Impressionistic techniques applied in sound art & design

Sound art and design collectively refer to the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating sonic elements to evoke emotion and environment. Sound is used to convey the intentions, emotions, spirit or aura of a story, performance, or sonic installation. Sound connects unique aural environments, creating an immersive experience via mood and atmosphere. Impressionistic techniques such as Impasto, Pointillism, Sgraffito, Stippling introduced by 19th-century painters captured the essence of their subject in more vivid compositions, exuding authentic movements and atmosphere. This thesis applied impressionistic techniques using sound art and design to project specific mood and atmosphere responses among listeners. Four unique sound textures, each representing a technique from Impressionism, and a fifth composite sound texture were created for this project. All five sound textures were validated as representative of their respective Impressionistic technique. Only sonic Pointillism matched its emotive intent. This outcome supports the research question that sound art and design can be used to direct listeners’ mood and atmosphere responses. Partnering Impressionistic principles with sound art and design offers a deeper palette to sonically deliver more robust, holistic soundscapes for amplifying an audience’s listening experience. This project provides a foundation for future explorations and studies in applying cross-disciplinary artistic techniques with sound art and design or other artistic endeavors

Integrated payload and mission planning, phase 3. Volume 1: Integrated payload and mission planning process evaluation

The integrated payload and mission planning process for STS payloads was defined, and discrete tasks which evaluate performance and support initial implementation of this process were conducted. The scope of activity was limited to NASA and NASA-related payload missions only. The integrated payload and mission planning process was defined in detail, including all related interfaces and scheduling requirements. Related to the payload mission planning process, a methodology for assessing early Spacelab mission manager assignment schedules was defined

Three-D crater analysis of LDEF impact features from stereo imagery

The preliminary results from attempts to derive depth and diameter information from digitized stereo images of impact features on the LDEF are reported. Contrary to our prior assumption, we find that impact craters in the T6 A1 alloy are not paraboloid in cross section, but rather are better described by a 6th-order polynomial curve. We explore the implications of this discovery

Meteoroid and debris special investigation group data acquisition procedures

The entire LDEF spacecraft was examined by M&D SIG for impact (i.e., craters greater than or = 0.5 mm and penetrations greater than or = 0.3 mm in diameter) and related features (e.g., debris, secondaries). During the various detailed surveys conducted at NASA Kennedy, approx. 5,000 impact related features were photodocumented, and their locations measured and recorded; an additional approx. 30,000 smaller features were counted. The equipment and techniques used by the M&D SIG permitted the determination and recording of the locations and diameters of the 5,000 imaged features. A variety of experimental and LDEF structural hardware was acquired by the M&D SIG and is presently being examined and curated at NASA Johnson

Experiment K-6-16. Morphological examination of rat testes. The effect of Cosmos 1887 flight on spermatogonial population and testosterone level in rat testes

Testes from rats flown on Cosmos 1887 for twelve and a half days were compared to basal control, synchronous control and vivarium maintained rats. When the mean weights of flight testes, normalized for weight/100 gms, were compared to the vivarium controls they were 6.7 percent lighter. Although the flight testes were lighter than the synchronous, the difference is not significant. Counts of spermatogonial cells from 5 animals in each group revealed a 4 percent decrease in flight compared to vivarium controls. In both cases the t-Test significance was less than 0.02. The serum testosterone levels of all animals (flight, synchronous and vivarium) were significantly below the basal controls

Characterization of neutralizing epitopes within the major capsid protein of human papillomavirus type 33

BACKGROUND: Infections with papillomaviruses induce type-specific immune responses, mainly directed against the major capsid protein, L1. Based on the propensity of the L1 protein to self-assemble into virus-like particles (VLPs), type-specific vaccines have already been developed. In order to generate vaccines that target a broader spectrum of HPV types, extended knowledge of neutralizing epitopes is required. Despite the association of human papillomavirus type 33 (HPV33) with cervical carcinomas, fine mapping of neutralizing conformational epitopes on HPV33 has not been reported yet. By loop swapping between HPV33 and HPV16 capsid proteins, we have identified amino acid sequences critical for the binding of conformation-dependent type-specific neutralizing antibodies to surface-exposed hyper variable loops of HPV33 capsid protein L1. RESULTS: Reactivities of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) H33.B6, H33.E12, H33.J3 and H16.56E with HPV16:33 and HPV33:16 hybrid L1 VLPs revealed the complex structures of their conformational epitopes as well as the major residues contributing to their binding sites. Whereas the epitope of mAb H33.J3 was determined by amino acids (aa) 51–58 in the BC loop of HPV33 L1, sequences of at least two hyper variable loops, DE (aa 132–140) and FGb (aa 282–291), were found to be essential for binding of H33.B6. The epitope of H33.E12 was even more complex, requiring sequences of the FGa loop (aa 260–270), in addition to loops DE and FGb. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that neutralizing epitopes in HPV33 L1 are mainly located on the tip of the capsomere and that several hyper variable loops contribute to form these conformational epitopes. Knowledge of the antigenic structure of HPV is crucial for designing hybrid particles as a basis for intertypic HPV vaccines

Huntingtin bodies sequester vesicle-associated proteins by a polyproline-dependent interaction

Polyglutamine expansion in the N terminus of huntingtin (htt) causes selective neuronal dysfunction and cell death by unknown mechanisms. Truncated htt expressed in vitro produced htt immunoreactive cytoplasmic bodies (htt bodies). The fibrillar core of the mutant htt body resisted protease treatment and contained cathepsin D, ubiquitin, and heat shock protein (HSP) 40. The shell of the htt body was composed of globules 14-34 nm in diameter and was protease sensitive. HSP70, proteasome, dynamin, and the htt binding partners htt interacting protein 1 (HIP1), SH3-containing Grb2-like protein (SH3GL3), and 14.7K-interacting protein were reduced in their normal location and redistributed to the shell. Removal of a series of prolines adjacent to the polyglutamine region in htt blocked formation of the shell of the htt body and redistribution of dynamin, HIP1, SH3GL3, and proteasome to it. Internalization of transferrin was impaired in cells that formed htt bodies. In cortical neurons of Huntington's disease patients with early stage pathology, dynamin immunoreactivity accumulated in cytoplasmic bodies. Results suggest that accumulation of a nonfibrillar form of mutant htt in the cytoplasm contributes to neuronal dysfunction by sequestering proteins involved in vesicle trafficking

The Effect of High Energy (HZE) Particle Radiation (40Ar) on Aging Parameters of Mouse Hippocampus and Retina

Eight month old C57BL6 mice were exposed (head only) to 0.5 rad or 50 rads of Argon particles at the Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Facility, CA. Neuromotor performance was assessed monthly for six months beginning twelve weeks post-irradiation using a \u27\u27string test . The decline in motor performance was dose-related and none of the animals was able to complete the task after four months of testing. Morphological changes were monitored six and twelve months post-irradiation by light and electron microscopy. The synaptic density in the CA-1 area of the hippocampus decreased six and twelve months after irradiation. The decrease after twelve months was less than after six months. The width of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) of the retina increased with increasing dose. The number of blood vessels between the ONL and the ganglion layer decreased twelve months after irradiation and this area did not show significant accumulation of age pigment