178 research outputs found
Profiler Support for Operations at Space Launch Ranges
Accurate vertical wind profiles are essential to successful launch or landing. Wind changes can make it impossible to fly a desired trajectory or avoid dangerous vehicle loads, possibly resulting in loss of mission. Balloons take an hour to generate a profile up to 20 km, but major wind changes can occur in 20 minutes. Wind profilers have the temporal response to detect such last minute hazards. They also measure the winds directly overhead while balloons blow downwind. At the Eastern Range (ER), altitudes from 2 to 20 km are sampled by a 50-MHz profiler every 4 minutes. The surface to 3 km is sampled by five 915-MHz profilers every 15 minutes. The Range Safety office assesses the risk of potential toxic chemical dispersion. They use observational data and model output to estimate the spatial extent and concentration of substances dispersed within the boundary layer. The ER uses 915-MHz profilers as both a real time observation system and as input to dispersion models. The WR has similar plans. Wind profilers support engineering analyses for the Space Shuttle. The 50-IVl11z profiler was used recently to analyze changes in the low frequency wind and low vertical wavenumber content of wind profiles in the 3 to 15 km region of the atmosphere. The 915-MHz profiler network was used to study temporal wind change within the boundary layer
Nebraska\u27s Economic Future
Nebraskans like where they live. Young and old, they like the
“sense of place” they feel here. They like being part of the legendary
work ethic. They like the fact that, for the most part, they
feel safe here. They like the fact that Nebraska agriculture helps
to feed and power the world.
But when people from other states ask them where they’re
from, they sound apologetic. The Strategic Discussions for
Nebraska team heard variations on that theme everywhere we
went. Caleb Pollard, Executive Director of the Ord Chamber of
Commerce said it best: “we need for Nebraskans to be proud.”
Nebraska is a conservative state, both politically and fiscally.
It is constitutionally required to balance the state budget. It is
also a state with only 1.7 million people, so there are few people
to share the property tax burden. Additionally, Nebraska doesn’t
have mineral resources that some states tax heavily, relieving the
property tax burden on individuals. However, Nebraska’s sales
and income taxes are about the same as its peer states, a fact that
is often overlooked when people share concerns about taxes.
One of the state’s main concerns is the declining work force,
particularly in greater Nebraska. This magazine contains several
stories that refer to the work force shortage and the challenges
faced by communities that desperately need workers.
Nebraska’s Strong Agricultural Base
Agriculture has changed in the last century, but it’s a booming
business and Nebraskans are knowledgeable about those
changes. They know the state is well-suited to growing highquality
crops and animals, and they know people in the rest of
the world want to buy them. They know the University of Nebraska’s
research has been important for Nebraska agriculture,
and they support the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska
Innovation Campus, which will be built in Lincoln on the site of
the Nebraska State Fair when the fair moves to Grand Island in
2010.
Nebraska exported nearly 3.6
billion in 2006 and $4.2 billion in 2007. According to Greg
Ibach, Director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture,
exports bring the state a steady flow of domestic and international
sales and allow the state to remain strong during financial
cycles that affect the U.S. and other countries. Nebraska
is fortunate to have not only the natural resources to produce
some of the best agricultural products – and can source
the needed parts and material for the manufactured products
– but also has the people with the needed background,
knowledge, experience and work ethic to produce the quality
products, Ibach said.
Importance of Education and Technology
There are no greater proponents of education than people in
greater Nebraska. The state’s education system is good and is
one of the drawing cards for businesses interested in locating
in the state.
Nebraskans know that jobs today and in the future will require
more knowledge of technology in all its forms. Whether
people work in information technology in Omaha, farm near
Cozad, ranch near Mullen, read x-rays in Ord, work on locomotives
in Alliance or conduct research in one of dozens of
locations in the state, they’ll have to know technology.
Technology requires consistent broadband access and
capacity that statewide, Nebraska just doesn’t have. A conversation
participant who lives outside North Platte told us
her satellite gives her access to the Internet “as long as it isn’t
cloudy.” That isn’t good enough for the needs of rural health
care, business development, education or for attracting young
people to smaller communities.
Infrastructure
If a state doesn’t have good infrastructure, it closes doors to
economic development and therefore, growth.
Infrastructure necessary for every viable community includes
water, sewer, electricity, roads and Internet access. Additional
infrastructure needs are schools, health care facilities,
power plants, transportation and communication.
It’s expensive to build these things and expensive to maintain
existing facilities. Dr. Doug Kristensen, Chancellor of the
University of Nebraska-Kearney, told us many of the state’s
school buildings were built about the same time – about 100
years ago – and are beginning to crumble, requiring extensive
and costly repairs or replacement.
Changing Nebraska’s Layout?
The Strategic Discussions for Nebraska team interviewed
a number of people who believe Nebraska should change its
county structure.
Ninety-three counties were needed when people had to use
a horse and buggy to get to the county seat, but some say the
state could save money if the counties were merged, creating
about 15 larger counties. Others say there would be few dollars
in savings and would widen the gap between greater Nebraska
and eastern Nebraska in accessibility to services.
Others suggest a “hub and spoke” regional layout, in which
one town would be the hub and about 10 or 12 smaller communities
would be the spokes. Trouble is, everybody wants to
be the hub.
What makes the most sense? Send your opinion to me at
[email protected]. We’ll post the results on the Strategic Discussions
for Nebraska website: www.unl.edu/sdn.
Leadership and Cooperation
People told us the state and communities need strong leaders
who are willing to partner with other organizations, communities,
states and countries for the good of Nebraska as a
whole. It also needs leaders who will consider the needs of the
entire state, regardless of money, power or special interests.
In this magazine, you will find a variety of perspectives on
Nebraska’s economy, including the opinions of state and community
leaders, academics, business owners and government
officials. Each opinion has value, based on the person’s experience,
education, location and economic condition
Superfund: An Assessment of Superfund Site Remedy Selectioin and Implementation
Since its inception in 1980, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund Program has served as the primary mechanism for coordinating the remediation of sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Although the program has successfully overseen cleanup at hundreds of sites, experts have identified a number of weaknesses in the remedy selection and implementation processes. Our study focuses on two weaknesses that have been identified at individual Superfund sites in the previous literature:
Remedy Selection:
• Selection of non-permanent remedies over permanent remedies
Remedy Implementation:
• Inconsistency and non-transparency shown in the documentation of cleanup objectives, site cleanup progress, and problems during remedy implementation
Although these weaknesses were well documented in previous literature, our group found little evidence that the underlying cause of these weaknesses had been addressed. Our study adds to the current understanding of these weaknesses by investigating their origins using established policy and engineering systems analysis techniques. We have based our analysis on three Superfund site case studies. We offer several recommendations that address the observed weaknesses in site remedy selection and implementation. Lastly, we include suggestions for areas in which further inquiry may be useful
High Temporal Resolution Tropospheric Wind Profile Observations at NASA Kennedy Space Center during Hurricane Irma
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Kennedy Space Center (KSC) operates a 48-MHz Tropospheric/Stratospheric Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (TDRWP) on a continual basis generating wind profiles between 2-19 km (approximately 6.6-62.3 kft) in the support of space launch vehicle operations. A benefit of the continual operability of the system is the ability to provide unique observations of severe weather events such as hurricanes. On the evening of 10 September 2017, Hurricane Irma passed within 160 km (87 nmi) to the west of KSC through the middle of the Florida peninsula. The hurricane was responsible for power outages to approximately 2/3 of Florida's population (Stein, 2017). This paper will provide an overview of the TDRWP system, describe the characteristics of the wind observations from the TDRWP during Irma passage, provide a comparison to previous TDRWP observations from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and provide the location where TDRWP data is available to the meteorological community
ARAKNIPRINT: 3D Printing of Synthetic Spider Silk to Produce Biocompatible and Resorbable Biomaterials
At 12.8 billion in 2018 and exceed 600, was modified with a custom syringe pump design. This syringe pump allowed for the extrusion of spider silk proteins through a needle, producing defined structures. Cell studies were performed on these structures which showed favorable cell attachment and growth. Capable of entering various emerging industries, spider silk offers an alternative in 3D printed biomaterials
An Ensemble Approach for Annotating Source Code Identifiers with Part-of-speech Tags
This paper presents an ensemble part-of-speech tagging approach for source code identifiers. Ensemble tagging is a technique that uses machine-learning and the output from multiple part-of-speech taggers to annotate natural language text at a higher quality than the part-of-speech taggers are able to obtain independently. Our ensemble uses three state-of-the-art part-of-speech taggers: SWUM, POSSE, and Stanford. We study the quality of the ensemble\u27s annotations on five different types of identifier names: function, class, attribute, parameter, and declaration statement at the level of both individual words and full identifier names. We also study and discuss the weaknesses of our tagger to promote the future amelioration of these problems through further research. Our results show that the ensemble achieves 75\% accuracy at the identifier level and 84-86\% accuracy at the word level. This is an increase of +17\% points at the identifier level from the closest independent part-of-speech tagger
Correlates and consequences of pre-incarceration gang involvement among incarcerated youthful felons
Activation of cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters by fungal artificial chromosomes to produce novel secondary metabolites
In 2017, we reported the discovery of Berkeleylactone A (BPLA), a novel, potent antibiotic produced exclusively in co-culture by two extremophilic fungi, Penicillium fuscum and P. camembertii/clavigerum, which were isolated from the Berkeley Pit, an acid mine waste lake, in Butte, Montana. Neither fungus synthesized BPLA when grown in axenic culture. Recent studies suggest that secondary metabolites (SMs) are often synthesized by enzymes encoded by co-localized genes that form “biosynthetic gene clusters” (BGCs), which might remain silent (inactive) under various fermentation conditions. Fungi may also harbor cryptic BGCs that are not associated with previously characterized molecules.
We turned to the tools of Fungal Artificial Chromosomes (FAC)-Next-Gen-Sequencing (NGS) to understand how co-culture activated cryptic biosynthesis of BPLA and several related berkeleylactones and to further investigate the true biosynthetic potential of these two fungi. FAC-NGS enables the capture of BGCs as individual FACs for heterologous expression in a modified strain of Aspergillus nidulans (heterologous host, FAC-AnHH). With this methodology, we created ten BGC-FACs that yielded fourteen different SMs, including strobilurin, which was previously isolated exclusively from basidiomycetes. Eleven of these compounds were not detected in the extracts of the FAC-AnHH. Of this discrete set, only the novel compound citreohybriddional had been isolated from either Penicillium sp. before and only at very low yield. We propose that through heterologous expression, FACs activated these silent BGCs, resulting in the synthesis of new natural products (NPs) with yields as high as 50%–60% of the crude organic extracts
A novel class of microRNA-recognition elements that function only within open reading frames.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well known to target 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs) in mRNAs, thereby silencing gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Multiple reports have also indicated the ability of miRNAs to target protein-coding sequences (CDS); however, miRNAs have been generally believed to function through similar mechanisms regardless of the locations of their sites of action. Here, we report a class of miRNA-recognition elements (MREs) that function exclusively in CDS regions. Through functional and mechanistic characterization of these 'unusual' MREs, we demonstrate that CDS-targeted miRNAs require extensive base-pairing at the 3' side rather than the 5' seed; cause gene silencing in an Argonaute-dependent but GW182-independent manner; and repress translation by inducing transient ribosome stalling instead of mRNA destabilization. These findings reveal distinct mechanisms and functional consequences of miRNAs that target CDS versus the 3' UTR and suggest that CDS-targeted miRNAs may use a translational quality-control-related mechanism to regulate translation in mammalian cells
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