Manufacturing processes

The following issues are covered: process development frequently lags behind material development, high fabrication costs, flex joints (bellows) - a continuing program, SRM fabrication-induced defects, and in-space assembly will require simplified design

Bilateral versus unilateral cochlear implants in children: a study of spoken language outcomes

OBJECTIVES: Although it has been established that bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) offer additional speech perception and localization benefits to many children with severe to profound hearing loss, whether these improved perceptual abilities facilitate significantly better language development has not yet been clearly established. The aims of this study were to compare language abilities of children having unilateral and bilateral CIs to quantify the rate of any improvement in language attributable to bilateral CIs and to document other predictors of language development in children with CIs. DESIGN: The receptive vocabulary and language development of 91 children was assessed when they were aged either 5 or 8 years old by using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (fourth edition), and either the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) or the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition), respectively. Cognitive ability, parent involvement in children\u27s intervention or education programs, and family reading habits were also evaluated. Language outcomes were examined by using linear regression analyses. The influence of elements of parenting style, child characteristics, and family background as predictors of outcomes were examined. RESULTS: Children using bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes and significantly higher scores on the Core and Expressive Language subscales of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition) than did comparable children with unilateral CIs. Scores on the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) did not differ significantly between children with unilateral and bilateral CIs. Bilateral CI use was found to predict significantly faster rates of vocabulary and language development than unilateral CI use; the magnitude of this effect was moderated by child age at activation of the bilateral CI. In terms of parenting style, high levels of parental involvement, low amounts of screen time, and more time spent by adults reading to children facilitated significantly better vocabulary and language outcomes. In terms of child characteristics, higher cognitive ability and female sex were predictive of significantly better language outcomes. When family background factors were examined, having tertiary-educated primary caregivers and a family history of hearing loss were significantly predictive of better outcomes. Birth order was also found to have a significant negative effect on both vocabulary and language outcomes, with each older sibling predicting a 5 to 10% decrease in scores. CONCLUSIONS: Children with bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes, and 8-year-old children with bilateral CIs had significantly better language outcomes than did children with unilateral CIs. These improvements were moderated by children\u27s ages at both first and second CIs. The outcomes were also significantly predicted by a number of factors related to parenting, child characteristics, and family background. Fifty-one percent of the variance in vocabulary outcomes and between 59 to 69% of the variance in language outcomes was predicted by the regression models

Spatial Distribution of Nucleosynthesis Products in Cassiopeia A: Comparison Between Observations and 3D Explosion Models

We examine observed heavy element abundances in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant as a constraint on the nature of the Cas A supernova. We compare bulk abundances from 1D and 3D explosion models and spatial distribution of elements in 3D models with those derived from X-ray observations. We also examine the cospatial production of 26Al with other species. We find that the most reliable indicator of the presence of 26Al in unmixed ejecta is a very low S/Si ratio (~0.05). Production of N in O/S/Si-rich regions is also indicative. The biologically important element P is produced at its highest abundance in the same regions. Proxies should be detectable in supernova ejecta with high spatial resolution multiwavelength observations.Comment: To appear in the Conference Proceedings for the "10th Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos (NIC X)", July 27 - August 1 2008, Mackinack Island, Michigan, US

Mixed Models with n>1 and Large Scale Structure constraints

Recent data on CBR anisotropies show a Doppler peak higher than expected in CDM cosmological models, if the spectral index $n=1$. However, CDM and LCDM models with n>1 can hardly be consistent with LSS data. Mixed models, instead, whose transfer function is naturally steeper because of free--streaming in the hot component, may become consistent with data if n>1, when Omega_h is large. This is confirmed by our detailed analysis, extended both to models with a hot component whose momentum space distribution had a thermal origin (like massive neutrinos), and to models with a non--cold component arising from heavier particle decay. In this work we systematically search models which fulfill all constraints which can be implemented at the linear level. We find that a stringent linear constraint arises from fitting the extra-power parameter Gamma. Other significant constraints arise comparing the expected abundances of galaxy clusters and high-z systems with observational data. Keeping to models with Gamma \geq 0.13, a suitable part of the space parameter still allows up to \sim 30% of hot component (it is worth outlining that our stringent criteria allow only models with 0.10 \mincir Omega_h \mincir 0.16, if n \leq 1). We also outline that models with such large non--cold component would ease the solution of the so--called baryon catastrophe in galaxy clusters.Comment: 28 pages + 9 figures, uses elsart.sty, to be published in New Astronom

Deficiency of the zinc finger protein ZFP106 causes motor and sensory neurodegeneration

Acknowledgements We are indebted to Jim Humphries, JennyCorrigan, LizDarley, Elizabeth Joynson, Natalie Walters, Sara Wells and the whole necropsy, histology, genotyping and MLC ward 6 teams at MRC Harwell for excellent technical assistance. We thank the staff of the WTSI Illumina Bespoke Team for the RNA-seq data, the Sanger Mouse Genetics Project for the initial mouse characterization and Dr David Adams for critical reading of the manuscript. We also thank KOMP for the mouse embryonic stem cells carrying the knockout first promoter-less allele (tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi) within Zfp016. Conflict of Interest statement. None declared. Funding This work was funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) to A.A.-A. and a Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) project grant to A.A.-A. and EMCF. D.L.H.B. is a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Scientist Fellow and P.F. is a MRC/MNDA Lady Edith Wolfson Clinician Scientist Fellow. Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by the MRC grant number: MC_UP_A390_1106.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Scott-representability of some spaces of Tall and Miskin

[EN] In this paper we show that a variation of a technique of Miskin and Tall yields a cocompact completely regular Moore space that is Scott-domain-representable and has a closed Gδ-subspace that is not Scott-domain-representable. This clarifies the general topology of Scott-domain-representable spaces and raises additional questions about Scott-domain representability in Moore spaces.Bennet, H.; Lutzer, D. (2008). Scott-representability of some spaces of Tall and Miskin. Applied General Topology. 9(2):281-292. doi:10.4995/agt.2008.1807.SWORD28129292J. Aarts, J. deGroot and R. McDowell, Cocompactness, Nieuw Archief voor Wiskungid 36 (1970), 2–15.J. Aarts and D. Lutzer, Completeness Properties Designed for Recognizing Baire Spaces, Dissertationes Mathematicae 116 (1974), 1–45.Bennett, H., & Lutzer, D. (2006). Domain-representable spaces. Fundamenta Mathematicae, 189(3), 255-268. doi:10.4064/fm189-3-3H. Bennett and D. Lutzer, Domain representability of certain complete spaces, Houston J. Math, to appear. H. Bennett, D. Lutzer and G. M. Reed, Domain representability and the Choquet game in Moore and BCO-spaces, Topology and its Applications, to appear.Estill, M. E. (1950). Concerning abstract spaces. Duke Mathematical Journal, 17(4), 317-327. doi:10.1215/s0012-7094-50-01730-3Kopperman, R., Künzi, H.-P. A., & Waszkiewicz, P. (2004). Bounded complete models of topological spaces. Topology and its Applications, 139(1-3), 285-297. doi:10.1016/j.topol.2003.12.001Martin, K. (2003). Topological games in domain theory. Topology and its Applications, 129(2), 177-186. doi:10.1016/s0166-8641(02)00147-5Martin, K., Mislove, M. W., & Reed, G. M. (2002). Topology and Domain Theory. Recent Progress in General Topology II, 371-394. doi:10.1016/b978-044450980-2/50014-5V. Miskin, The Amsterdam properties in Moore spaces, Colloq. Math Soc. Janos Bolyai 41 (1983), 427–439.Tall, F. D. (1973). A counterexample in the theories of compactness and of metrization. Indagationes Mathematicae (Proceedings), 76(5), 471-474. doi:10.1016/1385-7258(73)90072-

Knowledge, Theory and Practice in Knowledge Management: Between Associative Patterning and Context-Rich Action

Embedded throughout this paper you will find the diversity of opinions that correlates to the diversity of theories, frameworks, case studies and stories that are related to the field of Knowledge Management (KM). We begin by introducing the Sampler Research Call approach and the 13 KM academics and practitioners working in different parts of the world who answered the call. We then provide baseline definitions and briefly explore the process of knowledge creation within the human mind/brain. After a brief (and vastly incomplete) introduction to KM literature at the turn of the Century, the frameworks of Sampler Call participants are introduced, and two early frameworks that achieved almost cult status—the Data-Information- Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) continuum and the SECI (socialization, externalization, combination and internalization) model—are explored through the eyes of Sampler Call participants. We then introduce the results of the KMTL (Knowledge Management Thought Leader) Study, which suggest theories consistent with the richness and diversity of thought interwoven throughout this paper. The field of KM is introduced as a complex adaptive system with many possibilities and opportunities. Finally, we share summary thoughts, urging us as KM academics and practitioners to find the balance between the conscious awareness/understanding of higher-order patterns and the actions we take; between the need for overarching theory and the experiential freedom necessary to address context-rich situations