Engineering derivatives from biological systems for advanced aerospace applications

The present study consisted of a literature survey, a survey of researchers, and a workshop on bionics. These tasks produced an extensive annotated bibliography of bionics research (282 citations), a directory of bionics researchers, and a workshop report on specific bionics research topics applicable to space technology. These deliverables are included as Appendix A, Appendix B, and Section 5.0, respectively. To provide organization to this highly interdisciplinary field and to serve as a guide for interested researchers, we have also prepared a taxonomy or classification of the various subelements of natural engineering systems. Finally, we have synthesized the results of the various components of this study into a discussion of the most promising opportunities for accelerated research, seeking solutions which apply engineering principles from natural systems to advanced aerospace problems. A discussion of opportunities within the areas of materials, structures, sensors, information processing, robotics, autonomous systems, life support systems, and aeronautics is given. Following the conclusions are six discipline summaries that highlight the potential benefits of research in these areas for NASA's space technology programs

Source placement error for permanent implant of the prostate

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134896/1/mp8058.pd

Digital mammography, cancer screening: Factors important for image compression

The use of digital mammography for breast cancer screening poses several novel problems such as development of digital sensors, computer assisted diagnosis (CAD) methods for image noise suppression, enhancement, and pattern recognition, compression algorithms for image storage, transmission, and remote diagnosis. X-ray digital mammography using novel direct digital detection schemes or film digitizers results in large data sets and, therefore, image compression methods will play a significant role in the image processing and analysis by CAD techniques. In view of the extensive compression required, the relative merit of 'virtually lossless' versus lossy methods should be determined. A brief overview is presented here of the developments of digital sensors, CAD, and compression methods currently proposed and tested for mammography. The objective of the NCI/NASA Working Group on Digital Mammography is to stimulate the interest of the image processing and compression scientific community for this medical application and identify possible dual use technologies within the NASA centers

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No abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78300/1/20291_ftp.pd

Utility of Multi-Parametric Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Characterization and Radiotherapy Response Assessment in Soft-Tissue Sarcomas and Correlation With Histopathology

Purpose: To evaluate repeatability of quantitative multi-parametric MRI in retroperitoneal sarcomas, assess parameter changes with radiotherapy, and correlate pre-operative values with histopathological findings in the surgical specimens.Materials and Methods: Thirty patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma were imaged at baseline, of whom 27 also underwent a second baseline examination for repeatability assessment. 14/30 patients were treated with pre-operative radiotherapy and were imaged again after completing radiotherapy (50.4 Gy in 28 daily fractions, over 5.5 weeks). The following parameter estimates were assessed in the whole tumor volume at baseline and following radiotherapy: apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), parameters of the intra-voxel incoherent motion model of diffusion-weighted MRI (D, f, D*), transverse relaxation rate, fat fraction, and enhancing fraction after gadolinium-based contrast injection. Correlation was evaluated between pre-operative quantitative parameters and histopathological assessments of cellularity and fat fraction in post-surgical specimens (ClinicalTrials.gov, registration number NCT01902667).Results: Upper and lower 95% limits of agreement were 7.1 and −6.6%, respectively for median ADC at baseline. Median ADC increased significantly post-radiotherapy. Pre-operative ADC and D were negatively correlated with cellularity (r = −0.42, p = 0.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.22 to −0.59 for ADC; r = −0.45, p = 0.005, 95% CI −0.25 to −0.62 for D), and fat fraction from Dixon MRI showed strong correlation with histopathological assessment of fat fraction (r = 0.79, p = 10−7, 95% CI 0.69–0.86).Conclusion: Fat fraction on MRI corresponded to fat content on histology and therefore contributes to lesion characterization. Measurement repeatability was excellent for ADC; this parameter increased significantly post-radiotherapy even in disease categorized as stable by size criteria, and corresponded to cellularity on histology. ADC can be utilized for characterizing and assessing response in heterogeneous retroperitoneal sarcomas

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Predicting predatory impact of juvenile invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans) on a crustacean prey using functional response analysis: effects of temperature, habitat complexity and light regimes

The ecological implications of biotic interactions, such as predator-prey relationships, are often context-dependent. Comparative functional responses analysis can be used under different abiotic contexts to improve understanding and prediction of the ecological impact of invasive species. Pterois volitans (Lionfish) [Linnaeus 1758] is an established invasive species in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, with a more recent invasion into the Mediterranean. Lionfish are generalist predators that impact a wide range of commercial and non-commercial species. Functional response analysis was employed to quantify interaction strength between lionfish and a generic prey species, the shrimp (Paleomonetes varians) [Leach 1814], under the contexts of differing temperature, habitat complexity and light wavelength. Lionfish have prey population destabilising Type II functional responses under all contexts examined. Significantly more prey were consumed at 26 °C than at 22 °C. Habitat complexity did not significantly alter the functional response parameters. Significantly more prey were consumed under white light and blue light than under red light. Attack rate was significantly higher under white light than under blue or red light. Light wavelength did not significantly change handling times. The impacts on prey populations through feeding rates may increase with concomitant temperature increase. As attack rates are very high at low habitat complexity this may elucidate the cause of high impact upon degraded reef ecosystems with low-density prey populations, although there was little protection conferred through habitat complexity. Only red light (i.e. dark) afforded any reduction in predation pressure. Management initiatives should account for these environmental factors when planning mitigation and prevention strategies

A Framework for Estimating the National Economic Benefits of ATP Funding of Medical Technologies

The Economic Assessment Office (EAO) of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) seeks to measure the economic impacts of ATP’s funding of high-risk, enabling technologies and also to increase understanding of underlying relationships between technological change and economic phenomena, to further the program’s ability to achieve its mission. To this end, the EAO compiles data, conducts economic studies, and commissions studies by outside research organizations and economists. The study described by this report was carried out by the Center for Economics Research at Research Triangle Institute (RTI), under contract to the ATP. The RTI study was intended to achieve four goals: to estimate potential benefits of an inclusive portfolio group of ATP projects; to perform seven case studies within the portfolio group using a consistent methodology; to develop an evaluation framework that ATP could consider for possible adoption—for evaluating a wide variety of technologies with medical applications; and to inform the emergent ATP focused program in tissue engineering of the potential for economic benefit in this technology field. The four goals were largely achieved by the study. A case study approach was taken, one of a multiple of evaluation techniques used by the ATP. Case study entails detailed investigation of projects to evaluate technical accomplishments, commercialization progress, the role played by the ATP, and economic outcomes. Since ATP-funded projects are in relatively early-stage research and development, assessment of potential economic outcomes depends necessarily on numerous projections and estimates for future conditions; understandably, this part of the analysis entails considerable uncertainty

OLC: An On-Line Consulting System for UNIX

Helping users learn the intricacies of UNIX, particularly in a custom environment, is always a challenge. Helping thousands of users in an environment that is distributed both geographically and computationally is especially difficult. Project Athena has developed an "On-Line Consulting" system (OLC) that enables users to ask questions of consultants located "somewhere on the network." OLC allows a staff on the order of twenty students to handle the questions and problems of over 8000 users on a network of more than 900 workstations. This paper describes the motives and design goals for OLC, its implementation, and some of the results of its three years of operation. 1. Background on Project Athena Project Athena was originally conceived as a five-year experiment in the uses of computers in undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With support from Digital Equipment Corporation and International Business Machines Corp., M.I.T. embarked on the construction ..