Space shuttle main engine hardware simulation

The Huntsville Simulation Laboratory (HSL) provides a simulation facility to test and verify the space shuttle main engine (SSME) avionics and software system using a maximum complement of flight type hardware. The HSL permits evaluations and analyses of the SSME avionics hardware, software, control system, and mathematical models. The laboratory has performed a wide spectrum of tests and verified operational procedures to ensure system component compatibility under all operating conditions. It is a test bed for integration of hardware/software/hydraulics. The HSL is and has been an invaluable tool in the design and development of the SSME

Evaluation of Different Genotypes of Teosinte (\u3cem\u3eEuchlaena mexicana\u3c/em\u3e) For Herbage and Seed Production in Nepal

Teosinte is highly admired by the Nepalese farmers as a summer forage crop. It is also an important crop for milking animals in the tropical world where dairy husbandry is practiced. The only Sirsa cultivar of teosinte currently grown in Nepal takes 8 to 9 months from sowing to seed harvesting, which makes growing this crop difficult for farmers with small land holdings wanting to establish winter crops. Therefore, a diversity study on eighteen teosinte accessions was conducted in CRBD design. Seventeen teosinte accessions imported from CYMMIT Mexico and one locally grown Sirsa were evaluated in order to identify if any of the introduced accessions could perform better than Sirsa in terms of herbage yield, seed yield and time to seed maturity . Out of 17 accessions, 5, 7 and 12 were significantly different from Sirsa with respect to herbage yield, seed yield and maturity. This preliminary result suggests a possible source of material for developing new teosinte varieties, better suited for farmer’s need, particularly to reduce the length of time required to grow a seed crop in Nepal

Effects of classification context on categorization in natural categories

The patterns of classification of borderline instances of eight common taxonomic categories were examined under three different instructional conditions to test two predictions: first, that lack of a specified context contributes to vagueness in categorization, and second, that altering the purpose of classification can lead to greater or lesser dependence on similarity in classification. The instructional conditions contrasted purely pragmatic with more technical/quasi-legal contexts as purposes for classification, and these were compared with a no-context control. The measures of category vagueness were between-subjects disagreement and within-subjects consistency, and the measures of similarity based categorization were category breadth and the correlation of instance categorization probability with mean rated typicality, independently measured in a neutral context. Contrary to predictions, none of the measures of vagueness, reliability, category breadth, or correlation with typicality were generally affected by the instructional setting as a function of pragmatic versus technical purposes. Only one subcondition, in which a situational context was implied in addition to a purposive context, produced a significant change in categorization. Further experiments demonstrated that the effect of context was not increased when participants talked their way through the task, and that a technical context did not elicit more all-or-none categorization than did a pragmatic context. These findings place an important boundary condition on the effects of instructional context on conceptual categorization

Model networks of end‐linked polydimethylsiloxane chains. II. Viscoelastic losses

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71107/2/JCPSA6-68-4-2010-1.pd

Gait dynamics in mouse models of Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease

BACKGROUND: Gait is impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD), but gait dynamics in mouse models of PD and HD have not been described. Here we quantified temporal and spatial indices of gait dynamics in a mouse model of PD and a mouse model of HD. METHODS: Gait indices were obtained in C57BL/6J mice treated with the dopaminergic neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP, 30 mg/kg/day for 3 days) for PD, the mitochondrial toxin 3-nitropropionic acid (3NP, 75 mg/kg cumulative dose) for HD, or saline. We applied ventral plane videography to generate digital paw prints from which indices of gait and gait variability were determined. Mice walked on a transparent treadmill belt at a speed of 34 cm/s after treatments. RESULTS: Stride length was significantly shorter in MPTP-treated mice (6.6 ± 0.1 cm vs. 7.1 ± 0.1 cm, P < 0.05) and stride frequency was significantly increased (5.4 ± 0.1 Hz vs. 5.0 ± 0.1 Hz, P < 0.05) after 3 administrations of MPTP, compared to saline-treated mice. The inability of some mice treated with 3NP to exhibit coordinated gait was due to hind limb failure while forelimb gait dynamics remained intact. Stride-to-stride variability was significantly increased in MPTP-treated and 3NP-treated mice compared to saline-treated mice. To determine if gait disturbances due to MPTP and 3NP, drugs affecting the basal ganglia, were comparable to gait disturbances associated with motor neuron diseases, we also studied gait dynamics in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Gait variability was not increased in the SOD1 G93A transgenic model of ALS compared to wild-type control mice. CONCLUSION: The distinct characteristics of gait and gait variability in the MPTP model of Parkinson's disease and the 3NP model of Huntington's disease may reflect impairment of specific neural pathways involved

Feature integration in natural language concepts

Two experiments measured the joint influence of three key sets of semantic features on the frequency with which artifacts (Experiment 1) or plants and creatures (Experiment 2) were categorized in familiar categories. For artifacts, current function outweighed both originally intended function and current appearance. For biological kinds, appearance and behavior, an inner biological function, and appearance and behavior of offspring all had similarly strong effects on categorization. The data were analyzed to determine whether an independent cue model or an interactive model best accounted for how the effects of the three feature sets combined. Feature integration was found to be additive for artifacts but interactive for biological kinds. In keeping with this, membership in contrasting artifact categories tended to be superadditive, indicating overlapping categories, whereas for biological kinds, it was subadditive, indicating conceptual gaps between categories. It is argued that the results underline a key domain difference between artifact and biological concepts

A validated measure of adherence to antibiotic prophylaxis in children with sickle cell disease

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic prophylaxis is a mainstay in sickle cell disease management. However, adherence is estimated at only 66%. This study aimed to develop and validate a Sickle Cell Antibiotic Adherence Level Evaluation (SCAALE) to promote systematic and detailed adherence evaluation. METHODS: A 28-item questionnaire was created, covering seven adherence areas. General Adherence Ratings from the parent and one health care provider and medication possession ratios were obtained as validation measures. RESULTS: Internal consistency was very good to excellent for the total SCAALE (α=0.89) and four of the seven subscales. Correlations between SCAALE scores and validation measures were strong for the total SCAALE and five of the seven subscales. CONCLUSION: The SCAALE provides a detailed, quantitative, multidimensional, and global measurement of adherence and can promote clinical care and research

Evidence of neutral transcriptome evolution in plants

The transcriptome of an organism is its set of gene transcripts (mRNAs) at a defined spatial and temporal locus. Because gene expression is affected markedly by environmental and developmental perturbations, it is widely assumed that transcriptome divergence among taxa represents adaptive phenotypic selection. This assumption has been challenged by neutral theories which propose that stochastic processes drive transcriptome evolution. To test for evidence of neutral transcriptome evolution in plants, we quantified 18 494 gene transcripts in nonsenescent leaves of 14 taxa of Brassicaceae using robust cross-species transcriptomics which includes a two-step physical and in silicobased normalization procedure based on DNA similarity among taxa. Transcriptome divergence correlates positively with evolutionary distance between taxa and with variation in gene expression among samples. Results are similar for pseudogenes and chloroplast genes evolving at different rates. Remarkably, variation in transcript abundance among root-cell samples correlates positively with transcriptome divergence among root tissues and among taxa. Because neutral processes affect transcriptome evolution in plants, many differences in gene expression among or within taxa may be nonfunctional, reflecting ancestral plasticity and founder effects. Appropriate null models are required when comparing transcriptomes in space and time

Managed Aquifer Recharge in the Poverty Bay Flats

In 2012 a report was commissioned by the Gisborne District Council (GDC) to examine groundwater resources in the Poverty Bay flats. This report found that groundwater elevations within the Makauri Gravel aquifer (the aquifer subject to the greatest groundwater abstractions), were declining at statistically significant rates, probably due to groundwater abstractions (White et al., 2012). As a result, the GDC is investigating whether managed aquifer recharge (MAR) can be used to help achieve the sustainable management of groundwater resources within the Poverty Bay flats. MAR is “the purposeful recharge of water to aquifers for subsequent recovery or environmental benefit” (Dillon et al., 2013, p. 2). Though MAR is uncommon in New Zealand, increasing pressures on groundwater may change this. GDC is investigating two different methods of MAR, well-injection (in conjunction with Golder Associates), and infiltration basins, which is the focus of this study