Adaptation of the Conditioned Assessment of Speech Production in Spanish

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the adaptation of the Spanish adaptation of the CASP. Method: The authors adapted each segment into Spanish, then had 41 participants complete a survey to determine if each adapted segment was representative of the Spanish phonologic system. Thirty-six children (half with typical hearing, half with hearing loss) completed the CASP in English and Spanish. Paired samples t-tests were run to compare English and Spanish CASP scores between children with hearing loss and those with typical hearing. Results: All segments were adapted as needed into Spanish. There was no statistical difference between the English CASP scores (18.61 ± 2.03) and Spanish CASP scores (18.78 ± 1.99) for the children with typical hearing. Similarly, there was no statistical difference between the English CASP scores (16.78 ± 3.44) and Spanish CASP scores (16.67 ± 3.41) for the children with hearing loss. Children with typical hearing scored statistically significantly higher on the English and Spanish CASP than children with hearing loss. Discussion: The CASP-S is an appropriate Spanish adaptation of the CASP, which has been field-tested for use with young Spanish-speaking children with hearing loss

Numerical investigation of the vortex roll-up from a helicopter blade-tip using a novel fixed-wing adaptation method

This contribution relates to the simulation of the flow around the tip of a helicopter rotor blade in hovering flight conditions. We here propose a new methodology of framework adaptation, using a comprehensive rotor code and high-fidelity numerical simulations. We construct an equivalent fixed-wing configuration from a rotating blade, in which centrifugal and Coriolis forces are neglected. The effect of this approximation on the solution is analysed. The method is validated by a detailed comparison with wind tunnel data from the literature, concerning aerodynamic properties and tip vortex roll-up. This validation also includes variations of the pitch angle and rotational speed, up to transonic tip velocities. Compared to previously published methods of framework adaptation, the new hybrid method is found to reproduce more accurately the flow around a rotating blade tip

Design of Spacecraft Missions to Remove Multiple Orbital Debris Objects

The amount of hazardous debris in Earth orbit has been increasing, posing an evergreater danger to space assets and human missions. In January of 2007, a Chinese ASAT test produced approximately 2600 pieces of orbital debris. In February of 2009, Iridium 33 collided with an inactive Russian satellite, yielding approximately 1300 pieces of debris. These recent disastrous events and the sheer size of the Earth orbiting population make clear the necessity of removing orbital debris. In fact, experts from both NASA and ESA have stated that 10 to 20 pieces of orbital debris need to be removed per year to stabilize the orbital debris environment. However, no spacecraft trajectories have yet been designed for removing multiple debris objects and the size of the debris population makes the design of such trajectories a daunting task. Designing an efficient spacecraft trajectory to rendezvous with each of a large number of orbital debris pieces is akin to the famous Traveling Salesman problem, an NP-complete combinatorial optimization problem in which a number of cities are to be visited in turn. The goal is to choose the order in which the cities are visited so as to minimize the total path distance traveled. In the case of orbital debris, the pieces of debris to be visited must be selected and ordered such that spacecraft propellant consumption is minimized or at least kept low enough to be feasible. Emergent Space Technologies, Inc. has developed specialized algorithms for designing efficient tour missions for near-Earth asteroids that may be applied to the design of efficient spacecraft missions capable of visiting large numbers of orbital debris pieces. The first step is to identify a list of high priority debris targets using the Analytical Graphics, Inc. SOCRATES website and then obtain their state information from Celestrak. The tour trajectory design algorithms will then be used to determine the itinerary of objects and v requirements. These results will shed light on how many debris pieces can be visited for various amounts of propellant, which launch vehicles can accommodate such missions, and how much margin is available for debris removal system payloads

Intelligent Systems Division Overview

No abstract availabl

PSEUDOMONAS AVR AND HOP PROTEINS, THEIR ENCODING NUCLEIC ACIDS, AND USE THEREOF

One aspect of the present invention relates to isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding avirulence proteins or polypeptides of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae DC 3000, or nucleic acid moleculues which are complementary thereto. Expression vectors, host cells, and transgenic plants which include the DNA molecules of the present invention are also disclosed. Another aspect relates to the isolated proteins or polypeptides and compositions containing the same. The various nucleic acid molecules and proteins of the present invention can be used to impart disease resistance to a plant, make a plant hypersusceptible to colonization by nonpathogenic bacteria, modify a metabolic pathway in a cell, cause eukaryotic cell death and treat a cancerous condition, as well as inhibit programmed cell death

Tephra stratigraphy and eruptive volume of the May, 2008, Chaitén eruption, Chile

On May 1st 2008 Mount Chaitén (southern Chile) interrupted a long period of quiescence, generating a sequence of explosive eruptions and causing the evacuation of Chaitén town located a few kilometers south of the volcano. The activity was characterized by several explosive events each associated with plumes which reached up to about 19km above sea level. The products were dispersed across a wide area, with the finest ash reaching the Atlantic coast of Argentina. Our field observations in the proximal-medial area (3-25km from the vent) indicate that the May 2008 tephra deposit consists of numerous layers, most of which can be correlated with individual eruptive events. These layers vary from extremely fine-grained ash to layers of lapilli and blocks, composed of both juvenile and lithic material. Here we describe the stratigraphy and physical characteristics of the May 2008 deposits, and propose a reconstruction of the timing of the May 2008 events. The deposits are mainly associated with the three main explosive phases which occurred on 1st-2nd May, 3rd-5th May and 6th May, with an estimated bulk tephra volume of 0.5-1.0km3 (integration of both exponential and power-law fitting). For the 6th May event, represented by a layer composed mainly of lithic lapilli and blocks (>2mm), an isopleth map was compiled from which a 19km plume height was determined, which is in good agreement with satellite observation

Influence of the state of light on the optically induced interparticle interaction

A general expression for the energy of interparticle interaction induced by an arbitrary mode of light is determined using quantum electrodynamics, and it is shown that the Casimir-Polder potential is included within this quantum result. Equations are also derived for the corresponding coupling induced by multimode number states of light, and the dependence of the pair energy on the Poynting vector and polarization state is determined. Attention is then focused on the interactions between particles trapped in counterpropagating coherent beams, both with and without interference, and it is shown that the results afford insights into the multiparticle structures that can be optically fabricated with counterpropagating input. Brief consideration is also given to the effect of squeezing the optical coherent state. Extending previous studies of optical binding in Laguerre-Gaussian beams, results are given for the case of particles trapped at radially different locations within the beam structure. Finally, consideration is given to interparticle interactions induced by broadband light, and it is shown how the length of optically fabricated particle chains can be controlled by the use of wavelength filters

PSEUDOMONAS AVR AND HOP PROTEINS, THEIR ENCODING NUCLEIC ACIDS, AND USE THEREOF

One aspect of the present invention relates to isolated nucleic acid molecules encoding avirulence proteins or polypeptides of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae DC 3000, or nucleic acid moleculues which are complementary thereto. Expression vectors, host cells, and transgenic plants which include the DNA molecules of the present invention are also disclosed. Another aspect relates to the isolated proteins or polypeptides and compositions containing the same. The various nucleic acid molecules and proteins of the present invention can be used to impart disease resistance to a plant, make a plant hypersusceptible to colonization by nonpathogenic bacteria, modify a metabolic pathway in a cell, cause eukaryotic cell death and treat a cancerous condition, as well as inhibit programmed cell death

More Than Provocative, Less Than Scientific: A Commentary on the Editorial Decision to Publish Cofnas (2020)

We are addressing this letter to the editors of Philosophical Psychology after reading an article they decided to publish in the recent vol. 33, issue 1. The article is by Nathan Cofnas and is entitled “Research on group differences in intelligence: A defense of free inquiry” (2020). The purpose of our letter is not to invite Cofnas’s contribution into a broader dialogue, but to respectfully voice our concerns about the decision to publish the manuscript, which, in our opinion, fails to meet a range of academic quality standards usually expected of academic publications

Structural and Functional Analysis of the Type III Secretion System from \u3ci\u3ePseudomonas fluorescens\u3c/i\u3e Q8r1-96

Pseudomonas fluorescens Q8r1-96 represents a group of rhizosphere strains responsible for the suppressiveness of agricultural soils to take-all disease of wheat. It produces the antibiotic 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol and aggressively colonizes the roots of cereal crops. In this study, we analyzed the genome of Q8r1-96 and identified a type III protein secretion system (T3SS) gene cluster that has overall organization similar to that of the T3SS gene cluster of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. We also screened a collection of 30 closely related P. fluorescens strains and detected the T3SS genes in all but one of them. The Q8r1-96 genome contained ropAA and ropM type III effector genes, which are orthologs of the P. syringae effector genes hopAA1-1 and hopM1, as well as a novel type III effector gene designated ropB. These type III effector genes encoded proteins that were secreted in culture and injected into plant cells by both P. syringae and Q8r1-96 T3SSs. The Q8r1-96 T3SS was expressed in the rhizosphere, but mutants lacking a functional T3SS were not altered in their rhizosphere competence. The Q8r1-96 type III effectors RopAA, RopB, and RopM were capable of suppressing the hypersensitive response and production of reactive oxygen species, two plant immune responses