First Qualification Study of Serum Biomarkers as Indicators of Total Body Burden of Osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating chronic multijoint disease of global proportions. OA presence and severity is usually documented by x-ray imaging but whole body imaging is impractical due to radiation exposure, time and cost. Systemic (serum or urine) biomarkers offer a potential alternative method of quantifying total body burden of disease but no OA-related biomarker has ever been stringently qualified to determine the feasibility of this approach. The goal of this study was to evaluate the ability of three OA-related biomarkers to predict various forms or subspecies of OA and total body burden of disease. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Female participants (461) with clinical hand OA underwent radiography of hands, hips, knees and lumbar spine; x-rays were comprehensively scored for OA features of osteophyte and joint space narrowing. Three OA-related biomarkers, serum hyaluronan (sHA), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (sCOMP), and urinary C-telopeptide of type II collagen (uCTX2), were measured by ELISA. sHA, sCOMP and uCTX2 correlated positively with total osteophyte burden in models accounting for demographics (age, weight, height): R(2) = 0.60, R(2) = 0.47, R(2) = 0.51 (all p<10(-6)); sCOMP correlated negatively with total joint space narrowing burden: R(2) = 0.69 (p<10(-6)). Biomarkers and demographics predicted 35-38% of variance in total burden of OA (total joint space narrowing or osteophyte). Joint size did not determine the contribution to the systemic biomarker concentration. Biomarker correlation with disease in the lumbar spine resembled that in the rest of the skeleton. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have suspected that the correlation of systemic biomarkers with disease has been hampered by the inability to fully phenotype the burden of OA in a patient. These results confirm the hypothesis, revealed upon adequate patient phenotyping, that systemic joint tissue concentrations of several biomarkers can be quantitative indicators of specific subspecies of OA and of total body burden of disease

Insight from a Docker Container Introspection

Large-scale adoption of virtual containers has stimulated concerns by practitioners and academics about the viability of data acquisition and reliability due to the decreasing window to gather relevant data points. These concerns prompted the idea that introspection tools, which are able to acquire data from a system as it is running, can be utilized as both an early warning system to protect that system and as a data capture system that collects data that would be valuable from a digital forensic perspective. An exploratory case study was conducted utilizing a Docker engine and Prometheus as the introspection tool. The research contribution of this research is two-fold. First, it provides empirical support for the idea that introspection tools can be utilized to ascertain differences between pristine and infected containers. Second, it provides the ground work for future research conducting an analysis of large-scale containerized applications in a virtual cloud

Shielding Considerations for CubeSat Structures During Solar Maximum

The purpose of this lessons learned paper is to communicate the utility of shielding in small spacecraft planning for the support of mission assurance and reliability. Numerous SmallSats have been flying in polar low Earth orbit for science, communications, technology demonstrations, and imaging with academic, commercial, and government interests. Shielding has been part of mission assurance and reliability from the advent of long duration spacecraft missions. The Shields-1 CubeSat has been operating in polar low Earth orbit since 16 December 2018 with atomic number (Z)-grade radiation shielding and demonstrates shielding effectiveness. Shields-1 has collected a representative example of solar minimum data in 2019 with 8 Teledyne uDosimeters over varying shielding effectivenesses. It serves as current experimental data and has been compared with NOVICE Shielding estimates using the AP8 – AE8 trapped radiation model with the Shields-1 CAD and generic CubeSat 3 unit (U) models. Using NOVICE model radiation analysis coding, the shielding effectivenesses, based on a generic CubeSat 3U structure with 4 electronic boards, were estimated for aluminum wall thicknesses ranging from 0.204-cm to 4.44-cm (0.550-g/cm2 – 12.0-g/cm2) thick aluminum. For modeled polar orbiting spacecraft, solar maximum total ionizing dose (TID) increases by nearly a magnitude for thin-walled aluminum 0.550-g/cm2 - 0.686-g/cm2 (0.204-cm – 0.254-cm) typical CubeSat structures. The shielding effectiveness by NOVICE Sigma estimates, which is a shielding sphere approximation around a detector, showed a linear relationship with wall thickness, which increased over the wall thickness by a ratio of 1.43 determined by linear regression analysis. Using NOVICE Adjoint Monte-Carlo Modeling of solar minimum and solar maximum with the inclusion of a worst-case solar particle event over a 1-year mission without geomagnetic shielding, the TID for minimum and maximum conditions for a generic 3U with a wall thickness of 0.254 cm is 158 RAD and 1540 RAD, respectively. The modeled total solar maximum TID is over estimated, because at low orbital latitudes a spacecraft will have shielding from the Earth’s magnetic field. However, TID will still be significant at high latitudes over the poles, where a spacecraft is exposed in a solar particle event. In contrast, to a thin-walled generic 3U CubeSat, the Shields-1 electronics enclosure has a shielding effectiveness of 21.3 g/cm2 from NOVICE Sigma modeling and is expected to show reduced total ionizing dose increases during the present active Solar Cycle 25 period. Because solar particle events during solar maximum increase TID on electronic parts with thin-walled shielding in short periods of time, it is a mission assurance and reliability consideration on the spacecraft’s mission value versus adding shielding for risk reduction of premature spacecraft or instrument payload loss. Since the volumes of many instruments and system electronics have reduced with small spacecraft, shielding material costs and weight penalties have diminished. A small spacecraft project budget and schedule may limit traditional radiation-hardened part use and radiation testing requirements, where shielding can contribute to mission assurance and reliability with reduced costs

Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research Testbed: Aircraft Model Development

The Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research (AirSTAR) testbed being developed at NASA Langley Research Center is an experimental flight test capability for research experiments pertaining to dynamics modeling and control beyond the normal flight envelope. An integral part of that testbed is a 5.5% dynamically scaled, generic transport aircraft. This remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) is powered by twin turbine engines and includes a collection of sensors, actuators, navigation, and telemetry systems. The downlink for the plane includes over 70 data channels, plus video, at rates up to 250 Hz. Uplink commands for aircraft control include over 30 data channels. The dynamic scaling requirement, which includes dimensional, weight, inertial, actuator, and data rate scaling, presents distinctive challenges in both the mechanical and electrical design of the aircraft. Discussion of these requirements and their implications on the development of the aircraft along with risk mitigation strategies and training exercises are included here. Also described are the first training (non-research) flights of the airframe. Additional papers address the development of a mobile operations station and an emulation and integration laboratory

NASAs Mid-Atlantic Communities and Areas at Intensive Risk Demonstration: Translating Compounding Hazards to Societal Risk

Remote sensing provides a unique perspective on our dynamic planet, tracking changes and revealing the course of complex interactions. Long term monitoring and targeted observation combine with modeling and mapping to provide increased awareness of hydro-meteorological and geological hazards. Disasters often follow hazards and the goal of NASAs Disasters Program is to look at the earth as a highly coupled system to reduce risk and enable resilience. Remote sensing and geospatial science are used as tools to help answer critical questions that inform decisions. Data is not the same as information, nor does understanding of processes necessarily translate into decision support for disaster preparedness, response and recovery. Accordingly, NASA is engaging the scientific and decision-support communities to apply remote sensing, modeling, and related applications in Communities and Areas at Intensive Risk (CAIR). In 2017, NASAs Applied Sciences Disasters Program hosted a regional workshop to explore these issues with particular focus on coastal Virginia and North Carolina. The workshop brought together partners in academia, emergency management, and scientists from NASA and partnering federal agencies to explore capabilities among the team that could improve understanding of the physical processes related to these hazards, their potential impact to changing communities, and to identify methodologies for supporting emergency response and risk mitigation. The resulting initiative, the mid-Atlantic CAIR project, demonstrates the ability to integrate satellite derived earth observations and physical models into actionable, trusted knowledge. Severe storms and associated storm surge, sea level rise, and land subsidence coupled with increasing populations and densely populated, aging critical infrastructure often leave coastal regions and their communities extremely vulnerable. The integration of observations and models allow for a comprehensive understanding of the compounding risk experienced in coastal regions and enables individuals in all positions make risk-informed decisions. This initiative uses a representative storm surge case as a baseline to produce flood inundation maps. These maps predict building level impacts at current day and for sea level rise (SLR) and subsidence scenarios of the future in order to inform critical decisions at both the tactical and strategic levels. To accomplish this analysis, the mid-Atlantic CAIR project brings together Federal research activities with academia to examine coastal hazards in multiple ways: 1) reanalysis of impacts from 2011 Hurricane Irene, using numerical weather modeling in combination with coastal surge and hydrodynamic, urban inundation modeling to evaluate combined impact scenarios considering SLR and subsidence, 2) remote sensing of flood extent from available optical imagery, 3) adding value to remotely sensed flood maps through depth predictions, and 4) examining coastal subsidence as measured through time-series analysis of synthetic aperture radar observations. Efforts and results are published via ArcGIS story maps to communicate neighborhoods and infrastructure most vulnerable to changing conditions. Story map features enable time-aware flood mapping using hydrodynamic models, photographic comparison of flooding following Hurricane Irene, as well as visualization of heightened risk in the future due to SLR and land subsidence

High Consequence Scenarios for North Korean Atmospheric Nuclear Tests with Policy Recommendations for the U.S. Government

The government of North Korea has declared high-altitude EMP-capability to be a “strategic goal” and has also threatened an atmospheric test of a hydrogen bomb. Atmospheric nuclear tests have the potential to cripple satellites and the undersea cable networks critical to communication, and navigation necessary for trans-Pacific trade among the U.S., China, and other nations. When a nuclear warhead is detonated at high altitude, a series of electromagnetic pulses radiate downward within the line of sight of the blast. These pulses can disable equipment with miniature electronics and long conductors. Electric grid controls and transmission systems are especially vulnerable. Intense X-rays and free electrons caused by high-altitude nuclear tests can also disable satellites over large regions of space. After the 1962 Starfish Prime test of EMP effects by the U.S, numerous satellites failed. Based on past missile tests, calculated delivery ranges, EMP coverage areas, and geography, Resilient Societies developed five scenarios for North Korean atmospheric tests. Possible sites for EMP tests include the South Pacific Ocean northeast of French Polynesia, Johnson Atoll southwest of Hawaii, and vicinity of the U.S. territory of Guam. Missile trajectories for all three of these EMP test scenarios overfly populated areas. Missile navigation or nuclear device fuzing errors could place the populations of Japan, Guam, and Hawaii are at risk. All potential EMP test locations could cause disruption to international satellite and undersea cable communications networks. North Korea should not be permitted to conduct an atmospheric nuclear tests since EMP effects on large networks necessary for electric power and international data sharing could have serious worldwide consequences due to the importance of Asia and the Pacific region to the global economy. In the regrettable event that North Korea chooses to conduct atmospheric nuclear tests, U.S. and allied monitoring of EMP effects will be helpful