The National Space Science Data Center: An operational perspective

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) manages over 110,000 data tapes with over 4,000 data sets. The size of the digital archive is approximately 6,000 GBytes and is expected to grow to more than 28,000 GBytes by 1995. The NSSDC is involved in several initiatives to better serve the scientific community and improve the management of current and future data holdings. These initiatives address the need to manage data to ensure ready access by the user and manage the media to ensure continuing accessibility and integrity of the data. An operational view of the NSSDC, outlining current policies and procedures that have been implemented to ensure the effective use of available resources to support service and mission goals, and maintain compliance with prescribed data management directives is presented

Well-to-wheel analysis of direct and indirect use of natural gas in passenger vehicles

AbstractThe abundance of natural gas in the United States because of the number of existing natural gas reserves and the recent advances in extracting unconventional reserves has been one of the main drivers for low natural gas prices. A question arises of what is the optimal use of natural gas as a transportation fuel. Is it more efficient to use natural gas in a stationary power application to generate electricity to charge electric vehicles, compress natural gas for onboard combustion in vehicles, or re-form natural gas into a denser transportation fuel? This study investigates the well-to-wheels energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from various natural gas to transportation fuel pathways and compares the results to conventional gasoline vehicles and electric vehicles using the US electrical generation mix. Specifically, natural gas vehicles running on compressed natural gas are compared against electric vehicles charged with electricity produced solely from natural gas combustion in stationary power plants. The results of the study show that the dependency on the combustion efficiency of natural gas in stationary power can outweigh the inherent efficiency of electric vehicles, thus highlighting the importance of examining energy use on a well-to-wheels basis

Engaging Low-Income Parents in Childhood Obesity Prevention from Start to Finish: A Case Study

Prevention of childhood obesity is a national priority. Parents influence young children’s healthy lifestyles, so it is paradoxical that obesity interventions focus primarily on children. Evidence and theory suggest that including parents in interventions offers promise for effective childhood obesity prevention. This case study engaged parents’ as co-researchers in the design, implementation and evaluation of an intervention for low-income families with a child enrolled in Head Start. Parent engagement mechanisms include: (1) targeted partnership development (2) operationalizing a Community Advisory Board (CAB) that was the key decision making body; (3) a majority of CAB members were parents who were positioned as experts, and (4) addressing structural barriers to parent participation. Lessons learned are provided for future research, and practice

Identification of Ambient Molecular Clouds Associated with Galactic Supernova Remnant IC443

The Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) IC443 is one of the most studied core-collapse SNRs for its interaction with molecular clouds. However, the ambient molecular clouds with which IC443 is interacting have not been thoroughly studied and remain poorly understood. Using Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory 14m telescope, we obtained fully sampled maps of ~ 1{\deg} \times 1{\deg} region toward IC443 in the 12CO J=1-0 and HCO+ J=1-0 lines. In addition to the previously known molecular clouds in the velocity range v_lsr = -6 to -1 km/s (-3 km/s clouds), our observations reveal two new ambient molecular cloud components: small (~ 1') bright clouds in v_lsr = -8 to -3 km/s (SCs), and diffuse clouds in v_lsr = +3 to +10 km/s (+5 km/s clouds). Our data also reveal the detailed kinematics of the shocked molecular gas in IC443, however the focus of this paper is the physical relationship between the shocked clumps and the ambient cloud components. We find strong evidence that the SCs are associated with the shocked clumps. This is supported by the positional coincidence of the SCs with shocked clumps and other tracers of shocks. Furthermore, the kinematic features of some shocked clumps suggest that these are the ablated material from the SCs upon the impact of the SNR shock. The SCs are interpreted as dense cores of parental molecular clouds that survived the destruction by the pre-supernova evolution of the progenitor star or its nearby stars. We propose that the expanding SNR shock is now impacting some of the remaining cores and the gas is being ablated and accelerated producing the shocked molecular gas. The morphology of the +5 km/s clouds suggests an association with IC443. On the other hand, the -3 km/s clouds show no evidence for interaction.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 15 pages (with emulateapj.cls), 17 figures, and 2 table

Overexpression of Long-Chain Acyl-CoA Synthetase 5 Increases Fatty Acid Oxidation and Free Radical Formation While Attenuating Insulin Signaling in Primary Human Skeletal Myotubes

In rodent skeletal muscle, acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) synthetase 5 (ACSL-5) is suggested to localize to the mitochondria but its precise function in human skeletal muscle is unknown. The purpose of these studies was to define the role of ACSL-5 in mitochondrial fatty acid metabolism and the potential effects on insulin action in human skeletal muscle cells (HSKMC). Primary myoblasts isolated from vastus lateralis (obese women (body mass index (BMI) = 34.7 ± 3.1 kg/m2)) were transfected with ACSL-5 plasmid DNA or green fluorescent protein (GFP) vector (control), differentiated into myotubes, and harvested (7 days). HSKMC were assayed for complete and incomplete fatty acid oxidation ([1-14C] palmitate) or permeabilized to determine mitochondrial respiratory capacity (basal (non-ADP stimulated state 4), maximal uncoupled (carbonyl cyanide-4-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone (FCCP)-linked) respiration, and free radical (superoxide) emitting potential). Protein levels of ACSL-5 were 2-fold higher in ACSL-5 overexpressed HSKMC. Both complete and incomplete fatty acid oxidation increased by 2-fold (p < 0.05). In permeabilized HSKMC, ACSL-5 overexpression significantly increased basal and maximal uncoupled respiration (p < 0.05). Unexpectedly, however, elevated ACSL-5 expression increased mitochondrial superoxide production (+30%), which was associated with a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in insulin-stimulated p-Akt and p-AS160 protein levels. We concluded that ACSL-5 in human skeletal muscle functions to increase mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, but contrary to conventional wisdom, is associated with increased free radical production and reduced insulin signaling

Autonomic Modulation, Spontaneous Baroreflex Sensitivity and Fatigue in Young Men After COVID-19

Impaired autonomic modulation and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) have been reported during and after COVID-19. Both impairments are associated with negative cardiovascular outcomes. If these impairments were to exist undetected in young men after COVID-19, they could lead to negative cardiovascular outcomes. Fatigue is associated with autonomic dysfunction during and after COVID-19. It is unclear if fatigue can be used as an indicator of impaired autonomic modulation and BRS after COVID-19. This study aims to compare parasympathetic modulation, sympathetic modulation, and BRS between young men who had COVID-19 versus controls and to determine if fatigue is associated with impaired autonomic modulation and BRS. Parasympathetic modulation as the highfrequency power of R-R intervals (lnHFR-R), sympathetic modulation as the low-frequency power of systolic blood pressure variability (LFSBP), and BRS as the α-index were measured by power spectral density analysis. These variables were compared between 20 young men who had COVID-19 and 24 controls. Independent t-tests and Mann-Whitney U tests indicated no significant difference between the COVID-19 and the control group in: lnHFR-R, P=0.20; LFSBP, P=0.11, and α-index, P=0.20. Fatigue was not associated with impaired autonomic modulation or BRS. There is no difference in autonomic modulations or BRS between young men who had COVID-19 compared to controls. Fatigue did not seem to be associated with impaired autonomic modulation or impaired BRS in young men after COVID-19. Findings suggest that young men might not be at increased cardiovascular risk from COVID-19-related dysautonomia and impaired BRS