Sample records for urmas piht lauri

  1. Predictors of refusal of provider initiated HIV testing among clients visiting adult outpatient departments in Jimma town, Oromia Region, Ethiopia: unmatched case control study

    PubMed Central

    Lemu, Yohannes Kebede; Koricha, Zewdie Birhanu; Gebretsadik, Lakew Abebe; Roro, Ameyu Godesso

    2012-01-01

    Background Currently, provider-initiated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing (PIHT) in health facilities is one of the strategies to advance HIV testing and related services. However, many HIV infected clients are missing the opportunities. This study intends to identify predictors of refusal of PIHT among clients visiting adult outpatient departments (OPDs) in Jimma town. Methods An unmatched case control study was conducted among 296 clients: 149 cases refusing HIV testing and 147 controls accepting HIV testing. The study recruited clients from OPDs of four public health facilities between March 6 and April 8, 2011 using consecutive sampling. The study instrument was adapted mainly considering health belief model (HBM). Jimma University ethical committee reviewed the study protocol. Data were collected by face-to-face interview and analyzed using SPSS Statistics (IBM Corporation, Somers, NY) software, version 16.0. Data were subjected to factor and reliability analysis. For prediction analysis, the study used logistic regression and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). To see the effects among HBM constructs, the study used standardized beta (β) coefficients at P < 0.05. Results The study findings showed adjusted protective effects on refusal of PIHT for residence outside study town [adjusted OR (AOR) (95% CI) = 0.41 (0.22–0.79)] and higher scores of perceived benefit of early testing [AOR (95% CI)] = 0.86 (0.69–0.99)], self efficacy to live with HIV [AOR (95% CI) = 0.79 (0.66–0.93)], nondisclosure agreement [AOR (95% CI) = 0.74 (0.58–0.93)], perceived explicitness of opt-out right during initiation [AOR (95% CI) = 0.74 (0.56–0.98)] and clients’ perceptions of selective initiation of HIV suspected [AOR (95% CI) = 0.54 (0.41–0.73)]. On the other hand, report of recent testing [AOR (95% CI) = 3.82 (1.71–8.55)] and perceived unpreparedness for testing [AOR (95% CI) = 1.86 (1.57–2.21)] aggravated refusal of PIHT. Exposure to cues to testing significantly reduced perceived barriers [β (P) = −0.05 (0.037)]. Conclusion Clients’ perceived barriers: feeling of unpreparedness for testing strongly aggravated refusal of test. Enhanced self-efficacy to live with HIV and presence of cues to HIV testing would reduce unpreparedness and protect from refusing PIHT. PMID:22904647

  2. An Application of MacLaury's Vantage Theory to Abstract Categories: Identity and the Process of Categorisation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fabiszak, Malgorzata

    2010-01-01

    This paper is an application of Robert E. MacLaury's Vantage Theory (VT) to the analysis of real life spoken discourse. It utilizes Dennis R. Preston's (1994) modification of MacLaury's VT. It elucidates how cognitive processes of coordinate selection and combination contribute to the on-line construction of category membership in the abstract…

  3. KSC-2014-3077

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-06-30

    VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – A memorial plaque honoring Laurie K. Walls is affixed to the umbilical tower on Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, or OCO-2. Walls, a thermal analysis engineer with the Launch Services Program, or LSP, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, died June 4. This dedication to Walls from the members of the launch team was read during the OCO-2 countdown commentary: "The OCO-2 mission has special meaning to NASA's Launch Services Program as we have dedicated it to one of our LSP Teammates, Laurie Walls. Laurie began her career over 30 years ago as a thermal engineer for McDonnell Douglas in Huntsville, Alabama, supporting NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. She moved to Florida in 1985. Shortly after coming to Florida, Laurie became a civil servant working on the Shuttle program return to flight effort post-Challenger. In 1998, Laurie joined the newly formed Launch Services Program as one of the founding members of the flight analysis group. She served in LSP as the thermal discipline expert until her untimely death earlier this month. Laurie worked thermal issues for numerous NASA Delta II and Atlas V missions. Additionally, she provided key thermal support for both Delta II Heavy development and Atlas V Certification. Laurie was an integral member of LSP's family and she was truly dedicated to NASA and the LSP team. She will be greatly missed. We honor Laurie with a special memorial placed on the SLC-2 umbilical tower, and we thank ULA for helping to make this happen." Launch of OCO-2 is scheduled for 5:56 a.m. EDT on July 1. To learn more about NASA's Launch Services Program, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

  4. Uterine sarcoma

    MedlinePlus

    ... Churchill Livingstone; 2014:chap 88. Crum CP, Laury AR, Hirsch MS, Quick CM, Peters WA. Undifferentiated uterine sarcoma. In: Crum CP, Quick CM, Laury AR, Peters WA, Hirsch MS, eds. Gynecologic and Obstetric ...

  5. 76 FR 14372 - Glenn/Colusa County Resource Advisory Committee

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-16

    ... agenda items contact Eduardo Olmedo, DFO, 825 N. Humboldt Ave., Willows, CA 95988 or Laurie Pearson..., Stonyford, CA 95979. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Pearson, Glenn/Colusa RAC Coordinator, USDA...

  6. 76 FR 35399 - Glenn/Colusa Resource Advisory Committee

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-06-17

    ... building to view comments. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie L. Pearson, Visitor Information...: Laurie L. Pearson, Glenn/Colusa R.A.C. Coordinator, PO Box 160, Stonyford, CA 95979, or by e-mail to...

  7. [Persea schiedeana (Lauraceae), a new host of Heilipus lauri Boheman (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Veracruz, Mexico].

    PubMed

    Castañeda-Vildózola, Alvaro; Del Angel-Coronel, Oscar A; Cruz-Castillo, Juan G; Váldez-Carrasco, Jorge

    2009-01-01

    The presence of the Molytinae Heilipus lauri Boheman is reported for the first time attacking fruits of Persea schiedeana, commonly called 'chinene' in Huatusco and Zongolica, state of Veracruz, Mexico.

  8. Antibacterial activity of LauriPure in vitro and on skin of processed broilers.

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Studies were conducted to examine the ability of LauriPure to inhibit the growth of Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus simulans, and Listeria innocua isolates recovered from processed broiler carcasses. In vitro studies were conducted using the Bioscreen C Microbiology Reader t...

  9. Laurie R. Santos: Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American Psychologist, 2012

    2012-01-01

    Presents a short biography of one of the winners of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology. The 2012 winner is Laurie R. Santos for creative and insightful investigations of cognition across a broad range of species and psychological domains, illuminating cognitive…

  10. An Exchange between Laurie Grobman and Richard C. Raymond

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 2010

    2010-01-01

    This article presents a commentary exchange between authors Laurie Grobman and Richard C. Raymond regarding Raymond's article "Re-placing Lit in Comp II: Pragmatic/Humanistic Benefits." Grobman said that in her brief commentary on Raymond's article, she chooses not to explicitly address his thesis that literature belongs in a research-based…

  11. 76 FR 14042 - San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Alamosa, CO; Comprehensive Conservation Plan...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-15

    ... the subject line of the message. Fax: Attn: Laurie Shannon, Planning Team Leader, 303/236-4792. U.S. Mail: Laurie Shannon, Planning Team Leader, Division of Refuge Planning, P.O. Box 25486, Denver, CO 80225-0486. In-Person Drop-off: You may drop off comments during regular business hours at the above...

  12. Lecture to inquiry: The transformation of a tech prep biology teacher

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haskell, Deborah Harris

    As teachers implement the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) many have to reform the instructional methods they have used throughout their careers. This case study examines the transformation of Laurie, a 20-year teacher, during her first year of change from a "traditional" textbook/lecture style of teaching to a facilitator of an inquiry-based classroom. Implementing change requires not only pedagogical expertise, but also the belief that the modifications can be made and that the outcomes are significant. Using Bandura's social cognitive theory as a framework, changes in Laurie's self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and motivation are followed throughout the transition. During her first year of change, Laurie used worksheets, small group activities, and guided inquiry activities, all strategies in which she had high self-efficacy and experienced positive student outcomes. She rarely used class forums, authentic assessment, and formative assessment. Factors that influenced her change were experiential professional development opportunities that allowed her to practice inquiry-based techniques, a change in her teaching environment from college prep chemistry to tech prep biology, autonomy regarding classroom decisions, and reflective decision making as she learned through experience. Using a standards-based biology textbook increased her self-efficacy toward using inquiry-based practices. The textbook format of embedding text in activities rather than adding activities to the text resulted in an increase of the number and frequency of activities done. Facilitating the textbook's Guided Inquiries and Extended Inquiries helped Laurie gain experience with inquiry-based methods. She also realized that when building from the students' concrete experiences, her students were able to attain higher-level thinking skills. The study revealed six factors contributing to Laurie's change process: (a) experiential professional development, (b) motivation for change, (c) classroom autonomy, (d) growth through reflective practice, (e) curricular support, and (f) time.

  13. Breast Cancer Research Training Grant.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1996-10-01

    review the Program and its requirements and opportunities, and to answer questions and plan each student’s curriculum. Trainees are encouraged to...course requirements and plans to take the qualifying exmaination in summer, 1997. Yvette is an African- American. Laurie Hafer (BS, Microbiology...breast cancer research and plans to work with Dr. Fenton in studies of macrophage function. She was a co-author on Laurie Hafer’s poster at the AACR

  14. ARC-1984-AC85-0023-1-Edit

    NASA Image and Video Library

    1984-12-10

    Medium Altitude Missions Branch: C-141 KAO Personnel, Mike Robinson, Mike Landis, Ed Hall, Tom Jones, John Graybeal, Louis Haughney, Brian Wright, Allan Meyer, Dick Gallant, Al Silva, Louis Russo, Hap Arnold, Randy Hobbs, Bill Laurie, Louis Foss, Sue Laurie, Tony Tieas, Tom Connors, Dave Brown, Alan Dunn, Don Oishi, Don Olson, Jim McClenahan, Wally Stahl, Sandy Mayville, Hank Hermosillo, Doug Ziebell, Ben Horita, Bill Hightower, Ron Sanchez, Terry Stoeffler, Lee Montz, Gene Moniz, John Brown, Bob America, Mike Craig, Kent Shiffer, Sandy Kogan, George Gull, Judy Pipher, Larry Helpher, Don MacKinnon, Jesse Bregmann, Jim Eilers, Nabil Hanania, Jim Cockrell, Keith Ackerman, Dave Walton, Lloyd Domeier, Pat Atchison

  15. Smoot Cosmology Group

    Science.gov Websites

    Paul Higgins Bryan B Holbrook Lance Pollard Jeff Yen Nicholas Tapia Laurie Kerrigan - High School Gordon Administrative Support Lilian Deporcel Technical Support Jon Aymon John Gibson Jozef Ludwig Gerald

  16. 75 FR 48729 - Sunshine Act Meeting; Notice

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-11

    ... LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION Sunshine Act Meeting; Notice TIME AND DATE: The Legal Services... the Committee's agenda. LOCATION: Legal Services Corporation, 3333 K Street, NW., Washington, DC 20007... by Laurie Tarantowicz, Assistant Inspector General and Legal Counsel; Public Comment. 4. Public...

  17. 75 FR 62921 - Senior Executive Service; Legal Division Performance Review Board

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-10-13

    ... Law and Regulation); M.J.K. Maher, Jr., Deputy Assistant General Counsel (Enforcement & Intelligence... General Counsel; Mark Monborne, Assistant General Counsel (Enforcement & Intelligence); Clarissa C. Potter... Engraving and Printing; Laurie Schaffer, Assistant General Counsel (Banking and Finance); Daniel P. Shaver...

  18. The Universe Adventure - Credits

    Science.gov Websites

    Basel), and George Smoot (LBNL) Content, Graphic/Web Design Artie Konrad (student, UC Berkeley) 2004 Berkeley) Laurie Kerrigan (teacher, Mercy High School) Graphic/Web Design Melissa McClure (student ) Graphic/Web Design Paul Higgins (student, Contra Costa College) Other Gordon Aubrecht (Ohio State

  19. Authors in the Fast Lane!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Follos, Alison M. G.; Rubin, Ellen

    2009-01-01

    This article introduces various writers, including Laurie Halse Anderson, Linda Sue Park, Richard Peck, James Patterson, and Charles R. Smith, Jr., who will give their presentations at the 2009 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National Conference & Exhibition in Charlotte. This November the AASL National Conference and…

  20. 76 FR 52862 - Courtesy Notice of Liquidation; Correction

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-08-24

    ... discontinuation of electronic courtesy notices of liquidation to importers of record whose entry summaries are... a misstatement in a comment response regarding the availability to an importer of an Importer Trade... implementation through electronic notification (see CBP.gov ). FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Dempsey...

  1. Carol Laurie | NREL

    Science.gov Websites

    Wind Energy Association WINDPOWER. Prior to joining the wind communications team, Carol served on NREL's solar communications team, where she managed communications for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, a highly visible international student competition. Carol led a team of writers

  2. NOMADS-NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System

    Science.gov Websites

    Forecast Maps Climate Climate Prediction Climate Archives Weather Safety Storm Ready NOAA Central Library (16km) 6 hours grib filter http OpenDAP-alt URMA hourly - http - Climate Models Climate Forecast System Flux Products 6 hours grib filter http - Climate Forecast System 3D Pressure Products 6 hours grib

  3. Feminist Pedagogy: Building Community Accountability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fuller, Laurie; Russo, Ann

    2018-01-01

    As antiviolence activists and university professors teaching and learning about violence prevention and feminist movements, authors Laurie Fuller and Ann Russo write that they are inspired by the collaborative visioning of Critical Resistance and Incite! Women of Color Against Violence with regard to ending violence without reproducing it. Fuller…

  4. Performance Improvement Processes.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    1997

    This document contains four papers from a symposium on performance improvement processes. In "Never the Twain Shall Meet?: A Glimpse into High Performance Work Practices and Downsizing" (Laurie J. Bassi, Mark E. Van Buren) evidence from a national cross-industry of more than 200 establishments is used to demonstrate that high-performance…

  5. 77 FR 75147 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Interim Procedures for Considering Requests...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-19

    ... specifications and the production capabilities of Panamanian and U.S. textile producers to determine whether... information collection instrument and instructions should be directed to Laurie Mease, Office of Textiles and... Agreement, pursuant to the textile provisions of the Agreement, fabric, yarn, and fiber produced in Panama...

  6. Scaffolding for Discovery in the Third Plane

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ewert-Krocker, Laurie

    2015-01-01

    Laurie Ewert-Krocker emphasizes the teacher's role in nature's prepared environment. Without directing or controlling the child's work, learning spaces can be maximized for concentration by connecting the adolescent's intrinsic learning to the beauty and order of the natural world. The most artful balance is the global understanding of the…

  7. Early Childhood Folio 3: A Collection of Recent Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wright, Judith, Ed.; Podmore, Valerie, Ed.

    This booklet is a collection of articles addressing current issues in early childhood education. The first article, "Would You Like to Pack Away Now?: Improving the Quality of Talk in Early Childhood Programs," (Laurie Makin) addresses how teachers talk to children. The second article, "Persistence When It's Difficult: A Disposition…

  8. 7 CFR 319.56-30 - Hass avocados from Michoacan, Mexico.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... fund agreement. The avocados may be imported only if the Mexican avocado industry association...) and found to be free from the large avocado seed weevil Heilipus lauri, the avocado seed moth Stenoma catenifer, and the small avocado seed weevils Conotrachelus aguacatae and C. perseae. (iii) Trapping must be...

  9. 7 CFR 319.56-30 - Hass avocados from Michoacan, Mexico.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... be imported only if the Mexican avocado industry association representing Mexican avocado growers... during the wet season and once during the dry season) and found to be free from the large avocado seed weevil Heilipus lauri, the avocado seed moth Stenoma catenifer, and the small avocado seed weevils...

  10. Cliché, Gossip, and Anecdote as Supervision Training

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grealy, Liam

    2016-01-01

    This article expands on a co-authored project with Timothy Laurie on the practices and ethics of higher degree research (HDR) supervision (or advising): "What does good HDR supervision look like?" in contemporary universities. It connects that project with scholarship on the relevance of "common sense" to questions of…

  11. Methodological Pluralism and Narrative Inquiry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michie, Michael

    2013-01-01

    This paper considers how the integral theory model of Nancy Davis and Laurie Callihan might be enacted using a different qualitative methodology, in this case the narrative methodology. The focus of narrative research is shown to be on "what meaning is being made" rather than "what is happening here" (quadrant 2 rather than…

  12. Women and Work. Exploring Race, Ethnicity, and Class. Women and Work, Volume 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Higginbotham, Elizabeth, Ed.; Romero, Mary, Ed.

    This book contains 10 papers exploring the effects of race, ethnicity, and class on women in the workplace. The following papers are included: "Series Editors' Introduction" (Ann Stromberg, Barbara A. Gutek, Laurie Larwood); "Introduction" (Elizabeth Higginbotham). The book is organized in four parts. Part I, "Historical…

  13. Families, Disability, and Empowerment: Active Coping Skills and Strategies for Family Interventions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singer, George H. S., Ed.; Powers, Laurie E., Ed.

    This book presents strategies for building strong partnerships between service providers and the families of individuals with disabilities. Papers have the following titles and authors: "Contributing to Resilience in Families: An Overview" (George H. S. Singer and Laurie E. Powers); "Parent to Parent Programs: A Unique Form of…

  14. An Analysis of Counterinsurgency in Iraq: Mosul, Ramadi, and Samarra from 2003-2005

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2006-12-01

    Information Operations as Part of COIN Warfare”, School of Advanced Military Studies, May 2005. Mounir Elkhamri, Lester W. Grau, Laurie King-Irani, Amanda S...Lieutenant Colonel, USA, July, 22, 2006 Lovelace , Daniel, Captain, USA, August 6, 2006. Mathews, Tim, Captain, USA, August 11, 2006. McLamb, Joseph

  15. Laboring to Relate: Neoliberalism, Embodied Policy, and Network Dynamics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ball, Stephen J.

    2017-01-01

    This paper builds on previous research (Ball, 2012, Ball & Junemann, 2012) to explore some aspects of the embodiment of policy. The author draws on Larner and Laurie's (2010) work on technocratic expertise and how, as she puts it, "privatisation ideas and practices are transferred in embodied forms," and in particular her argument…

  16. Iberian Spanish "Macho": Vantages and Polysemy in Culturally Defined Meaning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grace, Caroline A.; Glaz, Adam

    2010-01-01

    This study explores some specific aspects of compatibility between cognitive models. Robert E. MacLaury's theory of vantages as arrangements of coordinates and Lakoff's concept of radial categories are mutually reinforcing to an analysis of semantic polysemy. Vantage Theory (VT) includes the notions of "zooming in" and "zooming out", allowing…

  17. CFOs Talk about Finances: Glimmers of Hope

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Antolovic, Laurie G.; Horvath, Albert G.; Plympton, Margaret F.

    2009-01-01

    In May 2009, three senior financial leaders in higher education--Laurie G. Antolovic, Albert G. Horvath, and Margaret F. Plympton--participated in a panel session, moderated by Philip J. Goldstein, at the EDUCAUSE Enterprise Information and Technology Conference. The three also shared their thoughts in an audio interview conducted by Gerry Bayne,…

  18. Teaching Public Goods Theory with a Classroom Game

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pickhardt, Michael

    2005-01-01

    The author extends the work of Holt and Laury (1997) on a simple noncomputerized card game for teaching the essential aspects of public goods theory. He suggests a course of several lectures and discusses the behavior of subjects in various game sessions. Among other things, the results provide experimental evidence with respect to the private…

  19. What was that?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Anglin, F. M.; Haddon, R. A. W.

    1988-01-01

    At 4:20 local time on September 19, 1986, Mrs. Laurie Harder saw a meteor passing across the sky above her home in Yellowknife, N.W.T. She reported her observation to Yellowknife Seismic Station staff who examined the records of the Yellowknife seismic array to see if the associated meteoroid had hit Earth and generated observalbe seismic signals. 

  20. History of Space Policy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-03-22

    21st Century (Maryland: Air Force Historical Foundation, 1995), 21. 10 McLucas, “U.S. Space Program Since 1961,” 82. 11 Alan Wasser , “LBJ’s Space Race...gr&GRid=7553231 (accessed 13 March 2012) 15 Wasser , “LBJ’s Space Race.” 16 Clayton D. Laurie, “Congress and the National Reconnaissance Office” in

  1. Sparking Innovative Learning & Creativity. 2008 NMC Summer Conference Proceedings (Princeton, NJ, Jun 11-14, 2008))

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Rachel S., Ed.

    2008-01-01

    The conference proceedings include the following papers: (1) Digital Storytelling: An Alternative Instructional Approach (Ruben R. Puentedura); (2) Digital Storytelling: Old Ways, New Tools (Laurie Burruss); (3) The Adding Machine: Remote Digital Storytelling and Performance (George Brown and James Ferolo); (4) Building and Supporting a…

  2. The Pull of the Earth: Participatory Ethnography in the School Garden

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thorp, Laurie

    2006-01-01

    This book is Laurie Thorp's dirt-under-the-fingernails ethnography of four years in an elementary school garden and the ways in which this garden catalyzed cultural transformation and inspired hope, growth, and community. Filled with photographs, sketches, poetry, and journal entries, Thorp's engaging book describes the educational benefits of…

  3. 77 FR 72869 - Guidance for Industry on Limiting the Use of Certain Phthalates as Excipients in Center for Drug...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-06

    ... and Research-Regulated Products; Availability AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION... guidance to the Division of Drug Information, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug... INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Muldowney, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (HFD-003), Food and Drug...

  4. Beyond Looking: Using Data to Coach for Instructional Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Michael; Taylor, Katherine

    2009-01-01

    As a team of job-embedded instructional coaches in an ethnically and economically diverse learning environment, the authors are dedicated to thinking through and troubleshooting the improvement of teaching and learning in the three learning communities that make up Clover Park High School. They agree with commentator Laurie Olsen who writes, "Data…

  5. "Be the Tree": Classical Literature, Art Therapy, and Transcending Trauma in "Speak"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snider, Jessi

    2014-01-01

    Laurie Halse Anderson's young adult novel "Speak" concerns the rape and subsequent silence of ninth grade protagonist Melinda Sordino. By relying on extensive literary allusions involving trees, rape, silence, and transformation, Anderson creates a young adult problem novel that is both of the moment and timeless in its themes. The…

  6. Teaching Mathematics for Spatial Justice: Beyond a Victory Narrative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rubel, Laurie H.; Hall-Wieckert, Maren; Lim, Vivian Y.

    2016-01-01

    In this reflective essay, Laurie H. Rubel, Maren Hall-Wieckert, and Vivian Y. Lim present a design heuristic for teaching mathematics for spatial justice (TMSpJ) based on their development of two curricular modules, one about the state lottery and the other about financial services in a city. Spatial tools, including data visualizations on maps…

  7. 78 FR 51327 - Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for the Austin...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-08-20

    ... surface habitat (Nathan Bendik and Laurie Dries, City of Austin, personal observation), (2) use of... ``surface'' species (i.e., have well- developed eyes and pigmentation) occurring in both springs and caves... opposite side of a drainage to go dry or flow at a lower rate. (27) Comment: Krienke Springs has an...

  8. Something to "Speak" about: Addressing Sensitive Issues through Literature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackett, Mark

    2007-01-01

    "Speak," by Laurie Halse Anderson, is one of the most powerful young adult novels to come along in the past decade. It has won numerous awards, including the "School Library Journal" award for "Best Book of the Year," and was a National Book Award Finalist. Despite this acclaim, many English teachers are uncomfortable teaching "Speak" in their…

  9. Using Second Life with Learning-Disabled Students in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKinney, Stephanie; Horspool, Agi; Willers, Renee; Safie, Omar; Richlin, Laurie

    2009-01-01

    The educational potential of Second Life is still in the process of being developed and harnessed. According to Stephanie McKinney, Agi Horspool, Renee Willers, Omar Safie, and Laurie Richlin, an essential step in this development will be to figure out how to use Second Life to support learning-disabled (LD) students who face numerous challenges…

  10. Vantage Theory, Statistics and the Mental Worldview

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Niewiara, Aleksandra

    2010-01-01

    The paper investigates Polish punk and hip hop (rap) song lyrics broken down into frequency lists. In an analysis inspired by MacLaury's view of categorization, the construals of punk and hip hop worldviews are shown to vary in the distance of the observer from the world, the width of the viewing frame, as well as the granularity and density of…

  11. Vantage Theory and Linguistic Relativity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Allan, Keith

    2010-01-01

    Rob MacLaury's Vantage Theory, VT, models the way in which a cognizer constructs, recalls, uses, and modifies a category in terms of point of view or vantage. Alongside of VT, there is place for the kind of semantic specification found in the lexicon. VT2 [Allan, Keith, 2002. "Vantage theory, VT2, and number." "Language Sciences" 24(5-6), 679-703…

  12. The Navy Supply Corps Newsletter. Contracting Innovations: Navy Electronic Commerce Online Navy Afloat Purchase Card Program. Volume 62, No. 3.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1998-06-01

    Mike Lyden John Lantelme Andy Mackel Jesus Malgapo Carol Marcinek Greg Martin Michelle McAtee Molly McClellan Jerry McEnerney Laurie McKee...Paul McNeill Walt Melton Rich Mendez Mike Metts Jon Miller Ron Mosley Jim Naber Craig Nostrant NAVSUP USSNORMANDY(CG60) DDRE NORFOLK NPGS

  13. The Adolescent: Taking on the Task of Humanity--Conducting the Dialogue between Nature and Supranature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ewert-Krocker, Laurie

    2013-01-01

    Defining what it means to be in the "bosom of nature," to use Montessori's words, Laurie Ewert-Krocker points out that the adolescent period of storm and stress is quelled by the natural world. But most important, when socialization is the essential developmental focus of the young adolescent, positive social organization is fostered by…

  14. Nose Hill Artifacts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hansen, Vivian

    2008-01-01

    A Blackfoot woman, caught in the act of adultery, was condemned at this site to have her nose cut off as a penalty for her actions. People do not know her story. The tribe cast it on the ground. And so She, Nose Hill, was named. John Laurie Boulevard holds her mound in a circlet of asphalt, defining the map of her "terra incognita." She…

  15. What I Learned about Higher Ed Assessment in a Small Village in South America

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Occhipinti, Laurie

    2016-01-01

    Does assessment change what is being taught? Laurie Occhipinti uses an analogy to answer this question. While conducting research on economic development in a remote rural area of the Argentine Chaco, a community had received some public funds to construct a new community center. They discussed where to place the center. The middle of the village…

  16. "We Are Special, beyond Our Special Needs": E*LIT Project Entry Inspires Pride in Disabilities' Students. Spotlight Feature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dopke-Wilson, MariRae

    2007-01-01

    The spin on Frazer School Librarian Laurie LeFever's entry for Syracuse University's 2007 E*LIT competition is what made her school literacy project for children with disabilities really unique. Instead of working with students to create a project that would be targeted toward children with disabilities, she actually used students with…

  17. Divorce: The Impact on Children and Families. Hearing before the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. House of Representatives, Ninety-Ninth Congress, Second Session (June 19, 1986).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.

    This document contains witness testimonies and prepared statements from the Congressional hearing called to examine the impact of divorce on children and families. Opening statements are included from Congressmen George Miller, Dan Coats, and Thomas Bliley. Witnesses providing testimony include: (1) Laurie Dixon, managing editor of "The…

  18. Assessment and Rehabilitation of Central Sensory Impairments for Balance in mTBI

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-10-01

    Dr. Laurie King CONTRACTING ORGANIZATION: Oregon Health & Science University Portland, OR 97201 REPORT DATE: October 2017 TYPE OF REPORT...ADDRESS(ES) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER Oregon Health & Science University 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road Portland...Oregon 97239 Veteran Affair Portland Health Care System 3710 SW US Veteran Hospital Rd, Portland, OR 97239 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY

  19. 75 FR 8348 - Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American) of the American Recovery and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-02-24

    ... (``MWRA'') for the purchase of a 1.5 megawatt (MW) foreign manufactured wind turbine for the DeLauri Pump... domestically manufactured wind turbine available or one that can be supplied to meet its proposed project... action permits the purchase of a foreign manufactured 1.5 MW wind turbine by the MWRA, as specified in...

  20. Learning Technologies: Prospects and Pathways. Selected papers from EdTech '96 Biennial Conference of the Australian Society for Educational Technology (Melbourne, Australia, July 7-10, 1996).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hedberg, John G., Ed.; And Others

    This book presents a series of conference papers dealing with educational technology. The papers are: "The Role of Educational Technology in Upgrading Teacher Education in Pakistan" (M. Hashim Abbasi and Alex C. Millar); "Report on the Teaching and Learning on the Internet Project--RMIT TAFE" (Laurie Armstrong); "A…

  1. NASA Future Forum

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-08-11

    Dr. Laurie Leshin, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Exploration Systems Mission Directortorate, second from right, speaks as Dr. Waleed Abdalati, NASA Chief Scientist, right, Dr. Robert Braun, NASA Chief Technologist, and Leland Melvin, Assoicate Administrator for NASA Education, far left, at the NASA Future Forum held at the Riggs Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 in College Park, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

  2. Optimizing Citizen Engagement During Emergencies Through Use of Web 2.0 Technologies

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-03-01

    Technologies 6. AUTHOR( S ) Laurie J. Van Leuven 5. FUNDING NUMBERS 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME( S ) AND ADDRESS(ES) Naval Postgraduate School...Monterey, CA 93943-5000 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING /MONITORING AGENCY NAME( S ) AND ADDRESS(ES) N/A 10. SPONSORING...Van Leuven Security and Emergency Management Strategic Advisor, City of Seattle B.A., University of Washington, 1998 Submitted in partial

  3. Mental Health Stigma in the Military

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-01-01

    Laurie T. Martin , Raffaele Vardavas, Mary Ellen Slaughter, Terry L. Schell C O R P O R A T I O N Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704...SAMHSA), 2012; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention et al., 2012; Pescosolido, Martin , et al., 2010; Schnittker, 2008; Kessler, 2002...schizophrenia (Pescosolido, Martin , et al., 2010; Schnittker, 2008). The BRFSS included an item measuring attitudes of the public toward PWMHDs. This item

  4. Status Report on Speech Research, 1 April-30 June 1981.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-01-01

    Fredericka Bell-Berti* Donald Hailey Steven Eady Catherine Best* Terry Halwes Jo Estill Gloria J. Borden* Sabina D. Koroluk Laurie B. Feldman Susan...folds in voicing control is whether activity of CT is associated with abduction or adduction. Stevens ’ model of glottal activity suggests that the...aerodynamic model provided for the efficient transfer of energy from the aerodynamic system to the mechanical system ( Stevens , 1977), given the nature of

  5. Proceedings of the Thunder and Lighting Seminar and The 3D lightning Warning Workship Held in Las Cruces, New Mexico on February 27, 1990.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1993-02-01

    Dayton (513) 229-3951 Rsch Inst Peter Ahnert NOAA/MWS (703) 471-5302 Frank Schmidlin NASA/GSFC (804) 824-1618 Maurice Friedman Viz Mfg (617) 942-2000...NWS (801) 524-4000 G Mr. Tom Clemmons DPG (801) 831-4674 G Mr. Lloyd Corbett NAWCWPNS China Lake (619) 939-6058 M Ms Laurie Dalton (801) 776-6500 G

  6. Distance in War: The Experience of MQ-1 and MQ-9 Aircrew

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-01-01

    ged, and psychologically impacted by the work they perform. The continuing ethical and moral relativism society uses to place new weapons and methods...outcome of such ignorance results in moral disengagement for the RPA aircrew. Within her article titled, “The End of Military Virtue,” author Laurie...imaginary precipice that we should attempt to turn back from. Based upon centuries of military technological and cultural advancements, we should

  7. Novel Therapeutic Target for the Treatment of Lupus

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-09-01

    AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-12-1-0205 TITLE: Novel Therapeutic Target for the Treatment of Lupus PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Lisa Laury-Kleintop...SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Novel Therapeutic Target for the Treatment of Lupus 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-12-1-0205 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6...Systemic lupus erythematosus, autoantibodies. 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 7 19a. NAME OF

  8. Balloon Dilation of Sinus Ostia in the Department of Defense: Diagnoses, Actual Indications, and Outcomes

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-05-18

    acute rhinosinusitis. However, this technology is often advertised and utilized for off-label indications, which lack evidence - based support...DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 59TH MEDICAL WING (AETC) JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO - LACKLAND TEXAS MEMORANDUM FOR 959 MDOS ATTN: MAJ ADRIENNE LAURY...McMains, MD1 1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery , San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium (SAUSHEC), Ft. Sam

  9. Reversing Breast Cancer-Induced Immune Suppression

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-09-01

    Species MDSC: Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells PI: Propidium iodide xC-: System xC- xCT: Cystine/Glutamate Antiporter Project Summary Aim 1- In...animals may live longer due to enhanced resistance to metastasis. Resistance to metastasis requires a competent immune system [27]. Since Nrf2...Smith C, Chang MY, Parker KH, Beury DW, DuHadaway JB, Flick HE, Boulden J, Sutanto-Ward E, Soler AP, Laury-Kleintop LD, Mandik-Nayak L, Metz R, Ostrand

  10. NASA Future Forum

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-08-11

    Dr. Robert Braun, NASA Chief Technologist, second from left, makes a point, as panelists Leland Melvin, Assoicate Administrator for NASA Education, left, Dr. Laurie Leshin, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Exploration Systems Mission Directortorate, and Dr. Waleed Abdalati, NASA Chief Scientist, right, look on during a panel discussion at the NASA Future Forum held at the Riggs Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 in College Park, Md. Photo Credit: (NASA/Paul E. Alers)

  11. Exploring the Association Between Military Base Neighborhood Characteristics and Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Outcomes

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-01-01

    Martin , 2005). The community capacity- building model these researchers propose argues for both military-sponsored support of 23 service members and...Research/whatweknow200 7.pdf 128 Bowen, Gary L., James A. Martin , Jay A. Mancini, and John P. Nelson, “Community Capacity: Antecedents and Consequences...Anita, Laurie T. Martin , Stacy Ann Hawkins, and Amy Richardson, “The Impact of Parental Deployment on Child Social and Emotional Functioning

  12. [Genitalia of three species of Heilipus Germar (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) that damage avocado fruits (Persea americana Mill.) in Mexico and Costa Rica].

    PubMed

    Castañeda-Vildózola, Alvaro; Valdez-Carrasco, Jorge; Equihua-Martínez, Armando; González-Hernández, Héctor; Romero-Nápoles, Jesús; Solís-Aguilar, Juan F; Ramírez-Alarcón, Samuel

    2007-01-01

    The male and female genitaliae of three species of the genus Heilipus Germar (H. lauri Boheman, H. pittieri Barber and H. trifasciatus Fabricius) that damage avocado fruits (Persea americana Mill.) in Mexico and Costa Rica are described and illustrated. The aedeagus, spiculum gastrale, styli of 8th sternite are different in each one of the three species studied and can be used for specific identification.

  13. Mechanisms of Radiation-Induced Emesis

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-08-31

    in these studies. The assistance of Mr. Laurie Duncan, Mr. Joseph Hutchinson, and Mr. Robert Bochniewicz in dosimetry and irradiaion is greatly...rectal probe (model 555) was inserted and centered in the port window to record the radiation exposure. TLDs were al~o munted, with three on both back...and stomach at the center and extremes of the port, and one on each side and on the dorsal surface of the head. Te TLDs were used only to independently

  14. Influence of pressure on acoustic and rheologic parameters in water solutions of laury sodium sulfate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Khamidov, B. T.; Lezhnev, N. B.

    1995-10-01

    Ultrasonic velocity and density in water solutions of lauril sodium sulphate at frequency 36 MHz, within the range of pressures from 0.1 to 105 MPa at temperature T equals 293 K were measured. According to data of ultrasonic velocity and density under high pressures there was calculated adiabatic compressibility in objects studied from pressure. It was found out that the region of critical concentration of micelle formation has been shifted to the zone of much more low concentrations.

  15. Inverse Scattering and Applications. Proceedings of Conference on Inverse Scattering on the Line, Held in Amherst, Massachusetts on June 7 - 13, 1990

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-01-01

    J. Laurie Snell S. A. Amitsur, D. J. Saltman, and 2 Proceedings of the conference on G. B. Seligman , Editors integration, topology, and geometry in...Rational constructions of modules 17 Nonlinear partial differential equations. for simple Lie algebras, George B. Joel A. Smoller, Editor Seligman 18...number theory, Michael R. Stein and Linda Keen, Editor R. Keith Dennis, Editors 65 Logic and combinatorics, Stephen G. 84 Partition problems in

  16. Speech Research, A Report on the Status and Progress of Studies on the Nature of Speech, Instrumentation for Its Investigation, and Practical Applications.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-03-31

    Arthur S . Abramson* Eric L. Andreasson David Dechovitz Thomas Baer Elizabeth P. Clark Laurie Feldman Fredericka Bell -Berti+ Vincent Gulisano Hollis...the hearing-impaired child: Theory and practice. Washington, D.C.: A. G. Bell , 1976. Lisker, L., & Abramson, A. S . Some effects of context on voice...1977, 3, 673- 685. Bell -Berti, F., & Harris, K. S . Anticipatory coarticulation: Some implications from a study of lip rounding. Journal of the

  17. Once in a Blue Moon: Airmen in Theater Command. Lauris Norstad, Albrecht Kesselring, and their Relevance to the Twenty-First Century Air Force

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1999-06-01

    good soldier, Norstad wrote the air plan for Anvil—then Arnold brought him back to Washington and turned his attention to the Pacific. Norstad returned...to “a concert pianist , who is asked to play a Beethoven sonata before a large audience on an 103...threatening the Allied landings in North Africa. 115 Ibid., 248. 64 over Poland in 1939. Kesselring divided his time between personal flights to reconnoiter

  18. Nonparametric Regression Subject to a Given Number of Local Extreme Value

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-07-01

    compilation report: ADP013708 thru ADP013761 UNCLASSIFIED Nonparametric regression subject to a given number of local extreme value Ali Majidi and Laurie...locations of the local extremes for the smoothing algorithm. 280 A. Majidi and L. Davies 3 The smoothing problem We make the smoothing problem precise...is the solution of QP3. k--oo 282 A. Majidi and L. Davies FiG. 2. The captions top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right show the result of the

  19. NASA Future Forum

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2012-02-21

    Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, moderates the NASA Future Forum panel titled "Importance of Technology, Science and Innovation for our Economic Future" at The Ohio State University on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio. The NASA Future Forum features panel discussions on the importance of education to our nation's future in space, the benefit of commercialized space technology to our economy and lives here on Earth, and the shifting roles for the public, commercial and international communities in space. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  20. Speech Research. A Report on the Status and Progress of Studies on the Nature of Speech, Instrumentation for Its Investigation, and Practical Applications.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-01-01

    Bell3 Donald Hailey Steven Eady Fredericka Bell-Berti* Terry Halwes Jo Estill Catherine Best+ Sabina D. Koroluk Laurie Feldman Gloria J. Borden* Agnes M...tract (Fant, 1971; Stevens & House, 1955, 1961). For oral phonemes, ,.he vocal tract may simply be viewed as a tube consisting of the pharyngeal and...coupling of the nasal and oral cavities. In experiments with synthesized speech, House and Stevens (1956) varied the ratio of the driving point impedance of

  1. First record of a cave species of Euscorpiops Vachon from Viet Nam (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae, Scorpiopinae).

    PubMed

    Lourenço, Wilson R; Pham, Dinh-Sac

    2013-07-01

    Euscorpiops cavernicola sp. n., belonging to the family Euscorpiidae Laurie, is described on the basis of two male and two female specimens collected in the Hua Ma cave located in the Quang Khe commune, Ba Be district of Bac Kan province in Viet Nam. The new species presents most features exhibited by scorpions within the genus Euscorpiops, however it may represent the first discovered Scorpiopinae species exhibiting certain adaptations to cave life. Copyright © 2013 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

  2. Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact: Security Forces Storage Building, Hanscom AFB, Lexington, Massachusetts

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2004-04-01

    during World War II. The Base currently contains 846 acres of which 153 acres are leased to organizations outside of the Air Force (Benham, 1991). The...Compliance Assessment (25-1-2) Laurie Weinacht, Contractor 66 MSGICEV (Mara Tech) Commuter Progra~ Manager 781-377-2904 Fax 781-377- 8545 ...Information is available in alte1113te format. Call Debra Doherty, ADA Coordinator at 617-292·5565. TDD Service ·1·800·298·2207. DEP on the World

  3. Talking about Life

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Impey, Chris

    2010-08-01

    Preface; Part I. Introduction Timothy Ferris, Iris Fry, Steven Dick, Ann Druyan, Pinky Nelson, Neil Tyson, Steve Benner and William Bains; Part II. Earth Roger Buick, Lynn Rothschild, John Baross, Joe Kirschvink, Andrew Knoll, Simon Conway Morris, Roger Hanlon and Lori Marino; Part III. Solar System Chris McKay, David Grinspoon, Jonathan Lunine, Carolyn Porco, Laurie Leshin, Guy Consolmagno and Peter Smith; Part IV. Exoplanets Alan Boss, Geoff Marcy, Debra Fischer, Sara Seager, David Charbonneau and Vikki Meadows; Part V. Frontiers Jill Tarter, Seth Shostak, Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, Paul Davies, Martin Rees, Ben Bova and Jennifer Michael Hecht; Reading list; Glossary; Index.

  4. Novel Therapeutic Target for the Treatment of Lupus

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-08-01

    RhoB, animal model, antibody secretion, antibody therapy, Systemic lupus erythematosus , autoantibodies. 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17...6 References………………………………………………………………………………..6 Appendices………………………………………………………………………………..N/A 4 INTRODUCTION: Systemic lupus ...Treatment of Lupus PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Lisa Laury-Kleintop, Ph.D. Laura Mandik-Nayak, Ph.D

  5. Hayes Receives 2012 Ronald Greeley Early Career Award in Planetary Science: Response

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hayes, Alexander G.

    2013-10-01

    I am deeply honored to be the inaugural recipient of the Ronald Greeley Early Career Award. Ron was an icon in the field of planetary science, and the establishment of this award is a fitting way to pay tribute to his legacy. I applaud Laurie Leshin, Bill McKinnon, and the rest of the AGU Planetary Science section officers and selection committee for taking the time to organize this memorial. Ron is remembered not only for his fundamental scientific contributions but also for his mentorship and support of early-career scientists, both his own students and postdocs and those of his colleagues.

  6. Female babies and risk-aversion: Causal evidence from hospital wards.

    PubMed

    Pogrebna, Ganna; Oswald, Andrew J; Haig, David

    2018-03-01

    Using ultrasound scan data from paediatric hospitals, and the exogenous 'shock' of learning the gender of an unborn baby, the paper documents the first causal evidence that offspring gender affects adult risk-aversion. On a standard Holt-Laury criterion, parents of daughters, whether unborn or recently born, become almost twice as risk-averse as parents of sons. The study demonstrates this in longitudinal and cross-sectional data, for fathers and mothers, for babies in the womb and new-born children, and in a West European nation and East European nation. These findings may eventually aid our understanding of risky health behaviors and gender inequalities. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. A second species of Euscorpiops Vachon from caves in Vietnam (Scorpiones, Euscorpiidae, Scorpiopinae). Cave Euscorpiops scorpion from Vietnam.

    PubMed

    Lourenço, Wilson R; Pham, Dinh-Sac

    2014-09-01

    Euscorpiops dakrong sp. n., belonging to the family Euscorpiidae Laurie, is described on the basis of one male and one female collected in the Dakrong Nature Reserve cave system, Dakrong District, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. The new species presents most features exhibited by scorpions of the genus Euscorpiops, but it is characterized by a slender body and elongated pedipalps. This new scorpion taxon represents the second species of Scorpiopinae discovered in a cave system and may be yet another endemic element in the fauna of Vietnam. Some taxonomic propositions on the generic position of Scorpiops oligotrichus Fage, 1933 are also suggested. Copyright © 2014 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

  8. The thinking ape: the enigma of human consciousness.

    PubMed

    Paulson, Steve; Chalmers, David; Kahneman, Daniel; Santos, Laurie; Schiff, Nicholas

    2013-11-01

    What is the origin and nature of consciousness? If consciousness is common to humans and animals alike, what are the defining traits of human consciousness? Moderated by Steve Paulson, executive producer and host of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Nobel laureate psychologist Daniel Kahneman, philosopher David Chalmers, expert in primate cognition Laurie Santos, and physician-scientist Nicholas Schiff discuss what it means to be conscious and examine the human capacities displayed in cognitive, aesthetic, and ethical behaviors, with a focus on the place and function of the mind within nature. The following is an edited transcript of the discussion that occurred October 10, 2012, 7:00-8:15 PM, at the New York Academy of Sciences in New York City. © 2013 New York Academy of Sciences.

  9. 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-06-14

    Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) President Laurie Leshin, speaks at a breakfast opening the TouchTomorrow Festival, held in conjunction with the 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge, Saturday, June 14, 2014, at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Eighteen teams are competing for a $1.5 million NASA prize purse. Teams will be required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge is to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  10. NASA Future Forum

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2012-02-21

    Laurie Leshin, dean of the School of Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, left, Mason Peck, NASA Chief Technologist, 2nd from left, Ron Sega, Vice president and enterprise executive for Energy and the Environment, The Ohio State University and Colorado State University, Michael Donovan, technology consultant, New Services Development, Hewlett-Packard Company, and, Jordan Hansell, chairman and CEO, NetJets Inc., right, participate in the NASA Future Forum panel titled "Importance of Technology, Science and Innovation for our Economic Future" at The Ohio State University on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio. The NASA Future Forum features panel discussions on the importance of education to our nation's future in space, the benefit of commercialized space technology to our economy and lives here on Earth, and the shifting roles for the public, commercial and international communities in space. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

  11. VizieR Online Data Catalog: PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP-DR1) catalogs (Lutz+, 2011)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lutz, D.; Poglitsch, A.; Altieri, B.; Andreani, P.; Aussel, H.; Berta, S.; Bongiovanni, A.; Brisbin, D.; Cava, A.; Cepa, J.; Cimatti, A.; Daddi, E.; Dominguez-Sanchez, H.; Elbaz, D.; Foerster Schreiber, N. M.; Genzel, R.; Grazian, A.; Gruppioni, C.; Harwit, M.; Le Floc'h, E.; Magdis, G.; Magnelli, B.; Maiolino, R.; Nordon, R.; Perez Garcia, A. M.; Popesso, P.; Pozzi, F.; Riguccini, L.; Rodighiero, G.; Saintonge, A.; Sanchez Portal, M.; Santini, P.; Shao, L.; Sturm, E.; Tacconi, L. J.; Valtchanov, I.; Wetzstein, M.; Wieprecht, E.

    2013-11-01

    PACS catalogs built by the PEP team, with key contributions by Stefano Berta, Benjamin Magnelli, Paola Popesso, Dieter Lutz, Francesca Pozzi, Bruno Altieri, Herve Aussel, Hoseong Hwang, Emeric Le Floc'h, Georgios Magdis, Raanan Nordon, Albrecht Poglitsch, Laurie Riguccini, Amelie Saintonge, Li Shao. For more details, please refer to Lutz et al. (2011A&A...532A..90L) and to the PDF documentation associated to the release. Data and catalogs can be retrieved from the web page http://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/Research/PEP/publicdatareleases.php See the PDF documentation associated to the PEP DR1 release, http://www.mpe.mpg.de/resources/PEP/DR1tarballs/readmePEP_global.pdf and http://www.mpe.mpg.de/resources/PEP/DR1tarballs/readmePEP_SPIRE.pdf for more details. (69 data files).

  12. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, was briefed by X-43A engineer Laurie Grindle during his tour of Dryden

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2005-06-02

    Rep. Ken Calvert, (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, received an update on the mission of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center during a visit on June 2, 2005. Rep. Calvert, accompanied by several staff members, was briefed by center management on the Dryden's role as a flight research institution, and then reviewed some of the center's recent, current and upcoming flight research projects during a tour of the facility. During the afternoon, Rep. Calvert received similar briefings on a variety of projects at several aerospace development firms at the Civilian Flight Test Center in Mojave. Rep. Calvert's tour of NASA Dryden was the second in a series of visits to all 10 NASA field centers to better acquaint him with the roles and responsibilities of each center.

  13. The Influence of Vegetation Function towards the Langsep Street Thermal Comfort

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alfian, R.; Setyabudi, I.; Uran, R. S.

    2017-10-01

    Streetscape is an important element for character building of the environment, spatial, and visual in order to provide an urban identity, especially in Malang City protocol streets. Langsep Street is one of the protocol streets in Malang City. Langsep Street famous with central education and offices area. This study aims (1) to identify vegetation of streetscape; (2) to analyze the thermal comfort of the streetscape, and (3) to evaluate the comfort level of Langsep Street. The method used was the THI approach. THI value that obtained was analyzed using the standard of Laurie (1990). Based on observations, the THI value of Langsep Street was 27.60. This was influenced by the trees canopy density and spacing of the trees on the streetscape. It can be concluded that streetscape required (1) shaded plants that have root systems that do not damage the construction of roads, (2) the branching plants are not easily broken and easy to maintain, and (3) the combination of trees, shrubs and ground cover.

  14. Food and the body politic.

    PubMed

    Leonard, Sarah

    2012-01-01

    Americans are in the midst of a food-consciousness revival: on television, in the mouth of the First Lady, in endless articles celebrating urban agriculture can be found a sudden enthusiasm for the politically and, perhaps, spiritually curated dinner table. In this special section, writers explore the perilous state of food and food politics in America and a wide range of responses on the Left. Marion Nestle, in her essay on the farm bill, describes how the existing policy disaster came to be, along with the relationship between Reagan-era deregulation and the obesity epidemic. Mark Engler describes both the successes and coopting of the strands of left-wing responses—buying organic, eating local, and agitating for fair trade—and asks, "What's a radical to eat?" Laurie Woolever uncovers the kind of labor exploitation endemic to the elite dining experience. Karen Bakker Le Billon compares American to French school lunches, unpacking the relationship between food and citizenship. Juliana DeVries explores vegetarianism and the politics of everyday life.

  15. The General History of Astronomy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gingerich, Owen

    2010-04-01

    Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. The Birth of Astrophysics and Other Late Nineteenth-Century Trends (c.1850-c.1920); 1. The origins of astrophysics A. J. Meadows; 2. The impact of photography on astronomy John Lankford; 3. Telescope building, 1850-1900 Albert Van Helden; 4. The new astronomy A. J. Meadows; 5. Variable stars Helen Sawyer Hogg; 6. Stellar evolution and the origin of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram David DeVorkin; Part II. Observatories and Instrumentation: 7. Astronomical institutions. Introduction Owen Gingerich, Greenwich Observatory Philip S. Laurie, Paris Observatory Jacques Lévy, Pulkovo Observatory Aleksandr A. Mikhailov, Harvard College Observatory Howard Plotkin, United States Naval Observatory Deborah Warner, Lick Observatory Trudy E. Bell, Potsdam Astrophysical Observatory Dieter B. Herrmann; 8. Building large telescopes, 1900-1950 Albert Van Helden; 9. Astronomical institutions in the southern hemisphere, 1850-1950 David S. Evans; 10. Twentieth-century instrumentation Charles Fehrenbach, with a section on 'Early rockets in astronomy' Herbert Friedman; 11. Early radio astronomy Woodruff T. Sullivan III; Appendix: The world's largest telescopes, 1850-1950 Barbara L. Welther; Illustrations: acknowledgements and sources; Index.

  16. Impact of personal economic environment and personality factors on individual financial decision making.

    PubMed

    Prinz, Susanne; Gründer, Gerhard; Hilgers, Ralf D; Holtemöller, Oliver; Vernaleken, Ingo

    2014-01-01

    This study on healthy young male students aimed to enlighten the associations between an individual's financial decision making and surrogate makers for environmental factors covering long-term financial socialization, the current financial security/responsibility, and the personal affinity to financial affairs as represented by parental income, funding situation, and field of study. A group of 150 male young healthy students underwent two versions of the Holt and Laury (2002) lottery paradigm (matrix and random sequential version). Their financial decision was mainly driven by the factor "source of funding": students with strict performance control (grants, scholarships) had much higher rates of relative risk aversion (RRA) than subjects with support from family (ΔRRA = 0.22; p = 0.018). Personality scores only modestly affected the outcome. In an ANOVA, however, also the intelligence quotient significantly and relevantly contributed to the explanation of variance; the effects of parental income and the personality factors "agreeableness" and "openness" showed moderate to modest - but significant - effects. These findings suggest that environmental factors more than personality factors affect risk aversion.

  17. Impact of personal economic environment and personality factors on individual financial decision making

    PubMed Central

    Prinz, Susanne; Gründer, Gerhard; Hilgers, Ralf D.; Holtemöller, Oliver; Vernaleken, Ingo

    2014-01-01

    This study on healthy young male students aimed to enlighten the associations between an individual’s financial decision making and surrogate makers for environmental factors covering long-term financial socialization, the current financial security/responsibility, and the personal affinity to financial affairs as represented by parental income, funding situation, and field of study. A group of 150 male young healthy students underwent two versions of the Holt and Laury (2002) lottery paradigm (matrix and random sequential version). Their financial decision was mainly driven by the factor “source of funding”: students with strict performance control (grants, scholarships) had much higher rates of relative risk aversion (RRA) than subjects with support from family (ΔRRA = 0.22; p = 0.018). Personality scores only modestly affected the outcome. In an ANOVA, however, also the intelligence quotient significantly and relevantly contributed to the explanation of variance; the effects of parental income and the personality factors “agreeableness” and “openness” showed moderate to modest – but significant – effects. These findings suggest that environmental factors more than personality factors affect risk aversion. PMID:24624100

  18. Some prehistory of New Zealand intensive care medicine.

    PubMed

    Trubuhovich, R V

    2009-07-01

    In taking 1960 as the foundation year for the practice of intensive care medicine in New Zealand, this paper briefly looks into the previous two centuries for some interventions in life-threatening conditions. With the help of descriptions in early 19th century journals and books by perceptive observers, the author focuses on some beliefs and practices of the Maori people during pre-European and later times, as well as aspects of medical treatment in New Zealand for early settlers and their descendents. Dr Laurie Gluckman's book Tangiwai has proved a valuable resource for New Zealand's medical history prior to 1860, while the recent publication of his findings from the examination of coroners' records for Auckland, 1841 to 1864, has been helpful. Drowning is highlighted as a common cause of accidental death, and consideration is given to alcohol as a factor. Following the 1893 foundation of the New Zealand Medical Journal, a limited number of its papers which are historically relevant to today's intensive care are explored: topics include tetanus, laryngeal diphtheria, direct cardiac massage, traumatic shock, thiopentone management for fitting and the ventilatory failure due to poliomyelitis.

  19. Lagoon Restoration Project: Final report

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

    NONE

    This project is a multiyear effort focusing on energy flow in the Palace of Fine Arts lagoon just outside the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Phase 1 was a pilot study to determine the feasibility of improving biological energy flow through the small freshwater lagoon, using the expertise and resources of an environmental artist in collaboration with museum biologists and arts department staff. The primary outcome of Phase 1 is an experimental fountain exhibit inside the museum designed by public artist Laurie Lundquist with Exploratorium staff. This fountain, with signage, functions both as a model for natural aeration and filtration systemsmore » and as a focal point for museum visitors to learn about how biological processes cycle energy through aquatic systems. As part of the study of the lagoon`s health, volunteers continued biweekly bird consus from March through September, 1994. The goal was to find out whether the poor water quality of the lagoon is affecting the birds. Limited dredging was undertaken by the city Parks and Recreation Department. However, a more peermanent solution to the lagoon`s ecological problems would require an ambitious redesign of the lagoon.« less

  20. Aimulet: a multilingual spatial optical voice card terminal for location and direction based information services

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Itoh, Hideo; Lin, Xin; Kaji, Ryosaku; Niwa, Tatsuya; Nakamura, Yoshiyuki; Nishimura, Takuichi

    2006-01-01

    The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Japan has been developing Aimulet, which is a compact low-power consuming information terminal for a personal information services. Conventional Aimulet, which is called Aimulet ver. 1 or CoBIT, has features of location and direction sensitive information service device without batteries. On the other hand, the Aimulet ver. 1 has two subjects, one is multiplex and demultiplex of some contents, and another is operation under sunshine. In Former subject is of solved by the wavelength multiplex technique using LED emitter with different wavelength and dielectric optical filters. Latter subject is solved by new micro spherical solar cells with a visible-light-eliminating optical filter and a new design of light irradiation. These techniques are applied to the EXPO 2005, Aichi Japan and introduced in public. The former technique is applied on Aimulet GH, which is used in Orange Hall of the Global House, scientific museum with a fossil of a frozen mammoth. The latter technique is applied on Aimulet LA, which is used in the Laurie Anderson's WALK project in the Japanese Garden.

  1. KSC-2011-5310

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-08

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Launch controllers wave their STS-135 shuttle launch team member flags and cheer in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center following the successful launch of space shuttle Atlantis from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the foreground, from left, are NASA Test Directors Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Jeremy Graeber, and Jeff Spaulding; Orbiter Test Conductor Roberta Wyrick; and Assistant Orbiter Test Conductor Laurie Sally. Atlantis began its final flight, the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, at 11:29 a.m. EDT on July 8. STS-135 will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also is flying the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 is the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

  2. 2014 NASA Centennial Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2014-06-14

    The NASA Centennial Challenges prize, level one, is presented to team Mountaineers for successfully completing level one of the NASA 2014 Sample Return Robot Challenge, from left, Ryan Watson, Team Mountaineers; Lucas Behrens, Team Mountaineers; Jarred Strader, Team Mountaineers; Yu Gu, Team Mountaineers; Scott Harper, Team Mountaineers; Dorothy Rasco, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate; Laurie Leshin, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) President; David Miller, NASA Chief Technologist; Alexander Hypes, Team Mountaineers; Nick Ohi,Team Mountaineers; Marvin Cheng, Team Mountaineers; Sam Ortega, NASA Program Manager for Centennial Challenges; and Tanmay Mandal, Team Mountaineers;, Saturday, June 14, 2014, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass. Team Mountaineers was the only team to complete the level one challenge. During the competition, teams were required to demonstrate autonomous robots that can locate and collect samples from a wide and varied terrain, operating without human control. The objective of this NASA-WPI Centennial Challenge was to encourage innovations in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies. Innovations stemming from the challenge may improve NASA's capability to explore a variety of destinations in space, as well as enhance the nation's robotic technology for use in industries and applications on Earth. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

  3. Right Language to Release the River of Health in the Medical Industry.

    PubMed

    Weeks, John

    2015-11-01

    Performance artist Laurie Anderson appropriated an idea from beat writer William Burroughs a few years back. Language, Anderson sings, is a virus.(1) The words we choose lock in ideas and discharge reverberations. They subtly evoke personal, professional, and societal power relationships. Language is a virus. By extension, changes of language can shift power relations. The removal of a conquest name of a former US president from the highest point in the northern part of the western hemisphere is a case in point. US President Barack Obama re-anointed Mt McKinley as Mt Denali, the name used by the indigenous people whose descendants still live in its presence.(2) The act replaced a European surname linked to cultural suppression and colonization with one that honors the first human inhabitants. The renaissance of indigenous medical practices is effecting a similar renaming of what many view to be the high point in the development of medicine. "Traditional medicine" has for decades been misused to describe biomedical and industrial practices that are less than a century old. Better to qualify this medicine with "conventional" or "bio-." Let "traditional medicine" indicate practices that carry the weight of history. These choices move toward right language.

  4. SAM Team Celebrates Landing

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2012-11-30

    Who Should Be TIME's Person of the Year 2012? - The Mars Rover! VOTE here: ti.me/YxJU1i Caption - SAM Team celebrates a picture perfect landing! Pictured from left to rights: Mehdi Benna, Laurie Leshin, Chris Webster, Will Brinckerhoff, Paul Mahaffy, Pan Conrad, Florence Tan, and Jen Eigenbrode. Credit: NASA ----- The Curiosity rover bristles with multiple cameras and instruments, including Goddard's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite. By looking for evidence of water, carbon, and other important building blocks of life in the Martian soil and atmosphere, SAM will help discover whether Mars ever had the potential to support life. Curiosity was delivered to Gale crater, a 96-mile-wide crater that contains a record of environmental changes in its sedimentary rock, in August 2012. Related links: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html science.gsfc.nasa.gov/699/marsSAM.shtml mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

  5. Dissolution and solubility behavior of fenofibrate in sodium lauryl sulfate solutions.

    PubMed

    Granero, Gladys E; Ramachandran, Chandrasekharan; Amidon, Gordon L

    2005-10-01

    The solubility of fenofibrate in pH 6.8 McIlvaine buffers containing varying concentrations of sodium lauryl sulfate was determined. The dissolution behavior of fenofibrate was also examined in the same solutions with rotating disk experiments. It was observed that the enhancement in intrinsic dissolution rate was approximately 500-fold and the enhancement in solubility was approximately 2000-fold in a pH 6.8 buffer containing 2% (w/v) sodium lauryl sulfate compared to that in buffer alone. The micellar solubilization equilibrium coefficient (k*) was estimated from the solubility data and found to be 30884+/-213 L/mol. The diffusivity for the free solute, 7.15x10(-6) cm2/s, was calculated using Schroeder's additive molal volume estimates and Hayduk-Laurie correlation. The diffusivity of the drug-loaded micelle, estimated from the experimental solubility and dissolution data and the calculated value for free solute diffusivity, was 0.86x10(-6) cm2/s. Thus, the much lower enhancement in dissolution of fenofibrate compared to its enhancement in solubility in surfactant solutions appears to be consistent with the contribution to the total transport due to enhanced micellar solubilization as well as a large decrease (approximately 8-fold) in the diffusivity of the drug-loaded micelle.

  6. Paving the Path for Human Space Exploration: The Challenges and Opportunities

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hansen, Lauri

    2016-01-01

    Lauri Hansen, Director of Engineering at NASA Johnson Space Center will discuss the challenges of human space exploration. The future of human exploration begins with our current earth reliant missions in low earth orbit. These missions utilize the International Space Station to learn how to safely execute deep space missions. In addition to serving as an exploration test bed and enabling world class research, the International Space Station enables NASA to build international and commercial partnerships. NASA's next steps will be to enable the commercialization of low earth orbit while concentrating on developing the spacecraft and infrastructure necessary for deep space exploration and long duration missions. The Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle and the Space Launch System rocket are critical building blocks in this next phase of exploration. There are many challenges in designing spacecraft to perform these missions including safety, complex vehicle design, and mass challenges. Orion development is proceeding well, and includes a significant partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop and build the Service Module portion of the spacecraft. Together, NASA and ESA will provide the capability to take humans further than we have ever been before - 70,000 km past the moon. This will be the next big step in expanding the frontiers of human exploration, eventually leading to human footprints on Mars.

  7. More Than A SketchUp

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Davis, Derrick D.

    2014-01-01

    This 2014 summer internship assignment at John F. Kennedy Space Center (K.S.C) was conducted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineering and Technology (NE) group in support of the Control and Data Systems Division (NE-C) within the Test, Operations & Support Software Engineering Branch (NE-C2). The primary focus of this project was to assist Branch Chief Laurie B. Griffin, to support NASA's Small Payload Launch Integrated Testing Services (SPLITS) mission, by mastering the capabilities of 3-D modeling software called SketchUp. I used SketchUp to create a virtual environment for different laboratories of the NE-00 Division. My mission was to have these models uploaded into a K.S.C Partnerships Website and be used as a visual aid to viewers who browsed the site. The leads of this project were Kay L. Craig, Business and Industry Specialist (AD-A) and Steven E. Cain, (FA-C). I teamed with fellow intern Tait Sorenson of the Flight Structures and Thermal Protection Systems Branch (NE-M5) and met with many K.S.C lab managers willing to display their lab's structure and capabilities. The information collected during these lab tours was vital to the building of the K.S.C Partnerships Website. To accomplish this goal Sorenson and I later teamed with fellow Marketing intern Marlee Pereda-Ramos, of the Spaceport Planning Office In Center Planning And Development (AD-A) Along with Ramos, Tait and I toured an array of laboratories and got first hand exposure to their functions and capabilities.

  8. KSC-2011-5312

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2011-07-08

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Launch controllers wave their STS-135 shuttle launch team member flags and cheer in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center following the successful launch of space shuttle Atlantis from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the foreground, from left, are NASA Test Directors Steve Payne and Bob Holl; Landing and Recovery Director Greg Gaddis; Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach; Atlantis' NASA Flow Director Angie Brewer; NASA Test Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson; STS-135 Launch Commentator George Diller; NASA Test Directors Jeremy Graeber, Tim Potter, and Jeff Spaulding; Orbiter Test Conductor Roberta Wyrick; Assistant Orbiter Test Conductor Laurie Sally; Assistant Launch Director Pete Nickolenko; United Space Alliance Vice President of Launch and Recovery Systems Mark Nappi; and United Space Alliance Test Conductor Mark Paxton. Atlantis began its final flight, the STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, at 11:29 a.m. EDT on July 8. STS-135 will deliver the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module packed with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station. Atlantis also is flying the Robotic Refueling Mission experiment that will investigate the potential for robotically refueling existing satellites in orbit. In addition, Atlantis will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems. STS-135 is the 33rd flight of Atlantis, the 37th shuttle mission to the space station, and the 135th and final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts135/index.html. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

  9. Maximizing your return on people.

    PubMed

    Bassi, Laurie; McMurrer, Daniel

    2007-03-01

    Though most traditional HR performance metrics don't predict organizational performance, alternatives simply have not existed--until now. During the past ten years, researchers Laurie Bassi and Daniel McMurrer have worked to develop a system that allows executives to assess human capital management (HCM) and to use those metrics both to predict organizational performance and to guide organizations' investments in people. The new framework is based on a core set of HCM drivers that fall into five major categories: leadership practices, employee engagement, knowledge accessibility, workforce optimization, and organizational learning capacity. By employing rigorously designed surveys to score a company on the range of HCM practices across the five categories, it's possible to benchmark organizational HCM capabilities, identify HCM strengths and weaknesses, and link improvements or back-sliding in specific HCM practices with improvements or shortcomings in organizational performance. The process requires determining a "maturity" score for each practice, based on a scale of 1 (low) to 5 (high). Over time, evolving maturity scores from multiple surveys can reveal progress in each of the HCM practices and help a company decide where to focus improvement efforts that will have a direct impact on performance. The authors draw from their work with American Standard, South Carolina's Beaufort County School District, and a bevy of financial firms to show how improving HCM scores led to increased sales, safety, academic test scores, and stock returns. Bassi and McMurrer urge HR departments to move beyond the usual metrics and begin using HCM measurement tools to gauge how well people are managed and developed throughout the organization. In this new role, according to the authors, HR can take on strategic responsibility and ensure that superior human capital management becomes central to the organization's culture.

  10. Effects of reflection on clinical decision-making of intensive care unit nurses.

    PubMed

    Razieh, Shahrokhi; Somayeh, Ghafari; Fariba, Haghani

    2018-07-01

    Nurses are one of the most influential factors in overcoming the main challenges faced by health systems throughout the world. Every health system should, hence, empower nurses in clinical judgment and decision-making skills. This study evaluated the effects of implementing Tanner's reflection method on clinical decision-making of nurses working in an intensive care unit (ICU). This study used an experimental, pretest, posttest design. The setting was the intensive care unit of Amin Hospital Isfahan, Iran. The convenience sample included 60 nurses working in the ICU of Amin Hospital (Isfahan, Iran). This clinical trial was performed on 60 nurses working in the ICU of Amin Hospital (Isfahan, Iran). The nurses were selected by census sampling and randomly allocated to either the case or the control group. Data were collected using a questionnaire containing demographic characteristics and the clinical decision-making scale developed by Laurie and Salantera (NDMI-14). The questionnaire was completed before and one week after the intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. The two groups were not significantly different in terms of the level and mean scores of clinical decision-making before the intervention (P = 0.786). Based on the results of independent t-test, the mean score of clinical decision-making one week after the intervention was significantly higher in the case group than in the control group (P = 0.009; t = -2.69). The results of Mann Whitney test showed that one week after the intervention, the nurses' level of clinical decision-making in the case group rose to the next level (P = 0.001). Reflection could improve the clinical decision-making of ICU nurses. It is, thus, recommended to incorporate this method into the nursing curriculum and care practices. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  11. RNA sequencing supports distinct reactive oxygen species-mediated pathways of apoptosis by high and low size mass fractions of Bay leaf (Lauris nobilis) in HT-29 cells.

    PubMed

    Rodd, Annabelle L; Ververis, Katherine; Sayakkarage, Dheeshana; Khan, Abdul W; Rafehi, Haloom; Ziemann, Mark; Loveridge, Shanon J; Lazarus, Ross; Kerr, Caroline; Lockett, Trevor; El-Osta, Assam; Karagiannis, Tom C; Bennett, Louise E

    2015-08-01

    Anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of Bay leaf (Laurus nobilis) in mammalian cancer and HT-29 adenocarcinoma cells have been previously attributed to effects of polyphenolic and essential oil chemical species. Recently, we demonstrated differentiated growth-regulating effects of high (HFBL) versus low molecular mass (LFBL) aqueous fractions of bay leaf and now confirm by comparative effects on gene expression, that HFBL and LFBL suppress HT-29 growth by distinct mechanisms. Induction of intra-cellular lesions including DNA strand breakage by extra-cellular HFBL, invoked the hypothesis that iron-mediated reactive oxygen species with capacity to penetrate cell membrane, were responsible for HFBL-mediated effects, supported by equivalent effects of HFBL in combination with γ radiation. Activities of HFBL and LFBL were interpreted to reflect differentiated responses to iron-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS), occurring either outside or inside cells. In the presence of LFBL, apoptotic death was relatively delayed compared with HFBL. ROS production by LFBL mediated p53-dependent apoptosis and recovery was suppressed by promoting G1/S phase arrest and failure of cellular tight junctions. In comparison, intra-cellular anti-oxidant protection exerted by LFBL was absent for extra-cellular HFBL (likely polysaccharide-rich), which potentiated more rapid apoptosis by producing DNA double strand breaks. Differentiated effects on expression of genes regulating ROS defense and chromatic condensation by LFBL versus HFBL, were observed. The results support ferrous iron in cell culture systems and potentially in vivo, can invoke different extra-cellular versus intra-cellular ROS-mediated chemistries, that may be regulated by exogenous, including dietary species.

  12. Relation between chemical composition or antioxidant activity and antihypertensive activity for six essential oils.

    PubMed

    Yvon, Yan; Raoelison, Emmanuel Guy; Razafindrazaka, René; Randriantsoa, Adolphe; Romdhane, Mehrez; Chabir, Naziha; Mkaddem, Mounira Guedri; Bouajila, Jalloul

    2012-08-01

    Six essential oils (EOs), Juniperus phoenicea (leaves and berries), Thymus capitatus, Lauris nobilis, Melaleuca armillaris, and Eucalyptus gracilis, were screened for their antioxidant and antihypertensive activity as well as their chemical compositions. We identified and quantified 24 compounds (representing 99.8% of total oil) for J. phoenicea leaves, 14 compounds (representing 98.8% of total oil) for J. phoenicea berries, 11 compounds (representing 99.6% of total oil) for T. capitatus, 32 compounds (representing 98.9% of total oil) for L. nobilis, 32 compounds (representing 98.7% of total oil) for M. armillaris, and 26 compounds (representing 99.3% of total oil) for E. gracilis. In the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, the antioxidant activity was in the range of 0.59 to 2183.6 mg/L, whereas T. capitatus (1.24 ± 0.05 mg/L) gave the best activity in the 2,2'-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate assay. Antihypertensive activity was evaluated by testing the vasorelaxing capacity of EOs on rat aorta precontracted by phenylephrine (10(-6) M). T. capitatus and L. nobilis were most active for an antihypertensive activity (29 ± 3 and 59 ± 2 mg/L, respectively). Correlations between chemical composition or antioxidant activity and/or antihypertensive activity were studied. Significant correlation has been found for antihypertensive activity and p-cymene (R(2) = 0.86), β-elemene (R(2) = 0.90), and β-myrcene (R(2) = 0.76). A good correlation has been found between antihypertensive activity and antioxidant activity by DPPH assay (R(2) = 0.98). Antioxidant activity can contribute to the prevention of the increase of the blood pressure. According to the literature, no study has been reported until now of correlation between antihypertensive activity and antioxidant activity. Natural EOs can find its interest and application in a medicinal area. © 2012 Institute of Food Technologists®

  13. The Dopamine Receptor D4 Gene (DRD4) and Financial Risk-Taking: Stimulating and Instrumental Risk-Taking Propensity and Motivation to Engage in Investment Activity

    PubMed Central

    Muda, Rafał; Kicia, Mariusz; Michalak-Wojnowska, Małgorzata; Ginszt, Michał; Filip, Agata; Gawda, Piotr; Majcher, Piotr

    2018-01-01

    The Dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4) has been previously linked to financial risk-taking propensity. Past works demonstrated that individuals with a specific variant of the DRD4 gene (7R+) are more risk-seeking than people without it (7R−). The most prominent explanation for this effect is the fact that 7R+ individuals are less sensitive to dopamine and thus seek more stimulation to generate “normal” dopaminergic activity and feel pleasure. However, results about this relationship have not been conclusive, and some revealed a lack of the relationship. In the current work, we tested if those unclear results might be explained by the motivation that underlies the risk-taking activity; i.e., if people take risks to feel excitement or if they take risk to obtain a specific goal. In our study we tested the differences in risk-taking between 7R+ and 7R− among people who are experienced in financial risk-taking (113 investors) and non-experienced financial decision makers (104 non-investors). We measured risk-taking propensity with the Holt-Laury test and the Stimulating-Instrumental Risk Inventory. Moreover, we asked investors about their motivations for engaging in investment activity. Our study is the next one to report a lack of differences in risk-taking between 7R+ and 7R− individuals. As well, our results did not indicate any differences between the 7R+ and 7R− investors in motivation to engage in investment activity. We only observed that risk-taking propensity was higher among investors than non-investors and this was noticed for all measures. More research is needed to better understand the genetic foundations of risk-taking, which could answer the question about the substantial variation in the domain of risky financial decisions. PMID:29551965

  14. Early onset of magma ocean crystallization revealed by coupled 146,147Sm-142,143Nd systematics of Nulliak ultramafics (3.78 Ga, Labrador)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morino, P.; Caro, G.; Reisberg, L. C.

    2015-12-01

    Early onset of magma ocean crystallization revealed by coupled 146,147Sm-142,143Nd systematics of Nulliak ultramafics (3.78 Ga, Labrador) Precillia Morino1, Guillaume Caro1, Laurie Reisberg 1 1CRPG-CNRS, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France Coupled 146,147Sm-142,143Nd systematics provides constraints on the timing of magma ocean crystallization on Mars, the Moon and Vesta. Estimates for the Earth's mantle, however, are less accurate owing to the sparsity of Eoarchean mantle-derived rocks with undisturbed 147Sm-143Nd systematics. This study attempts to establish a coherent 142,143Nd dataset for the Eoarchean mantle using well-preserved ultramafic rocks from the Nulliak assemblage (Labrador). Samples include meta-dunites, -pyroxenites and -peridotites exhibiting only minor serpentinization and limited element mobility. The presence of "Barberton type" komatiitic compositions (low Al/Ti, HREE depletion) is suggestive of a deep mantle source. 146,147Sm-142,143Nd and 187Re-187Os analyses yield a crystallization age of 3.78±0.09 Ga with ɛ143Ndi=1.5±0.2 and ɛ142Nd=8.6±2 ppm. This 142,143Nd signature yields a model age of mantle differentiation of 4.43±0.05 Ga (assuming a BSE with chondritic Sm/Nd and ɛ142Nd=0). Superchondritic Sm/Nd compositions for the BSE would translate into older model ages. Irrespective of the choice of primitive mantle composition, Nulliak ultramafics provide differentiation ages 100 Ma older than those estimated from Akilia tonalites but remarkably similar to that estimated from the 2.7 Ga Theo's flow (Abitibi). If Nulliak ultramafics originated from deep melting of a hot plume, their model age could reflect the early onset of magma ocean crystallization in the lowermost mantle.

  15. Conference Comments by the Editors

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

    Archer, Daniel E

    2009-01-01

    The Symposium on Radiation Measurements and Applications (SORMA) met for the first time on the West Coast June 2-5, 2008, in Berkeley, CA. With radiation detectors increasing in number, variety, and societal importance, we plan to alternate between SORMA East (in Ann Arbor, MI) and SORMA West so that the forum will be available every two years. The topic areas for SORMA West 2008 were much the same as those of recent Ann Arbor programs, and were meant to encompass the full breadth of ionizing radiation measurement applications and technologies, with both oral and poster presentations. The technical program ofmore » SORMA 2008 included 342 scientific presentations, 116 oral presentations plus eight invited keynote lectures in plenary sessions, as well as 218 presentations in poster sessions. The SORMA 2008 meetings were attended by 439 registered participants from 25 different countries. Topics of interest at the meeting ranged from room temperature semiconductor detectors, cryogenic detectors, photodetectors, neutron detectors, novel scintillators, nonproportionality and characterization of scintillators, simulation and analysis of radiation interactions, novel radiation sources, imaging technologies and homeland security and medical applications. This was the first conference of the SORMA series to be technically cosponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), specifically by the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society (NPSS) of IEEE. The co-sponsorship has been important for visibility of SORMA and for attracting a record number of new participants. This special issue of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE comprises the refereed proceedings of SORMA 2008, containing 128 papers on the research presentations. The Chairs of the SORMA 2008 conference would like to acknowledge partial financial support from the NNSA, DNDO, and DTRA, and organizational support from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We acknowledge our corporate supporters: Caen Nuclear, Eljen Technology, Hilger Crystals and GE Global Research. Finally, we thank the members of the local organizing committee: Diana Attila, Thomas Budinger, Joe Chew, Daniel Chivers, Rob Johnson, Laurie O'Brien, Donna Raziano, Emily Sause, and Brian Wirth for doing all the work that actually made this conference happen.« less

  16. Motion of isolated open vortex filaments evolving under the truncated local induction approximation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Van Gorder, Robert A.

    2017-11-01

    The study of nonlinear waves along open vortex filaments continues to be an area of active research. While the local induction approximation (LIA) is attractive due to locality compared with the non-local Biot-Savart formulation, it has been argued that LIA appears too simple to model some relevant features of Kelvin wave dynamics, such as Kelvin wave energy transfer. Such transfer of energy is not feasible under the LIA due to integrability, so in order to obtain a non-integrable model, a truncated LIA, which breaks the integrability of the classical LIA, has been proposed as a candidate model with which to study such dynamics. Recently Laurie et al. ["Interaction of Kelvin waves and nonlocality of energy transfer in superfluids," Phys. Rev. B 81, 104526 (2010)] derived truncated LIA systematically from Biot-Savart dynamics. The focus of the present paper is to study the dynamics of a section of common open vortex filaments under the truncated LIA dynamics. We obtain the analog of helical, planar, and more general filaments which rotate without a change in form in the classical LIA, demonstrating that while quantitative differences do exist, qualitatively such solutions still exist under the truncated LIA. Conversely, solitons and breather solutions found under the LIA should not be expected under the truncated LIA, as the existence of such solutions relies on the existence of an infinite number of conservation laws which is violated due to loss of integrability. On the other hand, similarity solutions under the truncated LIA can be quite different to their counterparts found for the classical LIA, as they must obey a t1/3 type scaling rather than the t1/2 type scaling commonly found in the LIA and Biot-Savart dynamics. This change in similarity scaling means that Kelvin waves are radiated at a slower rate from vortex kinks formed after reconnection events. The loss of soliton solutions and the difference in similarity scaling indicate that dynamics emergent under the truncated LIA can indeed differ a great deal from those previously studied under the classical LIA.

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

    Bailey, David

    In the January 2002 edition of SIAM News, Nick Trefethen announced the '$100, 100-Digit Challenge'. In this note he presented ten easy-to-state but hard-to-solve problems of numerical analysis, and challenged readers to find each answer to ten-digit accuracy. Trefethen closed with the enticing comment: 'Hint: They're hard! If anyone gets 50 digits in total, I will be impressed.' This challenge obviously struck a chord in hundreds of numerical mathematicians worldwide, as 94 teams from 25 nations later submitted entries. Many of these submissions exceeded the target of 50 correct digits; in fact, 20 teams achieved a perfect score of 100more » correct digits. Trefethen had offered $100 for the best submission. Given the overwhelming response, a generous donor (William Browning, founder of Applied Mathematics, Inc.) provided additional funds to provide a $100 award to each of the 20 winning teams. Soon after the results were out, four participants, each from a winning team, got together and agreed to write a book about the problems and their solutions. The team is truly international: Bornemann is from Germany, Laurie is from South Africa, Wagon is from the USA, and Waldvogel is from Switzerland. This book provides some mathematical background for each problem, and then shows in detail how each of them can be solved. In fact, multiple solution techniques are mentioned in each case. The book describes how to extend these solutions to much larger problems and much higher numeric precision (hundreds or thousands of digit accuracy). The authors also show how to compute error bounds for the results, so that one can say with confidence that one's results are accurate to the level stated. Numerous numerical software tools are demonstrated in the process, including the commercial products Mathematica, Maple and Matlab. Computer programs that perform many of the algorithms mentioned in the book are provided, both in an appendix to the book and on a website. In the process, the authors take the reader on a wide-ranging tour of modern numerical mathematics, with enough background material so that even readers with little or no training in numerical analysis can follow. Here is a list of just a few of the topics visited: numerical quadrature (i.e., numerical integration), series summation, sequence extrapolation, contour integration, Fourier integrals, high-precision arithmetic, interval arithmetic, symbolic computing, numerical linear algebra, perturbation theory, Euler-Maclaurin summation, global minimization, eigenvalue methods, evolutionary algorithms, matrix preconditioning, random walks, special functions, elliptic functions, Monte-Carlo methods, and numerical differentiation.« less

  18. NASA Space Science Day Events-Engaging Students in Science

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Foxworth, S.; Mosie, A.; Allen, J.; Kent, J.; Green, A.

    2015-01-01

    The NASA Space Science Day Event follows the same format of planning and execution at all host universities and colleges. These institutions realized the importance of such an event and sought funding to continue hosting NSSD events. In 2014, NASA Johnson Space Center ARES team has supported the following universities and colleges that have hosted a NSSD event; the University of Texas at Brownsville, San Jacinto College, Georgia Tech University and Huston-Tillotson University. Other universities and colleges are continuing to conduct their own NSSD events. NASA Space Science Day Events are supported through continued funding through NASA Discovery Program. Community Night begins with a NASA speaker and Astromaterials display. The entire community surrounding the host university or college is invited to the Community Night. This year at the Huston-Tillotson (HTU) NSSD, we had Dr. Laurie Carrillo, a NASA Engineer, speak to the public and students. She answered questions, shared her experiences and career path. The speaker sets a tone of adventure and discovery for the NSSD event. After the speaker, the public is able to view Lunar and Meteorite samples and ask questions from the ARES team. The students and teachers from nearby schools attended the NSSD Event the following day. Students are able to see the university or college campus and the university or college mentors are available for questions. Students rotate through hour long Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sessions and a display area. These activities are from the Discovery Program activities that tie in directly with k- 12 instruction. The sessions highlight the STEM in exploration and discovery. The Lunar and Meteorite display is again available for students to view and ask questions. In the display area, there are also other interactive displays. Angela Green, from San Jacinto College, brought the Starlab for students to watch a planetarium exhibit for the NSSD at Huston-Tillotson University. Many HTU mentors were leading activities in the display room such as build a comet, volcano layering and robotics manipulation. Students were exposed to a variety STEM career possibilities and information. The students could relate the displays and sessions to what they were learning in school. The HTU mentors made the connection clear for the students. The students ended the event with a mission design presentation. They were able to take what they had learned during the day and were able to create a mission. Students presented their Mission Design and gained confidence in STEM. Conclusion: NASA Space Science Day Events provides an out of school experiential learning environment for students to enhance their STEM curriculum and let students see a college campus. The experiences students gain from attending NSSD gives them the confidence to see themselves on a college campus, possibly majoring in a STEM degree, and understand the importance of completing school.

  19. Recruiting Young Gay and Bisexual Men for a Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Intervention Through Social Media: The Effects of Advertisement Content.

    PubMed

    Reiter, Paul L; Katz, Mira L; Bauermeister, Jose A; Shoben, Abigail B; Paskett, Electra D; McRee, Annie-Laurie

    2017-06-02

    Web-based approaches, specifically social media sites, represent a promising approach for recruiting young gay and bisexual men for research studies. Little is known, however, about how the performance of social media advertisements (ads) used to recruit this population is affected by ad content (ie, image and text). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different images and text included in social media ads used to recruit young gay and bisexual men for the pilot test of a Web-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination intervention. In July and September 2016, we used paid Facebook advertisements to recruit men who were aged 18-25 years, self-identified as gay or bisexual, US resident, and had not received HPV vaccine. A 4x2x2 factorial experiment varied ad image (a single young adult male, a young adult male couple, a group of young adult men, or a young adult male talking to a doctor), content focus (text mentioning HPV or HPV vaccine), and disease framing (text mentioning cancer or a sexually transmitted disease [STD]). Poisson regression determined whether these experimental factors affected ad performance. The recruitment campaign reached a total of 35,646 users who viewed ads for 36,395 times. This resulted in an overall unique click-through rate of 2.01% (717/35,646) and an overall conversion rate of 0.66% (241/36,395). Reach was higher for ads that included an image of a couple (incidence rate ratio, IRR=4.91, 95% CI 2.68-8.97, P<.001) or a group (IRR=2.65, 95% CI 1.08-6.50, P=.03) compared with those that included an image of a single person. Ads that included an image of a couple also had a higher conversion rate (IRR=2.56, 95% CI 1.13-5.77, P=.02) than ads that included an image of a single person. Ads with text mentioning an STD had a higher unique click-through rate compared with ads with text mentioning cancer (IRR=1.34, 95% CI 1.06-1.69, P=.01). The campaign cost a total of US $413.72 and resulted in 150 eligible and enrolled individuals (US $2.76 per enrolled participant). Facebook ads are a convenient and cost-efficient strategy for reaching and recruiting young gay and bisexual men for a Web-based HPV vaccination intervention. To help optimize ad performance among this population, researchers should consider the importance of the text and image included in the social media recruitment ads. ©Paul L Reiter, Mira L Katz, Jose A Bauermeister, Abigail B Shoben, Electra D Paskett, Annie-Laurie McRee. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 02.06.2017.

  20. Assessment of Active Video Gaming Using Adapted Controllers by Individuals With Physical Disabilities: A Protocol.

    PubMed

    Malone, Laurie A; Padalabalanarayanan, Sangeetha; McCroskey, Justin; Thirumalai, Mohanraj

    2017-06-16

    Individuals with disabilities are typically more sedentary and less fit compared to their peers without disabilities. Furthermore, engaging in physical activity can be extremely challenging due to physical impairments associated with disability and fewer opportunities to participate. One option for increasing physical activity is playing active video games (AVG), a category of video games that requires much more body movement for successful play than conventional push-button or joystick actions. However, many current AVGs are inaccessible or offer limited play options for individuals who are unable to stand, have balance issues, poor motor control, or cannot use their lower body to perform game activities. Making AVGs accessible to people with disabilities offers an innovative approach to overcoming various barriers to participation in physical activity. Our aim was to compare the effect of off-the-shelf and adapted game controllers on quality of game play, enjoyment, and energy expenditure during active video gaming in persons with physical disabilities, specifically those with mobility impairments (ie, unable to stand, balance issues, poor motor control, unable to use lower extremity for gameplay). The gaming controllers to be evaluated include off-the-shelf and adapted versions of the Wii Fit balance board and gaming mat. Participants (10-60 years old) came to the laboratory a total of three times. During the first visit, participants completed a functional assessment and became familiar with the equipment and games to be played. For the functional assessment, participants performed 18 functional movement tasks from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. They also answered a series of questions from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System and Quality of Life in Neurological Conditions measurement tools, to provide a personal perspective regarding their own functional ability. For Visit 2, metabolic data were collected during an initial 20-minute baseline, followed by 40 minutes of game play. The controller (balance board or gaming mat) played was randomly selected. A set of games was played for 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of rest, and then another set of games was played for 10 minutes, followed by rest. Quality of game play was observed and documented for each set. During rest, the participant completed questions regarding enjoyment. Following the same procedures, the participant then played the two sets of games using the other version (off-the-shelf or adapted) of the controller. The entire procedure was repeated during Visit 3 with the controller that was not played. Enrollment began in February 2016 and ended in September 2016. Study results will be reported in late 2017. We hypothesized that the adapted versions of the Wii Fit balance board and gaming mat would produce greater quality of game play, enjoyment, and energy expenditure in persons with mobility impairments compared to off-the-shelf versions. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02994199; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02994199 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6qpPszPJ7). ©Laurie A Malone, Sangeetha Padalabalanarayanan, Justin McCroskey, Mohanraj Thirumalai. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 16.06.2017.

  1. Managing Restored Wetlands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to Reduce Methane Emissions and Increase Carbon Uptake Laurie Koteen, Sara Knox, Cove Sturtevant, Joseph Verfaillie, Jaclyn Hatala, Dennis Baldocchi

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koteen, L. E.; Knox, S. H.; Sturtevant, C. S.; Verfaillie, J. G.; Matthes, J. H.; Baldocchi, D. D.

    2013-12-01

    The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California is a region transformed by more than a century of agricultural practices. Beginning in the 19th century, substantial regions were first drained of water and then converted to cropland in order to take advantage of the area's rich peatland soils. In the intervening time period, soil oxidation and subsidence have led to huge peat losses of up to 10 m in some places, and river water now threatens to topple the levees that were erected to keep fields from flooding. Within this region, we have been monitoring greenhouse gas exchange of several agricultural sites, a degraded pasture, and two restored wetlands. Of these land use types, restoration of wetlands is of particular interest to Delta managers as these sites attain many of the region's most pressing ecological goals, including improved water quality, increased wildlife habitat, and soil accretion. In our current investigation, we hope to assess if wetland management activities can be implemented to achieve greenhouse gas management goals as well. While we find that the restored wetlands are able to take up and store a substantial amount of carbon via rapid growth rates, they also emit methane; a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO¬2. We are currently in the process of implementing two management activities with the goals of reducing methane emissions and increasing carbon uptake. Evidence from the wetland literature indicates that periodic lowering of the water table below the soil surface can reduce wetland methane emissions by: 1. Reintroducing oxygen into the soil column. This both supports growth of the methanotrophic bacteria that consume methane produced in the anaerobic zones of the soil column, and suppresses the methanogens that produce it. 2. Re-oxidization of formerly reduced compounds in the soil, (i.e. NO3-, SO42-) which can serve as alternative terminal electron acceptors of the decomposition byproducts (i.e. H2 and acetate) that lead to methane formation. Under these conditions, it becomes more energetically favorable for alternative chemical transformations to occur in which CO2 and not CH4¬ is released. A second management activity would be implemented to see if wetland carbon uptake could be increased. As wetlands mature, perennial wetland vegetation often develops a significant thatch layer which can reduce photosynthesis of growing shoots by blocking radiation from leaf surfaces. Here we propose to remove the stalks of established vegetation. This would serve two goals: 1. Decomposing vegetation would be incorporated into the soil, leading to soil accretion, and 2. Thatch removal would liberate fledgling shoots, potentially increasing carbon uptake through subsequent seasons. A third investigation would compare CO2 and CH4 fluxes at an existing tower atop low salinity sediments with a new tower where site salinity is relatively high. This effort would inform new site selection efforts for wetland restoration projects. Sites located closer to the San Francisco Bay Area are tidally-influenced, and therefore have higher salinity than the impounded freshwater systems of our current study within the Delta region.

  2. Using Social Listening Data to Monitor Misuse and Nonmedical Use of Bupropion: A Content Analysis.

    PubMed

    Anderson, Laurie S; Bell, Heidi G; Gilbert, Michael; Davidson, Julie E; Winter, Christina; Barratt, Monica J; Win, Beta; Painter, Jeffery L; Menone, Christopher; Sayegh, Jonathan; Dasgupta, Nabarun

    2017-02-01

    The nonmedical use of pharmaceutical products has become a significant public health concern. Traditionally, the evaluation of nonmedical use has focused on controlled substances with addiction risk. Currently, there is no effective means of evaluating the nonmedical use of noncontrolled antidepressants. Social listening, in the context of public health sometimes called infodemiology or infoveillance, is the process of identifying and assessing what is being said about a company, product, brand, or individual, within forms of electronic interactive media. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine whether content analysis of social listening data could be utilized to identify posts discussing potential misuse or nonmedical use of bupropion and two comparators, amitriptyline and venlafaxine, and (2) to describe and characterize these posts. Social listening was performed on all publicly available posts cumulative through July 29, 2015, from two harm-reduction Web forums, Bluelight and Opiophile, which mentioned the study drugs. The acquired data were stripped of personally identifiable identification (PII). A set of generic, brand, and vernacular product names was used to identify product references in posts. Posts were obtained using natural language processing tools to identify vernacular references to drug misuse-related Preferred Terms from the English Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) version 18 terminology. Posts were reviewed manually by coders, who extracted relevant details. A total of 7756 references to at least one of the study antidepressants were identified within posts gathered for this study. Of these posts, 668 (8.61%, 668/7756) referenced misuse or nonmedical use of the drug, with bupropion accounting for 438 (65.6%, 438/668). Of the 668 posts, nonmedical use was discouraged by 40.6% (178/438), 22% (22/100), and 18.5% (24/130) and encouraged by 12.3% (54/438), 10% (10/100), and 10.8% (14/130) for bupropion, amitriptyline, and venlafaxine, respectively. The most commonly reported desired effects were similar to stimulants with bupropion, sedatives with amitriptyline, and dissociatives with venlafaxine. The nasal route of administration was most frequently reported for bupropion, whereas the oral route was most frequently reported for amitriptyline and venlafaxine. Bupropion and venlafaxine were most commonly procured from health care providers, whereas amitriptyline was most commonly obtained or stolen from a third party. The Fleiss kappa for interrater agreement among 20 items with 7 categorical response options evaluated by all 11 raters was 0.448 (95% CI 0.421-0.457). Social listening, conducted in collaboration with harm-reduction Web forums, offers a valuable new data source that can be used for monitoring nonmedical use of antidepressants. Additional work on the capabilities of social listening will help further delineate the benefits and limitations of this rapidly evolving data source. ©Laurie Anderson, Heidi G Bell, Michael Gilbert, Julie E Davidson, Christina Winter, Monica J Barratt, Beta Win, Jeffery L Painter, Christopher Menone, Jonathan Sayegh, Nabarun Dasgupta. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 01.02.2017.

  3. Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Portree, David S. F.; Trevino, Robert C.

    1997-01-01

    Spacewalkers enjoy a view of Earth once reserved for Apollo, Zeus, and other denizens of Mt. Olympus. During humanity's first extravehicular activity (EVA), Alexei Leonov floated above Gibraltar, the rock ancient seafarers saw as the gateway to the great unknown Atlantic. The symbolism was clear, Leonov stepped past a new Gibraltar when he stepped into space. More than 32 years and 154 EVAs later, Jerry Linenger conducted an EVA with Vladimir Tsibliyev as part of International Space Station Phase 1. They floated together above Gibraltar. Today the symbolism has new meaning: humanity is starting to think of stepping out of Earth orbit, space travel's new Gibraltar, and perhaps obtaining a new olympian view, a close-up look at Olympus Mons on Mars. Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology chronicles the 154 EVAs conducted from March 1965 to April 1997. It is intended to make clear the crucial role played by EVA in the history of spaceflight, as well as to chronicle the large body of EVA "lessons learned." Russia and the U.S. define EVA differently. Russian cosmonauts are said to perform EVA any time they are in vacuum in a space suit. A U.S. astronaut must have at least his head outside his spacecraft before he is said to perform an EVA. The difference is based in differing spacecraft design philoso- phies. Russian and Soviet spacecraft have always had a specialized airlock through which the EVA cosmonaut egressed, leaving the main habitable volume of the spacecraft pressurized. The U.S. Gemini and Apollo vehicles, on the other hand, depressurized their entire habitable volume for egress. In this document, we apply the Russian definition to Russian EVAS, and the U.S. definition to U.S. EVAS. Thus, for example, Gemini 4 Command Pilot James McDivitt does not share the honor of being first American spacewalker with Ed White, even though he was suited and in vacuum when White stepped out into space. Non-EVA spaceflights are listed in the chronology to provide context and to display the large num- ber of flights in which EVA played a role. This approach also makes apparent significant EVA gaps, for example, the U.S. gap between 1985 and 1991 following the Challenger accident. This NASA History Monograph is an edited extract from an extensive EVA Chronology and Reference Book being produced by the EVA Project Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. The larger work will be published as part of the NASA Formal Series in 1998. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance rendered by Max Ary, Ashot Bakunts, Gert-Jan Bartelds, Frank Cepollina, Andrew Chaikin, Phillip Clark, Richard Fullerton, Steven Glenn, Linda Godwin, Jennifer Green, Greg Harris, Clifford Hess, Jeffrey Hoffman, David Homan, Steven Hopkins, Nicholas Johnson, Eric Jones, Neville Kidger, Joseph Kosmo, Alexei Lebedev, Mark Lee, James LeBlanc, Dmitri Leshchenskii, Jerry Linenger, Igor Lissov, James McBarron, Clay McCullough, Joseph McMann, Story Musgrave, Dennis Newkirk, James Oberg, Joel Powell, Lee Saegesser, Andy Salmon, Glen Swanson, Joseph Tatarewicz, Kathy Thornton, Chris Vandenberg, Charles Vick, Bert Vis, David Woods, Mike Wright, John Young, and Keith Zimmerman. Special thanks to Laurie Buchanan, John Charles, Janet Kovacevich, Joseph Loftus, Sue McDonald, Martha Munies, Colleen Rapp, and Jerry Ross. Any errors remain the responsibility of the authors.

  4. Adapting the Wii Fit Balance Board to Enable Active Video Game Play by Wheelchair Users: User-Centered Design and Usability Evaluation.

    PubMed

    Thirumalai, Mohanraj; Kirkland, William B; Misko, Samuel R; Padalabalanarayanan, Sangeetha; Malone, Laurie A

    2018-03-06

    Active video game (AVG) playing, also known as "exergaming," is increasingly employed to promote physical activity across all age groups. The Wii Fit Balance Board is a popular gaming controller for AVGs and is used in a variety of settings. However, the commercial off-the-shelf (OTS) design poses several limitations. It is inaccessible to wheelchair users, does not support the use of stabilization assistive devices, and requires the ability to shift the center of balance (COB) in all directions to fully engage in game play. The aim of this study was to design an adapted version of the Wii Fit Balance Board to overcome the identified limitations and to evaluate the usability of the newly designed adapted Wii Fit Balance Board in persons with mobility impairments. In a previous study, 16 participants tried the OTS version of the Wii Fit Balance Board. On the basis of observed limitations, a team of engineers developed and adapted the design of the Wii Fit Balance Board, which was then subjected to multiple iterations of user feedback and design tweaks. On design completion, we recruited a new pool of participants with mobility impairments for a larger study. During their first visit, we assessed lower-extremity function using selected mobility tasks from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. During a subsequent session, participants played 2 sets of games on both the OTS and adapted versions of the Wii Fit Balance Board. Order of controller version played first was randomized. After participants played each version, we administered the System Usability Scale (SUS) to examine the participants' perceived usability. The adapted version of the Wii Fit Balance Board resulting from the user-centered design approach met the needs of a variety of users. The adapted controller (1) allowed manual wheelchair users to engage in game play, which was previously not possible; (2) included Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant handrails as part of the controller, enabling stable and safe game play; and (3) included a sensitivity control feature, allowing users to fine-tune the controller to match the users' range of COB motion. More than half the sample could not use the OTS version of the Wii Fit Balance Board, while all participants were able to use the adapted version. All participants rated the adapted Wii Fit Balance Board at a minimum as "good," while those who could not use the OTS Wii Fit Balance Board rated the adapted Wii Fit Balance Board as "excellent." We found a significant negative correlation between lower-extremity function and differences between OTS and adapted SUS scores, indicating that as lower-extremity function decreased, participants perceived the adapted Wii Fit Balance Board as more usable. This study demonstrated a successful adaptation of a widely used AVG controller. The adapted controller's potential to increase physical activity levels among people with mobility impairments will be evaluated in a subsequent trial. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02994199; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02994199 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6xWTyiJWf). ©Mohanraj Thirumalai, William B Kirkland, Samuel R Misko, Sangeetha Padalabalanarayanan, Laurie A Malone. Originally published in JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology (http://rehab.jmir.org), 06.03.2018.

  5. Obituary: Charles Latif Hyder, 1930-2004

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    White, Oran Richard

    2004-12-01

    My friend and colleague, Charles Hyder, was a true physicist with a sound intuitive grasp of fundamentals in modern physics and the underlying mathematics. I admired his knowledge of the history of modern physics and quantum mechanics when we discussed contemporary problems in interpreting solar observations. He had the ability to present his ideas clearly and persuasively to both students and his colleagues. His insatiable curiosity about life in general led him to consider the effects of nuclear weapons development on the human race. Appreciation of the biological effects of radioactive materials produced in the course of weapons and power reactor development led him to a more public career beyond traditional research. Charles Hyder was born April 18, 1930 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He graduated from Albuquerque High School and served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He received a BS and MS in physics from the University of New Mexico (1958, 1960) and a PhD in astrogeophysics at the University of Colorado (1964). His positions included the Department of Astronomy and Institute of Geophysics at UCLA (1964-65), Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory (1965-1970) and the Goddard Space Flight Center (1970-1977). He also taught at the University of New Mexico (1970-1977) and was active on the Solar Maximum Mission science team (1970-1977, 1980-1984). He was married twice with both marriages ending in divorce. He and his first wife Ann had three children (Paul, Roxanne and Querida) and he and his second wife Laurie had a son Niels. Charles Hyder's professional career in solar physics began in 1961 during his graduate studies at the Department of AstroGeophysics of the University of Colorado and continued until 1983 when he chose to follow his convictions to expose the threat of nuclear proliferation. His early research was in the study of the quantum mechanics of polarized light produced in the presence of magnetic fields. Application of this work to interpretation of solar spectra was a basic theme in fifty-one papers published between 1963 and 1983. Charles' interest in solar prominences and flares led him to study the physics of in-falling plasma in solar active regions and the production of the so-called "two ribbon" flares associated with active region prominences. His final work in solar physics was done on the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) in collaboration with colleagues at Goddard Space Flight Center and Marshall Space Flight Center. After 1983, Charles' devoted his full energy to exposing the threat of nuclear weapons and reactor by-products in the biosphere. His was a very public crusade with a seven month fast in Lafayette Park, Washington D.C. and a vigorous opposition to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) at Carlsbad, New Mexico. His analysis emphasized the need to understand convection of "hot" containers of radioactive waste in the WIPP salt bed. He concluded that the containers would eventually emerge at the surface and be a biological threat. His greatest fear was that dispersal of plutonium in small amounts worldwide was inevitably leading to biological mutation and destruction of life as we know it. We all remember his imposing stature and the strength of his arguments in discussions of life, physics, and the dangers of radioactive materials dispersed on the Earth. He led an unconventional life where he truly reveled in learning and earnestly worked to make a difference.

  6. Application of Behavior Change Techniques in a Personalized Nutrition Electronic Health Intervention Study: Protocol for the Web-Based Food4Me Randomized Controlled Trial.

    PubMed

    Macready, Anna L; Fallaize, Rosalind; Butler, Laurie T; Ellis, Judi A; Kuznesof, Sharron; Frewer, Lynn J; Celis-Morales, Carlos; Livingstone, Katherine M; Araújo-Soares, Vera; Fischer, Arnout Rh; Stewart-Knox, Barbara J; Mathers, John C; Lovegrove, Julie A

    2018-04-09

    To determine the efficacy of behavior change techniques applied in dietary and physical activity intervention studies, it is first necessary to record and describe techniques that have been used during such interventions. Published frameworks used in dietary and smoking cessation interventions undergo continuous development, and most are not adapted for Web-based delivery. The Food4Me study (N=1607) provided the opportunity to use existing frameworks to describe standardized Web-based techniques employed in a large-scale, internet-based intervention to change dietary behavior and physical activity. The aims of this study were (1) to describe techniques embedded in the Food4Me study design and explain the selection rationale and (2) to demonstrate the use of behavior change technique taxonomies, develop standard operating procedures for training, and identify strengths and limitations of the Food4Me framework that will inform its use in future studies. The 6-month randomized controlled trial took place simultaneously in seven European countries, with participants receiving one of four levels of personalized advice (generalized, intake-based, intake+phenotype-based, and intake+phenotype+gene-based). A three-phase approach was taken: (1) existing taxonomies were reviewed and techniques were identified a priori for possible inclusion in the Food4Me study, (2) a standard operating procedure was developed to maintain consistency in the use of methods and techniques across research centers, and (3) the Food4Me behavior change technique framework was reviewed and updated post intervention. An analysis of excluded techniques was also conducted. Of 46 techniques identified a priori as being applicable to Food4Me, 17 were embedded in the intervention design; 11 were from a dietary taxonomy, and 6 from a smoking cessation taxonomy. In addition, the four-category smoking cessation framework structure was adopted for clarity of communication. Smoking cessation texts were adapted for dietary use where necessary. A posteriori, a further 9 techniques were included. Examination of excluded items highlighted the distinction between techniques considered appropriate for face-to-face versus internet-based delivery. The use of existing taxonomies facilitated the description and standardization of techniques used in Food4Me. We recommend that for complex studies of this nature, technique analysis should be conducted a priori to develop standardized procedures and training and reviewed a posteriori to audit the techniques actually adopted. The present framework description makes a valuable contribution to future systematic reviews and meta-analyses that explore technique efficacy and underlying psychological constructs. This was a novel application of the behavior change taxonomies and was the first internet-based personalized nutrition intervention to use such a framework remotely. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01530139; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01530139 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6y8XYUft1). ©Anna L Macready, Rosalind Fallaize, Laurie T Butler, Judi A Ellis, Sharron Kuznesof, Lynn J Frewer, Carlos Celis-Morales, Katherine M Livingstone, Vera Araújo-Soares, Arnout RH Fischer, Barbara J Stewart-Knox, John C Mathers, Julie A Lovegrove. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 09.04.2018.

  7. Ozonolysis of a series of biogenic organic volatile compounds and secondary organic aerosol formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bernard, François; Quilgars, Alain; Cazaunau, Mathieu; Grosselin, Benoît.; Daele, Véronique; Mellouki, Abdelwahid; Winterhalter, Richard; Moortgat, Geert K.

    2010-05-01

    Secondary organic aerosols are formed via nucleation of atmospheric organic vapours on pre-existing particles observed in various rural environments where the organic fraction represents the major part of the observed nano-particle (Kavouras and Stephanou, 2002; Kulmala et al., 2004a). However, nucleation of organic vapors appears to be unlikely thermodynamically in relevant atmospheric conditions (Kulmala et al., 2004b). In this work, a systematic study has been conducted to investigate the aerosol formation through the ozonolysis of a series of monotepenes using a newly developed aerosol flow reactor and the ICARE indoor simulation chamber. The nucleation thresholds have been determined for SOA formed through the reaction of ozone with a-Pinene, sabinene, myrcene and limonene in absence of any observable existing particles. The measurements were performed using the flow reactor combined to a particle counter (CPC 3022). Number concentrations of SOA have been measured for different concentration of consumed monoterpenes. The data obtained allow us to estimate the nucleation threshold for a range of 0.2 - 45 ppb of consumed monoterpenes. The nucleation threshold values obtained here (≤ 1 ppb of the consumed monoterpenes) have been found to be lower than the previously reported ones (Berndt et al., 2003; Bonn and Moortgat, 2003; Koch et al., 2000; Lee and Kamens, 2005). The ICARE simulation chamber has been used to study the mechanism of the reaction of ozone with various acyclic terpenes (myrcene, ocimene, linalool and a-farnesene) and to derive the SOA mass formation yield. The time-concentration profiles of reactants and products in gas-phase were obtained using in-situ Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. In addition, the number and mass concentrations of SOA have been monitored with a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. The chemical composition of the SOA formed has been tentatively characterised using Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry. The results obtained will be compared with those from the literature when available and discussed in terms of their atmospheric impact. Berndt, T., O. Böge and F. Stratmann (2003). Gas-phase ozonolysis of a-pinene: gaseous products and particle formation. Atmospheric Environment, 37: 3933-3945. Bonn, B. and G.K. Moortgat (2003). Sesquiterpene ozonolysis: Origin of atmospheric new particle formation from biogenic hydrocarbons. Journal of Geophysical Research, 30(11). Kavouras, I. and E.G. Stephanou (2002). Direct evidence of atmospheric secondary organic aerosol formation in forest atmosphere through heteromolecular nucleation. Environmental Science and Technology, 36: 5083-5091. Koch, S., R. Winterhalter, E. Uherek, A. Kolloff, P. Neeb and G.K. Moortagt (2000). Formation of new particles in the gas-phase ozonolysis of monoterpenes. Atmospheric Environment, 34: 4031-4042. Kulmala, M., V.-M. Kerminen, T. Anttila, A. Laaksonen and C.D. O'Dowd (2004b). Organic aerosol formation via sulphate cluster activation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109(D04205): 1-7. Kulmala, M., H. Vehkamäki, T. Petäjä, M. Dal Maso, A. Lauri, V.-M. Kerminen, W. Birmili and P.H. McMurry (2004a). Formation and growth rates of ultra-fine atmospheric particles: a review of observations. Journal of Aerosol Science, 35: 143-176. Lee, S. and R.M. Kamens (2005). Particle nucleation from the reaction of a-pinene and O3. Atmospheric Environment, 39: 6822-6832.

  8. CME/CNE Article: A Framework of Care in Multiple Sclerosis, Part 1: Updated Disease Classification and Disease-Modifying Therapy Use in Specific Circumstances.

    PubMed

    Newsome, Scott D; Aliotta, Philip J; Bainbridge, Jacquelyn; Bennett, Susan E; Cutter, Gary; Fenton, Kaylan; Lublin, Fred; Northrop, Dorothy; Rintell, David; Walker, Bryan D; Weigel, Megan; Zackowski, Kathleen; Jones, David E

    2016-01-01

    Activity Available Online: To access the article, post-test, and evaluation online, go to http://www.cmscscholar.org. The target audience for this activity is physicians, physician assistants, nursing professionals, and other health-care providers involved in the management of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Apply new information about MS to a comprehensive individualized treatment plan for patients with MSIntegrate the team approach into long-term planning in order to optimize rehabilitation care of patients with MSAccreditation Statement: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), Nurse Practitioner Alternatives (NPA), and Delaware Media Group. The CMSC is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The CMSC designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s) ™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Nurse Practitioner Alternatives (NPA) is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. NPA designates this enduring material for 1.0 Continuing Nursing Education credit. Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP, has served as Nurse Planner for this activity. She has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Disclosures: Francois Bethoux, MD , Editor in Chief of the International Journal of MS Care (IJMSC), has served as Physician Planner for this activity. He has received royalties from Springer Publishing and has received intellectual property rights from Biogen. Laurie Scudder, DNP, NP , has served as Nurse Planner for this activity. She has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Scott D. Newsome, DO, MSCS (author), has served on scientific advisory boards for Biogen, Genentech, Novartis, and Genzyme, and has performed contracted research (institution received funds) for Biogen, Genentech, and Novartis. Philip J. Aliotta, MD, MSHA, CHCQM, FACS (author), has served on speakers' bureaus for Astellas Pharma, Actavis, Augmenix, and Allergan and has performed contracted research for Allergan. Jacquelyn Bainbridge, PharmD (author), has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Susan E. Bennett, PT, DPT, EdD, NCS, MSCS (author), has served on speakers' bureaus for Acorda Therapeutics, Biogen, and Medtronic; has received consulting fees from and performed contracted research for Acorda Therapeutics; and is chair of the Clinical Events Committee at Innovative Technologies. Gary Cutter, PhD (author), has participated on Data and Safety Monitoring Committees for AMO Pharma, Apotek, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, Horizon Pharmaceuticals, Modigenetech/Prolor, Merck, Merck/Pfizer, Opko Biologics, Neuren, Sanofi-Aventis, Reata Pharmaceuticals, Receptos/Celgene, Teva Pharmaceuticals, NHLBI (Protocol Review Committee), and NICHD (OPRU Oversight Committee); has received consulting fees from and/or served on speakers' bureaus and scientific advisory boards for Cerespir, Genzyme, Genentech, Innate Therapeutics, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Klein-Buendel Incorporated, MedImmune, Medday, Nivalis, Novartis, Opexa Therapeutics, Roche, Savara, Somahlution, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Transparency Life Sciences, and TG Therapeutics; and is President of Pythagoras, Inc., a private consulting company located in Birmingham, AL. Kaylan Fenton, CRNP, APNP, MSCN (author), has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Fred Lublin, MD (author), has received consulting fees/fees for non-CME/CE activities from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Biogen, EMD Serono, Novartis, Teva Neuroscience, Actelion, Sanofi/Genzyme, Acorda, Questcor/Mallinckrodt, Roche/Genentech, MedImmune, Osmotica, Xenoport, Receptos/Celgene, Forward Pharma, Akros, TG Therapeutics, AbbVie, Toyama, Amgen, Medday, Atara Biotherapeutics, Polypharma, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Revalesio, Coronado Bioscience, and Bristol-Myers Squibb; has served on speakers' bureaus for Genentech/Roche and Genzyme/Sanofi; has performed contracted research for Acorda, Biogen, Novartis, Teva Neuroscience, Genzyme, Xenoport, and Receptos; is the co-chief editor of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders ; and has an ownership interest in Cognition Pharmaceuticals. Dorothy Northrop, MSW, ACSW (author), has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. David Rintell, EdD (author), has received consulting fees from Novartis and has served as a patient education speaker for Teva Neuroscience. He started as a salaried employee of Sanofi Genzyme in November 2015. Dr. Rintell's work on this project was completed before he became a salaried employee of Sanofi Genzyme. Bryan D. Walker, MHS, PA-C (author), has served on scientific advisory boards for EMD Serono and Sanofi Genzyme and owns stock in Biogen. Megan Weigel, DNP, ARNP-C, MSCN (author), has received consulting fees from Mallinckrodt, Genzyme, and Genentech, and has served on speakers' bureaus for Bayer Corp, Acorda Therapeutics, Teva Neuroscience, Biogen, Mallinckrodt, Genzyme, Novartis, and Pfizer. Kathleen Zackowski, PhD, OTR, MSCS (author), has performed contracted research for Acorda Therapeutics. David E. Jones, MD (author), has received consulting fees from Biogen and Novartis, and has performed contracted research for Biogen. One anonymous peer reviewer for the IJMSC has performed contracted research (institution received funds) for Novartis, Chugai, and Biogen. Another reviewer has received consulting fees and served on speakers' bureaus for Biogen, Sanofi Genzyme, Genentech, EMD Serono, and Novartis. The third reviewer has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Lori Saslow, MS (medical writer), has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. The staff at the IJMSC, CMSC, NPA, and Delaware Media Group who are in a position to influence content have disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Note: Disclosures listed for authors are those applicable at the time of their work on this project and within 12 months previously. Financial relationships for some authors may have changed in the interval between the time of their work on this project and publication of the article. Funding/Support: Funding for the Framework of Care consensus conference was provided by the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, and Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Method of Participation: Release Date: December 1, 2016 Valid for Credit Through: December 1, 2017 In order to receive CME/CNE credit, participants must: Review the CME/CNE information, including learning objectives and author disclosures.Study the educational content.Complete the post-test and evaluation, which are available at http://www.cmscscholar.org. Statements of Credit are awarded upon successful completion of the post-test with a passing score of >70% and the evaluation. There is no fee to participate in this activity. Disclosure of Unlabeled Use: This CME/CNE activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not approved by the FDA. CMSC, NPA, and Delaware Media Group do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications. The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of CMSC, NPA, or Delaware Media Group. Disclaimer: Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any medications, diagnostic procedures, or treatments discussed in this publication should not be used by clinicians or other health-care professionals without first evaluating their patients' conditions, considering possible contraindications or risks, reviewing any applicable manufacturer's product information, and comparing any therapeutic approach with the recommendations of other authorities.

  9. Pions to Quarks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brown, Laurie Mark; Dresden, Max; Hoddeson, Lillian

    2009-01-01

    Part I. Introduction; 1. Pions to quarks: particle physics in the 1950s Laurie M Brown, Max Dresden and Lillian Hoddeson; 2. Particle physics in the early 1950s Chen Ning Yang; 3. An historian's interest in particle physics J. L. Heilbron; Part II. Particle discoveries in cosmic rays; 4. Cosmic-ray cloud-chamber contributions to the discovery of the strange particles in the decade 1947-1957 George D. Rochester; 5. Cosmic-ray work with emulsions in the 1940s and 1950s Donald H. Perkins; Part III. High-energy nuclear physics; Learning about nucleon resonances with pion photoproduction Robert L. Walker; 7. A personal view of nucleon structure as revealed by electron scattering Robert Hofstadter; 8. Comments on electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon Robert G. Sachs and Kameshwar C. Wali; Part IV. The new laboratory; 9. The making of an accelerator physicist Matthew Sands; 10. Accelerator design and construction in the 1950s John P. Blewett; 11. Early history of the Cosmotron and AGS Ernest D. Courant; 12. Panel on accelerators and detectors in the 1950s Lawrence W. Jones, Luis W. Alvarez, Ugo Amaldi, Robert Hofstadter, Donald W. Kerst, Robert R. Wilson; 13. Accelerators and the Midwestern Universities Research Association in the 1950s Donald W. Kerst; 14. Bubbles, sparks and the postwar laboratory Peter Galison; 15. Development of the discharge (spark) chamber in Japan in the 1950s Shuji Fukui; 16. Early work at the Bevatron: a personal account Gerson Goldhaber; 17. The discovery of the antiproton Owen Chamberlain; 18. On the antiproton discovery Oreste Piccioni; Part V. The Strange Particles; 19. The hydrogen bubble chamber and the strange resonances Luis W. Alvarez; 20. A particular view of particle physics in the fifties Jack Steinberger; 21. Strange particles William Chinowsky; 22. Strange particles: production by Cosmotron beams as observed in diffusion cloud chambers William B. Fowler; 23. From the 1940s into the 1950s Abraham Pais; Part VI. Detection of the neutrino Frederick Reines; 25. Recollections on the establishment of the weak-interaction notion Bruno M. Pontecorvo; 26. Symmetry and conservation laws in particle physics in the fifties Louis Michel; 27. A connection between the strong and weak interactions Sam B. Treiman; Part VII. Weak interactions and parity nonconservation; 29. The nondiscovery of parity nonconservation Allan Franklin; 30. K-meson decays and parity violation Richard H. Dalitz; 31. An Experimentalist's Perspective Val L. Fitch; 32. The early experiments leading to the V - A interaction Valentine L. Telegdi; 33. Midcentury adventures in particles physics E. C. G. Sudarshan; Part VIII. The particle physics community; 34. The postwar political economy of high-energy physics Robert Seidel; 35. The history of CERN during the early 1950s Edoardo Amaldi; 36. Arguments pro and contra the European laboratory in the participating countries Armin Hermann; 37. Physics and excellences of the life it brings Abdus Salam; 38. Social aspects of Japanese particle physics in the 1950s Michiji Konuma; Part IX. Theories of hadrons; 39. The early S-matrix theory and its propagation (1942-1952) Helmut Rechenberg; 40. From field theory to phenomenology: the history of dispersion relations Andy Pickering; 41. Particles as S-matrix poles: hadron democracy Geoffrey F. Chew; 42. The general theory of quantised fields in the 1950s Arthur S. Wrightman; 43. The classification and structure of hadrons Yuval Ne'eman; 44. Gauge principle, vector-meson dominance and spontaneous symmetry breaking Yoichiro Nambu; Part X. Personal overviews; 45. Scientific impact of the first decade of the Rochester conferences (1950-1960) Robert E. Marshak; 46. Some reflections on the history of particle physics in the 1950s Silvan S. Schweber; 47. Progress in elementary particle theory 1950-1964 Murray Gell-Mann.

  10. Usable Translational Hand Controllers for NASA's Habitability Design Center

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Westbrook, Kimberly

    2016-01-01

    This summer I was given the opportunity to work at the Habitability Design Center (HDC). NASA Johnson Space Center's HDC is currently developing Cislunar and Mars spacecraft mockups. I contributed to this effort by designing from scratch low cost, functional translational hand controllers (THCs) that will be used in spacecraft mission simulation in low to medium fidelity exploration spacecraft mockups. This project fell under the category of mechatronics, a combination of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. Being an aerospace engineering student, I was out of my comfort zone. And that was a wonderful thing. The autonomy that my mentor, Dr. Robert Howard, allowed me gave me the opportunity to learn by trying, failing, and trying again. This project was not only a professional success for me, but a significant learning experience. I appreciated the freedom that I had to take the time to learn new things for myself rather than blindly follow instructions. I was the sole person working on this project, and was required to work independently to solve the many hardware and software challenges that the project entailed. I researched THCs that have been used on the ISS, the Space Shuttle, and the Orion MPVC and based my design off of these. I worked through many redesigns before finding an optimal configuration of the necessary mechanisms and electrical components for the THC. Once I had a functional hardware design, I dove into the challenge of getting an Arduino Uno, an extremely low cost and easily programmable microcontroller, to behave as a human interface device. The THCs I built needed to be able to integrate to a mission simulation designed by NASA's Graphics and Visualization Lab. This proved to be the most challenging aspect of the project. To accomplish this I learned how to change the firmware of the USB serial converter microcontroller. The process was very complicated as it involved multiple software programs and manual flashing of pins on the Arduino itself. When I successfully achieved the goal I wrote an instructions manual for the process so that the HDC will be able to do this easily in the future for any human interface device they may want to create. I also created a detailed CAD model of my THC design with construction instructions. My THC utilizes three ultrasonic sensors, one for each axis of motion. I wrote a code that stimulates these sensors continuously and feeds back values from each axis ranging from -%100 to %100 of the min/max position in relation to the neutral position of each axis. This was the data that the Graphics and Visualization Lab required to interface with their simulation. I truly enjoyed working in the HDC surrounded by passionate, proactive, and brilliantly creative people. I felt valued and respected as a part of their team. I was given the time and support of my mentor whenever I asked for it. Beyond my positive project experience, I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of many of the extra activities that JSC has to offer. I took Russian Phase One during my lunch break every day and can now read Russian and accomplish basic verbal communication. I was heavily involved with the co-tern music video, which led to numerous incredible experiences and friendships. I saw every facility, attended every lecture, and met everyone that I could. I had coffee with Lauri Hansen. I played on an intern volleyball team at the Gilruth. I traveled to Michoud, Stennis, NOLA, and Big Bend National Park. I had the time of my life and I fell in love with JSC. In the next month I will return to Maryland and start my senior year of my undergraduate degree. As I work through it I will remember that all of the studying I do, all of the concentration I give, and all of the sacrifices that I make for school are so that I can work at a place like JSC where I am proud and excited to go into work every day. This internship was an invaluable experience for me, both professionally and personally.

  11. Formation and growth rates of atmospheric nanoparticles: four years of observations at two West Siberian stations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arshinov, Mikhail Yu.; Belan, Boris D.; Davydov, Denis K.; Kozlov, Artem V.; Arshinova, Victoria

    2015-04-01

    In spite of fact that the first report on the new particle formation (NPF) itself was done by John Aitken more than one century ago (Aitken, 1898), a phenomenon of NPF bursts taken place in the atmosphere was discovered not very long ago. Nevertheless, to date it is known that they may occur quite often in a variety of environments (Kulmala et al., 2004; Hirsikko et al., 2011). Siberia occupies a vast area covered by forests, but the comprehensive data on burst frequency, as well as on formation and growth rates of freshly nucleated particles in this key region are still lacking. Continuous measurements of aerosol size distribution carried out in recent years at two West Siberian stations (TOR-station - 56o28'41"N, 85o03'15"E; Fonovaya Observatory - 56o25'07"N, 84o04'27"E) allowed this gap in data to be filled up. Analysis of the size spectra classified in accordance with criteria proposed by Dal Maso et al. (2005) and Hammed et al. (2007) enabled a conclusion to be drawn that NPF events in Wets Siberia are more often observed during spring (from March to May) and early autumn (secondary frequency peak in September). On average, particle formation bursts took place on 23-28 % of all days. Such a seasonal pattern of the NPF occurrence is very similar to one observed at SMEAR II Station (Hyytiälä, Finland; Dal Maso et al. 2005, 2007). Formation rates (FR) of particles with diameters below 25 nm varied in a wide range from 0.1 to 10 cm-3 s-1. Mean values of FR for the entire period of observations were 1.7 cm-3s-1 (median = 1.13 cm-3 s-1) at TOR-station and 0.88 cm-3 s-1 (median = 0.69 cm-3 s-1) at Fonovaya Observatory. Enhanced values of FR are usually observed from spring to autumn. Mean growth rates of observed at TOR-station and Fonovaya Observatory were 6.5 nm h-1 (median = 5.0 nm h-1) and 8.3 nm h-1 (median = 6.4 nm h-1), respectively. This work was supported by the Branch of Geology, Geophysics and Mining Sciences of RAS (Program No. 5); State contracts of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia No. 14.604.21.0100, (RFMTFIBBB210290) and No. 14.613.21.0013 (RFMEFI61314X0013); and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant No. 14-05-00590). Dal Maso, M., Kulmala, M., Riipinen, I., Wagner, R., Hussein, T., Aalto, P. P., and Lehtinen, K. E. J. (2005). Formation and growth of fresh atmospheric aerosols: eight years of aerosol size distribution data from SMEAR II, Hyytiälä, Finland, Boreal Environ. Res. 10, 323-336. Dal Maso, M., Sogacheva, L., Aalto, P., Riipinen, I., Komppula, M., Tunved, P., Korhonen, L., Suur-uski, V., Hirsikko, A., Kurten, T., Kerminen, V., Lihavainen, H., Viisanen, Y., Hansson, H., and Kulmala, M. (2007). Aerosol size distribution measurements at four Nordic field stations: identification, analysis and trajectories analysis of new particle formation bursts, Tellus B 59, 350-361. Hamed, A., Joutsensaari, J., Mikkonen, S., Sogacheva, L., Dal Maso, M., Kulmala, M., Cavalli F., Fuzzi S., Facchini, M. C., Decesari, S., Mircea, M., Lehtinen, K. E. J., and Laaksonen, A. (2007). Nucleation and growth of new particles in Po Valley, Italy, Atmos. Chem. Phys. 7, 355-376. Hirsikko, A., Nieminen, T., Gagné, S., Lehtipalo, K., Manninen, H. E., Ehn, M., Hõrrak, U., Kerminen, V.-M., Laakso, L., McMurry, P. H., Mirme, A., Mirme, S., Petäjä, T., Tammet, H., Vakkari, V., Vana, M., and Kulmala, M. (2011). Atmospheric ions and nucleation: a review of observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys. 11, 767-798. Kulmala, M., Vehkamäki, H., Petäjä, T., Dal Maso, M., Lauri A., Kerminen, V.-M., Birmili, W., and McMurry, P. H. (2004a) Formation and growth rates of ultrafine atmospheric particles: a review of observations, J. Aerosol Science 35, 143-176.

  12. Bioremediation of a Large Chlorinated Solvent Plume, Dover AFB, DE

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

    Bloom, Aleisa C

    2015-01-01

    Bioremediation of a Large Chlorinated Solvent Plume, Dover AFB, DE Aleisa Bloom, (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA) Robert Lyon (bob.lyon@aecom.com), Laurie Stenberg, and Holly Brown (AECOM, Germantown, Maryland, USA) ABSTRACT: Past disposal practices at Dover Air Force Base (AFB), Delaware, created a large solvent plume called Area 6 (about 1 mile long, 2,000 feet wide, and 345 acres). The main contaminants are PCE, TCE, and their degradation products. The remedy is in-situ accelerated anaerobic bioremediation (AAB). AAB started in 2006 and is focusing on source areas and downgradient plume cores. Direct-push injections occurred in source areas wheremore » contamination is typically between 5 and 20 feet below ground surface. Lower concentration dissolved-phased contamination is present downgradient at 35 and 50 feet below ground surface. Here, permanent injection/extraction wells installed in transects perpendicular to the flow of groundwater are used to apply AAB. The AAB substrate is a mix of sodium lactate, emulsified vegetable oil, and nutrients. After eight years, dissolved contaminant mass within the main 80-acre treatment area has been reduced by over 98 percent. This successful application of AAB has stopped the flux of contaminants to the more distal portions of the plume. While more time is needed for effects to be seen in the distal plume, AAB injections will soon cease, and the remedy will transition to natural attenuation. INTRODUCTION Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Science Division (ORNL) and AECOM (formerly URS Corporation) have successfully implemented in situ accelerated anaerobic bioremediation (AAB) to remediate chlorinated solvent contamination in a large, multi-sourced groundwater plume at Dover Air Force Base (AFB). AAB has resulted in significant reductions of dissolved phase chlorinated solvent concentrations. This plume, called Area 6, was originally over 1 mile in length and over 2,000 feet wide (Figure 1). It originated from at least four separate source areas that comingled in the subsurface to form the large plume. The major contaminants of concern (COCs) are tetrachloroethene (PCE), trichloroethene (TCE), and 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA), which were historically used for degreasing operations in the maintenance of aircraft and support vehicles. Relatively small areas of elevated PCE, TCE, and 1,1,1-TCA were delineated in the shallow portion of the water table aquifer by direct-push groundwater sampling. Focused direct-push AAB treatment occurred in March 2006 at these source areas (Figure 1). Downgradient of the these areas and deeper in the aquifer, AAB treatment was implemented using rows of extraction/injection wells oriented perpendicular to groundwater flow to create multiple reductive zones across the plume cores, defined as areas where more than 1,000 micrograms per liter (ug/L) total solvent concentrations were present. Initial indications of successful degradation were observed within 6 months of starting injections. FIGURE 1. Dover AFB Area 6 plume. This paper describes the AAB implementation and progress of remediation after 8 years of treatment and periodic groundwater monitoring. SITE LITHOLOGY Contamination at the site is limited to the surficial aquifer, which consists of 35 to 50 feet (ft) (11 to 15 meters [m]) of unconsolidated Pleistocene deposits of the Columbia Formation. The Columbia Formation consists of fine to coarse sand with silt and clay lenses and less common gravel lenses. Silts and silty sands are generally encountered to a depth of 10 to 12 ft (3.05 to 3.65 m) below ground surface (bgs) and grade to medium- and coarse-grained sands to a depth of 35 to 50 ft (11 to 15 m) bgs. There is a clay and silt unit (part of the Calvert Formation) below the surficial aquifer that acts as an aquitard to the downward migration of contaminants. The depth to the water table varies across the site but usually ranges from 8 to 15 ft (2.4 to 4.5 m) bgs in the treatment area. REMEDIAL APPROACH AND OPERATIONS Because the Columbia Aquifer is used as a source of potable water off base, the remedial goal is to restore the aquifer to usable condition, i.e., reduce all chemicals of concern to below drinking water maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). To achieve this goal, AAB was selected as the best remedial alternative to reduce the solvent contamination. Source areas with high solvent concentrations were present in the shallow portion of the aquifer. From the source areas, dissolved solvents migrated downgradient and deeper in the aquifer with the flow of groundwater. In the deeper portion of the aquifer, the individual plumes comingle to form the larger Area 6 Plume, which covers approximately 345 acres. Types of Substrate. Previous AAB pilot tests at Dover AFB used either sodium lactate or emulsified vegetable oil (EVO) as substrates to stimulate microbial growth. The best results were obtained with...« less

  13. Obituary: Edmond M. Reeves, 1934-2008

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noyes, Robert; Parkinson, William

    2009-01-01

    With great sadness we report that Edmond (Ed) M. Reeves, a former leader of solar space research projects at Harvard College Observatory [HCO] and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics [CfA], died on 8 August 2008, in Arlington, Virginia, after a long and heroic struggle with cancer. Ed was born in London, Ontario, Canada, on 14 January 1934. During his undergraduate and graduate years at the University of Western Ontario [UWO], he was in the Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve) as a Cadet (1952-1956), then as Instructing Officer, HMCS Prevost (1956-1959), and Lieutenant, Royal Canadian Navy (Reserve) retired. He received a Ph.D. in 1959 from the UWO, specializing in atomic and molecular physics. After two years of postdoctoral research in ultraviolet atomic spectroscopy at the Department of Physics, Imperial College, London, England, Ed joined the HCO Solar Satellite project, working with Leo Goldberg, Director of HCO, and pioneer in solar spectroscopy. In 1968, Ed was appointed Senior Research Associate at HCO, and in 1973 he received a joint appointment as Physicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory [SAO] when the CfA was initiated under George Field. During his seventeen years at the Observatory, Ed led a large and vibrant group of engineers and scientists in the Solar Satellite Project, developing a series of space missions to explore the extreme ultraviolet emission from the Sun. Ed also maintained his interest and research in laboratory atomic and molecular astrophysics and enjoyed a vigorous involvement in the HCO Shock Tube Laboratory. In the early 1960s, in the area of molecular spectroscopy, Ed and Bill Parkinson photographed the vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectrum of CO (the Fourth Positive system), which was produced at high temperature in a shock tube. This laboratory spectrum shortly led to the discovery of CO as an important source of opacity in the solar ultraviolet. Goldberg, who first identified CO vibration-rotation bands in the infrared solar spectrum in 1951, recognized at around 180 nm the prominent CO features in the shock tube spectra and in the solar spectra. The identification was confirmed by comparing the high-temperature laboratory spectra with published solar spectra taken by the Naval Research Laboratory with a rocket-borne spectrograph. Ed's work for the Solar Satellite Project included planning and carrying out laboratory, Vacuum UV absolute-intensity calibrations of the early rocket and satellite spectrometers. He set the requirement that the solar spectroscopic instruments have radiometric calibrations in the Vacuum UV, traceable to a laboratory standard. The space missions began with rocket experiments in the early 1960s, progressed to the Orbiting Solar Observatory [OSO] program in the mid-1960s, and culminated in the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectroheliometer on the Apollo Telescope Mount [ATM] of the Skylab missions in 1973 and 1974. Ed received NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1974. This sequence of space instruments laid much of the early groundwork for our current understanding of the outer solar atmosphere. For example, the OSO observations revealed for the first time coronal "holes," which we now know are the seat of the fast solar wind. Another experiment of particular interest and importance to solar physics resulted from the launch of a rocket-borne objective grating spectrograph into the path of totality of a solar eclipse from Wallops Island, Virginia, on 7 March 1970. This lucky "rocket group" included Ralph Nicholls from York University, Canada; Reg Garton and Bob Speer from Imperial College, London; Bob Wilson, then from Culham in the UK; and, of course, Leo Goldberg and colleagues from HCO, a group made up of mentors, advisors, teachers, and friends of Ed's. The eclipse spectrogram revealed strong emission from neutral hydrogen (Lyman-alpha) in the solar corona. The discovery of the Lyman-alpha corona inspired the project for a Lyman-alpha coronagraph. At a Retirement Symposium dedicated to Ralph Nicholls in 1992, Ed recalled that at a coffee break about twenty years earlier, during the Skylab program at Houston, he, Bob Noyes, and Bob MacQueen outlined the need to develop a rocket-borne coronagraph to observe the hydrogen Lyman-alpha corona. Later, after returning to the CfA, Ed, Bob Noyes, and Bill Parkinson planned a rocket-borne spectrograph to image the extended corona, expecting to use a circular occulter. John Kohl joined the fledgling coronagraph project, and he realized that a linear external occulter would be better and also would match a spectrometer slit. This project became the origin of the Lyman-Alpha Coronagraph series of rocket and Spacelab experiments under John Kohl's leadership, culminating in the still-operating Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer [UVCS] experiment on the SOHO spacecraft. In 1978, Ed joined the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, where he was Head of Administration and Support before moving to NASA Headquarters in 1982. There he became Director of the Flight Systems Office in the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications, with responsibility for integrated planning and science operations for research using the Spacelab, Spacehab, and Mir missions. He led the activities for the research requirements and planning for the International Space Station and served as the Space Station Senior Scientist, the Executive Secretary of the Space Station Utilization Advisory Subcommittee, and the Executive Secretary of the Space Station Utilization Board at NASA Headquarters He also served as NASA's representative to the international Users Operations Panel, which coordinates the utilization planning for the Station across the international partners. Ed retired from NASA in 1998. Ed was an outdoors man who enjoyed camping, canoeing, and cross-country skiing with his family. He is survived by his wife Vivian, son Dr. Geoffrey Reeves, daughter Laurie Webster, and three grandchildren. Ed's son Geoff is Group Leader for Space Science and Atmospheric Science at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. A funeral service took place on Friday, 15 August at The Falls Church, Falls Church, Virginia.

  14. BOOK REVIEW: Quantum Generations. A history of physics in the twentieth century

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brown, Neil

    2000-03-01

    Physics has a long history, but more physics has been discovered in the twentieth century than in all previous eras together. That in itself would be a sufficient justification for a history of physics in the twentieth century, but the end of the previous century also marked a discontinuity, from Newtonian classical physics to relativity and quantum mechanics. If any single event marks the start of the process it is the discovery of x-rays in 1895, and Kragh's century spans from about 1895 to about 1995. It is, of course, too much for a single volume, even a large one, and Kragh recognizes from the outset that he has to be selective and concentrate on those subjects that define twentieth-century physics. For the early part of the century the author relies on carefully chosen secondary sources, to avoid the near-impossible task of absorbing a multitude of original papers. The recent period is more difficult, and the sources are articles, reviews, and the recollections of physicists. The book is in three main sections, roughly to the end of World War I, to the end of World War II, and up to 1995, plus a retrospective summary. It deals with more than just discoveries in physics, looking also at physicists and institutions, and at their interactions with the rest of society. The broad outlines of many discoveries are often known to physicists who have no special interest in history, and Kragh is careful to point out where these conventional accounts are inadequate. The first chapters set the scene at the end of the nineteenth century, acknowledging that there was a belief that all the grand underlying principles had been established, but also pointing out that there was a ferment of attempts to reinterpret physics in terms of concepts like vortices and hyperspaces. The history begins with the mould-breaking discoveries of x-rays, radioactivity and the electron. The chapters that follow look at theories about atomic structure, and at quantum physics, relativity and superconductivity, plus a glance at some practical applications of physics such as the beginnings of electronics. The interwar and World War II themes are quantum mechanics, the physics of the nucleus, the discovery of more fundamental particles and atomic fission, including the Manhattan project and nuclear weapons. Post World War II themes include nuclear physics and nuclear energy, particle physics, fundamental theories, solid-state physics, and some engineering physics - transistors, lasers and fibre optics. To show that physics is not a linear and uninterrupted process some unsuccessful ideas are included such as the concept of electromagnetic mass. As fascinating as the physics is the development of the physics community. At the beginning of the century physics research was largely a European activity and Germany was the leading nation. Kragh, based at the University of Aarhus, in Denmark, is better placed than most historians writing in English to produce an even-handed account. He is also well placed to chronicle the role of the man who features so prominently in the middle period: Niels Bohr. It was not only Bohr's own work, but also the focus provided by his Copenhagen Institute for so many other contributions to atomic physics. At the beginning of the century scientists considered themselves a supranational group. That illusion was shattered by World War I, when scientists showed themselves to be no less nationalistic than other groups. The ostracism suffered by German scientists after the war is something we ought to be more aware of. In part because science became a substitute for the political and military power much good work was done in Germany, at least until the Nazi regime began to sack non-Aryan scientists. As is well known, the loss of talent was enormous, and much of it went to America, which became the world power in physics as in so much else. The major role played by physicists in World War II, most obviously in the atomic bomb project, the largest research project ever undertaken, is discussed. Since World War II support from governments for physics has increased enormously, but the fortunes of many physicists have remained entwined with the military establishment and many others now work within megaprojects such as CERN. At the end of the century the numbers of physicists and of papers published have grown a hundred-fold, and funding by an even larger factor. Other aspects have changed less. Physics is still male-dominated and largely a North American and European enterprise. Latterly there has been some reduction in support. Physics, along with the rest of science, has also been under attack for the problems it has created. The beginning of the twenty-first century promises to be as interesting for physics as recent decades have been. Comparison with the other recent work in this field, the three-volume Twentieth Century Physics edited by Laurie Brown, Abraham Pais and Brian Pippard (Institute of Physics Publishing and American Institute of Physics Press, 1995), is unavoidable. They fill different niches. Twentieth Century Physics is a massive and expensive work by some 30 leading physicists, destined mainly for the shelves of academic libraries. Quantum Generations is a book by a professional historian covering much of the same physics, albeit more briefly, but written with a broader sweep that takes in more of the political and cultural milieu within which the physicists worked. References are given sparingly so as not to break up the text, but there are suggestions for further reading for each chapter, and there is an extensive bibliography. It is not a book for those with no background at all in physics - there are too many equations of nuclear reactions for that, and in any case such a book would be a superficial thing. Even many physicists will find some of the more esoteric ideas, such as the grand unified theories and superstring theory, heavy going. It is, however, accessible to a wide readership, and a book that can be read for the broad story, not just dipped into for specific details. It is likely to become the standard historical introduction to the history of physics in the twentieth century for scientists and historians, not to be superseded until well into the twenty-first century when the consequences of work that is still recent can be seen more clearly.

  15. hwhap_Ep37 Human vs Machine

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2018-03-23

    Gary Jordan (Host): Houston, We Have A Podcast! Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Episode 37, Human Versus Machine. I'm Gary Jordan, and I'll be your host today. So, on this podcast, we bring in the experts, NASA scientists, engineers, astronauts, sometimes some of our partners, we bring them right here on the show, and tell you all the cool stuff about NASA. So today we're talking about how NASA is looking at how astronauts work with computers with Kritina Holden, she goes by Tina. She's a Human Factors Technical Fellow with Leidos here at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. We had a great discussion about research being done on the International Space Station that tests an astronaut's ability to use computers and tablets in their day-to-day tasks, and what needs to be done to ensure success in their use for future missions that send them deeper into space. So, with no further delay, let's go light speed and jump right ahead to our talk with Dr. Kritina Holden. Enjoy! [ Music & Radio Transmissions ] Host: Well, Tina, thanks for coming on the show today. This is -- this is a very interesting topic because it's about the way humans are interacting with basically computers, with tablets, and you wouldn't normally think that that's an issue, right? You think, oh, I can play with my phone, I can play with a tablet, obviously, astronauts can do it on board, but there's more to that story, right? Kritina Holden: That's right! First of all, thanks for having me, I'm happy to be here. The crew do use tablets everyday on the ISS, so it is a very common thing, and they use it to provide additional information, reference information, they use it for personal use, recreation. The tablets haven't really been used for critical operations yet, and we haven't really measured performance with the tablets yet. So while we know they're able to complete task, we don't know a lot about how quickly they're completing task with the tablets or how many mistakes they're making, that sort of thing. That's why we're really interested in making sure these are good devices so that they can be used for future critical operations. Host: So basically the studies that have been conducted so far have been investigating this component, right, just to make sure that this is something that can work, but beyond that, how efficiently it works, how -- how much you're going to go into it, that still needs to kind of be determined? Kritina Holden: Exactly. That's been the focus of a lot of our research over the last couple of years, making sure that crew members will be able to accurately interact with computer-based devices, like touch screens or gesture devices. Host: Okay, and let's just dive into it, right, because you -- you've done quite -- you have quite an extensive career based on studying this exact thing. So, let's just start from the beginning, how did this question come up? Because I'm sure, at some point, we realized, hey, we should probably look into these computers and make sure that astronauts are -- can actually interact with them. Kritina Holden: Exactly. It's -- it's really interesting, in the past, crew have primarily controlled their vehicle by using hundreds of switches. The shuttle had hundreds of switches in the cockpit and dials and knobs and things like that. Now, for the first time, with these new spacecraft under development, crew will be interacting with systems that are primarily computer-based. So the controls are software based rather than all the switches and knobs. So what that means is that you have to have a way to interact with that software-based interface, you have to have a cursor controlled device or you have to have a touchscreen, something like that. We know, from the research that's gone on, that a lot happens to the human body when you're in extended microgravity. But what we don't have a lot of data on is what happens to fine motor performance. So that's the kind of performance that you need to interact accurately with things like touchscreens. So that's why we saw this as something important to really look at, and a key focus of the research is making sure that on a long duration journey, like to Mars, when crew go down to the surface, that they're able to accurately interact with computer-based controls. We know that that gravitational transition that happens between microgravity and being on a planet surface does a lot of things to the human body, they have to adapt to the new G atmosphere. And so, we need to make sure that they're able to accurately use those devices. Host: Okay, so when you say computers, we're talking modern computers and, I guess you could say ever-progressing computers, because we're talking tablets now, but, I mean, who knows, there might be something down the future that we'll need to adapt to, maybe, I don't want to speculate, but, you know, anything really. And we'll have to kind of adjust along the way. So when you're talking about these fine motor skills, and these are the skills, really, that it takes to interact with these computers. What are some examples on earth that -- that you use, what's a -- what's a fine motor skill that you can do, I guess, at your desk or -- or something here on earth? 1G? Kritina Holden: Well, mostly we use fine motor skills every day in the course of our work. Most people interacting, as you mentioned before, with their phone. It has a touchscreen and so you do pointing and dragging and clicking on targets, and so this is something we do every day that people are very practiced at. Again, what we want to know is, does the extended microgravity environment, does it transition to a different gravity effect? How well you're able to interact with devices like that. Host: So it's basic -- so when you say effect, it's mainly -- it's mainly how your brain is interpreting these fine motor skills, making sure that if there is a button on a small screen, that you can click it. If there's a task that requires you to drag from one place to another, that's something that you can accomplish easily. Is that -- is that right? Kritina Holden: Yeah, it's a complex picture. It might be things happening to the brain, you know, crew are going to be affected by radiation, by perhaps CO2 levels, it might also have to do with muscle deterioration. We know that muscles atrophy in long duration, microgravity, so that might have an effect. The eye/hand coordination needed to accurately point at a target, so, these things all play together to make a performance. Host: I see. So it's more like a mix of cognitive performance, making sure your brain can actually understand and do the task, but then also the physical ability, making sure that you're strong enough, or -- or that you have the coordination, okay. Okay. So a nice combination of the two. So those are the main concerns, what were some of the concerns in previous technologies, before -- before we started looking at these new computers, I guess were we investigating the knobs and switches kind of computers? Kritina Holden: A little bit. I think most of the concerns, as I mentioned before, come from the fact that we have a whole new way of working, you know, with these software-based controls. We have a history of space flight in cockpits and aircraft with cockpits that use a lot of buttons and switches, and so, there's been some research done on that, but -- but no big concerns, no big unknowns like we have now. Host: Okay. And that's -- that's why we're doing these investigations. One of the things that you were the principal investigator of was one that was looking at screens during launch. So what's that all about? Kritina Holden: Yeah, so this is very interesting. During the early days of Orion and the design stages, it was discovered that the vibration profiles for this new vehicle would be very different from that of shuttle, and so the question came about, will crew be able to accurately read displays on their monitors during a launch? Because even though in advanced spacecraft, where crew may not have to actually control things, they -- they will mostly be monitoring, they do need to monitor, it's really important that they're able to see the displays during launch. And since we didn't really have any data on that, it was important to do some research in that area. So, luckily, we were funded to do some research through the human research program, and also through the Orion program, to look at what does different vibration levels do? What do different vibration levels do to your ability to read text on a display? It started with some studies at Ames Research Center, they have a vibration facility there, and so they conducted some experiments, they're colleagues of ours, and then we also had an opportunity to do a quick test on the shuttle middeck during a launch where we actually had crew try to read text of different sizes during launch and let us know, what is the smallest size that you can read? And all of these studies together helped us figure out, you know, what are the bounds of performance, what's a recommended font size, and that sort of thing. Host: Woah, during an actual launch? Was it a -- was it a piece of paper or was it a screen that was actually within their view? Kritina Holden: Yeah, ideally, we would have done an actual screen because that's what's, you know, closer to the real thing, but because of safety concerns and such, it was done with paper. So we actually mounted really high fidelity paper displays in front of the middeck crew. So they were reading different lines of text during launch, and then responding on a kneeboard, to -- to which font sizes were most readable. Host: I'm sure they have some -- some interesting descriptions of how that went, because you're holding this -- this kneepad, I guess, in front of you, and everything is shaking so violently, especially from -- from what I've heard about shuttle astronauts, it's very different from a Soyuz launch. Soyuz is a little bit smoother. Shuttle has that extra, little vibration, and -- and is there anything that they've compared it to that -- that can help, I guess me, understand what that vibration environment looks like? Maybe some kind of intense -- I'm imaging a roller coaster ride. Kritina Holden: Maybe so. The vibrations are very different from that experience and other domains, like maybe, you know, there's some research on vibrations in a tractor or military vehicles, things like that, where they've done a lot of research, but the direction of the vibration is very different on spacecraft vehicles. That's why we really have to depend on these vibration facilities. As I mentioned, there's one at Ames and now there's also one at JSC where we can do that kind of research. Host: Okay. So, when -- when you're looking at the screen, and what's -- what's the screen that you're actually looking at? I guess it's -- it's different, I'm imaging a Smartphone, but it's -- the screens that are in spacecraft, especially the Orion, like you're talking about, they're going to be a little bit different, and maybe the displays will display text that's maybe a little bit smaller than we're used to. What's -- what's that look like? What do the screens look like? Kritina Holden: Well, it depends which -- which cockpit you're talking about. You know, I work with Orion, as well as some of the commercial vehicles, and so each vehicle kind of takes a different approach, but one of the big jobs of human factors folks is to make sure that that text is not too small, because it is important that the crew be able to read the text quite easily, without straining from the position that they're sitting. Often, the displays have to be read when they're seated and restrained, and so we need to make sure the text is large enough. Host: So, I'm guessing you're working with the engineers then pretty closely to say, hey, from a human factors perspective, maybe a text size this big would probably be most beneficial, but I guess from their perspective, they want to fit maybe more on -- onto the screen, and say, no, because the screen, basically this display is for this, so, I guess you kind of have those battles, right? Kritina Holden: That is absolutely our daily challenge is making sure we get that -- that correct balance. As much information as the crew would like to see on the display, but not too much so that you can't really read or easily access what you need to locate on the display. Host: The Goldilocks of font sizes. Kritina Holden: Yes, that's right. [Laughter] Host: So what are you finding then? Based on some of the studies that you've done and the vibration environment, how -- how difficult or maybe easy is it for astronauts to reach screens? Kritina Holden: So far, we haven't found a lot of problems. Now, as the program has progressed, they're making changes to the rockets, and everytime they change the rockets, the vibration profile changes. So I believe they're about to do a new set of studies to make sure lateral vibration, which is the new concern, doesn't impact, you know, the ability to read displays. So it's a -- it's a constant investigation as the design changes. Host: I guess that's good, because as these -- as more and more, even, I'm thinking about commercial industries, right, you know, developing their own rockets or maybe a lot of the human factors elements that you're studying right now, lateral vibrations or -- or whatever can be translatable to -- to commercial industries, to designing these screens, and making sure that astronauts can read them. Kritina Holden: Yeah, that's absolutely right, and that's one of the nice things, the way we're set up, the human factors people who support the programs here are often called upon to be subject matter experts for the commercial crew vehicles too. So we can take the lessons learned from Orion and then apply them to the commercial vehicles and development. Host: Have you ever gone in one of the vibration simulators to see what it's like from -- from a principal investigator perspective? And kind of see, firsthand, what -- what -- what some of the test subjects and astronauts are dealing with? Kritina Holden: I've watched it, I have not had the pleasure of riding the vibration chair, yes, I passed on that opportunity. Host: [Laughing] I would definitely want to go! I'm just saying. Okay, so, I guess beyond the looking at the screen, there's -- do you measure actually interacting with the screen, or -- or components beyond just the visual? Kritina Holden: Absolutely. A big part of the work in my career has been on cursor control device design. So, it's been quite interesting, again, at the beginning of the Orion program, we knew that we needed some way to now interact with all of these software-based controls, and you might think first of typical cursor control devices, a mouse, a trackball, something like that, would that work? And so we actually did a lot of research looking at standard commercial devices, like tracks, trackballs, and mice, and different things like that, touchscreens, and working with the program, we were able to put a big database of data together to look at what types of controls provide the best performance. The challenge with Orion is that we needed a device that could be used under vibration, under acceleration in microgravity, and with and without pressurized gloves. So that's a tall order. There are a lot of constraints there, and so you have to think about what type of controls do we need to select, should the device be movable, should it be a fixed design that you can kind of hold onto? A lot of challenges, but we did a lot of research looking at different types of controls and ended up building a custom device for Orion, it's still baseline, and we did a lot of studies on it, we did some studies in a pressurized glovebox to make sure that you could feel and actuate the different controls. If you can imagine a pressurized glove, it's very difficult to feel the buttons beneath your fingers, it's difficult to bend your fingers, to turn things or press different types of controls, so it was very challenging. Host: Wow! I -- I mean, I'm trying to imagine the look of this device, and I'm imagining a joystick, but I think it's got to be more complicated than that. Kritina Holden: It looks quite alien, actually [Gary laughing]. It looks nothing like a joystick, but it's -- it looks kind of like a large mouse with a lot of different buttons. So it's got a rocker switch and a castle switch, and all -- all sorts of switches that, interestingly, came from a lot of inputs we got from crew who were previous pilots for fighter jets and things, and they would say, you know, as we were doing our studies, hey, in my aircraft, this is the kind of control we had and it worked really well and it worked under G, you should consider it. And so we would get in those switches in the lab and do some studies with it to decide if it was a good candidate to be part of that Orion cursor controlled device or not. Host: Alright! Was there -- was there a period of trial and error with some of those commercial devices you were talking about, or just was it more of a consideration phase, and then as you started learning more and understanding, okay, maybe -- maybe custom is the way to go. You went that way? Kritina Holden: Yeah, we did a lot of trial and error or different walkthroughs. We bought a bunch of commercial devices, we had crew come into the lab and put their hands on them, and -- and we gathered feedback from them and talked about pluses and minuses and how would those type of devices work in microgravity? And so it was a line of research that started with things like that and then slowly developed into testing a custom device. Host: So, is there a right-handed and left-handed version, or are they pretty unanimous? Kritina Holden: So for the Orion design, it's meant to be used with the left hand, that's just their particular design. You could -- you could have something similar to be used with the right hand, but this -- this one's been designed for the left hand. Host: Okay, yeah, and you -- and, particularly for the Orion displays, I think they have controls sort of along the border of the screens, and I guess maybe that frees up the right hand to -- to interact with some of those... Kritina Holden: They do, they have edge keys around the screens, and they also have a -- a rotational hand controller, and that's -- that's why they keep their right hand free. And a lot of this work, I have to mention, we worked very closely with the crew interface rapid prototyping lab, and they're the ones that did a lot of this prototyping and a lot of the programming so that we could do the studies. Host: Okay! Alright, so kind of, you just basically threw this interaction with the rapid prototype lab and with astronauts, constant feedback, you developed this great device that's -- that's perfect for what it's going to be used for, and that's during a launch environment, it's going to work with a pressurized glove with all of those constraints that you talked about, I mean, that's a lot of -- a lot of obstacles to work with, quite an -- quite an obstacle course. Kritina Holden: Yeah, we -- we sure hope so! Now, you know, it hasn't been tested actually yet, so this -- this is for Orion, and we haven't done the first manned test yet, so we -- we're very eager to see how it works. Host: Alright, I wish you the best then, for sure! Kritina Holden: Thanks! Host: So, going, I guess past Orion and backing up a little bit to International Space Station, one of the studies you worked on was the fine motor skills, and that was -- that was quite a long study, you want to talk about kind of how that started, and -- and then the purpose of it? Kritina Holden: Sure, sure. This started probably in 2013 or '14, they were soliciting the human research program, solicited for research on the first-ever one year ISS mission. And so we put in a proposal to look at fine motor skills. As I mentioned, we'd been researching cursor control device designs, and what we had discovered is in the course of a lot of that research and developing some cursor control device test batteries, we realized that fine motor performance is a big part of using a cursor control device, and, perhaps, some of the test battery tasks that we had developed could be used specifically to look at fine motor performance. So we wrote a proposal and submitted it, and, happily, we were accepted to be one of the, something like 27 studies, performed as part of the one year mission. And, you know, that had two participants. We had a U.S. and a Russian cosmonaut as our subjects. And so that study completed, but we also supplemented it by having data collection with standard duration crew members as well. So the whole study had the two one-year subjects, and then we have an additional seven standard duration subjects. And our last subject just finished participation in December. And along with the flight subjects, we have ground subjects. So, to find out what performance looks like over the course of a year or six months, on the ground versus in flight, that's why we run the ground subjects, and our final ground subject completes this Friday. So our study will be finished this week, and we're very eager to do the final data analysis. Host: Wow! This is a good -- this is a good time for you! Awesome! Fantastic! Congratulations... Kritina Holden: Thank you! Host: ...to your team for doing it for that long. Wow, so -- so it went through -- so I'm imaging Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, that was -- that was 2015 to 2016, I believe, right? So then you went a couple of increments past that then? Kritina Holden: Right, right. Because we wanted to not only know what happens over the course of a year, but what happens over the course of six months? So maybe we can look at that data to see, you know, does performance stay the same for six months and then degrade for the last six months, or is there any difference at all? Because we want to start looking more and more at longer duration missions to try to extrapolate the results to a future deep space mission, for example. Host: A lot of great data, for sure. So then -- so then, what did they do? What was the fine motor skills study? Kritina Holden: So the study was conducted on an iPad, so, again, we're interested in touchscreens, and -- and that sort of performance. And we were one of the first studies -- first science studies to be done on an iPad on ISS, so that was kind of neat, but it was very much like a set of four different games that they completed. The test battery that they used, the fine motor test battery, consisted of four types of tasks. One is a pointing task, one is a dragging task, one is a shape -- shape-tracing task, and a pinch/rotate task. And we specifically selected these different tasks to look at different aspects of fine motor performance. So the test battery that they interacted with lasted about 15 minutes, as they worked their way through these different tasks, and for half of them, they used their finger, and for half of them they used a stylus, because we also wanted to look at how does accuracy performance in general differ between using a finger or stylus on a touchscreen? Host: Okay. So, huh, that's interesting. So they did that 15 minutes. How often? Several times a week or was it more kind of spread out? Kritina Holden: So, they had four sessions before flight, then that was sort of our baseline data collection phase. They had two sessions within the first week. They had a session once per week for about the first three months, and then every 14 days for the remainder of the mission. And then, post-flight, we had two measures on landing day, and then a measure on return plus 1, 3, 5, 15, and 30. Because we're very interested in what happens to performance when the body goes through that gravitational transition of landing, it's pretty severe, and then how does performance return to normal baseline levels, or does it? Host: Okay, so you have data from the one-year mission, you have it from beyond. Are you starting to get some good data that you kind of have a better understanding of how things are changing in the fine motor skills or is it still really too early? Kritina Holden: We have some initial indications, so, some interesting things we've learned, the first question, you know, does performance differ, does it change across a period of a year in microgravity? We don't actually see a lot of changes, so, the changes that we do see is actually improvement. So the more crew members do the tasks, the better they get, and they continue getting better, at least through half of the mission. So this -- this demonstrates something important, that you can improve skills in microgravity. We were concerned about, you know, finding any derements over the course of a year, we didn't really see that. Now, where we did see big impacts were the first week on orbit and right after landing. So, you might predict that, because, again, the body is going through a lot of changes trying to adapt first to a microgravity environment the first week of flight, and then on landing, your body has to adapt back to the one G of earth, and it's those transitions where we see a big hit to performance. So the first week, and then the first days and weeks following landing, there -- there's a negative impact to performance. Host: That makes sense because it's the most, I guess you could say the most drastic change to the human body. It's -- you're entering a whole new environment when you're launching into the microgravity, and then, again, same thing when you're coming home. Now, all of a sudden, you've got this one G weighing upon you. So, how long did you find that -- that this performance, I guess stuck? When you -- when you saw the performance change, how many days was it, or maybe hours, minutes, until, I guess, things were a little bit back to normal? Kritina Holden: So that's something that we're still refining the analysis on. We've got a few more subjects to add to the database, but, in general, we still see out to R plus 30, we -- we see a little bit of decrement. The big impacts are within probably the first week or so. And the reason this is potentially concerning is, as I mentioned at the beginning, if you're on a long duration voyage, and you go down to the surface, there's probably a lot of things that you're going to need to immediately attend to, whether it's configuring your spacesuit, or, you know, setting up something in the vehicle, safing the vehicle, deploying a robot, setting up a new habitat, there are things that -- that are going to require interaction with a computer, and so it would be good for us to know now if we can expect a lot of errors, a much slower performance during this period, so that we could either, you know, extend the schedule, give them a wait period in the schedule or, perhaps, come up with a countermeasure, a way to mitigate those problems, perhaps, excessive practice right before landing, something like that. Concentrated practice. There's a lot of different ideas that we're kind of playing with now, if this is a real problem, what do we do about it? Host: But, I guess, it's -- you have identified as -- as a concern already, right? Because we're -- we're thinking, let's say we land on Mars, there's this period of time where, oh man, I guess an astronaut might not be able to perform with a computer as we hoped! And that's -- and that's true for -- for a lot of other things, too, even equilibrium, your equilibrium is off, now you're -- you're feeling kind of dizzy and -- and there's a lot of other concerns, even the muscle and bone that, immediately, when astronauts land, even on earth, there's this small period of transition, but on -- on Mars, you're by yourself. You don't have anyone helping you out, so...so that makes sense. And your countermeasures, I guess, that's a good thing to investigate, you want to figure out maybe -- maybe there's something we could to help them, maybe to at least, at the very least, shorten the amount of time that they are going to be experiencing these bad things, because, ultimately, they are going to have to interact with a -- with a computer, they're going to have to open the hatch, they're going to have to open up their tasks lists, and see what the landing procedures are. Man, there's a lot -- there's a lot of implications there. Kritina Holden: Right. And -- and to be fair, in our analysis, as I said, we -- we haven't completed all of the statistics yet, we're still looking at it, so the important thing for us to figure out, the changes that we're seeing, are they practical changes? You know, are they -- they might be statistically significant, but -- but is it a practical change? Is it a big deal? Is it something we really have to worry about? That's what needs a little bit more of our time, to look at the numbers, to look at the performance decrements, to see exactly how bad it is. It may be that for non-critical tasks, it's not a big deal, maybe for critical task it is, that's -- that's still something that we're looking at. Host: So within the test, I guess, how -- you talked about some of the -- some of the gestures they were doing, they were doing a pinch rotate, they were doing a pointing, you got all these different things. How fine were you going? Were you -- were you -- was it -- was it pretty fine to begin with? Did it change over time? Or was it -- what was the, I guess, the fineness of the fine motor study? Fine motor skills? Kritina Holden: So, I'm not sure what you mean by the fineness? Host: So, I guess [pause], let's say you have a -- you have a drag and...or you have the stylus and you got to draw a line. Maybe it's like a really thin line, and you're testing the accuracy within so much distance, or something? How fine were you going? Kritina Holden: So we have pretty much pixel accuracy. Host: Oh, wow! Kritina Holden: We're recording every movement of the stylus or the finger. The software collects all of the response times. Anything that's touched on that touchscreen is recorded. So we have the ability to go back and replay the session to see what it looked like. We can see where they traced and -- and where they missed boundaries. We can calculate how big those deviations are from the actual target. So we have the ability to do a pretty detailed analysis of what they did. Host: So, based on your findings from how -- how well the astronauts could perform with these fine motor skills, is there a consulting phase, I guess, where maybe for designs of -- of any -- something on a tablet or an iPad or whatever, you would help to say, from a human factors perspective, hey, you really can't -- you really can't go that fine, or maybe you should do these sorts of movements, because these sorts of movement are better? Is there like a consulting element to -- to the human factors? Kritina Holden: Yeah, I think we will get to that point in our final recommendations. For example, some of the -- the tasks have smaller targets versus larger targets. It could be that after we do the -- the full analysis, we make a recommendation that, you know, targets of this size or smaller should not be used because after extended microgravity, or after going to the earth's surface after being on a mission, they're not able to touch these -- locate these targets with accuracy, so let's just avoid those target sizes. Host: That makes sense. So, then, is there anything, based on the fine motor skills study, that could be taken towards, I guess earth? Like any kind of fine motor skills applications or situations where something or someone would be in a situation similar to an astronaut where this study would sort of translate? Kritina Holden: Yeah, we think so. As part of this study, you know, we developed this fine motor skills test battery piece of software, and we think that it could be really useful for populations who have trouble with fine motor skills, so that might be people with Parkinson's or brain injuries, things like that, where you see decrements in fine motor performance. We think that this test battery might be a quick, easy tool for them to use for maybe diagnostics or rehabilitation. We have talked to several people in the medical industry who are interested in looking into that with us. Host: Okay! So, I guess going back up to space, you know, beyond earth, thinking about applications maybe towards the future, this fine motor skills study was taken specifically on an iPad in the International Space Station, in the habitable -- inhabitable environment of the station, are -- are there ways to translate some of these findings to maybe other, I guess, maybe into a spacesuit, where fine motor skills are even a little bit tougher, because now you got these big -- these big gloves? Or maybe future spacecraft or maybe -- maybe habitats? You know, another place where this fine motor skills knowledge can -- can be dispersed? Kritina Holden: Yeah, we think it'll be applicable to any sort of control or console where you have to use the fingers and the hand and the arm to perform these very small operations. So anytime you're reaching, touching a control, even on a spacesuit you might have small dials. You know, there's a relationship between the twisting of a small dial and a pinch, rotate action that -- that we have in our test. Similarly, the pointing task is analogous to reaching and -- and pushing a push button. So, again, you know, we've selected these tasks to sort of mimic the kinds of actions that you'd do in a real-world task, and so we believe the results will be useful for other types of interfaces. Host: Yeah, that's great, you can -- you can design an interface with this human factors capability in mind, maybe the buttons need to be this far apart, maybe they need to, I don't know, depending on the screens. I don't know if you guys are working with -- now -- now, going back to technology a little bit, the -- the iPad and tablets and touchscreens is a -- is a sort of technology that we want to investigate, and, like you said, they're using for -- for procedures on the International Space Station, mostly like the regular procedures, but there -- what about future technologies? What about augmented reality? Is there -- is there a fine motor skills where maybe you can point, within your display, you have a certain section you need to point to, and you -- and you do it in this augmented reality environment, are there considerations to -- for -- to bring this study into new technologies? Kritina Holden: I think probably so. You know, the whole -- the next line of research for us in the human factors behavioral performance element is to look towards future deep space missions where crew will not have the luxury of constant contact with mission control. So, right now, they have the ability to talk to them, to get help from them, mission control monitors them for errors, guides them through procedures, does a lot of things that in future missions, the crew may not have the benefit of due to comm delays or even comm blackouts. So they will be operating truly autonomously. For that reason, our new area of focus really is things like you're describing, the augmented reality, virtual assistance, intelligent systems. We've got to be able to provide them with resources, computer-based resources where they no longer have the mission control resources. Host: You know, a lot of this is thinking, and I probably should have addressed this even earlier, but what's your background? Are you -- are you more of a human factors or psychology, or are you the engineering or computer science side? What's -- what's your background? Kritina Holden: So, I started college as a computer science major, and -- but I was always interested in psychology, and I finally decided, after three years, that I was much more interested in the people behind the computer than I was writing code for the computer. So, I changed my major and ended up with a degree in psychology. And then I heard about a field that combined computer science and psychology called human factors, and I thought, wow, that -- that sounds perfect! That's -- that's really interesting, so I pursued graduate study in that, and I ended up going to Rice and getting a master's and PhD in engineering psychology, and different schools have different names for the degrees, but basically it is human factors with an emphasis on human computer interaction. Host: Alright, well, perfect! You're -- you're -- this is exactly what you're in, you're human computer interaction, and in the space environment too, that's pretty cool! Kritina Holden: Mhmm. Well, this is something, since I was 8-years-old, I decided I wanted to work at NASA, so, I feel pretty lucky that I've been able to spend over 25 years doing just that! Host: Oh, wow, congratulations! That's awesome! Kritina Holden: Thanks! Host: I guess you knew, going into -- that you wanted to work at NASA and you knew you were interested in humans and interested in computers, and let's just smash those together. Kritina Holden: Exactly. Host: Were you exploring other fields in this whole [pause] -- I don't know, college is just a -- is an exploratory phase, you know, you got to figure out what -- it's -- it's tough, because you got to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, and you have four years to do it. And it's not like you have four years, because at year four, you're already -- you're already [laughing] all the way through, you can't start over. So how'd you -- how'd you know that that was something that you wanted to combine? Kritina Holden: Well, I had always actually been interested in psychology. My dad was a psychologist, and so, I -- I was always interested in human behavior, and then as I learned more about computers, I became very interested in how humans perceive information from a computer, how they interact with a computer, and so, finding this field of human factors was just perfect for me, because people who have a background in human computer interaction usually have studied things like, you know, perception and information processing and visual information, things like that. The things that I'm interested in. So, it was just a perfect fit! Host: Amazing. And some of the work that you've done here at NASA is perfectly translatable to something that is absolutely necessary to make -- to make missions, human missions, a success. This -- the idea of astronauts need to interact with a computer, both in the launch phase and in their day-to-day tasks on orbit. So, I guess I'll end by saying, Tina, thank you for your contributions to the space program, but also thanks for coming on and just describing what you do in this wonderful world of human versus machine. So, thanks again! Kritina Holden: Thank you very much! [ Music & Radio Transmissions ] Host: Hey, thanks for sticking around! So today we talked with Dr. Kritina Holden about some of the fine motor skills and this idea of human versus machine, I hope you enjoyed it! If you want to learn more about these specific components of human versus machine, you can go to their website, nasa.gov/hrp. They got some great stuff on the human research program, basically how humans -- any studies that have to do with humans, particularly aboard the International Space Station. Otherwise, you can get the latest on the ISS at nasa.gov/iss. We also talked about Orion a little bit, some of the vibration elements for that launch. You can get some good information at nasa.gov/orion. There are also some great NASA podcasts out there you can listen to, Gravity Assist, hosted by Dr. Jim Green, that focuses more on planetary science, or you can go listen to NASA in Silicon Valley, those are our friends over at Ames that actually have a lot to do with some of the research that goes aboard the International Space Station, so you can listen to more stories from them. They're actually doing some pretty cool stuff on Twitch right now. You can follow us on social media, the International Space Station accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Go to anyone of those accounts and use the hashtag askNASA on your favorite platform to submit an idea or a question for the show. Make sure to mention it's for Houston, We Have A Podcast, and we may bring it on a future episode! So this broadcast was recorded on February 27th, 2018. Thanks to Alex Perryman, Isidro Reyna, Kathy Reeves, Pat Ryan, and Laurie Abadie. And thanks again to Dr. Tina Holden for coming on the show! We'll be back next week!

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