A Typology of Preadolescent Sexual Abusers Based on the Emerging Personality Patterns in the Millon Preadolescent Clinical Inventory

The purpose of this study was to develop a personality-based typology of preadolescents with sexual behavior problems based the Emerging Personality Patterns in the Millon Preadolescent Clinical Inventory (M-PACI, Millon et al., 2005). Grounding a typology in a theory driven personality system may offer clarity and specificity in understanding preadolescents with sexual behavior problems in a manner that has not yet been explored. A personality and theory driven typology could provide a more comprehensive framework for assessing and treating children who sexually abuse than any of the current taxonomic models. The study used an ex post facto design with test of hypotheses. The research hypotheses were derived through logical and empirical data findings. A sample of thirty-one participants were administered the M-PACI and a mental health professional completed a demographics and clinical information form on each participant. The participants scores on the M-PACI resulted in them being placed into one of three Emerging Personality Patterns groups, Active, Passive, or Unstable. These three groups were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) on seven dependent variables. Results indicated that Active and Unstable Emerging Personality Patterns participants had significantly higher levels of maltreatment experiences and significantly more Current Clinical Signs as measured by the M-PACI, than the Passive Emerging Personality Patterns group. The results indicate that personality is a useful variable in differentiating preadolescents with sexual behavior problems. The implications for this study lend support for the conceptualization of preadolescents with sexual behavior using a personality based typology

Three-dimensional structure of basal body triplet revealed by electron cryo-tomography.

Basal bodies and centrioles play central roles in microtubule (MT)-organizing centres within many eukaryotes. They share a barrel-shaped cylindrical structure composed of nine MT triplet blades. Here, we report the structure of the basal body triplet at 33 Å resolution obtained by electron cryo-tomography and 3D subtomogram averaging. By fitting the atomic structure of tubulin into the EM density, we built a pseudo-atomic model of the tubulin protofilaments at the core of the triplet. The 3D density map reveals additional densities that represent non-tubulin proteins attached to the triplet, including a large inner circular structure in the basal body lumen, which functions as a scaffold to stabilize the entire basal body barrel. We found clear longitudinal structural variations along the basal body, suggesting a sequential and coordinated assembly mechanism. We propose a model in which δ-tubulin and other components participate in the assembly of the basal body

Relationship initiation between universities and industry: best practice model

Poster only

Space Station Operations Capabilities in a Shoebox: Marshall Space Flight Center’s Telescience Resource Kit

The International Space Station (ISS) has provided the world an unprecedented capability, establishing a continuous human foothold in outer space for more than 22 years now. But maintaining that capability and supporting the ambitious portfolio of scientific research it hosts has required another unprecedented capability – providing ground-based operations support for the crew and a diverse manifest of research payloads, all simultaneously. To help meet this challenge, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed TReK, the Telescience Resource Kit, providing a robust solution for data, command, metadata, and file transfer capabilities. In response to an increasingly wide and diverse need for operations support resources, the TReK team has worked to find ways to make the software more flexible in order to support a wide range of missions. Today it has supported not only hundreds of ISS payloads, but also free-flying spacecraft and even aircraft-based research. This presentation will discuss how the team has modified capabilities needed to enable 24/7/365 research aboard ISS to provide the flexibility needed to support Small Sat missions, going back to one of MSFC’s first “minisatellite” missions in 2010 and beyond

Mission Operations, Cubed: NASA Marshall Operations Support for SmallSats

SmallSats have come a long way since the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center supported its first “minisatellite” mission in 2010. And just as SmallSats themselves have evolved in those 12 years, so too has the HOSC’s mission support for SmallSats. Marshall Space Flight Center has a long history with payload and mission operations, including support for the Apollo missions to the moon, the Space Shuttle program, and 21 years of continuous around-the-clock science operations support for research aboard the International Space Station. Today, the HOSC is a multi-tenant facility, supporting not only ISS, but also NASA’s Commercial Crew program, the Space Launch System, the Hubble and Chandra observatories and others – including multiple SmallSat missions. Two SmallSat solar sail missions will be among those taking advantage of the HOSC’s resources for planning, training for and executing mission operations – the Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout and Solar Cruiser missions. One of 10 6U CubeSats manifest on the Artemis I launch of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket this year, NEA Scout’s three-year mission will be supported through a more traditional operations concept, with a dedicated Flight Controller staff operating within the HOSC. Scheduled to launch as part of the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) in February 2025, Solar Cruiser’s 11-month mission will take a next[1]generation approach to operations by utilizing a multi-mission flight controller concept, as well as Marshall’s Telescience Resource Kit (TreK). TreK provides a suite of software applications and libraries that allow the Mission Operations Center to serve as an in-house ground system which incorporates remote and automation capability options for engineers and scientists. This presentation will compare the approaches the HOSC will use to support these two missions as a way of demonstrating the array of options NASA MSFC offers for operations support for CubeSat and SmallSat missions

Developing a methodological framework for estimating temporary drainage capacity to inform land requirements for a highway construction project in Scotland

Silt pollution generated during major highway construction projects can prove detrimental to the water environment and the aquatic species that depend on it. Construction activities can leave many kilometers of exposed soil susceptible to erosion from surface water runoff, which can result in silt pollution and degradation of ecologically sensitive watercourses if appropriate mitigation is not in place. In Scotland, assurances need to be provided during scheme development to demonstrate that there is sufficient space to accommodate temporary drainage. In response, a methodological framework has been developed that can be applied before construction commences to estimate the required capacity of settlement ponds including runoff and soil loss volume estimation, which are estimated using the Rational Method and Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The application of the framework as a case-study has demonstrated the potential applicability of the approach and highlighted where further refinements can be made to increase the robustness for future applications by improving the accuracy of input parameters to address site-specific conditions. Furthermore, it demonstrates how adopting erosion control measures can reduce the land required to accommodate temporary settlement ponds

Thermal melt circular dichroism spectroscopic studies for identifying stabilising amphipathic molecules for the voltage-gated sodium channel NavMs

Purified integral membrane proteins require amphipathic molecules to maintain their solubility in aqueous solutions. These complexes, in turn, are used in studies to characterise the protein structures by a variety of biophysical and structural techniques, including spectroscopy, crystallography, and cryo‐electron microscopy. Typically the amphilphiles used have been detergent molecules, but more recently they have included amphipols, which are polymers of different sizes and compositions designed to create smaller, more well‐defined solubilised forms of the membrane proteins. In this study we used circular dichroism spectroscopy to compare the secondary structures and thermal stabilities of the NavMs voltage‐gated sodium channel in different amphipols and detergents as a means of identifying amphipathic environments that maximally maintain the protein structure whilst providing a stabilising environment. These types of characterisations also have potential as means of screening for sample types that may be more suitable for crystallisation and/or cryo‐electron microscopy structure determinations

STAT3 Regulates Proliferation and Immunogenicity of the Ewing Family of Tumors In Vitro

The Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) represents an aggressive spectrum of malignant tumour types with common defining histological and cytogenetic features. To evaluate the functional activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in ESFT, we evaluated its activation in primary tissue sections and observed the functional consequences of its inhibition in ESFT cell lines. STAT3 was activated (tyrosine 705-phosphorylated) in 18 out of 31 primary tumours (58%), either diffusely (35%) or focally (23%). STAT3 was constitutively activated in 3 out of 3 ESFT cell lines tested, and its specific chemical inhibition resulted in complete loss of cell viability. STAT3 inhibition in ESFT cell lines was associated with several consistent changes in chemokine profile suggesting a role of STAT3 in ESFT in both cell survival and modification of the cellular immune environment. Together these data support the investigation of STAT3 inhibitors for the Ewing family of tumors