Developing structural improvements for the military spacecraft acquisition and development process

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-149).by Walter E. Babiec.M.S

Teaching Computation in Neuroscience: Notes on the 2019 Society for Neuroscience Professional Development Workshop on Teaching

The 2019 Society for Neuroscience Professional 1Development Workshop on Teaching reviewed current tools, approaches, and examples for teaching computation in neuroscience. Robert Kass described the statistical foundations that students need to properly analyze data. Pascal Wallisch compared MATLAB and Python as programming languages for teaching students. Adrienne Fairhall discussed computational methods, training opportunities, and curricular considerations. Walt Babiec provided a view from the trenches on practical aspects of teaching computational neuroscience. Mathew Abrams concluded the session with an overview of resources for teaching and learning computational modeling in neuroscience

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on twelve research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Contract 2 P01 DC00361National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00270U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Contract AFOSR-90-0200National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC00625U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1454U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814U.S. Navy - Naval Training Systems Center Contract N61339-93-M-1213U.S. Navy - Naval Training Systems Center Contract N61339-93-C-0055U.S. Navy - Naval Training Systems Center Contract N61339-93-C-0083U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-4005U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-93-1-119

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2 and reports on five research projects.National Institutes of Health Contract 2 R01 DC00117National Institutes of Health Contract 1 R01 DC02032National Institutes of Health Contract 2 P01 DC00361National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC22402National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC001001National Institutes of Health Grant R01-DC00270National Institutes of Health Grant 5 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant R29-DC00625U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-91-J-1454U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division Contract N61339-94-C-0087U.S. Navy - Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Division Contract N61339-93-C-0055U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-93-1-1198National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Ames Research Center Grant NCC 2-77

Real-Time Processing of Mixed-Language Sentences in Spanish-English Bilingual Toddlers

This thesis examines the short and long-term effects of code-switching and language processing in bilingual children. The effects of bilingualism have been studied across the speaker’s lifetime and are associated with various advantages for speakers, such as enhancing performance on various cognitive tasks and slowing cognitive decline. In development, bilingualism emerges, often with surprisingly minimal difficulty, as children are exposed to two languages. This is a remarkable achievement given that it is very common for bilingual adults to mix languages together when they speak to their children, a phenomenon known as code-switching. But might children’s processing of mixed language over the course of development actually give rise to later cognitive advantages? Children’s processing of mixed language offers a window into this possibility. This study utilized the Looking-While-Listening procedure to see if infants were able to more quickly and accurately establish reference to an object in a single language, rather than when hearing a code-switch. They heard two different kinds of trials, one all in a single language, and one with a code-switch. The results showed no significant effect to support the idea that code-switching affects a child’s language learning and processing. However, some of the results were trending in the predicted direction, which might imply that in future research with larger sample sizes, there will be evidence to support this hypothesis

John Keats w serii Dana Simmonsa Hyperion Cantos

Celem tej pracy jest omówienie dwóch powieści science fiction autorstwa Dana Simmonsa, pt. „Hyperion” oraz „Zagłada Hyperiona,” jako inspirowanych poematami Johna Keatsa. Szczegółowa analiza trzech wybranych wątków powieści wykazuje mnogość odniesień do poezji, filozofii i biografii poety romantycznego, z których to Simmons zaczerpnął główne motywy swoich powieści, tj. motyw postępu, procesu tworzenia Prawdziwej Poezji, oraz Prawdziwego Poety.This thesis presents Dan Simmons’ science fiction novels Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion as works heavily influenced by John Keats’s epic poems “Hyperion” and “The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream.” An in-depth discussion of three selected subplots highlights the abundance of references to Keats’s verse, philosophy and biography, from which Simmons has drawn the main motifs of his narrative, i.e. that of progress, creative process, and True Poetry

Prenatal exposure to valproic acid induces alterations in the expression and activity of purinergic receptors in the embryonic rat brain

Purinergic signalling is involved in the control of several processes related to brain development, such as neurogenesis and gliogenesis, migration and differentiation of neuronal precursors, synaptogenesis and synaptic elimination to achieve a fully wired and efficient mature brain. Therefore, any deregulation of purine-dependent signalling mediated by stimulation of specific adenosine and purinergic receptor subtypes: P1, P2X, or P2Y, can lead to functional deficits and the development of neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this study, we investigated the changes in expression and activity of selected purinergic receptors during rat brain development in an animal model of ASD. Pregnant dams received an intraperitoneal injection of valproic acid (VPA; 450 mg/kg body weight) at embryonic day (ED) 12.5, around the time of neural tube closure. Subsequently, changes in the expression and activity of specific purinergic receptor subtypes were analysed at ED19, an important prenatal stage of brain development. Our results suggest that prenatal VPA exposure leads to a significant increase in the level and activity of adenosinergic receptors A1, A2b and A3, which are involved in the regulation of progenitor cell proliferation and nerve growth, and upregulation of purinergic P2X2/P2X3 receptors, which in turn may contribute to the postnatal neuroanatomical abnormalities and synaptic dysfunction. Conversely, the significant downregulation of P2Y1 and P2X7 receptors, together with their reduced activity in the embryonic VPA brain, may indicate disturbances in the processes of neuronal precursor migration and differentiation, dendritic and axonal formation, and glutamate/GABA imbalance, thereby altering neuronal excitability. In conclusion, defects in purinergic signalling induced by prenatal VPA exposure could have a profound impact on brain development during embryogenesis and on intellectual and behavioural functions after birth. These observations could provide clues for future implementation of potential therapeutic strategies for ASD

Basal levels of AMPA receptor GluA1 subunit phosphorylation at threonine 840 and serine 845 in hippocampal neurons

Dephosphorylation of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) GluA1 subunits at two sites, serine 845 (S845) and threonine 840 (T840), is thought to be involved in NMDA receptor-dependent forms of long-term depression (LTD). Importantly, the notion that dephosphorylation of these sites contributes to LTD assumes that a significant fraction of GluA1 subunits are basally phosphorylated at these sites. To examine this question, we used immunoprecipitation/depletion assays to estimate the proportion of GluA1 subunits basally phosphorylated at S845 and T840. Although dephosphorylation of S845 is thought to have a key role in LTD, our results indicate that few GluA1 subunits in hippocampal neurons are phosphorylated at this site. In contrast, ∼50% of GluA1 subunits are basally phosphorylated at T840, suggesting that dephosphorylation of this site can contribute to the down-regulation of AMPAR-mediated synaptic transmission in LTD

SOME CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL DIMORPHISM: FEEDING IN MALE AND FEMALE FIDDLER CRABS, UCA PUGNAX (SMITH)

Volume: 147Start Page: 652End Page: 66