The Synthesis of Deuterated Isohumulones for Use as Internal Standards in LC-MS Stable Isotope Dilution Assays

Humulones are compounds that are prevalent in the hops flowers (Humulus Lupulus) used in beer brewing. These compounds undergo isomerization during the brewing process, and the resulting isohumulones are considered to be the primary contributors to the bitter flavors present in beer. As such, quantifying their presence, and the relative presence of their homologs(n-, co-, ad-), is of great importance in the characterization of beer. In this effort, one of the homologs of humulone (co) was isolated before being subsequently isomerized and deuterated for the purpose of analyzing beer by stable isotope dilution assay mass spectrometry(SIDA-MS). The addition of this stable isotopically substituted isohumulone as an internal standard can potentially allow the comparative quantification of humulones, isohumulones, and oxidized humulinones present in a beer sample

The Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (SNPP): Continuing NASA Research and Applications

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite was successfully launched into a polar orbit on October 28, 2011 carrying 5 remote sensing instruments designed to provide data to improve weather forecasts and to increase understanding of long-term climate change. SNPP provides operational continuity of satellite-based observations for NOAA's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and continues the long-term record of climate quality observations established by NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites. In the 2003 to 2011 pre-launch timeframe, NASA's SNPP Science Team assessed the adequacy of the operational Raw Data Records (RDRs), Sensor Data Records (SDRs), and Environmental Data Records (EDRs) from the SNPP instruments for use in NASA Earth Science research, examined the operational algorithms used to produce those data records, and proposed a path forward for the production of climate quality products from SNPP. In order to perform these tasks, a distributed data system, the NASA Science Data Segment (SDS), ingested RDRs, SDRs, and EDRs from the NOAA Archive and Distribution and Interface Data Processing Segments, ADS and IDPS, respectively. The SDS also obtained operational algorithms for evaluation purposes from the NOAA Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Testing and Evaluation (GRAVITE). Within the NASA SDS, five Product Evaluation and Test Elements (PEATEs) received, ingested, and stored data and performed NASA's data processing, evaluation, and analysis activities. The distributed nature of this data distribution system was established by physically housing each PEATE within one of five Climate Analysis Research Systems (CARS) located at either at a NASA or a university institution. The CARS were organized around 5 key EDRs directly in support of the following NASA Earth Science focus areas: atmospheric sounding, ocean, land, ozone, and atmospheric composition products. The PEATES provided the system level interface with members of the NASA SNPP Science Team and other science investigators within each CARS. A sixth Earth Radiation Budget CARS was established at NASA Langley Research Center (NASA LaRC) to support instrument performance, data evaluation, and analysis for the SNPP Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Budget Energy System (CERES) instrument. Following the 2011 launch of SNPP, spacecraft commissioning, and instrument activation, the NASA SNPP Science Team evaluated the operational RDRs, SDRs, and EDRs produced by the NOAA ADS and IDPS. A key part in that evaluation was the NASA Science Team's independent processing of operational RDRs and SDRs to EDRs using the latest NASA science algorithms. The NASA science evaluation was completed in the December 2012 to April 2014 timeframe with the release of a series of NASA Science Team Discipline Reports. In summary, these reports indicated that the RDRs produced by the SNPP instruments were of sufficiently high quality to be used to create data products suitable for NASA Earth System science and applications. However, the quality of the SDRs and EDRs were found to vary greatly when considering suitability for NASA science. The need for improvements in operational algorithms, adoption of different algorithmic approaches, greater monitoring of on-orbit instrument calibration, greater attention to data product validation, and data reprocessing were prominent findings in the reports. In response to these findings, NASA, in late 2013, directed the NASA SNPP Science Team to use SNPP instrument data to develop data products of sufficiently high quality to enable the continuation of EOS time series data records and to develop innovative, practical applications of SNPP data. This direction necessitated a transition of the SDS data system from its pre-launch assessment mode to one of full data processing and production. To do this, the PEATES, which served as NASA's data product testing environment during the prelaunch and early on-orbit periods, were transitioned to Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS). The distributed data architecture was maintained in this new system by locating the SIPS at the same institutions at which the CARS and PEATES were located. The SIPS acquire raw SNPP instrument Level 0 (i.e. RDR) data over the full SNPP mission from the NOAA ADS and IDPS through the NASA SDS Data Distribution and Depository Element (SD3E). The SIPS process those data into NASA Level 1, Level 2, and global, gridded Level 3 standard products using peer-reviewed algorithms provided by members of the NASA Science Team. The SIPS work with the NASA SNPP Science Team in obtaining enhanced, refined, or alternate real-time algorithms to support the capabilities of the Direct Readout Laboratory (DRL). All data products, algorithm source codes, coefficients, and auxiliary data used in product generation are archived in an assigned NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)

The Rhetoric of Androgyny: Gender and Boundaries in Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness

The androgyny of the Gethenians in The Left Hand of Darkness is a vehicle for Ursula Le Guin's rhetoric concerning gender roles. Le Guin attempts to make the reader identify with an ideal form of androgyny, through which she argues that many of the problems of human existence, from rape and war to dualistic thought and sexism, are products of gender roles and would be absent in an androgynous world. The novel also links barriers of separation and Othering with masculine thought, and deconstructs these separative boundaries of opposition, while promoting connective borders which acknowledge difference without creating opposition. The novel thus criticizes gendered thought processes and social roles, because they lead to opposition and separation

Integrating computer technology in grade one classrooms

ix, 73 leaves ; 29 cm. --The purpose of this project was to examine how Grade One teachers in Central Alberta are integrating computer technology into daily teaching. The literature review provides a brief history of various technologies that have been introduced to schools throughout the twentieth century. The review also examines articles that are about the use of computer technology in primary classrooms. The interviews with six Grade One teachers included questions about their computer technology background and training, how they used the technology, their frustrations and their suggestions for better use of computer technology in the classroom. Findings reveal that teacher expertise was gained through workshops and personal use of computer technology. The workshops concentrated on hardware and software operation rather than effective classroom use of computer technology. The project conclusion includes recommendations to improve use of computer technology in the Grade One classroom. A significant aspect of the interviews was that all the teachers prefaced the interview with an apology regarding their lack of expertise with computers and software. In order for teachers to approach computer technology in a confident, constructive and positive manner, there is a need for a long term financial commitment by Alberta Education. Another aspect of the conclusion is that computer technology, especially at the Grade One level, should remain only a small part of a young child's education

Addressing the Accessibility of Social Media

Social media platforms are deeply ingrained in society, and they offer many different spaces for people to engage with others. Unfortunately, accessibility barriers prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in these spaces. Social media users commonly post inaccessible media, including videos without captions (which are important for people who are deaf or hard of hearing) and images without alternative text (descriptions read aloud by screen readers for people who are blind). Users with motor impairments must find workarounds to deal with the complex user interfaces of these platforms, and users with cognitive disabilities may face barriers to composing and sharing information. Accessibility researchers, industry practitioners, and end-users with disabilities will come together to outline challenges and solutions for improving social media accessibility. The workshop starts with a panel of end-users with disabilities who will recount their Perspectives of Successes and Barriers. Industry professionals from social media companies (e.g., Facebook and LinkedIn) will detail their Design Process and Implementation Challenges in a panel with questions from attendees. The attendees will share their work and tackle Open Challenges and Future Research Directions. This workshop will forge collaborations between researchers and practitioners, and define high-priority accessibility challenges for social media platforms

Initial elevation bias in subjective reports

Peer reviewedPostprin

Limited acclimation in leaf anatomy to experimental drought in tropical forest trees

Dry periods are predicted to become more frequent and severe in the future in some parts of the tropics, including Amazonia, potentially causing reduced productivity, higher tree mortality and increased emissions of stored carbon. Using a long-term (12 year) through-fall exclusion (TFE) experiment in the tropics, we test the hypothesis that trees produce leaves adapted to cope with higher levels of water stress, by examining the following leaf characteristics: area, thickness, leaf mass per area, vein density, stomatal density, the thickness of palisade mesophyll, spongy mesophyll and both of the epidermal layers, internal cavity volume and the average cell sizes of the palisade and spongy mesophyll. We also test whether differences in leaf anatomy are consistent with observed differential drought-induced mortality responses among taxa, and look for relationships between leaf anatomy, and leaf water relations and gas exchange parameters. Our data show that trees do not produce leaves that are more xeromorphic in response to 12 years of soil moisture deficit. However, the drought treatment did result in increases in the thickness of the adaxial epidermis (TFE: 20.5 ± 1.5 µm, control: 16.7 ± 1.0 µm) and the internal cavity volume (TFE: 2.43 ± 0.50 mm(3) cm(−2), control: 1.77 ± 0.30 mm(3 )cm(−2)). No consistent differences were detected between drought-resistant and drought-sensitive taxa, although interactions occurred between drought-sensitivity status and drought treatment for the palisade mesophyll thickness (P = 0.034) and the cavity volume of the leaves (P = 0.025). The limited response to water deficit probably reflects a tight co-ordination between leaf morphology, water relations and photosynthetic properties. This suggests that there is little plasticity in these aspects of plant anatomy in these taxa, and that phenotypic plasticity in leaf traits may not facilitate the acclimation of Amazonian trees to the predicted future reductions in dry season water availability

Scintillation Observations and Response of The Ionosphere to Electrodynamics (SORTIE) Mission First Light

At low and middle latitudes, wave-like plasma perturbations are thought to provide the seeds for larger perturbations that may evolve non-linearly to produce irregularities, which in turn have deleterious effects on HF communications and global positioning systems. Unfortunately, there is currently no comprehensive atlas of measurements describing the global spatial or temporal distribution of wave-like perturbations in the ionosphere. The SORTIE mission, a CubeSat experiment with team members from ASTRA, AFRL, UTD, and Boston College, was designed to help map and further understand the wave-like plasma perturbation distributions throughout the ionosphere. The SORTIE 6U CubeSat sensor package measures key in-situ plasma parameters, and includes an ion velocity meter and a planar Langmuir probe. SORTIE will provide (1) the initial spectrum of wave perturbations which are the starting point for plasma instabilities; (2) measured electric fields which determine the magnitude of the instability growth rate near the region where plasma bubbles are generated; (3) initial observations of irregularities in plasma density which result from plasma instability growth. The SORTIE spacecraft was deployed from the ISS in February 2020 and began data collections shortly after orbit insertion. The measurements are expected to continue for at least a year. In this presentation we present the first light results of the SORTIE mission, as well as reviewing the science objectives and providing an overview of the spacecraft and instruments

Changes in symptom clusters in patients undergoing radiation therapy

The goals of the study were to determine the occurrence rates for and the severity of symptoms at the middle, end, and 1 month after the completion of radiation therapy (RT), to determine the number and types of symptom clusters at these three time points, and to evaluate for changes over time in these symptom clusters. Symptom occurrence and severity were evaluated using the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) in a sample of patients (n = 160) who underwent RT for breast or prostate cancer. At each time point, an exploratory factor analysis was done to determine the number of symptom clusters (i.e., symptom factors) based on the MSAS symptom severity ratings. The majority of the patients were male and married with a mean age of 61.1 years. The five symptoms with the highest occurrence rates across all three time points were lack of energy, pain, difficulty sleeping, feeling drowsy, and sweats. Although the number of symptoms and the specific symptoms within each symptom cluster were not identical across the three time points, three relatively similar symptom clusters (i.e., “mood-cognitive” symptom cluster, “sickness-behavior” symptom cluster, “treatment-related”, or “pain” symptom cluster) were identified in this sample. The internal consistency coefficients for the mood-cognitive symptom cluster and sickness-behavior symptom cluster were adequate at ≥0.68. Three relatively stable symptom clusters were found across RT. The majority of the symptom cluster severity scores were significantly higher in patients with breast cancer compared to patients with prostate cancer