Testing validation tools on CLIPS-based expert systems

The Expert Systems Validation Associate (EVA) is a validation system which was developed at the Lockheed Software Technology Center and Artificial Intelligence Center between 1986 and 1990. EVA is an integrated set of generic tools to validate any knowledge-based system written in any expert system shell such as C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), ART, OPS5, KEE, and others. Many validation tools have been built in the EVA system. In this paper, we describe the testing results of applying the EVA validation tools to the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Fault Diagnosis, Isolation, and Reconfiguration (FDIR) expert system, written in CLIPS, obtained from the NASA Johnson Space Center

Building validation tools for knowledge-based systems

The Expert Systems Validation Associate (EVA), a validation system under development at the Lockheed Artificial Intelligence Center for more than a year, provides a wide range of validation tools to check the correctness, consistency and completeness of a knowledge-based system. A declarative meta-language (higher-order language), is used to create a generic version of EVA to validate applications written in arbitrary expert system shells. The architecture and functionality of EVA are presented. The functionality includes Structure Check, Logic Check, Extended Structure Check (using semantic information), Extended Logic Check, Semantic Check, Omission Check, Rule Refinement, Control Check, Test Case Generation, Error Localization, and Behavior Verification

CSU radiation budget pilot study for TOGA COARE

July 1993.Funding agencies: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Naval Research

Muscular Strength and Body Composition Comparison Between the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fire and Police Departments

Firefighters and police have different physical job requirements and selection processes. Firefighters have on-duty exercise time and police do not. This could affect body composition and strength. The purpose of this investigation was to compare body composition and bench press strength between firefighters and police officers in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg departments. Current 2006 fitness records were analyzed to compare firefighters and police (N = 2330). Variables included: gender, age, body mass, percent body-fat, fat mass, lean mass, bench press strength, bench press/lean mass, bench press/body mass, and percent that were obese. Significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences were found between male firefighters and police in age (37.7 vs. 36.9 yrs), body mass (91.5 vs. 93.2 kg), percent body-fat (17.8% vs.18.5%), fat mass (16.9 vs. 18.0 kg), bench press strength (93.4 vs. 96.3 kg), bench press/body mass (1.03 vs.1.05) and percent that were obese (10% vs.17%), respectively. Significant differences between female firefighters and police were found in age (42.4 vs. 37.4 yrs), body mass (77.5 vs. 71.8 kg), lean mass (54.4 vs. 51.2 kg), bench press strength (52.3 vs. 43.9 kg), bench press/lean mass (0.99 vs. 0.86) and bench press/body mass (0.69 vs. 0.62), respectively. Male police were younger, weighed more, had higher percent body fat, higher percent of obesity, and had greater upper body strength than firefighters. Female police were younger, weighed less, had less lean mass and less upper body strength than their firefighter counterparts. Contributing factors might include pre-employment selection, recruit training, in-service physical fitness testing, and counseling provided by departments

An Exemplar for Teaching and Learning Qualitative Research

In this article, we outline a course wherein the instructors teach students how to conduct rigorous qualitative research. We discuss the four major distinct, but overlapping, phases of the course: conceptual/theoretical, technical, applied, and emergent scholar. Students write several qualitative reports, called qualitative notebooks, which involve data that they collect (via three different types of interviews), analyze (using nine qualitative analysis techniques via qualitative software), and interpret. Each notebook is edited by the instructors to help them improve the quality of subsequent notebook reports. Finally, we advocate asking students who have previously taken this course to team-teach future courses. We hope that our exemplar for teaching and learning qualitative research will be useful for teachers and students alike

Proposing new variables for the identification of strategic groups in franchising

The identification of strategic groups in the Spanish franchising area is the main aim of this study. The authors have added some new strategic variables (not used before) to the study and have classified franchisors between sectors and distribution strategy. The results reveal the existence of four perfectly differentiated strategic groups (types of franchisors). One of the major implications of this study is that the variables that build a strategic group vary depending on the respective sector the network operates in and its distribution strategy. This fact indicates that including sector and distribution strategy is absolutely necessary to achieve good classifications of franchisor type

Secondary nucleating sequences affect kinetics and thermodynamics of tau aggregation

Tau protein was scanned for highly amyloidogenic sequences in amphiphilic motifs (X)nZ, Z(X)nZ (n≥2) or (XZ)n (n≥2), where X is a hydrophobic residue and Z is a charged or polar residue. N-acetyl peptides homologous to these sequences were used to study aggregation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed 7 peptides, in addition to well known primary nucleating sequences c275VQIINK (AcPHF6*) and Ac306VQIVYK (AcPHF6), formed fibers, tubes, ribbons or rolled sheets. Of the peptides shown by TEM to form amyloid, Ac10VME, AcPHF6*, Ac375KLTFR, and Ac393VYK were found to enhance the fraction of β-structure of AcPHF6 formed at equilibrium, and Ac375KLTFR was found to inhibit AcPHF6 and AcPHF6* aggregation kinetics in a dose-dependent manner, consistent with its participation in a hybrid steric zipper model. Single site mutants were generated which transformed predicted amyloidogenic sequences in tau into non-amyloidogenic ones. A M11K mutant had fewer filaments and showed a decrease in aggregation kinetics and an increased lag time compared to wild type tau, while a F378K mutant showed significantly more filaments. Our results infer that sequences throughout tau, in addition to PHF6 and PHF6*, can seed amyloid formation or affect aggregation kinetics or thermodynamics

Frontotemporal lobar dementia mutant tau impairs axonal transport through a protein phosphatase 1γ-dependent mechanism

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Combs, B., Christensen, K. R., Richards, C., Kneynsberg, A., Mueller, R. L., Morris, S. L., Morfini, G., Brady, S. T., & Kanaan, N. M. Frontotemporal lobar dementia mutant tau impairs axonal transport through a protein phosphatase 1γ-dependent mechanism. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(45), (2021): 9431-9451, https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1914-20.2021.Pathologic tau modifications are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, but mechanisms of tau toxicity continue to be debated. Inherited mutations in tau cause early onset frontotemporal lobar dementias (FTLD-tau) and are commonly used to model mechanisms of tau toxicity in tauopathies. Previous work in the isolated squid axoplasm model demonstrated that several pathogenic forms of tau inhibit axonal transport through a mechanism involving activation of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1). Here, we determined that P301L and R5L FTLD mutant tau proteins elicit a toxic effect on axonal transport as monomeric proteins. We evaluated interactions of wild-type or mutant tau with specific PP1 isoforms (α, β, and γ) to examine how the interaction contributes to this toxic effect using primary rat hippocampal neurons from both sexes. Pull-down and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer experiments revealed selective interactions of wild-type tau with PP1α and PP1γ isoforms, but not PP1β, which were significantly increased by the P301L tau mutation. The results from proximity ligation assays confirmed the interaction in primary hippocampal neurons. Moreover, expression of FTLD-linked mutant tau in these neurons enhanced levels of active PP1, also increasing the pausing frequency of fluorescently labeled vesicles in both anterograde and retrograde directions. Knockdown of PP1γ, but not PP1α, rescued the cargo-pausing effects of P301L and R5L tau, a result replicated by deleting a phosphatase-activating domain in the amino terminus of P301L tau. These findings support a model of tau toxicity involving aberrant activation of a specific PP1γ-dependent pathway that disrupts axonal transport in neurons.This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants R01 NS082730 (N.M.K. and S.T.B.), R01 AG044372 (N.M.K.), and R01 AG067762 (N.M.K.); NIH/National Institute on Aging, Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Grant 5P30AG053760 (B.C.); Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs through the Peer Reviewed Alzheimer's Research Program Award W81XWH-20-1-0174 (B.C.); Alzheimer's Association Research Grants 20-682085 (B.C.), R01 NS118177 (G.A.M.), and R21NS120126 (G.A.M.); Zenith Award from the Alzheimer's Association (S.T.B.); Tau Consortium/Rainwater Foundation (S.T.B.); Neurodegenerative Research (G.A.M.); and the Secchia Family Foundation (N.M.K.)

Aubrite and Impact Melt Enstatite Chondrite Meteorites as Potential Analogs to Mercury

The MESSENGER (MErcury Sur-face, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) orbiter measured the Mercurian surface abundances of key rock-forming elements to help us better understand the planet's surface and bulk geochemistry. A major discovery is that the Mercurian surface and interior are characterized by an extremely low oxygen fugacity (O2; Iron-Wstite (IW) -7.3 to IW-2.6. This is supported by low Fe and high S abundances on the surface. This low O2 causes a different elemental partioning from what is observed on Earth. Using surface composition, it was shown that the Mercurian surface mainly consists of normative plagioclase, pyroxene, olivine, and exotic sulfides, such as niningerite ((Mg,Mn, Fe)S) and oldhamite (CaS)