Framework Programmable Platform for the Advanced Software Development Workstation (FPP/ASDW). Demonstration framework document. Volume 1: Concepts and activity descriptions

The Framework Programmable Software Development Platform (FPP) is a project aimed at effectively combining tool and data integration mechanisms with a model of the software development process to provide an intelligent integrated software development environment. Guided by the model, this system development framework will take advantage of an integrated operating environment to automate effectively the management of the software development process so that costly mistakes during the development phase can be eliminated. The Advanced Software Development Workstation (ASDW) program is conducting research into development of advanced technologies for Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE)

A review of technological innovations leading to modern endovascular brain aneurysm treatment

Tools and techniques utilized in endovascular brain aneurysm treatment have undergone rapid evolution in recent decades. These technique and device-level innovations have allowed for treatment of highly complex intracranial aneurysms and improved patient outcomes. We review the major innovations within neurointervention that have led to the current state of brain aneurysm treatment

Parallel Tempering: Theory, Applications, and New Perspectives

We review the history of the parallel tempering simulation method. From its origins in data analysis, the parallel tempering method has become a standard workhorse of physiochemical simulations. We discuss the theory behind the method and its various generalizations. We mention a selected set of the many applications that have become possible with the introduction of parallel tempering and we suggest several promising avenues for future research.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

Solar irradiance variability: a six-year comparison between SORCE observations and the SATIRE model

Aims: We investigate how well modeled solar irradiances agree with measurements from the SORCE satellite, both for total solar irradiance and broken down into spectral regions on timescales of several years. Methods: We use the SATIRE model and compare modeled total solar irradiance (TSI) with TSI measurements between 2003 and 2009. Spectral solar irradiance over 200-1630nm is compared with the SIM instrument on SORCE between 2004 and 2009 during a period of decline from moderate activity to the recent solar minimum in 10 nm bands and for three spectral regions of significant interest: the UV integrated over 200-300nm, the visible over 400-691nm and the IR between 972-1630 nm. Results: The model captures 97% of observed TSI variation. In the spectral comparison, rotational variability is well reproduced, especially between 400 and 1200 nm. The magnitude of change in the long-term trends is many times larger in SIM at almost all wavelengths while trends in SIM oppose SATIRE in the visible between 500 and 700nm and between 1000 and 1200nm. We discuss the remaining issues with both SIM data and the identified limits of the model, particularly with the way facular contributions are dealt with, the limit of flux identification in MDI magnetograms during solar minimum and the model atmospheres in the IR employed by SATIRE. It is unlikely that improvements in these areas will significantly enhance the agreement in the long-term trends. This disagreement implies that some mechanism other than surface magnetism is causing SSI variations, in particular between 2004 and 2006, if the SIM data are correct. Since SATIRE was able to reproduce UV irradiance between 1991 and 2002 from UARS, either the solar mechanism for SSI variation fundamentally changed around the peak of cycle 23, or there is an inconsistency between UARS and SORCE UV measurements. We favour the second explanation.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure

Facial expressions depicting compassionate and critical emotions: the development and validation of a new emotional face stimulus set

Attachment with altruistic others requires the ability to appropriately process affiliative and kind facial cues. Yet there is no stimulus set available to investigate such processes. Here, we developed a stimulus set depicting compassionate and critical facial expressions, and validated its effectiveness using well-established visual-probe methodology. In Study 1, 62 participants rated photographs of actors displaying compassionate/kind and critical faces on strength of emotion type. This produced a new stimulus set based on N = 31 actors, whose facial expressions were reliably distinguished as compassionate, critical and neutral. In Study 2, 70 participants completed a visual-probe task measuring attentional orientation to critical and compassionate/kind faces. This revealed that participants lower in self-criticism demonstrated enhanced attention to compassionate/kind faces whereas those higher in self-criticism showed no bias. To sum, the new stimulus set produced interpretable findings using visual-probe methodology and is the first to include higher order, complex positive affect displays

Dosage-Sensitive Function of RETINOBLASTOMA RELATED and Convergent Epigenetic Control Are Required during the Arabidopsis Life Cycle

The plant life cycle alternates between two distinct multi-cellular generations, the reduced gametophytes and the dominant sporophyte. Little is known about how generation-specific cell fate, differentiation, and development are controlled by the core regulators of the cell cycle. In Arabidopsis, RETINOBLASTOMA RELATED (RBR), an evolutionarily ancient cell cycle regulator, controls cell proliferation, differentiation, and regulation of a subset of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) genes and METHYLTRANSFERASE 1 (MET1) in the male and female gametophytes, as well as cell fate establishment in the male gametophyte. Here we demonstrate that RBR is also essential for cell fate determination in the female gametophyte, as revealed by loss of cell-specific marker expression in all the gametophytic cells that lack RBR. Maintenance of genome integrity also requires RBR, because diploid plants heterozygous for rbr (rbr/RBR) produce an abnormal portion of triploid offspring, likely due to gametic genome duplication. While the sporophyte of the diploid mutant plants phenocopied wild type due to the haplosufficiency of RBR, genetic analysis of tetraploid plants triplex for rbr (rbr/rbr/rbr/RBR) revealed that RBR has a dosage-dependent pleiotropic effect on sporophytic development, trichome differentiation, and regulation of PRC2 subunit genes CURLY LEAF (CLF) and VERNALIZATION 2 (VRN2), and MET1 in leaves. There were, however, no obvious cell cycle and cell proliferation defects in these plant tissues, suggesting that a single functional RBR copy in tetraploids is capable of maintaining normal cell division but is not sufficient for distinct differentiation and developmental processes. Conversely, in leaves of mutants in sporophytic PRC2 subunits, trichome differentiation was also affected and expression of RBR and MET1 was reduced, providing evidence for a RBR-PRC2-MET1 regulatory feedback loop involved in sporophyte development. Together, dosage-sensitive RBR function and its genetic interaction with PRC2 genes and MET1 must have been recruited during plant evolution to control distinct generation-specific cell fate, differentiation, and development

Acute kidney disease and renal recovery : consensus report of the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) 16 Workgroup

Consensus definitions have been reached for both acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) and these definitions are now routinely used in research and clinical practice. The KDIGO guideline defines AKI as an abrupt decrease in kidney function occurring over 7 days or less, whereas CKD is defined by the persistence of kidney disease for a period of > 90 days. AKI and CKD are increasingly recognized as related entities and in some instances probably represent a continuum of the disease process. For patients in whom pathophysiologic processes are ongoing, the term acute kidney disease (AKD) has been proposed to define the course of disease after AKI; however, definitions of AKD and strategies for the management of patients with AKD are not currently available. In this consensus statement, the Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) proposes definitions, staging criteria for AKD, and strategies for the management of affected patients. We also make recommendations for areas of future research, which aim to improve understanding of the underlying processes and improve outcomes for patients with AKD

Pre-launch calibration results of the TROPOMI payload on-board the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite

The Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite was successfully launched on 13 October 2017, carrying the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) as its single payload. TROPOMI is the next-generation atmospheric sounding instrument, continuing the successes of GOME, SCIAMACHY, OMI, and OMPS, with higher spatial resolution, improved sensitivity, and extended wavelength range. The instrument contains four spectrometers, divided over two modules sharing a common telescope, measuring the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared reflectance of the Earth. The imaging system enables daily global coverage using a push-broom configuration, with a spatial resolution as low as 7×3.5&thinsp;km2 in nadir from a Sun-synchronous orbit at 824&thinsp;km and an Equator crossing time of 13:30 local solar time. This article reports the pre-launch calibration status of the TROPOMI payload as derived from the on-ground calibration effort. Stringent requirements are imposed on the quality of on-ground calibration in order to match the high sensitivity of the instrument. A new methodology has been employed during the analysis of the obtained calibration measurements to ensure the consistency and validity of the calibration. This was achieved by using the production-grade Level 0 to 1b data processor in a closed-loop validation set-up. Using this approach the consistency between the calibration and the L1b product, as well as confidence in the obtained calibration result, could be established. This article introduces this novel calibration approach and describes all relevant calibrated instrument properties as they were derived before launch of the mission. For most of the relevant properties compliance with the calibration requirements could be established, including the knowledge of the instrument spectral and spatial response functions. Partial compliance was established for the straylight correction; especially the out-of-spectral-band correction for the near-infrared channel needs future validation. The absolute radiometric calibration of the radiance and irradiance responsivity is compliant with the high-level mission requirements, but not with the stricter calibration requirements as the available on-ground validation shows. The relative radiometric calibration of the Sun port was non-compliant. The non-compliant subjects will be addressed during the in-flight commissioning phase in the first 6 months following launch.</p

Promiscuous Aggregate-Based Inhibitors Promote Enzyme Unfolding

One of the leading sources of false positives in early drug discovery is the formation of organic small molecule aggregates, which inhibit enzymes nonspecifically at micromolar concentrations in aqueous solution. The molecular basis for this widespread problem remains hazy. To investigate the mechanism of inhibition at a molecular level, we determined changes in solvent accessibility that occur when an enzyme binds to an aggregate using hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry. For AmpC beta-lactamase, binding to aggregates of the small molecule rottlerin increased the deuterium exchange of all 10 reproducibly detectable peptides, which covered 41% of the sequence of beta-lactamase. This suggested a global increase in proton accessibility upon aggregate binding, consistent with denaturation. We then investigated whether enzyme-aggregate complexes were more susceptible to proteolysis than uninhibited enzyme. For five aggregators, trypsin degradation of beta-lactamase increased substantially when beta-lactamase was inhibited by aggregates, whereas uninhibited enzyme was generally stable to digestion. Combined, these results suggest that the mechanism of action of aggregate-based inhibitors proceeds via partial protein unfolding when bound to an aggregate particle

9. Las diversas facetas de El Niño y sus efectos en la costa del Perú

El fenómeno El Niño es el modo dominante de la variabilidad interanual en el Océano Pacífico, resultando de un proceso de interacción entre el océano y la atmósfera en el Pacífico Tropical, Las últimas Investigaciones demuestran que existen varias facetas de este fenómeno que varían según las modalidades de interacción entre el océano y la atmosfera así como sus ubicaciones. Existen por lo menos dos tipos de El Niño, con expresiones diferentes sobre la Temperatura Superficial del Mar en el Pacifico Tropical y en la costa de Perú: uno que se desarrolla en el Pacifico Central (tiende a estar asociado a condiciones oceánicas más frías que favorecen el estado árido de la costa peruana y condiciones oceánicas hypóxicas), y otro que se desarrolla en el Pacifico Este (que transforma la costa peruana en una “típica” zona tropical, caracterizada por aguas costeras calientes y oxigenadas, y una lluvia intensa). Hoy en día, los esfuerzos de investigación para entender los mecanismos involucrados en los diferentes tipos de El Niño han sido reforzados, dado que, en las últimas décadas, se ha incrementado la frecuencia de ocurrencia de estos eventos en el Pacifico Central, sugiriéndose que podría ser una consecuencia del cambio climático. El perfeccionamiento de los modelos regionales acoplados tanto océano - atmosfera como océano - biogeoquímlco, tiene como objetivo mejorar la comprensión de la vulnerabilidad de la biosfera peruana al cambio climático y proponer un paradigma que represente la bimodalidad de la variabilidad interanual en el Pacifico Tropical.El Niño est le mode dominant de la variabilité interannuelle dans l’océan Pacifique, résultant d’un processus d’interaction entre l’océan et l’atmosphére dans le Pacifique tropical. Les recherches récentes montrent qu’il existe plusieurs facettes de ce phénomène qui varient selon les modalités d’interaction entre l’océan et l’atmosphére et leurs emplacements. Il y a au moins deux types de El Niño, avec des expressions différentes sur la Température de surface dans le Pacifique tropical et le long de la cote du Pérou: un qui se déroule dans le Pacifique central (associé á des conditions océaniques froides qui favorisent l’état aride de la cote péruvienne et des conditions océaniques d’hypoxie), et un autre qui a lieu dans le Pacifique oriental (qui transforme la cote péruvienne en une zone tropicale «typique», caractérisé par des eaux cótiéres chaudes et oxygénées, et de fortes pluies). Aujourd’hui, les efforts de recherche pour comprendre les mécanismes impliqués dans les différents types de El Niño ont été renforcés, en raison de l’accroissement de la fréquence d’occurrence de ces événements dans le Pacifique central au cours des dernières décennies a accru, suggérant qu’ll pourrait s’agir d’une conséquence du changement dimatique. L’optimisation des modeles régionaux couplés océan - atmosphére et océan - blogéochimiques, vise à améliorer la compréhension de la vulnérabilité de la biosphére péruvienne au changement dimatique et de proposer un paradigme qui représente la bimodalité de la variabilité Interannuelle dans le Pacifique tropical.The El Niño phenomenon is the dominant mode of inter-annual variability in the Pacific Ocean, which results from the ¡nteraction between the ocean and atmosphere in the tropical Pacific. Recent research shows that there are several facets of this phenomenon, which vary according to the modalities of ¡nteraction between the ocean and atmosphere, as well as their locations. There are at least two types of El Niño with different expresslons on the sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific and on the coast of Peru: one that takes place in the Central Pacific (which tends to be associated with colder oceanic conditions who favoring the aridity of the Peruvian coast and the ocean conditions hypoxic), and another that takes place in the Eastern Pacific (which transforms the Peruvian coast in a “typical” tropical zone, with warm and oxygenated Coastal waters, and heavy rain). Nowadays, research efforts to understand the mechanisms involved in the different types of El Niño have been strengthened, since in recent decades has increased the frequency of these events in the Central Pacific, suggesting that ¡t might be a result of climate change. The ¡mprovement of both regional models coupled ocean - atmosphere and ocean - biogeochemical aims to Improve the understanding of the vulnerability of the Peruvian biosphere to climate change, and propose a paradigm that represents the bimodality of the Inter-annual variability in the tropical Pacific