Low frequency VLBI in space using GAS-Can satellites: Report on the May 1987 JPL Workshop

Summarized are the results of a workshop held at JPL on May 28 and 29, 1987, to study the feasibility of using small, very inexpensive spacecraft for a low-frequency radio interferometer array. Many technical aspects of a mission to produce high angular resolution images of the entire sky at frequencies from 2 to 20 MHz were discussed. The workshop conclusion was that such a mission was scientifically valuable and technically practical. A useful array could be based on six or more satellites no larger than those launched from Get-Away-Special canisters. The cost of each satellite could be $1-2M, and the mass less than 90 kg. Many details require further study, but as this report shows, there is good reason to proceed. No fundamental problems have been discovered involving the use of untraditional, very inexpensive spacecraft for this type of mission

Archeological and Geoarcheological Survey of State Highway 35 between Angleton and Old Ocean, Brazoria County, Texas

During March through July 2003, The Center for Archaeological Research of The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted a cultural resources survey, including geoarcheological studies, along portions of State Highway 35 from Angleton to Old Ocean in Brazoria County, Texas. This survey was conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 3091 and was performed for the Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division. During the early phases of the survey, a Historic Context for the project was developed by Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc. of Austin, Texas. This Historic Context was used to guide the latter phases of the survey, and is reproduced in this document. The project area consisted of a 15-mile-long discontinuous portion of the highway, with variable widths and eight separate detention ponds, varying in area from 2–12 acres each. Nearly 600 auger borings, here substituted for shovel tests, and 176 backhoe trenches were excavated, encountering no significant cultural deposits or features. The artifacts uncovered during these investigations were of recent origin and, therefore, none were collected for analysis and curation. With the exception of testing at site 41BO184, this project completes the cultural resources inventory of the State Highway 35 corridor between Angleton and Old Ocean

Random Projections For Large-Scale Regression

Fitting linear regression models can be computationally very expensive in large-scale data analysis tasks if the sample size and the number of variables are very large. Random projections are extensively used as a dimension reduction tool in machine learning and statistics. We discuss the applications of random projections in linear regression problems, developed to decrease computational costs, and give an overview of the theoretical guarantees of the generalization error. It can be shown that the combination of random projections with least squares regression leads to similar recovery as ridge regression and principal component regression. We also discuss possible improvements when averaging over multiple random projections, an approach that lends itself easily to parallel implementation.Comment: 13 pages, 3 Figure

Translation and Validation of the Patient Activation Measure in Portuguese People with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Management of diabetes mellitus is largely dependent on patients' active participation in care. The 'Patient Activation Measure 13' assesses patients' knowledge, skills, and confidence in self-care. We aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the 'Patient Activation Measure 13' to Portuguese, in people with type 2 diabetes. Material and Methods: The translation and cultural adaptation occurred in six phases. A convenience sample of people with type 2 diabetes was recruited from the waiting rooms of a diabetes outpatient centre in Lisbon, between March and April 2014. The questionnaire was self-administered; medical records were reviewed to obtain glycated haemoglobin levels. Main statistical analyses were based on the Rasch rating scale model. Results: The response rate for the final questionnaire was 76%. Rasch analysis was conducted on 193 respondents. Respondents had a mean age of 67.1 (SD 10.1) years, 42.7% were women, and the mean patient activation measure score (0 - 100) in the sample was 58.5 (SD 10.1). The sample was low to moderate in terms of activation: 40.4% were low in activation (levels 1 and 2), 49.7% were in level 3, and 9.8% were in level 4, the highest level of activation. All items had good fit and the response categories functioned well. Item reliability was 0.97 and person reliability was between 0.77 (real) and 0.83 (model). Discussion: The 'Patient Activation Measure 13' was translated and culturally adapted to European Portuguese and validated in people with diabetes, showing good psychometric properties. Future research should aim at evaluating test-retest reliability of the Portuguese 'Patient Activation Measure 13', and exploring its ability to measure changes in activation over time. Conclusion: The 'Patient Activation Measure 13' is now available in European Portuguese and has good psychometric properties.Liliana Laranjo was supported by a Junior Clinical Research award from the Harvard Medical School-Portugal program (HMSP-ICJ/0005/2010; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia)

Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: Executive Guide

Prepared by and for policy-makers, leaders of public sector research establishments, technology transfer professionals, licensing executives, and scientists, this online resource offers up-to-date information and strategies for utilizing the power of both intellectual property and the public domain. Emphasis is placed on advancing innovation in health and agriculture, though many of the principles outlined here are broadly applicable across technology fields. Eschewing ideological debates and general proclamations, the authors always keep their eye on the practical side of IP management. The site is based on a comprehensive Handbook and Executive Guide that provide substantive discussions and analysis of the opportunities awaiting anyone in the field who wants to put intellectual property to work. This multi-volume work contains 153 chapters on a full range of IP topics and over 50 case studies, composed by over 200 authors from North, South, East, and West. If you are a policymaker, a senior administrator, a technology transfer manager, or a scientist, we invite you to use the companion site guide available at http://www.iphandbook.org/index.html The site guide distills the key points of each IP topic covered by the Handbook into simple language and places it in the context of evolving best practices specific to your professional role within the overall picture of IP management

Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: A Handbook of Best Practices, Vol. 1

Prepared by and for policy-makers, leaders of public sector research establishments, technology transfer professionals, licensing executives, and scientists, this online resource offers up-to-date information and strategies for utilizing the power of both intellectual property and the public domain. Emphasis is placed on advancing innovation in health and agriculture, though many of the principles outlined here are broadly applicable across technology fields. Eschewing ideological debates and general proclamations, the authors always keep their eye on the practical side of IP management. The site is based on a comprehensive Handbook and Executive Guide that provide substantive discussions and analysis of the opportunities awaiting anyone in the field who wants to put intellectual property to work. This multi-volume work contains 153 chapters on a full range of IP topics and over 50 case studies, composed by over 200 authors from North, South, East, and West. If you are a policymaker, a senior administrator, a technology transfer manager, or a scientist, we invite you to use the companion site guide available at http://www.iphandbook.org/index.html The site guide distills the key points of each IP topic covered by the Handbook into simple language and places it in the context of evolving best practices specific to your professional role within the overall picture of IP management

Camp Maxey IV Archaeological Testing of Six Sites, Lamar County, Texas

From June 14 through July 4, 2001, the Center for Archaeological Research of The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted National Register of Historic Places eligibility testing of six prehistoric archaeological sites (41LR190, 41LR194, 41LR196, 41LR200, 41LR258, and 41LR259) at Camp Maxey, Lamar County, Texas, under contract with the Texas Army National Guard. The investigations were conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 2180. The Phase II testing fieldwork consisted of the excavation of twelve backhoe trenches and nineteen 1 x 1-m test units across the sites to investigate significant cultural deposits encountered during the previous survey phase. In concert with the archaeological field investigations, lithic and native ceramic analyses and magnetic sediment susceptibility studies were performed to aid in the determination of site integrity and eligibility. The synthesis of these analyses has provided adequate data to determine temporal integrity and recommendation of National Register eligibility for site 41LR190. Further cultural resources investigations in the form of Phase III data recovery excavations are thus recommended for this site prior to proposed development. Conversely, due to lack of significance criteria, sites 41LR194, 41LR196, 41LR200, 41LR258, and 41LR259 are recommended as ineligible for inclusion in the National Register and require no further cultural resources investigations

Current Challenges in Autonomous Vehicle Development

The field of autonomous vehicles is a rapidly growing one, with significant interest from both government and industry sectors. Autonomous vehicles represent the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, combining decision-making with real-time control. Autonomous vehicles are desired for use in search and rescue, urban reconnaissance, mine detonation, supply convoys, and more. The general adage is to use robots for anything dull, dirty, dangerous or dumb. While a great deal of research has been done on autonomous systems, there are only a handful of fielded examples incorporating machine autonomy beyond the level of teleoperation, especially in outdoor/complex environments. In an attempt to assess and understand the current state of the art in autonomous vehicle development, a few areas where unsolved problems remain became clear. This paper outlines those areas and provides suggestions for the focus of science and technology research. The first step in evaluating the current state of autonomous vehicle development was to develop a definition of autonomy. A number of autonomy level classification systems were reviewed. The resulting working definitions and classification schemes used by the authors are summarized in the opening sections of the paper. The remainder of the report discusses current approaches and challenges in decision-making and real-time control for autonomous vehicles. Suggested research focus areas for near-, mid-, and long-term development are also presented

Lethal and Sublethal Effects of Novel Terrestrial Subsidies from an Invasive Shrub (Lonicera maackii) on Stream Macroinvertebrates

The biology of headwater streams is intimately linked to that of the surrounding terrestrial environment through organic matter subsidies. Lonicera maackii, an invasive shrub that is becoming abundant in headwater stream riparian areas, deposits substantial quantities of organic matter into the aquatic system. This organic material has allelopathic effects on terrestrial plants and insects, and a growing body of work suggests strong connections between L. maackii invasion and aquatic biota. Lonicera maackii deposits fruit and flowers in quantities and timings that are unique, and we tested the hypothesis that these subsidies would negatively affect survival and growth of laboratory-cultured Hyalella azteca and field-collected Anthopotamus verticis and Allocapnia spp. Invertebrates were exposed to a gradient of fruit (reference sediment + 0, 0.31, 0.62, 1.25, or 2.5 g dry mass [DM]) and flower (reference sediment + 0, 0.30, 0.60, 1.2, or 2.4 g DM) biomass in laboratory and field sediment exposure tests. Hyalella azteca survival was significantly reduced by exposure to L. maackii fruit in the laboratory and in the field exposures, and a negative effect was observed for A. verticis (p\u3c 0.05). Lonicera maackii flower biomass was associated with negative effects on survival of H. azteca in the field and laboratory exposures and of A. verticis in the laboratory exposure. During the laboratory exposures, dissolved O2 (DO) and pH were /L and 5.5, respectively. In the field exposures, DO and pH were comparable to stream conditions during fruit exposures, declining significantly with increasing flower biomass. Our results suggest that L. maackii fruit and flowers, novel subsidies in these systems, can negatively affect benthic organism survival and growth. Research focused on verifying this novel subsidy hypothesis for L. maackii and other species could enhance our understanding of invasion biology and terrestrial–aquatic linkages