Hart, Abraham; Burmeister, Aaron; Holz, Kevin; Neff, Joseph; Roth, Leif

2013-05-01

Providing long-distance non-line-of-sight control for unmanned ground robots has long been recognized as a problem, considering the nature of the required high-bandwidth radio links. In the early 2000s, the DARPA Mobile Autonomous Robot Software (MARS) program funded the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) Pacific to demonstrate a capability for autonomous mobile communication relaying on a number of Pioneer laboratory robots. This effort also resulted in the development of ad hoc networking radios and software that were later leveraged in the development of a more practical and logistically simpler system, the Automatically Deployed Communication Relays (ADCR). Funded by the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise and internally by SSC Pacific, several generations of ADCR systems introduced increasingly more capable hardware and software for automatic maintenance of communication links through deployment of static relay nodes from mobile robots. This capability was finally tapped in 2010 to fulfill an urgent need from theater. 243 kits of ruggedized, robot-deployable communication relays were produced and sent to Afghanistan to extend the range of EOD and tactical ground robots in 2012. This paper provides a summary of the evolution of the radio relay technology at SSC Pacific, and then focuses on the latest two stages, the Manually-Deployed Communication Relays and the latest effort to automate the deployment of these ruggedized and fielded relay nodes.

"String theory" of c-kit(pos) cardiac cells: a new paradigm regarding the nature of these cells that may reconcile apparently discrepant results.

PubMed

Keith, Matthew C L; Bolli, Roberto

2015-03-27

Although numerous preclinical investigations have consistently demonstrated salubrious effects of c-kit(pos) cardiac cells administered after myocardial infarction, the mechanism of action remains highly controversial. We and others have found little or no evidence that these cells differentiate into mature functional cardiomyocytes, suggesting paracrine effects. In this review, we propose a new paradigm predicated on a comprehensive analysis of the literature, including studies of cardiac development; we have (facetiously) dubbed this conceptual construct "string theory" of c-kit(pos) cardiac cells because it reconciles multifarious and sometimes apparently discrepant results. There is strong evidence that, during development, the c-kit receptor is expressed in different pools of cardiac progenitors (some capable of robust cardiomyogenesis and others with little or no contribution to myocytes). Accordingly, c-kit positivity, in itself, does not define the embryonic origins, lineage capabilities, or differentiation capacities of specific cardiac progenitors. C-kit(pos) cells derived from the first heart field exhibit cardiomyogenic potential during development, but these cells are likely depleted shortly before or after birth. The residual c-kit(pos) cells found in the adult heart are probably of proepicardial origin, possess a mesenchymal phenotype (resembling bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells), and are capable of contributing significantly only to nonmyocytic lineages (fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells). If these 2 populations (first heart field and proepicardium) express different levels of c-kit, the cardiomyogenic potential of first heart field progenitors might be reconciled with recent results of c-kit(pos) cell lineage tracing studies. The concept that c-kit expression in the adult heart identifies epicardium-derived, noncardiomyogenic precursors with a mesenchymal phenotype helps to explain the beneficial effects of c-kit(pos) cell administration to ischemically damaged hearts despite the observed paucity of cardiomyogenic differentiation of these cells. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

ATK-ForceField: a new generation molecular dynamics software package

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Julian; Hamaekers, Jan; Chill, Samuel T.; Smidstrup, Søren; Bulin, Johannes; Thesen, Ralph; Blom, Anders; Stokbro, Kurt

2017-12-01

ATK-ForceField is a software package for atomistic simulations using classical interatomic potentials. It is implemented as a part of the Atomistix ToolKit (ATK), which is a Python programming environment that makes it easy to create and analyze both standard and highly customized simulations. This paper will focus on the atomic interaction potentials, molecular dynamics, and geometry optimization features of the software, however, many more advanced modeling features are available. The implementation details of these algorithms and their computational performance will be shown. We present three illustrative examples of the types of calculations that are possible with ATK-ForceField: modeling thermal transport properties in a silicon germanium crystal, vapor deposition of selenium molecules on a selenium surface, and a simulation of creep in a copper polycrystal.

Development of Two Analytical Methods Based on Reverse Phase Chromatographic and SDS-PAGE Gel for Assessment of Deglycosylation Yield in N-Glycan Mapping.

PubMed

Eckard, Anahita D; Dupont, David R; Young, Johnie K

2018-01-01

N -lined glycosylation is one of the critical quality attributes (CQA) for biotherapeutics impacting the safety and activity of drug product. Changes in pattern and level of glycosylation can significantly alter the intrinsic properties of the product and, therefore, have to be monitored throughout its lifecycle. Therefore fast, precise, and unbiased N -glycan mapping assay is desired. To ensure these qualities, using analytical methods that evaluate completeness of deglycosylation is necessary. For quantification of deglycosylation yield, methods such as reduced liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and reduced capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) have been commonly used. Here we present development of two additional methods to evaluate deglycosylation yield: one based on LC using reverse phase (RP) column and one based on reduced sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE gel) with offline software (GelAnalyzer). With the advent of rapid deglycosylation workflows in the market for N -glycan profiling replacing overnight incubation, we have aimed to quantify the level of deglycosylation in a selected rapid deglycosylation workflow. Our results have shown well resolved peaks of glycosylated and deglycosylated protein species with RP-LC method allowing simple quantification of deglycosylation yield of protein with high confidence. Additionally a good correlation, ≥0.94, was found between deglycosylation yields estimated by RP-LC method and that of reduced SDS-PAGE gel method with offline software. Evaluation of rapid deglycosylation protocol from GlycanAssure™ HyPerformance assay kit performed on fetuin and RNase B has shown complete deglycosylation within the recommended protocol time when evaluated with these techniques. Using this kit, N -glycans from NIST mAb were prepared in 1.4 hr and analyzed by hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) ultrahigh performance LC (UHPLC) equipped with a fluorescence detector (FLD). 37 peaks were resolved with good resolution. Excellent sample preparation repeatability was found with relative standard deviation (RSD) of <5% for peaks with >0.5% relative area.

Summary of Research Findings on Children's Developmental Health = Resume des conclusions de la recherche sur la sante developpementale des effants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bertrand, Jane

This kit is comprised of bilingual resources for child caregivers related to nourishing and nurturing a child's brain for optimal neurodevelopmental health. The kit is the result of a 30-month project to synthesize research on brain development and to develop resources in support of excellent caregiver practice in Canada. The kit contains the…

Development of the EURITRACK tagged neutron inspection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perot, B.; Carasco, C.; Bernard, S.; Mariani, A.; Szabo, J.-L.; Mercier, E.; Sannie, G.; Viesti, G.; Nebbia, G.; Pesente, S.; Lunardon, M.; Moretto, S.; Fabris, D.; Zenoni, A.; Bonomi, G.; Donzella, A.; Fontana, A.; Boghen, G.; Valkovic, V.; Sudac, D.; Moszynski, M.; Batsch, T.; Gierlik, M.; Woski, D.; Klamra, W.; Isaksson, P.; Le Tourneur, P.; Lhuissier, M.; Colonna, A.; Tintori, C.; Peerani, P.; Sequeira, V.; Salvato, M.

2007-08-01

The EURopean Illicit TRAfficing Countermeasures Kit (EURITRACK) project is part of the 6th European Union Framework Program. It aims at developing a Tagged Neutron Inspection System (TNIS) to detect illicit materials, such as explosives and narcotics, in cargo containers. Fast neutron induced reactions produce specific gamma-rays used to determine the chemical composition of the inspected material. The associated particle technique is employed to precisely locate the interaction points of the neutrons. A new deuterium-tritium neutron generator has been developed, including a pixelized alpha particle detector. The TNIS also comprises high-efficiency fast neutron and gamma-ray detectors, a dedicated front-end electronics and an integrated software to entirely drive the system and automatically process the data. Most components have been integrated during last months at Institute Ruder Boskovic, in Zagreb, Croatia. An overview of the TNIS and of its preliminary performances is presented.

Software interface for high-speed readout of particle detectors based on the CoaXPress communication standard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hejtmánek, M.; Neue, G.; Voleš, P.

2015-06-01

This article is devoted to the software design and development of a high-speed readout application used for interfacing particle detectors via the CoaXPress communication standard. The CoaXPress provides an asymmetric high-speed serial connection over a single coaxial cable. It uses a widely available 75 Ω BNC standard and can operate in various modes with a data throughput ranging from 1.25 Gbps up to 25 Gbps. Moreover, it supports a low speed uplink with a fixed bit rate of 20.833 Mbps, which can be used to control and upload configuration data to the particle detector. The CoaXPress interface is an upcoming standard in medical imaging, therefore its usage promises long-term compatibility and versatility. This work presents an example of how to develop DAQ system for a pixel detector. For this purpose, a flexible DAQ card was developed using the XILINX Spartan 6 FPGA. The DAQ card is connected to the framegrabber FireBird CXP6 Quad, which is plugged in the PCI Express bus of the standard PC. The data transmission was performed between the FPGA and framegrabber card via the standard coaxial cable in communication mode with a bit rate of 3.125 Gbps. Using the Medipix2 Quad pixel detector, the framerate of 100 fps was achieved. The front-end application makes use of the FireBird framegrabber software development kit and is suitable for data acquisition as well as control of the detector through the registers implemented in the FPGA.

Pathologic Stimulus Determines Lineage Commitment of Cardiac C-kit+ Cells.

PubMed

Chen, Zhongming; Zhu, Wuqiang; Bender, Ingrid; Gong, Wuming; Kwak, Il-Youp; Yellamilli, Amritha; Hodges, Thomas J; Nemoto, Natsumi; Zhang, Jianyi; Garry, Daniel J; van Berlo, Jop H

2017-12-12

Although cardiac c-kit + cells are being tested in clinical trials, the circumstances that determine lineage differentiation of c-kit + cells in vivo are unknown. Recent findings suggest that endogenous cardiac c-kit + cells rarely contribute cardiomyocytes to the adult heart. We assessed whether various pathological stimuli differentially affect the eventual cell fates of c-kit + cells. We used single-cell sequencing and genetic lineage tracing of c-kit + cells to determine whether various pathological stimuli would result in different fates of c-kit + cells. Single-cell sequencing of cardiac CD45 - c-kit + cells showed innate heterogeneity, indicative of the existence of vascular and mesenchymal c-kit + cells in normal hearts. Cardiac pressure overload resulted in a modest increase in c-kit-derived cardiomyocytes, with significant increases in the numbers of endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Doxorubicin-induced acute cardiotoxicity did not increase c-kit-derived endothelial cell fates but instead induced cardiomyocyte differentiation. Mechanistically, doxorubicin-induced DNA damage in c-kit + cells resulted in expression of p53. Inhibition of p53 blocked cardiomyocyte differentiation in response to doxorubicin, whereas stabilization of p53 was sufficient to increase c-kit-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation. These results demonstrate that different pathological stimuli induce different cell fates of c-kit + cells in vivo. Although the overall rate of cardiomyocyte formation from c-kit + cells is still below clinically relevant levels, we show that p53 is central to the ability of c-kit + cells to adopt cardiomyocyte fates, which could lead to the development of strategies to preferentially generate cardiomyocytes from c-kit + cells. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Practical Pocket PC Application w/Biometric Security

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Logan, Julian

2004-01-01

I work in the Flight Software Engineering Branch, where we provide design and development of embedded real-time software applications for flight and supporting ground systems to support the NASA Aeronautics and Space Programs. In addition, this branch evaluates, develops and implements new technologies for embedded real-time systems, and maintains a laboratory for applications of embedded technology. The majority of microchips that are used in modern society have been programmed using embedded technology. These small chips can be found in microwaves, calculators, home security systems, cell phones and more. My assignment this summer entails working with an iPAQ HP 5500 Pocket PC. This top-of-the-line hand-held device is one of the first mobile PC's to introduce biometric security capabilities. Biometric security, in this case a fingerprint authentication system, is on the edge of technology as far as securing information. The benefits of fingerprint authentication are enormous. The most significant of them are that it is extremely difficult to reproduce someone else's fingerprint, and it is equally difficult to lose or forget your own fingerprint as opposed to a password or pin number. One of my goals for this summer is to integrate this technology with another Pocket PC application. The second task for the summer is to develop a simple application that provides an Astronaut EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Log Book capability. The Astronaut EVA Log Book is what an astronaut would use to report the status of field missions, crew physical health, successes, future plans, etc. My goal is to develop a user interface into which these data fields can be entered and stored. The applications that I am developing are created using eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 with the Pocket PC 2003 Software Development Kit provided by Microsoft.

Optimizing the Performance of Radionuclide Identification Software in the Hunt for Nuclear Security Threats

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

Fotion, Katherine A.

2016-08-18

The Radionuclide Analysis Kit (RNAK), my team’s most recent nuclide identification software, is entering the testing phase. A question arises: will removing rare nuclides from the software’s library improve its overall performance? An affirmative response indicates fundamental errors in the software’s framework, while a negative response confirms the effectiveness of the software’s key machine learning algorithms. After thorough testing, I found that the performance of RNAK cannot be improved with the library choice effect, thus verifying the effectiveness of RNAK’s algorithms—multiple linear regression, Bayesian network using the Viterbi algorithm, and branch and bound search.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Heart Failure Self-Management Kits for Outpatient Transitions of Care.

PubMed

Boylan, Paul; Joseph, Tina; Hale, Genevieve; Moreau, Cynthia; Seamon, Matthew; Jones, Renee

2018-03-01

To develop heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) self-management kits in an accountable care organization (ACO) to facilitate patients' self-care and prevent hospital readmissions. Pharmacists practice in an outpatient-based ACO. They participate in interprofessional office visits with providers and independently manage maintenance pharmacotherapies. Pharmacists collaborate with an interprofessional team within the ACO including physicians, nurses, case managers, and paramedics. Two commonly encountered diseases are chronic COPD and HF. Reducing preventable readmissions for these conditions are important quality benchmarks and cost-saving strategies. Pharmacists were responsible for developing HF and COPD self-management kits containing patient education materials and prescriptions to facilitate self-care. Prior to kit development, pharmacists performed a literature review to determine the presence of previously published findings on these topics. The interprofessional team continually evaluates the successes and limitations of this initiative. Pharmacists developed training and instructions for ACO allied health professionals in an effort to incorporate the self-management kits in clinical practice. The initial literature search revealed no studies describing the intervention of interest. Innovative programs designed to help reduce preventable readmissions are lacking in primary care. Implementation of the self-management kits was accepted by interprofessional ACO leadership and is currently being integrated into allied health workflow. Patients at risk for having an exacerbation of COPD or HF should receive self-management strategies. Prompt therapy prior to exacerbations reduces hospital admissions and readmissions, speeds recovery, and slows disease progression. Pharmacist-facilitated implementation of self-management kits may be developed by interprofessional health care teams.

Engineer Modeling Study. Volume II. Users Manual.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-09-01

Distribution Center, Digital Equip- ment Corporation, 1980). The following paragraphs briefly describe each of the major input sections...abbreviation 3. A sequence number for post-processing 4. Clock time 5. Order number pointer (six digits ) 6. Job number pointer (six digits ) 7. Unit number...KIT) Users Manual (Boeing Computer % Services, Inc., 1977). S VAX/VMS Users Manual. Volume 3A (Software Distribution Center, Digital Equipment

Implementing the Second-Order Fermi Process in a Kinetic Monte-Carlo Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Summerlin, Errol J.

2010-01-01

Radio JOVE is an education and outreach project intended to give students and other interested individuals hands-on experience in learning radio astronomy. They can do this through building a radio telescope from a relatively inexpensive kit that includes the parts for a receiver and an antenna as well as software for a computer chart recorder emulator (Radio Skypipe) and other reference materials

Comparison of Quantifiler(®) Trio and InnoQuant™ human DNA quantification kits for detection of DNA degradation in developed and aged fingerprints.

PubMed

Goecker, Zachary C; Swiontek, Stephen E; Lakhtakia, Akhlesh; Roy, Reena

2016-06-01

The development techniques employed to visualize fingerprints collected from crime scenes as well as post-development ageing may result in the degradation of the DNA present in low quantities in such evidence samples. Amplification of the DNA samples with short tandem repeat (STR) amplification kits may result in partial DNA profiles. A comparative study of two commercially available quantification kits, Quantifiler(®) Trio and InnoQuant™, was performed on latent fingerprint samples that were either (i) developed using one of three different techniques and then aged in ambient conditions or (ii) undeveloped and then aged in ambient conditions. The three fingerprint development techniques used were: cyanoacrylate fuming, dusting with black powder, and the columnar-thin-film (CTF) technique. In order to determine the differences between the expected quantities and actual quantities of DNA, manually degraded samples generated by controlled exposure of DNA standards to ultraviolet radiation were also analyzed. A total of 144 fingerprint and 42 manually degraded DNA samples were processed in this study. The results indicate that the InnoQuant™ kit is capable of producing higher degradation ratios compared to the Quantifiler(®) Trio kit. This was an expected result since the degradation ratio is a relative value specific for a kit based on the length and extent of amplification of the two amplicons that vary from one kit to the other. Additionally, samples with lower concentrations of DNA yielded non-linear relationships of degradation ratio with the duration of aging, whereas samples with higher concentrations of DNA yielded quasi-linear relationships. None of the three development techniques produced a noticeably different degradation pattern when compared to undeveloped fingerprints, and therefore do not impede downstream DNA analysis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Pandora multi-algorithm approach to automated pattern recognition in LAr TPC detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, J. S.; Blake, A. S. T.; Thomson, M. A.; Escudero, L.; de Vries, J.; Weston, J.; MicroBooNE Collaboration

2017-09-01

The development and operation of Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LAr TPCs) for neutrino physics has created a need for new approaches to pattern recognition, in order to fully exploit the superb imaging capabilities offered by this technology. The Pandora Software Development Kit provides functionality to aid the process of designing, implementing and running pattern recognition algorithms. It promotes the use of a multi-algorithm approach to pattern recognition: individual algorithms each address a specific task in a particular topology; a series of many tens of algorithms then carefully builds-up a picture of the event. The input to the Pandora pattern recognition is a list of 2D Hits. The output from the chain of over 70 algorithms is a hierarchy of reconstructed 3D Particles, each with an identified particle type, vertex and direction.

The Exoplanet Characterization ToolKit (ExoCTK)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stevenson, Kevin; Fowler, Julia; Lewis, Nikole K.; Fraine, Jonathan; Pueyo, Laurent; Valenti, Jeff; Bruno, Giovanni; Filippazzo, Joseph; Hill, Matthew; Batalha, Natasha E.; Bushra, Rafia

2018-01-01

The success of exoplanet characterization depends critically on a patchwork of analysis tools and spectroscopic libraries that currently require extensive development and lack a centralized support system. Due to the complexity of spectroscopic analyses and initial time commitment required to become productive, there are currently a limited number of teams that are actively advancing the field. New teams with significant expertise, but without the proper tools, face prohibitively steep hills to climb before they can contribute. As a solution, we are developing an open-source, modular data analysis package in Python and a publicly facing web interface focused primarily on atmospheric characterization of exoplanets and exoplanet transit observation planning with JWST. The foundation of these software tools and libraries exist within pockets of the exoplanet community. Our project will gather these seedling tools and grow a robust, uniform, and well maintained exoplanet characterization toolkit.

Automated inverse computer modeling of borehole flow data in heterogeneous aquifers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawdey, J. R.; Reeve, A. S.

2012-09-01

A computer model has been developed to simulate borehole flow in heterogeneous aquifers where the vertical distribution of permeability may vary significantly. In crystalline fractured aquifers, flow into or out of a borehole occurs at discrete locations of fracture intersection. Under these circumstances, flow simulations are defined by independent variables of transmissivity and far-field heads for each flow contributing fracture intersecting the borehole. The computer program, ADUCK (A Downhole Underwater Computational Kit), was developed to automatically calibrate model simulations to collected flowmeter data providing an inverse solution to fracture transmissivity and far-field head. ADUCK has been tested in variable borehole flow scenarios, and converges to reasonable solutions in each scenario. The computer program has been created using open-source software to make the ADUCK model widely available to anyone who could benefit from its utility.

FUNCTIONAL DEREGULATION OF KIT: LINK TO MAST CELL PROLIFERATIVE DISEASES AND OTHER NEOPLASMS

PubMed Central

Cruse, Glenn; Metcalfe, Dean D.; Olivera, Ana

2014-01-01

SYNOPSIS Signaling through the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT mediates differentiation, proliferation and survival of hematopoietic precursor cells and mast cells. Constitutive KIT signaling due to somatic point mutations in c-Kit is an important occurrence in the development of mast cell proliferation disorders and other hematological malignancies. In this review, we discuss the common gain-of-function mutations found in these malignancies, particularly in mast cell proliferation disorders, and summarize the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which transforming point mutations in KIT may affect KIT structure and function and lead to altered downstream signaling and cellular transformation. Drugs targeting KIT have shown mixed success in the treatment of these diseases. A brief overview of the most common KIT inhibitors currently used, the reasons for the varied clinical results of such inhibitors and a discussion of potential new strategies are provided. PMID:24745671

Tackling Poverty in Rural Mexico: A Case Study of Economic Development. Toward a Better World Series, Learning Kit No. 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, Harriet; Ross-Larson, Bruce, Ed.

This World Bank (Washington, D.C.) kit is a case study designed to teach secondary school social studies students about an integrated rural development project in Mexico, and how it is helping to raise the standard of living for six million Mexicans in 131 microregions throughout Mexico. The kit contains a pamphlet, a booklet, a sound filmstrip,…

Production of recombinant gG-1 protein of herpes simplex virus type 1 in a prokaryotic system in order to develop a type-specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit.

PubMed

Zandi, Keivan; Roostaee, Mohammad Hassan; Sadeghizadeh, Majid; Rasaee, Mohammad Javad; Sajedi, Reza Hassan; Soleimanjahi, Hoorieh

2007-08-01

The herpes simplex viruses are important causes of disease worldwide. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is the primary cause of oral-facial and pharyngeal infections and may cause herpetic whitlow, eye infections as well as severe and sometimes dangerous infections of the eyes and brain. HSV-1 also accounts for 10-15% of all genital herpetic infections. Therefore, laboratory diagnosis of this virus and development of diagnostic serological techniques for HSV-1 is of particular importance. In the present study, pTrc His2A-gG1 plasmid, containing the full-length glycoprotein G (gG) protein, was produced in a prokaryotic system for the first time. Upon confirmation of a 37-kDa gG-1 protein production in a prokaryotic system based on western blotting and monoclonal antibodies, the protein was produced at a large scale and purified by ion-exchange chromatography using DEAE-sepharose. An HSV-1 type-specific diagnostic kit was designed and developed and the specificity and sensitivity of this kit were demonstrated to be 89.5% and 100%, respectively, as compared with a commercially available kit. A significant correlation was shown between the developed kit and the commercial kit.

[Development and evaluation of a rapid PCR detection kit for Ophiocordyceps sinensis].

PubMed

Hou, Fei-Xia; Cao, Jing; Wang, Sha-Sha; Wang, Xi; Yuan, Yuan; Peng, Cheng; Wan, De-Guang; Guo, Jin-Lin

2017-03-01

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine. Due to resource shortage, expensive price and huge market demand, there are many adulterants of O. sinensis in markets. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a rapid and effective method for distinguishing O. sinensis. Based on the species-specific PCR of O. sinensis, this study developed a detection kit by optimizing the components and evaluated the specificity, detection limit, repeatability and shelf life of the kit. The results showed that when the quality of O. sinensis accounted for more than 1/200 of that mixture, it could be detected successfully. Moreover, only O. sinensis could be amplified and glowed bright green fluorescence under ultraviolet light. The kit was still in effect when it was placed at 37 ℃ for three days, which indicated that it was stable and effective for one year stored in 4 ℃. The kit in the same batch under different operation conditions, and in different batch under the same operation conditions gave the same result and accuracy, which showed good repeatability of the kit. It is simple, rapid and accurate to distinguish O. sinensis from its adulterants using the kit, and lays the foundation for commercialization of traditional Chinese medicine fast detection kit. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Rural inland waterways economic impact kit : users guide

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-08-01

The primary objective of the project was to develop a PC-based kit allowing users to evaluate the economic impact of existing rural inland waterways ports and terminals. By using the Kit, the importance to a community of a port and terminals can be q...

Rural inland waterways economic impact kit : analysis manual

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-08-01

The primary objective of the project was to develop a PC-based kit allowing users to evaluate the economic impact of existing rural inland waterways ports and terminals. By using the Kit, the importance to a community of a port and terminals can be q...

Land Use as a Driver of Patterns of Rodenticide Exposure in Modeled Kit Fox Populations

PubMed Central

Nogeire, Theresa M.; Lawler, Joshua J.; Schumaker, Nathan H.; Cypher, Brian L.; Phillips, Scott E.

2015-01-01

Although rodenticides are increasingly regulated, they nonetheless cause poisonings in many non-target wildlife species. Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide use is common in agricultural and residential landscapes. Here, we use an individual-based population model to assess potential population-wide effects of rodenticide exposures on the endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica). We estimate likelihood of rodenticide exposure across the species range for each land cover type based on a database of reported pesticide use and literature. Using a spatially-explicit population model, we find that 36% of modeled kit foxes are likely exposed, resulting in a 7-18% decline in the range-wide modeled kit fox population that can be linked to rodenticide use. Exposures of kit foxes in low-density developed areas accounted for 70% of the population-wide exposures to rodenticides. We conclude that exposures of non-target kit foxes could be greatly mitigated by reducing the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides in low-density developed areas near vulnerable populations. PMID:26244655

The Fluid Dynamics Demo Kit: Part I

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flack, Karen; Underhill, Patrick; Prestridge, Kathy

2012-11-01

The goal of this project is to develop a fluid dynamics demonstration/experiment kit that can be used by professors and graduate students at high school outreach events. The demonstrations in the kit will be easy to use and true crowd pleasers in order to inspire understanding and pique curiosity about the physics of flow. The kits will be inexpensive, containing readily available materials so that teachers can duplicate the demonstrations and experiments. The kits will be left with the teachers as a gift from the American Physics Society. The experiments and demonstrations cover the concepts of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, Bernoulli's equation, frictional losses and the ideal gas law. For each experiment, the teachers will receive presentation material, access to instructional videos, plus a worksheet that can be used in a high school physics classroom. This kit has been developed through the efforts of the APS-DFD Mentoring and Outreach Committee and has received funding from the APS-DFD. Work funded by the APS-DFD.

Using hacked point and shoot cameras for time-lapse snow cover monitoring in an Alpine valley

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weijs, S. V.; Diebold, M.; Mutzner, R.; Golay, J. R.; Parlange, M. B.

2012-04-01

In Alpine environments, monitoring snow cover is essential get insight in the hydrological processes and water balance. Although measurement techniques based on LIDAR are available, their cost is often a restricting factor. In this research, an experiment was done using a distributed array of cheap consumer cameras to get insight in the spatio-temporal evolution of snowpack. Two experiments are planned. The first involves the measurement of eolic snow transport around a hill, to validate a snow saltation model. The second monitors the snowmelt during the melting season, which can then be combined with data from a wireless network of meteorological stations and discharge measurements at the outlet of the catchment. The poster describes the hardware and software setup, based on an external timer circuit and CHDK, the Canon Hack Development Kit. This latter is a flexible and developing software package, released under a GPL license. It was developed by hackers that reverse engineered the firmware of the camera and added extra functionality such as raw image output, more full control of the camera, external trigger and motion detection, and scripting. These features make it a great tool for geosciences. Possible other applications involve aerial stereo photography, monitoring vegetation response. We are interested in sharing experiences and brainstorming about new applications. Bring your camera!

Targeting c-KIT (CD117) by dasatinib and radotinib promotes acute myeloid leukemia cell death.

PubMed

Heo, Sook-Kyoung; Noh, Eui-Kyu; Kim, Jeong Yi; Jeong, Yoo Kyung; Jo, Jae-Cheol; Choi, Yunsuk; Koh, SuJin; Baek, Jin Ho; Min, Young Joo; Kim, Hawk

2017-11-10

Dasatinib and radotinib are oral BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors that were developed as drugs for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. We report here that the c-KIT (CD117) targeting with dasatinib and radotinib promotes acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell death, and c-KIT endocytosis is essential for triggering c-KIT-positive AML cell death by dasatinib and radotinib during the early stages. In addition, dasatinib and radotinib reduce heat shock protein 90β (HSP90β) expression and release Apaf-1 in c-KIT-positive AML cells. Finally, this activates a caspase-dependent apoptotic pathway in c-KIT-positive AML cells. Moreover, the inhibition of c-KIT endocytosis by dynamin inhibitor (DY) reversed cell viability and c-KIT expression by dasatinib and radotinib. HSP90β expression was recovered by DY in c-KIT-positive AML cells as well. Furthermore, the effect of radotinib on c-KIT and HSP90β showed the same pattern in a xenograft animal model using HEL92.1.7 cells. Therefore, dasatinib and radotinib promote AML cell death by targeting c-KIT. Taken together, these results indicate that dasatinib and radotinib treatment have a potential role in anti-leukemic therapy on c-KIT-positive AML cells.

RanBPM (RanBP9) regulates mouse c-Kit receptor level and is essential for normal development of bone marrow progenitor cells

PubMed Central

Singh, Satyendra; Klarmann, Kimberly D.; Coppola, Vincenzo; Keller, Jonathan R.; Tessarollo, Lino

2016-01-01

c-Kit is a tyrosine kinase receptor important for gametogenesis, hematopoiesis, melanogenesis and mast cell biology. Dysregulation of c-Kit function is oncogenic and its expression in the stem cell niche of a number of tissues has underlined its relevance for regenerative medicine and hematopoietic stem cell biology. Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms that control c-Kit protein levels. Here we show that the RanBPM/RanBP9 scaffold protein binds to c-Kit and is necessary for normal c-Kit protein expression in the mouse testis and subset lineages of the hematopoietic system. RanBPM deletion causes a reduction in c-Kit protein but not its mRNA suggesting a posttranslational mechanism. This regulation is specific to the c-Kit receptor since RanBPM reduction does not affect other membrane proteins examined. Importantly, in both mouse hematopoietic system and testis, RanBPM deficiency causes defects consistent with c-Kit loss of expression suggesting that RanBPM is an important regulator of c-Kit function. The finding that this regulatory mechanism is also present in human cells expressing endogenous RanBPM and c-Kit suggests a potential new strategy to target oncogenic c-Kit in malignancies. PMID:27835883

RanBPM (RanBP9) regulates mouse c-Kit receptor level and is essential for normal development of bone marrow progenitor cells.

PubMed

Puverel, Sandrine; Kiris, Erkan; Singh, Satyendra; Klarmann, Kimberly D; Coppola, Vincenzo; Keller, Jonathan R; Tessarollo, Lino

2016-12-20

c-Kit is a tyrosine kinase receptor important for gametogenesis, hematopoiesis, melanogenesis and mast cell biology. Dysregulation of c-Kit function is oncogenic and its expression in the stem cell niche of a number of tissues has underlined its relevance for regenerative medicine and hematopoietic stem cell biology. Yet, very little is known about the mechanisms that control c-Kit protein levels. Here we show that the RanBPM/RanBP9 scaffold protein binds to c-Kit and is necessary for normal c-Kit protein expression in the mouse testis and subset lineages of the hematopoietic system. RanBPM deletion causes a reduction in c-Kit protein but not its mRNA suggesting a posttranslational mechanism. This regulation is specific to the c-Kit receptor since RanBPM reduction does not affect other membrane proteins examined. Importantly, in both mouse hematopoietic system and testis, RanBPM deficiency causes defects consistent with c-Kit loss of expression suggesting that RanBPM is an important regulator of c-Kit function. The finding that this regulatory mechanism is also present in human cells expressing endogenous RanBPM and c-Kit suggests a potential new strategy to target oncogenic c-Kit in malignancies.

Dumpster Optics: teaching and learning optics without a kit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donnelly, Judy; Magnani, Nancy; Robinson, Kathleen

2016-09-01

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and renewed emphasis on STEM education in the U.S. have resulted in the development of many educational kits for teaching science in general and optics in particular. Many teachers do not have funding to purchase kits and practical experience has shown that even costly kits can have poorly written and misleading instructions and may include experiments that would not work in a classroom. Dumpster Optics lessons are designed to use inexpensive, commonly found materials. All lessons have been field-tested with students. We will describe the development of the lessons, provide examples of field testing experiences and outline possible future activities.

Effectiveness of the Peabody Language Development Kits with Educable Mentally Retarded Children: A Report After Two and One-Half Years. IMRID Papers and Reports, Volume V, No. 15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Lloyd M.; And Others

To determine the effectiveness of the Peabody Language Development Kits over an extended period (2.5 years) with educable mentally retarded (EMR) children, daily oral language stimulation lessons using Levels One and Two of the kit were given to 27 classes for the EMR in schools with culturally disadvantaged populations. Results showed the…

Development of a computer-based automated pure tone hearing screening device: a preliminary clinical trial.

PubMed

Gan, Kok Beng; Azeez, Dhifaf; Umat, Cila; Ali, Mohd Alauddin Mohd; Wahab, Noor Alaudin Abdul; Mukari, Siti Zamratol Mai-Sarah

2012-10-01

Hearing screening is important for the early detection of hearing loss. The requirements of specialized equipment, skilled personnel, and quiet environments for valid screening results limit its application in schools and health clinics. This study aimed to develop an automated hearing screening kit (auto-kit) with the capability of realtime noise level monitoring to ensure that the screening is performed in an environment that conforms to the standard. The auto-kit consists of a laptop, a 24-bit resolution sound card, headphones, a microphone, and a graphical user interface, which is calibrated according to the American National Standards Institute S3.6-2004 standard. The auto-kit can present four test tones (500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz) at 25 or 40 dB HL screening cut-off level. The clinical results at 40 dB HL screening cut-off level showed that the auto-kit has a sensitivity of 92.5% and a specificity of 75.0%. Because the 500 Hz test tone is not included in the standard hearing screening procedure, it can be excluded from the auto-kit test procedure. The exclusion of 500 Hz test tone improved the specificity of the auto-kit from 75.0% to 92.3%, which suggests that the auto-kit could be a valid hearing screening device. In conclusion, the auto-kit may be a valuable hearing screening tool, especially in countries where resources are limited.

Method and platform standardization in MRM-based quantitative plasma proteomics.

PubMed

Percy, Andrew J; Chambers, Andrew G; Yang, Juncong; Jackson, Angela M; Domanski, Dominik; Burkhart, Julia; Sickmann, Albert; Borchers, Christoph H

2013-12-16

There exists a growing demand in the proteomics community to standardize experimental methods and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) platforms in order to enable the acquisition of more precise and accurate quantitative data. This necessity is heightened by the evolving trend of verifying and validating candidate disease biomarkers in complex biofluids, such as blood plasma, through targeted multiple reaction monitoring (MRM)-based approaches with stable isotope-labeled standards (SIS). Considering the lack of performance standards for quantitative plasma proteomics, we previously developed two reference kits to evaluate the MRM with SIS peptide approach using undepleted and non-enriched human plasma. The first kit tests the effectiveness of the LC/MRM-MS platform (kit #1), while the second evaluates the performance of an entire analytical workflow (kit #2). Here, these kits have been refined for practical use and then evaluated through intra- and inter-laboratory testing on 6 common LC/MS platforms. For an identical panel of 22 plasma proteins, similar concentrations were determined, regardless of the kit, instrument platform, and laboratory of analysis. These results demonstrate the value of the kit and reinforce the utility of standardized methods and protocols. The proteomics community needs standardized experimental protocols and quality control methods in order to improve the reproducibility of MS-based quantitative data. This need is heightened by the evolving trend for MRM-based validation of proposed disease biomarkers in complex biofluids such as blood plasma. We have developed two kits to assist in the inter- and intra-laboratory quality control of MRM experiments: the first kit tests the effectiveness of the LC/MRM-MS platform (kit #1), while the second evaluates the performance of an entire analytical workflow (kit #2). In this paper, we report the use of these kits in intra- and inter-laboratory testing on 6 common LC/MS platforms. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Standardization and Quality Control in Proteomics. © 2013.

Cardiac c-Kit Biology Revealed by Inducible Transgenesis.

PubMed

Gude, Natalie A; Firouzi, Fareheh; Broughton, Kathleen M; Ilves, Kelli; Nguyen, Kristine P; Payne, Christina R; Sacchi, Veronica; Monsanto, Megan M; Casillas, Alexandria R; Khalafalla, Farid G; Wang, Bingyan J; Ebeid, David E; Alvarez, Roberto; Dembitsky, Walter P; Bailey, Barbara A; van Berlo, Jop; Sussman, Mark A

2018-06-22

Biological significance of c-Kit as a cardiac stem cell marker and role(s) of c-Kit+ cells in myocardial development or response to pathological injury remain unresolved because of varied and discrepant findings. Alternative experimental models are required to contextualize and reconcile discordant published observations of cardiac c-Kit myocardial biology and provide meaningful insights regarding clinical relevance of c-Kit signaling for translational cell therapy. The main objectives of this study are as follows: demonstrating c-Kit myocardial biology through combined studies of both human and murine cardiac cells; advancing understanding of c-Kit myocardial biology through creation and characterization of a novel, inducible transgenic c-Kit reporter mouse model that overcomes limitations inherent to knock-in reporter models; and providing perspective to reconcile disparate viewpoints on c-Kit biology in the myocardium. In vitro studies confirm a critical role for c-Kit signaling in both cardiomyocytes and cardiac stem cells. Activation of c-Kit receptor promotes cell survival and proliferation in stem cells and cardiomyocytes of either human or murine origin. For creation of the mouse model, the cloned mouse c-Kit promoter drives Histone2B-EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein; H2BEGFP) expression in a doxycycline-inducible transgenic reporter line. The combination of c-Kit transgenesis coupled to H2BEGFP readout provides sensitive, specific, inducible, and persistent tracking of c-Kit promoter activation. Tagging efficiency for EGFP+/c-Kit+ cells is similar between our transgenic versus a c-Kit knock-in mouse line, but frequency of c-Kit+ cells in cardiac tissue from the knock-in model is 55% lower than that from our transgenic line. The c-Kit transgenic reporter model reveals intimate association of c-Kit expression with adult myocardial biology. Both cardiac stem cells and a subpopulation of cardiomyocytes express c-Kit in uninjured adult heart, upregulating c-Kit expression in response to pathological stress. c-Kit myocardial biology is more complex and varied than previously appreciated or documented, demonstrating validity in multiple points of coexisting yet heretofore seemingly irreconcilable published findings. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

Planning Systems. SPEC Kit 13.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies.

This kit on planning systems updates a 1974 Management Studies Office Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit in which developments in planning activities among Association of Research Libraries (ARL) were reviewed. At the time of the original study, in 1972, planning techniques and systems were a subject of much interest because rising…

First Follow Nature, Kit II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1971

Developing pupils' awareness of their environment, learning to distinguish between what is pleasant and unpleasant, and examining acts of man to determine which are destructive and which are in harmony with nature are the purposes of Scholastic's Earth Corps Environmental Study Kits for Grades 1-6. This kit explores in depth the reasons some…

Signal transduction by normal isoforms and W mutant variants of the Kit receptor tyrosine kinase.

PubMed

Reith, A D; Ellis, C; Lyman, S D; Anderson, D M; Williams, D E; Bernstein, A; Pawson, T

1991-09-01

Germline mutations at the Dominant White Spotting (W) and Steel (Sl) loci have provided conclusive genetic evidence that c-kit mediated signal transduction pathways are essential for normal mouse development. We have analysed the interactions of normal and mutant W/c-kit gene products with cytoplasmic signalling proteins, using transient c-kit expression assays in COS cells. In addition to the previously identified c-kit gene product (Kit+), a second normal Kit isoform (KitA+) containing an in-frame insertion, Gly-Asn-Asn-Lys, within the extracellular domain, was detected in murine mast cell cultures and mid-gestation placenta. Both Kit+ and KitA+ isoforms showed increased autophosphorylation and enhanced association with phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3' kinase and PLC gamma 1, when stimulated with recombinant soluble Steel factor. No association or increase in phosphorylation of GAP and two GAP-associated proteins, p62 and p190, was observed. The two isoforms had distinct activities in the absence of exogenous soluble Steel factor; Kit+, but not KitA+, showed constitutive tyrosine phosphorylation that was accompanied by a low constitutive level of association with PI-3' kinase and PLC gamma 1. Introduction of the point substitutions associated with W37 (Glu582----Lys) or W41 (Val831----Met) mutant alleles into c-kit expression constructs abolished (W37) or reduced (W41) the Steel factor-induced association of the Kit receptor with signalling proteins in a manner proportional to the overall severity of the corresponding W mutant phenotype. These data suggest a diversity of normal Kit signalling pathways and indicate that W mutant phenotypes result from primary defects in the Kit receptor that affect its interaction with cytoplasmic signalling proteins.

Development of Experiment Kits for Processing Biological Samples In-Flight on SLS-2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaquez, R.; Savage, P. D.; Hinds, W. E.; Evans, J.; Dubrovin, L.

1994-01-01

The design of the hematology experiment kits for SLS-2 has resulted in a modular, flexible configuration which maximizes crew efficiency and minimizes error and confusion when dealing with over 1200 different components over the course of the mission. The kit layouts proved to be very easy to use and their packaging design provided for positive, secure containment of the many small components. The secondary Zero(Tm) box enclosure also provided an effective means for transport of the kits within the Spacelab and for grouping individual kits by flight day usage. The kits are readily adaptable to use on future flights by simply replacing the inner components as required and changing the labelling scheme to match new mission requirements.

Open Component Portability Infrastructure (OPENCPI)

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-01

Disk Drive 7 1 www.antec.com P182 $120. ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 8 1 www.xilinx.com HW-V5-ML555-G $2200. Xilinx ML555 V5 Dev Kit Notes: Cost...s/ GEORGE RAMSEYER EDWARD J. JONES, Deputy Chief Work Unit Manager Advanced Computing ...uniquely positioned to meet the goals of the Software Systems Stockroom (S3) since in some sense component-based systems are computer -science’s

AsMA Medical Guidelines for Air Travel: In-Flight Medical Care.

PubMed

Thibeault, Claude; Evans, Anthony D; Pettyjohn, Frank S; Alves, Paulo M

2015-06-01

Medical Guidelines for Airline Travel provide information that enables healthcare providers to properly advise patients who plan to travel by air. All airlines are required to provide first aid training for cabin crew, and the crew are responsible for managing any in-flight medical events. There are also regulatory requirements for the carriage of first aid and medical kits. AsMA has developed recommendations for first aid kits, emergency medical kits, and universal precaution kits.

Direct engagement of the PI3K pathway by mutant KIT dominates oncogenic signaling in gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

PubMed

Bosbach, Benedikt; Rossi, Ferdinand; Yozgat, Yasemin; Loo, Jennifer; Zhang, Jennifer Q; Berrozpe, Georgina; Warpinski, Katherine; Ehlers, Imke; Veach, Darren; Kwok, Andrew; Manova, Katia; Antonescu, Cristina R; DeMatteo, Ronald P; Besmer, Peter

2017-10-03

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) predominantly harbor activating mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT. To genetically dissect in vivo the requirement of different signal transduction pathways emanating from KIT for tumorigenesis, the oncogenic Kit V558Δ mutation was combined with point mutations abrogating specific phosphorylation sites on KIT. Compared with single-mutant Kit V558Δ/+ mice, double-mutant Kit V558Δ;Y567F/Y567F knock-in mice lacking the SRC family kinase-binding site on KIT (pY567) exhibited attenuated MAPK signaling and tumor growth. Surprisingly, abrogation of the PI3K-binding site (pY719) in Kit V558Δ;Y719F/Y719F mice prevented GIST development, although the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), the cells of origin of GIST, were normal. Pharmacologic inhibition of the PI3K pathway in tumor-bearing Kit V558Δ/+ mice with the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor voxtalisib, the pan-PI3K inhibitor pilaralisib, and the PI3K-alpha-restricted inhibitor alpelisib each diminished tumor proliferation. The addition of the MEK inhibitor PD-325901 or binimetinib further decreased downstream KIT signaling. Moreover, combining PI3K and MEK inhibition was effective against imatinib-resistant Kit V558Δ;T669I/+ tumors.

Direct engagement of the PI3K pathway by mutant KIT dominates oncogenic signaling in gastrointestinal stromal tumor

PubMed Central

Bosbach, Benedikt; Rossi, Ferdinand; Yozgat, Yasemin; Loo, Jennifer; Zhang, Jennifer Q.; Berrozpe, Georgina; Warpinski, Katherine; Ehlers, Imke; Kwok, Andrew; Manova, Katia; Antonescu, Cristina R.; DeMatteo, Ronald P.; Besmer, Peter

2017-01-01

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) predominantly harbor activating mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT. To genetically dissect in vivo the requirement of different signal transduction pathways emanating from KIT for tumorigenesis, the oncogenic KitV558Δ mutation was combined with point mutations abrogating specific phosphorylation sites on KIT. Compared with single-mutant KitV558Δ/+ mice, double-mutant KitV558Δ;Y567F/Y567F knock-in mice lacking the SRC family kinase-binding site on KIT (pY567) exhibited attenuated MAPK signaling and tumor growth. Surprisingly, abrogation of the PI3K-binding site (pY719) in KitV558Δ;Y719F/Y719F mice prevented GIST development, although the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), the cells of origin of GIST, were normal. Pharmacologic inhibition of the PI3K pathway in tumor-bearing KitV558Δ/+ mice with the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor voxtalisib, the pan-PI3K inhibitor pilaralisib, and the PI3K-alpha–restricted inhibitor alpelisib each diminished tumor proliferation. The addition of the MEK inhibitor PD-325901 or binimetinib further decreased downstream KIT signaling. Moreover, combining PI3K and MEK inhibition was effective against imatinib-resistant KitV558Δ;T669I/+ tumors. PMID:28923937

Development of a forensic evidence protection kit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acton, Brian; Kelly, Roy

1999-02-01

A kit has been developed for the preservation of vital forensic evidence on a suspect following a serious assault, murder or other offense where contamination may occur. This also includes the handling of firearms, explosives and/or drugs.

R.E.A.D.Y.: Read, Educate and Develop Youth. Reading Plan for Michigan: Parent Information for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers. Learning Begins at Birth. [Kit with Videotape and Audiotape].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children, East Lansing.

Noting the important role that parents can play in preparing their child to learn to read, the Read, Educate and Develop Youth (READY) Reading Plan for Michigan provides kits to parents of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The kits contain suggestions for age-appropriate activities parents can do with their children to help them learn. In…

Commercial Milk Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kit Reactivities to Purified Milk Proteins and Milk-Derived Ingredients.

PubMed

Ivens, Katherine O; Baumert, Joseph L; Taylor, Steve L

2016-07-01

Numerous commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits exist to quantitatively detect bovine milk residues in foods. Milk contains many proteins that can serve as ELISA targets including caseins (α-, β-, or κ-casein) and whey proteins (α-lactalbumin or β-lactoglobulin). Nine commercially-available milk ELISA kits were selected to compare the specificity and sensitivity with 5 purified milk proteins and 3 milk-derived ingredients. All of the milk kits were capable of quantifying nonfat dry milk (NFDM), but did not necessarily detect all individual protein fractions. While milk-derived ingredients were detected by the kits, their quantitation may be inaccurate due to the use of different calibrators, reference materials, and antibodies in kit development. The establishment of a standard reference material for the calibration of milk ELISA kits is increasingly important. The appropriate selection and understanding of milk ELISA kits for food analysis is critical to accurate quantification of milk residues and informed risk management decisions. © 2016 Institute of Food Technologists®

Active Learning and Engagement with the Wireless Indoor Location Device (WILD) Learning System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moldwin, M.; Samson, P. J.; Ojeda, L.; Miller, T.; Yu, J.

2016-12-01

The Wireless Indoor Location Device (WILD) Learning System being developed at the University of Michigan and the Education Technology company A2 Motus LLC provides a unique platform for social learning by allowing students to become active participants in live simulations of complex systems, like hurricane formation. The WILD Learning System enables teachers to engage students in kinesthetic activities that explore complex models from a wide variety of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) disciplines. The system provides students' location, orientation and motion within the classroom and assigns each student different parameters depending on the activity. For example, students learning about hurricanes could be assigned atmospheric pressure levels and asked to arrange themselves around the room to simulate a hurricane. The Wild Learning System software then takes the students' pressure readings and locations and projects their locations overlaid onto a real-time generated simulated pressure weather map enabling the observation of how their arrangement influences the pressure structure. The teacher then could have the students orient themselves in the direction they think the resulting wind field will be based on the pressure contours as the system can show an arrow originating from each of the students position in the direction that they are facing. The system also could incorporate a student response-type system for the instructor to then directly question students about other concepts and record their response to both the kinesthetic activity and other formative assessment questions. The WILD Learning System consists of a sensor package for each student in the class, beacons to enable precise localization of the students, software to calculate student location information, and educational software for a variety of activities. In addition, a software development kit (SDK) is under development that would allow others to create additional learning activities using the WILD Learning System. (WILD Learning System development has been partially supported by NASA's CYGNSS Mission EPO, the NSF and the University of Michigan).

Report on the State of Development, Availability, Evaluation, and Future use of Test Kits for the Measurement of Lead in Paint

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of this issue paper is to address the availability and performance characteristics of portable lead test kits especially suited for lead in paint, procedures for evaluating the performance of these test kits, and the availability of performance evaluation (PE) materia...

Look Around You, Kit I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1971

Developing pupils' awareness of their environment, learning to distinguish between what is pleasant and unpleasant, and examining acts of man to determine which are destructive and which are in harmony with nature are the purposes of Scholastic's Earth Corps Environmental Study Kits for grades 1-6. This kit is designed to help the child develop…

Omid Early Intervention Resource Kit for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samadi, Sayyed Ali; Mahmoodizadeh, Ameneh

2014-01-01

Omid early intervention resource kit containing information booklets on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and related issues, five packs of tangible selected playthings and communication facilitating aids was developed and evaluated with 65 Iranian parents. Beside a pretest before the resource kit deliverance, parents in the control group took part…

Climate change and other stressors change modeled population size and hybridization potential for San Joaquin kit fox

EPA Science Inventory

The San Joaquin kit fox was once widely distributed across the southern San Joaquin Valley, but agriculture and development have replaced much of the endangered subspecies’ habitat. We modeled impacts of climate change, land-use change, and rodenticide exposure on kit fox p...

Teachers' Guide to Curriculum Kit for Understanding Chinese Americans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Chinese Teachers, San Francisco, CA.

This is a teacher's guide for a multi-media presentation developed using Emergency School Aid Act funds. It was designed for kindergarten to sixth grade students. The purpose of the kit is to increase cross-cultural understanding by providing information about contemporary Chinese American lifestyles. The kit includes a set of three filmstrips…

Mkit: A cell migration assay based on microfluidic device and smartphone.

PubMed

Yang, Ke; Wu, Jiandong; Peretz-Soroka, Hagit; Zhu, Ling; Li, Zhigang; Sang, Yaoshuo; Hipolito, Jolly; Zhang, Michael; Santos, Susy; Hillier, Craig; de Faria, Ricardo Lobato; Liu, Yong; Lin, Francis

2018-01-15

Mobile sensing based on the integration of microfluidic device and smartphone, so-called MS 2 technology, has enabled many applications over recent years, and continues to stimulate growing interest in both research communities and industries. In particular, it has been envisioned that MS 2 technology can be developed for various cell functional assays to enable basic research and clinical applications. Toward this direction, in this paper, we describe the development of a MS 2 -based cell functional assay for testing cell migration (the M kit ). The system is constructed as an integrated test kit, which includes microfluidic chips, a smartphone-based imaging platform, the phone apps for image capturing and data analysis, and a set of reagent and accessories for performing the cell migration assay. We demonstrated that the M kit can effectively measure purified neutrophil and cancer cell chemotaxis. Furthermore, neutrophil chemotaxis can be tested from a drop of whole blood using the M kit with red blood cell (RBC) lysis. The effects of chemoattractant dose and gradient profile on neutrophil chemotaxis were also tested using the M kit . In addition to research applications, we demonstrated the effective use of the M kit for on-site test at the hospital and for testing clinical samples from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient. Thus, this developed M kit provides an easy and integrated experimental platform for cell migration related research and potential medical diagnostic applications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visualizing the Effects of Sputum on Biofilm Development Using a Chambered Coverglass Model.

PubMed

Beaudoin, Trevor; Kennedy, Sarah; Yau, Yvonne; Waters, Valerie

2016-12-14

Biofilms consist of groups of bacteria encased in a self-secreted matrix. They play an important role in industrial contamination as well as in the development and persistence of many health related infections. One of the most well described and studied biofilms in human disease occurs in chronic pulmonary infection of cystic fibrosis patients. When studying biofilms in the context of the host, many factors can impact biofilm formation and development. In order to identify how host factors may affect biofilm formation and development, we used a static chambered coverglass method to grow biofilms in the presence of host-derived factors in the form of sputum supernatants. Bacteria are seeded into chambers and exposed to sputum filtrates. Following 48 hr of growth, biofilms are stained with a commercial biofilm viability kit prior to confocal microscopy and analysis. Following image acquisition, biofilm properties can be assessed using different software platforms. This method allows us to visualize key properties of biofilm growth in presence of different substances including antibiotics.

Development and performance evaluation of a novel immunofluorescence chromatographic assay for histidine-rich protein 2 of Plasmodium falciparum.

PubMed

Kang, Keren; Dzakah, Emmanuel E; Huang, Yongping; Xie, Mingquan; Luo, Xiaochun; Li, Wenmei; Wang, Jihua

2015-05-30

The low sensitivity and specificity of Plasmodium falciparum diagnostic tests pose a serious health threat to people living in endemic areas. The objective of the study was to develop a rapid assay for the detection of histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2) of P. falciparum in whole blood by immunofluorescence chromatographic technology. A total of 1163 positive and negative blood samples were screened. The double-antibody sandwich assay was used to establish the kit and its performance was evaluated for sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, precision, stability, and clinical effectiveness. The cut-off level of detection of the kit was 25 parasites/μl. Common interfering substances in human blood specimens, such as bilirubin, triglyceride and cholesterol had no significant effect on HRP2 antigen detection. The precision of the kit was run with different concentration of standard calibrators and the values were less than 10 %. The performance of this diagnostic kit in the detection of the calibrators has shown that a shelf life of about 12 months gives a more reliable result. Among clinical samples tested, the HRP2 test kit and the reference products had good coincidence rate in a parallel experiment and this test kit had a more sensitive detecting level to the target protein than the reference kits used in this study. The specificity and sensitivity for this test were 99.6 % (800/803) and 99.7 % (1160/1163), respectively. A novel HRP2 immunofluorescence detection method was developed in this study. Overall performance evaluation indicated that the kit has a rapid, high sensitivity and on-spot method for detecting P. falciparum.

Training Educators to Teach the Sun and Space Weather Using a Kit of Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keesee, A. M.; Ensign, T.

2014-12-01

NASA provides a wealth of data from Heliospheric missions to the public, but educators face several challenges to using such data in the classroom. These include the knowledge of what is available and how to use it, a full understanding of the science concepts the data demonstrate, ability to obtain and maintain products to access data, and access to technology (such as computer labs) for anything other than testing. To surmount these challenges, the Educator Resource Center at the NASA Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) Center in Fairmont, WV has developed an operational model that focuses on housing, maintaining, and lending out kits of necessary equipment along with training educators in the science concepts and use of kit materials. Following this model, we have developed a Sun and Space Weather kit and an educator professional development course that we have presented several times. The kit includes a classroom set of iPads utilized to access data from NASA missions and other sources as well as create video reports for project based outcomes, a set of telescopes for safe solar viewing, and materials to explore magnetic fields and the electromagnetic spectrum. We will present an overview of the training course, the kit materials, and lessons learned.

Evaluation of a newly developed quantitative determination kit for tumor marker CA15-3 with chemiluminescent assay.

PubMed

Li, Peihua; Ye, Huiming; Liu, Jiangwu; Jin, Hongwei; Lin, Yongzhi; Yan, Shuidi; Yu, Yang; Gao, Lei; Xu, Feihai; Zhang, Zhongying

2018-01-01

Tumor marker carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) is used as a biomarker to aid to diagnose and monitor the prognosis of breast cancer patients. A new quantitative determination kit for CA15-3 with chemiluminescent assay was developed by Xiamen InnoDx Biotech Co., Ltd, China. Therefore, we conducted the report to evaluate the performance of the kit. According to the "Guiding principles on performance analysis of diagnostic reagents in vitro", the calibration curve, limit of detection, reportable range, accuracy, precision, anti-interference capability, cross-reaction and comparison by measuring EDTA plasma and serum were carried out. In addition, the kit was performed in parallel to electrochemiluminescence immunoassay kit (Roche) to analyze the correlation between the two kits. Regression equation of calibration curve of the kit was Y=0.7914X+4.1032 (R 2 =.990). Limit of detection was 0.0347 U/mL. The reportable range was 0.5-2400 U/mL. Recovery ratio was 100.0%-104.8%. Coefficient of variations (CVs) of within-run and between-run were 4.8%-7.6% and 5.8%-7.4% respectively. No remarkable interferences (all Bias% were less than ±10%) were detected when samples contained hemoglobin ≤183.8 μmol/L, bilirubin ≤340 μmol/L, triglyceride ≤18.1 mmol/L, or rheumatoid factor ≤400 U/mL. No cross-reaction was present in the kit. Moreover, compared with the results from electrochemiluminescence immunoassay kit (Roche) in 345 serum samples, there was a satisfied correlation coefficient of 0.977 (P<.01), and the kit was simultaneously fit for the detection of EDTA plasma and serum samples. The new kit validated satisfactorily, and it can be used for detecting CA15-3 in clinical practice. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

FUELS IN SOIL TEST KIT: FIELD USE OF DIESEL DOG SOIL TEST KITS

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

Unknown

2001-05-31

Western Research Institute (WRI) is commercializing Diesel Dog Portable Soil Test Kits for performing analysis of fuel-contaminated soils in the field. The technology consists of a method developed by WRI (U.S. Patents 5,561,065 and 5,976,883) and hardware developed by WRI that allows the method to be performed in the field (patent pending). The method is very simple and does not require the use of highly toxic reagents. The aromatic components in a soil extract are measured by absorption at 254 nm with a field-portable photometer. WRI added significant value to the technology by taking the method through the American Societymore » for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approval and validation processes. The method is designated ASTM Method D-5831-96, Standard Test Method for Screening Fuels in Soils. This ASTM designation allows the method to be used for federal compliance activities. In FY 99, twenty-five preproduction kits were successfully constructed in cooperation with CF Electronics, Inc., of Laramie, Wyoming. The kit components work well and the kits are fully operational. In the calendar year 2000, kits were provided to the following entities who agreed to participate as FY 99 and FY 00 JSR (Jointly Sponsored Research) cosponsors and use the kits as opportunities arose for field site work: Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) (3 units), F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Gradient Corporation, The Johnson Company (2 units), IT Corporation (2 units), TRC Environmental Corporation, Stone Environmental, ENSR, Action Environmental, Laco Associates, Barenco, Brown and Caldwell, Dames and Moore Lebron LLP, Phillips Petroleum, GeoSyntek, and the State of New Mexico. By early 2001, ten kits had been returned to WRI following the six-month evaluation period. On return, the components of all ten kits were fully functional. The kits were upgraded with circuit modifications, new polyethylene foam inserts, and updated instruction manuals.« less

The history and development of NASA survival equipment.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Radnofsky, M. I.

1972-01-01

A research and development program on survival equipment was begun in early 1960 with the Mercury Program. The Mercury survival kit is discussed together with Gemini survival equipment, and Apollo I survival equipment. A study program is conducted to assess potential survival problems that may be associated with future space flights landing in polar waters. Survival kit requirements for applications on the Skylab program are also considered. Other investigations are concerned with the design of a global survival kit in connection with Space Shuttle missions.

The breast cancer patient navigation kit: development and user feedback.

PubMed

Skrutkowski, Myriam; Saucier, Andréanne; Meterissian, Sarkis

2011-12-01

Our interdisciplinary team developed a written cancer patient education tool, the Breast Cancer Navigation Kit, to respond to the information needs of patients and family members and that meet patient literacy levels. A literature review and a focus group provided content development for four modules: "About Breast Cancer," "Body-Mind-Spirit," "After Treatment Ends," and "Practical Information." An evaluation by 31 women showed the kit to be easy to understand, very useful, and informative. However, all agreed that it could not replace the dialogue with health care professionals. An interdisciplinary approach involving patient feedback is key to develop appropriate patient education tools.

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

Roth, Amir; Goldwasser, David; Parker, Andrew

The OpenStudio software development kit has played a significant role in the adoption of the EnergyPlus whole building energy modeling engine and in the development and launch of new applications that use EnergyPlus for a variety of purposes, from design to auditing to code compliance and management of large portfolios. One of the most powerful features of the OpenStudio platform is Measure, a scripting facility similar to Excel's Visual Basic macros. Measures can be used to apply energy conservation measures to models--hence the name--to create reports and visualizations, and even to sew together custom workflows. Measures automate tedious tasks increasingmore » modeler productivity and reducing error. Measures have also become a currency in the OpenStudio tools ecosystem, a way to codify knowledge and protocol and transfer it from one modeler to another, either within an organization or within the global modeling community. This paper describes some of the many applications of Measures.« less

EnergyPlus™

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

Originally developed in 1999, an updated version 8.8.0 with bug fixes was released on September 30th, 2017. EnergyPlus™ is a whole building energy simulation program that engineers, architects, and researchers use to model both energy consumption—for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and plug and process loads—and water use in buildings. EnergyPlus is a console-based program that reads input and writes output to text files. It ships with a number of utilities including IDF-Editor for creating input files using a simple spreadsheet-like interface, EP-Launch for managing input and output files and performing batch simulations, and EP-Compare for graphically comparing the results ofmore » two or more simulations. Several comprehensive graphical interfaces for EnergyPlus are also available. DOE does most of its work with EnergyPlus using the OpenStudio® software development kit and suite of applications. DOE releases major updates to EnergyPlus twice annually.« less

Standardizing Exoplanet Analysis with the Exoplanet Characterization Tool Kit (ExoCTK)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fowler, Julia; Stevenson, Kevin B.; Lewis, Nikole K.; Fraine, Jonathan D.; Pueyo, Laurent; Bruno, Giovanni; Filippazzo, Joe; Hill, Matthew; Batalha, Natasha; Wakeford, Hannah; Bushra, Rafia

2018-06-01

Exoplanet characterization depends critically on analysis tools, models, and spectral libraries that are constantly under development and have no single source nor sense of unified style or methods. The complexity of spectroscopic analysis and initial time commitment required to become competitive is prohibitive to new researchers entering the field, as well as a remaining obstacle for established groups hoping to contribute in a comparable manner to their peers. As a solution, we are developing an open-source, modular data analysis package in Python and a publicly facing web interface including tools that address atmospheric characterization, transit observation planning with JWST, JWST corongraphy simulations, limb darkening, forward modeling, and data reduction, as well as libraries of stellar, planet, and opacity models. The foundation of these software tools and libraries exist within pockets of the exoplanet community, but our project will gather these seedling tools and grow a robust, uniform, and well-maintained exoplanet characterization toolkit.

Development and Certification of Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) Experiment # 15012-U, "Near RealTime Water Quality Monitoring Demonstration for ISS Biocides Using Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE)"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeffrey A.; Shcultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D,; Lipert, Robert J.; Limardo, Jose G.; McCoy, J. Torin

2009-01-01

Scientists and engineers from the Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group are working with researchers at the University of Utah and Iowa State University to develop and certify an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE). The kit will be launched as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment and evaluated on the International Space Station (ISS) to determine the acceptability of CSPE technology for routine inflight water quality monitoring. Iodine and silver, the biocides used in the US and Russian on-orbit water systems, will serve as test analytes for the technology evaluation. This manuscript provides an overview of the CSPE SDTO experiment and details the development and certification of the experimental water quality monitoring kit. Initial results from reagent and standard solution stability testing and environmental testing performed on the kit hardware are also reported.

Evaluation of Scat Deposition Transects versus Radio Telemetry for Developing a Species Distribution Model for a Rare Desert Carnivore, the Kit Fox.

PubMed

Dempsey, Steven J; Gese, Eric M; Kluever, Bryan M; Lonsinger, Robert C; Waits, Lisette P

2015-01-01

Development and evaluation of noninvasive methods for monitoring species distribution and abundance is a growing area of ecological research. While noninvasive methods have the advantage of reduced risk of negative factors associated with capture, comparisons to methods using more traditional invasive sampling is lacking. Historically kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis) occupied the desert and semi-arid regions of southwestern North America. Once the most abundant carnivore in the Great Basin Desert of Utah, the species is now considered rare. In recent decades, attempts have been made to model the environmental variables influencing kit fox distribution. Using noninvasive scat deposition surveys for determination of kit fox presence, we modeled resource selection functions to predict kit fox distribution using three popular techniques (Maxent, fixed-effects, and mixed-effects generalized linear models) and compared these with similar models developed from invasive sampling (telemetry locations from radio-collared foxes). Resource selection functions were developed using a combination of landscape variables including elevation, slope, aspect, vegetation height, and soil type. All models were tested against subsequent scat collections as a method of model validation. We demonstrate the importance of comparing multiple model types for development of resource selection functions used to predict a species distribution, and evaluating the importance of environmental variables on species distribution. All models we examined showed a large effect of elevation on kit fox presence, followed by slope and vegetation height. However, the invasive sampling method (i.e., radio-telemetry) appeared to be better at determining resource selection, and therefore may be more robust in predicting kit fox distribution. In contrast, the distribution maps created from the noninvasive sampling (i.e., scat transects) were significantly different than the invasive method, thus scat transects may be appropriate when used in an occupancy framework to predict species distribution. We concluded that while scat deposition transects may be useful for monitoring kit fox abundance and possibly occupancy, they do not appear to be appropriate for determining resource selection. On our study area, scat transects were biased to roadways, while data collected using radio-telemetry was dictated by movements of the kit foxes themselves. We recommend that future studies applying noninvasive scat sampling should consider a more robust random sampling design across the landscape (e.g., random transects or more complete road coverage) that would then provide a more accurate and unbiased depiction of resource selection useful to predict kit fox distribution.

The GMOD Drupal bioinformatic server framework.

PubMed

Papanicolaou, Alexie; Heckel, David G

2010-12-15

Next-generation sequencing technologies have led to the widespread use of -omic applications. As a result, there is now a pronounced bioinformatic bottleneck. The general model organism database (GMOD) tool kit (http://gmod.org) has produced a number of resources aimed at addressing this issue. It lacks, however, a robust online solution that can deploy heterogeneous data and software within a Web content management system (CMS). We present a bioinformatic framework for the Drupal CMS. It consists of three modules. First, GMOD-DBSF is an application programming interface module for the Drupal CMS that simplifies the programming of bioinformatic Drupal modules. Second, the Drupal Bioinformatic Software Bench (biosoftware_bench) allows for a rapid and secure deployment of bioinformatic software. An innovative graphical user interface (GUI) guides both use and administration of the software, including the secure provision of pre-publication datasets. Third, we present genes4all_experiment, which exemplifies how our work supports the wider research community. Given the infrastructure presented here, the Drupal CMS may become a powerful new tool set for bioinformaticians. The GMOD-DBSF base module is an expandable community resource that decreases development time of Drupal modules for bioinformatics. The biosoftware_bench module can already enhance biologists' ability to mine their own data. The genes4all_experiment module has already been responsible for archiving of more than 150 studies of RNAi from Lepidoptera, which were previously unpublished. Implemented in PHP and Perl. Freely available under the GNU Public License 2 or later from http://gmod-dbsf.googlecode.com.

Development of an automated modular system for the synthesis of [11C]acetate.

PubMed

Felicini, Chiara; Någren, Kjell; Berton, Andrea; Pascali, Giancarlo; Salvadori, Piero Alberto

2010-12-01

Carboxylation reactions offer a straightforward method for the synthesis of carbon-11 labelled carboxylic acids. Among these, the preparation of carbon-11 (C)-acetate is receiving increasing attention because of diagnostic applications in oncology in addition to its well-established use as a probe for myocardial oxidative metabolism. Although a number of dedicated modules are commercially available, the development of the synthesis on flexible platforms would be beneficial to widen the number of tracers, in particular for preclinical assessment and testing. In this study, the carboxylation reaction was implemented for the synthesis of sodium 1-[C]acetate after the classic route of carboxylation of methylmagnesium chloride by [C]carbon dioxide, followed by the acidic hydrolysis, purification and sterile filtration. This was performed using a commercially available kit of preassembled hardware units and fully compatible components of radiochemistry automation (VarioSystem). The system proved be to highly versatile and inexpensive and allowed a quick translation of the radiochemistry project into a working system even by less experienced personnel, because of predefined interfaces between electronic parts and operating software (preloaded on a laptop and included in the kit). The automatic module proved to be a simple and reliable system for the production of 1-[C]acetate that was prepared in 24 min (total synthesis time) with stable radiochemical yields (20% nondecay corrected) and high radiochemical purity (>97%). The module is used routinely to produce 1-[C]acetate for preclinical studies and is being implemented for the production of the labelled fatty acids.

KIT Mutations Are Common in Testicular Seminomas

PubMed Central

Kemmer, Kathleen; Corless, Christopher L.; Fletcher, Jonathan A.; McGreevey, Laura; Haley, Andrea; Griffith, Diana; Cummings, Oscar W.; Wait, Cecily; Town, Ajia; Heinrich, Michael C.

2004-01-01

Expression of KIT tyrosine kinase is critical for normal germ cell development and is observed in the majority of seminomas. Activating mutations in KIT are common in gastrointestinal stromal tumors and mastocytosis. In this study we examined the frequency and spectrum of KIT mutations in 54 testicular seminomas, 1 ovarian dysgerminoma and 37 non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT). Fourteen seminomas (25.9%) contained exon 17 point mutations including D816V (6 cases), D816H (3 cases), Y823D (2 cases), and single examples of Y823C, N822K, and T801I. No KIT mutations were found in the ovarian dysgerminoma or the NSGCTs. In transient transfection assays, mutant isoforms D816V, D816H, Y823D, and N822K were constitutively phosphorylated in the absence of the natural ligand for KIT, stem cell factor (SCF). In contrast, activation of T801I and wild-type KIT required SCF. Mutants N822K and Y823D were inhibited by imatinib mesylate (Gleevec, previously STI571) whereas D816V and D816H were both resistant to imatinib mesylate. Biochemical evidence of KIT activation, as assessed by KIT phosphorylation and KIT association with phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase in tumor cell lysates, was largely confined to seminomas with a genomic KIT mutation. These findings suggest that activating KIT mutations may contribute to tumorigenesis in a subset of seminomas, but are not involved in NSGCT. PMID:14695343

Exacerbated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mast-cell-deficient Kit W-sh/W-sh mice.

PubMed

Piconese, Silvia; Costanza, Massimo; Musio, Silvia; Tripodo, Claudio; Poliani, Pietro L; Gri, Giorgia; Burocchi, Alessia; Pittoni, Paola; Gorzanelli, Andrea; Colombo, Mario P; Pedotti, Rosetta

2011-04-01

Mast cell (MC)-deficient c-Kit mutant Kit(W/W-v) mice are protected against experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis, suggesting a detrimental role for MCs in this disease. To further investigate the role of MCs in EAE, we took advantage of a recently characterized model of MC deficiency, Kit(W-sh/W-sh). Surprisingly, we observed that myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)(35-55)-induced chronic EAE was exacerbated in Kit(W-sh/W-sh) compared with Kit(+/+) mice. Kit(W-sh/W-sh) mice showed more inflammatory foci in the central nervous system (CNS) and increased T-cell response against myelin. To understand whether the discrepant results obtained in Kit(W-sh/W-sh) and in Kit(W/W-v) mice were because of the different immunization protocols, we induced EAE in these two strains with varying doses of MOG(35-55) and adjuvants. Although Kit(W-sh/W-sh) mice exhibited exacerbated EAE under all immunization protocols, Kit(W/W-v) mice were protected from EAE only when immunized with high, but not low, doses of antigen and adjuvants. Kit(W-sh/W-sh) mice reconstituted systemically, but not in the CNS, with bone marrow-derived MCs still developed exacerbated EAE, indicating that protection from disease could be exerted by MCs mainly in the CNS, and/or by other cells possibly dysregulated in Kit(W-sh/W-sh) mice. In summary, these data suggest to reconsider MC contribution to EAE, taking into account the variables of using different experimental models and immunization protocols.

A national survey of home-based care kits for palliative HIV/AIDS care in South Africa.

PubMed

Mabude, Z A; Beksinska, M E; Ramkissoon, A; Wood, S; Folsom, M

2008-09-01

The objective of this study was to assess home-based care (HBC) kits and programs in South Africa to evaluate the feasibility of scaling up kit production and distribution. South African HBC organizations received structured questionnaires; key informant interviews and a literature review were completed to assess systems for production, distribution and supply of HBC kits. Meetings with stakeholders were held in two Provinces to share and analyze the study findings. The study team distributed questionnaires to 466 organizations and conducted interviews with representatives from 45 organizations, the Provincial Department of Health (DoH) and manufacturers of kits. All identifiable HBC organizations in South Africa were included in the survey. As a result 215 HBC organizations returned questionnaires; including non-governmental organizations (56%), community-based organizations (32%) and organizations affiliated with government health departments. Two types of kits were available: a home kit and a professional kit. The demand for HBC kits exceeded availability, kit contents and availability varied considerably and the supply chain was irregular. Kit production and distribution systems were fragmented. Replenishment of kit items was problematic. End-users are mostly caregivers who have not received adequate training on their use. The study shows that substantial work has been done by HBC organizations in South Africa to respond to the need for palliative care supplies within resource constraints. The growing demand for kits exceeds the supply. There is a need to improve the supply chain management of HBC kits, strengthen referral systems and links between community-based organizations and government departments, expand training opportunities for care givers, and develop monitoring and evaluation systems.

To Kit or Not to Kit? Evaluating and Implementing Science Materials and Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schiller, Ellen; Melin, Jacque; Bair, Mary

2016-01-01

With the release of the "Next Generation Science Standards," many schools are reexamining the science materials they are using. Textbook companies and kit developers are eager to meet the demand for "NGSS"-aligned teaching materials. Teacher may have been asked to serve on a science curriculum committee, or to evaluate current…

Robots in Education: New Trends and Challenges from the Japanese Market

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basoeki, Fransiska; Dalla Libera, Fabio; Menegatti, Emanuele; Moro, Michele

2013-01-01

The paper introduces and compares the use of current robotics kits developed by different companies in Japan for education purposes. These kits are targeted to a large audience: from primary school students, to university students and also up to adult lifelong learning. We selected company and kits that are most successful in the Japanese market.…

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT "FIELD MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN SOIL" CHEMETRICS, INC., AND AZUR ENVIRONMENTAL LTD REMEDIAID TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON STARTER KIT

EPA Science Inventory

The RemediAidTm Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Starter Kit (RemediAidTm kit) developed by CHEMetries, Inc. (CHEMetrics), and AZUR Environmental Ltd was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the ...

Opposing roles of KIT and ABL1 in the therapeutic response of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) cells to imatinib mesylate.

PubMed

Rausch, Jessica L; Boichuk, Sergei; Ali, Areej A; Patil, Sneha S; Liu, Lijun; Lee, Donna M; Brown, Matthew F; Makielski, Kathleen R; Liu, Ying; Taguchi, Takahiro; Kuan, Shih-Fan; Duensing, Anette

2017-01-17

Most gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are caused by activating mutations of the KIT receptor tyrosine kinase. The small molecule inhibitor imatinib mesylate was initially developed to target the ABL1 kinase, which is constitutively activated through chromosomal translocation in BCR-ABL1-positive chronic myeloid leukemia. Because of cross-reactivity of imatinib against the KIT kinase, the drug is also successfully used for the treatment of GIST. Although inhibition of KIT clearly has a major role in the therapeutic response of GIST to imatinib, the contribution of concomitant inhibition of ABL in this context has never been explored. We show here that ABL1 is expressed in the majority of GISTs, including human GIST cell lines. Using siRNA-mediated knockdown, we demonstrate that depletion of KIT in conjunction with ABL1 - hence mimicking imatinib treatment - leads to reduced apoptosis induction and attenuated inhibition of cellular proliferation when compared to depletion of KIT alone. These results are explained by an increased activity of the AKT survival kinase, which is mediated by the cyclin-dependent kinase CDK2, likely through direct phosphorylation. Our results highlight that distinct inhibitory properties of targeted agents can impede antitumor effects and hence provide insights for rational drug development. Novel KIT-targeted agents to treat GIST should therefore comprise an increased specificity for KIT while at the same time displaying a reduced ability to inhibit ABL1.

The Radio JOVE Project: Inexpensive Radio Astronomy for the Classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thieman, J. R.; Higgins, C. A.; Pine, W.

2000-12-01

Radio JOVE is an interactive, hands-on educational activity for learning the scientific method through the medium of radio astronomy observations of Jupiter and the sun. Students build a radio telescope from a relatively inexpensive non-profit kit (about \\$125) and use it to record data, analyze the data, and share the results with others. Alternatively, for no cost, the students can record and analyze data from remote radio telescopes connected to the Web. The project is a useful adjunct to activities in optical astronomy since students should recognize that we learn about the Universe through more than just the optical spectrum. In addition to supplementing knowledge of Jupiter and the sun, the project teaches about charged particles and magnetic fields. Building of the kit is also a mini-course in electronics. The Radio JOVE website (http://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov) contains science information, instruction manuals, observing guides, software, and education resources for students and teachers.

Reviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-05-01

WE RECOMMEND Why the Sky is Blue This book gives an excellent answer to the age-old question Science Magic Book of experiments finds the fun in physics Function Generator Kit Build your own simple wave generator Dent pullers Instead of using them to pull out dents, get your pupils to pull them apart Rocket Tracker Launch and track rockets with this kit Stephen Hawking, A biograpy This book looks at both the science and the personal life of the famous physicist WORTH A LOOK The Universe and the Atom All-encompassing but uninspiring physics book Sizzling Magnets Another cheap toy proves its usefulness in the physics lab Efergy Energy-saving meter is easy to use but may not save you energy Experiments and Demonstrations in Physics This book is full of interesting experiments but skewed to a particular hardware system WEB WATCH Gary Williams recounts the valuable lessons he learned at the Software 4 Skint Schools workshop

Assessing the Acceptance and Functional Value of the Asymmetrical Software Kit (ASK) at the Tactical Level

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

www.istheory.yorku.ca/theoryofreasonedaction.htm on 07 Dec 2007. 28 I . Ajzen , Residual Effects of Past on Later Behavior: Habituation and Reasoned...for Intelligence analysis at the Tactical level. 51 LIST OF REFERENCES Ajzen , I ., Residual Effects of Past on Later Behavior: Habituation and...Advisor: Douglas Borer Second Reader: Richard Bergin THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK i REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Form Approved OMB No. 0704-0188

Satellite Constellation Optimization for Turkish Armed Forces

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

capability. 29 III. OPTIMIZATION WITH STK A. ANALYSIS The goal was to minimize the number of satellites and then minimize the number of planes...www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/reports/ac105/AC105_1005E.pdf. Wertz, James R. and Larson, Wiley J. “Space Mission Analysis and Design (Third Edition).” Space...Systems Tool Kit software for simulation and analysis of several possible communications and remote sensing satellite constellations covering Turkish

Evaluation of America's Career Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Inspector General (DOL), Washington, DC.

The Employment and Training Administration's (ETA's) development and implementation of America's Career Kit (ACK), which is an online career development resource for individuals needing job search assistance, career guidance, salary data, and training and educational resources, was evaluated. The evaluation was designed to determine whether ACK…

Control of Technology Transfer at JPL

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliver, Ronald

2006-01-01

Controlled Technology: 1) Design: preliminary or critical design data, schematics, technical flow charts, SNV code/diagnostics, logic flow diagrams, wirelist, ICDs, detailed specifications or requirements. 2) Development: constraints, computations, configurations, technical analyses, acceptance criteria, anomaly resolution, detailed test plans, detailed technical proposals. 3) Production: process or how-to: assemble, operated, repair, maintain, modify. 4) Manufacturing: technical instructions, specific parts, specific materials, specific qualities, specific processes, specific flow. 5) Operations: how-to operate, contingency or standard operating plans, Ops handbooks. 6) Repair: repair instructions, troubleshooting schemes, detailed schematics. 7) Test: specific procedures, data, analysis, detailed test plan and retest plans, detailed anomaly resolutions, detailed failure causes and corrective actions, troubleshooting, trended test data, flight readiness data. 8) Maintenance: maintenance schedules and plans, methods for regular upkeep, overhaul instructions. 9) Modification: modification instructions, upgrades kit parts, including software

Land Ice Verification and Validation Kit

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

2015-07-15

To address a pressing need to better understand the behavior and complex interaction of ice sheets within the global Earth system, significant development of continental-scale, dynamical ice-sheet models is underway. The associated verification and validation process of these models is being coordinated through a new, robust, python-based extensible software package, the Land Ice Verification and Validation toolkit (LIVV). This release provides robust and automated verification and a performance evaluation on LCF platforms. The performance V&V involves a comprehensive comparison of model performance relative to expected behavior on a given computing platform. LIVV operates on a set of benchmark and testmore » data, and provides comparisons for a suite of community prioritized tests, including configuration and parameter variations, bit-4-bit evaluation, and plots of tests where differences occur.« less

Collection Development Organization and Committees. SPEC Kit 11.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies.

This kit focuses on information that is useful for starting a collection development program. It contains 7 position descriptions, 10 documents on the role of committees, 4 organization charts, 5 documents on the organization of functions, and an analysis of a Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) collection development survey. The survey,…

Activation of TRKA receptor elicits mastocytosis in mice and is involved in the development of resistance to KIT-targeted therapy.

PubMed

Yang, Min; Pan, Zengkai; Huang, Kezhi; Büsche, Guntram; Feuerhake, Friedrich; Chaturvedi, Anuhar; Nie, Danian; Heuser, Michael; Thol, Felicitas; von Neuhoff, Nils; Ganser, Arnold; Li, Zhixiong

2017-09-26

The neurotrophins (NTs) play a key role in neuronal survival and maintenance. The TRK (tropomyosin-related kinase) tyrosine kinase receptors (TRKA, TRKB, TRKC) are high affinity receptors for NTs. There is increasing data demonstrating an important role of the TRK family in cancer initiation and progression. NTs have been known for many years to promote chemotaxis, maturation, and survival of mast cells. However, the role of NT signaling in the pathogenesis of mastocytosis is not well understood. In this study, we demonstrate that activation of TRKA by its ligand nerve growth factor (NGF) is potent to trigger a disease in mice with striking similarities to human systemic mastocytosis (SM). Moreover, activation of TRKA by NGF strongly rescues KIT inhibition-induced cell death of mast cell lines and primary mast cells from patients with SM, and this rescue effect can be efficiently blocked by entrectinib (a new pan TRK specific inhibitor). HMC-1 mast cell leukemia cells that are resistant to KIT inhibition induced by TRKA activation show reactivation of MAPK/ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) and strong upregulation of early growth response 3 (EGR3), suggesting an important role of MAPK-EGR3 axis in the development of resistance to KIT inhibition. Targeting both TRK and KIT significantly prolongs survival of mice xenotransplanted with HMC-1 cells compared with targeting KIT alone. Thus, these data strongly suggest that TRKA signaling can improve neoplastic mast cell fitness. This might explain at least in part why treatment with KIT inhibitors alone so far has been disappointing in most published clinical trials for mastocytosis. Our data suggest that targeting both KIT and TRKs might improve efficacy of molecular therapy in SM with KIT mutations.

c-kit+ Cells Minimally Contribute Cardiomyocytes to the Heart

PubMed Central

van Berlo, Jop H.; Kanisicak, Onur; Maillet, Marjorie; Vagnozzi, Ronald J.; Karch, Jason; Lin, Suh-Chin J.; Middleton, Ryan C.; Marbán, Eduardo; Molkentin, Jeffery D.

2014-01-01

If and how the heart regenerates after an injury event is highly debated. c-kit-expressing cardiac progenitor cells have been reported as the primary source for generation of new myocardium after injury. Here we generated two genetic approaches in mice to examine if endogenous c-kit+ cells contribute differentiated cardiomyocytes to the heart during development, with aging or after injury in adulthood. A cDNA encoding either Cre recombinase or a tamoxifen inducible MerCreMer chimeric protein was targeted to the Kit locus in mice and then bred with reporter lines to permanently mark cell lineage. Endogenous c-kit+ cells did produce new cardiomyocytes within the heart, although at a percentage of ≈0.03% or less, and if a preponderance towards cellular fusion is considered, the percentage falls below ≈0.008%. In contrast, c-kit+ cells amply generated cardiac endothelial cells. Thus, endogenous c-kit+ cells can generate cardiomyocytes within the heart, although likely at a functionally insignificant level. PMID:24805242

Massively parallel sequencing of forensic STRs and SNPs using the Illumina® ForenSeq™ DNA Signature Prep Kit on the MiSeq FGx™ Forensic Genomics System.

PubMed

Guo, Fei; Yu, Jiao; Zhang, Lu; Li, Jun

2017-11-01

The ForenSeq™ DNA Signature Prep Kit (ForenSeq Kit) is designed to detect more than 200 forensically relevant markers in a single reaction on the MiSeq FGx™ Forensic Genomics System (MiSeq FGx System), including Amelogenin, 27 autosomal short tandem repeats (A-STRs), 7 X chromosomal STRs (X-STRs), 24 Y chromosomal STRs (Y-STRs) and 94 identity-informative single nucleotide polymorphisms (iSNPs) with the option to contain 22 phenotypic-informative SNPs (pSNPs) and 56 ancestry-informative SNPs (aSNPs). In this study, we evaluated the MiSeq FGx System on three major parts: methodological optimization (DNA extraction, sample quantification, library normalization, diluted libraries concentration, and sample-to-cell arrangement), massively parallel sequencing (MPS) performance (depth of coverage, sequence coverage ratio, and allele coverage ratio), and ForenSeq Kit characteristics (repeatability and concordance, sensitivity, mixture, stability and case-type samples). Results showed that quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based sample quantification and library normalization and the appropriate number of pooled libraries and concentration of diluted libraries provided a greater level of MPS performance and repeatability. Repeatable and concordant genotypes were obtained by the ForenSeq Kit. Full profiles were obtained from ≥100pg input DNA for STRs and ≥200pg for SNPs. A sample with ≥5% minor contributors was considered as a mixture by imbalanced allele coverage ratio distribution, and full profiles from minor contributors were easily detected between 9:1 and 1:9 mixtures with known reference profiles. The ForenSeq Kit tolerated considerable concentrations of inhibitors like ≤200μM hematin and ≤50μg/ml humic acid, and >56% STR profiles and >88% SNP profiles were obtained from ≥200-bp degraded samples. Also, it was adapted to case-type samples. As a whole, the ForenSeq Kit is a well-performed, robust, reliable, reproducible and highly informative assay, and it can fully meet requirements for human identification. Further, sensitive QC indicator and automated sample comparison function in the ForenSeq™ Universal Analysis Software are quite helpful, so that we can concentrate on questionable genotypes and avoid tedious and time-consuming labor to maximum the time spent in data analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using Polymer Semiconductors and a 3-in-1 Plastic Electronics STEM Education Kit to Engage Students in Hands-On Polymer Inquiry Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enlow, Jessica L.; Marin, Dawn M.; Walter, Michael G.

2017-01-01

To improve polymer education for 9-12 and undergraduate students, a plastic electronics laboratory kit using polymer semiconductors has been developed. The three-module kit and curriculum use polymer semiconductors to provide hands-on inquiry activities with overlapping themes of electrical conductivity, light emission, and light-harvesting solar…

Oh, What Dr. Seuss Can Induce: Using Intentionality to Connect Families with Classrooms through Science and Children's Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Jeff A.; Raisor, Jill M.; Goebel, Vella

2013-01-01

In the following article, Dr. Seuss's children's books are creatively integrated with science activities through the creation of take-home activity kits. The kits provide families an opportunity to read at home while connecting the enjoyable experience to science content and skill development through associated activities. The kits should be…

[Development of ELISA-kit of quantitative analysis for Zearalenone].

PubMed

Wang, Yu-ping; Ji, Rong; Jiang, Tao; Kang, Wei-jun

2006-03-01

To develope a rapid, sensitive, quantitative ELISA-kit for Zearalenone and determine zearalenone in cereals. On the base of monoclonal antibodies against ZEN, apply indirect ELISA to study the performance parameter of the kit. The limited concentration of detection of the ELISA-kit was 1ng/ml, linear range was 1-200 ng/ml, the linear equation was Y = 0.99 - 0.40 x (R2 = 0.99). The inhibition concentration of 50% against ZEN was 16.3 ng/ml. The average recovery rate of spiked corn and wheat was 96.5% and 95.5%, respectively, the coefficient of variant was 13.2% and 10.9%, respectively. The kit can be stored at 4 degrees C over 6 months. The cross reaction rate with the other mycotoxins was less than 1%, and coefficient of variant within-laboratory and between-laboratory was less than 15% and less than 20%, respectively. Detecting the VICAM sample with ELISA method and HPLC method, the results were within the range of the sample, and there was no statistic difference between the two methods. This ELISA-kit was quick, sensitive, stable and specific and can be used to determine ZEN in cereals.

M-COPA suppresses endolysosomal Kit-Akt oncogenic signalling through inhibiting the secretory pathway in neoplastic mast cells.

PubMed

Hara, Yasushi; Obata, Yuuki; Horikawa, Keita; Tasaki, Yasutaka; Suzuki, Kyohei; Murata, Takatsugu; Shiina, Isamu; Abe, Ryo

2017-01-01

Gain-of-function mutations in Kit receptor tyrosine kinase result in the development of a variety of cancers, such as mast cell tumours, gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs), acute myeloid leukemia, and melanomas. The drug imatinib, a selective inhibitor of Kit, is used for treatment of mutant Kit-positive cancers. However, mutations in the Kit kinase domain, which are frequently found in neoplastic mast cells, confer an imatinib resistance, and cancers expressing the mutants can proliferate in the presence of imatinib. Recently, we showed that in neoplastic mast cells that endogenously express an imatinib-resistant Kit mutant, Kit causes oncogenic activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt (PI3K-Akt) pathway and the signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) but only on endolysosomes and on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), respectively. Here, we show a strategy for inhibition of the Kit-PI3K-Akt pathway in neoplastic mast cells by M-COPA (2-methylcoprophilinamide), an inhibitor of this secretory pathway. In M-COPA-treated cells, Kit localization in the ER is significantly increased, whereas endolysosomal Kit disappears, indicating that M-COPA blocks the biosynthetic transport of Kit from the ER. The drug greatly inhibits oncogenic Akt activation without affecting the association of Kit with PI3K, indicating that ER-localized Kit-PI3K complex is unable to activate Akt. Importantly, M-COPA but not imatinib suppresses neoplastic mast cell proliferation through inhibiting anti-apoptotic Akt activation. Results of our M-COPA treatment assay show that Kit can activate Erk not only on the ER but also on other compartments. Furthermore, Tyr568/570, Tyr703, Tyr721, and Tyr936 in Kit are phosphorylated on the ER, indicating that these five tyrosine residues are all phosphorylated before mutant Kit reaches the plasma membrane (PM). Our study provides evidence that Kit is tyrosine-phosphorylated soon after synthesis on the ER but is unable to activate Akt and also demonstrates that M-COPA is efficacious for growth suppression of neoplastic mast cells.

M-COPA suppresses endolysosomal Kit-Akt oncogenic signalling through inhibiting the secretory pathway in neoplastic mast cells

PubMed Central

Hara, Yasushi; Obata, Yuuki; Horikawa, Keita; Tasaki, Yasutaka; Suzuki, Kyohei; Murata, Takatsugu; Shiina, Isamu; Abe, Ryo

2017-01-01

Gain-of-function mutations in Kit receptor tyrosine kinase result in the development of a variety of cancers, such as mast cell tumours, gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs), acute myeloid leukemia, and melanomas. The drug imatinib, a selective inhibitor of Kit, is used for treatment of mutant Kit-positive cancers. However, mutations in the Kit kinase domain, which are frequently found in neoplastic mast cells, confer an imatinib resistance, and cancers expressing the mutants can proliferate in the presence of imatinib. Recently, we showed that in neoplastic mast cells that endogenously express an imatinib-resistant Kit mutant, Kit causes oncogenic activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt (PI3K-Akt) pathway and the signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) but only on endolysosomes and on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), respectively. Here, we show a strategy for inhibition of the Kit-PI3K-Akt pathway in neoplastic mast cells by M-COPA (2-methylcoprophilinamide), an inhibitor of this secretory pathway. In M-COPA-treated cells, Kit localization in the ER is significantly increased, whereas endolysosomal Kit disappears, indicating that M-COPA blocks the biosynthetic transport of Kit from the ER. The drug greatly inhibits oncogenic Akt activation without affecting the association of Kit with PI3K, indicating that ER-localized Kit-PI3K complex is unable to activate Akt. Importantly, M-COPA but not imatinib suppresses neoplastic mast cell proliferation through inhibiting anti-apoptotic Akt activation. Results of our M-COPA treatment assay show that Kit can activate Erk not only on the ER but also on other compartments. Furthermore, Tyr568/570, Tyr703, Tyr721, and Tyr936 in Kit are phosphorylated on the ER, indicating that these five tyrosine residues are all phosphorylated before mutant Kit reaches the plasma membrane (PM). Our study provides evidence that Kit is tyrosine-phosphorylated soon after synthesis on the ER but is unable to activate Akt and also demonstrates that M-COPA is efficacious for growth suppression of neoplastic mast cells. PMID:28403213

Recent Trends in Fusion Gyrotron Development at KIT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gantenbein, G.; Avramidis, K.; Franck, J.; Illy, S.; Ioannidis, Z. C.; Jin, J.; Jelonnek, J.; Kalaria, P.; Pagonakis, I. Gr.; Ruess, S.; Rzesnicki, T.; Thumm, M.; Wu, C.

2017-10-01

ECRH&CD is one of the favorite heating system for magnetically confined nuclear fusion plasmas. KIT is strongly involved in the development of high power gyrotrons for use in ECRH systems for nuclear fusion. KIT is upgrading the sub-components of the existing 2 MW, 170 GHz coaxial-cavity short-pulse gyrotron to support long-pulse operation up to 1 s, all components will be equipped with a specific active cooling system. Two important developments for future high power, highly efficient gyrotrons will be discussed: design of gyrotrons with high operating frequency (˜ 240 GHz) and efficiency enhancement by using advanced collector designs with multi-staged voltage depression.

The stem cell factor (SCF)/c-KIT signalling in testis and prostate cancer.

PubMed

Cardoso, Henrique J; Figueira, Marília I; Socorro, Sílvia

2017-12-01

The stem cell factor (SCF) is a cytokine that specifically binds the tyrosine kinase receptor c-KIT. The SCF/c-KIT interaction leads to receptor dimerization, activation of kinase activity and initiation of several signal transduction pathways that control cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation and migration in several tissues. The activity of SCF/c-KIT system is linked with the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K), the Src, the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT), the phospholipase-C (PLC-γ) and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Moreover, it has been reported that cancer cases display an overactivation of c-KIT due to the presence of gain-of-function mutations or receptor overexpression, which renders c-KIT a tempting target for cancer treatment. In the case of male cancers the most documented activated pathways are the PI3-K and Src, both enhancing abnormal cell proliferation. It is also known that the Src activity in prostate cancer cases depends on the presence of tr-KIT, the cytoplasmic truncated variant of c-KIT that is specifically expressed in tumour tissues and, thus, a very interesting target for drug development. The present review provides an overview of the signalling pathways activated by SCF/c-KIT and discusses the potential application of c-KIT inhibitors for treatment of testicular and prostatic cancers.

Towards an AI Behavior Toolkit for Games

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-01-01

Introduction To date there exists a disparity between AI research and game development technologies (Laird and van Lent 2000). We are currently...art AI re- sults. Such a kit has obvious benefits for both communities. On the game development side, the kit will provide a straight- forward method

[Development of surgical antibioprophylaxis kits: evaluation of the impact on prescribing habits].

PubMed

Aouizerate, P; Guizard, M

2002-01-01

In our hospital, surgical antibioprophylaxis (ATBP) was too often administered too late, thus raising the infectious risk. Antibiotic stocks of the anaesthesia department were also systematically used, instead of nominal prescriptions of these drugs. The pharmacy could neither charge antibiotics to each surgical department nor quantify and differentiate ATBP from curative antibiotic therapy. The pharmacy and anaesthesia departments therefore set out to standardize surgical ATBP, in order to adapt this treatment to each surgical indication, and particularly in the case of allergy to beta-lactamase antibiotics (second line treatment kits). Consequently, prescription forms were developed and supplied to each surgery department, as well as ATBP kits. The kits were prepared and distributed by the pharmacy, and comprised boxes containing antibiotics in sufficient quantities to respect the protocols approved by the French Society of Anaesthesia and Resuscitation (SFAR). A protocol describing prescriptions, dispensation and administration has been presented to physicians and nurses. Fifteen surgical departments were included in our study and 30 different kits were prepared. From 1998 to 2001, 5586 surgical operations required administration of a kit (second line treatment kits in 5% of cases): 1848 (33%) in visceral surgery; 764 (13.8%) in urology; 802 (14%) in orthopaedics; 13 (0.2%) in vascular and thoracic surgery; 1236 (22%) in ear-nose-throat (ENT), periodontics and ophtalmology, and 923 (17%) in gynaecology and obstetrics. 93% of filled prescriptions forms were spontaneously returned to the pharmacy, the others were obtained during the renewal of kit stocks. The cost (over 4 years) of ATBP was quantified: 157,871 F for the 15 departments included, 26,123 F in visceral surgery, 13,520 F in urology, 73,741 F in orthopaedics, 569 F in vascular surgery, 39,720 F in ENT/ophthalmology/periodontics and 4,198 F in gynaecology and obstetrics. According to the Altemeier classification, 2226 class I, 3151 class II, and 209 class III surgical operations were performed. Since the kits have been brought into use, the committee for the protection against nosocomial infections (CLIN) has observed a reduction in the incidence of post-operative infections, according to the Altemeier classification: from 1.6% to 0.5% in class I, from 6.5% to 4.3% in class II, and from 11% to 8.5% in class III. The difference was statistically significant only for classes I (p < 0.01) and II (p < 0.001), and unchanged for class III (p = 0.3). No analysis was carried out for class IV (curative treatments). Both nurses and physicians have greatly appreciated the implementation of this organization. The advantage in terms of post-operative infections, administration exhaustiveness and stock management is obvious. The prescribed kits were systematically appropriate for the surgical interventions. In orthopaedics, cefamandole was used over 24 h (188 kits) in ligament plasty and osteotomy, or for 48 h (499 kits) in prosthetic surgery; 24 amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (first line) and 9 clindamycin/gentamicin (second line) single dose kits have been prescribed in traumatic indications. In ophthalmology, kits were only prescribed in endophtalmitis (24 ofloxacin/fosfomycin single amount kits), implant replacement or cornea graft (1076 ofloxacin 24 h kits) and cataract surgery in diabetic patients (12 ofloxacin single amount kits). In ENT and periodontics, 124 surgical operations required cefazolin single dose kits. In vascular surgery, 5 pefloxacin/gentamicin 48 h kits and 1 amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 48 h kit were used in contaminated limb amputation, 1 cefamandole 48 h kit in class I surgery and 1 vancomycin 24 h kit (betalactamase antibiotic allergy); in thoracic surgery, 1 cefamandole 24 h kit was used for a thoracic wound. In visceral surgery, 9 different kits have been used, depending on the opening (class II) or not (class I) of the digestive tract. 797 cefazolin (first line) and 68 clindamycin/gentamicin (second line) single dose kits were used in class I surgery, and 689 amoxicillin/clavulanic acid single dose (SD) kits in class II surgery. Specific protocols consisted of 18 ceftriaxone/metronidazole and 48 metronidazole/gentamicin SD kits in oesophagus surgery, 11 ceftriaxone and 17 gentamicin SD kits in biliary endoscopy, 137 metronidazole SD kits in proctology and 34 amoxicillin/gentamicin 6 h kits for prevention of endocarditis. In urology, 133 cefotaxime and 20 pefloxacin/gentamicin SD kits were precribed in renal lithiasis, 102 amoxicillin/clavulanic acid SD kits in cystectomy, 27 amoxicillin/gentamicin 6 h kits in endocarditis prevention and 58 cefamandole SD kits in all other indications. In gynaecology and obstetrics, 534 cefazoline and 19 clindamycin/gentamicin (second line) SD kits were used, and 370 doxycyclin SD kits were prescribed in pregnancy termination. Some departments (orthopaedics and visceral surgery) adapted the protocols to their needs, specifically with regard to treatment duration. However, these situations were quickly corrected. A constant follow-up and update of this system, associated with routine audits, should allow the maintenance and possibly the improvement of these results, hence shortening treatment duration.

The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through (Multimedia Kit): A Multimedia Kit for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Downey, Carolyn J.; Steffy, Betty E.; English, Fenwick W.; Frase, Larry E.; Poston, William K.

2006-01-01

Showcasing the "Downey Walk-Through"--a method developed over a 40-year period, tested and refined in real-world schools and classrooms, and described in the pioneering book, "The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through," this innovative multimedia presentation provides trainers and staff developers with a complete resource answering the questions…

An integrated software suite for surface-based analyses of cerebral cortex.

PubMed

Van Essen, D C; Drury, H A; Dickson, J; Harwell, J; Hanlon, D; Anderson, C H

2001-01-01

The authors describe and illustrate an integrated trio of software programs for carrying out surface-based analyses of cerebral cortex. The first component of this trio, SureFit (Surface Reconstruction by Filtering and Intensity Transformations), is used primarily for cortical segmentation, volume visualization, surface generation, and the mapping of functional neuroimaging data onto surfaces. The second component, Caret (Computerized Anatomical Reconstruction and Editing Tool Kit), provides a wide range of surface visualization and analysis options as well as capabilities for surface flattening, surface-based deformation, and other surface manipulations. The third component, SuMS (Surface Management System), is a database and associated user interface for surface-related data. It provides for efficient insertion, searching, and extraction of surface and volume data from the database.

An integrated software suite for surface-based analyses of cerebral cortex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Van Essen, D. C.; Drury, H. A.; Dickson, J.; Harwell, J.; Hanlon, D.; Anderson, C. H.

2001-01-01

The authors describe and illustrate an integrated trio of software programs for carrying out surface-based analyses of cerebral cortex. The first component of this trio, SureFit (Surface Reconstruction by Filtering and Intensity Transformations), is used primarily for cortical segmentation, volume visualization, surface generation, and the mapping of functional neuroimaging data onto surfaces. The second component, Caret (Computerized Anatomical Reconstruction and Editing Tool Kit), provides a wide range of surface visualization and analysis options as well as capabilities for surface flattening, surface-based deformation, and other surface manipulations. The third component, SuMS (Surface Management System), is a database and associated user interface for surface-related data. It provides for efficient insertion, searching, and extraction of surface and volume data from the database.

The stem cell factor (SCF)/c-KIT system in carcinogenesis of reproductive tissues: What does the hormonal regulation tell us?

PubMed

Figueira, Marília I; Cardoso, Henrique J; Correia, Sara; Maia, Cláudio J; Socorro, Sílvia

2017-10-01

The tyrosine kinase receptor c-KIT and its ligand, the stem cell factor (SCF) are expressed in several tissues of male and female reproductive tract, playing an important role in the regulation of basic biological processes. The activation of c-KIT by SCF controls, cell survival and death, cell differentiation and migration. Also, the SCF/c-KIT system has been implicated in carcinogenesis of reproductive tissues due to its altered expression pattern or overactivation in consequence of gain-of-functions mutations. Over the years, it has also been shown that hormones, the primary regulators of reproductive function and causative agents in the case of hormone-dependent cancers, are also able to control the SCF/c-KIT tissue levels. Therefore, it is liable to suppose that disturbed SCF/c-KIT expression driven by (de)regulated hormone actions can be a relevant step towards carcinogenesis. The present review describes the SCF and c-KIT expression in cancers of reproductive tissues, discussing the implications of the hormonal regulation of the SCF/c-KIT system in cancer development. Understanding the relationship between hormonal imbalance and the SCF/c-KIT expression and activity would be relevant in the context of novel therapeutic approaches in reproductive cancers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nociceptive tuning by stem cell factor/c-Kit signaling.

PubMed

Milenkovic, Nevena; Frahm, Christina; Gassmann, Max; Griffel, Carola; Erdmann, Bettina; Birchmeier, Carmen; Lewin, Gary R; Garratt, Alistair N

2007-12-06

The molecular mechanisms regulating the sensitivity of sensory circuits to environmental stimuli are poorly understood. We demonstrate here a central role for stem cell factor (SCF) and its receptor, c-Kit, in tuning the responsiveness of sensory neurons to natural stimuli. Mice lacking SCF/c-Kit signaling displayed profound thermal hypoalgesia, attributable to a marked elevation in the thermal threshold and reduction in spiking rate of heat-sensitive nociceptors. Acute activation of c-Kit by its ligand, SCF, resulted in a reduced thermal threshold and potentiation of heat-activated currents in isolated small-diameter neurons and thermal hyperalgesia in mice. SCF-induced thermal hyperalgesia required the TRP family cation channel TRPV1. Lack of c-Kit signaling during development resulted in hypersensitivity of discrete mechanoreceptive neuronal subtypes. Thus, c-Kit can now be grouped with a small family of receptor tyrosine kinases, including c-Ret and TrkA, that control the transduction properties of sensory neurons.

A Lab Assembled Microcontroller-Based Sensor Module for Continuous Oxygen Measurement in Portable Hypoxia Chambers

PubMed Central

Mathupala, Saroj P.; Kiousis, Sam; Szerlip, Nicholas J.

2016-01-01

Background Hypoxia-based cell culture experiments are routine and essential components of in vitro cancer research. Most laboratories use low-cost portable modular chambers to achieve hypoxic conditions for cell cultures, where the sealed chambers are purged with a gas mixture of preset O2 concentration. Studies are conducted under the assumption that hypoxia remains unaltered throughout the 48 to 72 hour duration of such experiments. Since these chambers lack any sensor or detection system to monitor gas-phase O2, the cell-based data tend to be non-uniform due to the ad hoc nature of the experimental setup. Methodology With the availability of low-cost open-source microcontroller-based electronic project kits, it is now possible for researchers to program these with easy-to-use software, link them to sensors, and place them in basic scientific apparatus to monitor and record experimental parameters. We report here the design and construction of a small-footprint kit for continuous measurement and recording of O2 concentration in modular hypoxia chambers. The low-cost assembly (US$135) consists of an Arduino-based microcontroller, data-logging freeware, and a factory pre-calibrated miniature O2 sensor. A small, intuitive software program was written by the authors to control the data input and output. The basic nature of the kit will enable any student in biology with minimal experience in hobby-electronics to assemble the system and edit the program parameters to suit individual experimental conditions. Results/Conclusions We show the kit’s utility and stability of data output via a series of hypoxia experiments. The studies also demonstrated the critical need to monitor and adjust gas-phase O2 concentration during hypoxia-based experiments to prevent experimental errors or failure due to partial loss of hypoxia. Thus, incorporating the sensor-microcontroller module to a portable hypoxia chamber provides a researcher a capability that was previously available only to labs with access to sophisticated (and expensive) cell culture incubators. PMID:26862760

A New Assessment Tool. A Professional Development Kit for Trainers and Assessors Incorporating Language, Literacy and Numeracy Skills into Training Packages.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goulbourn, Barbara; Alexander, Ann

This kit is designed to help trainers and assessors understand the importance of workplace communication in training packages. Section 1 explains what trainers and assessors need to know about communication skills, and how to use the kit. Section 2 provides an overview of training packages. It describes the endorsed parts of the package, which…

Portable field kit for determining uranium in water

USGS Publications Warehouse

McHugh, John B.

1979-01-01

The pressing need for on-site field analyses of the uranium content of surface and ground waters has promoted the development of a simple, light-weight, relatively cheap, portable kit to make such determinations in the field. Forty to sixty water samples per day can be analyzed for uranium to less than 0.2 parts per billion. The kit was tested in the field with excellent results.

Young Children: Priority One. A Project Kit for Kiwanis Clubs--Addressing the Needs of Children, Prenatal through Age Five.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rice, C.; And Others

This Kiwanis Club project kit contains ideas and instructions for implementing programs that meet local needs in the areas of maternal and infant health, child care and development, parenting, and safety and pediatric trauma. The kit begins with an overview that explains how to assess need and how to plan, implement, and evaluate a project. Tip…

Year 2000 Readiness Kit: A Compilation of Y2K Resources for Schools, Colleges and Universities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Education, Washington, DC.

This kit was developed to assist the postsecondary education community's efforts to resolve the Year 2000 (Y2K) computer problem. The kit includes a description of the Y2K problem, an assessment of the readiness of colleges and universities, a checklist for institutions, a Y2K communications strategy, articles on addressing the problem in academic…

Small-Scale Industries in Kenya: A Case Study of Economic Development. Toward a Better World Series, Learning Kit No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, Harriet; Ross-Larson, Bruce, Ed.

This World Bank (Washington, D.C.) kit is a case study designed to introduce secondary school social studies students to a project in Kenya established to strengthen small-scale industries. The kit contains a pamphlet, a booklet, a sound filmstrip, and a teacher's guide. The pamphlet, "Economic Summary: Kenya," points out the severe…

The Rajasthan Canal Project: A Case Study of Economic Development. Toward a Better World Series, Learning Kit No. 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, Harriet; Ross-Larson, Bruce, Ed.

This World Bank (Washington, D.C.) kit is designed to teach secondary school social studies students about the Rajasthan (India) Canal Project and the impact it has had on the state of Rajasthan and its population. The kit contains a pamphlet, a booklet, a sound filmstrip, and a teacher's guide. The pamphlet, "Economic Summary: India,"…

FUELS IN SOIL TEST KIT: FIELD USE OF DIESEL DOG SOIL TEST KITS

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

Susan S. Sorini; John F. Schabron; Joseph F. Rovani, Jr.

Western Research Institute (WRI) has developed a new commercial product ready for technology transfer, the Diesel Dog{reg_sign} Portable Soil Test Kit, for performing analysis of fuel-contaminated soils in the field. The technology consists of a method developed by WRI (U.S. Patents 5,561,065 and 5,976,883) and hardware developed by WRI that allows the method to be performed in the field (patent pending). The method is very simple and does not require the use of highly toxic reagents. The aromatic components in a soil extract are measured by absorption at 254 nm with a field-portable photometer. WRI added significant value to themore » technology by taking the method through the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approval and validation processes. The method is designated as ASTM Method D 5831-96, Standard Test Method for Screening Fuels in Soils. This ASTM designation allows the method to be used for federal compliance activities. In June 2001, the Diesel Dog technology won an American Chemical Society Regional Industrial Innovations Award. To gain field experience with the new technology, Diesel Dog kits have been used for a variety of site evaluation and cleanup activities. Information gained from these activities has led to improvements in hardware configurations and additional insight into correlating Diesel Dog results with results from laboratory methods. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) used Diesel Dog Soil Test Kits to guide cleanups at a variety of sites throughout the state. ENSR, of Acton, Massachusetts, used a Diesel Dog Portable Soil Test Kit to evaluate sites in the Virgin Islands and Georgia. ChemTrack and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers successfully used a test kit to guide excavation at an abandoned FAA fuel-contaminated site near Fairbanks, Alaska. Barenco, Inc. is using a Diesel Dog Portable Soil Test Kit for site evaluations in Canada. A small spill of diesel fuel was cleaned up in Laramie, Wyoming using a Diesel Dog Soil Test Kit.« less

Suicide Prevention with Diverse College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shadick, Richard; Akhter, Sarah

2014-01-01

Because of a dearth of experience in preventing suicide in diverse student populations, Pace University developed a multicultural suicide prevention kit. This article details the process used to develop the kit. The rationale for approaching suicide prevention in a culturally competent manner is presented, and methods used to gain culture-specific…

Characterization of various types of mast cells derived from model mice of familial gastrointestinal stromal tumors with KIT-Asp818Tyr mutation

PubMed Central

Kajimoto, Noriko; Nakai, Norihiro; Ohkouchi, Mizuka; Hashikura, Yuka; Liu-Kimura, Ning-Ning; Isozaki, Koji; Hirota, Seiichi

2015-01-01

Sporadic mast cell neoplasms and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) often have various types of somatic gain-of-function mutations of the c-kit gene which encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase, KIT. Several types of germline gain-of-function mutations of the c-kit gene have been detected in families with multiple GISTs. All three types of model mice for the familial GISTs with germline c-kit gene mutations at exon 11, 13 or 17 show development of GIST, while they are different from each other in skin mast cell number. Skin mast cell number in the model mice with exon 17 mutation was unchanged compared to the corresponding wild-type mice. In the present study, we characterized various types of mast cells derived from the model mice with exon 17 mutation (KIT-Asp818Tyr) corresponding to human familial GIST case with human KIT-Asp820Tyr to clarify the role of the c-kit gene mutation in mast cells. Bone marrow-derived cultured mast cells (BMMCs) derived from wild-type mice, heterozygotes and homozygotes were used for the experiments. Immortalized BMMCs, designated as IMC-G4 cells, derived from BMMCs of a homozygote during long-term culture were also used. Ultrastructure, histamine contents, proliferation profiles and phosphorylation of various signaling molecules in those cells were examined. In IMC-G4 cells, presence of additional mutation(s) of the c-kit gene and effect of KIT inhibitors on both KIT autophosphorylation and cell proliferation were also analyzed. We demonstrated that KIT-Asp818Tyr did not affect ultrastructure and proliferation profiles but did histamine contents in BMMCs. IMC-G4 cells had an additional novel c-kit gene mutation of KIT-Tyr421Cys which is considered to induce neoplastic transformation of mouse mast cells and the mutation appeared to be resistant to a KIT inhibitor of imatinib but sensitive to another KIT inhibitor of nilotinib. IMC-G4 cells might be a useful mast cell line to investigate mast cell biology. PMID:26722383

Using Art to Enhance the Learning of Math and Science: Developing an Educational Art-Science Kit about Fractal Patterns in Nature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Deepa

This study documents the development of an educational art-science kit about natural fractals, whose aim is to unite artistic and scientific inquiry in the informal learning of science and math. Throughout this research, I argue that having an arts-integrated approach can enhance the learner of science and math concepts. A guiding metaphor in this thesis is the Enlightenment-era cabinet of curiosities that represents a time when art and science were unified in the process of inquiry about the natural world. Over time, increased specialization in the practice of arts and science led to a growing divergence between the disciplines in the educational system. Recently, initiatives like STEAM are underway at the national level to integrate "Arts and Design" into the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) formal education agenda. Learning artifacts like science kits present an opportunity to unite artistic and scientific inquiry in informal settings. Although science kits have been introduced to promote informal learning, presently, many science kits have a gap in their design, whereby the activities consist of recipe-like instructions that do not encourage further inquiry-based learning. In the spirit of the cabinet of curiosities, this study seeks to unify visual arts and science in the process of inquiry. Drawing from educational theories of Dewey, Piaget, and Papert, I developed a novel, prototype "art-science kit" that promotes experiential, hands-on, and active learning, and encourages inquiry, exploration, creativity, and reflection through a series of art-based activities to help users learn science and math concepts. In this study, I provide an overview of the design and development process of the arts-based educational activities. Furthermore, I present the results of a pilot usability study (n=10) conducted to receive user feedback on the designed materials for use in improving future iterations of the art-science fractal kit. The fractal kit booklet that I designed can be found in the supplemental materials to this thesis.

A Facility and Architecture for Autonomy Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pisanich, Greg; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Autonomy is a key enabling factor in the advancement of the remote robotic exploration. There is currently a large gap between autonomy software at the research level and software that is ready for insertion into near-term space missions. The Mission Simulation Facility (MST) will bridge this gap by providing a simulation framework and suite of simulation tools to support research in autonomy for remote exploration. This system will allow developers of autonomy software to test their models in a high-fidelity simulation and evaluate their system's performance against a set of integrated, standardized simulations. The Mission Simulation ToolKit (MST) uses a distributed architecture with a communication layer that is built on top of the standardized High Level Architecture (HLA). This architecture enables the use of existing high fidelity models, allows mixing simulation components from various computing platforms and enforces the use of a standardized high-level interface among components. The components needed to achieve a realistic simulation can be grouped into four categories: environment generation (terrain, environmental features), robotic platform behavior (robot dynamics), instrument models (camera/spectrometer/etc.), and data analysis. The MST will provide basic components in these areas but allows users to plug-in easily any refined model by means of a communication protocol. Finally, a description file defines the robot and environment parameters for easy configuration and ensures that all the simulation models share the same information.

Asteroid Crew Segment Mission Lean Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gard, Joseph; McDonald, Mark

2014-01-01

Asteroid Retrieval Crewed Mission (ARCM) requires a minimum set of Key Capabilities compared in the context of the baseline EM-1/2 Orion and SLS capabilities. These include: Life Support & Human Systems Capabilities; Mission Kit Capabilities; Minimizing the impact to the Orion and SLS development schedules and funding. Leveraging existing technology development efforts to develop the kits adds functionality to Orion while minimizing cost and mass impact.

Low-cost field test kits for arsenic detection in water.

PubMed

Das, Joyati; Sarkar, Priyabrata; Panda, Jigisha; Pal, Priyabrata

2014-01-01

Arsenic, a common contaminant of groundwater, affects human health adversely. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the maximum recommended contamination level of arsenic in drinking water is 10 μg/L. The purpose of this research was to develop user-friendly kits for detection of arsenic to measure at least up to 10 μg/L in drinking water, so that a preventive measure could be taken. Two different kits for detection of total arsenic in water are reported here. First, the arsenic in drinking water was converted to arsine gas by a strong reducing agent. The arsine produced was then detected by paper strips via generation of color due to reaction with either mercuric bromide (KIT-1) or silver nitrate (KIT-2). These were previously immobilized on the detector strip. The first one gave a yellow color and the second one grey. Both of these kits could detect arsenic contamination within a range of 10 μg/L-250 μg/L. The detection time for both the kits was only 7 min. The kits exhibited excellent performance compared to other kits available in the market with respect to detection time, ease of operation, cost and could be easily handled by a layman. The field trials with these kits gave very satisfactory results. A study on interference revealed that these kits could be used in the presence of 24 common ions present in the arsenic contaminated water. Though the kits were meant for qualitative assay, the results with unknown concentrations of real samples, when compared with atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) were in good agreement as revealed by the t-test.

c-kit expression profile and regulatory factors during spermatogonial stem cell differentiation

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background It has been proven that c-kit is crucial for proliferation, migration, survival and maturation of spermatogenic cells. A periodic expression of c-kit is observed from primordial germ cells (PGCs) to spermatogenetic stem cells (SSCs), However, the expression profile of c-kit during the entire spermatogenesis process is still unclear. This study aims to reveal and compare c-kit expression profiles in the SSCs before and after the anticipated differentiation, as well as to examine its relationship with retinoic acid (RA) stimulation. Results We have found that there are more than 4 transcripts of c-kit expressed in the cell lines and in the testes. The transcripts can be divided into short and long categories. The long transcripts include the full-length canonical c-kit transcript and the 3′ end short transcript. Short transcripts include the 3.4 kb short transcript and several truncated transcripts (1.9-3.2 kb). In addition, the 3.4 kb transcript (starting from intron 9 and covering exons 10 ~ 21) is discovered to be specifically expressed in the spermatogonia. The extracellular domain of Kit is obtained in the spermatogonia stage, but the intracellular domain (50 kDa) is constantly expressed in both SSCs and spermatogonia. The c-kit expression profiles in the testis and the spermatogonial stem cell lines vary after RA stimulation. The wave-like changes of the quantitative expression pattern of c-kit (increase initially and decrease afterwards) during the induction process are similar to that of the in vivo male germ cell development process. Conclusions There are dynamic transcription and translation changes of c-kit before and after SSCs’ anticipated differentiation and most importantly, RA is a significant upstream regulatory factor for c-kit expression. PMID:24161026

Proof of Concept Study of Trade Space Configuration Tool for Spacecraft Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glidden, Geoffrey L.

2009-01-01

Spacecraft design is a very difficult and time consuming process because requirements and criteria are often changed or modified as the design is refined. Accounting for these adjustments in the design constraints plays a significant role in furthering the overall progress. There are numerous aspects and variables that hold significant influence on various characteristics of the design. This can be especially frustrating when attempting to conduct rapid trade space analysis on system configurations. Currently, the data and designs considered for trade space evaluations can only be displayed by using the traditional interfaces of Excel spreadsheets or CAD (Computer Aided Design) models. While helpful, these methods of analyzing the data from a systems engineering approach can be rather complicated and overwhelming. As a result, a proof of concept was conducted on a dynamic data visualization software called Thinkmap SDK (Software Developer Kit) to allow for better organization and understanding of the relationships between the various aspects that make up an entire design. The Orion Crew Module Aft Bay Subsystem was used as the test case for this study because the design and layout of many of the subsystem components will be significant in ensuring the overall center of gravity of the capsule is correct. A simplified model of this subsystem was created and programmed using Thinkmap SDK to create a preliminary prototype application of a Trade Space Configuration Tool. The completed application ensures that the core requirements for the Tool can be met. Further development is strongly suggested to produce a full prototype application to allow final evaluations and recommendations of the software capabilities.

The EURITRACK project: development of a tagged neutron inspection system for cargo containers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perot, Bertrand; Perret, Gregory; Mariani, Alain; Ma, Jean-Luc; Szabo, Jean-Louis; Mercier, Emmanuel; Sannie, Guillaume; Viesti, Giuseppe; Nebbia, Giancarlo; Pesente, Silvia; Lunardon, Marcello; Formisano, Paola; Moretto, Sandra; Fabris, Daniela; Zenoni, Aldo; Bonomi, Germano; Donzella, Antonietta; Fontana, Andrea; Boghen, Gaia; Valkovic, Vladivoj; Sudac, Darovin; Moszynski, Marek; Batsch, Tadeusz; Gierlik, Michal; Wolski, Dariusz; Klamra, Wlodzimierz; Isaksson, Patrick; Le Tourneur, Philippe; Lhuissier, Miguel; Colonna, Annamaria; Tintori, Carlo; Peerani, Paolo; Sequeira, Vitor; Salvato, Martino

2006-05-01

The EURopean Illicit TRAfficing Countermeasures Kit project is part of the 6th European Union Framework Program, and aims at developing a neutron inspection system for detecting threat materials (explosives, drugs, etc.) in cargo containers. Neutron interaction in the container produces specific gamma-rays used to determine the chemical composition of the inspected material. An associated particle sealed tube neutron generator is developed to allow precise location of the interaction point by direction and time-of-flight measurements of the neutrons tagged by alpha-particles. The EURITRACK project consists in developing: a transportable deuterium-tritium neutron generator including a position sensitive alpha detector (8×8 matrix of YAP:Ce crystals coupled to a multi-anode photomultiplier), fast neutron and gamma-ray detectors, front-end electronics to perform coincidence and spectroscopic measurements, and an integrated software which manages neutron generator and detectors positioning, data acquisition and analysis. Hardware components have been developed and tested by the consortium partners. Current status of this work and provisional performances of the system assessed by Monte Carlo calculations are presented.

KIT Suppresses BRAFV600E-Mutant Melanoma by Attenuating Oncogenic RAS/MAPK Signaling.

PubMed

Neiswender, James V; Kortum, Robert L; Bourque, Caitlin; Kasheta, Melissa; Zon, Leonard I; Morrison, Deborah K; Ceol, Craig J

2017-11-01

The receptor tyrosine kinase KIT promotes survival and migration of melanocytes during development, and excessive KIT activity hyperactivates the RAS/MAPK pathway and can drive formation of melanomas, most notably of rare melanomas that occur on volar and mucosal surfaces of the skin. The much larger fraction of melanomas that occur on sun-exposed skin is driven primarily by BRAF- or NRAS-activating mutations, but these melanomas exhibit a surprising loss of KIT expression, which raises the question of whether loss of KIT in these tumors facilitates tumorigenesis. To address this question, we introduced a kit(lf) mutation into a strain of Tg(mitfa:BRAF V600E ); p53(lf) melanoma-prone zebrafish. Melanoma onset was accelerated in kit(lf); Tg(mitfa:BRAF V600E ); p53(lf) fish. Tumors from kit(lf) animals were more invasive and had higher RAS/MAPK pathway activation. KIT knockdown also increased RAS/MAPK pathway activation in a BRAF V600E -mutant human melanoma cell line. We found that pathway stimulation upstream of BRAF V600E could paradoxically reduce signaling downstream of BRAF V600E , and wild-type BRAF was necessary for this effect, suggesting that its activation can dampen oncogenic BRAF V600E signaling. In vivo , expression of wild-type BRAF delayed melanoma onset, but only in a kit -dependent manner. Together, these results suggest that KIT can activate signaling through wild-type RAF proteins, thus interfering with oncogenic BRAF V600E -driven melanoma formation. Cancer Res; 77(21); 5820-30. ©2017 AACR . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

Elevated expression of the proto-oncogene c-kit in patients with mastocytosis.

PubMed

Nagata, H; Worobec, A S; Semere, T; Metcalfe, D D

1998-02-01

The stem cell factor (SCF)c-kit receptor interaction plays a critical role in the development and survival of mast cells. Several studies have also associated c-kit receptor mutations with the human diseases, mastocytosis and piebaldism. Overexpression of c-kit has been reported to be associated with myeloproliferative disorders and myelodysplastic syndromes. Using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 11 patients with indolent mastocytosis (category I), mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder (category II), or aggressive mastocytosis (category III); a patient with CMML unassociated with mastocytosis, and PBMCs from 13 normal subjects, we examined the level of expression of c-kit mRNA along with other c-kit isoforms to determine if overexpression of the c-kit receptor was associated with mastocytosis. Using quantitative competitive PCR, c-kit mRNA levels on average were found to be statistically elevated in the five patients with mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder and in the patient with aggressive mastocytosis as compared with controls, but not elevated in patients with indolent mastocytosis. The relative mRNA expression for the two c-kit isoforms was not significantly different in the mastocytosis patients compared with controls. This demonstration of the overexpression of c-kit mRNA in mastocytosis, and particularly those patients with clinical evidence of myelodysplastic syndrome, adds evidence to support the conclusion that mastocytosis, at least in some patients, is a feature of myelodysplasia; and suggests that determination of c-kit mRNA expression in PBMCs may provide an additional approach to assessing prognosis.

Exploration of the assessment practices of elementary teachers using science kits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scribner-Maclean, Michelle

The purpose of the study was to determine the assessment literacy levels of elementary teachers who are experienced science kit users compared to those who are novice users as well as to compare assessment literacy levels of kit users to non kit users. Further, the study explored how teachers used assessment instruments in a classroom setting during kit-based science lessons. The study consisted of two parts. The population for Part One of this study was 47 elementary teachers from four communities in Northeastern Massachusetts who used Science, Technology, and Children (STC) kits for their classroom science instruction. Part Two of this study was conducted with four elementary teachers, two experienced kit users and two novice kit users, who were selected by their administrators. Data were collected for Part One of this study by use of the Teacher Assessment Questionnaire (TAQ), developed by Plake and Impara (1990), which provided a description of the assessment literacy levels of teachers. The assessment literacy levels of experienced kit users were compared to novice kit users by the t-Test for independent means. The assessment literacy levels of kit users and non kit users were also compared by use of the t-Test for independent means. For Part Two, classroom observations and teacher interviews were audio taped and transcribed. Each of these four teachers were also given the TAQ. Data for Part Two of the study were categorized and coded by Whittington's (1990) assessment literacy skills which are based upon the Standards for Teacher Competency of Educational Assessment of Students (STCEAS). Instances in which these skills occurred during classroom observations and pre- and post-lesson interviews were tabulated to create an overall picture of assessment literacy for each of the four teachers. The findings for Parts One and Two of this study indicate that there were differences in the assessment literacy scores for kit users and non kit users only for Standard Two: Developing Assessment Methods Appropriate for Instructional Decisions and Standard Seven: Recognizing Unethical, Illegal, and Otherwise Inappropriate Assessment Methods a significant difference between the assessment literacy scores of kit users and non kit users. There were no differences between novice and experienced kit users. Nor were there a highly significant overall difference between the skills displayed in the classrooms of experienced and novice kit users. Part, Two of this study further indicates that, although teachers correctly answered the majority of the items on the TAQ, observations of classroom practice did not show evidence that teachers demonstrate understanding of assessment on a regular basis. The assessment reform movement puts strong emphasis on the quality of assessment instruments as well the knowledge of those who use assessment. Effective assessment is strongly linked to effective overall teaching. Science curriculum that has a strong content base cannot help increase scientific literacy without a strong assessment component administered by teachers and administrators who are competent assessors. This study makes a case for schools which introduce new science curriculum units to provide educators with on-going training in assessment as well as in use of the curriculum. The evidence provided by this study indicates that experience using the assessments in kits is not enough to enable teachers to become assessment literate.

Inventions leading to the development of the diagnostic test kit industry--from the modern pregnancy test to the sandwich assays.

PubMed

Wide, Leif

2005-01-01

The universities are encouraged by the government nowadays to stimulate innovations and also to provide the proper machinery for assisting the protection and commercialisation of innovations. A better understanding of the innovation process may help to create an atmosphere suitable for inventions at the university. Examples can be taken from successful innovations previously made at the university. During the 1960's I made a series of inventions, which ultimately led to the development of the diagnostic test kit industry. The first, which I made as an undergraduate, was a simple and reliable test kit for diagnosis of pregnancy. This was followed by the solid phase radioimmunoassay and a solid phase assay for vitamin B12; next, the dual specific non-competitive sandwich assay and the in-vitro test for diagnosis of allergy, called RAST (Radioallergosorbent test). Organon in Holland with the pregnancy test kit, and Pharmacia in Sweden with test kits for radioimmunoassay, became pioneers among the diagnostic test kit industries. Pharmacia Diagnostics later became one of the leading diagnostic test kit companies in the world and has continued to be so in the field of allergy diagnosis. Each one of these inventions started with a few unique observations leading to a technical development. The pregnancy test as well as the allergy test emerged from the development of assay methods with unique qualities with the subsequent search for appropriate applications. The foreseeing of a commercial value on a future market was a very important step. This was followed by the search for a suitable industry interested to exploit the invention with its new business opportunity i.e. apply for a patent, produce and market the products, which in my case consisted of the necessary reagents and equipments for particular diagnostic tests. Finally, an agreement had to be settled between the entrepreneur and the inventors. This report describes these inventions and particularly discusses some crucial steps of the innovation processes.

The Seismic Tool-Kit (STK): an open source software for seismology and signal processing.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reymond, Dominique

2016-04-01

We present an open source software project (GNU public license), named STK: Seismic ToolKit, that is dedicated mainly for seismology and signal processing. The STK project that started in 2007, is hosted by SourceForge.net, and count more than 19 500 downloads at the date of writing. The STK project is composed of two main branches: First, a graphical interface dedicated to signal processing (in the SAC format (SAC_ASCII and SAC_BIN): where the signal can be plotted, zoomed, filtered, integrated, derivated, ... etc. (a large variety of IFR and FIR filter is proposed). The estimation of spectral density of the signal are performed via the Fourier transform, with visualization of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) in linear or log scale, and also the evolutive time-frequency representation (or sonagram). The 3-components signals can be also processed for estimating their polarization properties, either for a given window, or either for evolutive windows along the time. This polarization analysis is useful for extracting the polarized noises, differentiating P waves, Rayleigh waves, Love waves, ... etc. Secondly, a panel of Utilities-Program are proposed for working in a terminal mode, with basic programs for computing azimuth and distance in spherical geometry, inter/auto-correlation, spectral density, time-frequency for an entire directory of signals, focal planes, and main components axis, radiation pattern of P waves, Polarization analysis of different waves (including noize), under/over-sampling the signals, cubic-spline smoothing, and linear/non linear regression analysis of data set. A MINimum library of Linear AlGebra (MIN-LINAG) is also provided for computing the main matrix process like: QR/QL decomposition, Cholesky solve of linear system, finding eigen value/eigen vectors, QR-solve/Eigen-solve of linear equations systems ... etc. STK is developed in C/C++, mainly under Linux OS, and it has been also partially implemented under MS-Windows. Usefull links: http://sourceforge.net/projects/seismic-toolkit/ http://sourceforge.net/p/seismic-toolkit/wiki/browse_pages/

A variant c-KIT mutation, D816H, fundamental to the sequential development of an ovarian mixed germ cell tumor and systemic mastocytosis with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.

PubMed

Mitchell, Sarah G; Bunting, Silvia T; Saxe, Debra; Olson, Thomas; Keller, Frank G

2017-04-01

An activating point mutation of the c-KIT tyrosine kinase receptor gene, D816H, has been described in germ cell tumors (GCTs). We report an adolescent diagnosed with an ovarian mixed GCT and systemic mastocytosis with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (SM-CMML). The teratoma and dysgerminoma differed by copy number aberrations via single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray, but were inclusive of the same c-KIT D816H point mutation (c.2446G>C) also identified in blood and bone marrow mast cells. These findings indicate not only a clonal origin of the GCT and hematologic malignancy, but also suggest a rare KIT mutation may be playing a fundamental role in malignancy development. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A new human mast cell line expressing a functional IgE receptor converts to tumorigenic growth by KIT D816V transfection.

PubMed

Saleh, Rosine; Wedeh, Ghaith; Herrmann, Harald; Bibi, Siham; Cerny-Reiterer, Sabine; Sadovnik, Irina; Blatt, Katharina; Hadzijusufovic, Emir; Jeanningros, Sylvie; Blanc, Catherine; Legarff-Tavernier, Magali; Chapiro, Elise; Nguyen-Khac, Florence; Subra, Frédéric; Bonnemye, Patrick; Dubreuil, Patrice; Desplat, Vanessa; Merle-Béral, Hélène; Willmann, Michael; Rülicke, Thomas; Valent, Peter; Arock, Michel

2014-07-03

In systemic mastocytosis (SM), clinical problems arise from factor-independent proliferation of mast cells (MCs) and the increased release of mediators by MCs, but no human cell line model for studying MC activation in the context of SM is available. We have created a stable stem cell factor (SCF) -dependent human MC line, ROSA(KIT WT), expressing a fully functional immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor. Transfection with KIT D816V converted ROSA(KIT WT) cells into an SCF-independent clone, ROSA(KIT D816V), which produced a mastocytosis-like disease in NSG mice. Although several signaling pathways were activated, ROSA(KIT D816V) did not exhibit an increased, but did exhibit a decreased responsiveness to IgE-dependent stimuli. Moreover, NSG mice bearing ROSA(KIT D816V)-derived tumors did not show mediator-related symptoms, and KIT D816V-positive MCs obtained from patients with SM did not show increased IgE-dependent histamine release or CD63 upregulation. Our data show that KIT D816V is a disease-propagating oncoprotein, but it does not activate MCs to release proinflammatory mediators, which may explain why mediator-related symptoms in SM occur preferentially in the context of a coexisting allergy. ROSA(KIT D816V) may provide a valuable tool for studying the pathogenesis of mastocytosis and should facilitate the development of novel drugs for treating SM patients. © 2014 by The American Society of Hematology.

Use of a Novel Airway Kit and Simulation in Resident Training on Emergent Pediatric Airways.

PubMed

Melzer, Jonathan M; Hamersley, Erin R S; Gallagher, Thomas Q

2017-06-01

Objective Development of a novel pediatric airway kit and implementation with simulation to improve resident response to emergencies with the goal of improving patient safety. Methods Prospective study with 9 otolaryngology residents (postgraduate years 1-5) from our tertiary care institution. Nine simulated pediatric emergency airway drills were carried out with the existing system and a novel portable airway kit. Response times and time to successful airway control were noted with both the extant airway system and the new handheld kit. Results were analyzed to ensure parametric data and compared with t tests. A Bonferroni adjustment indicated that an alpha of 0.025 was needed for significance. Results Use of the airway kit significantly reduced the mean time of resident arrival by 47% ( P = .013) and mean time of successful intubation by 50% ( P = .007). Survey data indicated 100% improved resident comfort with emergent airway scenarios with use of the kit. Discussion Times to response and meaningful intervention were significantly reduced with implementation of the handheld airway kit. Use of simulation training to implement the new kit improved residents' comfort and airway skills. This study describes an affordable novel mobile airway kit and demonstrates its ability to improve response times. Implications for Practice The low cost of this airway kit makes it a tenable option even for smaller hospitals. Simulation provides a safe and effective way to familiarize oneself with novel equipment, and, when possible, realistic emergent airway simulations should be used to improve provider performance.

Archival Services and Technologies for Scientific Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Jörg; Hardt, Marcus; Streit, Achim; van Wezel, Jos

2014-06-01

After analysis and publication, there is no need to keep experimental data online on spinning disks. For reliability and costs inactive data is moved to tape and put into a data archive. The data archive must provide reliable access for at least ten years following a recommendation of the German Science Foundation (DFG), but many scientific communities wish to keep data available much longer. Data archival is on the one hand purely a bit preservation activity in order to ensure the bits read are the same as those written years before. On the other hand enough information must be archived to be able to use and interpret the content of the data. The latter is depending on many also community specific factors and remains an areas of much debate among archival specialists. The paper describes the current practice of archival and bit preservation in use for different science communities at KIT for which a combination of organizational services and technical tools are required. The special monitoring to detect tape related errors, the software infrastructure in use as well as the service certification are discussed. Plans and developments at KIT also in the context of the Large Scale Data Management and Analysis (LSDMA) project are presented. The technical advantages of the T10 SCSI Stream Commands (SSC-4) and the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) will have a profound impact on future long term archival of large data sets.

Determination of levels of polychlorinated biphenyl in transformers oil from some selected transformers in parts of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

PubMed

Buah-Kwofie, Archibold; Yeboah, Philip O; Pwamang, John

2011-01-01

Although polychlorinated biphenyls have never been manufactured in Ghana, it has been used extensively as dielectric fluid in electric transformers and capacitors. However, very little is known of its health and environmental impacts by both managers of these transformers and capacitors and also the general public. This work therefore seeks to explore INAA as a possible alternative to screening transformer oils for PCBs by determining the total chlorine content. The total chlorine content of transformer oil samples from Ghana that tested positive and some randomly selected samples that tested negative from screening using CLOR-N-OIL test kits, have had their total chlorine estimated. INAA using the Research Reactor located at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission was used to estimate the total chlorine content of the oil samples. Neutron Activation and gamma ray spectroscopy using HPGe detector coupled to MAESTRO 32 software was used to determine the total chlorine content by integrating the peak area of the spectrum into a simplified program that was developed from the activation equation. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis was able to validate the result obtained from the test kits screening with accuracy 7.5%. The minimum total chlorine content of the positive samples determined by NAA was 71.34 μg g⁻¹. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Grade 12 Students' Conceptual Understanding and Mental Models of Galvanic Cells before and after Learning by Using Small-Scale Experiments in Conjunction with a Model Kit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Supasorn, Saksri

2015-01-01

This study aimed to develop the small-scale experiments involving electrochemistry and the galvanic cell model kit featuring the sub-microscopic level. The small-scale experiments in conjunction with the model kit were implemented based on the 5E inquiry learning approach to enhance students' conceptual understanding of electrochemistry. The…

An Examination of the Interaction between Modelling and Its Relationship with Construction Kits: Lessons from the Past and for the Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkinson, Eric F.

2004-01-01

Construction kits have played a significant part in nurturing the growth and development of the minds and manipulation-based skills of children (and adults) in formal and non-formal education settings. These kits have origins rooted in the representation of the built world and now have a diversity of form and function, including technical versions…

Development and Evaluation of User-Friendly Single Vial DOTA-Peptide Kit Formulations, Specifically Designed for Radiolabelling with 68Ga from a Tin Dioxide 68Ge/68Ga Generator.

PubMed

Prince, Deidré; Rossouw, Daniel; Davids, Claudia; Rubow, Sietske

2017-12-01

This study was aimed to develop single vial 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)-peptide kits to be used with fractionated eluates from a SnO 2 -based 68 Ge/ 68 Ga generator. Kits were formulated with 35 μg DOTA-Tyr 3 -Thre 8 -octreotide, DOTA-[Tyr 3 ]-octreotide and DOTA-[NaI 3 ]-octreotide (DOTATATE, DOTATOC and DOTANOC) and sodium acetate powder, vacuum-dried and stored at -20 °C for up to 12 months. Labelling of the kits was carried out with 2 ml 68 Ga eluate. Comparative labelling was carried out using aqueous DOTA-peptide stock solutions kept frozen at -20 °C for up to 12 months. The quality of the kits was found to be suitable over a 1-year storage period (pH, sterility, endotoxin content, radiolabelling efficiency and radiochemical yields of 68 Ga-labelled DOTA-peptides). Radiochemical yields ranged from 73 to 83 %, while those obtained from stock solutions from 64 to 79 %. No significant decline in kit labelling yields was observed over a 12-month storage period. The single vial kit formulations met the quality release specifications for human administration and appear to be highly advantageous over using peptide stock solutions in terms of stability and user-friendliness.

The GMOD Drupal Bioinformatic Server Framework

PubMed Central

Papanicolaou, Alexie; Heckel, David G.

2010-01-01

Motivation: Next-generation sequencing technologies have led to the widespread use of -omic applications. As a result, there is now a pronounced bioinformatic bottleneck. The general model organism database (GMOD) tool kit (http://gmod.org) has produced a number of resources aimed at addressing this issue. It lacks, however, a robust online solution that can deploy heterogeneous data and software within a Web content management system (CMS). Results: We present a bioinformatic framework for the Drupal CMS. It consists of three modules. First, GMOD-DBSF is an application programming interface module for the Drupal CMS that simplifies the programming of bioinformatic Drupal modules. Second, the Drupal Bioinformatic Software Bench (biosoftware_bench) allows for a rapid and secure deployment of bioinformatic software. An innovative graphical user interface (GUI) guides both use and administration of the software, including the secure provision of pre-publication datasets. Third, we present genes4all_experiment, which exemplifies how our work supports the wider research community. Conclusion: Given the infrastructure presented here, the Drupal CMS may become a powerful new tool set for bioinformaticians. The GMOD-DBSF base module is an expandable community resource that decreases development time of Drupal modules for bioinformatics. The biosoftware_bench module can already enhance biologists' ability to mine their own data. The genes4all_experiment module has already been responsible for archiving of more than 150 studies of RNAi from Lepidoptera, which were previously unpublished. Availability and implementation: Implemented in PHP and Perl. Freely available under the GNU Public License 2 or later from http://gmod-dbsf.googlecode.com Contact: alexie@butterflybase.org PMID:20971988

AMD3100 treatment attenuates pulmonary angiogenesis by reducing the c-kit (+) cells and its pro-angiogenic activity in CBDL rat lungs.

PubMed

Shen, Cheng-Cheng; Chen, Bing; Gu, Jian-Teng; Ning, Jiao-Lin; Zeng, Jing; Yi, Bin; Lu, Kai-Zhi

2018-03-01

Recent studies have shown that pulmonary angiogenesis is an important pathological process in the development of hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS), and growing evidence has indicated that Stromal cell-derived factor 1/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (SDF-1/CXCR4) axis is involved in pulmonary vascular disease by mediating the accumulation of c-kit+ cells. This study aimed to test the effect of AMD3100, an antagonist of CXCR4, in HPS pulmonary angiogenesis. Common bile duct ligation (CBDL) rats were used as experimental HPS model and were treated with AMD3100 (1.25mg/kg/day, i.p.) or 0.9% saline for 3weeks. The sham rats underwent common bile duct exposure without ligation. The c-kit+ cells accounts and its angiogenic-related functions, prosurvival signals, pulmonary angiogenesis and arterial oxygenation were analysed in these groups. Our results showed that pulmonary SDF-1/CXCR4, Akt, Erk and VEGF/VEGFR2 were significantly activated in CBDL rats, and the numbers of circulating and pulmonary c-kit+ cells were increased in CBDL rats compared with control rats. Additionally, the angiogenic-related functions of c-kit+ cells and pulmonary microvessel counts were also elevated in CBDL rats. CXCR4 inhibition reduced pulmonary c-kit+ cells and microvessel counts and improved arterial oxygenation within 3weeks in CBDL rats. The pulmonary prosurvival signals and pro-angiogenic activity of c-kit+ cells were also down-regulated in AMD3100-treated rats. In conclusion, AMD3100 treatment attenuated pulmonary angiogenesis in CBDL rats and prevented the development of HPS via reductions in pulmonary c-kit+ cells and inhibition of the prosurvival signals. Our study provides new insights in HPS treatment. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The Child: Concepts of Self. A Resource Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY.

This resource kit endeavors to help educators focus on particular aspects of the development of a child's self-concept by using selected artworks from the J. B. Speed Art Museum (Kentucky) collection as a starting point for discussion and examination of child development. Young people will explore the experiences that will affect future choices…

Incorporating ethical principles into clinical research protocols: a tool for protocol writers and ethics committees.

PubMed

Li, Rebecca H; Wacholtz, Mary C; Barnes, Mark; Boggs, Liam; Callery-D'Amico, Susan; Davis, Amy; Digilova, Alla; Forster, David; Heffernan, Kate; Luthin, Maeve; Lynch, Holly Fernandez; McNair, Lindsay; Miller, Jennifer E; Murphy, Jacquelyn; Van Campen, Luann; Wilenzick, Mark; Wolf, Delia; Woolston, Cris; Aldinger, Carmen; Bierer, Barbara E

2016-04-01

A novel Protocol Ethics Tool Kit ('Ethics Tool Kit') has been developed by a multi-stakeholder group of the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard. The purpose of the Ethics Tool Kit is to facilitate effective recognition, consideration and deliberation of critical ethical issues in clinical trial protocols. The Ethics Tool Kit may be used by investigators and sponsors to develop a dedicated Ethics Section within a protocol to improve the consistency and transparency between clinical trial protocols and research ethics committee reviews. It may also streamline ethics review and may facilitate and expedite the review process by anticipating the concerns of ethics committee reviewers. Specific attention was given to issues arising in multinational settings. With the use of this Tool Kit, researchers have the opportunity to address critical research ethics issues proactively, potentially speeding the time and easing the process to final protocol approval. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

MNK1/2 inhibition limits oncogenicity and metastasis of KIT-mutant melanoma

PubMed Central

Zhan, Yao; Guo, Jun; Yang, William; Goncalves, Christophe; Rzymski, Tomasz; Dreas, Agnieszka; Żyłkiewicz, Eliza; Mikulski, Maciej; Brzózka, Krzysztof; Golas, Aniela; Kong, Yan; Ma, Meng; Huang, Fan; Huor, Bonnie; Guo, Qianyu; da Silva, Sabrina Daniela; Torres, Jose; Cai, Yutian; Topisirovic, Ivan; Su, Jie; Bijian, Krikor; Alaoui-Jamali, Moulay A.; Huang, Sidong; Journe, Fabrice; Ghanem, Ghanem E.; Miller, Wilson H.

2017-01-01

Melanoma can be stratified into unique subtypes based on distinct pathologies. The acral/mucosal melanoma subtype is characterized by aberrant and constitutive activation of the proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase C-KIT, which drives tumorigenesis. Treatment of these melanoma patients with C-KIT inhibitors has proven challenging, prompting us to investigate the downstream effectors of the C-KIT receptor. We determined that C-KIT stimulates MAP kinase–interacting serine/threonine kinases 1 and 2 (MNK1/2), which phosphorylate eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) and render it oncogenic. Depletion of MNK1/2 in melanoma cells with oncogenic C-KIT inhibited cell migration and mRNA translation of the transcriptional repressor SNAI1 and the cell cycle gene CCNE1. This suggested that blocking MNK1/2 activity may inhibit tumor progression, at least in part, by blocking translation initiation of mRNAs encoding cell migration proteins. Moreover, we developed an MNK1/2 inhibitor (SEL201), and found that SEL201-treated KIT-mutant melanoma cells had lower oncogenicity and reduced metastatic ability. Clinically, tumors from melanoma patients harboring KIT mutations displayed a marked increase in MNK1 and phospho-eIF4E. Thus, our studies indicate that blocking MNK1/2 exerts potent antimelanoma effects and support blocking MNK1/2 as a potential strategy to treat patients positive for KIT mutations. PMID:29035277

MNK1/2 inhibition limits oncogenicity and metastasis of KIT-mutant melanoma.

PubMed

Zhan, Yao; Guo, Jun; Yang, William; Goncalves, Christophe; Rzymski, Tomasz; Dreas, Agnieszka; Żyłkiewicz, Eliza; Mikulski, Maciej; Brzózka, Krzysztof; Golas, Aniela; Kong, Yan; Ma, Meng; Huang, Fan; Huor, Bonnie; Guo, Qianyu; da Silva, Sabrina Daniela; Torres, Jose; Cai, Yutian; Topisirovic, Ivan; Su, Jie; Bijian, Krikor; Alaoui-Jamali, Moulay A; Huang, Sidong; Journe, Fabrice; Ghanem, Ghanem E; Miller, Wilson H; Del Rincón, Sonia V

2017-11-01

Melanoma can be stratified into unique subtypes based on distinct pathologies. The acral/mucosal melanoma subtype is characterized by aberrant and constitutive activation of the proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase C-KIT, which drives tumorigenesis. Treatment of these melanoma patients with C-KIT inhibitors has proven challenging, prompting us to investigate the downstream effectors of the C-KIT receptor. We determined that C-KIT stimulates MAP kinase-interacting serine/threonine kinases 1 and 2 (MNK1/2), which phosphorylate eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) and render it oncogenic. Depletion of MNK1/2 in melanoma cells with oncogenic C-KIT inhibited cell migration and mRNA translation of the transcriptional repressor SNAI1 and the cell cycle gene CCNE1. This suggested that blocking MNK1/2 activity may inhibit tumor progression, at least in part, by blocking translation initiation of mRNAs encoding cell migration proteins. Moreover, we developed an MNK1/2 inhibitor (SEL201), and found that SEL201-treated KIT-mutant melanoma cells had lower oncogenicity and reduced metastatic ability. Clinically, tumors from melanoma patients harboring KIT mutations displayed a marked increase in MNK1 and phospho-eIF4E. Thus, our studies indicate that blocking MNK1/2 exerts potent antimelanoma effects and support blocking MNK1/2 as a potential strategy to treat patients positive for KIT mutations.

Activated c-Kit receptor in the heart promotes cardiac repair and regeneration after injury

PubMed Central

Di Siena, S; Gimmelli, R; Nori, S L; Barbagallo, F; Campolo, F; Dolci, S; Rossi, P; Venneri, M A; Giannetta, E; Gianfrilli, D; Feigenbaum, L; Lenzi, A; Naro, F; Cianflone, E; Mancuso, T; Torella, D; Isidori, A M; Pellegrini, M

2016-01-01

The role of endogenous c-Kit receptor activation on cardiac cell homeostasis and repair remains largely unexplored. Transgenic mice carrying an activating point mutation (TgD814Y) in the kinase domain of the c-Kit gene were generated. c-KitTgD814Y receptor was expressed in the heart during embryonic development and postnatal life, in a similar timing and expression pattern to that of the endogenous gene, but not in the hematopoietic compartment allowing the study of a cardiac-specific phenotype. c-KitTgD814Y mutation produced a constitutive active c-Kit receptor in cardiac tissue and cells from transgenic mice as demonstrated by the increased phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and AKT, which are the main downstream molecular effectors of c-Kit receptor signaling. In adult transgenic hearts, cardiac morphology, size and total c-Kit+ cardiac cell number was not different compared with wt mice. However, when c-KitTgD814Y mice were subjected to transmural necrotic heart damage by cryoinjury (CI), all transgenic survived, compared with half of wt mice. In the sub-acute phase after CI, transgenic and wt mice showed similar heart damage. However, 9 days after CI, transgenic mice exhibited an increased number of c-Kit+CD31+ endothelial progenitor cells surrounding the necrotic area. At later follow-up, a consistent reduction of fibrotic area, increased capillary density and increased cardiomyocyte replenishment rate (as established by BrdU incorporation) were observed in transgenic compared with wt mice. Consistently, CD45−c-Kit+ cardiac stem cells isolated from transgenic c-KitTgD814Y mice showed an enhanced endothelial and cardiomyocyte differentiation potential compared with cells isolated from the wt. Constitutive activation of c-Kit receptor in mice is associated with an increased cardiac myogenic and vasculogenic reparative potential after injury, with a significant improvement of survival. PMID:27468693

Modification to area navigation equipment for instrument two-segment approaches

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

A two-segment aircraft landing approach concept utilizing an area random navigation (RNAV) system to execute the two-segment approach and eliminate the requirements for co-located distance measuring equipment (DME) was investigated. This concept permits non-precision approaches to be made to runways not equipped with ILS systems, down to appropriate minima. A hardware and software retrofit kit for the concept was designed, built, and tested on a DC-8-61 aircraft for flight evaluation. A two-segment approach profile and piloting procedure for that aircraft that will provide adequate safety margin under adverse weather, in the presence of system failures, and with the occurrence of an abused approach, was also developed. The two-segment approach procedure and equipment was demonstrated to line pilots under conditions which are representative of those encountered in air carrier service.

Protocol for Standardizing High-to-Moderate Abundance Protein Biomarker Assessments Through an MRM-with-Standard-Peptides Quantitative Approach.

PubMed

Percy, Andrew J; Yang, Juncong; Chambers, Andrew G; Mohammed, Yassene; Miliotis, Tasso; Borchers, Christoph H

2016-01-01

Quantitative mass spectrometry (MS)-based approaches are emerging as a core technology for addressing health-related queries in systems biology and in the biomedical and clinical fields. In several 'omics disciplines (proteomics included), an approach centered on selected or multiple reaction monitoring (SRM or MRM)-MS with stable isotope-labeled standards (SIS), at the protein or peptide level, has emerged as the most precise technique for quantifying and screening putative analytes in biological samples. To enable the widespread use of MRM-based protein quantitation for disease biomarker assessment studies and its ultimate acceptance for clinical analysis, the technique must be standardized to facilitate precise and accurate protein quantitation. To that end, we have developed a number of kits for assessing method/platform performance, as well as for screening proposed candidate protein biomarkers in various human biofluids. Collectively, these kits utilize a bottom-up LC-MS methodology with SIS peptides as internal standards and quantify proteins using regression analysis of standard curves. This chapter details the methodology used to quantify 192 plasma proteins of high-to-moderate abundance (covers a 6 order of magnitude range from 31 mg/mL for albumin to 18 ng/mL for peroxidredoxin-2), and a 21-protein subset thereof. We also describe the application of this method to patient samples for biomarker discovery and verification studies. Additionally, we introduce our recently developed Qualis-SIS software, which is used to expedite the analysis and assessment of protein quantitation data in control and patient samples.

The Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) v2.0: atom typing, depiction, molecular formulas, and substructure searching.

PubMed

Willighagen, Egon L; Mayfield, John W; Alvarsson, Jonathan; Berg, Arvid; Carlsson, Lars; Jeliazkova, Nina; Kuhn, Stefan; Pluskal, Tomáš; Rojas-Chertó, Miquel; Spjuth, Ola; Torrance, Gilleain; Evelo, Chris T; Guha, Rajarshi; Steinbeck, Christoph

2017-06-06

The Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) is a widely used open source cheminformatics toolkit, providing data structures to represent chemical concepts along with methods to manipulate such structures and perform computations on them. The library implements a wide variety of cheminformatics algorithms ranging from chemical structure canonicalization to molecular descriptor calculations and pharmacophore perception. It is used in drug discovery, metabolomics, and toxicology. Over the last 10 years, the code base has grown significantly, however, resulting in many complex interdependencies among components and poor performance of many algorithms. We report improvements to the CDK v2.0 since the v1.2 release series, specifically addressing the increased functional complexity and poor performance. We first summarize the addition of new functionality, such atom typing and molecular formula handling, and improvement to existing functionality that has led to significantly better performance for substructure searching, molecular fingerprints, and rendering of molecules. Second, we outline how the CDK has evolved with respect to quality control and the approaches we have adopted to ensure stability, including a code review mechanism. This paper highlights our continued efforts to provide a community driven, open source cheminformatics library, and shows that such collaborative projects can thrive over extended periods of time, resulting in a high-quality and performant library. By taking advantage of community support and contributions, we show that an open source cheminformatics project can act as a peer reviewed publishing platform for scientific computing software. Graphical abstract CDK 2.0 provides new features and improved performance.

Cloudbus Toolkit for Market-Oriented Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buyya, Rajkumar; Pandey, Suraj; Vecchiola, Christian

This keynote paper: (1) presents the 21st century vision of computing and identifies various IT paradigms promising to deliver computing as a utility; (2) defines the architecture for creating market-oriented Clouds and computing atmosphere by leveraging technologies such as virtual machines; (3) provides thoughts on market-based resource management strategies that encompass both customer-driven service management and computational risk management to sustain SLA-oriented resource allocation; (4) presents the work carried out as part of our new Cloud Computing initiative, called Cloudbus: (i) Aneka, a Platform as a Service software system containing SDK (Software Development Kit) for construction of Cloud applications and deployment on private or public Clouds, in addition to supporting market-oriented resource management; (ii) internetworking of Clouds for dynamic creation of federated computing environments for scaling of elastic applications; (iii) creation of 3rd party Cloud brokering services for building content delivery networks and e-Science applications and their deployment on capabilities of IaaS providers such as Amazon along with Grid mashups; (iv) CloudSim supporting modelling and simulation of Clouds for performance studies; (v) Energy Efficient Resource Allocation Mechanisms and Techniques for creation and management of Green Clouds; and (vi) pathways for future research.

Cadmium exposure in newborn rats ovary induces developmental disorders of primordial follicles and the differential expression of SCF/c-kit gene.

PubMed

Zhang, Wenchang; Wu, Tingting; Zhang, Chenyun; Luo, Lingfeng; Xie, Meimei; Huang, Huiling

2017-10-05

Since the 1990s, the rising problem that gonad reproductive toxicity on adult female after exposing to cadmium (Cd), an environmental endocrine disruptor, has attracted high attention at home and abroad,and was systematically studied. Our research focuses on a further problem is that early cadmium exposure (during birth to before puberty) impact on development and function of ovarian cells and its possible mechanism. Our research focuses on the changes of ovarian cells growth and development after the newborn rat ovaries with cadmium exposure in vitro, and different expression of ovarian cells development-related factors, SCF/c-kit and changes of their DNA methylation status. We obtained ovaries from 4-day-old SD rats and cultured them in DMEM/F12 mixed with α-MEM media in vitro. Different doses of cadmium were designed as control, 0.5, 5, 10 and 50μM, and then the constituent ratio of ovarian follicle and follicular oocytes diameter were observed with microscope after 4-h exposure. We found that the increased constituent ratio of original follicle and decreased diameter of all levels of follicular oocytes(compared with control, with statistically significant differences, P<0.01).After the measurement of expression of SCF/c-kit by qRT-PCR and Western Blotting, the mRNA and protein expression of SCF/c-kit in ovarian were both decreased. We further found that the increased constituent ratio of growth follicle and increased diameter of oocytes under the treatment of adding SCF in cell culture media. Finally, MALDI-TOF-MS method showed DNA-low methylation status of SCF/c-kit promoter region after Cd exposure. Overall, we concluded that the exposure of cadimium (5-50μM) on newborn rats ovaries could inhibit follicle development.SCF/c-kit system might mediate follicle development damage caused by cadmium, which is associated with DNA hypomethylation of SCF/c-kit promoter region may be worthy of further study. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Libration Point Orbit Utilization for Tactical Advantage in Communications, Surveillance, and Risk Mitigation

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-27

Ephemeris model in the orbit analysis software Satellite Took Kit ( STK ). As the first step, a study was conducted to find the visibility coverage using...northern L1 and L3 halo orbits. Figure 55. Average visibility by latitude at different ephemeris epochs for an L1 orbiter from STK analysis . Figure...56. Average visibility by latitude at different ephemeris epochs for an L3 orbiter from STK analysis . Figure 57. Average percent visibility of the

A novel informatics concept for high-throughput shotgun lipidomics based on the molecular fragmentation query language

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Shotgun lipidome profiling relies on direct mass spectrometric analysis of total lipid extracts from cells, tissues or organisms and is a powerful tool to elucidate the molecular composition of lipidomes. We present a novel informatics concept of the molecular fragmentation query language implemented within the LipidXplorer open source software kit that supports accurate quantification of individual species of any ionizable lipid class in shotgun spectra acquired on any mass spectrometry platform. PMID:21247462

Spatial Distribution and Receptor Specificity of Zebrafish Kit System - Evidence for a Kit-Mediated Bi-Directional Communication System in the Preovulatory Ovarian Follicle

PubMed Central

Yao, Kai; Ge, Wei

2013-01-01

Consisting of Kit ligand and receptor Kit, the Kit system is involved in regulating many ovarian functions such as follicle activation, granulosa cell proliferation, and oocyte growth and maturation. In mammals, Kit ligand is derived from the granulosa cells and Kit receptor is expressed in the oocyte and theca cells. In the zebrafish, the Kit system contains two ligands (Kitlga and Kitlgb) and two receptors (Kita and Kitb). Interestingly, Kitlga and Kitb are localized in the somatic follicle cells, but Kitlgb and Kita are expressed in the oocyte. Using recombinant zebrafish Kitlga and Kitlgb, we demonstrated that Kitlga preferentially activated Kita whereas Kitlgb specifically activated Kitb by Western analysis for receptor phosphorylation. In support of this, Kitlgb triggered a stronger and longer MAPK phosphorylation in follicle cells than Kitlga, whereas Kitlga but not Kitlgb activated MAPK in the denuded oocytes, in agreement with the distribution of Kita and Kitb in the follicle and their specificity for Kitlga and Kitlgb. Further analysis of the interaction between Kit ligands and receptors by homology modeling showed that Kitlga-Kita and Kitlgb-Kitb both have more stable electrostatic interaction than Kitlgb-Kita or Kitlga-Kitb. A functional study of Kit involvement in final oocyte maturation showed that Kitlga and Kitlgb both suppressed the spontaneous maturation significantly; in contrast, Kitlgb but not Kitlga significantly promoted 17α, 20β-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one (DHP) -induced oocyte maturation. Our results provided strong evidence for a Kit-mediated bi-directional communication system in the zebrafish ovarian follicle, which could be part of the complex interplay between the oocyte and the follicle cells in the development of follicles. PMID:23409152

Association of paediatric mastocytosis with a polymorphism resulting in an amino acid substitution (M541L) in the transmembrane domain of c-KIT.

PubMed

Foster, R; Byrnes, E; Meldrum, C; Griffith, R; Ross, G; Upjohn, E; Braue, A; Scott, R; Varigos, G; Ferrao, P; Ashman, L K

2008-11-01

The receptor tyrosine kinase c-KIT plays a key role in normal mast cell development. Point mutations in c-KIT have been associated with sporadic or familial mastocytosis. Two unrelated pairs of apparently identical twins affected by cutaneous mastocytosis attending the Mastocytosis Clinic at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, provided an opportunity to assess the possible contribution of c-KIT germline mutations or polymorphisms in this disease. Tissue biopsy, blood and/or buccal swab specimens were collected from 10 children with mastocytosis. To detect germline mutations/polymorphisms in c-KIT, we studied all coding exons by denaturing high pressure liquid chromatography. Exons showing mismatches were examined by direct sequencing. The influence of the substitution identified was further examined by expressing the variant form of c-KIT in factor-dependent FDC-P1 cells. In both pairs of twins, a heterozygous ATG to CTG transition in codon 541 was observed, resulting in the substitution of a methionine residue in the transmembrane domain by leucine (M541L). In each case, one parent was also heterozygous for this allele. Expression of M541L KIT in FDC-P1 cells enabled them to grow in human KIT ligand (stem cell factor, SCF) but did not confer factor independence. Compared with cells expressing wild-type KIT at a similar level, M541L KIT-expressing cells displayed enhanced growth at low levels of SCF, and heightened sensitivity to the KIT inhibitor, imatinib mesylate. The data suggest that the single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in the substitution M541L may predispose to paediatric mastocytosis.

Improving Indonesia's Cities: A Case Study of Economic Development, Including a Teaching Guide and An Economic Summary of Indonesia. Toward a Better World Series, Learning Kit No. 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldwin, Harriet, Ed.; Rosen, Carol, Ed.

This World Bank (Washington, D.C.) kit is designed to teach secondary school social studies students the impact of rapid urbanization on Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. The kit contains a pamphlet, a booklet, a filmstrip, and a teacher's guide. The pamphlet, "An Economic Summary of Indonesia" provides students with the structure,…

Emergency medical kit for commercial airlines: an update.

PubMed

Thibeault, Claude

2002-06-01

As expected, the issue of medical kits for commercial airlines continues to attract attention, especially in light of the recent United States regulation on the subject. As promised in its first recommendation in 1998, the Air Transport Medicine (ATM) Committee has continued to monitor medical kit usage as well as pharmaceutical scientific developments and wishes to propose an update to its 1998 recommendation. Lists of contents are provided for emergency medical kits of two types: 1) those without defibrillator/monitor or monitor; and 2) those with defibrillator/monitor or monitor alone. Follow up and updates on this issue will be an ongoing task of the ATM Committee.

FlowGo: An Educational Kit for Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guri, Dominic; Portsmore, Merredith; Kemmerling, Erica

2015-11-01

The authors have designed and prototyped an educational toolkit that will help middle-school-aged students learn fundamental fluid mechanics and heat transfer concepts in a hands-on play environment. The kit allows kids to build arbitrary flow rigs to solve fluid mechanics and heat transfer challenge problems. Similar kits for other engineering fields, such as structural and electrical engineering, have resulted in pedagogical improvements, particularly in early engineering education, where visual demonstrations have a significant impact. Using the FlowGo kit, students will be able to conduct experiments and develop new design ideas to solve challenge problems such as building plant watering systems or modeling water and sewage reticulation. The toolkit consists of components such as tubes, junctions, and reservoirs that easily snap together via a modular, universal connector. Designed with the Massachusetts K-12 science standards in mind, this kit is intended to be affordable and suitable for classroom use. Results and user feedback from students conducting preliminary tests of the kit will be presented.

Activities of the Korean Institute of Tuberculosis

PubMed Central

Ryoo, Sungweon; Kim, Hee Jin

2014-01-01

The Korean National Tuberculosis Association (KNTA) set up the Korean Institute of Tuberculosis (KIT) in 1970 to foster research and technical activities pertaining to tuberculosis (TB). The KNTA/KIT had successfully conducted a countrywide TB prevalence survey from 1965 to 1995 at 5-year intervals. The survey results (decline in TB rates) established Korea as a country that had successfully implemented national control programs for TB. The KIT developed the Korea Tuberculosis Surveillance System and the Laboratory Management Information System, both of which were transferred to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after its establishment. The KIT functions as a central and supranational reference TB laboratory for microbiological and epidemiological research and provides training and education for health-care workers and medical practitioners. Recently, the KIT has expanded its activities to countries such as Ethiopia, Laos, and Timor-Leste to support TB control and prevention. The KIT will continue to support research activities and provide technical assistance in diagnosing the infection until it is completely eliminated in Korea. PMID:25861580

KIT Signaling Promotes Growth of Colon Xenograft Tumors in Mice and Is Up-Regulated in a Subset of Human Colon Cancers.

PubMed

Chen, Evan C; Karl, Taylor A; Kalisky, Tomer; Gupta, Santosh K; O'Brien, Catherine A; Longacre, Teri A; van de Rijn, Matt; Quake, Stephen R; Clarke, Michael F; Rothenberg, Michael E

2015-09-01

Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitors have advanced colon cancer treatment. We investigated the role of the RTK KIT in development of human colon cancer. An array of 137 patient-derived colon tumors and their associated xenografts were analyzed by immunohistochemistry to measure levels of KIT and its ligand KITLG. KIT and/or KITLG was stably knocked down by expression of small hairpin RNAs from lentiviral vectors in DLD1, HT29, LS174T, and COLO320 DM colon cancer cell lines, and in UM-COLON#8 and POP77 xenografts; cells transduced with only vector were used as controls. Cells were analyzed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, single-cell gene expression analysis, flow cytometry, and immunohistochemical, immunoblot, and functional assays. Xenograft tumors were grown from control and KIT-knockdown DLD1 and UM-COLON#8 cells in immunocompromised mice and compared. Some mice were given the RTK inhibitor imatinib after injection of cancer cells; tumor growth was measured based on bioluminescence. We assessed tumorigenicity using limiting dilution analysis. KIT and KITLG were expressed heterogeneously by a subset of human colon tumors. Knockdown of KIT decreased proliferation of colon cancer cell lines and growth of xenograft tumors in mice compared with control cells. KIT knockdown cells had increased expression of enterocyte markers, decreased expression of cycling genes, and, unexpectedly, increased expression of LGR5 associated genes. No activating mutations in KIT were detected in DLD1, POP77, or UM-COLON#8 cells. However, KITLG-knockdown DLD1 cells formed smaller xenograft tumors than control cells. Gene expression analysis of single CD44(+) cells indicated that KIT can promote growth via KITLG autocrine and/or paracrine signaling. Imatinib inhibited growth of KIT(+) colon cancer organoids in culture and growth of xenograft tumors in mice. Cancer cells with endogenous KIT expression were more tumorigenic in mice. KIT and KITLG are expressed by a subset of human colon tumors. KIT signaling promotes growth of colon cancer cells and organoids in culture and xenograft tumors in mice via its ligand, KITLG, in an autocrine or paracrine manner. Patients with KIT-expressing colon tumors can benefit from KIT RTK inhibitors. Copyright © 2015 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

KIT Signaling Promotes Growth of Colon Xenograft Tumors in Mice and is Upregulated in a Subset of Human Colon Cancers

PubMed Central

Chen, Evan C.; Karl, Taylor A.; Kalisky, Tomer; Gupta, Santosh K.; O’Brien, Catherine A.; Longacre, Teri A.; van de Rijn, Matt; Quake, Stephen R.; Clarke, Michael F.; Rothenberg, Michael E.

2015-01-01

Background & Aims Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) inhibitors have advanced colon cancer treatment. We investigated the role of the RTK KIT in development of human colon cancer. Methods An array of 137 patient-derived colon tumors and their associated xenografts were analyzed by immunohistochemistry to measure levels of KIT and its ligand KITLG. KIT and/or KITLG was stably knocked down by expression of small hairpin RNAs from lentiviral vectors in DLD1, HT29, LS174T, and COLO320 colon cancer cell lines, and in UM-COLON#8 and POP77 xenografts; cells transduced with only vector were used as controls. Cells were analyzed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR, single-cell gene expression analysis, flow cytometry, and immunohistochemical, immunoblot, and functional assays. Xenograft tumors were grown from control and KIT-knockdown DLD1 and UM-COLON#8 cells in immunocompromised mice and compared. Some mice were given the RTK inhibitor imatinib following injection of cancer cells; tumor growth was measured based on bioluminescence. We assessed tumorigenicity using limiting dilution analysis. Results KIT and KITLG were expressed heterogeneously by a subset of human colon tumors. Knockdown of KIT decreased proliferation of colon cancer cell lines and growth of xenograft tumors in mice, compared with control cells. KIT knockdown cells had increased expression of enterocyte markers, decreased expression of cycling genes, and, unexpectedly, increased expression of LGR5-associated genes. No activating mutations in KIT were detected in DLD1, POP77, or UM-COLON#8 cell lines. However, KITLG-knockdown DLD1 cells formed smaller xenograft tumors than control cells. Gene expression analysis of single CD44+ cells indicated that KIT may promote growth via KITLG autocrine and/or paracrine signaling. Imatinib inhibited growth of KIT+ colon cancer organoids in culture and growth of xenograft tumors in mice. Cancer cells with endogenous KIT expression were more tumorigenic in mice. Conclusions KIT and KITLG are expressed by a subset of human colon tumors. KIT signaling promotes growth of colon cancer cells and organoids in culture and xenograft tumors in mice via its ligand, KITLG, in an autocrine or paracrine manner. Patients with KIT-expressing colon tumors may benefit from KIT RTK inhibitors. PMID:26026391

Identification and measurement of beta-lactam antibiotic residues in milk: integration of screening kits with liquid chromatography.

PubMed

Harik-Khan, R; Moats, W A

1995-01-01

A procedure for identifying and quantitating violative beta-lactams in milk is described. This procedure integrates beta-lactam residue detection kits with the multiresidue automated liquid chromatographic (LC) cleanup method developed in our laboratory. Spiked milk was deproteinized, extracted, and subjected to reversed-phase LC using a gradient program that concentrated the beta-lactams. Amoxicillin, ampicillin, cephapirin, ceftiofur, cloxacillin, and penicillin G were, thus, separated into 5 fractions that were subsequently tested for activity by using 4 kits. beta-lactams in the positive fractions were quantitated by analytical LC methods developed in our laboratory. The LC cleanup method separated beta-lactam antibiotics from each other and from interferences in the matrix and also concentrated the antibiotics, thus increasing the sensitivity of the kits to the beta-lactam antibiotics. The procedure facilitated the task of identifying and measuring the beta-lactam antibiotics that may be present in milk samples.

Implementing inquiry-based kits within a professional development school model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Mark Thomas

2005-07-01

Implementation of guided inquiry teaching for the first time carries inherent problems for science teachers. Reform efforts on inquiry-based science teaching are often unsustainable and are not sensitive to teachers' needs and abilities as professionals. Professional development schools are meant to provide a research-based partnership between a public school and a university. These collaborations can provide support for the professional development of teachers. This dissertation reports a study focused on the implementation of inquiry-based science kits within the support of one of these collaborations. The researcher describes the difficulties and successful adaptations experienced by science teachers and how a coteaching model provided support. These types of data are needed in order to develop a bottom-up, sustainable process that will allow teachers to implement inquiry-based science. A qualitative methodology with "researcher as participant" was used in this study of two science teachers during 2002--2003. These two teachers were supported by a coteaching model, which included preservice teachers for each teacher as well as a supervising professor. Data were collected from the researcher's direct observations of coteachers' practice. Data were also collected from interviews and reflective pieces from the coteachers. Triangulation of the data on each teacher's case supported the validity of the findings. Case reports were prepared from these data for each classroom teacher. These case reports were used and cross-case analysis was conducted to search for major themes and findings in the study. Major findings described the hurdles teachers encounter, examples of adaptations observed in the teachers' cases and the supportive interactions with their coteachers while implementing the inquiry-based kits. In addition, the data were used to make recommendations for future training and use of the kits and the coteaching model. Results from this study showed that the kit's guided structure of inquiry and the collaboration both affected the inservice teachers in the following ways: The coteaching model supported behavioral and material management issues caused by the implementation of the kits; collaboration with preservice teachers created a "smaller-class-size" effect, which allowed teachers to attend to a smaller number of students for cooperative learning and assessment, and the elementary inservice teachers learned pedagogical strategies and science content from collaborating with secondary preservice teachers in kit use and from the kits' curriculum. Results were used as a self-study for future training and support for implementation of inquiry-based kits.

Increased c-kit and stem cell factor expression in the pulmonary vasculature of nitrofen-induced congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

PubMed

Takahashi, Toshiaki; Friedmacher, Florian; Zimmer, Julia; Puri, Prem

2016-05-01

Persistent pulmonary hypertension(PPH) in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is caused by increased vascular cell proliferation and endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction, thus leading to obstructive changes in the pulmonary vasculature. C-Kit and its ligand, stem cell factor(SCF), are expressed by ECs in the developing lung mesenchyme, suggesting an important role during lung vascular formation. Conversely, absence of c-Kit expression has been demonstrated in ECs of dysplastic alveolar capillaries. We hypothesized that c-Kit and SCF expression is increased in the pulmonary vasculature of nitrofen-induced CDH. Timed-pregnant rats received nitrofen or vehicle on gestational day 9(D9). Fetuses were sacrificed on D15, D18, and D21, and divided into control and CDH group. Pulmonary gene expression levels of c-Kit and SCF were analyzed by qRT-PCR. Immunofluorescence double staining for c-Kit and SCF was combined with CD34 to evaluate protein expression in ECs of the pulmonary vasculature. Relative mRNA levels of c-Kit and SCF were significantly increased in lungs of CDH fetuses on D15, D18, and D21 compared to controls. Confocal laser scanning microscopy confirmed markedly increased vascular c-Kit and SCF expression in mesenchymal ECs of CDH lungs on D15, D18, and D21 compared to controls. Increased expression of c-Kit and SCF in the pulmonary vasculature of nitrofen-induced CDH lungs suggest that increased c-Kit signaling during lung vascular formation may contribute to vascular remodeling and thus to PPH. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Integrated Software Suite for Surface-based Analyses of Cerebral Cortex

PubMed Central

Van Essen, David C.; Drury, Heather A.; Dickson, James; Harwell, John; Hanlon, Donna; Anderson, Charles H.

2001-01-01

The authors describe and illustrate an integrated trio of software programs for carrying out surface-based analyses of cerebral cortex. The first component of this trio, SureFit (Surface Reconstruction by Filtering and Intensity Transformations), is used primarily for cortical segmentation, volume visualization, surface generation, and the mapping of functional neuroimaging data onto surfaces. The second component, Caret (Computerized Anatomical Reconstruction and Editing Tool Kit), provides a wide range of surface visualization and analysis options as well as capabilities for surface flattening, surface-based deformation, and other surface manipulations. The third component, SuMS (Surface Management System), is a database and associated user interface for surface-related data. It provides for efficient insertion, searching, and extraction of surface and volume data from the database. PMID:11522765

Enrollment, Engagement, and Satisfaction in the BlendKit Faculty Development Open, Online Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moskal, Patsy; Thompson, Kelvin; Futch, Linda

2015-01-01

BlendKit is a 5-week course designed by the University of Central Florida in an open, online format specifically for the professional development of higher education faculty and designers preparing to design and teach blended learning courses. The evaluation of this course provides us with interesting and valuable information on the success of…

Web Page Development and Management. SPEC Kit 246 and SPEC Flyer 246.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Yaping Peter, Comp.

This SPEC (Systems and Procedures Exchange Center) Kit and Flyer reports results of two surveys conducted in 1996 and 1998 that examined ARL (Association of Research Libraries) member libraries' World Wide Web history, development, use, and activities. Fifty-six out of the then 119 ARL member institutions responded to the 1996 survey, and 68 out…

Board Policies on Student Records. Educational Policies Development Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National School Boards Association, Waterford, CT. Educational Policies Service.

This report of policy samples is the 17th in a continuing series of kit-booklets issued to help school boards develop written policies in key subject areas. The intent in providing samples is to encourage thinking in policy terms; and to provide working papers to be edited, modified, or adapted to meet local requirements. Policy samples herein…

Development of a Single Vial Kit Solution for Radiolabeling of 68Ga-DKFZ-PSMA-11 and Its Performance in Prostate Cancer Patients.

PubMed

Ebenhan, Thomas; Vorster, Mariza; Marjanovic-Painter, Biljana; Wagener, Judith; Suthiram, Janine; Modiselle, Moshe; Mokaleng, Brenda; Zeevaart, Jan Rijn; Sathekge, Mike

2015-08-14

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a type II glycoprotein, is highly expressed in almost all prostate cancers. By playing such a universal role in the disease, PSMA provides a target for diagnostic imaging of prostate cancer using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). The PSMA-targeting ligand Glu-NH-CO-NH-Lys-(Ahx)-HBED-CC (DKFZ-PSMA-11) has superior imaging properties and allows for highly-specific complexation of the generator-based radioisotope Gallium-68 ((68)Ga). However, only module-based radiolabeling procedures are currently available. This study intended to develop a single vial kit solution to radiolabel buffered DKFZ-PSMA-11 with (68)Ga. A (68)Ge/(68)Ga-generator was utilized to yield (68)GaCl3 and major aspects of the kit development were assessed, such as radiolabeling performance, quality assurance, and stability. The final product was injected into patients with prostate cancer for PET/CT imaging and the kit performance was evaluated on the basis of the expected biodistribution, lesion detection, and dose optimization. Kits containing 5 nmol DKFZ-PSMA-11 showed rapid, quantitative (68)Ga-complexation and all quality measurements met the release criteria for human application. The increased precursor content did not compromise the ability of (68)Ga-DKFZ-PSMA-11 PET/CT to detect primary prostate cancer and its advanced lymphatic- and metastatic lesions. The (68)Ga-DKFZ-PSMA-11 kit is a robust, ready-to-use diagnostic agent in prostate cancer with high diagnostic performance.

Portable kit for the assessment of gait parameters in daily telerehabilitation.

PubMed

Giansanti, Daniele; Morelli, Sandra; Maccioni, Giovanni; Grigioni, Mauro

2013-03-01

When designing a complete process of daily telerehabilitation, it should be borne in mind that patients should be furnished with properly designed methodologies for executing specific motion tasks and the assessment of the relevant parameters. In general, such a process should comprehend three basic elements in both the hospital and the home: (a) instrumented walkways, (b) walking aids or supports, and (c) equipment for the assessment of parameters. The objective, with gait being the focus, of this study was thus to design a simple, portable kit-as an alternative to the complex and expensive instruments currently used-to be easily interfaced or integrated with the instrumented walkways and aids/supports both for self-monitoring while patients are exercising with their own aids and for clinical reporting. The proposed system is a portable kit that furnishes useful parameters with feedback to both the patient and the trainer/therapist. Capable of being integrated with the most common mechanical tools used in motion rehabilitation (handrail, scales, walkways, etc.), it constantly monitors and quantitatively assesses progress in rehabilitation care. It is composed of one step counter, photo-emitter detectors, one central unit for collecting and processing the telemetrically transmitted data, and a software interface. The system has been successfully validated on 16 subjects at the second level of the Tinetti test in a clinical application for both home and the hospital. The portable kit can be used with different rehabilitation tools and on varying ground rugosity. Advantages include (a) very low cost, when compared with optoelectronic solutions or other portable devices, (b) very high accuracy, also for subjects with imbalance problems, compared with other commercial solutions, and (c) integration (compatibility) with any rehabilitative tool.

Making the EZ Choice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2001-01-01

Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. (AMA), of Hampton, Virginia, created the EZopt software application through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from NASA's Langley Research Center. The new software is a user-friendly tool kit that provides quick and logical solutions to complex optimal control problems. In its most basic form, EZopt converts process data into math equations and then proceeds to utilize those equations to solve problems within control systems. EZopt successfully proved its advantage when applied to short-term mission planning and onboard flight computer implementation. The technology has also solved multiple real-life engineering problems faced in numerous commercial operations. For instance, mechanical engineers use EZopt to solve control problems with robots, while chemical plants implement the application to overcome situations with batch reactors and temperature control. In the emerging field of commercial aerospace, EZopt is able to optimize trajectories for launch vehicles and perform potential space station- keeping tasks. Furthermore, the software also helps control electromagnetic devices in the automotive industry.

RASTtk: A modular and extensible implementation of the RAST algorithm for building custom annotation pipelines and annotating batches of genomes

DOE PAGES

Brettin, Thomas; Davis, James J.; Disz, Terry; ...

2015-02-10

The RAST (Rapid Annotation using Subsystem Technology) annotation engine was built in 2008 to annotate bacterial and archaeal genomes. It works by offering a standard software pipeline for identifying genomic features (i.e., protein-encoding genes and RNA) and annotating their functions. Recently, in order to make RAST a more useful research tool and to keep pace with advancements in bioinformatics, it has become desirable to build a version of RAST that is both customizable and extensible. In this paper, we describe the RAST tool kit (RASTtk), a modular version of RAST that enables researchers to build custom annotation pipelines. RASTtk offersmore » a choice of software for identifying and annotating genomic features as well as the ability to add custom features to an annotation job. RASTtk also accommodates the batch submission of genomes and the ability to customize annotation protocols for batch submissions. This is the first major software restructuring of RAST since its inception.« less

A computer program for processing impedance cardiographic data: Improving accuracy through user-interactive software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowings, Patricia S.; Naifeh, Karen; Thrasher, Chet

1988-01-01

This report contains the source code and documentation for a computer program used to process impedance cardiography data. The cardiodynamic measures derived from impedance cardiography are ventricular stroke column, cardiac output, cardiac index and Heather index. The program digitizes data collected from the Minnesota Impedance Cardiograph, Electrocardiography (ECG), and respiratory cycles and then stores these data on hard disk. It computes the cardiodynamic functions using interactive graphics and stores the means and standard deviations of each 15-sec data epoch on floppy disk. This software was designed on a Digital PRO380 microcomputer and used version 2.0 of P/OS, with (minimally) a 4-channel 16-bit analog/digital (A/D) converter. Applications software is written in FORTRAN 77, and uses Digital's Pro-Tool Kit Real Time Interface Library, CORE Graphic Library, and laboratory routines. Source code can be readily modified to accommodate alternative detection, A/D conversion and interactive graphics. The object code utilizing overlays and multitasking has a maximum of 50 Kbytes.

The combination of digital surface scanners and cone beam computed tomography technology for guided implant surgery using 3Shape implant studio software: a case history report.

PubMed

Lanis, Alejandro; Álvarez Del Canto, Orlando

2015-01-01

The incorporation of virtual engineering into dentistry and the digitization of information are providing new perspectives and innovative alternatives for dental treatment modalities. The use of digital surface scanners with surgical planning software allows for the combination of the radiographic, prosthetic, surgical, and laboratory fields under a common virtual scenario, permitting complete digital treatment planning. In this article, the authors present a clinical case in which a guided implant surgery was performed based on a complete digital surgical plan combining the information from a cone beam computed tomography scan and the virtual simulation obtained from the 3Shape TRIOS intraoral surface scanner. The information was imported to and combined in the 3Shape Implant Studio software for guided implant surgery planning. A surgical guide was obtained by a 3D printer, and the surgical procedure was done using the Biohorizons Guided Surgery Kit and its protocol.

Solar Avoided Cost Solution SunShot 6 Final Report

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

Tucker, John; Danziger, Eric

2014-01-29

The core objectives of this project were two separate but integrated products, collectively providing game-changing Avoided Cost capabilities. The first was a kit of avoided cost tools and data that any solar provider can use a-lacarte or as a whole. It’s open and easily accessible nature allows the rapid and accurate calculation of avoided cost in whatever context and software that make sense (“Typical and Avoided Cost Tools”). This kit includes a dataset of typical energy rates, costs and usage that can be used for solar prospecting, lead generation and any situation where data about an opportunity is missing ormore » imperfect. The second is a web application and related APIs specifically built for solar providers to radically streamline their lead-to-sale process (“Solar Provider Module”). The typical and Avoided Cost tools are built directly into this, and allow for solar providers to track their opportunities, collaborate with their installers and financiers, and close more sales faster.« less

Toyota Prius Hybrid Plug-in Conversation and Battery Monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McIntyre, Michael; Kessinger, Robert; Young, Maegan; Latham, Joseph; Unnikannan, Krishnanunni

2012-02-01

The objective of the project was to analyze the performance of a Toyota Hybrid. We started off with a stock Toyota Prius and taking data by driving it in city and on the highway in a mixed pre-determined route. The batteries can be charged using standard 120V AC outlets. First phase of the project was to increase the performance of the car by installing 20 Lead (Pb) batteries in a plug-in kit. To improve the performance of the kit, a centralized battery monitoring system was installed. The battery monitoring system has two components, a custom data modules and a National Instruments CompactRIO. Each Pb battery has its own data module and all the data module are connected to the CompactRIO. The CompactRIO records differential voltage, current and temperature from all the 20 batteries. The LabVIEW software is dynamic and can be reconfigured to any number of batteries and real time data from the batteries can be monitored on a LabVIEW enabled machine.

Toyota Prius Hybrid Plug-in Conversation and Battery Monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Unnikannan, Krishnanunni; McIntyre, Michael; Harper, Doug; Kessinger, Robert; Young, Megan; Lantham, Joseph

2012-03-01

The objective of the project was to analyze the performance of a Toyota Hybrid. We started off with a stock Toyota Prius and taking data by driving it in city and on the highway in a mixed pre-determined route. The batteries can be charged using standard 120V AC outlets. First phase of the project was to increase the performance of the car by installing 20 Lead (Pb) batteries in a plug-in kit. To improve the performance of the kit, a centralized battery monitoring system was installed. The battery monitoring system has two components, a custom data modules and a National Instruments CompactRIO. Each Pb battery has its own data module and all the data module are connected to the CompactRIO. The CompactRIO records differential voltage, current and temperature from all the 20 batteries. The LabVIEW software is dynamic and can be reconfigured to any number of batteries and real time data from the batteries can be monitored on a LabVIEW enabled machine.

77 FR 65360 - Foreign-Trade Zone 168-Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX; Notification of Proposed Production Activity...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-26

... (Eyewear Assembly/Kitting), Grand Prairie, TX The Metroplex International Trade Development Corporation... facility is located within Site 4 of FTZ 168. The facility is used for the assembly/kitting of eyewear...

From preclinical development to clinical application: Kit formulation for radiolabelling the minigastrin analogue CP04 with In-111 for a first-in-human clinical trial.

PubMed

Pawlak, Dariusz; Rangger, Christine; Kolenc Peitl, Petra; Garnuszek, Piotr; Maurin, Michał; Ihli, Laura; Kroselj, Marko; Maina, Theodosia; Maecke, Helmut; Erba, Paola; Kremser, Leopold; Hubalewska-Dydejczyk, Alicja; Mikołajczak, Renata; Decristoforo, Clemens

2016-03-31

A variety of radiolabelled minigastrin analogues targeting the cholecystokinin 2 (CCK2) receptor were developed and compared in a concerted preclinical testing to select the most promising radiotracer for diagnosis and treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). DOTA-DGlu-DGlu-DGlu-DGlu-DGlu-DGlu-Ala-Tyr-Gly-Trp-Met-Asp-Phe-NH2 (CP04) after labelling with (111)In displayed excellent characteristics, such as high stability, receptor affinity, specific and persistent tumour uptake and low kidney retention in animal models. Therefore, it was selected for further clinical evaluation within the ERA-NET project GRAN-T-MTC. Here we report on the development of a pharmaceutical freeze-dried formulation of the precursor CP04 for a first multi-centre clinical trial with (111)In-CP04 in MTC patients. The kit formulation was optimised by adjustment of buffer, additives and radiolabelling conditions. Three clinical grade batches of a final kit formulation with two different amounts of peptide (10 or 50 μg) were prepared and radiolabelled with (111)In. Quality control and stability assays of both the kits and the resulting radiolabelled compound were performed by HPLC analysis. Use of ascorbic acid buffer (pH4.5) allowed freeze-drying of the kit formulation with satisfactory pellet-formation. Addition of methionine and gentisic acid as well as careful selection of radiolabelling temperature was required to avoid extensive oxidation of the Met(11)-residue. Trace metal contamination, in particular Zn, was found to be a major challenge during the pharmaceutical filling process in particular for the 10 μg formulation. The final formulations contained 10 or 50 μg CP04, 25mg ascorbic acid, 0.5mg gentisic acid and 5mg L-methionine. The radiolabelling performed by incubation of 200-250 MBq (111)InCl3 at 90 °C for 15 min resulted in reproducible radiochemical purity (RCP) >94%. Kit-stability was proven for >6 months at +5 °C and at +25 °C. The radiolabelled product was stable for >4h at +25 °C. A kit formulation to prepare (111)In-CP04 for clinical application was developed, showing high stability of the kit as well as high RCP of the final product. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Kit W-sh Mutation Prevents Cancellous Bone Loss during Calcium Deprivation.

PubMed

Lotinun, Sutada; Suwanwela, Jaijam; Poolthong, Suchit; Baron, Roland

2018-01-01

Calcium is essential for normal bone growth and development. Inadequate calcium intake increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Kit ligand/c-Kit signaling plays an important role in regulating bone homeostasis. Mice with c-Kit mutations are osteopenic. The present study aimed to investigate whether impairment of or reduction in c-Kit signaling affects bone turnover during calcium deprivation. Three-week-old male WBB6F1/J-Kit W /Kit W-v /J (W/W v ) mice with c-Kit point mutation, Kit W-sh /HNihrJaeBsmJ (W sh /W sh ) mice with an inversion mutation in the regulatory elements upstream of the c-Kit promoter region, and their wild-type controls (WT) were fed either a normal (0.6% calcium) or a low calcium diet (0.02% calcium) for 3 weeks. μCT analysis indicated that both mutants fed normal calcium diet had significantly decreased cortical thickness and cancellous bone volume compared to WT. The low calcium diet resulted in a comparable reduction in cortical bone volume and cortical thickness in the W/W v and W sh /W sh mice, and their corresponding controls. As expected, the low calcium diet induced cancellous bone loss in the W/W v mice. In contrast, W sh /W sh cancellous bone did not respond to this diet. This c-Kit mutation prevented cancellous bone loss by antagonizing the low calcium diet-induced increase in osteoblast and osteoclast numbers in the W sh /W sh mice. Gene expression profiling showed that calcium deficiency increased Osx, Ocn, Alp, type I collagen, c-Fms, M-CSF, and RANKL/OPG mRNA expression in controls; however, the W sh mutation suppressed these effects. Our findings indicate that although calcium restriction increased bone turnover, leading to osteopenia, the decreased c-Kit expression levels in the W sh /W sh mice prevented the low calcium diet-induced increase in cancellous bone turnover and bone loss but not the cortical bone loss.

Automated Flight Dynamics Product Generation for the EOS AM-1 Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matusow, Carla

1999-01-01

As part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, the Earth Observing System (EOS) AM-1 spacecraft is designed to monitor long-term, global, environmental changes. Because of the complexity of the AM-1 spacecraft, the mission operations center requires more than 80 distinct flight dynamics products (reports). To create these products, the AM-1 Flight Dynamics Team (FDT) will use a combination of modified commercial software packages (e.g., Analytical Graphic's Satellite ToolKit) and NASA-developed software applications. While providing the most cost-effective solution to meeting the mission requirements, the integration of these software applications raises several operational concerns: (1) Routine product generation requires knowledge of multiple applications executing on variety of hardware platforms. (2) Generating products is a highly interactive process requiring a user to interact with each application multiple times to generate each product. (3) Routine product generation requires several hours to complete. (4) User interaction with each application introduces the potential for errors, since users are required to manually enter filenames and input parameters as well as run applications in the correct sequence. Generating products requires some level of flight dynamics expertise to determine the appropriate inputs and sequencing. To address these issues, the FDT developed an automation software tool called AutoProducts, which runs on a single hardware platform and provides all necessary coordination and communication among the various flight dynamics software applications. AutoProducts, autonomously retrieves necessary files, sequences and executes applications with correct input parameters, and deliver the final flight dynamics products to the appropriate customers. Although AutoProducts will normally generate pre-programmed sets of routine products, its graphical interface allows for easy configuration of customized and one-of-a-kind products. Additionally, AutoProducts has been designed as a mission-independent tool, and can be easily reconfigured to support other missions or incorporate new flight dynamics software packages. After the AM-1 launch, AutoProducts will run automatically at pre-determined time intervals . The AutoProducts tool reduces many of the concerns associated with the flight dynamics product generation. Although AutoProducts required a significant effort to develop because of the complexity of the interfaces involved, its use will provide significant cost savings through reduced operator time and maximum product reliability. In addition, user satisfaction is significantly improved and flight dynamics experts have more time to perform valuable analysis work. This paper will describe the evolution of the AutoProducts tool, highlighting the cost savings and customer satisfaction resulting from its development. It will also provide details about the tool including its graphical interface and operational capabilities.

Commercial vehicle (CV) retrofit safety device (RSD) kits project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

Retrofit Safety Device (RSD) kits were developed and deployed on commercial vehicles as part of the U.S. DOT Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot to gain insight into the unique aspects of deploying connected vehicle technology in a commercial vehicle envi...

Collection Assessment. SPEC Kit 41.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies.

This Association of Research Libraries (ARL) kit on collection assessment contains the following documents: (1) "Guidelines for the Evaluation of Library Collections--Draft Copy" (Collection Development Committee, Resource Section, Resources and Technical Services Division, American Library Association); (2) "Guidelines for Collection Assessment"…

Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office. 2008 Review

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-15

threat object displayed at the operator control unit of the robotic platform. Remote Utility Conversion Kit The Remote Utility Conversion Kit (RUCK) is a...three- dimensional and isometric simulations and games. Develop crowd models, adversarial behavior models, network-based simulations, mini-simulations...Craft-Littoral The modular unmanned surface craft-littoral ( MUSCL ) is a spin- off of EOD/LIC’s Unmanned Reconnaissance Observation Craft, developed

A Management Tool Kit on Training Needs Assessment and Programme Design: An Integrated Resource for Management Development in Transition Countries. Companion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

European Training Foundation, Turin (Italy).

This document presents a management tool kit on training needs assessment and program design for countries in transition to a market economy. Chapter 1 describes the tool's development within the framework of the project called Strengthening of Partnership between Management Training Institutions and Companies, Ukraine-Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan.…

The FOT tool kit concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fatig, Michael

1993-01-01

Flight operations and the preparation for it has become increasingly complex as mission complexities increase. Further, the mission model dictates that a significant increase in flight operations activities is upon us. Finally, there is a need for process improvement and economy in the operations arena. It is therefore time that we recognize flight operations as a complex process requiring a defined, structured, and life cycle approach vitally linked to space segment, ground segment, and science operations processes. With this recognition, an FOT Tool Kit consisting of six major components designed to provide tools to guide flight operations activities throughout the mission life cycle was developed. The major components of the FOT Tool Kit and the concepts behind the flight operations life cycle process as developed at NASA's GSFC for GSFC-based missions are addressed. The Tool Kit is therefore intended to increase productivity, quality, cost, and schedule performance of the flight operations tasks through the use of documented, structured methodologies; knowledge of past lessons learned and upcoming new technology; and through reuse and sharing of key products and special application programs made possible through the development of standardized key products and special program directories.

Samsung Salmonella Detection Kit. AOAC Performance Tested Method(SM) 021203.

PubMed

Li, Jun; Cheung, Win Den; Opdyke, Jason; Harvey, John; Chong, Songchun; Moon, Cheol Gon

2012-01-01

Salmonella, one of the most common causes of foodborne illness, is a significant public health concern worldwide. There is a need in the food industry for methods that are simple, rapid, and sensitive for the detection of foodborne pathogens. In this study, the Samsung Salmonella Detection Kit, a real-time PCR assay for the detection of Salmonella, was evaluated according to the current AOAC guidelines. The validation consisted of lot-to-lot consistency, stability, robustness, and inclusivity/exclusivity studies, as well as a method comparison of 10 different food matrixes. In the validation, the Samsung Salmonella Detection Kit was used in conjunction with the Applied Biosystems StepOnePlus PCR system and the Samsung Food Testing Software for the detection of Salmonella species. The performance of the assays was compared to the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Food Safety and Inspection Service-Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook (USDA/FSIS-MLG) 4.05: Isolation and Identification of Salmonella from Meat, Poultry, Pasteurized Egg, and Catfish and the and U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Bacteriological Analytical Manual (FDA/BAM) Chapter 5 Salmonella reference methods. The validation was conducted using an unpaired study design for detection of Salmonella spp. in raw ground beef, raw pork, raw ground pork, raw chicken wings, raw salmon, alfalfa sprouts, pasteurized orange juice, peanut butter, pasteurized whole milk, and shell eggs. The Samsung Salmonella Detection Kit demonstrated lot-to-lot consistency among three independent lots as well as ruggedness with minor modifications to changes in enrichment incubation time, enrichment incubation temperature, and DNA sample volume for PCR reaction. Stability was observed for 13 months at -20 degrees C and 3 months at 5 degrees C. For the inclusivity/exclusivity study, the Samsung Salmonella Detection Kit correctly identified 147 Salmonella species isolates out of 147 isolates tested from each of three different enrichment broths (a total of 441 isolates detected), and correctly excluded all 31 nontarget strains analyzed. For the method comparison, statistical analysis was conducted according to the Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square formula for unpaired test portions, and there was no significant difference in the number of positive samples detected between the Samsung Salmonella Detection Kit and the USDA/FSIS-MLG and FDA/BAM reference methods for all 10 food matrixes.

Association of KIT exon 9 mutations with nongastric primary site and aggressive behavior: KIT mutation analysis and clinical correlates of 120 gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

PubMed

Antonescu, Cristina R; Sommer, Gunhild; Sarran, Lisa; Tschernyavsky, Sylvia J; Riedel, Elyn; Woodruff, James M; Robson, Mark; Maki, Robert; Brennan, Murray F; Ladanyi, Marc; DeMatteo, Ronald P; Besmer, Peter

2003-08-15

Activating mutations of the KIT juxtamembrane region are the most common genetic events in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and have been noted as independent prognostic factors. The impact of KIT mutation in other regions, such as the extracellular or kinase domains, is not well-defined and fewer than 30 cases have been published to date. One hundred twenty GISTs, confirmed by KIT immunoreactivity, were evaluated for the presence of KIT exon 9, 11, 13, and 17 mutations. The relation between the presence/type of KIT mutation and clinicopathological factors was analyzed using Fisher's exact test and log-rank test. Forty-four % of the tumors were located in the stomach, 47% in the small bowel, 6% in the rectum, and 3% in the retroperitoneum. Overall, KIT mutations were detected in 78% of patients as follows: 67% in exon 11, 11% in exon 9, and none in exon 13 or 17. The types of KIT exon 11 mutations were heterogeneous and clustered in the classic "hot spot" at the 5' end of exon 11. Seven % of cases showed internal tandem duplications (ITD) at the 3' end of exon 11, in a region that we designate as a second hot spot for KIT mutations. Interestingly, these cases were associated with: female predominance, stomach location, occurrence in older patients, and favorable outcome. There were significant associations between exon 9 mutations and large tumor size (P < 0.001) and extragastric location (P = 0.02). Ten of these 13 patients with more than 1-year follow-up have developed recurrent disease. Most KIT-expressing GISTs show KIT mutations that are preferentially located within the classic hot spot of exon 11. In addition, we found an association between a second hot spot at the 3'end of exon 11, characterized by ITDs, and a subgroup of clinically indolent gastric GISTs in older females. KIT exon 9 mutations seem to define a distinct subset of GISTs, located predominantly in the small bowel and associated with an unfavorable clinical course.

A hand-ergonomics training kit: development and evaluation of a package to support improved awareness and critical thinking.

PubMed

Garmer, Karin; Sperling, Lena; Forsberg, Anette

2002-01-01

A need for a hand-ergonomics training kit has been identified to increase critical thinking concerning choice of hand tools. This study deals with the design, use and evaluation of a hand-ergonomics training kit for use in ergonomics training programmes. The effects on awareness of hand ergonomics among training course participants have been evaluated by means of a questionnaire and interviews at a car production plant in Sweden. The evaluation was carried out about one and a half years after training with the hand-ergonomics training kit. The training kit consists of a guide to practical exercises, equipment for measuring hand size and strength, examples of hand tools for use in practical exercises, equipment for testing and evaluating the hand tools and checklists and judgement forms for qualitative evaluation. In addition, the kit contains relevant scientifically based reference reports on hand ergonomics. The evaluation showed that the practical exercises with the hand-ergonomic training kit had, to a remarkable extent, increased individuals' awareness of anthropometric differences and of the importance of ergonomically well-designed hand tools. After the practical exercises with the training kit, communication within the plant when choosing hand tools seems to be based on objective criteria to a higher degree, however, the results indicate that this communication could be further improved.

Identification of a point mutation in the catalytic domain of the protooncogene c-kit in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients who have mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder.

PubMed Central

Nagata, H; Worobec, A S; Oh, C K; Chowdhury, B A; Tannenbaum, S; Suzuki, Y; Metcalfe, D D

1995-01-01

Both stem cells and mast cells express c-kit and proliferate after exposure to c-kit ligand. Mutations in c-kit may enhance or interfere with the ability of c-kit receptor to initiate the intracellular pathways resulting in cell proliferation. These observations suggested to us that mastocytosis might in some patients result from mutations in c-kit. cDNA synthesized from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with indolent mastocytosis, mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder, aggressive mastocytosis, solitary mastocytoma, and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia unassociated with mastocytosis was thus screened for a mutation of c-kit. This analysis revealed that four of four mastocytosis patients with an associated hematologic disorder with predominantly myelodysplastic features had an A-->T substitution at nt 2468 of c-kit mRNA that causes an Asp-816-->Val substitution. One of one patient examined who had mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder had the corresponding mutation in genomic DNA. Identical or similar amino acid substitutions in mast cell lines result in ligand-independent autophosphorylation of the c-kit receptor. This mutation was not identified in the patients within the other disease categories or in 67 of 67 controls. The identification of the point mutation Asp816Val in c-kit in patients with mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder provides insight not only into the pathogenesis of this form of mastocytosis but also into how hematopoiesis may become dysregulated and may serve to provide a means of confirming the diagnosis, assessing prognosis, and developing intervention strategies. Images Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 PMID:7479840

Identification of a point mutation in the catalytic domain of the protooncogene c-kit in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients who have mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder.

PubMed

Nagata, H; Worobec, A S; Oh, C K; Chowdhury, B A; Tannenbaum, S; Suzuki, Y; Metcalfe, D D

1995-11-07

Both stem cells and mast cells express c-kit and proliferate after exposure to c-kit ligand. Mutations in c-kit may enhance or interfere with the ability of c-kit receptor to initiate the intracellular pathways resulting in cell proliferation. These observations suggested to us that mastocytosis might in some patients result from mutations in c-kit. cDNA synthesized from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with indolent mastocytosis, mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder, aggressive mastocytosis, solitary mastocytoma, and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia unassociated with mastocytosis was thus screened for a mutation of c-kit. This analysis revealed that four of four mastocytosis patients with an associated hematologic disorder with predominantly myelodysplastic features had an A-->T substitution at nt 2468 of c-kit mRNA that causes an Asp-816-->Val substitution. One of one patient examined who had mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder had the corresponding mutation in genomic DNA. Identical or similar amino acid substitutions in mast cell lines result in ligand-independent autophosphorylation of the c-kit receptor. This mutation was not identified in the patients within the other disease categories or in 67 of 67 controls. The identification of the point mutation Asp816Val in c-kit in patients with mastocytosis with an associated hematologic disorder provides insight not only into the pathogenesis of this form of mastocytosis but also into how hematopoiesis may become dysregulated and may serve to provide a means of confirming the diagnosis, assessing prognosis, and developing intervention strategies.

Experiment kits for processing biological samples inflight on SLS-2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Savage, P. D.; Hinds, W. E.; Jaquez, R.; Evans, J.; Dubrovin, L.

1995-01-01

This paper describes development of an innovative, modular approach to packaging the instruments used to obtain and preserve the inflight rodent tissue and blood samples associated with hematology experiments on the Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2) mission. The design approach organized the multitude of instruments into twelve 5- x 6- x l-in. kits which were each used for a particular experiment. Each kit contained the syringes, vials, microscope slides, etc., necessary for processing and storing blood and tissue samples for one rat on a particular day. A total of 1245 components, packaged into 128 kits and stowed in 17 Zero(registered trademark) boxes, were required. Crewmembers found the design easy to use and laid out in a logical, simple configuration which minimized chances for error during the complex procedures in flight. This paper also summarizes inflight performance of the kits on SLS-2.

Development and validation of an ELISA kit for the detection of ricin toxins from biological specimens and environmental samples.

PubMed

Chen, Hsiao Ying; Tran, Hung; Foo, Ling Yann; Sew, Tracey Wenhui; Loke, Weng Keong

2014-08-01

Ricin is a toxin that can be easily extracted from seeds of Ricinus communis plants. Ricin is considered to be a major bio-threat as it can be freely and easily acquired in large quantities. A deliberate release of such toxin in civilian populations would very likely overwhelm existing public health systems, resulting in public fear and social unrest. There is currently no commercially available or FDA-approved prophylaxis such as vaccines, or therapeutic antitoxins or antidotes, available for ricin intoxication. Patient treatment is typically supportive care based on symptoms, often designed to reinforce the body's natural response. This paper describes the development and validation of a robust ELISA test kit, which can be used to screen for ricin in biological specimens such as whole blood and faeces. Faecal specimens are shown in this study to have better diagnostic sensitivity and a wider diagnostic window compared to whole blood. From these results, it is concluded that faeces is the most suitable clinical specimen for diagnosis of ricin poisoning via the oral route. The ELISA test kit can also detect ricin in environmental samples. An advantage of this ELISA kit over other commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) detection kits currently on the market that are developed to screen environmental samples only is its ability to diagnose ricin poisoning from clinical specimens as well as detect ricin from environmental samples.

A simple field kit for the determination of drug susceptibility in Plasmodium falciparum.

PubMed

Nguyen-Dinh, P; Magloire, R; Chin, W

1983-05-01

A field kit has been developed which greatly simplifies the performance of the 48-hour in vitro test for drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum. The kit uses an easily reconstituted lyophilized culture medium, and requires only a fingerprick blood sample. In parallel tests with 13 isolates of P. falciparum in Haiti, the new technique had a success rate equal to that of the previously described method, with comparable results in terms of parasite susceptibility in vitro to chloroquine and pyrimethamine.

MSXA packaging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcleod, A.

1977-01-01

Marshall Experimental Sprayable Ablator (MXSA) ingredients were compounded into a two part system which requires a minimum of handling by the user. Preweighed two part kits were developed which require that the user supply only the solvent. The kits consist of all of the powdery materials in Part A, and the epoxy resin (AA397) in Part B. Recent aging data on the kits indicates that they are useable for at least 6 months. The acronym MXSA has recently been replaced with MSA (Marshall sprayable ablator).

Echoes of China.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Pei-lan Li; Chao, Johanna T.; Chao, Yenshew Lynn; Chin, Ai-li S.; Hsieh, Charlotte Sheau-mann; Sun, Paul P.; Swartz, Leslie M.; Wang, Theresa; Wu, Fa Y.

This curriculum guide is developed to accompany 7 Chinese Cultural Heritage kits for use in intermediate and middle school classrooms. The units in this guide may be used with or without the accompanying kits. When appropriate, units include: objectives, introductory information, suggested presentation sequence, activity instruction, evaluation…

Lead Paint Test Kits Workshop: Summary Report

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) designed and conducted the Lead Paint Test Kits Workshop on October 19 and 20, 2006, at the Environmental Protection Agency's Research Triangle Park, NC campus. The workshop was conducted as...

Open Source Bayesian Models. 1. Application to ADME/Tox and Drug Discovery Datasets.

PubMed

Clark, Alex M; Dole, Krishna; Coulon-Spektor, Anna; McNutt, Andrew; Grass, George; Freundlich, Joel S; Reynolds, Robert C; Ekins, Sean

2015-06-22

On the order of hundreds of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADME/Tox) models have been described in the literature in the past decade which are more often than not inaccessible to anyone but their authors. Public accessibility is also an issue with computational models for bioactivity, and the ability to share such models still remains a major challenge limiting drug discovery. We describe the creation of a reference implementation of a Bayesian model-building software module, which we have released as an open source component that is now included in the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) project, as well as implemented in the CDD Vault and in several mobile apps. We use this implementation to build an array of Bayesian models for ADME/Tox, in vitro and in vivo bioactivity, and other physicochemical properties. We show that these models possess cross-validation receiver operator curve values comparable to those generated previously in prior publications using alternative tools. We have now described how the implementation of Bayesian models with FCFP6 descriptors generated in the CDD Vault enables the rapid production of robust machine learning models from public data or the user's own datasets. The current study sets the stage for generating models in proprietary software (such as CDD) and exporting these models in a format that could be run in open source software using CDK components. This work also demonstrates that we can enable biocomputation across distributed private or public datasets to enhance drug discovery.

Open Source Bayesian Models. 1. Application to ADME/Tox and Drug Discovery Datasets

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

On the order of hundreds of absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADME/Tox) models have been described in the literature in the past decade which are more often than not inaccessible to anyone but their authors. Public accessibility is also an issue with computational models for bioactivity, and the ability to share such models still remains a major challenge limiting drug discovery. We describe the creation of a reference implementation of a Bayesian model-building software module, which we have released as an open source component that is now included in the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) project, as well as implemented in the CDD Vault and in several mobile apps. We use this implementation to build an array of Bayesian models for ADME/Tox, in vitro and in vivo bioactivity, and other physicochemical properties. We show that these models possess cross-validation receiver operator curve values comparable to those generated previously in prior publications using alternative tools. We have now described how the implementation of Bayesian models with FCFP6 descriptors generated in the CDD Vault enables the rapid production of robust machine learning models from public data or the user’s own datasets. The current study sets the stage for generating models in proprietary software (such as CDD) and exporting these models in a format that could be run in open source software using CDK components. This work also demonstrates that we can enable biocomputation across distributed private or public datasets to enhance drug discovery. PMID:25994950

Data Logging and Data Modelling: Using seismology and seismic data to create challenge in the academic classroom.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neighbour, Gordon

2013-04-01

In 2012 Computing and Information Technology was disapplied from the English National Curriculum and therefore no longer has a compulsory programme of study. Data logging and data modelling are still essential components of the curriculum in the Computing and Information Technology classroom. Once the students have mastered the basics of both spreadsheet and information handling software they need to be further challenged. All too often the data used with relation to data-logging and data-handling is not realistic enough to really challenge very able students. However, using data from seismology allows students to manipulate "real" data and enhances their experience of geo-science, developing their skills and then allowing them to build on this work in both the science and geography classroom. This new scheme of work "Seismology at School" has allowed the students to work and develop skills beyond those normally expected for their age group and has allowed them to better appreciate their learning experience of "Natural Hazards" in the science and geography classroom in later years. The students undertake research to help them develop their understanding of earthquakes. This includes using materials from other nations within the European Economic Area, to also develop and challenge their use of Modern Foreign Languages. They are then challenged to create their own seismometers using simple kits and 'free' software - this "problem-solving" approach to their work is designed to enhance team-work and to extend the challenge they experience in the classroom. The students are then are asked to manipulate a "real" set of data using international earthquake data from the most recent whole year. This allows the students to make use of many of the analytical and statistical functions of both spreadsheet software and information handling software in a meaningful way. The students will need to have developed a hypothesis which their work should have provided either validation for or against. They are required to document their progress throughout the project and submit their work as an electronic portfolio for marking and this thus challenges their organisational abilities. Finally through the project it is hoped to develop and extend partnerships with other schools in the European Economic Area so that the students are able to work with students from these areas to further appreciate the teaching of "Natural Hazards" in other cultures within the EEA.

Prevalence of c-KIT Mutations in Gonadoblastoma and Dysgerminomas of Patients with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD) and Ovarian Dysgerminomas

PubMed Central

Hersmus, Remko; Stoop, Hans; van de Geijn, Gert Jan; Eini, Ronak; Biermann, Katharina; Oosterhuis, J. Wolter; DHooge, Catharina; Schneider, Dominik T.; Meijssen, Isabelle C.; Dinjens, Winand N. M.; Dubbink, Hendrikus Jan; Drop, Stenvert L. S.; Looijenga, Leendert H. J.

2012-01-01

Activating c-KIT mutations (exons 11 and 17) are found in 10–40% of testicular seminomas, the majority being missense point mutations (codon 816). Malignant ovarian dysgerminomas represent ∼3% of all ovarian cancers in Western countries, resembling testicular seminomas, regarding chromosomal aberrations and c-KIT mutations. DSD patients with specific Y-sequences have an increased risk for Type II Germ Cell Tumor/Cancer, with gonadoblastoma as precursor progressing to dysgerminoma. Here we present analysis of c-KIT exon 8, 9, 11, 13 and 17, and PDGFRA exon 12, 14 and 18 by conventional sequencing together with mutational analysis of c-KIT codon 816 by a sensitive and specific LightCycler melting curve analysis, confirmed by sequencing. The results are combined with data on TSPY and OCT3/4 expression in a series of 16 DSD patients presenting with gonadoblastoma and dysgerminoma and 15 patients presenting pure ovarian dysgerminomas without DSD. c-KIT codon 816 mutations were detected in five out of the total of 31 cases (all found in pure ovarian dysgerminomas). A synonymous SNP (rs 5578615) was detected in two patients, one DSD patient (with bilateral disease) and one patient with dysgerminoma. Next to these, three codon N822K mutations were detected in the group of 15 pure ovarian dysgerminomas. In total activating c-KIT mutations were found in 53% of ovarian dysgerminomas without DSD. In the group of 16 DSD cases a N505I and D820E mutation was found in a single tumor of a patient with gonadoblastoma and dysgerminoma. No PDGFRA mutations were found. Positive OCT3/4 staining was present in all gonadoblastomas and dysgerminomas investigated, TSPY expression was only seen in the gonadoblastoma/dysgerminoma lesions of the 16 DSD patients. This data supports the existence of two distinct but parallel pathways in the development of dysgerminoma, in which mutational status of c-KIT might parallel the presence of TSPY. PMID:22937135

“Back on Track”: A Mobile App Observational Study Using Apple’s ResearchKit Framework

PubMed Central

Woias, Peter; Suedkamp, Norbert P; Niemeyer, Philipp

2017-01-01

Background In March 2015, Apple Inc announced ResearchKit, a novel open-source framework intended to help medical researchers to easily create apps for medical studies. With the announcement of this framework, Apple presented 5 apps built in a beta phase based on this framework. Objective The objective of this study was to better understand decision making in patients with acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. Here, we describe the development of a ResearchKit app for this study. Methods A multilanguage observatory study was conducted. At first a suitable research topic, target groups, participating territories, and programming method were carefully identified. The ResearchKit framework was used to program the app. A secure server connection was realized via Secure Sockets Layer. A data storage and security concept separating personal information and study data was proposed. Furthermore, an efficient method to allow multilanguage support and distribute the app in many territories was presented. Ethical implications were considered and taken into account regarding privacy policies. Results An app study based on ResearchKit was developed without comprehensive iPhone Operating System (iOS) development experience. The Apple App Store is a major distribution channel causing significant download rates (>1.200/y) without active recruitment. Preliminary data analysis showed moderate dropout rates and a good quality of data. A total of 180 participants were currently enrolled with 107 actively participating and producing 424 completed surveys in 9 out of 24 months. Conclusions ResearchKit is an easy-to-use framework and powerful tool to create medical studies. Advantages are the modular built, the extensive reach of iOS devices, and the convenient programming environment. PMID:28246069

"Back on Track": A Mobile App Observational Study Using Apple's ResearchKit Framework.

PubMed

Zens, Martin; Woias, Peter; Suedkamp, Norbert P; Niemeyer, Philipp

2017-02-28

In March 2015, Apple Inc announced ResearchKit, a novel open-source framework intended to help medical researchers to easily create apps for medical studies. With the announcement of this framework, Apple presented 5 apps built in a beta phase based on this framework. The objective of this study was to better understand decision making in patients with acute anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures. Here, we describe the development of a ResearchKit app for this study. A multilanguage observatory study was conducted. At first a suitable research topic, target groups, participating territories, and programming method were carefully identified. The ResearchKit framework was used to program the app. A secure server connection was realized via Secure Sockets Layer. A data storage and security concept separating personal information and study data was proposed. Furthermore, an efficient method to allow multilanguage support and distribute the app in many territories was presented. Ethical implications were considered and taken into account regarding privacy policies. An app study based on ResearchKit was developed without comprehensive iPhone Operating System (iOS) development experience. The Apple App Store is a major distribution channel causing significant download rates (>1.200/y) without active recruitment. Preliminary data analysis showed moderate dropout rates and a good quality of data. A total of 180 participants were currently enrolled with 107 actively participating and producing 424 completed surveys in 9 out of 24 months. ResearchKit is an easy-to-use framework and powerful tool to create medical studies. Advantages are the modular built, the extensive reach of iOS devices, and the convenient programming environment. ©Martin Zens, Peter Woias, Norbert P Suedkamp, Philipp Niemeyer. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 28.02.2017.

A Lateral Flow Rapid Test for Human Toxocariasis Developed Using Three Toxocara canis Recombinant Antigens.

PubMed

Yunus, Muhammad Hafiznur; Tan Farrizam, Siti Naqiuyah; Abdul Karim, Izzati Zahidah; Noordin, Rahmah

2018-01-01

Laboratory diagnosis of toxocariasis is still a challenge especially in developing endemic countries with polyparasitism. In this study, three Toxocara canis recombinant antigens, rTES-26, rTES-30, and rTES-120, were expressed and used to prepare lateral flow immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) dipsticks. The concordance of the results of the rapid test (comprising three dipsticks) with a commercial IgG-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Cypress Diagnostics, Belgium) was compared against the concordance of two other commercial IgG-ELISA kits (Bordier, Switzerland and NovaTec, Germany) with the Cypress kit. Using Toxocara- positive samples, the concordance of the dipstick dotted with rTES-26, rTES-30, and rTES-120 was 41.4% (12/29), 51.7% (15/29), and 72.4% (21/29), respectively. When positivity with any dipstick was considered as an overall positive rapid test result, the concordance with the Cypress kit was 93% (27/29). Meanwhile, when compared with the results of the Cypress kit, the concordance of IgG-ELISA from NovaTec and Bordier was 100% (29/29) and 89.7% (26/29), respectively. Specific IgG4 has been recognized as a marker of active infection for several helminthic diseases; therefore, the two non-concordant results of the rapid test when compared with the NovaTec IgG-ELISA kit may be from samples of people with non-active infection. All the three dipsticks showed 100% (50/50) concordance with the Cypress kit when tested with serum from individuals who were healthy and with other infections. In conclusion, the lateral flow rapid test is potentially a good, fast, and easy test for toxocariasis. Next, further validation studies and development of a test with the three antigens in one dipstick will be performed.

Cell type-specific deficiency of c-kit gene expression in mutant mice of mi/mi genotype.

PubMed Central

Isozaki, K.; Tsujimura, T.; Nomura, S.; Morii, E.; Koshimizu, U.; Nishimune, Y.; Kitamura, Y.

1994-01-01

The mi locus of mice encodes a novel member of the basic-helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper protein family of transcription factors (hereafter called mi factor). In addition to microphthalmus, osteopetrosis, and lack of melanocytes, mice of mi/mi genotype are deficient in mast cells. Since the c-kit receptor tyrosine kinase plays an important role in the development of mast cells, and since the c-kit expression by cultured mast cells from mi/mi mice is deficient in both mRNA and protein levels, the mast cell deficiency of mi/mi mice has been attributed at least in part to the deficient expression of c-kit. However, it remained to be examined whether the c-kit expression was also deficient in tissues of mi/mi mice. In the present study, we examined the c-kit expression by mi/mi skin mast cells using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Moreover, we examined the c-kit expression by various cells other than mast cells in tissues of mi/mi mice. We found that the c-kit expression was deficient in mast cells but not in erythroid precursors, testicular germ cells, and neurons of mi/mi mice. This suggested that the regulation of the c-kit transcription by the mi factor was dependent on cell types. Mice of mi/mi genotype appeared to be a useful model to analyze the function of transcription factors in the whole-animal level. Images Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 PMID:7524330

The Pandora multi-algorithm approach to automated pattern recognition of cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.; Anthony, J.; Asaadi, J.; Auger, M.; Bagby, L.; Balasubramanian, S.; Baller, B.; Barnes, C.; Barr, G.; Bass, M.; Bay, F.; Bishai, M.; Blake, A.; Bolton, T.; Camilleri, L.; Caratelli, D.; Carls, B.; Castillo Fernandez, R.; Cavanna, F.; Chen, H.; Church, E.; Cianci, D.; Cohen, E.; Collin, G. H.; Conrad, J. M.; Convery, M.; Crespo-Anadón, J. I.; Del Tutto, M.; Devitt, D.; Dytman, S.; Eberly, B.; Ereditato, A.; Escudero Sanchez, L.; Esquivel, J.; Fadeeva, A. A.; Fleming, B. T.; Foreman, W.; Furmanski, A. P.; Garcia-Gamez, D.; Garvey, G. T.; Genty, V.; Goeldi, D.; Gollapinni, S.; Graf, N.; Gramellini, E.; Greenlee, H.; Grosso, R.; Guenette, R.; Hackenburg, A.; Hamilton, P.; Hen, O.; Hewes, J.; Hill, C.; Ho, J.; Horton-Smith, G.; Hourlier, A.; Huang, E.-C.; James, C.; Jan de Vries, J.; Jen, C.-M.; Jiang, L.; Johnson, R. A.; Joshi, J.; Jostlein, H.; Kaleko, D.; Karagiorgi, G.; Ketchum, W.; Kirby, B.; Kirby, M.; Kobilarcik, T.; Kreslo, I.; Laube, A.; Li, Y.; Lister, A.; Littlejohn, B. R.; Lockwitz, S.; Lorca, D.; Louis, W. C.; Luethi, M.; Lundberg, B.; Luo, X.; Marchionni, A.; Mariani, C.; Marshall, J.; Martinez Caicedo, D. A.; Meddage, V.; Miceli, T.; Mills, G. B.; Moon, J.; Mooney, M.; Moore, C. D.; Mousseau, J.; Murrells, R.; Naples, D.; Nienaber, P.; Nowak, J.; Palamara, O.; Paolone, V.; Papavassiliou, V.; Pate, S. F.; Pavlovic, Z.; Piasetzky, E.; Porzio, D.; Pulliam, G.; Qian, X.; Raaf, J. L.; Rafique, A.; Rochester, L.; Rudolf von Rohr, C.; Russell, B.; Schmitz, D. W.; Schukraft, A.; Seligman, W.; Shaevitz, M. H.; Sinclair, J.; Smith, A.; Snider, E. L.; Soderberg, M.; Söldner-Rembold, S.; Soleti, S. R.; Spentzouris, P.; Spitz, J.; St. John, J.; Strauss, T.; Szelc, A. M.; Tagg, N.; Terao, K.; Thomson, M.; Toups, M.; Tsai, Y.-T.; Tufanli, S.; Usher, T.; Van De Pontseele, W.; Van de Water, R. G.; Viren, B.; Weber, M.; Wickremasinghe, D. A.; Wolbers, S.; Wongjirad, T.; Woodruff, K.; Yang, T.; Yates, L.; Zeller, G. P.; Zennamo, J.; Zhang, C.

2018-01-01

The development and operation of liquid-argon time-projection chambers for neutrino physics has created a need for new approaches to pattern recognition in order to fully exploit the imaging capabilities offered by this technology. Whereas the human brain can excel at identifying features in the recorded events, it is a significant challenge to develop an automated, algorithmic solution. The Pandora Software Development Kit provides functionality to aid the design and implementation of pattern-recognition algorithms. It promotes the use of a multi-algorithm approach to pattern recognition, in which individual algorithms each address a specific task in a particular topology. Many tens of algorithms then carefully build up a picture of the event and, together, provide a robust automated pattern-recognition solution. This paper describes details of the chain of over one hundred Pandora algorithms and tools used to reconstruct cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector. Metrics that assess the current pattern-recognition performance are presented for simulated MicroBooNE events, using a selection of final-state event topologies.

Development and validation of an ELISA kit (YF MAC-HD) to detect IgM to yellow fever virus.

PubMed

Basile, Alison Jane; Goodman, Christin; Horiuchi, Kalanthe; Laven, Janeen; Panella, Amanda J; Kosoy, Olga; Lanciotti, Robert S; Johnson, Barbara W

2015-12-01

Yellow fever virus (YFV) is endemic in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, with around 180,000 human infections a year occurring in Africa. Serologic testing is the chief laboratory diagnostic means of identifying an outbreak and to inform the decision to commence a vaccination campaign. The World Health Organization disseminates the reagents for YFV testing to African reference laboratories, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is charged with producing and providing these reagents. The CDC M-antibody capture ELISA is a 2-day test, requiring titration of reagents when new lots are received, which leads to inconsistency in testing and wastage of material. Here we describe the development of a kit-based assay (YF MAC-HD) based upon the CDC method, that is completed in approximately 3.5h, with equivocal samples being reflexed to an overnight protocol. The kit exhibits >90% accuracy when compared to the 2-day test. The kits were designed for use with a minimum of equipment and are stored at 4°C, removing the need for freezing capacity. This kit is capable of tolerating temporary sub-optimal storage conditions which will ease shipping or power outage concerns, and a shelf life of >6 months was demonstrated with no deterioration in accuracy. All reagents necessary to run the YF MAC-HD are included in the kit and are single-use, with 8 or 24 sample options per kit. Field trials are envisioned for the near future, which will enable refinement of the method. The use of the YF MAC-HD is anticipated to reduce materials wastage, and improve the quality and consistency of YFV serologic testing in endemic areas. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Oct4-GFP expression during transformation of gonocytes into spermatogonial stem cells in the perinatal mouse testis.

PubMed

Li, Ruili; Vannitamby, Amanda; Zhang, Jian-Guo; Fehmel, Emma L; Southwell, Bridget R; Hutson, John M

2015-12-01

In cryptorchidism perinatal failure to switch off Oct4, a germ cell (GC) marker, may lead to carcinoma in situ. We aimed to analyze Oct4 expression during mouse gonocyte transformation into spermatogonial stem cells (SSC). Testes from OG2 (Oct4-promoter driven eGFP) mice at embryonic day (E) 17 and postnatal day P0-10 underwent immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. Antibodies against MVH, AMH, Ki67, and c-Kit were visualized by confocal microscopy. Numbers of Oct4-GFP(+) GC and Oct4-GFP(-) GC/tubule were counted using ImageJ. Data were analyzed using nonparametric one-way ANOVA. GC from E17-P4 were Oct4-GFP(+). Numbers of Oct4-GFP(-) GC/tubule increased from P6-10, whereas Oct4-GFP(+) GC/tubule numbers remained similar between P6 and P10. Sertoli cells proliferated from E17-P10, whereas GC only proliferated from P2. Gonocytes (Oct4-GFP(+)/c-Kit(-)) central in tubules migrated to the basement membrane to become prospermatogonia (Oct4-GFP(+)/c-Kit(-)) and then SSC (Oct4-GFP(+)/c-Kit(+)) from day 4 and further developed into Oct4-GFP(-)/c-Kit(+) at P6. In Oct4-GFP mice both centrally located gonocytes and prospermatogonia located at the tubular basement membrane were Oct4-GFP(+)/c-Kit(-) before further developing into SSC (Oct4-GFP(+)/c-Kit(+)). This indicates that Oct4 is important in gonocyte transformation into SSC. Understanding this process will aid GC tumor diagnostics and fertility potential in boys with UDT undergoing orchidopexy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Detection of KIT Genotype in Pigs by TaqMan MGB Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction.

PubMed

Li, Xiuxiu; Li, Xiaoning; Luo, Rongrong; Wang, Wenwen; Wang, Tao; Tang, Hui

2018-05-01

The dominant white phenotype in domestic pigs is caused by two mutations in the KIT gene: a 450 kb duplication containing the entire KIT gene together with flanking sequences and one splice mutation with a G:A substitution in intron 17. The purpose of this study was to establish a simple, rapid method to determine KIT genotype in pigs. First, to detect KIT copy number variation (CNV), primers for exon 2 of the KIT gene, along with a TaqMan minor groove binder (MGB) probe, were designed. The single-copy gene, estrogen receptor (ESR), was used as an internal control. A real-time fluorescence-based quantitative PCR (FQ-PCR) protocol was developed to accurately detect KIT CNVs. Second, to detect the splice mutation ratio of the G:A substitution in intron 17, a 175 bp region, including the target mutation, was amplified from genomic DNA. Based on the sequence of the resulting amplified fragment, an MGB probe set was designed to detect the ratio of splice mutation to normal using FQ-PCR. A series of parallel amplification curves with the same internal distances were obtained using gradually diluted DNA as templates. The CT values among dilutions were significantly different (p < 0.001) and the coefficients of variation from each dilution were low (from 0.13% to 0.26%). The amplification efficiencies for KIT and ESR were approximately equal, indicating ESR was an appropriate control gene. Furthermore, use of the MGB probe set resulted in detection of the target mutation at a high resolution and stability; standard curves illustrated that the amplification efficiencies of KIT1 (G) and KIT2 (A) were approximately equal (98.8% and 97.2%). In conclusion, a simple, rapid method, with high specificity and stability, for the detection of the KIT genotype in pigs was established using TaqMan MGB probe real-time quantitative PCR.

[4-t-butylphenyl]-N-(4-imidazol-1-yl phenyl)sulfonamide (ISCK03) inhibits SCF/c-kit signaling in 501mel human melanoma cells and abolishes melanin production in mice and brownish guinea pigs.

PubMed

Na, Yong Joo; Baek, Heung Su; Ahn, Soo Mi; Shin, Hyun Jung; Chang, Ih-Seop; Hwang, Jae Sung

2007-09-01

It is well known that c-kit is related to pigmentation as well as to the oncology target protein. The objective of this study was to discover a skin-whitening agent that regulates c-kit activity. We have developed a high-throughput screening system using recombinant human c-kit protein. Approximately 10,000 synthetic compounds were screened for their effect on c-kit activity. Phenyl-imidazole sulfonamide derivatives showed inhibitory activity on c-kit phosphorylation in vitro. The effects of one derivative, [4-t-butylphenyl]-N-(4-imidazol-1-yl phenyl)sulfonamide (ISCK03), on stem-cell factor (SCF)/c-kit cellular signaling in 501mel human melanoma cells were examined further. Pretreatment of 501mel cells with ISCK03 inhibited SCF-induced c-kit phosphorylation dose dependently. ISCK03 also inhibited p44/42 ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation, which is known to be involved in SCF/c-kit downstream signaling. However ISCK03 did not inhibit hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-induced phosphorylation of p44/42 ERK proteins. To determine the in vivo potency of ISCK03, it was orally administered to depilated C57BL/6 mice. Interestingly, oral administration of ISCK03 induced the dose-dependent depigmentation of newly regrown hair, and this was reversed with cessation of ISCK03 treatment. Finally, to investigate whether the inhibitory effect of ISCK03 on SCF/c-kit signaling abolished UV-induced pigmentation, ISCK03 was applied to UV-induced pigmented spots on brownish guinea pig skin. The topical application of ISCK03 promoted the depigmentation of UV-induced hyperpigmented spots. Fontana-Masson staining analysis showed epidermal melanin was diminished in spots treated with ISCK03. These results indicate that phenyl-imidazole sulfonamide derivatives are potent c-kit inhibitors and might be used as skin-whitening agents.

A quantitative analysis of whether elementary teachers' science kit usage and beliefs can predict state science assessment scores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rice, Tony E.

The purpose of this survey was to describe and analyze the perceptions of elementary school teachers' in a Midwestern state concerning their use of a science kit program, including to what extent a school's state science assessment scores can be predicated from the level of science kit usage. Prior research indicates that elementary school teachers lack the confidence in teaching science primarily because of their weak undergraduate training in inquiry-based instruction and the lack of a strong science background. Authors such as Dickerson et al. (2006) and Riggs and Enochs (2006) argued that science kits and the materials included in them are valuable in increasing teacher confidence. The teacher perceptions I collected matched the literature quite closely as far as what the teachers found to be of the most value and use. Teachers perceptions of the science kits were positive including: (a) student engagement in using the science kits, (b) use of most of the instructional items included in the kits, (c) the amount of teacher confidence in using them, (d) the support from the math and science center for using them, (e) and the professional development provided. Teachers liked using many components of the kits, especially the experiments. Their main complaint concerned time: time to teach science and time to complete the kit lessons. I used multiple regression to understand the components of the kit program that had a significant correlation to the state test scores. The following variables could explain a high proportion of the variance (.796): (a) teacher confidence, (b) student science learning success, (c) teacher beliefs about science education and (d) the percentage of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program. These findings might lead to school principals and teachers increasing their 5th grade state science exam scores by using the findings to identify which components of the kit program are most important in this endeavor.

Foundational Tools for Petascale Computing

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

Miller, Barton

2014-05-19

The Paradyn project has a history of developing algorithms, techniques, and software that push the cutting edge of tool technology for high-end computing systems. Under this funding, we are working on a three-year agenda to make substantial new advances in support of new and emerging Petascale systems. The overall goal for this work is to address the steady increase in complexity of these petascale systems. Our work covers two key areas: (1) The analysis, instrumentation and control of binary programs. Work in this area falls under the general framework of the Dyninst API tool kits. (2) Infrastructure for building toolsmore » and applications at extreme scale. Work in this area falls under the general framework of the MRNet scalability framework. Note that work done under this funding is closely related to work done under a contemporaneous grant, “High-Performance Energy Applications and Systems”, SC0004061/FG02-10ER25972, UW PRJ36WV.« less

Recent Updates to the System Advisor Model (SAM)

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

DiOrio, Nicholas A

The System Advisor Model (SAM) is a mature suite of techno-economic models for many renewable energy technologies that can be downloaded for free as a desktop application or software development kit. SAM is used for system-level modeling, including generating performance pro the release of the code as an open source project on GitHub. Other additions that will be covered include the ability to download data directly into SAM from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) and up- dates to a user-interface macro that assists with PV system sizing. A brief update on SAM's battery model and its integration with themore » detailed photovoltaic model will also be discussed. Finally, an outline of planned work for the next year will be presented, including the addition of a bifacial model, support for multiple MPPT inputs for detailed inverter modeling, and the addition of a model for inverter thermal behavior.« less

A precise goniometer/tensiometer using a low cost single-board computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favier, Benoit; Chamakos, Nikolaos T.; Papathanasiou, Athanasios G.

2017-12-01

Measuring the surface tension and the Young contact angle of a droplet is extremely important for many industrial applications. Here, considering the booming interest for small and cheap but precise experimental instruments, we have constructed a low-cost contact angle goniometer/tensiometer, based on a single-board computer (Raspberry Pi). The device runs an axisymmetric drop shape analysis (ADSA) algorithm written in Python. The code, here named DropToolKit, was developed in-house. We initially present the mathematical framework of our algorithm and then we validate our software tool against other well-established ADSA packages, including the commercial ramé-hart DROPimage Advanced as well as the DropAnalysis plugin in ImageJ. After successfully testing for various combinations of liquids and solid surfaces, we concluded that our prototype device would be highly beneficial for industrial applications as well as for scientific research in wetting phenomena compared to the commercial solutions.

Malaysian Secondary Physics Teachers' Perceptions towards the Teaching and Learning of Archimedes' Principle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salleh, Khalijah Mohd; Abdullah, Abu Bakar Bin

2008-05-01

An explorative study was carried out to confirm Malaysian Physics teachers' perception that Archimedes' principle is a difficult topic for secondary level students. The interview method was used for data collection. The study sample was made of nine national secondary schools teachers from Miri, Sarawak. The data was analysed qualitatively using the Atlas-ti version 5.2 software. The findings of the study showed that i) Archimedes' principle as compared to Bernoulli's and Pascal's is the most difficult principle of hydrodynamics for students, ii) more time was given in the teaching and learning (TL) of Archimedes principle compared to the other two principles, iii) the major TL problems include conceptual understanding, application of physics principles and ideas, and lack of mathematical skills. These findings implicate the need to develop corresponding instructional materials and learning kits that can assist students' understanding of Archimedes' principle.

Can dead man tooth do tell tales? Tooth prints in forensic identification.

PubMed

Christopher, Vineetha; Murthy, Sarvani; Ashwinirani, S R; Prasad, Kulkarni; Girish, Suragimath; Vinit, Shashikanth Patil

2017-01-01

We know that teeth trouble us a lot when we are alive, but they last longer for thousands of years even after we are dead. Teeth being the strongest and resistant structure are the most significant tool in forensic investigations. Patterns of enamel rod end on the tooth surface are known as tooth prints. This study is aimed to know whether these tooth prints can become a forensic tool in personal identification such as finger prints. A study has been targeted toward the same. In the present in-vivo study, acetate peel technique has been used to obtain the replica of enamel rod end patterns. Tooth prints of upper first premolars were recorded from 80 individuals after acid etching using cellulose acetate strips. Then, digital images of the tooth prints obtained at two different intervals were subjected to biometric conversion using Verifinger standard software development kit version 6.5 software followed by the use of Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) software for comparison of the tooth prints. Similarly, each individual's finger prints were also recorded and were subjected to the same software. Further, recordings of AFIS scores obtained from images were statistically analyzed using Cronbach's test. We observed that comparing two tooth prints taken from an individual at two intervals exhibited similarity in many cases, with wavy pattern tooth print being the predominant type. However, the same prints showed dissimilarity when compared with other individuals. We also found that most of the individuals with whorl pattern finger print showed wavy pattern tooth print and few loop type fingerprints showed linear pattern of tooth prints. Further more experiments on both tooth prints and finger prints are required in establishing an individual's identity.

Can dead man tooth do tell tales? Tooth prints in forensic identification

PubMed Central

Christopher, Vineetha; Murthy, Sarvani; Ashwinirani, S. R.; Prasad, Kulkarni; Girish, Suragimath; Vinit, Shashikanth Patil

2017-01-01

Background: We know that teeth trouble us a lot when we are alive, but they last longer for thousands of years even after we are dead. Teeth being the strongest and resistant structure are the most significant tool in forensic investigations. Patterns of enamel rod end on the tooth surface are known as tooth prints. Aim: This study is aimed to know whether these tooth prints can become a forensic tool in personal identification such as finger prints. A study has been targeted toward the same. Settings and Design: In the present in-vivo study, acetate peel technique has been used to obtain the replica of enamel rod end patterns. Materials and Methods: Tooth prints of upper first premolars were recorded from 80 individuals after acid etching using cellulose acetate strips. Then, digital images of the tooth prints obtained at two different intervals were subjected to biometric conversion using Verifinger standard software development kit version 6.5 software followed by the use of Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) software for comparison of the tooth prints. Similarly, each individual's finger prints were also recorded and were subjected to the same software. Statistical Analysis: Further, recordings of AFIS scores obtained from images were statistically analyzed using Cronbach's test. Results: We observed that comparing two tooth prints taken from an individual at two intervals exhibited similarity in many cases, with wavy pattern tooth print being the predominant type. However, the same prints showed dissimilarity when compared with other individuals. We also found that most of the individuals with whorl pattern finger print showed wavy pattern tooth print and few loop type fingerprints showed linear pattern of tooth prints. Conclusions: Further more experiments on both tooth prints and finger prints are required in establishing an individual's identity. PMID:28584483

Practical Parenting 1-5 Years: Child and Youth Health: South Australia. Leader's Guide and Parent Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Australian Council for Educational Research, Victoria.

This parent education kit, which contains both a parent book and guide for parent-group leaders, is based on the philosophy that children's needs and abilities change as they develop and that parenting needs to respond to these changes. The kit is also based on the understanding that children develop as part of a family and that relationships are…

The human tyrosine kinase Kit and its gatekeeper mutant T670I, show different kinetic properties: Implications for drug design.

PubMed

Kissova, Miroslava; Maga, Giovanni; Crespan, Emmanuele

2016-10-01

The tyrosine kinase Kit, a receptor for Stem Cell Factor, is involved, among others, in processes associated to cell survival, proliferation and migration. Upon physiological conditions, the activity of Kit is tightly regulated. However, primary mutations that lead to its constitutive activation are the causal oncogenic driver of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs). GISTs are known to be refractory to conventional therapies but the introduction of Imatinib, a selective inhibitor of tyrosine kinases Abl and Kit, significantly ameliorated the treatment options of GISTs patients. However, the acquisition of secondary mutations renders Kit resistant towards all available drugs. Mutation involving gatekeeper residues (such as V654a and T670I) influence both the structure and the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Therefore, detailed knowledge of the enzymatic properties of the mutant forms, in comparison with the wild type enzyme, is an important pre-requisite for the rational development of specific inhibitors. In this paper we report a thorough kinetic analysis of the reaction catalyzed by the Kit kinase and its gatekeeper mutated form T670I. Our results revealed the different mechanisms of action of these two enzymes and may open a new avenue for the future design of specific Kit inhibitors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) remote servicing kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Norman S.

1988-01-01

With the design and development of the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) progressing toward an early 1990 initial operating capability (IOC), a new era in remote space operations will evolve. The logical progression to OMV front end kits would make available in situ satellite servicing, repair, and consummables resupply to the satellite community. Several conceptual design study efforts are defining representative kits (propellant tanks, debris recovery, module servicers); additional focus must also be placed on an efficient combination module servicer and consummables resupply kit. A remote servicer kit of this type would be designed to perform many of the early maintenance/resupply tasks in both nominal and high inclination orbits. The kit would have the capability to exchange Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs), exchange propellant tanks, and/or connect fluid transfer umbilicals. Necessary transportation system functions/support could be provided by interfaces with the OMV, Shuttle (STS), or Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV). Specific remote servicer kit designs, as well as ground and flight demonstrations of servicer technology are necessary to prepare for the potential overwhelming need. Ground test plans should adhere to the component/system/breadboard test philosophy to assure maximum capability of one-g testing. The flight demonstration(s) would most likely be a short duration, Shuttle-bay experiment to validate servicer components requiring a micro-g environment.

Comparison of DNA extraction methods for human gut microbial community profiling.

PubMed

Lim, Mi Young; Song, Eun-Ji; Kim, Sang Ho; Lee, Jangwon; Nam, Young-Do

2018-03-01

The human gut harbors a vast range of microbes that have significant impact on health and disease. Therefore, gut microbiome profiling holds promise for use in early diagnosis and precision medicine development. Accurate profiling of the highly complex gut microbiome requires DNA extraction methods that provide sufficient coverage of the original community as well as adequate quality and quantity. We tested nine different DNA extraction methods using three commercial kits (TianLong Stool DNA/RNA Extraction Kit (TS), QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (QS), and QIAamp PowerFecal DNA Kit (QP)) with or without additional bead-beating step using manual or automated methods and compared them in terms of DNA extraction ability from human fecal sample. All methods produced DNA in sufficient concentration and quality for use in sequencing, and the samples were clustered according to the DNA extraction method. Inclusion of bead-beating step especially resulted in higher degrees of microbial diversity and had the greatest effect on gut microbiome composition. Among the samples subjected to bead-beating method, TS kit samples were more similar to QP kit samples than QS kit samples. Our results emphasize the importance of mechanical disruption step for a more comprehensive profiling of the human gut microbiome. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.

Tailgate test kit for determining appropriate sediment reducing chemicals and dose rates : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-07-01

This study develops a Tailgate Test Kit to be used in the field to test flocculants for reducing turbidity in construction stormwater discharge. Turbidity of stormwater runoff at construction sites varies depending on which site soils are exposed to ...

User Statistics and Studies. SPEC Kit 25.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies.

A result of the Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) November 1975 Services Survey, this kit presents statistical studies developed from management information sources such as circulation records or generated expressly for a particular study. While academic and research libraries maintain statistical records measuring library efficiency or…

Incorporating ethical principles into clinical research protocols: a tool for protocol writers and ethics committees

PubMed Central

Li, Rebecca H; Wacholtz, Mary C; Barnes, Mark; Boggs, Liam; Callery-D'Amico, Susan; Davis, Amy; Digilova, Alla; Forster, David; Heffernan, Kate; Luthin, Maeve; Lynch, Holly Fernandez; McNair, Lindsay; Miller, Jennifer E; Murphy, Jacquelyn; Van Campen, Luann; Wilenzick, Mark; Wolf, Delia; Woolston, Cris; Aldinger, Carmen; Bierer, Barbara E

2016-01-01

A novel Protocol Ethics Tool Kit (‘Ethics Tool Kit’) has been developed by a multi-stakeholder group of the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard. The purpose of the Ethics Tool Kit is to facilitate effective recognition, consideration and deliberation of critical ethical issues in clinical trial protocols. The Ethics Tool Kit may be used by investigators and sponsors to develop a dedicated Ethics Section within a protocol to improve the consistency and transparency between clinical trial protocols and research ethics committee reviews. It may also streamline ethics review and may facilitate and expedite the review process by anticipating the concerns of ethics committee reviewers. Specific attention was given to issues arising in multinational settings. With the use of this Tool Kit, researchers have the opportunity to address critical research ethics issues proactively, potentially speeding the time and easing the process to final protocol approval. PMID:26811365

Portable thin layer chromatography for field detection of explosives and propellants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Satcher, Joe H.; Maienschein, Jon L.; Pagoria, Philip F.; Racoveanu, Ana; Carman, M. Leslie; Whipple, Richard E.; Reynolds, John G.

2012-06-01

A field deployable detection kit for explosives and propellants using thin layer chromatography (TLC) has been developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The chemistry of the kit has been modified to allow for field detection of propellants (through propellant stabilizers), military explosives, peroxide explosives, nitrates and inorganic oxidizer precursors. For many of these target analytes, the detection limit is in the μg to pg range. A new miniaturized, bench prototype, field portable TLC (Micro TLC) kit has also been developed for the detection and identification of common military explosives. It has been demonstrated in a laboratory environment and is ready for field-testing. The kit is comprised of a low cost set of commercially available components specifically assembled for rapid identification needed in the field and identifies the common military explosives: HMX, RDX, Tetryl, Explosive D or picric acid, and TNT all on one plate. Additional modifications of the Micro TLC system have been made with fluorescent organosilicon co-polymer coatings to detect a large suite of explosives.

Impact and sustainability of low-head drip irrigation kits, in the semi-arid Gwanda and Beitbridge Districts, Mzingwane Catchment, Limpopo Basin, Zimbabwe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moyo, Richard; Love, David; Mul, Marloes; Mupangwa, Walter; Twomlow, Steve

Resource-poor smallholder farmers in the semi-arid Gwanda and Beitbridge districts face food insecurity on an annual basis due to a combination of poor and erratic rainfall (average 500 mm/a and 345 mm/a, respectively, for the period 1970-2003) and technologies inappropriate to their resource status. This impacts on both household livelihoods and food security. In an attempt to improve food security in the catchment a number of drip kit distribution programmes have been initiated since 2003 as part of an on-going global initiative aimed at 2 million poor households per year. A number of recent studies have assessed the technical performance of the drip kits in-lab and in-field. In early 2005 a study was undertaken to assess the impacts and sustainability of the drip kit programme. Representatives of the NGOs, local government, traditional leadership and agricultural extension officers were interviewed. Focus group discussions with beneficiaries and other villagers were held at village level. A survey of 114 households was then conducted in two districts, using a questionnaire developed from the output of the interviews and focus group discussions. The results from the study showed that the NGOs did not specifically target the distribution of the drip kits to poor members of the community (defined for the purpose of the study as those not owning cattle). Poor households made up 54% of the beneficiaries. This poor targeting of vulnerable households could have been a result of conditions set by some implementing NGOs that beneficiaries must have an assured water source. On the other hand, only 2% of the beneficiaries had used the kit to produce the expected 5 harvests over the 2 years, owing to problems related to water shortage, access to water and also pests and diseases. About 51% of the respondents had produced at least 3 harvests and 86% produced at least 2 harvests. Due to water shortages during the dry season 61% of production with the drip kit occurred during the wet season. This suggests that most households use the drip kits as supplementary irrigation. Conflicts between beneficiaries and water point committees or other water users developed in some areas especially during the dry season. The main finding from this study was that low cost drip kit programs can only be a sustainable intervention if implemented as an integral part of a long-term development program, not short-term relief programs and the programme should involve a broad range of stakeholders. A first step in any such program, especially in water scarce areas such as Gwanda and Beitbridge, is a detailed analysis of the existing water resources to assess availability and potential conflicts, prior to distribution of drip kits.

Three Years After the IYA: An Update on the Galileoscope Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fienberg, R. T.; Arion, D. N.; Pompea, S. M.

2013-04-01

The Galileoscope is a high-quality, low-cost refractor kit developed by a team of astronomers, optical engineers, and science educators for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009. To date more than 190,000 of these kits have been sold or donated to recipients in more than 100 countries. We worked hard to develop, produce, and distribute Galileoscopes so that people everywhere can experience the thrill of observing lunar mountains and craters, Jupiter's Galilean satellites, the rings of Saturn, and bright star clusters like the Pleiades through a telescope that they will be proud to own and that offers superior optics and mechanics, as well as demonstrable educational value, at the lowest possible cost. Three years after the IYA, the Galileoscope is still available. As explained on our new website, sales of individual kits are now made through a growing network of retailers who charge from U.S. 50 to 60 per kit plus shipping. We continue to sell Galileoscopes in bulk direct to EPO professionals, starting at quantities of just 6 kits (1 case), for $25 each plus shipping; this facilitates the continued use of the kits in formal and informal educational venues, where budgets are often tight. We have also entered into a partnership with the nonprofit Astrosphere New Media Association to create Telescopes For Teachers, a program whereby U.S. citizens can make tax-deductible contributions to provide Galileoscopes to teachers of their choosing.

Scientific evaluation of an intra-curricular educational kit to foster inquiry-based learning (IBL)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debaes, Nathalie; Cords, Nina; Prasad, Amrita; Fischer, Robert; Euler, Manfred; Thienpont, Hugo

2014-07-01

Society becomes increasingly dependent on photonics technologies; however there is an alarming lack of technological awareness among secondary school students. They associate photonics with experiments and components in the class room that seem to bear little relevance to their daily life. The Rocard Report [5] highlights the need for fostering students' scientific skills and technological awareness and identifies inquiry based learning (IBL) as a means to achieve this. Students need to actively do science rather than be silent spectators. The `Photonics Explorer' kit was developed as an EU funded project to equip teachers, free-of-charge, with educational material designed to excite, engage and educate European secondary school students using guided inquiry based learning techniques. Students put together their own experiments using up-to-date versatile components, critically interpret results and relate the conclusions to relevant applications in their daily life. They work hands-on with the material, thus developing and honing their scientific and analytical skills that are otherwise latent in a typical class room situation. A qualitative and quantitative study of the impact of the kit in the classroom was undertaken with 50 kits tested in 7 EU countries with over 1500 students in the local language. This paper reports on the results of the EU wide field tests that show the positive impact of the kit in raising the self-efficacy, scientific skills and interest in science among students and the effectiveness of the kit in implementing IBL strategies in classrooms across EU.

Management System for Engineering Ethics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yashiro, Tomonari

In the context of independent profession based societies, ethics charter/codes of professional bodies have significant influence on the conduct of engineers. Contrarily in Japan, most of active engineers are in-house and feel immediate identity as the member of firm or institution, rather than professional bodies. Therefore, establishment and operation of engineering ethics management system (E2ms) is essential for incentive to make innovative and ethical decision with confidence. The paper introduces the outline of the educational kit for E2ms developed by the author. The kit aims to enhance ability of management relevant to E2ms. The kit also involves ten cases for case method teaching. The test use of the kit indicates the potential to create satisfactory educational achievement.

Comparative evaluation of a laboratory developed real-time PCR assay and the RealStar® HHV-6 PCR Kit for quantitative detection of human herpesvirus 6.

PubMed

Yip, Cyril C Y; Sridhar, Siddharth; Cheng, Andrew K W; Fung, Ami M Y; Cheng, Vincent C C; Chan, Kwok-Hung; Yuen, Kwok-Yung

2017-08-01

HHV-6 reactivation in immunocompromised patients is common and may be associated with serious morbidity and mortality; therefore, early detection and initiation of therapy might be of benefit. Real-time PCR assays allow for early identification of HHV-6 reactivation to assist in providing a timely response. Thus, we compared the performance of an in-house developed HHV-6 quantitative PCR assay with a commercially available kit, the RealStar ® HHV-6 PCR Kit. The analytical sensitivity, analytical specificity, linearity, precision and accuracy of the in-house developed HHV-6 qPCR assay were evaluated. The diagnostic performance of the in-house HHV-6 qPCR assay was compared with the RealStar ® HHV-6 PCR Kit, using 72 clinical specimens and 17 proficiency testing samples. Linear regression analysis of the quantitative results showed a dynamic range from 2 to 10 log 10 copies/ml and a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.999 for the in-house assay. A dilution series demonstrated a limit of detection and a limit of quantification of 1.7 log 10 and 2 log 10 copies/ml, respectively. The precision of the assay was highly reproducible among runs with coefficients of variance (CV) ranging from 0.27% to 4.37%. A comparison of 27 matched samples showed an excellent correlation between the quantitative viral loads measured by the in-house HHV-6 qPCR assay and the RealStar ® HHV-6 PCR Kit (R 2 =0.926; P<0.0001), with an average bias of -0.24 log 10 copies/ml. The in-house developed HHV-6 qPCR method is a sensitive and reliable assay with lower cost for the detection and quantification of HHV-6 DNA when compared to the RealStar ® HHV-6 PCR Kit. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design, installation, and performance evaluation of a custom dye matrix standard for automated capillary electrophoresis.

PubMed

Cloete, Kevin Wesley; Ristow, Peter Gustav; Kasu, Mohaimin; D'Amato, Maria Eugenia

2017-03-01

CE equipment detects and deconvolutes mixtures containing up to six fluorescently labeled DNA fragments. This deconvolution is done by the collection software that requires a spectral calibration file. The calibration file is used to adjust for the overlap that occurs between the emission spectra of fluorescence dyes. All commercial genotyping and sequencing kits require the installation of a corresponding matrix standard to generate a calibration file. Due to the differences in emission spectrum overlap between fluorescent dyes, the application of existing commercial matrix standards to the electrophoretic separation of DNA labeled with other fluorescent dyes can yield undesirable results. Currently, the number of fluorescent dyes available for oligonucleotide labeling surpasses the availability of commercial matrix standards. Therefore, in this study we developed and evaluated a customized matrix standard using ATTO 633, ATTO 565, ATTO 550, ATTO Rho6G, and 6-FAM dyes for which no commercial matrix standard is available. We highlighted the potential genotyping errors of using an incorrect matrix standard by evaluating the relative performance of our custom dye set using six matrix standards. The specific performance of two genotyping kits (UniQTyper™ Y-10 version 1.0 and PowerPlex® Y23 System) was also evaluated using their specific matrix standards. The procedure we followed for the construction of our custom dye matrix standard can be extended to other fluorescent dyes. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

The Data Transfer Kit: A geometric rendezvous-based tool for multiphysics data transfer

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

Slattery, S. R.; Wilson, P. P. H.; Pawlowski, R. P.

2013-07-01

The Data Transfer Kit (DTK) is a software library designed to provide parallel data transfer services for arbitrary physics components based on the concept of geometric rendezvous. The rendezvous algorithm provides a means to geometrically correlate two geometric domains that may be arbitrarily decomposed in a parallel simulation. By repartitioning both domains such that they have the same geometric domain on each parallel process, efficient and load balanced search operations and data transfer can be performed at a desirable algorithmic time complexity with low communication overhead relative to other types of mapping algorithms. With the increased development efforts in multiphysicsmore » simulation and other multiple mesh and geometry problems, generating parallel topology maps for transferring fields and other data between geometric domains is a common operation. The algorithms used to generate parallel topology maps based on the concept of geometric rendezvous as implemented in DTK are described with an example using a conjugate heat transfer calculation and thermal coupling with a neutronics code. In addition, we provide the results of initial scaling studies performed on the Jaguar Cray XK6 system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a worse-case-scenario problem in terms of algorithmic complexity that shows good scaling on 0(1 x 104) cores for topology map generation and excellent scaling on 0(1 x 105) cores for the data transfer operation with meshes of O(1 x 109) elements. (authors)« less

Multicentric comparative assessment of the bio-evolution Toxoplasma gondii detection kit with eight laboratory-developed PCR assays for molecular diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis.

PubMed

Filisetti, Denis; Sterkers, Yvon; Brenier-Pinchart, Marie-Pierre; Cassaing, Sophie; Dalle, Frédéric; Delhaes, Laurence; Pelloux, Hervé; Touafek, Fériel; Varlet-Marie, Emmanuelle; Yera, Hélène; Candolfi, Ermano; Bastien, Patrick

2015-01-01

The detection of Toxoplasma gondii in amniotic fluid is an essential tool for the prenatal diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis and is currently essentially based on the use of PCR. Although some consensus is emerging, this molecular diagnosis suffers from a lack of standardization and an extreme diversity of laboratory-developed methods. Commercial kits for the detection of T. gondii by PCR were recently developed and offer certain advantages; however, they must be assessed in comparison with optimized reference PCR assays. The present multicentric study aimed to compare the performances of the Bio-Evolution T. gondii detection kit and laboratory-developed PCR assays set up in eight proficient centers in France. The study compared 157 amniotic fluid samples and found concordances of 99% and 100% using 76 T. gondii-infected samples and 81 uninfected samples, respectively. Moreover, taking into account the classification of the European Research Network on Congenital Toxoplasmosis, the overall diagnostic sensitivity of all assays was identical and calculated to be 86% (54/63); specificity was 100% for all assays. Finally, the relative quantification results were in good agreement between the kit and the laboratory-developed assays. The good performances of this commercial kit are probably in part linked to the use of a number of good practices: detection in multiplicate, amplification of the repetitive DNA target rep529, and the use of an internal control for the detection of PCR inhibitors. The only drawbacks noted at the time of the study were the absence of uracil-N-glycosylase and small defects in the reliability of the production of different reagents. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Multicentric Comparative Assessment of the Bio-Evolution Toxoplasma gondii Detection Kit with Eight Laboratory-Developed PCR Assays for Molecular Diagnosis of Congenital Toxoplasmosis

PubMed Central

Filisetti, Denis; Sterkers, Yvon; Brenier-Pinchart, Marie-Pierre; Cassaing, Sophie; Dalle, Frédéric; Delhaes, Laurence; Pelloux, Hervé; Touafek, Fériel; Varlet-Marie, Emmanuelle; Yera, Hélène; Candolfi, Ermano

2014-01-01

The detection of Toxoplasma gondii in amniotic fluid is an essential tool for the prenatal diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis and is currently essentially based on the use of PCR. Although some consensus is emerging, this molecular diagnosis suffers from a lack of standardization and an extreme diversity of laboratory-developed methods. Commercial kits for the detection of T. gondii by PCR were recently developed and offer certain advantages; however, they must be assessed in comparison with optimized reference PCR assays. The present multicentric study aimed to compare the performances of the Bio-Evolution T. gondii detection kit and laboratory-developed PCR assays set up in eight proficient centers in France. The study compared 157 amniotic fluid samples and found concordances of 99% and 100% using 76 T. gondii-infected samples and 81 uninfected samples, respectively. Moreover, taking into account the classification of the European Research Network on Congenital Toxoplasmosis, the overall diagnostic sensitivity of all assays was identical and calculated to be 86% (54/63); specificity was 100% for all assays. Finally, the relative quantification results were in good agreement between the kit and the laboratory-developed assays. The good performances of this commercial kit are probably in part linked to the use of a number of good practices: detection in multiplicate, amplification of the repetitive DNA target rep529, and the use of an internal control for the detection of PCR inhibitors. The only drawbacks noted at the time of the study were the absence of uracil-N-glycosylase and small defects in the reliability of the production of different reagents. PMID:25339393

Administration of imatinib mesylate in rats impairs the neonatal development of intramuscular interstitial cells in bladder and results in altered contractile properties.

PubMed

Gevaert, Thomas; Hutchings, Graham; Everaerts, Wouter; Prenen, Hans; Roskams, Tania; Nilius, Bernd; De Ridder, Dirk

2014-04-01

The KIT receptor is considered as a reliable marker for a subpopulation of interstitial cells (IC), and by persistent neonatal inhibition of KIT we have investigated the role of this receptor in the development of IC-networks in bladder and we have observed the functional consequences of this inhibition. Newborn rat pups were treated daily with the KIT inhibitor imatinib mesylate (IM). After 7 days animals were sacrificed and bladder samples were dissected for morphological and functional studies. Morphological research consisted of immunohistochemistry with IC specific antigens (KIT and vimentin) and electron microscopy. The functional studies were based on isolated bladder strips in organ baths, in which spontaneous bladder contractility and the response to a non-subtype selective muscarinic agonist was evaluated. Suburothelial and intramuscular IC were found and characterized in neonatal rat bladder. IM-treatment induced a significant decrease in numbers of IC based on specific immunohistochemical markers, and electron microscopy revealed evidence of IC cell injury. These morphological alterations were observed on intramuscular IC only and not on IC in the suburothelium. Isolated muscle strips from IM-treated animals had a lower contractile frequency and an altered response to muscarinic agonists. The present study shows the presence of regional subpopulations of IC in neonatal rat bladder, provides evidence for a dependence on KIT of the development of intramuscular IC and supports the hypothesis that a poor development of networks of intramuscular IC might have repercussions on spontaneous and muscarinic-induced bladder contractility. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using the Planetary Science Institute’s Meteorite Mini-Kits to Address the Nature of Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebofsky, Larry A.; Cañizo, Thea L.; Buxner, Sanlyn

2014-11-01

Hands-on learning allows students to understand science concepts by directly observing and experiencing the topics they are studying. The Planetary Science Institute (PSI) has created instructional rock kits that have been introduced to elementary and middle school teachers in Tucson, in our professional development workshops. PSI provides teachers with supporting material and training so that they can use the kits as tools for students’ hands-on learning. Use of these kits provides an important experience with natural materials that is essential to instruction in Earth and Space Science. With a stronger knowledge of science content and of how science is actually conducted, the workshops and kits have instilled greater confidence in teachers’ ability to teach science content. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Performance Expectations includes: “What makes up our solar system?” NGSS emphasizes the Crosscutting Concepts—Patterns Scale, Portion, and Quantity; and Systems and System Models. NGSS also states that the Nature of Science (NOS) should be an “essential part” of science education. NOS topics include understanding that scientific investigations use a variety of methods, that scientific knowledge is based on empirical evidence, that scientific explanations are open to revision in light of new evidence, and an understanding of the nature of scientific models.Addressing a need expressed by teachers for borrowing kits less expensive than our $2000 option, we created a Meteorite Mini-Kit. Each Mini-Kit contains eight rocks: an iron-bearing chondrite, a sliced chondrite (showing iron and chondrules), a tektite, a common Tucson rock, a river-polished rock, pumice, a small iron, and a rounded obsidian rock (false tektite). Also included in the Mini-Kits are magnets and a magnifier. The kits cost $40 to $50, depending on the sizes of the chondrites. A teacher can check out a classroom set of these which contains either 10 or 20 Mini-Kits. Each kit includes a description of the rocks as well as suggestions for using them in the classroom. Our presentation will highlight their use in various venues.

Supply kits for antenatal and childbirth care during antenatal care and delivery: a mixed-methods systematic review, the qualitative approach.

PubMed

Colomar, Mercedes; Cafferata, Maria Luisa; Aleman, Alicia; Tomasso, Giselle; Betran, Ana Pilar

2017-03-31

Antenatal care reduces maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity through the detection and treatment of some conditions, but its coverage is less than optimal within certain populations. Supply kits for maternal health were designed to overcome barriers present when providing care during pregnancy and childbirth particularly to women from underserved population.We conducted a mixed-methods systematic review on the use of supply kits. This manuscript presents the findings from qualitative studies that reported barriers, facilitators, and user's recommendation in the adoption and implementation of any type of kit designed to be used during pregnancy or childbirth.This review included eight studies, and seven were implemented in developing countries. Most studies assessed the implementation of clean delivery kits to be used during labour and delivery, and contributed to gain insights into factors that may hinder or foster the use of kits.Clean delivery kits were conceived to cope with barriers related mainly to access. The most important barrier identified were those related to the socio-cultural and the lack of knowledge dimension such as who held the decision-making authority in the household, as well as popular beliefs behind the idea that birth preparation could bring bad luck, may prevent clients from adhering to their use. In addition, financial constraints and limited understanding of the instructions of use were accessibility barriers found. On the other hand, once used, clean delivery kits for maternal health were accepted by women and health workers. Convenience, hygienic components, and avoidance of delays in receiving care were viewed as satisfactory features.Supply kits are mostly affordable and easily deployable. Increasing awareness among the population about the offered kits and providing information on their benefits emerges as a critical step to foster use in settings where kits are available. Implementation of this strategy requires low complexity resources and could make the use of kits an accepted alternative to increase the use of evidence-based interventions and thus improve quality of care during pregnancy, childbirth and neonatal period mainly at the community level in low income countries and remote areas with low access.

Geospatial Analysis Tool Kit for Regional Climate Datasets (GATOR) : An Open-source Tool to Compute Climate Statistic GIS Layers from Argonne Climate Modeling Results

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-08-01

This large repository of climate model results for North America (Wang and Kotamarthi 2013, 2014, 2015) is stored in Network Common Data Form (NetCDF...Network Common Data Form (NetCDF). UCAR/Unidata Program Center, Boulder, CO. Available at: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf. Accessed on 6/20...emissions diverge from each other regarding fossil fuel use, technology, and other socioeconomic factors. As a result, the estimated emissions for each of

SPARSKIT: A basic tool kit for sparse matrix computations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saad, Youcef

1990-01-01

Presented here are the main features of a tool package for manipulating and working with sparse matrices. One of the goals of the package is to provide basic tools to facilitate the exchange of software and data between researchers in sparse matrix computations. The starting point is the Harwell/Boeing collection of matrices for which the authors provide a number of tools. Among other things, the package provides programs for converting data structures, printing simple statistics on a matrix, plotting a matrix profile, and performing linear algebra operations with sparse matrices.

MEMS phase former kit for high-resolution wavefront control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gehner, Andreas; Wildenhain, Michael; Neumann, Hannes; Elgner, Andreas; Schenk, Harald

2005-08-01

The MEMS Phase Former Kit developed by the Fraunhofer IPMS is a complete Spatial Light Modulator system based on a piston-type Micro Mirror Array (MMA) for the use in high-resolution, high-speed optical phase control. It has been designed for an easy system integration into an user-specific environment to offer a platform for first practical investigations to open up new applications in Adaptive Optics. The key component is a fine segmented 240 x 200 array of 40 μm piston-type mirror elements capable of 400 nm analog deflection for a 2pi phase modulation in the visible. Each mirror can be addressed and deflected independently by means of an integrated CMOS backplane address circuitry at an 8bit height resolution. Full user programmability and control is provided by a newly developed comfortable driver software for Windows XP based PCs supporting both a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for stand-alone operation with pre-defined data patterns as well as an open ActiveX programming interface for a closed-loop operation with real-time data from an external source. An IEEE1394a FireWire interface is used for high-speed data communication with an electronic driving board performing the actual MMA programming and control allowing for an overall frame rate of up to 500 Hz. Successful proof-of-concept demonstrations already have been given for eye aberration correction in ophthalmology, for error compensation of leightweight primary mirrors of future space telescopes and for ultra-short laser pulse shaping. Besides a presentation of the basic device concept and system architecture the paper will give an overview of the obtained results from these applications.

SCF/C-Kit/JNK/AP-1 Signaling Pathway Promotes Claudin-3 Expression in Colonic Epithelium and Colorectal Carcinoma.

PubMed

Wang, Yaxi; Sun, Tingyi; Sun, Haimei; Yang, Shu; Li, Dandan; Zhou, Deshan

2017-04-06

Claudin-3 is a major protein of tight junctions (TJs) in the intestinal epithelium and is critical for maintaining cell-cell adhesion, barrier function, and epithelium polarity. Recent studies have shown high claudin-3 levels in several solid tumors, but the regulation mechanism of claudin-3 expression remains poorly understood. In the present study, colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues, HT-29 and DLD-1 CRC cell lines, CRC murine model (C57BL/6 mice) and c-kit loss-of-function mutant mice were used. We demonstrated that elevated claudin-3 levels were positively correlated with highly expressed c-kit in CRC tissues based upon analysis of protein expression. In vitro, claudin-3 expression was clearly increased in CRC cells by overexpressed c-kit or stimulated by exogenous recombinant human stem cell factor (rhSCF), while significantly decreased by the treatment with c-kit or c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) inhibitors. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and luciferase reporter assay showed that SCF/c-kit signaling significantly promoted activator protein-1 (AP-1) binding with CLDN-3 promoter and enhanced its transcription activity. Furthermore, decreased expression of claudin-3 was obtained in the colonic epithelium from the c-Kit loss-of-function mutant mice. In conclusion, SCF/c-kit-JNK/AP-1 signaling pathway significantly promoted claudin-3 expression in colonic epithelium and CRC, which could contribute to epithelial barrier function maintenance and to CRC development.

Study and evaluation of Wondfo rapid diagnostic kit based on nano-gold immunochromatography assay for diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum.

PubMed

Peng, Yunping; Wu, Junlin; Wang, Jihua; Li, Wenmei; Yu, Shujuan

2012-04-01

Malaria has been recognized as a human disease for thousands of years and remains one of the most common diseases affecting humans worldwide. Therefore, a method for rapidly detecting Plasmodium falciparum is necessary and useful. We have developed Wondfo rapid diagnostic kit based on nano-gold immunochromatography assay for the detection of P. falciparum in patient specimen. In the present study, we demonstrated the sensitivity and specificity of the rapid diagnostic kit in which nano-gold labeling techniques and the monoclonal antibodies against histidine-rich protein-2 of P. falciparum were used to establish two-antibody sandwich immunochromatographic assay for detecting P. falciparum. By using microscopic examination of blood smears as control, the sensitivity, specificity, and feasibility of Wondfo rapid diagnostic kit was determined in the prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria. In this study, 1,558 blood samples were collected from outpatient clinics in China and detected by both Wondfo kit and microscopic examination. The Wondfo kit did not show cross-reaction with microfilaria, Toxoplasma gondii, and other parasites in the blood. The patient samples positive for rheumatoid factor, HIV, tuberculosis, and syphilis did not show false positivity when testing with Wondfo kit. The detection sensitivity and specificity of Wondfo rapid diagnostic kit were 95.49% and 99.53%, respectively. These results indicate that our rapid diagnostic assay may be useful for detecting P. falciparum in patient specimen.

Myeloid Conditioning with c-kit-Targeted CAR-T Cells Enables Donor Stem Cell Engraftment.

PubMed

Arai, Yasuyuki; Choi, Uimook; Corsino, Cristina I; Koontz, Sherry M; Tajima, Masaki; Sweeney, Colin L; Black, Mary A; Feldman, Steven A; Dinauer, Mary C; Malech, Harry L

2018-05-02

We report a novel approach to bone marrow (BM) conditioning using c-kit-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T (c-kit CAR-T) cells in mice. Previous reports using anti-c-kit or anti-CD45 antibody linked to a toxin such as saporin have been promising. We developed a distinctly different approach using c-kit CAR-T cells. Initial studies demonstrated in vitro killing of hematopoietic stem cells by c-kit CAR-T cells but poor expansion in vivo and poor migration of CAR-T cells into BM. Pre-treatment of recipient mice with low-dose cyclophosphamide (125 mg/kg) together with CXCR4 transduction in the CAR-T cells enhanced trafficking to and expansion in BM (<1%-13.1%). This resulted in significant depletion of the BM c-kit + population (9.0%-0.1%). Because congenic Thy1.1 CAR-T cells were used in the Thy1.2-recipient mice, anti-Thy1.1 antibody could be used to deplete CAR-T cells in vivo before donor BM transplant. This achieved 20%-40% multilineage engraftment. We applied this conditioning to achieve an average of 28% correction of chronic granulomatous disease mice by wild-type BM transplant. Our findings provide a proof of concept that c-kit CAR-T cells can achieve effective BM conditioning without chemo-/radiotherapy. Our work also demonstrates that co-expression of a trafficking receptor can enhance targeting of CAR-T cells to a designated tissue. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Towards intelligent diagnostic system employing integration of mathematical and engineering model

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

Isa, Nor Ashidi Mat

The development of medical diagnostic system has been one of the main research fields during years. The goal of the medical diagnostic system is to place a nosological system that could ease the diagnostic evaluation normally performed by scientists and doctors. Efficient diagnostic evaluation is essentials and requires broad knowledge in order to improve conventional diagnostic system. Several approaches on developing the medical diagnostic system have been designed and tested since the earliest 60s. Attempts on improving their performance have been made which utilizes the fields of artificial intelligence, statistical analyses, mathematical model and engineering theories. With the availability ofmore » the microcomputer and software development as well as the promising aforementioned fields, medical diagnostic prototypes could be developed. In general, the medical diagnostic system consists of several stages, namely the 1) data acquisition, 2) feature extraction, 3) feature selection, and 4) classifications stages. Data acquisition stage plays an important role in converting the inputs measured from the real world physical conditions to the digital numeric values that can be manipulated by the computer system. One of the common medical inputs could be medical microscopic images, radiographic images, magnetic resonance image (MRI) as well as medical signals such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG). Normally, the scientist or doctors have to deal with myriad of data and redundant to be processed. In order to reduce the complexity of the diagnosis process, only the significant features of the raw data such as peak value of the ECG signal or size of lesion in the mammogram images will be extracted and considered in the subsequent stages. Mathematical models and statistical analyses will be performed to select the most significant features to be classified. The statistical analyses such as principal component analysis and discriminant analysis as well as mathematical model of clustering technique have been widely used in developing the medical diagnostic systems. The selected features will be classified using mathematical models that embedded engineering theory such as artificial intelligence, support vector machine, neural network and fuzzy-neuro system. These classifiers will provide the diagnostic results without human intervention. Among many publishable researches, several prototypes have been developed namely NeuralPap, Neural Mammo, and Cervix Kit. The former system (NeuralPap) is an automatic intelligent diagnostic system for classifying and distinguishing between the normal and cervical cancerous cells. Meanwhile, the Cervix Kit is a portable Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based cervical diagnostic kit that could automatically diagnose the cancerous cell based on the images obtained during sampling test. Besides the cervical diagnostic system, the Neural Mammo system is developed to specifically aid the diagnosis of breast cancer using a fine needle aspiration image.« less

Towards intelligent diagnostic system employing integration of mathematical and engineering model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isa, Nor Ashidi Mat

2015-05-01

The development of medical diagnostic system has been one of the main research fields during years. The goal of the medical diagnostic system is to place a nosological system that could ease the diagnostic evaluation normally performed by scientists and doctors. Efficient diagnostic evaluation is essentials and requires broad knowledge in order to improve conventional diagnostic system. Several approaches on developing the medical diagnostic system have been designed and tested since the earliest 60s. Attempts on improving their performance have been made which utilizes the fields of artificial intelligence, statistical analyses, mathematical model and engineering theories. With the availability of the microcomputer and software development as well as the promising aforementioned fields, medical diagnostic prototypes could be developed. In general, the medical diagnostic system consists of several stages, namely the 1) data acquisition, 2) feature extraction, 3) feature selection, and 4) classifications stages. Data acquisition stage plays an important role in converting the inputs measured from the real world physical conditions to the digital numeric values that can be manipulated by the computer system. One of the common medical inputs could be medical microscopic images, radiographic images, magnetic resonance image (MRI) as well as medical signals such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG). Normally, the scientist or doctors have to deal with myriad of data and redundant to be processed. In order to reduce the complexity of the diagnosis process, only the significant features of the raw data such as peak value of the ECG signal or size of lesion in the mammogram images will be extracted and considered in the subsequent stages. Mathematical models and statistical analyses will be performed to select the most significant features to be classified. The statistical analyses such as principal component analysis and discriminant analysis as well as mathematical model of clustering technique have been widely used in developing the medical diagnostic systems. The selected features will be classified using mathematical models that embedded engineering theory such as artificial intelligence, support vector machine, neural network and fuzzy-neuro system. These classifiers will provide the diagnostic results without human intervention. Among many publishable researches, several prototypes have been developed namely NeuralPap, Neural Mammo, and Cervix Kit. The former system (NeuralPap) is an automatic intelligent diagnostic system for classifying and distinguishing between the normal and cervical cancerous cells. Meanwhile, the Cervix Kit is a portable Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based cervical diagnostic kit that could automatically diagnose the cancerous cell based on the images obtained during sampling test. Besides the cervical diagnostic system, the Neural Mammo system is developed to specifically aid the diagnosis of breast cancer using a fine needle aspiration image.

Expanding the seat belt program strategies toolbox: a starter kit for trying new program ideas : traffic tech.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-10-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has just : released a new resource for developing seat belt programs in : the traffic safety communityExpanding the Seat Belt Program : Toolbox: A Starter Kit for Trying New Program Ideas. : Resea...

Mouse Sperm Cryopreservation and Recovery using the I·Cryo Kit

PubMed Central

Liu, Ling; Sansing, Steven R.; Morse, Iva S.; Pritchett-Corning, Kathleen R.

2011-01-01

Thousands of new genetically modified (GM) strains of mice have been created since the advent of transgenesis and knockout technologies. Many of these valuable animals exist only as live animals, with no backup plan in case of emergency. Cryopreservation of embryos can provide this backup, but is costly, can be a lengthy procedure, and generally requires a large number of animals for success. Since the discovery that mouse sperm can be successfully cryopreserved with a basic cryoprotective agent (CPA) consisting of 18% raffinose and 3% skim milk, sperm cryopreservation has become an acceptable and cost-effective procedure for archiving, distributing and recovery of these valuable strains. Here we demonstrate a newly developed I•Cryo kit for mouse sperm cryopreservation. Sperm from five commonly-used strains of inbred mice were frozen using this kit and then recovered. Higher protection ratios of sperm motility (> 60%) and rapid progressive motility (> 45%) compared to the control (basic CPA) were seen for sperm frozen with this kit in 5 inbred mouse strains. Two cell stage embryo development after IVF with the recovered sperm was improved consistently in all 5 mouse strains examined. Over a 1.5 year period, 49 GM mouse lines were archived by sperm cryopreservation with the I•Cryo kit and later recovered by IVF. PMID:22214993

Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors. Volume 4. Accelerating the Transition of Technologies into U.S. Capabilities

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-04-01

perform more research on future defense technology, the DOD should invest in companies that are leaders in the development of innovative sources of next...well. In fact, the kit from one vender out-performed the standard up-armor kits being produced for the Army’s acquisition team. That Army company ...subsequently purchased the company that had built the improved performance kit. As part of the process to look at alternatives, the Army Material

Private sector village enterprise a new approach to sustainable financing

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

Gay, C.F.

1997-12-01

This paper presents an enterprise plan for introducing solar power in a rural market, while providing economic development, and hence the ability of the user to pay for the power source. This plan is based on a product called GEEP - a solar sewing machine conversion kit. This kit can be retrofit onto pedal sewing machines and marketed to village tailors in India, as part of a marketing program which includes increased demand for tailored products which will allow the tailors to be able to finance the conversion kits.

A cost effective hydrogel test kit for pre and post blast trinitrotoluene.

PubMed

Choodum, Aree; Malathong, Khanitta; NicDaeid, Niamh; Limsakul, Wadcharawadee; Wongniramaikul, Worawit

2016-09-01

A cost effective hydrogel test kit was successfully developed for the detection of pre- and post-blast trinitrotoluene (TNT). A polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel matrix was used to entrap the potassium hydroxide (KOH) colourimetric reagent. The easily portable test kit was fabricated in situ in a small tube to which the sample could be added directly. The test kit was used in conjunction with digital image colourimetry (DIC) to demonstrate the rapid quantitative analysis of TNT in a test soil sample. The built-in digital camera of an iPhone was used to capture digital images of the colourimetric products from the test kit. Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colour data from the digital images of TNT standard solutions were used to establish a calibration graph. The validation of the DIC method indicated excellent inter day precision (0.12-3.60%RSD) and accuracy (93-108% relative accuracy). Post-blast soil samples containing TNT were analysed using the test kit and were in good agreement with spectrophotometric analysis. The intensity of the RGB data from the TNT complex deviated by +6.3%, +5.1%, and -4.9% after storage of the test kits in a freezer for 3 months. The test kit was also reusable for up to 12 times with only -5.4%, +0.3%, and +4.0% deviations. The hydrogel test kit was applied in the detection of trace explosive residues at the scene of the recent Bangkok bombing at the Ratchaprasong intersection and produced positive results for TNT demonstrating its operational field application as a rapid and cost effective quantitative tool for explosive residue analysis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Large-Pore 3D Cubic Mesoporous (KIT-6) Hybrid Bearing a Hard-Soft Donor Combined Ligand for Enhancing U(VI) Capture: An Experimental and Theoretical Investigation.

PubMed

Yuan, Li-Yong; Zhu, Lin; Xiao, Cheng-Liang; Wu, Qun-Yan; Zhang, Nan; Yu, Ji-Pan; Chai, Zhi-Fang; Shi, Wei-Qun

2017-02-01

A preorganized tetradentate phenanthrolineamide (DAPhen) ligand with hard and soft donors combined in the same molecule has been found to possess high extraction ability toward actinides over lanthanides from acidic aqueous solution in our previous work. Herein we grafted phenanthrolineamide groups onto a large-pore three-dimensional cubic silica support by the reaction of DAPhen siloxane with KIT-6 substrate to prepare a novel uranium-selective sorbent, KIT-6-DAPhen. The as-synthesized sorbent was well-characterized by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, N 2 adsorption/desorption, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, 13 C cross-polarization magic-angle spinning NMR, and TGA techniques, which confirmed the consummation of the functionalization. Subsequently, the effects of contact time, solution pH, initial U(VI) concentration, and the presence of competing metal ions on the U(VI) sorption onto KIT-6-DAPhen sorbent were investigated in detail. It was found that KIT-6-DAPhen showed largely enhanced sorption capacity and excellent selectivity toward U(VI). The maximum sorption capacity of KIT-6-DAPhen at pH 5.0 reaches 328 mg of U/g of sorbent, which is superior to most of functionalized mesoporous silica materials. Density functional theory coupled with quasi-relativistic small-core pseudopotentials was used to explore the sorption interaction between U(VI) and KIT-6-DAPhen, which gives a sorption reaction of KIT-6-DAPhen + [UO 2 (H 2 O) 5 ] 2+ + NO 3 - ⇄ [UO 2 (KIT-6-DAPhen)(NO 3 )] + + 5H 2 O. The findings of the present work provide new clues for developing new actinide sorbents by combining new ligands with various mesoporous matrixes.

Cell proliferation and inhibition of apoptosis are related to c-Kit activation in leukaemic lymphoblasts.

PubMed

Reyes-Sebastian, Josefina; Montiel-Cervantes, Laura Arcelia; Reyes-Maldonado, Elba; Dominguez-Lopez, Maria Lilia; Ortiz-Butron, Rocio; Castillo-Alvarez, Aida; Lezama, Ruth Angélica

2018-03-01

Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) activity may contribute to carcinogenesis. The c-Kit receptor, a member of the RTK family, is expressed in immature haematopoietic system cells. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) presents incompletely differentiated lymphoblasts, and consequently, c-Kit expression can be detected in these cells. The BCR-ABL kinase, which is usually present in both ALL and chronic myeloid leukaemia, can trigger signalling pathways with neoplastic effects. However, a certain number of ALL patients and chronic myeloid leukaemia patients do not express this kinase, raising the question of which other proteins that intervene in signalling pathways may be involved in the development of these diseases. To test whether c-Kit has proliferative effects and affects the inhibition of apoptosis of leukaemic lymphoblasts that do not express BCR-ABL. We cultured RS4:11 lymphoblasts and analysed the expression and activation of c-Kit by immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry, evaluation of cell proliferation, apoptosis, cyclin D1 and Bak expression were carried out by flow cytometry; activation of AKT and survivin expression were tested by immunoblot. The c-Kit receptor was found to induce proliferation and to increase the expression of cyclin D1 via the PI3K/AKT/NF-kB signalling pathway. Additionally, the c-Kit/PI3K/AKT pathway increased the inhibition of apoptosis and survivin expression. Similarly, c-Kit was observed to reduce the expression of the pro-apoptotic Bak protein. These results suggest that, in leukaemic lymphoblasts, c-Kit triggers a signalling pathway with proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects; information to this effect has not yet been reported in the literature.

Producing the 8mm Self-Instructional Film: A Demonstration Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gerlach, Vernon S.

How does one conduct a workshop in self-instructional film production? A demonstration kit was put together to enable a teacher to do this. It consists of five monographs' ("Programing the Instructional Film", "Stating Objectives", "Developing The Instructional Specification", "An Introduction to Programing", and "Lighting Fundamentals"), one 8mm…

Qualitative Collection Analysis: The Conspectus Methodology. SPEC Kit 151.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jakubs, Deborah

The introduction to this Systems and Procedures Exchange Center (SPEC) kit explains the Conspectus method, which was developed in 1980 by the Research Libraries Group (RLG) as a means of systematically and qualitatively evaluating large library collections. The discussion considers advantages and disadvantages of this tool, which evaluates past…

Physical Access in ARL Libraries. SPEC Kit 27.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. Office of Management Studies.

Resulting from the Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) 1975 survey on user services, this kit presents documentation on and discusses developments in physical access services--services which facilitate the actual delivery of information sources to the user--including circulation, interlibrary loan, book delivery, and new media services. As…

Elementary Resource Classroom Packet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson Public Schools, MI.

The materials in this resource kit were developed at a summer workshop to provide teachers with suggestions and specific classroom activities to promote sex equity attitudes in elementary school students. Among the products included in the kit are a set of ditto worksheets, for primary students, to reinforce their understanding of the book…

Active Parenting Now: Program Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Popkin, Michael H.

Based largely on the theories of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs, this parent education curriculum is a video-based interactive learning experience that teaches a comprehensive model of parenting to parents of children ages 5 to 12 years. The kit provides parents with the skills needed to help their children develop courage, responsibility, and…

Seeing the Unseen Learner: Designing and Using Social Media to Recognize Children's Science Dispositions in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahn, June; Clegg, Tamara; Yip, Jason; Bonsignore, Elizabeth; Pauw, Daniel; Gubbels, Michael; Lewittes, Charley; Rhodes, Emily

2016-01-01

This paper describes the development of "ScienceKit," a mobile, social media application to promote children's scientific inquiry. We deployed "ScienceKit" in "Kitchen Chemistry" ("KC"), an informal science program where children learn about scientific inquiry through cooking. By iteratively integrating…

Impacts of habitat loss, climate change and pesticide exposure on kit fox populations

EPA Science Inventory

Background / Question / Methods The San Joaquin kit fox is an endangered sub-species in decline due primarily to loss of habitat. This small, desert-adapted fox was once widely distributed across the floor of the southern San Joaquin Valley, but agriculture and development have ...

Validation testing of a portable kit for measuring an active soil carbon fraction

EPA Science Inventory

Increasing demands exist for information about properties related to soil quality and human-induced soil change, particularly soil C. To help address this need, the USDA-NRCS Soil Survey Laboratory (SSL) developed a portable kit for rapid and relatively accurate assessment of soi...

Developmental Validation of Short Tandem Repeat Reagent Kit for Forensic DNA Profiling of Canine Biological Materials

PubMed Central

Dayton, Melody; Koskinen, Mikko T; Tom, Bradley K; Mattila, Anna-Maria; Johnston, Eric; Halverson, Joy; Fantin, Dennis; DeNise, Sue; Budowle, Bruce; Smith, David Glenn; Kanthaswamy, Sree

2009-01-01

Aim To develop a reagent kit that enables multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 18 short tandem repeats (STR) and the canine sex-determining Zinc Finger marker. Methods Validation studies to determine the robustness and reliability in forensic DNA typing of this multiplex assay included sensitivity testing, reproducibility studies, intra- and inter-locus color balance studies, annealing temperature and cycle number studies, peak height ratio determination, characterization of artifacts such as stutter percentages and dye blobs, mixture analyses, species-specificity, case type samples analyses and population studies. Results The kit robustly amplified domesticated dog samples and consistently generated full 19-locus profiles from as little as 125 pg of dog DNA. In addition, wolf DNA samples could be analyzed with the kit. Conclusion The kit, which produces robust, reliable, and reproducible results, will be made available for the forensic research community after modifications based on this study’s evaluation to comply with the quality standards expected for forensic casework. PMID:19480022

DNA extraction and barcode identification of development stages of forensically important flies in the Czech Republic.

PubMed

Olekšáková, Tereza; Žurovcová, Martina; Klimešová, Vanda; Barták, Miroslav; Šuláková, Hana

2018-04-01

Several methods of DNA extraction, coupled with 'DNA barcoding' species identification, were compared using specimens from early developmental stages of forensically important flies from the Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae families. DNA was extracted at three immature stages - eggs, the first instar larvae, and empty pupal cases (puparia) - using four different extraction methods, namely, one simple 'homemade' extraction buffer protocol and three commercial kits. The extraction conditions, including the amount of proteinase K and incubation times, were optimized. The simple extraction buffer method was successful for half of the eggs and for the first instar larval samples. The DNA Lego Kit and DEP-25 DNA Extraction Kit were useful for DNA extractions from the first instar larvae samples, and the DNA Lego Kit was also successful regarding the extraction from eggs. The QIAamp DNA mini kit was the most effective; the extraction was successful with regard to all sample types - eggs, larvae, and pupari.

Talking over a beam of light: electro-optics suitable for K-12

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nofziger, Michael J.

1995-10-01

A kit of electro-optical components is described which, when assembled and aligned, allows one to transmit voice signals over a beam of light. The kits were developed for TOPTICS '92, an optics convention held in the city of Tucson to showcase local optical companies and education opportunities to the public-at-large. One aspect of the convention was to involve school children with the world of optics. These kits proved to be an excellent way to link educators and their students with parents, optics professionals, and even the local media. The kits consist of all the necessary electrical components to build a transmitter (using an LED) and a receiver (using a phototransistor). The circuits are assembled on an electronic breadboard which is part of the storage case for the parts themselves. Optically, the light beam is collimated and focused using inexpensive Fresnel lenses. Distances over which one's voice may be sent are variable, determined by one's ability in optical alignment. Students in the 5th grade were the first to use the kits, sending their voices about 200 feet. The educational success of these kits is described in this paper.

Signaling by Kit protein-tyrosine kinase--the stem cell factor receptor.

PubMed

Roskoski, Robert

2005-11-11

Signaling by stem cell factor and Kit, its receptor, plays important roles in gametogenesis, hematopoiesis, mast cell development and function, and melanogenesis. Moreover, human and mouse embryonic stem cells express Kit transcripts. Stem cell factor exists as both a soluble and a membrane-bound glycoprotein while Kit is a receptor protein-tyrosine kinase. The complete absence of stem cell factor or Kit is lethal. Deficiencies of either produce defects in red and white blood cell production, hypopigmentation, and sterility. Gain-of-function mutations of Kit are associated with several human neoplasms including acute myelogenous leukemia, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and mastocytomas. Kit consists of an extracellular domain, a transmembrane segment, a juxtamembrane segment, and a protein kinase domain that contains an insert of about 80 amino acid residues. Binding of stem cell factor to Kit results in receptor dimerization and activation of protein kinase activity. The activated receptor becomes autophosphorylated at tyrosine residues that serve as docking sites for signal transduction molecules containing SH2 domains. The adaptor protein APS, Src family kinases, and Shp2 tyrosyl phosphatase bind to phosphotyrosine 568. Shp1 tyrosyl phosphatase and the adaptor protein Shc bind to phosphotyrosine 570. C-terminal Src kinase homologous kinase and the adaptor Shc bind to both phosphotyrosines 568 and 570. These residues occur in the juxtamembrane segment of Kit. Three residues in the kinase insert domain are phosphorylated and attract the adaptor protein Grb2 (Tyr703), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (Tyr721), and phospholipase Cgamma (Tyr730). Phosphotyrosine 900 in the distal kinase domain binds phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase which in turn binds the adaptor protein Crk. Phosphotyrosine 936, also in the distal kinase domain, binds the adaptor proteins APS, Grb2, and Grb7. Kit has the potential to participate in multiple signal transduction pathways as a result of interaction with several enzymes and adaptor proteins.

Design, Certification, and Deployment of the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeff A.; Schultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D.; Lipert, Robert J.; Flint, Stephanie M.; McCoy, J. Torin

2010-01-01

In August 2009, an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE) technology was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard STS-128/17A. The kit, called the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), was flown and deployed as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment on the ISS. The goal of the SDTO experiment is to evaluate the acceptability of CSPE technology for routine water quality monitoring on the ISS. This paper provides an overview of the SDTO experiment, as well as a detailed description of the CWQMK hardware and a summary of the testing and analysis conducted to certify the CWQMK for use on the ISS. The initial results obtained from the SDTO experiment are also reported and discussed in detail

49 CFR 173.161 - Chemical kits and first aid kits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Chemical kits and first aid kits. 173.161 Section... Class 7 § 173.161 Chemical kits and first aid kits. (a) Chemical kits and First aid kits must conform to... 10 kg. (b) Chemical kits and First aid kits are excepted from the specification packaging...

[Differentiation of influenza (Flu) type A, type B, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by QuickNavi™-Flu+RSV].

PubMed

Kohiyama, Risa; Miyazawa, Takashi; Shibano, Nobuko; Inano, Koichi

2014-01-01

Because it is not easy to differentiate Influenza virus (Flu) from RS virus (RSV) just by clinical symptoms, to accurately diagnose those viruses in conjunction with patient's clinical symptoms, rapid diagnostic kits has been used separately for each of those viruses. In our new study, we have developed a new rapid diagnostic kit, QuickNavi™-Flu+RSV. The kit can detect Flu A, Flu B, and RSV antigens with a single sample collection and an assay. Total of 2,873 cases (including nasopharyngeal swabs and nasopharyngeal aspirates specimens) in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons were evaluated with QuickNavi™-Flu+RSV and a commercially available kit. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of Flu type A, type B, and RSV were above 95% when compared to commercially available kits (QuickNavi™-Flu and QuickNavi™-RSV) and considered to be equivalent to the commercially available kits. In 2011/2012 season, RSV infections increased prior to Flu season and continued during the peak of the Flu season. The kit can contribute to accurate diagnosis of Flu and RSV infections since co-infection cases have also been reported during the 2011/2012 season. QuickNavi™-Flu+RSV is useful for differential diagnosis of respiratory infectious diseases since it can detect Flu type A, type B, and RSV virus antigens with a single sample collection.

c-KIT positive schistosomal urinary bladder carcinoma are frequent but lack KIT gene mutations.

PubMed

Shams, Tahany M; Metawea, Mokhtar; Salim, Elsayed I

2013-01-01

Urinary bladder squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), one of the most common neoplasms in Egypt, is attributed to chronic urinary infection with Schistosoma haematobium (Schistosomiasis). The proto-oncogene c-KIT, encoding a tyrosine kinase receptor and implicated in the development of a number of human malignancies, has not been studied so far in schistosomal urinary bladder SCCs. We therefore determined immunohistochemical (IHC) expression of c-KIT in paraffin sections from 120 radical cystectomies of SCCs originally obtained from the Pathology Department of Suez Canal University (Ismailia, Egypt). Each slide was evaluated for staining intensity where the staining extent of >10% of cells was considered positive. c-KIT overexpression was detected in 78.3% (94/120) of the patients, the staining extents in the tumor cells were 11-50% and >50% in 40 (42.6%) and 54 (57.4%) respectively. The positive cases had 14.9%, 63.8%, 21.3% as weak, moderate and strong intensity respectively. Patients with positive bilharzial ova had significantly higher c-KIT expression than patients without (95.2% vs. 38.9%, P=0.000). Mutation analysis of exons 9-13 was negative in thirty KIT positive cases. The high rate of positivity in SBSCC was one of the striking findings; However, CD117 may be a potential target for site specific immunotherapy to improve the outcome of this tumor.

Development and validation of an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test for the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Iddawela, D; Ehambaram, K; Kumarasiri, P V; Wijesundera, S

2015-09-01

ELISA is the most widely used form of diagnosis for toxoplasmosis. Several commercial kits are currently used in Sri Lanka. However, these kits are not affordable in resource-limited settings. Objectives Aim of this study was to develop a cost effective in-house ELISA for the detection of Toxoplasma antibody and to estimate the diagnostic accuracy compared to a commercial kit. Vero cell lines were inoculated with tachyzoites and harvested after 2-6 days and sonicated to obtain somatic antigen. The antigen was used as coating material in ELISA to detect antibodies against T. gondii in patient sera. Hundred and three patients' sera were analysed by in-house ELISA and kit ELISA. Optical density (OD) values were analysed statistically. Toxoplasma IgG avidity test was used to determine the chronic and acute phase of infection. The optimum working dilutions for antigen was 0.846 μg/ml and for serum 1 in 100. The optimal cut-off values for the in-house ELISA within the range 0.85 to 0.98 at which the sensitivity was 95.3% and specificity was 98.3. The OD values of in-house ELISA were compared with OD values of kit ELISA and the results showed strong correlation between the two tests. The results of our study demonstrated that our in-house ELISA for detection of T. gondii antibody was as sensitive and specific as the commercial kit used in this study. Thus, the in-house ELISA is a useful, costeffective tool for diagnostic and screening purposes.

49 CFR 173.161 - Chemical kits and first aid kits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Chemical kits and first aid kits. 173.161 Section... Class 7 § 173.161 Chemical kits and first aid kits. (a) Applicability. Chemical kits and first aid kits... assigned to the chemical kit and first aid kit as a whole must be the most stringent packing group assigned...

Transvaginal retropubic sling systems: efficacy and patient acceptability

PubMed Central

Moldovan, Christina P; Marinone, Michelle E; Staack, Andrea

2015-01-01

Stress urinary incontinence is a common, disabling, and costly medical problem that affects approximately 50% of women with urinary incontinence. Suburethral retropubic slings have been developed as a minimally invasive and effective surgical option, and they have been used as a first-line treatment for stress urinary incontinence since 1995. However, complications including vaginal extrusion, erosion, pain, bleeding, infections, lower urinary tract symptoms, urinary retention, and incontinence have been reported with use of the slings. Several companies manufacture sling kits, and the sling kits vary with regard to the composition of the mesh and introducer needle. The aim of this review was to determine which sling kit was most effective for patients, had minimal reported side effects, and was best accepted by patients and surgeons. In a review of the literature, it was found that a total of 38 studies were published between 1995 and 2014 that reported on eight tension-free retropubic sling kits: SPARC, RetroArc, Align, Advantage, Lynx, Desara, Supris, and Gynecare TVT. The Gynecare TVT was the most cited sling kit; the second most cited was the SPARC. This review provides a summary of the studies that have examined positive and negative outcomes of the retropubic tension-free suburethral sling procedure using various sling kits. Overall, the results of the literature review indicated that data from comparisons of the available sling kits are insufficient to make an evidenced-based recommendation. Therefore, the decision regarding which sling kit is appropriate to use in surgery is determined by the medical provider’s preference, training, and past experience, and not by the patient. PMID:25733928

Water Developments and Canids in Two North American Deserts: A Test of the Indirect Effect of Water Hypothesis

PubMed Central

Hall, Lucas K.; Larsen, Randy T.; Knight, Robert N.; Bunnell, Kevin D.; McMillan, Brock R.

2013-01-01

Anthropogenic modifications to landscapes intended to benefit wildlife may negatively influence wildlife communities. Anthropogenic provisioning of free water (water developments) to enhance abundance and distribution of wildlife is a common management practice in arid regions where water is limiting. Despite the long-term and widespread use of water developments, little is known about how they influence native species. Water developments may negatively influence arid-adapted species (e.g., kit fox, Vulpes macrotis) by enabling water-dependent competitors (e.g., coyote, Canis latrans) to expand distribution in arid landscapes (i.e., indirect effect of water hypothesis). We tested the two predictions of the indirect effect of water hypothesis (i.e., coyotes will visit areas with free water more frequently and kit foxes will spatially and temporally avoid coyotes) and evaluated relative use of free water by canids in the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts from 2010 to 2012. We established scent stations in areas with (wet) and without (dry) free water and monitored visitation by canids to these sites and visitation to water sources using infrared-triggered cameras. There was no difference in the proportions of visits to scent stations in wet or dry areas by coyotes or kit foxes at either study area. We did not detect spatial (no negative correlation between visits to scent stations) or temporal (no difference between times when stations were visited) segregation between coyotes and kit foxes. Visitation to water sources was not different for coyotes between study areas, but kit foxes visited water sources more in Mojave than Great Basin. Our results did not support the indirect effect of water hypothesis in the Great Basin or Mojave Deserts for these two canids. PMID:23844097

An orthologue of the kit-related gene fms is required for development of neural crest-derived xanthophores and a subpopulation of adult melanocytes in the zebrafish, Danio rerio.

PubMed

Parichy, D M; Ransom, D G; Paw, B; Zon, L I; Johnson, S L

2000-07-01

Developmental mechanisms underlying traits expressed in larval and adult vertebrates remain largely unknown. Pigment patterns of fishes provide an opportunity to identify genes and cell behaviors required for postembryonic morphogenesis and differentiation. In the zebrafish, Danio rerio, pigment patterns reflect the spatial arrangements of three classes of neural crest-derived pigment cells: black melanocytes, yellow xanthophores and silver iridophores. We show that the D. rerio pigment pattern mutant panther ablates xanthophores in embryos and adults and has defects in the development of the adult pattern of melanocyte stripes. We find that panther corresponds to an orthologue of the c-fms gene, which encodes a type III receptor tyrosine kinase and is the closest known homologue of the previously identified pigment pattern gene, kit. In mouse, fms is essential for the development of macrophage and osteoclast lineages and has not been implicated in neural crest or pigment cell development. In contrast, our analyses demonstrate that fms is expressed and required by D. rerio xanthophore precursors and that fms promotes the normal patterning of melanocyte death and migration during adult stripe formation. Finally, we show that fms is required for the appearance of a late developing, kit-independent subpopulation of adult melanocytes. These findings reveal an unexpected role for fms in pigment pattern development and demonstrate that parallel neural crest-derived pigment cell populations depend on the activities of two essentially paralogous genes, kit and fms.

The Seismic Tool-Kit (STK): An Open Source Software For Learning the Basis of Signal Processing and Seismology.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reymond, D.

2016-12-01

We present an open source software project (GNU public license), named STK: Seismic Tool-Kit, that is dedicated mainly for learning signal processing and seismology. The STK project that started in 2007, is hosted by SourceForge.net, and count more than 20000 downloads at the date of writing.The STK project is composed of two main branches:First, a graphical interface dedicated to signal processing (in the SAC format (SAC_ASCII and SAC_BIN): where the signal can be plotted, zoomed, filtered, integrated, derivated, ... etc. (a large variety of IFR and FIR filter is proposed). The passage in the frequency domain via the Fourier transform is used to introduce the estimation of spectral density of the signal , with visualization of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) in linear or log scale, and also the evolutive time-frequency representation (or sonagram). The 3-components signals can be also processed for estimating their polarization properties, either for a given window, or either for evolutive windows along the time. This polarization analysis is useful for extracting the polarized noises, differentiating P waves, Rayleigh waves, Love waves, ... etc. Secondly, a panel of Utilities-Program are proposed for working in a terminal mode, with basic programs for computing azimuth and distance in spherical geometry, inter/auto-correlation, spectral density, time-frequency for an entire directory of signals, focal planes, and main components axis, radiation pattern of P waves, Polarization analysis of different waves (including noise), under/over-sampling the signals, cubic-spline smoothing, and linear/non linear regression analysis of data set. STK is developed in C/C++, mainly under Linux OS, and it has been also partially implemented under MS-Windows. STK has been used in some schools for viewing and plotting seismic records provided by IRIS, and it has been used as a practical support for teaching the basis of signal processing. Useful links:http://sourceforge.net/projects/seismic-toolkit/http://sourceforge.net/p/seismic-toolkit/wiki/browse_pages/

Kinect Fusion improvement using depth camera calibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pagliari, D.; Menna, F.; Roncella, R.; Remondino, F.; Pinto, L.

2014-06-01

Scene's 3D modelling, gesture recognition and motion tracking are fields in rapid and continuous development which have caused growing demand on interactivity in video-game and e-entertainment market. Starting from the idea of creating a sensor that allows users to play without having to hold any remote controller, the Microsoft Kinect device was created. The Kinect has always attract researchers in different fields, from robotics to Computer Vision (CV) and biomedical engineering as well as third-party communities that have released several Software Development Kit (SDK) versions for Kinect in order to use it not only as a game device but as measurement system. Microsoft Kinect Fusion control libraries (firstly released in March 2013) allow using the device as a 3D scanning and produce meshed polygonal of a static scene just moving the Kinect around. A drawback of this sensor is the geometric quality of the delivered data and the low repeatability. For this reason the authors carried out some investigation in order to evaluate the accuracy and repeatability of the depth measured delivered by the Kinect. The paper will present a throughout calibration analysis of the Kinect imaging sensor, with the aim of establishing the accuracy and precision of the delivered information: a straightforward calibration of the depth sensor in presented and then the 3D data are correct accordingly. Integrating the depth correction algorithm and correcting the IR camera interior and exterior orientation parameters, the Fusion Libraries are corrected and a new reconstruction software is created to produce more accurate models.

Mark 6: A Next-Generation VLBI Data System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitney, A. R.; Lapsley, D. E.; Taveniku, M.

2011-07-01

A new real-time high-data-rate disk-array system based on entirely commercial-off-the-shelf hardware components is being evaluated for possible use as a next-generation VLBI data system. The system, developed by XCube Communications of Nashua, NH, USA was originally developed for the automotive industry for testing/evaluation of autonomous driving systems that require continuous capture of an array of video cameras and automotive sensors at ~8Gbps from multiple 10GigE data links and other data sources. In order to sustain the required recording data rate, the system is designed to account for slow and/or failed disks by shifting the load to other disks as necessary in order to maintain the target data rate. The system is based on a Linux OS with some modifications to memory management and drivers in order to guarantee the timely movement of data, and the hardware/software combination is highly tuned to achieve the target data rate; data are stored in standard Linux files. A kit is also being designed that will allow existing Mark 5 disk modules to be modified to be used with the XCube system (though PATA disks will need to be replaced by SATA disks). Demonstrations of the system at Haystack Observatory and NRAO Socorro have proved very encouraging; some modest software upgrades/revisions are being made by XCube in order to meet VLBI-specific requirements. The system is easily expandable, with sustained 16 Gbps likely to be supported before end CY2011.

Resource Kit Tips for Teaching Textiles and Clothing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York State Education Dept., Albany. Bureau of Continuing Education Curriculum Development.

This kit has been designed to acquaint the instructor of adult textiles and clothing programs with some of the teaching aids that might be used to improve the learning process. The main parts of the publication include: Preparing and Using Transparencies; Developing a Learning Experience Using a Transparency; A Master Transparency with Overlays;…

The Financial Education Tool Kit: Helping Teachers Meet State- Mandated Personal Finance Requirements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Pierre, Eileen; Richert, Charlotte; Routh, Susan; Lockwood, Rachel; Simpson, Mickey

2012-01-01

States are recognizing the need for personal financial education and have begun requiring it as a condition for high school graduation. Responding to teacher requests to help them meet state-mandated financial education requirements, FCS educators in the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service developed a financial education tool kit. This article…

Lab at Home: Hardware Kits for a Digital Design Lab

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, J. P.; Haim, F.

2009-01-01

An innovative laboratory methodology for an introductory digital design course is presented. Instead of having traditional lab experiences, where students have to come to school classrooms, a "lab at home" concept is proposed. Students perform real experiments in their own homes, using hardware kits specially developed for this purpose. They…

Design, Certification, and Deployment of the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeff A.; Schultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D.; Lipert, Robert J.; Carrizales, Stephanie M.; McCoy, J. Torin

2009-01-01

In August 2009, an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE) technology was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard STS-128/17A. The kit, called the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), was developed by a team of scientists and engineers from NASA s Habitability and Environmental Factors Division in the Space Life Sciences Directorate at Johnson Space Center, the Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group in Houston, Texas, the University of Utah, and Iowa State University. The CWQMK was flown and deployed as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment on ISS. The goal of the SDTO experiment was to evaluate the acceptability of CSPE technology for routine water quality monitoring on ISS. This paper provides an overview of the SDTO experiment, as well as a detailed description of the CWQMK hardware and a summary of the testing and analysis conducted to certify the CWQMK for use on ISS. The results obtained from the SDTO experiment are also reported and discussed in detail.

Mastocytosis in mice expressing human Kit receptor with the activating Asp816Val mutation

PubMed Central

Zappulla, Jacques P.; Dubreuil, Patrice; Desbois, Sabine; Létard, Sébastien; Hamouda, Nadine Ben; Daëron, Marc; Delsol, Georges; Arock, Michel; Liblau, Roland S.

2005-01-01

Mastocytosis is a rare neoplastic disease characterized by a pathologic accumulation of tissue mast cells (MCs). Mastocytosis is often associated with a somatic point mutation in the Kit protooncogene leading to an Asp/Val substitution at position 816 in the kinase domain of this receptor. The contribution of this mutation to mastocytosis development remains unclear. In addition, the clinical heterogeneity presented by mastocytosis patients carrying the same mutation is unexplained. We report that a disease with striking similarities to human mastocytosis develops spontaneously in transgenic mice expressing the human Asp816Val mutant Kit protooncogene specifically in MCs. This disease is characterized by clinical signs ranging from a localized and indolent MC hyperplasia to an invasive MC tumor. In addition, bone marrow–derived MCs from transgenic animals can be maintained in culture for >24 mo and acquire growth factor independency for proliferation. These results demonstrate a causal link in vivo between the Asp816Val Kit mutation and MC neoplasia and suggest a basis for the clinical heterogeneity of human mastocytosis. PMID:16352739

Situational Lightning Climatologies for Central Florida: Phase III

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barrett, Joe H., III

2008-01-01

This report describes work done by the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to add composite soundings to the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS). This allows National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters to compare the current atmospheric state with climatology. In a previous phase, the AMU created composite soundings for four rawinsonde observation stations in Florida, for each of eight flow regimes. The composite soundings were delivered to the NWS Melbourne (MLB) office for display using the NSHARP software program. NWS MLB requested that the AMU make the composite soundings available for display in AWIPS. The AMU first created a procedure to customize AWIPS so composite soundings could be displayed. A unique four-character identifier was created for each of the 32 composite soundings. The AMU wrote a Tool Command Language/Tool Kit (TcVTk) software program to convert the composite soundings from NSHARP to Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) format. The NetCDF files were then displayable by AWIPS.

Low-energy Bluetooth for detecting real-world penetrance of bystander naloxone kits: a pilot study.

PubMed

Lai, Jeffrey T; Chapman, Brittany P; Boyle, Katherine L; Boyer, Edward W; Chai, Peter R

2018-01-03

Opioid overdose is a growing public health emergency in the United States. The antidote naloxone must be administered rapidly after opioid overdose to prevent death. Bystander or "take-home" naloxone programs distribute naloxone to opioid users and other community members to increase naloxone availability at the time of overdose. However, data describing the natural history of take-home naloxone in the hands of at-risk individuals is lacking. To understand patterns of naloxone uptake in at-risk users, we developed a smart naloxone kit that uses low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) to unobtrusively detect the transit of naloxone through a hospital campus. In this paper, we describe development of the smart naloxone kit and results from the first 10 participants in our pilot study.

Development of PCR internal controls for DNA profiling with the AmpFℓSTR® SGM Plus® amplification kit.

PubMed

Nathalie, Zahra; Hadi, Sibte; Goodwin, William

2012-09-01

Forensic DNA profiling uses a series of commercial kits that co-amplify several loci in one reaction; the products of the PCR are fluorescently labelled and analysed using CE. Before CE, an aliquot of the PCR is mixed with formamide and an internal lane size standard. Using the SGM Plus amplification kit, we have developed two internal non-amplified controls of 80 bp and 380 bp that are labelled with ROX fluorescent dye and added to the PCR. Combined with two internal amplification controls of 90 bp and 410 bp, they provide additional controls for the PCR, electrokinetic injection, and CE and also function as an internal size standard. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Validation of a single-platform method for hematopoietic CD34+ stem cells enumeration according to accreditation procedure.

PubMed

Massin, Frédéric; Huili, Cai; Decot, Véronique; Stoltz, Jean-François; Bensoussan, Danièle; Latger-Cannard, Véronique

2015-01-01

Stem cells for autologous and allogenic transplantation are obtained from several sources including bone marrow, peripheral blood or cord blood. Accurate enumeration of viable CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) is routinely used in clinical settings, especially to monitor progenitor cell mobilization and apheresis. The number of viable CD34+ HSC has also been shown to be the most critical factor in haematopoietic engraftment. The International Society for Cellular Therapy actually recommends the use of single-platform flow cytometry system using 7-AAD as a viability dye. In a way to move routine analysis from a BD FACSCaliburTM instrument to a BD FACSCantoTM II, according to ISO 15189 standard guidelines, we define laboratory performance data of the BDTM Stem Cell Enumeration (SCE) kit on a CE-IVD system including a BD FACSCanto II flow cytometer and the BD FACSCantoTM Clinical Software. InterQCTM software, a real time internet laboratory QC management system developed by VitroTM and distributed by Becton DickinsonTM, was also tested to monitor daily QC data, to define the internal laboratory statistics and to compare them to external laboratories. Precision was evaluated with BDTM Stem Cell Control (high and low) results and the InterQC software, an internet laboratory QC management system by Vitro. This last one drew Levey-Jennings curves and generated numeral statistical parameters allowing detection of potential changes in the system performances as well as interlaboratory comparisons. Repeatability, linearity and lower limits of detection were obtained with routine samples from different origins. Agreement evaluation between BD FACSCanto II system versus BD FACSCalibur system was tested on fresh peripheral blood, freeze-thawed apheresis, fresh bone marrow and fresh cord blood samples. Instrument's measure and staining repeatability clearly evidenced acceptable variability on the different samples tested. Intra- and inter-laboratory CV in CD34+ cell absolute count are consistent and reproducible. Linearity analysis, established between 2 and 329 cells/μl showed a linear relation between expected counts and measured counts (R2=0.97). Linear regression and Bland-Altman representations showed an excellent correlation on samples from different sources between the two systems and allowed the transfer of routine analysis from BD FACSCalibur to BD FACSCanto II. The BD SCE kit provides an accurate measure of the CD34 HSC, and can be used in daily routine to optimize the enumeration of hematopoietic CD34+ stem cells by flow cytometry. Moreover, the InterQC system seems to be a very useful tool for laboratory daily quality monitoring and thus for accreditation.

Promotion of ulcerative duodenitis in young ferrets by oral immunization with Helicobacter mustelae and muramyl dipeptide.

PubMed

Whary, M T; Palley, L S; Batchelder, M; Murphy, J C; Yan, L; Taylor, N S; Fox, J G

1997-06-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether oral immunization of ferret kits with a whole-cell sonicate of Helicobacter mustelae lysate (Hml) and the adjuvant muramyl dipeptide (MDP) would reduce the incidence of natural colonization with H. mustelae and the extent of Helicobacter-associated gastritis by enhancing the host mucosal immune response. Between the ages of 4 and 11 weeks, 44 ferret kits were gavaged with Hml and various doses of MDP. The extent of gastritis and duodenitis and the immune response to H. mustelae were evaluated. All kits became colonized naturally with H. mustelae and the majority developed mild to severe gastritis and duodenitis. Kits that received Hml with MDP developed significantly greater inflammation of the gastric antrum and duodenum, as compared to kits vaccinated with Hml alone. Vaccination with Hml and 50 micrograms of MDP was associated with severe lesions in the proximal duodenum characterized by accumulation of mononuclear inflammatory cells, mucosal erosion, and ulceration. Although serum antibody specific for H. mustelae in 4-week-old kits was approximately 50% of adult levels, a finding attributable to passively acquired maternal antibody, both systemic and mucosal antibody levels became depressed over time despite oral vaccination. The humoral immune response was sufficiently low to prevent detection of any significant dose effect of MDP on antibody levels among experimental groups. Oral vaccination of young ferrets with Hml and 50 micrograms MDP increased the risk of Helicobacter-associated mucosal ulceration in the proximal duodenum, which was associated with low humoral (but significant cell-mediated) immune responses to H. mustelae. In retrospect, the frequency of vaccination may have suppressed the systemic humoral immune response, thereby promoting mucosal damage by H. mustelae. The 50-microgram dose of MDP enhanced the cell-mediated immune response, which indirectly contributed to development of severe lesions. The increased frequency of mucosal damage associated with this vaccination regimen enhances the value of the ferret model for studying duodenal ulceration secondary to Helicobacter infection.

Evaluation of a newly developed quantitative heart-type fatty acid binding protein assay based on fluorescence immunochromatography using specific monoclonal antibodies.

PubMed

Kang, Keren; Wu, Peidian; Li, Wenmei; Tang, Shixing; Wang, Jihua; Luo, Xiaochun; Xie, Mingquan

2015-01-01

To develop a rapid, sensitive and specific assay for quantification of serum heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) based on immunofluorescence of specific monoclonal antibodies. We generated novel H-FABP-directed monoclonal antibodies by cloning of spleen cells of mice immunized with H-FABP. Epitopes were mapped and antigen affinity was assessed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The H-FABP specific monoclonal antibodies were coupled to fluorescent beads and sprayed onto a nitrocellulose membrane facilitating quantification of H-FABP by immunofluorescence. Reagent cross-reactivity, interference resistance, accuracy and sensitivity were examined. A total of 103 clinical samples were used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the new assay to a commercially available Randox kit. This new assay could be finished within 15 min, with sensitivity reaching 1 ng/ml. In a trial of 103 clinical serum samples, the new testing kit results were highly correlated with those from the Randox kit (R(2) = 0.9707). Using the Randox kit as the reference kit, the sensitivity of the new assay was 98.25%, and specificity was 100%. An immunofluorescence-based H-FABP assay employing novel monoclonal antibodies could rapidly, specifically and sensitively detect H-FABP in serum samples, providing an effective method for rapid clinical assessment of H-FABP index in the clinic.

A Deep Space Orbit Determination Software: Overview and Event Prediction Capability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Youngkwang; Park, Sang-Young; Lee, Eunji; Kim, Minsik

2017-06-01

This paper presents an overview of deep space orbit determination software (DSODS), as well as validation and verification results on its event prediction capabilities. DSODS was developed in the MATLAB object-oriented programming environment to support the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) mission. DSODS has three major capabilities: celestial event prediction for spacecraft, orbit determination with deep space network (DSN) tracking data, and DSN tracking data simulation. To achieve its functionality requirements, DSODS consists of four modules: orbit propagation (OP), event prediction (EP), data simulation (DS), and orbit determination (OD) modules. This paper explains the highest-level data flows between modules in event prediction, orbit determination, and tracking data simulation processes. Furthermore, to address the event prediction capability of DSODS, this paper introduces OP and EP modules. The role of the OP module is to handle time and coordinate system conversions, to propagate spacecraft trajectories, and to handle the ephemerides of spacecraft and celestial bodies. Currently, the OP module utilizes the General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) as a third-party software component for highfidelity deep space propagation, as well as time and coordinate system conversions. The role of the EP module is to predict celestial events, including eclipses, and ground station visibilities, and this paper presents the functionality requirements of the EP module. The validation and verification results show that, for most cases, event prediction errors were less than 10 millisec when compared with flight proven mission analysis tools such as GMAT and Systems Tool Kit (STK). Thus, we conclude that DSODS is capable of predicting events for the KPLO in real mission applications.

ARC SDK: A toolbox for distributed computing and data applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skou Andersen, M.; Cameron, D.; Lindemann, J.

2014-06-01

Grid middleware suites provide tools to perform the basic tasks of job submission and retrieval and data access, however these tools tend to be low-level, operating on individual jobs or files and lacking in higher-level concepts. User communities therefore generally develop their own application-layer software catering to their specific communities' needs on top of the Grid middleware. It is thus important for the Grid middleware to provide a friendly, well documented and simple to use interface for the applications to build upon. The Advanced Resource Connector (ARC), developed by NorduGrid, provides a Software Development Kit (SDK) which enables applications to use the middleware for job and data management. This paper presents the architecture and functionality of the ARC SDK along with an example graphical application developed with the SDK. The SDK consists of a set of libraries accessible through Application Programming Interfaces (API) in several languages. It contains extensive documentation and example code and is available on multiple platforms. The libraries provide generic interfaces and rely on plugins to support a given technology or protocol and this modular design makes it easy to add a new plugin if the application requires supporting additional technologies.The ARC Graphical Clients package is a graphical user interface built on top of the ARC SDK and the Qt toolkit and it is presented here as a fully functional example of an application. It provides a graphical interface to enable job submission and management at the click of a button, and allows data on any Grid storage system to be manipulated using a visual file system hierarchy, as if it were a regular file system.

FOSS Tools for Research Data Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stender, Vivien; Jankowski, Cedric; Hammitzsch, Martin; Wächter, Joachim

2017-04-01

Established initiatives and organizations, e.g. the Initiative for Scientific Cyberinfrastructures (NSF, 2007) or the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI, 2008), promote and foster the development of sustainable research infrastructures. These infrastructures aim the provision of services supporting scientists to search, visualize and access data, to collaborate and exchange information, as well as to publish data and other results. In this regard, Research Data Management (RDM) gains importance and thus requires the support by appropriate tools integrated in these infrastructures. Different projects provide arbitrary solutions to manage research data. However, within two projects - SUMARIO for land and water management and TERENO for environmental monitoring - solutions to manage research data have been developed based on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) components. The resulting framework provides essential components for harvesting, storing and documenting research data, as well as for discovering, visualizing and downloading these data on the basis of standardized services stimulated considerably by enhanced data management approaches of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). In order to fully exploit the potentials of these developments for enhancing data management in Geosciences the publication of software components, e.g. via GitHub, is not sufficient. We will use our experience to move these solutions into the cloud e.g. as PaaS or SaaS offerings. Our contribution will present data management solutions for the Geosciences developed in two projects. A sort of construction kit with FOSS components build the backbone for the assembly and implementation of projects specific platforms. Furthermore, an approach is presented to stimulate the reuse of FOSS RDM solutions with cloud concepts. In further projects specific RDM platforms can be set-up much faster, customized to the individual needs and tools can be added during the run-time.

FPGA Flash Memory High Speed Data Acquisition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonzalez, April

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research is to design and implement a VHDL ONFI Controller module for a Modular Instrumentation System. The goal of the Modular Instrumentation System will be to have a low power device that will store data and send the data at a low speed to a processor. The benefit of such a system will give an advantage over other purchased binary IP due to the capability of allowing NASA to re-use and modify the memory controller module. To accomplish the performance criteria of a low power system, an in house auxiliary board (Flash/ADC board), FPGA development kit, debug board, and modular instrumentation board will be jointly used for the data acquisition. The Flash/ADC board contains four, 1 MSPS, input channel signals and an Open NAND Flash memory module with an analog to digital converter. The ADC, data bits, and control line signals from the board are sent to an Microsemi/Actel FPGA development kit for VHDL programming of the flash memory WRITE, READ, READ STATUS, ERASE, and RESET operation waveforms using Libero software. The debug board will be used for verification of the analog input signal and be able to communicate via serial interface with the module instrumentation. The scope of the new controller module was to find and develop an ONFI controller with the debug board layout designed and completed for manufacture. Successful flash memory operation waveform test routines were completed, simulated, and tested to work on the FPGA board. Through connection of the Flash/ADC board with the FPGA, it was found that the device specifications were not being meet with Vdd reaching half of its voltage. Further testing showed that it was the manufactured Flash/ADC board that contained a misalignment with the ONFI memory module traces. The errors proved to be too great to fix in the time limit set for the project.

Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of CareStart G6PD deficiency Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) in a malaria endemic area in Ghana, Africa.

PubMed

Adu-Gyasi, Dennis; Asante, Kwaku Poku; Newton, Sam; Dosoo, David; Amoako, Sabastina; Adjei, George; Amoako, Nicholas; Ankrah, Love; Tchum, Samuel Kofi; Mahama, Emmanuel; Agyemang, Veronica; Kayan, Kingsley; Owusu-Agyei, Seth

2015-01-01

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the most widespread enzyme defect that can result in red cell breakdown under oxidative stress when exposed to certain medicines including antimalarials. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of CareStart G6PD deficiency Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) as a point-of-care tool for screening G6PD deficiency. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 206 randomly selected and consented participants from a group with known G6PD deficiency status between February 2013 and June 2013. A maximum of 1.6ml of capillary blood samples were used for G6PD deficiency screening using CareStart G6PD RDT and Trinity qualitative with Trinity quantitative methods as the "gold standard". Samples were also screened for the presence of malaria parasites. Data entry and analysis were done using Microsoft Access 2010 and Stata Software version 12. Kintampo Health Research Centre Institutional Ethics Committee granted ethical approval. The sensitivity (SE) and specificity (SP) of CareStart G6PD deficiency RDT was 100% and 72.1% compared to Trinity quantitative method respectively and was 98.9% and 96.2% compared to Trinity qualitative method. Malaria infection status had no significant (P=0.199) change on the performance of the G6PD RDT test kit compared to the "gold standard". The outcome of this study suggests that the diagnostic performance of the CareStart G6PD deficiency RDT kit was high and it is acceptable at determining the G6PD deficiency status in a high malaria endemic area in Ghana. The RDT kit presents as an attractive tool for point-of-care G6PD deficiency for rapid testing in areas with high temperatures and less expertise. The CareStart G6PD deficiency RDT kit could be used to screen malaria patients before administration of the fixed dose primaquine with artemisinin-based combination therapy.

The Efficacy of the Initial Teaching Alphabet and the Peabody Language Development Kit with Grade One Disadvantaged Children: After One Year. IMRID Papers and Reports, Volume III, No. 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Lloyd M.; Mueller, Max W.

The purpose of this study was to investigate, with underprivileged first-grade children, the efficacy of the Initial Teaching Alphabet (i.t.a.) in teaching beginning reading and of the Peabody Language Development Kit (PLDK) in stimulating oral language and verbal intelligence. From 17 classes in nine schools, four groups, consisting of 100, 104,…

Differential Effects on the ITPA [Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities] Profile of the Experimental Version of Level #1 of the Peabody Language Development Kits with Disadvantaged First-Grade Children. IMRID Papers and Reports, Volume 4, No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Lloyd M.; Mueller, Max W.

The differential effects of the experimental revision of Level 1 of the Peabody Language Development Kits (PLDK) on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) profiles of disadvantaged first-grade children were studied. Contrasted with 203 control subjects were 529 experimental subjects who received a daily 30-minute oral language…

Developing intra-curricular photonics educational material for secondary schools in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad, Amrita; Debaes, Nathalie; Fischer, Robert; Thienpont, Hugo

2014-07-01

There is an imminent shortage of skilled workforce facing Europe's hi-tech industries mainly due to the declining interest of young people in science and engineering careers. To avert this trend the European Union funded the development of the `Photonics Explorer' - an intra-curricular educational kit designed to engage, excite and educate students about the fascination of working with optics hands-on, in their own classrooms! Each kit equips teachers with class sets of experimental components provided within a supporting didactic framework based on guided inquiry based learning techniques. The material has been specifically designed to integrate into the curriculum and enhance and complement the teaching and learning of science in the classroom. The kits are provided free of charge to teachers, in conjunction with teacher training courses. The main challenge of this program was the development of educational material that seamlessly integrates into the various national curricula across Europe. To achieve this, the development process included a preparatory EU wide curricula survey and a special `Review and Revise' process bringing together the expertise of over 35 teachers and pedagogic experts. This paper reports on the results of the preparatory study which identified two specific age groups at secondary schools for photonics educational material, the didactic content of the Photonics Explorer kit resulting from a pan-European collaboration of key stakeholders, EU wide dissemination and sustainability of the program.

[A preliminary mapping methodology for occupational hazards and biomechanical risk evaluation: presentation of a simple, computerized tool kit for ergonomic hazards identification and risk assessment].

PubMed

Colombini, Daniela; Occhipinti, E; Di Leone, G

2011-01-01

During the last Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), Beijing, August 2009, an international group was founded with the task of developing a "toolkit for MSD prevention" under the IEA and in collaboration with the World Health Organization. The possible users of toolkits are: members of health and safety committees; health and safety representatives; line supervisors; foremen; workers; government representatives; health workers providing basic occupational health services; occupational health and safety specialists. According to the ISO standard 11228 series and the new Draft CD ISO 12259-2009: Application document guides for the potential user, our group developed a preliminary "mapping" methodology of occupational hazards in the craft industry, supported by software (Excel). The proposed methodology, using specific key enters and quick assessment criteria, allows a simple ergonomics hazards identification and risk estimation to be made. It is thus possible to decide for which occupational hazards a more exhaustive risk assessment will be necessary and which occupational consultant should be involved (occupational physician, safety engineer, industrial hygienist, etc.).

[Review of Second Generation Sequencing and Its Application in Forensic Genetics].

PubMed

Zhang, S H; Bian, Y N; Zhao, Q; Li, C T

2016-08-01

The rapid development of second generation sequencing （SGS） within the past few years has led to the increasement of data throughput and read length while at the same time brought down substantially the sequencing cost. This made new breakthrough in the area of biology and ushered the forensic genetics into a new era. Based on the history of sequencing application in forensic genetics, this paper reviews the importance of sequencing technologies for genetic marker detection. The application status and potential of SGS in forensic genetics are discussed based on the already explored SGS platforms of Roche, Illumina and Life Technologies. With these platforms, DNA markers （SNP, STR）, RNA markers （mRNA, microRNA） and whole mtDNA can be sequenced. However, development and validation of application kits, maturation of analysis software, connection to the existing databases and the possible ethical issues occurred with big data will be the key factors that determine whether this technology can substitute or supplement PCR-CE, the mature technology, and be widely used for cases detection. Copyright© by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.

Coupled field-structural analysis of HGTR fuel brick using ABAQUS

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

Mohanty, S.; Jain, R.; Majumdar, S.

2012-07-01

High-temperature, gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) are usually helium-gas cooled, with a graphite core that can operate at reactor outlet temperatures much higher than can conventional light water reactors. In HTGRs, graphite components moderate and reflect neutrons. During reactor operation, high temperature and high irradiation cause damage to the graphite crystal and grains and create other defects. This cumulative structural damage during the reactor lifetime leads to changes in graphite properties, which can alter the ability to support the designed loads. The aim of the present research is to develop a finite-element code using commercially available ABAQUS software for the structural integritymore » analysis of graphite core components under extreme temperature and irradiation conditions. In addition, the Reactor Geometry Generator tool-kit, developed at Argonne National Laboratory, is used to generate finite-element mesh for complex geometries such as fuel bricks with multiple pin holes and coolant flow channels. This paper presents the proposed concept and discusses results of stress analysis simulations of a fuel block with H-451 grade material properties. (authors)« less

DeePMD-kit: A deep learning package for many-body potential energy representation and molecular dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Han; Zhang, Linfeng; Han, Jiequn; E, Weinan

2018-07-01

Recent developments in many-body potential energy representation via deep learning have brought new hopes to addressing the accuracy-versus-efficiency dilemma in molecular simulations. Here we describe DeePMD-kit, a package written in Python/C++ that has been designed to minimize the effort required to build deep learning based representation of potential energy and force field and to perform molecular dynamics. Potential applications of DeePMD-kit span from finite molecules to extended systems and from metallic systems to chemically bonded systems. DeePMD-kit is interfaced with TensorFlow, one of the most popular deep learning frameworks, making the training process highly automatic and efficient. On the other end, DeePMD-kit is interfaced with high-performance classical molecular dynamics and quantum (path-integral) molecular dynamics packages, i.e., LAMMPS and the i-PI, respectively. Thus, upon training, the potential energy and force field models can be used to perform efficient molecular simulations for different purposes. As an example of the many potential applications of the package, we use DeePMD-kit to learn the interatomic potential energy and forces of a water model using data obtained from density functional theory. We demonstrate that the resulted molecular dynamics model reproduces accurately the structural information contained in the original model.

Growth control of genetically modified cells using an antibody/c-Kit chimera.

PubMed

Kaneko, Etsuji; Kawahara, Masahiro; Ueda, Hiroshi; Nagamune, Teruyuki

2012-05-01

Gene therapy has been regarded as an innovative potential treatment against serious congenital diseases. However, applications of gene therapy remain limited, partly because its clinical success depends on therapeutic gene-transduced cells acquiring a proliferative advantage. To address this problem, we have developed the antigen-mediated genetically modified cell amplification (AMEGA) system, which uses chimeric receptors to enable the selective proliferation of gene-transduced cells. In this report, we describe mimicry of c-Kit signaling and its application to the AMEGA system. We created an antibody/c-Kit chimera in which the extracellular domain of c-Kit is replaced with an anti-fluorescein single-chain Fv antibody fragment and the extracellular D2 domain of the erythropoietin receptor. A genetically modified mouse pro-B cell line carrying this chimera showed selective expansion in the presence of fluorescein-conjugated BSA (BSA-FL) as a growth inducer. By further engineering the transmembrane domain of the chimera to reduce interchain interaction we attained stricter ligand-dependency. Since c-Kit is an important molecule in the expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), this antibody/c-Kit chimera could be a promising tool for gene therapy targeting HSCs. Copyright © 2011 The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multiplex method for initial complex testing of antibodies to blood transmitted diseases agents.

PubMed

Poltavchenko, Alexander G; Nechitaylo, Oleg V; Filatov, Pavel V; Ersh, Anna V; Gureyev, Vadim N

2016-10-01

Initial screening of donors and population at high risk of infection with blood transmitted diseases involves a number of analyses using monospesific diagnostic systems, and therefore is expensive labor- and time-consuming process. The goal of this work is to construct a multiplex test enabling to carry out rapid initial complex testing at a low price. The paper describes a kit making it possible to detect simultaneously antibodies to six agents of the most significant blood transmitted diseases: HIV virus, hepatitis B and C viruses, cytomegalovirus, T. pallidum and T. gondii in blood products. The kit comprises multiplex dot-immunoassay based on plane protein arrays (immune chips) using colloidal gold conjugates and silver development. It provides an opportunity to carry out complex analysis within 70min at room temperature, and there is no need of well-qualified personnel. We compared laboratory findings of the kit with monospecific kits for ELISA produced by two Russian commercial companies. Dot-assay results correlate well with data obtained using commercial kits for ELISA. Furthermore, multiplex analysis is quicker and cheaper in comparison with ELISA and can be carried out in non-laboratory conditions. The kit for multiplex dot-immunoassay of antibodies to blood transmitted agents can significantly simplify initial complex testing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the Seeplex® Meningitis ACE Detection kit for the detection of 12 common bacterial and viral pathogens of acute meningitis.

PubMed

Shin, So Youn; Kwon, Kye Chul; Park, Jong Woo; Kim, Ji Myung; Shin, So Young; Koo, Sun Hoe

2012-01-01

Bacterial meningitis is an infectious disease with high rates of mortality and high frequency of severe sequelae. Early identification of causative bacterial and viral pathogens is important for prompt and proper treatment of meningitis and for prevention of life-threatening clinical outcomes. In the present study, we evaluated the value of the Seeplex Meningitis ACE Detection kit (Seegene Inc., Korea), a newly developed multiplex PCR kit employing dual priming oligonucleotide methods, for diagnosing acute meningitis. Analytical sensitivity of the kit was studied using reference strains for each pathogen targeted by the kit, while it's analytical specificity was studied using the human genome DNA and 58 clinically well-identified reference strains. For clinical validation experiment, we used 27 control cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples and 78 clinical CSF samples collected from patients at the time of diagnosis of acute meningitis. The lower detection limits ranged from 10(1) copies/µL to 5×10(1) copies/µL for the 12 viral and bacterial pathogens targeted. No cross-reaction was observed. In the validation study, high detection rate of 56.4% was obtained. None of the control samples tested positive, i.e., false-positive results were absent. The Seeplex Meningitis ACE Detection kit showed high sensitivity, specificity, and detection rate for the identification of pathogens in clinical CSF samples. This kit may be useful for rapid identification of important acute meningitis-causing pathogens.

Evaluation of the Seeplex® Meningitis ACE Detection Kit for the Detection of 12 Common Bacterial and Viral Pathogens of Acute Meningitis

PubMed Central

Shin, So Youn; Kwon, Kye Chul; Park, Jong Woo; Kim, Ji Myung; Shin, So Young

2012-01-01

Background Bacterial meningitis is an infectious disease with high rates of mortality and high frequency of severe sequelae. Early identification of causative bacterial and viral pathogens is important for prompt and proper treatment of meningitis and for prevention of life-threatening clinical outcomes. In the present study, we evaluated the value of the Seeplex Meningitis ACE Detection kit (Seegene Inc., Korea), a newly developed multiplex PCR kit employing dual priming oligonucleotide methods, for diagnosing acute meningitis. Methods Analytical sensitivity of the kit was studied using reference strains for each pathogen targeted by the kit, while it's analytical specificity was studied using the human genome DNA and 58 clinically well-identified reference strains. For clinical validation experiment, we used 27 control cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples and 78 clinical CSF samples collected from patients at the time of diagnosis of acute meningitis. Results The lower detection limits ranged from 101 copies/µL to 5×101 copies/µL for the 12 viral and bacterial pathogens targeted. No cross-reaction was observed. In the validation study, high detection rate of 56.4% was obtained. None of the control samples tested positive, i.e., false-positive results were absent. Conclusions The Seeplex Meningitis ACE Detection kit showed high sensitivity, specificity, and detection rate for the identification of pathogens in clinical CSF samples. This kit may be useful for rapid identification of important acute meningitis-causing pathogens. PMID:22259778

A new humanized in vivo model of KIT D816V+ advanced systemic mastocytosis monitored using a secreted luciferase

PubMed Central

Bibi, Siham; Zhang, Yanyan; Hugonin, Caroline; Mangean, Mallorie Depond; He, Liang; Wedeh, Ghaith; Launay, Jean-Marie; Van Rijn, Sjoerd; Würdinger, Thomas; Louache, Fawzia; Arock, Michel

2016-01-01

Systemic mastocytosis are rare neoplasms characterized by accumulation of mast cells in at least one internal organ. The majority of systemic mastocytosis patients carry KIT D816V mutation, which activates constitutively the KIT receptor. Patient with advanced forms of systemic mastocytosis, such as aggressive systemic mastocytosis or mast cell leukemia, are poorly treated to date. Unfortunately, the lack of in vivo models reflecting KIT D816V+ advanced disease hampers pathophysiological studies and preclinical development of new therapies for such patients. Here, we describe a new in vivo model of KIT D816V+ advanced systemic mastocytosis developed by transplantation of the human ROSAKIT D816V-Gluc mast cell line in NOD-SCID IL-2R g−/− mice, using Gaussia princeps luciferase as a reporter. Intravenous injection of ROSAKIT D816V-Gluc cells led, in 4 weeks, to engraftment in all injected primary recipient mice. Engrafted cells were found at high levels in bone marrow, and at lower levels in spleen, liver and peripheral blood. Disease progression was easily monitored by repeated quantification of Gaussia princeps luciferase activity in peripheral blood. This quantification evidenced a linear relationship between the number of cells injected and the neoplastic mast cell burden in mice. Interestingly, the secondary transplantation of ROSAKIT D816V-Gluc cells increased their engraftment capability. To conclude, this new in vivo model mimics at the best the features of human KIT D816V+ advanced systemic mastocytosis. In addition, it is a unique and convenient tool to study the kinetics of the disease and the potential in vivo activity of new drugs targeting neoplastic mast cells. PMID:27783996

A new humanized in vivo model of KIT D816V+ advanced systemic mastocytosis monitored using a secreted luciferase.

PubMed

Bibi, Siham; Zhang, Yanyan; Hugonin, Caroline; Mangean, Mallorie Depond; He, Liang; Wedeh, Ghaith; Launay, Jean-Marie; Van Rijn, Sjoerd; Würdinger, Thomas; Louache, Fawzia; Arock, Michel

2016-12-13

Systemic mastocytosis are rare neoplasms characterized by accumulation of mast cells in at least one internal organ. The majority of systemic mastocytosis patients carry KIT D816V mutation, which activates constitutively the KIT receptor. Patient with advanced forms of systemic mastocytosis, such as aggressive systemic mastocytosis or mast cell leukemia, are poorly treated to date. Unfortunately, the lack of in vivo models reflecting KIT D816V+ advanced disease hampers pathophysiological studies and preclinical development of new therapies for such patients. Here, we describe a new in vivo model of KIT D816V+ advanced systemic mastocytosis developed by transplantation of the human ROSAKIT D816V-Gluc mast cell line in NOD-SCID IL-2R γ-/- mice, using Gaussia princeps luciferase as a reporter. Intravenous injection of ROSAKIT D816V-Gluc cells led, in 4 weeks, to engraftment in all injected primary recipient mice. Engrafted cells were found at high levels in bone marrow, and at lower levels in spleen, liver and peripheral blood. Disease progression was easily monitored by repeated quantification of Gaussia princeps luciferase activity in peripheral blood. This quantification evidenced a linear relationship between the number of cells injected and the neoplastic mast cell burden in mice. Interestingly, the secondary transplantation of ROSAKIT D816V-Gluc cells increased their engraftment capability. To conclude, this new in vivo model mimics at the best the features of human KIT D816V+ advanced systemic mastocytosis. In addition, it is a unique and convenient tool to study the kinetics of the disease and the potential in vivo activity of new drugs targeting neoplastic mast cells.

Effectiveness of a multimedia outreach kit for families of wounded veterans.

PubMed

Walker, David Ian; Cardin, Jean-François; Chawla, Neelu; Topp, David; Burton, Thomaseo; Macdermid Wadsworth, Shelley

2014-04-01

Young children in military families with a member who has a life changing injury can experience emotional difficulties and behavior changes. This study evaluated a Sesame Workshop multimedia kit called: Talk, Listen, Connect: Changes (TLC-II(C); 2008). The kit, which included video and print materials, aimed to help caregivers (i.e., at-home partner, at-home relative or family member of a current or discharged military member) assist young children as they adjusted to their parent's injury. We expected that the materials would be used and their quality evaluated. We hypothesized that use of the materials would produce improvements in caregiver and child outcomes as well as reductions in perceptions of disruption in the home. We also predicted that kit-use would have a positive impact on the family. One-hundred and fifty three families with children aged 2-8 years were randomly assigned to receive the kit being evaluated (TLC-II(C)) or a control kit (Healthy Habits for Life (HHL)), also developed by Sesame Workshop. Group outcomes were compared four weeks following receipt of the kits using multivariate analysis of variance. All materials were well used and highly rated. All caregivers reported less social isolation, less child aggression, and significantly less disruptive home environments after kit use. Test group caregivers reported significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms and significant increases in children's social competence over time in comparison to the control group. These results signal important improvements among families as a consequence of using either test or control materials. As a preventative intervention designed for families with an injured member, TLC-II(C) was particularly effective at improving coping. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Around Marshall

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-04-18

Marshall's Neutral Buoyancy Simulator (NBS) is used to simulate the gravitational fields and buoyancy effects outer space has on astronauts and their ability to perform tasks in this environment. In this example, a diver performs a temporary fluid line repair task using a repair kit developed by Marshall engineers. The analysis will determine the value of this repair kit and its feasibility.

Sports Business Unit Meets Cross-Curricular Learning Goals: Grades 9-12

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curriculum Review, 2006

2006-01-01

A new online learning tool called the eCommSports Kit links a seven-step sports marketing curriculum with a school team to give students real-life experience in developing and executing a plan to boost game attendance. The kit, available through http://www.ecommsports.com, takes teens on a cross-curricular journey through conducting business…

The Munchsters Talk about Food: Preschool Nutrition Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Live Stock and Meat Board, Chicago, IL.

This nutrition education kit is designed for use with 3- to 5-year old children. It introduces children to new foods, involves them in the process of food preparation, and creates an awareness of the importance of eating foods from all food groups. The kit has been designed to provide a variety of opportunities to develop and practice language…

The Classroom-Friendly ABO Blood Types Kit: Blood Agglutination Simulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnold, Savittree Rochanasmita; Kruatong, Tussatrin; Dahsah, Chanyah; Suwanjinda, Duongdearn

2012-01-01

The classroom-friendly ABO blood type kit was developed by combining advantages of modelling and a simulation laboratory to teach the topics of ABO blood types and blood transfusion. Teachers can easily simulate the agglutination reaction on a blood type testing plate in the classroom, and show the students how this reaction occurs by using the…

Robotic Construction Kits as Computational Manipulatives for Learning in the STEM Disciplines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Florence R.; Heffernan, John

2016-01-01

This article presents a systematic review of research related to the use of robotics construction kits (RCKs) in P-12 learning in the STEM disciplines for typically developing children. The purpose of this review is to configure primarily qualitative and mixed methods findings from studies meeting our selection and quality criterion to answer the…

Implementing Inquiry Kit Curriculum: Obstacles, Adaptations, and Practical Knowledge Development in Two Middle School Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Mark T.; Eick, Charles J.

2007-01-01

Two elementary certified middle school science teachers are studied for changes in practical knowledge supporting the implementation of kit-based inquiry as part of a schoolwide reform effort. Emphasis is placed on studying how these two pilot teachers enact guided inquiry within their unique pedagogical and curricular interests, and what…

Policies that Clarify Student Rights & Responsibilities. School Board Policy Development Kit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National School Boards Association, Waterford, CT. Educational Policies Service.

This kit discusses written policies basic to student rights and responsibilities, including those based on the constitution and those not. Specific policies should be based on three broad, basic premises: (1) recognition that freedom implies the right to make mistakes as long as these mistakes do not endanger life and property or are not seriously…

C-kit+ cells isolated from developing kidneys are a novel population of stem cells with regenerative potential

PubMed Central

Rangel, Erika B; Gomes, Samirah A; Dulce, Raul A; Premer, Courtney; Rodrigues, Claudia O; Kanashiro-Takeuchi, Rosemeire M; Oskouei, Behzad; Carvalho, Decio A; Ruiz, Phillip; Reiser, Jochen; Hare, Joshua M

2013-01-01

The presence of tissue specific precursor cells is an emerging concept in organ formation and tissue homeostasis. Several progenitors are described in the kidneys. However, their identity as a true stem cell remains elusive. Here, we identify a neonatal kidney-derived c-kit+ cell population that fulfills all of the criteria as a stem cell. These cells were found in the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop and exhibited clonogenicity, self-renewal, and multipotentiality with differentiation capacity into mesoderm and ectoderm progeny. Additionally, c-kit+ cells formed spheres in nonadherent conditions when plated at clonal density and expressed markers of stem cells, progenitors, and differentiated cells. Ex-vivo expanded c-kit+ cells integrated into several compartments of the kidney, including tubules, vessels, and glomeruli, and contributed to functional and morphological improvement of the kidney following acute ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Together these findings document a novel neonatal rat kidney c-kit+ stem cell population that can be isolated, expanded, cloned, differentiated, and employed for kidney repair following acute kidney injury. These cells have important biological and therapeutic implications. PMID:23733311

Results of a Community-Based Randomized Trial to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening Among Filipino Americans

PubMed Central

Bastani, Roshan; Danao, Leda L.; Antonio, Cynthia; Garcia, Gabriel M.; Crespi, Catherine M.

2010-01-01

Objectives. We conducted 1 of the first community-based trials to develop a multicomponent intervention that would increase colorectal cancer screening among an Asian American population. Methods. Filipino Americans (n = 548) nonadherent to colorectal cancer (CRC) screening guidelines were randomized into an intervention group that received an education session on CRC screening and free fecal occult blood test (FOBT) kits; a second intervention group that received an education session but no free FOBT kits; and a control group that received an education session on the health benefits of physical activity. Results. Self-reported CRC screening rates during the 6-month follow-up period were 30%, 25%, and 9% for participants assigned to intervention with FOBT kit, intervention without the kit, and control group, respectively. Participants in either of the 2 intervention groups were significantly more likely to report screening at follow-up than were participants in the control group. Conclusions. A multicomponent intervention that includes an educational group session in a community setting can significantly increase CRC screening among Filipino Americans, even when no free FOBT kits are distributed. PMID:20864724

Microgripper construction kit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gengenbach, Ulrich K.; Hofmann, Andreas; Engelhardt, Friedhelm; Scharnowell, Rudolf; Koehler, Bernd

2001-10-01

A large number of microgrippers has been developed in industry and academia. Although the importance of hybrid integration techniques and hence the demand for assembly tools grows continuously a large part of these developments has not yet been used in industrial production. The first grippers developed for microassembly were basically vacuum grippers and downscaled tweezers. Due to increasingly complex assembly tasks more and more functionality such as sensing or additional functions such as adhesive dispensing has been integrated into gripper systems over the last years. Most of these gripper systems are incompatible since there exists no standard interface to the assembly machine and no standard for the internal modules and interfaces. Thus these tools are not easily interchangeable between assembly machines and not easily adaptable to assembly tasks. In order to alleviate this situation a construction kit for modular microgrippers is being developed. It is composed of modules with well defined interfaces that can be combined to build task specific grippers. An abstract model of a microgripper is proposed as a tool to structure the development of the construction kit. The modular concept is illustrated with prototypes.

Bringing hands-on exploration of air quality technology to the ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This is an educational presentation to the OAQPS Teachers Workshop on the PM sensor kit and other related air technology educational activities. This workshop for teachers and other educators includes topics, such as: how EPA manages air quality, the environmental health effects and risks of air pollution, climate change, and sustainability solutions and more. Attendees will also build a DYI Sensor kit and explore energy choices and the environment when they play the interactive board game developed by EPA scientists called Generate! This workshop for teachers and other educators includes topics, such as: how EPA manages air quality, the environmental health effects and risks of air pollution, climate change and sustainability and more. Attendees will also build a DYI Sensor kit and explore energy choices and the environment when they play the interactive board game developed by EPA scientists called Generate!

Radotinib induces high cytotoxicity in c-KIT positive acute myeloid leukemia cells.

PubMed

Heo, Sook-Kyoung; Noh, Eui-Kyu; Kim, Jeong Yi; Jo, Jae-Cheol; Choi, Yunsuk; Koh, SuJin; Baek, Jin Ho; Min, Young Joo; Kim, Hawk

2017-06-05

Previously, we reported that radotinib, a BCR-ABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor, induced cytotoxicity in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. However, the effects of radotinib in the subpopulation of c-KIT-positive AML cells were unclear. We observed that low-concentration radotinib had more potent cytotoxicity in c-KIT-positive cells than c-KIT-negative cells from AML patients. To address this issue, cell lines with high c-KIT expression, HEL92.1.7, and moderate c-KIT expression, H209, were selected. HEL92.1.7 cells were grouped into intermediate and high c-KIT expression populations. The cytotoxicity of radotinib against the HEL92.1.7 cell population with intermediate c-KIT expression was not different from that of the population with high c-KIT expression. When H209 cells were grouped into c-KIT expression-negative and c-KIT expression-positive populations, radotinib induced cytotoxicity in the c-KIT-positive population, but not the c-KIT-negative population. Thus, radotinib induces cytotoxicity in c-KIT-positive cells, regardless of the c-KIT expression intensity. Therefore, radotinib induces significant cytotoxicity in c-KIT-positive AML cells, suggesting that radotinib is a potential target agent for the treatment of c-KIT-positive malignancies including AML. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential Effects on the ITPA [Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities] Profile of the Final Version of the Peabody Language Development Kits (Levels #1 and #2) with Young Disadvantaged Negro Children. IMRID Papers and Reports, Volume 5, No. 24.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hausman, Ralph M.; Apffel, James A.

The differential effects of the final revision of Levels 1 and 2 of the Peabody Language Development Kits (PLDK) on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) profiles of young disadvantaged black children were studied. Contrasted with 90 control subjects were 90 experimental subjects who received a daily 30-minute oral language…

Techni-kits and Techni-kit Building Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callender, E. D.; Hartsough, C.; Morris, R. V.; Yamamoto, Y.

1985-01-01

Techni-kits consists of theories, methods, standards and computer based tools that assist in design of information-intensive systems. Techni-kit "building system" is techni-kit that builds techni-kits.

NASA's Kepler Mission: Lessons Learned from Teacher Professional Development Workshops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devore, E.; Harman, P.; Koch, D.; Gould, A.

2010-08-01

NASA's Kepler Mission conducts teacher professional development workshops on the search for exoplanets in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. Each is supported by a Kepler team scientist, two Education and Public Outreach staff and local hosts. Activities combine a science content lecture and discussion, making models, kinesthetic activities, and interpretation of transit data. The emphasis is on inquiry-based instruction and supports science education standards in grades 7-12. Participants' kit includes an orrery, optical sensor and software to demonstrate transit detection. The workshop plan, teaching strategies, and lessons learned from evaluation will be discussed. Future events are planned. The Kepler Mission teacher professional development workshops are designed using the best practices and principals from the National Science Education Standards and similar documents. Sharing the outcome of our plans, strategies and formative evaluation results can be of use to other Education and Public Outreach practitioners who plan similar events. In sharing our experiences, we hope to assist others, and to learn from them as well. Supported by NASA Grants to the E. DeVore, SETI Institute NAG2-6066 Kepler Education and Public Outreach and NNX08BA74G, IYA Kepler Mission Pre-launch Workshops.

The Pandora multi-algorithm approach to automated pattern recognition of cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector

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

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.

The development and operation of Liquid-Argon Time-Projection Chambers for neutrino physics has created a need for new approaches to pattern recognition in order to fully exploit the imaging capabilities offered by this technology. Whereas the human brain can excel at identifying features in the recorded events, it is a significant challenge to develop an automated, algorithmic solution. The Pandora Software Development Kit provides functionality to aid the design and implementation of pattern-recognition algorithms. It promotes the use of a multi-algorithm approach to pattern recognition, in which individual algorithms each address a specific task in a particular topology. Many tens ofmore » algorithms then carefully build up a picture of the event and, together, provide a robust automated pattern-recognition solution. This paper describes details of the chain of over one hundred Pandora algorithms and tools used to reconstruct cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector. Metrics that assess the current pattern-recognition performance are presented for simulated MicroBooNE events, using a selection of final-state event topologies.« less

The Pandora multi-algorithm approach to automated pattern recognition of cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector

DOE PAGES

Acciarri, R.; Adams, C.; An, R.; ...

2018-01-29

The development and operation of Liquid-Argon Time-Projection Chambers for neutrino physics has created a need for new approaches to pattern recognition in order to fully exploit the imaging capabilities offered by this technology. Whereas the human brain can excel at identifying features in the recorded events, it is a significant challenge to develop an automated, algorithmic solution. The Pandora Software Development Kit provides functionality to aid the design and implementation of pattern-recognition algorithms. It promotes the use of a multi-algorithm approach to pattern recognition, in which individual algorithms each address a specific task in a particular topology. Many tens ofmore » algorithms then carefully build up a picture of the event and, together, provide a robust automated pattern-recognition solution. This paper describes details of the chain of over one hundred Pandora algorithms and tools used to reconstruct cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector. Metrics that assess the current pattern-recognition performance are presented for simulated MicroBooNE events, using a selection of final-state event topologies.« less

[Microbiology--laboratory examinations for bacterias].

PubMed

Hen, Renjun; Imafuku, Yuji; Yoshida, Hiroshi

2002-11-01

As it has been required to identify pathogenic microbes in shorter times, simple and rapid methods have been developed and used. Here, we summarized the present situation of rapid diagnostic testing in clinical microbiology in Japan, and also presented our results on PBP2' detection. The rapid test kits available in Japan for E. coli, Helicobacter pylori, Salmonella, Streptococcus and Staphylococcus aureus were described. Rapid examination methods are based mainly on immunologic reactions, which included slide agglutination using latex particle, immunochromatography and ELISA. Times required for the identification are 10 to 15 minutes. Moreover, rapid test kits employing PCR are also marketed. Further, we evaluated MRSA-LA "Seiken" which is a rapid detection kit for PBP2' produced by MRSA. The test was shown to be highly sensitive and specific. For the rapid identification of pathogenic microbes, simple and rapid test kits described here will be used more in clinical diagnosis.

Space processing applications payload equipment study. Volume 2D: SPA supplemental power and heat rejection kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hammel, R. L. (Editor); Smith, A. G. (Editor)

1974-01-01

The design and application of a supplementary power and heat rejection kit for the Spacelab are discussed. Two subsystems of electric power and thermal control were analyzed to define the requirements for the power and heat rejection kit (PHRK). Twelve exemplary experiments were defined and power timelines were developed. From these timeline, the experiment requirements for sustained power, peak power, and energy were determined. The electrical power subsystem of the PHRK will consist of two fuel cells, oxygen and hydrogen reactant tank assemblies, water storage tanks, plumbing, cabling, and inverters to convert the nominal 28 volt dc fuel cell output to ac power.

A decrease in ubiquitination and resulting prolonged life-span of KIT underlies the KIT overexpression-mediated imatinib resistance of KIT mutation-driven canine mast cell tumor cells.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Masato; Kuroki, Shiori; Kurita, Sena; Miyamoto, Ryo; Tani, Hiroyuki; Tamura, Kyoichi; Bonkobara, Makoto

2017-10-01

Overexpression of KIT is one of the mechanisms that contributes to imatinib resistance in KIT mutation-driven tumors. Here, the mechanism underlying this overexpression of KIT was investigated using an imatinib-sensitive canine mast cell tumor (MCT) line CoMS, which has an activating mutation in KIT exon 11. A KIT-overexpressing imatinib-resistant subline, rCoMS1, was generated from CoMS cells by their continuous exposure to increasing concentrations of imatinib. Neither a secondary mutation nor upregulated transcription of KIT was detected in rCoMS1 cells. A decrease in KIT ubiquitination, a prolonged KIT life-span, and KIT overexpression were found in rCoMS1 cells. These events were suppressed by withdrawal of imatinib and were re-induced by re‑treatment with imatinib. These findings suggest that imatinib elicited overexpression of KIT via suppression of its ubiquitination. These results also indicated that imatinib-induced overexpression of KIT in rCoMS1 cells was not a permanently acquired feature but was a reversible response of the cells. Moreover, the pan deubiquitinating enzyme inhibitor PR619 prevented imatinib induction of KIT overexpression, suggesting that the imatinib-induced decrease in KIT ubiquitination could be mediated by upregulation and/or activation of deubiquitinating enzyme(s). It may be possible that a similar mechanism of KIT overexpression underlies the acquisition of imatinib resistance in some human tumors that are driven by KIT mutation.

Immunochemical analytical methods for the determination of peanut proteins in foods.

PubMed

Whitaker, Thomas B; Williams, Kristina M; Trucksess, Mary W; Slate, Andrew B

2005-01-01

Peanut proteins can cause allergenic reactions that can result in respiratory and circulatory effects in the body sometimes leading to shock and death. The determination of peanut proteins in foods by analytical methods can reduce the risk of serious reactions in the highly sensitized individual by allowing for the detection of these proteins in a food at various stages of the manufacturing process. The method performance of 4 commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits was evaluated for the detection of peanut proteins in milk chocolate, ice cream, cookies, and breakfast cereals: ELISA-TEK Peanut Protein Assay, now known as "Bio-Kit" for peanut proteins, from ELISA Technologies Inc.; Veratox for Peanut Allergens from Neogen Corp.; RIDASCREEN Peanut Kit from R-Biopharm GmbH; and ProLisa from Canadian Food Technology Ltd. The 4 test kits were evaluated for accuracy (recovery) and precision using known concentrations of peanut or peanut proteins in the 4 food matrixes. Two different techniques, incurred and spiked, were used to prepare samples with 4 known concentrations of peanut protein. Defatted peanut flour was added in the incurred samples, and water-soluble peanut proteins were added in the spiked samples. The incurred levels were 0.0, 10, 20, and 100 microg whole peanut per g food; the spiked levels were 0.0, 5, 10, and 20 microg peanut protein per g food. Performance varied by test kit, protein concentration, and food matrix. The Veratox kit had the best accuracy or lowest percent difference between measured and incurred levels of 15.7% when averaged across all incurred levels and food matrixes. Recoveries associated with the Veratox kit varied from 93 to 115% for all food matrixes except cookies. Recoveries for all kits were about 50% for cookies. The analytical precision, as measured by the variance, increased with an increase in protein concentration. However, the coefficient of variation (CV) was stable across the 4 incurred protein levels and was 7.0% when averaged across the 4 food matrixes and analytical kits. The R-Biopharm test kit had the best precision or a CV of 4.2% when averaged across all incurred levels and food matrixes. Because measured protein values varied by test kit and food matrix, a method was developed to normalize or transform measured protein concentrations to an adjusted protein value that was equal to the known protein concentration. The normalization method adjusts measured protein values to equal the true protein value regardless of the type test kit or type food matrix.