Operational numerical weather prediction on the CYBER 205 at the National Meteorological Center

The Development Division of the National Meteorological Center (NMC), having the responsibility of maintaining and developing the numerical weather forecasting systems of the center, is discussed. Because of the mission of NMC data products must be produced reliably and on time twice daily free of surprises for forecasters. Personnel of Development Division are in a rather unique situation. They must develop new advanced techniques for numerical analysis and prediction utilizing current state-of-the-art techniques, and implement them in an operational fashion without damaging the operations of the center. With the computational speeds and resources now available from the CYBER 205, Development Division Personnel will be able to introduce advanced analysis and prediction techniques into the operational job suite without disrupting the daily schedule. The capabilities of the CYBER 205 are discussed

Surviving Depression Together

There are many types of therapy available to treat depression. Three of the more common methods used in depression treatment include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and psycho-dynamic therapy. Often, a blended approach is used. Some types of therapy teach you techniques on how to re-frame negative thinking and employ behavioral skills in combating depression. Therapy can also help you work through the root of your depression, helping you understand why you feel a certain way, what your triggers are for depression, and what you can do to stay healthy. Some of the “big picture” themes that therapy can help with is relationships, setting healthy boundaries, and handling life’s problems.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/raider_academy/1001/thumbnail.jp

Robustness of "cut and splice" genetic algorithms in the structural optimization of atomic clusters

We return to the geometry optimization problem of Lennard-Jones clusters to analyze the performance dependence of "cut and splice" genetic algorithms (GAs) on the employed population size. We generally find that admixing twinning mutation moves leads to an improved robustness of the algorithm efficiency with respect to this a priori unknown technical parameter. The resulting very stable performance of the corresponding mutation+mating GA implementation over a wide range of population sizes is an important feature when addressing unknown systems with computationally involved first-principles based GA sampling.Comment: 5 pages including 3 figures; related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/th.htm

Mexican Middle Schoolers’ Questions on Sexuality and Dating Relationships: A Descriptive Qualitative Analysis

Research in Mexico has found a lack of comprehensive sexual health education in school settings, as well as a lack of youth perspectives on sexual health and dating. Little is known about the questions Mexican youth have about dating and sexuality, despite research finding that they desire this information and perceive few resources available to them. This collaborative study between a U.S. university and a multi-disciplinary team of middle-school psychologists in Central Mexico aimed to understand youth’s questions on sexual health and dating. This study was a follow-up to focus group conversations, where youth voiced that they wanted more information about these topics. Specifically, school psychologists solicited anonymous questions about sexual health and dating relationships using a ‘question box’ (n = 60 written questions). This method offered a forum by which students could ask about sensitive topics individually. We analyzed questions using descriptive thematic analysis. A majority of the questions pertained to healthy relationships, followed by questions on violence and trauma in relationships, sexual education, and attraction and sexual orientation. The results of this study reflect a need to provide youth and their families accurate and developmentally appropriate information on sexual health and dating during early adolescence. Here, we discuss the process of forming a binational partnership, primary themes with regard to the questions asked, and the impact of findings from the perspectives of our Mexican collaborators

Mexican American Adolescents’ Conversations About Goals: The Centrality of Financial Aspiration to Career and Educational Pursuit

We explored Mexican American adolescents’ goals as discussed with a romantic relationship partner. Thirty-four Mexican American hetero-dating couples aged 15 to 17 (M = 11.71 months dating) from an urban city in a Southwest border state participated in a video-taped discussion. Drawing on Social Cognitive Career Theory, we inductively coded for themes and found that youth prioritized career, education, family planning, travel, and relationship goals. We were sensitized to the centrality of financial aspiration to each of these themes, and further operationalized youth’s level of financial aspiration as either modest, ambivalent, or high. Applying this template, we analyzed the extent of fit of adolescents’ goals to their financial aspiration. Adolescents with modest financial aspiration evidenced clearer paths to goal-success compared to adolescents with high financial aspiration. Although adolescents with higher financial aspiration described parallel career choices, adolescents with more modest financial goals were more apt to describe clear steps to attaining their careers and additional pursuits. We recommend programing that provides the opportunity for adolescents to connect their financial aspiration to their preferred careers and lifestyle goals. Such programs should also include relationship and family-planning, as these are important to diverse youths and influence post-secondary education and career pursuit

UV micro-irradiation of the Chinese hamster cell nucleus and caffeine post-treatment immunocytochemical localization of DNA photolesions in cells with partial and generalized chromosome shattering

UV micro-irradiation of a small part of the Chinese hamster nucleus and caffeine post-incubation often results in shattered chromosomes at the first post-irradiation mitosis. In some of these mitotic cells, chromosome shattering is restricted to a few chromosomes spatially related in a small area of the metaphase spread; in others, shattering includes the whole chromosome complement. These 2 types of damage have been called partial and generalized chromosome shattering (PCS and GCS). Using antisera that specifically react with UV-irradiated DNA, we identified micro-irradiated chromatin in interphase nuclei and in mitotic cells with PCS or GCS by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. In PCS, immunofluorescence staining was found in the damaged area, while the surrounding intact chromosomes were not stained. In GCS, staining was also restricted to a small region of the shattered chromosome complement. In other experiments, cells synchronized in G1 were micro-irradiated in the nucleus, pulse-labelled with [3H]thymidine and post-incubated with caffeine. Autoradiographs of cells with GCS showed unscheduled DNA synthesis restricted to a small chromatin region. Our data present direct evidence that the distribution of DNA photolesions does not coincide with the sites of chromosomal damage in GCS. As a working hypothesis, we propose that an indirect mechanism is involved in the induction of GCS by which DNA photolesions in a small nuclear segment induce shattering of both micro-irradiated and non-irradiated chromosomes