Precambrian Rocks of Seven Hundred Acre Island and Development of Cleavage in the Islesboro Formation

Guidebook for field trips in east-central and north-central Maine: 66th annual meeting October 12 and 13, 1974: Trip A-

An iconic programming language for sensor-based robots

In this paper we describe an iconic programming language called Onika for sensor-based robotic systems. Onika is both modular and reconfigurable and can be used with any system architecture and real-time operating system. Onika is also a multi-level programming environment wherein tasks are built by connecting a series of icons which, in turn, can be defined in terms of other icons at the lower levels. Expert users are also allowed to use control block form to define servo tasks. The icons in Onika are both shape and color coded, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, thus providing a form of error control in the development of high level applications

Links between parental life histories of wild salmon and the telomere lengths of their offspring

The importance of parental contributions to offspring development and subsequent performance is self-evident at a genomic level; however, parents can also affect offspring fitness by indirect genetic and environmental routes. The life history strategy that an individual adopts will be influenced by both genes and environment; and this may have important consequences for offspring. Recent research has linked telomere dynamics (i.e. telomere length and loss) in early life to future viability and longevity. Moreover, a number of studies have reported a heritable component to telomere length across a range of vertebrates, though the effects of other parental contribution pathways have been far less studied. By using wild Atlantic salmon with different parental life histories in an experimental split-brood IVF mating design and rearing the resulting families under standardised conditions, we show that there can be significant links between parental life history and offspring telomere length (studied at the embryo and fry stage). Maternal life history traits, in particular egg size, were most strongly related to offspring telomere length at the embryonic stage, but then became weaker through development. In contrast, paternal life history traits, such as the father's growth rate in early life, had a greater association in the later stages of offspring development. However, offspring telomere length was not significantly related to either maternal or paternal age at reproduction, nor to paternal sperm telomere length. This study demonstrates both the complexity and the importance of parental factors that can influence telomere length in early life

Toughened uni-piece, fibrous, reinforced, oxidization-resistant composite

A composite thermal protection structure, for applications such as atmospheric re-entry vehicles, that can withstand temperatures as high as 3600.degree F. The structure includes an exposed surface cap having a specially formulated coating, an insulator base adjacent to the cap with another specially formulated coating, and one or more pins that extend from the cap through the insulator base to tie the cap and base together, through ceramic bonding and mechanical attachment. The cap and insulator base have corresponding depressions and projections that mate and allow for differences in thermal expansion of the cap and base

A Proposed Method for Monitoring U.S. Population Health: Linking Symptoms, Impairments, and Health Ratings

We propose a method of quantifying non-fatal health on a 0-1 QALY scale that details the impact of specific symptoms and impairments and is not based on ratings of counterfactual scenarios. Measures of general health status are regressed on health impairments and symptoms in different domains, using ordered probit and ordinary least squares regression. This yields estimates of their effects analogous to disutility weights, and accounts for complex non-additive relationships. Health measures used include self-rated health status on a 5-point scale, EuroQol 5D (EQ-5D) scores, and ratings of current health using a 0-100 rating scale and a time-tradeoff. Data are from the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) year 2002 (N=34,615), with validation in an independent sample from MEPS 2000 (N=21,067) and among 1420 adults age 45-89 in the Beaver Dam Health Outcomes Study. Decrement weights for symptoms and impairments are used to derive estimates of overall health-related quality of life, laying the groundwork for a detailed national summary measure of health. To purchase a copy of the earlier version of this paper, please contact the Working Papers department directly at (617) 588 1405.

Bedrock Geology of Northern Penobscot Bay Area

Guidebook for field trips in east-central and north-central Maine: 66th annual meeting October 12 and 13, 1974: Trip B-

Thermal Protection Supplement for Reducing Interface Thermal Mismatch

A thermal protection system that reduces a mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients CTE between a first material layer (CTE1) and a second material layer (CTE2) at a first layer-second layer interface. A portion of aluminum borosilicate (abs) or another suitable additive (add), whose CTE value, CTE(add), satisfies (CTE(add)-CTE1)(CTE(add)-CTE2)<0, is distributed with variable additive density,.rho.(z;add), in the first material layer and/or in the second material layer, with.rho.(z;add) near the materials interface being relatively high (alternatively, relatively low) and.rho.(z;add) in a region spaced apart from the interface being relatively low (alternatively, relatively high)

Shorter juvenile telomere length is associated with higher survival to spawning in migratory Atlantic salmon

The risk of mortality associated with a long-distance migration will depend on an animal's physiological state, as well as the prevailing ecological conditions. Here we assess whether juvenile telomere length, which in endotherms has been shown to be a biomarker of physiological state and expected lifespan, predicts whether wild Atlantic salmon Salmo salar successfully complete their marine migration. Over 1800 juvenile fish were trapped, measured, PIT-tagged and a tissue biopsy taken when migrating as juveniles down-river towards the sea. Survivors of the marine phase of the life cycle were then re-trapped and re-sampled when returning to the river to spawn as sexually mature adults, 1.5-2.5 years later. Most individuals experienced a reduction in telomere length during the marine migratory phase of their life cycle. While the relative rate of telomere loss was greater in males than females, telomere loss was unrelated to growth at sea. Contrary to expectations, salmon that had the shortest telomeres at the time of the outward migration had the greatest probability of surviving through to the return migration. This effect, independent of body size, may indicate a trade-off between investment in readiness for marine life (which favours high glucocorticoid levels, known to increase telomere attrition in other vertebrate species) and investment in telomere maintenance. Survival was also significantly influenced by the seasonal timing of outward migration, with the fish migrating downstream earliest in the spring having the highest probability of return. This study reveals that telomere length is associated with survival, although in ways that contrast with patterns seen in endotherms. This illustrates that while telomeres may be universally important for chromosome protection, the potential for telomere dynamics to predict performance may vary across taxa