Applications of aerospace technology in industry, a technology transfer profile: Fire safety

The fire safety field is considered as being composed of three parts: an industry, a technology base, and a user base. An overview of the field is presented, including a perspective on the magnitude of the national fire safety problem. Selected NASA contributions to the technology of fire safety are considered. Communication mechanisms, particularly conferences and publications, used by NASA to alert the community to new developments in the fire safety field, are reviewed. Several examples of nonaerospace applications of NASA-generated fire safety technology are also presented. Issues associated with attempts to transfer this technology from the space program to other sectors of the American economy are outlined

Applications of aerospace technology in industry, a technology transfer profile: Lubrication

Technology transfer in the lubrication field is discussed in terms of the movement of NASA-generated lubrication technology into the private sector as affected by evolving industrial requirements. An overview of the field is presented, and NASA technical contributions to lubrication technology are described. Specific examples in which these technologies have been used in the private sector are summarized

New advances in the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)

Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) have increased in frequency throughout the world. In addition to an increase in frequency, recent CDI epidemics have been linked to a hypervirulent C. difficile strain resulting in greater severity of disease. Although most mild to moderate cases of CDI continue to respond to metronidazole or vancomycin, refractory and recurrent cases of CDI may require alternative therapies. This review provides a brief overview of CDI and summarizes studies involving alternative antibiotics, toxin binders, probiotics, and immunological therapies that can be considered for treatment of acute and recurrent CDI in severe and refractory situations

Coulomb charging energy for arbitrary tunneling strength

The Coulomb energy of a small metallic island coupled to an electrode by a tunnel junction is investigated. We employ Monte Carlo simulations to determine the effective charging energy for arbitrary tunneling strength. For small tunneling conductance, the data agree with analytical results based on a perturbative treatment of electron tunneling, while for very strong tunneling recent semiclassical results for large conductance are approached. The data allow for an identification of the range of validity of various analytical predictions.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, incl 3 figures, to appear in Europhys.Let

Surmising synchrony of sound and sight: Factors explaining variance of audiovisual integration in hurdling, tap dancing and drumming.

Auditory and visual percepts are integrated even when they are not perfectly temporally aligned with each other, especially when the visual signal precedes the auditory signal. This window of temporal integration for asynchronous audiovisual stimuli is relatively well examined in the case of speech, while other natural action-induced sounds have been widely neglected. Here, we studied the detection of audiovisual asynchrony in three different whole-body actions with natural action-induced sounds-hurdling, tap dancing and drumming. In Study 1, we examined whether audiovisual asynchrony detection, assessed by a simultaneity judgment task, differs as a function of sound production intentionality. Based on previous findings, we expected that auditory and visual signals should be integrated over a wider temporal window for actions creating sounds intentionally (tap dancing), compared to actions creating sounds incidentally (hurdling). While percentages of perceived synchrony differed in the expected way, we identified two further factors, namely high event density and low rhythmicity, to induce higher synchrony ratings as well. Therefore, we systematically varied event density and rhythmicity in Study 2, this time using drumming stimuli to exert full control over these variables, and the same simultaneity judgment tasks. Results suggest that high event density leads to a bias to integrate rather than segregate auditory and visual signals, even at relatively large asynchronies. Rhythmicity had a similar, albeit weaker effect, when event density was low. Our findings demonstrate that shorter asynchronies and visual-first asynchronies lead to higher synchrony ratings of whole-body action, pointing to clear parallels with audiovisual integration in speech perception. Overconfidence in the naturally expected, that is, synchrony of sound and sight, was stronger for intentional (vs. incidental) sound production and for movements with high (vs. low) rhythmicity, presumably because both encourage predictive processes. In contrast, high event density appears to increase synchronicity judgments simply because it makes the detection of audiovisual asynchrony more difficult. More studies using real-life audiovisual stimuli with varying event densities and rhythmicities are needed to fully uncover the general mechanisms of audiovisual integration

Depressive symptoms are associated with (sub)clinical psychotic symptoms in patients with non-affective psychotic disorder, siblings and healthy controls

Background. Depression is a clinically relevant dimension, associated with both positive and negative symptoms, in patients with schizophrenia. However, in siblings it is unknown whether depression is associated with subclinical positive and negative symptoms. Method. Depressive symptoms and their association with positive and negative symptoms were examined in 813 healthy siblings of patients with a non-affective psychotic disorder, 822 patients and 527 healthy controls. Depressive episodes meeting DSM-IV-TR criteria (lifetime) and depressed mood (lifetime) were assessed with the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History (CASH) in all three groups. In the patient group, the severity of positive and negative psychosis symptoms was assessed with the CASH. In the siblings and healthy controls, the severity of subclinical psychosis symptoms was assessed with the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE). Results. Patients reported more lifetime depressed mood and more depressive episodes than both siblings and controls. Siblings had a higher chance of meeting lifetime depressive episodes than the controls; no significant differences in depressed mood were found between siblings and controls. In all three groups the number and duration of depressive symptoms were associated with (sub) clinical negative symptoms. In the patients and siblings the number of depressive symptoms was furthermore associated with (sub) clinical positive symptoms. Finally, lifetime depressed mood showed familial clustering but this clustering was absent for lifetime depressive episodes. Conclusions. These findings suggest that a co-occurring genetic vulnerability for both depressive and psychotic symptomatology exists on a clinical and a subclinical level

Stem cells of ependymoma

Ependymomas are tumours that arise throughout the central nervous system. Little is known regarding the aberrant cellular and molecular processes that generate these tumours. This lack of knowledge has hampered efforts to reduce the significant mortality and morbidity that are associated with ependymoma. Here, we review recent data that suggest that radial glia are cells of origin of ependymoma, and discuss the processes that might transform these neural progenitors into ependymoma cancer stem cells

An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics

For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types

The masked demos: Associational anonymity and democratic practice

The increased use of anonymous digital platforms raises substantive concerns about accountability in digital spaces. However, contemporary evaluations of anonymity focus too narrowly on its protective function: its ability to protect a diversity of speakers and ideas. Drawing on two examples of anonymous political engagements – Publius’s writing of the Federalist Papers and college students’ use of the social media platform Yik Yak – we develop an account of anonymity’s associational function: the processes by which people generate and negotiate collective identities, discussions, and actions in wider publics. As we argue, anonymity’s associational function can (1) generate conditions under which individuals develop collective interests and identities to foster collective action, and (2) enable novel interactions between these individuals and communities and the larger publics of which they are part. We conclude with a discussion of how attention to associational anonymity can contribute to a more nuanced account of democracy in practice

A standardized terminology for describing reproductive development in fishes

19 páginas, 12 figuras, 3 tablas.-- Open access journalAs the number of fish reproduction studies has proliferated, so has the number of gonadal classification schemes and terms. This has made it difficult for both scientists and resource managers to communicate and for comparisons to be made among studies.We propose the adoption of a simple, universal terminology for the phases in the reproductive cycle, which can be applied to all male and female elasmobranch and teleost fishes. These phases were chosen because they define key milestones in the reproductive cycle; the phases include immature, developing, spawning capable, regressing, and regenerating. Although the temporal sequence of events during gamete development in each phase may vary among species, each phase has specific histological and physiological markers and is conceptually universal. The immature phase can occur only once. The developing phase signals entry into the gonadotropin-dependent stage of oogenesis and spermatogenesis and ultimately results in gonadal growth. The spawning capable phase includes (1) those fish with gamete development that is sufficiently advanced to allow for spawning within the current reproductive cycle and (2) batch-spawning females that show signs of previous spawns (i.e., postovulatory follicle complex) and that are also capable of additional spawns during the current cycle. Within the spawning capable phase, an actively spawning subphase is defined that corresponds to hydration and ovulation in females and spermiation in males. The regressing phase indicates completion of the reproductive cycle and, for many fish, completion of the spawning season. Fish in the regenerating phase are sexually mature but reproductively inactive. Species-specific histological criteria or classes can be incorporated within each of the universal phases, allowing for more specific divisions (subphases) while preserving the overall reproductive terminology for comparative purposes. This terminology can easily be modified for fishes with alternate reproductive strategies, such as hermaphrodites (addition of a transition phase) and livebearers (addition of a gestation phase)Fish Reproduction and Fisheries (FRESH; European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action FA0601) and theWest Palm Beach Fishing Club (Florida) provided funding for the gonadal histology workshops where this terminology was developed and refined. Additionally, we thank FRESH for travel and publication fundsPeer reviewe