Ground man-machine interfaces for orbiter checkout

The challenge of the concept of a reusable, cargo carrying space vehicle, and how those challenges were met for the Space Shuttle are discussed. The complexity of the vehicle, the ground support systen, the onboard computer system, ramifications of a reusable vehicle, and the turn around objectives for Shuttle flights are outlined. The Apollo and the space transportation system (STS) are compared

Early Recognition of Burn- and Trauma-Related Acute Kidney Injury: A Pilot Comparison of Machine Learning Techniques.

Severely burned and non-burned trauma patients are at risk for acute kidney injury (AKI). The study objective was to assess the theoretical performance of artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) algorithms to augment AKI recognition using the novel biomarker, neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL), combined with contemporary biomarkers such as N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), urine output (UOP), and plasma creatinine. Machine learning approaches including logistic regression (LR), k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and deep neural networks (DNN) were used in this study. The AI/ML algorithm helped predict AKI 61.8 (32.5) hours faster than the Kidney Disease and Improving Global Disease Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria for burn and non-burned trauma patients. NGAL was analytically superior to traditional AKI biomarkers such as creatinine and UOP. With ML, the AKI predictive capability of NGAL was further enhanced when combined with NT-proBNP or creatinine. The use of AI/ML could be employed with NGAL to accelerate detection of AKI in at-risk burn and non-burned trauma patients

Temperature Affects Hatching Success of Cocoons in the Invasive Asian Earthworm Amynthas agrestis from the Southern Appalachians

Invasive Asian earthworms are increasingly common in the eastern USA where they are a major cause of terrestrial ecosystem disturbance. Among these, Amynthas agrestis (Crazy Worm, Alabama Jumper, and other common names) has been shown to alter above- and belowground food webs. Life-history traits of these earthworms are largely unknown, particularly in their invaded range. Here, we sought to answer questions about temperature effects on hatching success for cocoons of this species, using specimens collected from the southern Appalachian Mountains. We conducted 2 experiments investigating the effects of incubation temperature and the effect of varying the duration of cold temperature on hatching success. Of the temperatures tested, we found that cocoons hatched with greatest success at 10 °C, but our tests indicate a long duration at that temperature may be needed to result in an increase in hatching success. These results indicate that temperature and the duration of temperature exposure affect hatching success in this species. While our results contribute to the growing body of knowledge about the life-history traits of invasive Asian earthworms in the eastern US, more research is needed to provide a finer-resolution understanding of the optimum level and duration of temperatures for hatching success of A. agrestis

Changing Northern Hemisphere storm tracks in an ensemble of IPCC climate change simulations

Winter storm-track activity over the Northern Hemisphere and its changes in a greenhouse gas scenario (the Special Report on Emission Scenarios A1B forcing) are computed from an ensemble of 23 single runs from 16 coupled global climate models (CGCMs). All models reproduce the general structures of the observed climatological storm-track pattern under present-day forcing conditions. Ensemble mean changes resulting from anthropogenic forcing include an increase of baroclinic wave activity over the eastern North Atlantic, amounting to 5%–8% by the end of the twenty-first century. Enhanced activity is also found over the Asian continent and over the North Pacific near the Aleutian Islands. At high latitudes and over parts of the subtropics, activity is reduced. Variations of the individual models around the ensemble average signal are not small, with a median of the pattern correlation near r = 0.5. There is, however, no evidence for a link between deviations in present-day climatology and deviations with respect to climate change

ALTERED DEVELOPMENT IN APTEROUS DROSOPHILA: A PROJECT-BASED LEARNING MODULE

A major challenge in teaching North Carolina Essential Standards for Biology to high schoolstudents is that many of the processes or concepts cannot be seen, which makes mastery of the material difficult. However, students can acquire and apply new knowledge when teachers design and implement laboratory activities that emulate the processes or concepts students need to learn while capturing students? interest. The purpose of this investigation is to explore the effects of simulated acid rain on a strain of Drosophila melanogaster(the common fruit fly) as a collaborative study with student-scientists. There is strong evidence that acid rain damages forests, vegetable crops, buildings, aquatic organisms and even human health. This study reports an intervention aimed at helping students learn the processes of science by investigating a real life problem of environmental impacts on development in a living organism. A comparison of the pre-test and post-test data suggests that this intervention can enhance student learning and achievement

Trichostatin A enhances catalase activity in Drosophila melanogasterap56f

In an aerobic environment, catalase plays an important role in the defense of cells and organisms against the toxic effects of oxygen. Possible consequences of the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from the metabolism of oxygen include damage to biological macromolecules such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. The detrimental effects on cellular metabolism can result in the loss of viability. Catalase, an antioxidant enzyme, prevents the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, a reactive oxygen species, by catalyzing conversion of the substrate to water and molecular oxygen. In this inquiry, the role of an epigenetic agent on catalase levels was investigated to ascertain the potential of this approach for bolstering antioxidant defense systems in aerobic organisms. Trichostatin A (TSA) is a histone deacetylase inhibitor that targets the class I and class II histone deacetylases (HDAC) and histones H3 and H4 (Huidobro et al., 2013). Eukaryotic DNA is arranged into chromatin in which histone components of nucleosomes can be regulated by reversible acetylation. Histone acetylation is regulated by histone acetyltransferases and histone deacetylases (HDACs), which play important roles in transcription, DNA replication, and cell cycle progression (Benayoun et al., 2015). Trichostatin A, which inhibits HDAC, has been shown to stop cell cycling, induce differentiation, and reverse morphological changes seen in the cell cycle arrest (Santos et al., 2018). In this study, the activity of catalase in response to TSA was determined in four-day old adult flies of a mutant Drosophila melanogaster strain

Direct reaction measurements with a 132Sn radioactive ion beam

The (d,p) neutron transfer and (d,d) elastic scattering reactions were measured in inverse kinematics using a radioactive ion beam of 132Sn at 630 MeV. The elastic scattering data were taken in a region where Rutherford scattering dominated the reaction, and nuclear effects account for less than 8% of the cross section. The magnitude of the nuclear effects was found to be independent of the optical potential used, allowing the transfer data to be normalized in a reliable manner. The neutron-transfer reaction populated a previously unmeasured state at 1363 keV, which is most likely the single-particle 3p1/2 state expected above the N=82 shell closure. The data were analyzed using finite range adiabatic wave calculations and the results compared with the previous analysis using the distorted wave Born approximation. Angular distributions for the ground and first excited states are consistent with the previous tentative spin and parity assignments. Spectroscopic factors extracted from the differential cross sections are similar to those found for the one neutron states beyond the benchmark doubly-magic nucleus 208Pb.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure