Activities of the NASA sponsored SRI technology applications team in transferring aerospace technology to the public sector Semiannual report, 1 Jul. - 31 Dec. 1970

Activities in transferring aerospace technology including impact on general publi

Transfer of aerospace technology to selected public sector areas of concern

The activities of the NASA Technology Applications Team at Stanford Research Institute, California are discussed. The specific activities in the fields of criminalistics and transportation are reported. The overall objectives of the program are stated on the basis of successful technology transfer and providing appropriate visibility for program activities

ANISOTROPY EXAMINATION OF MATERIALS USED IN VEHICLES CONSTRUCTION

Deformation of metals has an effect - among others - on their mechanical properties, however at the same time, it also renders these properties direction-dependent. The stress calculation of vehicles takes place for dynamic and fatigue loads, therefore it is advisable to determine for what loads and to what extent the direction-dependence is to be taken into consideration

Deaf parents with deaf children and hearing parents with hearing children: A comparison of shared reading experiences

Teaching parents about the value of shared book reading has become a component of intervention for many programs that want to promote early literacy with diverse populations, including families with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. There is evidence that supports the effectiveness of family literacy programs in that participation in shared reading activities is related to growth in areas such as language and early literacy skills. For all children, deaf and hearing alike, there are techniques that are effective when reading books with children. It has been proposed that there are specific techniques that deaf parents with deaf children use to capitalize on their child\u27s reliance on visual rather than primarily auditory cues. These techniques, or indigenous practices, used by deaf parents are believed to provide a foundation for their deaf children that support them as they encounter print in books and as they enter into an academic environment. The purpose of this study was to specifically examine the indigenous family practice of shared reading between deaf mothers and their deaf children. Using a matched pair design, the study compared these practices to how hearing mothers read with their hearing children. These two groups were selected because there is no language barrier between a deaf mother and her deaf child and a hearing mother and her hearing child. However, one major difference is that the deaf dyads communicated in a language, American Sign Language (ASL), which is different from the written English text. In contrast, the hearing dyads communicated in spoken English, which is structurally identical to the text. A comparison of these two groupings provided insight into what techniques may be similar or different in the shared reading process, and specifically, what techniques deaf parents use to make connections to the English text. This study examined 20 families in two groups using a matched pair design. There were ten deaf mother/deaf child dyads and ten hearing mother/hearing child dyads. The children were between 3 and 5 years of age and the deaf and hearing children were matched for age. Each dyad was videotaped in their home on at least two occasions. During the first session, they read two unfamiliar books that were provided by the researcher. During the second session, the families read one familiar book (that was introduced as an unfamiliar book in the first session), and one additional unfamiliar book. A coding system that was devised for a pilot study was revised and used to describe the parent reading techniques of the unfamiliar books. An inter-rater reliability check was conducted on 7 minutes of each of the video/transcripts. Analyses included paired-samples t-tests and one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to determine if there were group differences in reading techniques used by the two groups of parents and if there was a difference between the first and second reading of the unfamiliar book. Results showed that deaf and hearing mothers do use different reading techniques when reading with their children and that there is minimal effect of book familiarity. Descriptive analysis showed specifically how deaf mothers make English explicit for their deaf child compared to hearing mothers with hearing children. There have not been any controlled studies that have examined how deaf mothers read books with their deaf children compared to hearing mothers reading with their hearing children. It is important to learn what, if any, techniques they may use that may be replicated and taught to all parents of deaf children so that they can engage in more effective shared reading activities

In the footsteps of Alfred Werner: The institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Zurich

Inorganic chemistry has a long-standing tradition at the University of Zurich starting with Carl Jacob Lowig, the first professor of chemistry. The influence of Nobel Prize winner Alfred Werner in coordination, organometallic, and bioinorganic chemistry extends right up to the present day as can be seen in many of the research fields of the current professors and young research scientists. With all due respect for the long tradition in inorganic chemistry the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry is also looking forwards to define its role to meet the challenges of the future

Factors associated with whole carcass condemnation rates in provincially-inspected abattoirs in Ontario 2001-2007: implications for food animal syndromic surveillance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ontario provincial abattoirs have the potential to be important sources of syndromic surveillance data for emerging diseases of concern to animal health, public health and food safety. The objectives of this study were to: (1) describe provincially inspected abattoirs processing cattle in Ontario in terms of the number of abattoirs, the number of weeks abattoirs process cattle, geographical distribution, types of whole carcass condemnations reported, and the distance animals are shipped for slaughter; and (2) identify various seasonal, secular, disease and non-disease factors that might bias the results of quantitative methods, such as cluster detection methods, used for food animal syndromic surveillance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Data were collected from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ontario Cattlemen's Association regarding whole carcass condemnation rates for cattle animal classes, abattoir compliance ratings, and the monthly sales-yard price for various cattle classes from 2001-2007. To analyze the association between condemnation rates and potential explanatory variables including abattoir characteristics, season, year and commodity price, as well as animal class, negative binomial regression models were fit using generalized estimating equations (GEE) to account for autocorrelation among observations from the same abattoir. Results of the fitted model found animal class, year, season, price, and audit rating are associated with condemnation rates in Ontario abattoirs. In addition, a subset of data was used to estimate the average distance cattle are shipped to Ontario provincial abattoirs. The median distance from the farm to the abattoir was approximately 82 km, and 75% of cattle were shipped less than 100 km.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results suggest that secular and seasonal trends, as well as some non-disease factors will need to be corrected for when applying quantitative methods for syndromic surveillance involving these data. This study also demonstrated that animals shipped to Ontario provincial abattoirs come from relatively local farms, which is important when considering the use of spatial surveillance methods for these data.</p

Magnetic Field-Induced Condensation of Triplons in Han Purple Pigment BaCuSi2_2O6_6

Besides being an ancient pigment, BaCuSi$_2$O$_6$ is a quasi-2D magnetic insulator with a gapped spin dimer ground state. The application of strong magnetic fields closes this gap creating a gas of bosonic spin triplet excitations called triplons. The topology of the spin lattice makes BaCuSi$_2$O$_6$ an ideal candidate for studying the Bose-Einstein condensation of triplons as a function of the external magnetic field, which acts as a chemical potential. In agreement with quantum Monte Carlo numerical simulations, we observe a distinct lambda-anomaly in the specific heat together with a maximum in the magnetic susceptibility upon cooling down to liquid Helium temperatures.Comment: published on August 20, 200

Altered serological and cellular reactivity to H-2 antigens after target cell infection with vaccinia virus

MICE generate cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) which are able to lyse virus infected target cells in vitro after infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and pox-viruses1−3. CTL kill syngeneic and semiallogenic infected cells but not allogenic infected targets. Target cell lysis in these systems seems to be restricted by H-2 antigens, especially by the K or D end of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In experiments where virus specific sensitised lymphocytes kill virus infected allogenic target cells4 the effector lymphocytes have not been characterised exactly. Recent investigations suggest that the active cell in this assay, at least in the measles infection, is a non-thymus derived cell (H. Kreth, personal communication). An H-2 restriction of cell mediated cytolysis (CMC) to trinitrophenol (TNP)-modified lymphocytes has also been described5. Zinkernagel and Doherty6 postulated that the CTL is directed against syngeneic H-2 antigens and viral antigens and they suggested an alteration of H-2 induced by the LCMV infection. Earlier7 we found a close topological relationship between H-2 antigens and the target antigen(s) responsible for CMC in the vaccinia system. Here we report experiments which were carried out to prove alteration of H-2 after infection of L-929 fibroblasts with vaccinia virus