Skylab food system

A review of the Skylab food system requirements, package designs, and launch configurations was presented. In-flight anomalies were discussed, and between-mission changes in design were described. A discussion of support for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 mission extensions and of new items launched on these missions is included

Enhancement and suppression effects resulting from information structuring in sentences

Information structuring through the use of cleft sentences increases the processing efficiency of references to elements within the scope of focus. Furthermore, there is evidence that putting certain types of emphasis on individual words not only enhances their subsequent processing, but also protects these words from becoming suppressed in the wake of subsequent information, suggesting mechanisms of enhancement and suppression. In Experiment 1, we showed that clefted constructions facilitate the integration of subsequent sentences that make reference to elements within the scope of focus, and that they decrease the efficiency with reference to elements outside of the scope of focus. In Experiment 2, using an auditory text-change-detection paradigm, we showed that focus has similar effects on the strength of memory representations. These results add to the evidence for enhancement and suppression as mechanisms of sentence processing and clarify that the effects occur within sentences having a marked focus structure

A computational approach to implicit entities and events in text and discourse

In this paper we will focus on the notion of “implicit” or lexically unexpressed linguistic elements that are nonetheless necessary for a complete semantic interpretation of a text. We refer to “entities” and “events” because the recovery of the implicit material may affect all the modules of a system for semantic processing, from the grammatically guided components to the inferential and reasoning ones. Reference to the system GETARUNS offers one possible implementation of the algorithms and procedures needed to cope with the problem and enables us to deal with all the spectrum of phenomena. The paper will address at first the following three types of “implicit” entities and events: – the grammatical ones, as suggested by a linguistic theories like LFG or similar generative theories; – the semantic ones suggested in the FrameNet project, i.e. CNI, DNI, INI; – the pragmatic ones: here we will present a theory and an implementation for the recovery of implicit entities and events of (non-) standard implicatures. In particular we will show how the use of commonsense knowledge may fruitfully contribute to find relevant implied meanings. Last Implicit Entity only touched on, though for lack of space, is the Subject of Point of View, which is computed by Semantic Informational Structure and contributes the intended entity from whose point of view a given subjective statement is expressed

A Survey of Ramp and Stair Use among Older Adults

Forty-three community-dwelling adults aged 57 to 95 participated in survey exploring characteristics of ramp use by older ambulant people. Twenty-three respondents said they ascended ramps instead of stairs most of the time, and 14 said they ascended ramps some of the time. Similar numbers were reported for descent. Overall, respondents felt less fatigued, less likely to trip, and more comfortable when using ramps rather than stairs for ascending one level. When descending one level, balance, tripping, and comfort were the strongest determinants of ramp use. Respondents indicated that descent was more problematic, particularly in regard to balance and tripping. The presence of handrails often determined the choice of route. Results from this survey provided the basis for an experiment evaluating the abilities of older people to traverse ramps of various slopes. The ADA Accessibility Guidelines implicitly assume that a ramp accommodates everyone. This study indicates that entrances should have both ramps and stairs.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Research Opportunities in Interdisciplinary Ground-Water Science

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long-standing reputation for providing unbiased scientific leadership and excellence in the field of ground-water hydrology and geological research. This report provides a framework for continuing this scientific leadership by describing six interdisciplinary topics for research opportunities in ground-water science in the USGS. These topics build on recommendations of the National Research Council (2000) contained in the report, “Investigating Groundwater Systems on Regional and National Scales,” and emphasize research topics that would benefit from the integrated capabilities of all parts of the USGS. Understanding the relations between ground water and the geological characteristics of aquifers within which ground water resides, and the relation of ground water to surface-water resources and terrestrial and aquatic biota is increasingly important and presents a considerable opportunity to draw on expertise throughout the USGS, including the science disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The National Research Council (2000) also emphasizes that USGS regional and national assessments of ground-water resources should focus on aspects that foster the sustainability of the resource. The need for a comprehensive program addressing the sustainability of ground-water resources can be stated very concisely—we need enough ground water of good quality to sustain our lives, our economy, and our aquatic ecosystems. Although societal needs for high-quality, objective ground-water science are increasing, current funding for USGS regional ground-water programs is about 40 percent of the funding available 20–25 years ago. Given the current challenges of budgetary constraints, however, this report provides a flexible set of interrelated research topics that enhance the ability of the USGS to focus limited fiscal resources on developing ground-water science tools and methods that provide high-quality, objective scientific information

Circularization of flavivirus genomic RNA inhibits de novo translation initiation.

Members of the Flaviviridae family, including dengue virus (DENV) and yellow fever virus, cause serious disease in humans, whilst maternal infection with Zika virus (ZIKV) can induce microcephaly in newborns. Following infection, flaviviral RNA genomes are translated to produce the viral replication machinery but must then serve as a template for the transcription of new genomes. However, the ribosome and viral polymerase proceed in opposite directions along the RNA, risking collisions and abortive replication. Whilst generally linear, flavivirus genomes can adopt a circular conformation facilitated by long-range RNA-RNA interactions, shown to be essential for replication. Using an in vitro reconstitution approach, we demonstrate that circularization inhibits de novo translation initiation on ZIKV and DENV RNA, whilst the linear conformation is translation-competent. Our results provide a mechanism to clear the viral RNA of ribosomes in order to promote efficient replication and, therefore, define opposing roles for linear and circular conformations of the flavivirus genome