Spacecraft Redundancy and Environmental Tests: An Historic Evaluation

The necessity of providing highly redundant spacecraft in the shuttle era was evaluated. Environmental and acceptance tests were done. Histories of 67 spacecraft over a 12 year period were analyzed. The final result of this study is that LMSC (Lockheed Missiles and Space Co., Inc.) is convinced of the significant value of redundancy in spacecraft and systems environmental testing and such techniques should be carried forward into the shuttle era

Innovation and expansion in the breadth of programs and services

Given that students will be unequally prepared for college, we can assume that there will always be a need for developmental education in some form. Even the debates about mainstreaming developmental education still recognize the need for some kind of integrated, expanded support services such as study skills courses and learning centers to support all students. Whatever the focus—integrated services or separate programs— the fact is that work needs to continue to provide innovative and expanded versions of developmental education in the future. The breadth of programs in developmental education is far-ranging, from inclusive English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to federally funded academic support and bridge programs like TRIO’s Upward Bound and Talent Search programs. It is important to examine the ways that these programs presently serve students, as well as continuing to identify the best locations and configurations for these programs. A deeper consideration of the relationship of these programs to each other, and how they fit under the umbrella of developmental education, is a key issue in the future

Pollen-Mediated Gene Flow from Genetically Modified Herbicide Resistant Creeping Bentgrass

Approximately 162 ha of multiple experimental fields of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) genetically modified for resistance to Roundup ®herbicide, were planted in central Oregon in 2002. When the fields flowered for the first time in the summer of 2003, a unique opportunity was presented to evaluate methods to monitor potential pollen-mediated gene flow from the experimental GM crop fields to compatible sentinel and resident plants that were located in surrounding, primarily non-agronomic areas

Nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of proteins and RNA in plants

Merkle T. Nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of proteins and RNA in plants. Plant Cell Reports. 2011;30(2):153-176.Transport of macromolecules between the nucleus and the cytoplasm is an essential necessity in eukaryotic cells, since the nuclear envelope separates transcription from translation. In the past few years, an increasing number of components of the plant nuclear transport machinery have been characterised. This progress, although far from being completed, confirmed that the general characteristics of nuclear transport are conserved between plants and other organisms. However, plant-specific components were also identified. Interestingly, several mutants in genes encoding components of the plant nuclear transport machinery were investigated, revealing differential sensitivity of plant-specific pathways to impaired nuclear transport. These findings attracted attention towards plant-specific cargoes that are transported over the nuclear envelope, unravelling connections between nuclear transport and components of signalling and developmental pathways. The current state of research in plants is summarised in comparison to yeast and vertebrate systems, and special emphasis is given to plant nuclear transport mutants

Antiviral Silencing and Suppression of Gene Silencing in Plants

RNA silencing is an evolutionary conserved sequence-specific gene inactivation mechanism that contributes to the control of development, maintains heterochromatin, acts in stress responses, DNA repair and defends against invading nucleic acids like transposons and viruses. In plants RNA silencing functions as one of the main immune systems. RNA silencing process involves the small RNAs and trans factor components like Dicers, Argonautes and RNA-dependent RNA poly- merases. To deal with host antiviral silencing responses viruses evolved mecha- nisms to avoid or counteract this, most notably through expression of viral suppressors of RNA silencing. Due to the overlap between endogenous and antiviral silencing pathways while blocking antiviral pathways viruses also impact endogenous silencing processes. Here we provide an overview of antiviral silencing pathway, host factors implicated in it and the crosstalk between antiviral and endogenous branches of silencing. We summarize the current status of knowledge about the viral counter-defense strategies acting at various steps during virus infection in plants with the focus on representative, well studied silencing suppres- sor proteins. Finally we discuss future challenges of the antiviral silencing and counter-defense research field