Development of biomechanical models for human factors evaluations

Computer aided design (CAD) techniques are now well established and have become the norm in many aspects of aerospace engineering. They enable analytical studies, such as finite element analysis, to be performed to measure performance characteristics of the aircraft or spacecraft long before a physical model is built. However, because of the complexity of human performance, CAD systems for human factors are not in widespread use. The purpose of such a program would be to analyze the performance capability of a crew member given a particular environment and task. This requires the design capabilities to describe the environment's geometry and to describe the task's requirements, which may involve motion and strength. This in turn requires extensive data on human physical performance which can be generalized to many different physical configurations. PLAID is developing into such a program. Begun at Johnson Space Center in 1977, it was started to model only the geometry of the environment. The physical appearance of a human body was generated, and the tool took on a new meaning as fit, access, and reach could be checked. Specification of fields-of-view soon followed. This allowed PLAID to be used to predict what the Space Shuttle cameras or crew could see from a given point

Comparative Phenotypic and Transcriptional Differences of Campylobacter jejuni When Challenged with Low Molecular Weight Chitosan

Campylobacter jejuni is a prominent food-borne pathogen and causative agent of Campylobacteriosis infection. This infection arises primarily from the consumption of foodstuffs/beverages previously contaminated with this microorganism. Despite current food control measures currently employed, this pathogen remains problematic despite its fastidious nature. To help control the spread of Campylobacter many hurdles are used in the food industry, including natural products such as modified atmosphere and salt. Other natural antimicrobials are shown to possess antibacterial activity. Chitosan, a natural antimicrobial, has promising uses in food production. However, little is known about the transcriptional differences of C. jejuni upon chitosan exposure. Molecular responses may allow for generation of adaptive responses in an attempt to combat such a stressor, possibly altering phenotypic and virulence potential. The aims of this study were to establish the adaptive response of C. jejuni to low molecular weight chitosan by assessing the phenotypic and molecular differences arising from the chitosan challenge. By exposing C. jejuni NTCT11168 to suboptimal levels of chitosan, based on MIC determination on a model system, an adaptive strain of C. jejuni has been developed. This newly developed isolate, referred to as the ‘adapted’ C. jejuni NCTC11168 was found to have enhanced antimicrobial tolerance to chitosan, with a 3.83 fold increase in MIC relative to the parental wild-type C. jejuni NCTC11168 cells (0.012% - 0.046% (w/v) respectively). Antimicrobial activity of chitosan was found to be pH dependant. Differences in motility were also apparent between the ‘adapted’ and wild-type strains. Consistent increases in motility were noted in the ‘adapted’ cells, especially in relation to wild-type after 24, 48 and 72 hours (

Correlation and prediction of dynamic human isolated joint strength from lean body mass

A relationship between a person's lean body mass and the amount of maximum torque that can be produced with each isolated joint of the upper extremity was investigated. The maximum dynamic isolated joint torque (upper extremity) on 14 subjects was collected using a dynamometer multi-joint testing unit. These data were reduced to a table of coefficients of second degree polynomials, computed using a least squares regression method. All the coefficients were then organized into look-up tables, a compact and convenient storage/retrieval mechanism for the data set. Data from each joint, direction and velocity, were normalized with respect to that joint's average and merged into files (one for each curve for a particular joint). Regression was performed on each one of these files to derive a table of normalized population curve coefficients for each joint axis, direction, and velocity. In addition, a regression table which included all upper extremity joints was built which related average torque to lean body mass for an individual. These two tables are the basis of the regression model which allows the prediction of dynamic isolated joint torques from an individual's lean body mass

Waist circumference percentile thresholds for identifying adolescents with insulin resistance in clinical practice

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72493/1/j.1399-5448.2008.00474.x.pd

Human Factors and the International Space Station

The purposes of this panel are to inform the human factors community regarding the challenges of designing the International Space Station (ISS) and to stimulate the broader human factors community into participating in the various basic and applied research opportunities associated with the ISS. This panel describes the variety of techniques used to plan and evaluate human factors for living and working in space. The panel members have contributed to many different aspects of the ISS design and operations. Architecture, equipment, and human physical performance requirements for various tasks have all been tailored to the requirements of operating in microgravity

Butterflies, bumblebees and hoverflies are equally effective pollinators of Knautia arvensis (Caprifoliaceae), a generalist plant species with compound inflorescences

Plant-pollinator interactions exist along a continuum from complete specialisation to highly generalised, that may vary in time and space. A long-held assumption is that large bees are usually the most effective pollinators of generalist plants. We tested this by studying the relative importance of different groups of pollinators of Knautia arvensis (L.) Coult. (Caprifoliaceae: Dipsacoideae). This plant is suitable for such a study because it attracts a diversity of flower visitors, belonging to different functional groups. We asked whether all functional groups of pollinators are equally effective, or if one group is most effective, which has been documented in other species with apparently generalised pollination systems. We studied two subpopulations of K. arvensis, one at low and one at high density in Northampton, UK. To assess pollinator importance we exposed unvisited inflorescences to single visits by different groups of pollinators (butterflies, bumblebees, hoverflies and others) and assessed the proportion of pollinated stigmas. We then multiplied the effectiveness of each pollinator group with their proportional visitation frequency in five different years. For each group we also compared time spent on flowers and flight distance between visits. The relative importance of each pollinator group varied between years, as did their flight distances between flower visits. Butterflies were the best pollinators on a per visit basis (in terms of the proportion of stigmas pollinated) and flew further after visiting an inflorescence. Different measures and proxies of pollinator effectiveness varied between taxa, subpopulations, and years, and no one group of pollinators was consistently more effective than the others. Our results demonstrate the adaptive value of generalised pollination strategies when variation in relative abundance of different types of pollinators is considered. Such strategies may have buffered the ability of plants to reproduce during past periods of environmental change and may do so in the future

The influence of Survivor stories and a virtual reality representation of a residential school on reconciliation in Canada

Indigenous Peoples in Canada have endured many genocidal efforts, such as residential schools. Across the country, initiatives to promote critical historical education about residential schools are underway, ranging in duration, content, and immersion. In this study, we tested whether a promising high-immersion approach, a virtual reality residential school, could improve non-Indigenous participants' attitudes and feelings toward Indigenous people. We compared the effects of the virtual residential school to a transcript condition, in which participants read the transcripts of the narration that accompanied the virtual residential school, and an empty control condition. The study had three time points: Baseline (N = 241), intervention (N = 241), and follow-up (N = 132). Immediately following the intervention, what participants learned about the residential school, both through virtual reality and reading the transcripts, increased non-Indigenous participants' empathy, political solidarity, and outgroup warmth for Indigenous people, relative to the control. The virtual reality school, but not transcripts, also increased privity relative to the control. These effects decreased over time. In summary, though both written and virtual reality forms of critical historical education were effective in the short term, to maintain the long-term effects of critical historical education, ongoing or recurring education is likely necessary. These results extend the virtual reality literature to unstudied concepts (political solidarity, privity) and critical historical education literature to a new form of media (virtual reality). We discuss the findings in relation to literature on critical historical education and virtual reality as well as outline future directions

Associations Between Late Pregnancy Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and Offspring Bone Mass: A Meta-Analysis of the Southampton Women's Survey (SWS) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

Systemic inflammation is associated with reduced bone mineral density and may be influenced by pro-inflammatory diets. We undertook an observational analysis of associations between late pregnancy energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E-DII) scores and offspring bone outcomes in childhood. E-DII scores (higher scores indicating pro-inflammatory diets) were derived from food frequency questionnaires in late pregnancy in two prospective mother-offspring cohorts: the Southampton Women's Survey (SWS) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). The mean (SD) offspring age at dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning was 9.2 (0.2) years. Linear regression was used to assess associations between E-DII and bone outcomes, adjusting for offspring sex and age at DXA and maternal age at childbirth, educational level, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), parity, physical activity level, and smoking in pregnancy. Associations were synthesized using fixed-effect meta-analysis. Beta coefficients represent the association per unit E-DII increment. In fully adjusted models (total n = 5910) late pregnancy E-DII was negatively associated with offspring whole body minus head bone area (BA: β = -3.68 [95% confidence interval -6.09, -1.27] cm2 /unit), bone mineral content (BMC: β = -4.16 [95% CI -6.70, -1.62] g/unit), and areal bone mineral density (aBMD: β = -0.0012 [95% CI -0.0020, -0.0004] g.cm-2 /unit), but there was only a weak association with BMC adjusted for BA (β = -0.48 [95% CI -1.11, 0.15] g/unit) at 9 years. Adjustment for child height partly or, for weight, fully attenuated the associations. Higher late pregnancy E-DII scores (representing a more pro-inflammatory diet) are negatively associated with offspring bone measures, supporting the importance of maternal and childhood diet on longitudinal offspring bone health. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR)

Exploration of piperidine 3D fragment chemical space : synthesis and 3D shape analysis of fragments derived from 20 regio- and diastereoisomers of methyl substituted pipecolinates

Fragment-based drug discovery is now widely adopted for lead generation in the pharmaceutical industry. However, fragment screening collections are often predominantly populated with flat, 2D molecules. Herein, we report the synthesis of piperidine-based 3D fragment building blocks - 20 regio- and diastereoisomers of methyl substituted pipecolinates using simple and general synthetic methods. cis-Piperidines, accessed through a pyridine hydrogenation were transformed into their trans-diastereoisomers using conformational control and unified reaction conditions. Additionally, diastereoselective lithiation/trapping was utilised to access trans-piperidines. Analysis of a virtual library of fragments derived from the 20 cis- and trans-disubstituted piperidines showed that it consisted of 3D molecules with suitable molecular properties to be used in fragment-based drug discovery programs

Population Genomics of Intron Splicing in 38 Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genome Sequences

Introns are a ubiquitous feature of eukaryotic genomes, and the dynamics of intron evolution between species has been extensively studied. However, comparatively few analyses have focused on the evolutionary forces shaping patterns of intron variation within species. To better understand the population genetic characteristics of introns, we performed an extensive population genetics analysis on key intron splice sequences obtained from 38 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As expected, we found that purifying selection is the dominant force governing intron splice sequence evolution in yeast, formally confirming that intron-containing alleles are a mutational liability. In addition, through extensive coalescent simulations, we obtain quantitative estimates of the strength of purifying selection (2Nes ≈ 19) and use diffusion approximations to provide insights into the evolutionary dynamics and sojourn times of newly arising splice sequence mutations in natural yeast populations. In contrast to previous functional studies, evolutionary analyses comparing the prevalence of introns in essential and nonessential genes suggest that introns in nonribosomal protein genes are functionally important and tend to be actively maintained in natural populations of S. cerevisiae. Finally, we demonstrate that heritable variation in splicing efficiency is common in intron-containing genes with splice sequence polymorphisms. More generally, our study highlights the advantages of population genomics analyses for exploring the forces that have generated extant patterns of genome variation and for illuminating basic biological processes