Space Biosciences Division

In the Space Biosciences Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, we perform the biological research and technology development necessary to tackle the challenges of living in the extreme environments of space and to enable NASA's long-term human exploration mission. This brochure provides a broad overview for our research and development capabilities, several case study examples, and finally real-world applications and collaborative partnerships

Determining the feasibility of an online, media mediation program for parents to improve parent-child sexual health communication

Media Aware Parent is an interactive, web-based program designed to equip parents to communicate with their adolescent child about sexual health and media by enhancing parental communication and media mediation skills, as well as provide them with medically-accurate sexual health knowledge. In a small feasibility study, 56 parents of 7th and 8th graders in the United States were randomly assigned to complete a prototype of Media Aware Parent or receive online resources about adolescent sexual health. Results indicated that after using the program, participants in the intervention group discussed more new sexual health topics with their child and also had stronger beliefs in the importance of parent-adolescent communication (PAC) about sexual health when compared to the control group

Exploring the Latino Paradox: How Economic and Citizenship Status Impact Health

We examined the contributions of economic status (ES) and citizenship status to health differences between European Americans, Latino Americans, and non-citizen Latinos. The investigation was framed using social identity and comparison theories. Southern California residents (N = 2164) were randomly selected to complete a telephone interview. Increases in ES predicted health improvements for European Americans across ES levels. For Latino citizens and non-citizens, ES improvements had no effect on objective health. For subjective health, the Latino paradox existed at the lowest ES level for Latino Americans, and did not exist for non-citizens. For objective health, the paradox existed in both Latino groups at low ES, and additionally for Latino Americans at mid ES. Our findings suggest that compared to Latinos, improvements in ES have a stronger positive impact on the health of European Americans, which is likely due to the social comparisons being made by each cultural group

Switching kinetics of ferroelectric polymer nanomesas

The switching dynamics and switching time of ferroelectric nanomesas grown from the paraelectric phase of ultrathin Langmuir–Blodgett vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene copolymer films are investigated. Ferroelectric nanomesas are created through heat treatment and self-organization and have an average height of 10 nm and an average diameter of 100 nm. Ferroelectric nanomesas are highly crystalline and are in the ferroelectric phase and switch faster than 50 μs. The dependence of switching time on applied voltage implies an extrinsic switching nature

The validity of the science teacher efficacy belief instrument (STEBI-B) for postgraduate, pre-service, primary teachers

The STEBI-B (Enoch and Riggs, 1990) has been widely used as a measure of undergraduate primary pre-service teacher self-efficacy since its creation. However, the publication of its use within postgraduate teaching courses has been limited. The postgraduate pre-service teachers (Graduate Diploma and Master of Education students) are a very different population, presenting with more life experience and importantly, more experience in Science. This brings the generalizability of the STEBI-B to this population into question. The validity of the STEBI-B for use with a postgraduate, pre-service teacher population was investigated using a Rasch model analysis. Results support the two-factor structure presented by the original authors, the rewording proposed by Bleicher (2004), and additional modifications to the Likert scale and wording to improve targeting for this specific population. With simple, justified modifications the STEBI-B can be used as a tool to positively influence course design in postgraduate, pre-service teacher, science education courses

Generating topological order from a 2D cluster state using a duality mapping

In this paper we prove, extend and review possible mappings between the two-dimensional Cluster state, Wen's model, the two-dimensional Ising chain and Kitaev's toric code model. We introduce a two-dimensional duality transformation to map the two-dimensional lattice cluster state into the topologically-ordered Wen model. Then, we subsequently investigates how this mapping could be achieved physically, which allows us to discuss the rate at which a topologically ordered system can be achieved. Next, using a lattice fermionization method, Wen's model is mapped into a series of one-dimensional Ising interactions. Considering the boundary terms with this mapping then reveals how the Ising chains interact with one another. The relationships discussed in this paper allow us to consider these models from two different perspectives: From the perspective of condensed matter physics these mappings allow us to learn more about the relation between the ground state properties of the four different models, such as their entanglement or topological structure. On the other hand, we take the duality of these models as a starting point to address questions related to the universality of their ground states for quantum computation.Comment: 5 Figure

Ethnic and Immigration Status Differences on Child Indicators of Health for European Americans and Latinos

This study examined the effects of ethnicity and immigration status on subjective and objective health (Body Mass Index; BMI) for Latino and European American children. Social identity and comparison theories were used to frame the investigation. Southern California parents were randomly selected to complete a telephone interview about their children’s health yielding a sample of 165 European American and 152 Latino participants. Compared to European Americans, Latinos evidenced poorer subjective and objective health. Latino children who had a caregiver who was a citizen had better subjective health than Latino children whose caregiver was not a citizen. BMI was correlated with subjective health for European American children but not for Latinos. Our findings add to the literature on the Latino Paradox and the healthy immigrant effect, specifically as it relates to children