Software engineering

Today's software systems generally use obsolete technology, are not integrated properly with other software systems, and are difficult and costly to maintain. The discipline of reverse engineering is becoming prominent as organizations try to move their systems up to more modern and maintainable technology in a cost effective manner. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) created a significant set of tools to develop and maintain FORTRAN and C code during development of the space shuttle. This tool set forms the basis for an integrated environment to reengineer existing code into modern software engineering structures which are then easier and less costly to maintain and which allow a fairly straightforward translation into other target languages. The environment will support these structures and practices even in areas where the language definition and compilers do not enforce good software engineering. The knowledge and data captured using the reverse engineering tools is passed to standard forward engineering tools to redesign or perform major upgrades to software systems in a much more cost effective manner than using older technologies. The latest release of the environment was in Feb. 1992

Constrained action selection in children with developmental coordination disorder

The effect of advance (‘precue’) information on short aiming movements was explored in adults, high school children, and primary school children with and without developmental coordination disorder (n = 10, 14, 16, 10, respectively). Reaction times in the DCD group were longer than in the other groups and were more influenced by the extent to which the precue constrained the possible action space. In contrast, reaction time did not alter as a function of precue condition in adults. Children with DCD showed greater inaccuracy of response (despite the increased RT). We suggest that the different precue effects reflect differences in the relative benefits of priming an action prior to definitive information about the movement goal. The benefits are an interacting function of the task and the skill level of the individual. Our experiment shows that children with DCD gain a benefit from advance preparation in simple aiming movements, highlighting their low skill levels. This result suggests that goal-directed RTs may have diagnostic potential within the clinic

High levels of fat and (n-6) fatty acids in cancellous bone in osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is strongly linked with obesity and patients with osteoporosis (OP) have a low body mass index. Anecdotal evidence, clinical and laboratory, suggests that OA bone contains more fat. However, conversion of osteoblasts to adipocytes is reported in OP and this would suggest that the more porous OP cancellous bone would have a high fat content. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that OA bone contains more fat than OP bone. METHODS: Cores of cancellous bone were obtained from femoral heads of patients undergoing surgery for either OA or OP. Lipids were extracted using chloroform-methanol, weighed and expressed as a fraction of core mass and volume. A fatty acid analysis was performed using gas chromatography. RESULTS: OA bone contained twice as much fat per unit volume of tissue as OP. Levels of n-6 fatty acids were elevated in OA, especially arachidonic acid (C20:4 n-6) which was almost double that found in OP. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that lipids may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of OA and may provide part of the key to understanding why OA and OP lie at opposite ends of the spectrum of bone masses

The Global Health interactive Curricula Experience (iCE) Platform & App : Technology that Enables Inter-professional Innovation

Global Health Initiatives Committee (GHIC) Serves the Jefferson community as the premier point of engagement for students & faculty interested in medical and public health issues that transcend national boundaries Creates an institutional focus on preparing students for public service careers in population health and public policy at local, national, and global levels To enable all TJU faculty to: - Deliver global health education, in a friendly, interactive format - Does not require an expert to deliver - Can be used in very small or large pieces depending on your need

Influence of Supervision and Clinical Experiences on Professional Development of Graduate Speech Language Pathology Students

As with the first companion manuscript, this study used a grounded theory approach to develop and describe a hierarchical model of clinical development of speech-language pathology graduate students. Eight female students attending the speech-language pathology graduate program participated in structured interviews prior to graduate training as well as following each of five subsequent semesters. The interviews were then qualitatively analyzed to create the model of clinical development. This is the second of two companion papers and summarizes three of the five main findings identified. These findings indicate that academic experiences provide foundational skills that students need for clinical development; however, student clinical expectations and needs did not appear to be influenced by academic experience. Rather, appeared to be more influenced by increased experience and greater comfort with clinical supervisors. Supervisory methodologies as well as overall clinical learning models are discussed. The companion paper describes the remaining two findings that emphasize characteristics associated with the learning and coping strategies associated with the supervision and clinical experiences of graduate students

Evolution from a nodeless gap to d(x2-y2) form in underdoped La(2-x)SrxCuO4

Using angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES), it is revealed that the low-energy electronic excitation spectra of highly underdoped superconducting and non-superconducting La(2-x)SrxCuO4 cuprates are gapped along the entire underlying Fermi surface at low temperatures. We show how the gap function evolves to a d(x2-y2) form as increasing temperature or doping, consistent with the vast majority of ARPES studies of cuprates. Our results provide essential information for uncovering the symmetry of the order parameter(s) in strongly underdoped cuprates, which is a prerequisite for understanding the pairing mechanism and how superconductivity emerges from a Mott insulator.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Anterior segment diseases presented in an interactive videotape format

With the overwhelming amount of information provided in ocular disease courses, it is often useful to have a convenient method for supplementing course material. With this in mind, a videotape has been produced which will serve as a convenient and effective teaching aid for second year students. Rather than a simple presentation of facts, this tape is formatted in a manner that encourages participative learning. The student extracts the relevant facts from the case history, forms her/his own diagnosis, observes the recorded eye condition, makes a differential diagnosis and develops a treatment plan. All of this information is available within the tape itself

Influence of Graduate Speech Language Pathology Student’s Learning Style and Coping Strategies on Training and Development

A hierarchical model using grounded theory analysis was used to investigate clinical development of speech-language pathology graduate students. Eight female students attending a graduate speech-language pathology program participated in interviews prior to beginning graduate training and after each of five subsequent semesters. The interviews were then qualitatively analyzed to create the model of clinical development. This is the first of two companion papers and summarizes two of the five main findings identified. These findings indicated that both stress and the coping strategies used by students influenced clinical abilities and the student’s feelings of self-efficacy throughout graduate training. The results support that learning theory, motivation theory, and understanding of student coping strategies could better promote clinical development and these factors in combination can be used to explain how students progress successfully through a graduate training program. The companion paper describes the remaining three findings that emphasize characteristics associated with the supervision and clinical experiences of graduate students

Antiferromagnetic and Orbital Ordering on a Diamond Lattice Near Quantum Criticality

We present neutron scattering measurements on powder samples of the spinel FeSc2S4 that reveal a previously unobserved magnetic ordering transition occurring at 11.8(2)~K. Magnetic ordering occurs subsequent to a subtle cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition which distorts Fe coordinating sulfur tetrahedra lifting the orbital degeneracy. The application of 1~GPa hydrostatic pressure appears to destabilize this N\'eel state, reducing the transition temperature to 8.6(8)~K and redistributing magnetic spectral weight to higher energies. The relative magnitudes of ordered $\langle m \rangle^2\!=\!3.1(2)$ and fluctuating moments $\langle \delta m \rangle^2\!=\!13(1)$ show that the magnetically ordered ground state of FeSc2S4 is drastically renormalized and in proximity to criticality.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure