Space biology initiative program definition review. Trade study 1: Automation costs versus crew utilization

A significant emphasis upon automation within the Space Biology Initiative hardware appears justified in order to conserve crew labor and crew training effort. Two generic forms of automation were identified: automation of data and information handling and decision making, and the automation of material handling, transfer, and processing. The use of automatic data acquisition, expert systems, robots, and machine vision will increase the volume of experiments and quality of results. The automation described may also influence efforts to miniaturize and modularize the large array of SBI hardware identified to date. The cost and benefit model developed appears to be a useful guideline for SBI equipment specifiers and designers. Additional refinements would enhance the validity of the model. Two NASA automation pilot programs, 'The Principal Investigator in a Box' and 'Rack Mounted Robots' were investigated and found to be quite appropriate for adaptation to the SBI program. There are other in-house NASA efforts that provide technology that may be appropriate for the SBI program. Important data is believed to exist in advanced medical labs throughout the U.S., Japan, and Europe. The information and data processing in medical analysis equipment is highly automated and future trends reveal continued progress in this area. However, automation of material handling and processing has progressed in a limited manner because the medical labs are not affected by the power and space constraints that Space Station medical equipment is faced with. Therefore, NASA's major emphasis in automation will require a lead effort in the automation of material handling to achieve optimal crew utilization

The Vices and Virtues in the Evolution of the Grotesque from Medieval to Modern Literature

The grotesque, which some critics believe to be the dominant mode of expression in twentieth-century literature, is not a strictly modern phenomenon. By concentrating on the literary evolution of the most grotesque of medieval dramatic figures--the Vice of the morality plays--I demonstrate in three major chapters the continuity of the grotesque tradition from its beginnings in the Middle Ages to its uses in the works of several modern writers. I define the grotesque as follows: The grotesque, through the conflicting tendencies of the humorous and the terrifying, embodies the I negation of a preconceived norm implied within a particular work. The first part of the definition is in general agreement with most theorists of the phenomenon, who note its, characteristic conflict. The second part shifts the discussion.. away from the exact nature of the grotesque, which is obscured by much critical controversy, and allows us to focus on its thematic significance, which may be treated more concisely. The grotesque grew out of the complex consciousness of medieval man, whose mind was split between the \u27ideal and the real. By typo- I logically adapting:classica1 and Hebrew ideas, the Fathers of the I Christian Church pictured an ideal world of rational, hierarchical order. This order was reflected, in their fundamentally didactic aesthetics, which associated Good with harmony and beauty and Evil with ugliness and discord. But no such order was evident in medieval society, which was characterized by superstition, violence, and reckless enthusiasm. Caught between these conflicting forces, the artists were: innately unable to characterize Evil--which led to certain damnation but which seemed so attractive in everyday life--in purely negative terms. The result was the ambivalence which we call the grotesque, and which pervades medieval art and literature in the form of gargoyles, half-human figures in manuscript illumination, and allegorical personifications of Vice in literature. Though the effect is ambivalent, the thematic function of these figures is clear: The grotesque embodies evil and is used as an exhortation to virtue in an attempt to insure salvation. I call this function traditional and use it as a standard against which .to measure later, more complex, uses of the grotesque. Although the concerns of many twentieth-century writers have shifted from the religious concerns of Good and Evil to a more general regard for life adjustment without reference to any particular creed, there is still a strong tendency to associate grotesquerie with spiritual moral, or psychological error. This technique is seen in the works of William Faulkner. Some of today\u27s writers, however, effect an inversion of the tradition by endowing their obviously grotesque characters with qualities which are superior to those manifested in the normal world around them. This technique is used in varying degrees and modes by Flannery OI Connor, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Peter Shaffer, and Samuel Beckett. Grotesquerie in both the traditional and inverted senses is. evident in the literature written between the Middle Ages and the twentieth century. Spenser, Jonson, Milton, and Dickens are traditional \u27 in using the grotesque to embody a negation of right living, while Shakespeare, Swift, and Mary Shelley are more modern in their uses of profoundly ambiguous inversions. I conclude that the grotesque is not a modern phenomenon; it is a persistent, prominent, and potent element in our literary heritage

Dispersal-mediated trophic interactions can generate apparent patterns of dispersal limitation in aquatic metacommunities

Dispersal is a major organising force in metacommunities, which may facilitate compositional responses of local communities to environmental change and affect ecosystem function. Organism groups differ widely in their dispersal abilities and their communities are therefore expected to have different adaptive abilities. In mesocosms, we studied the simultaneous compositional response of three plankton communities (zoo-, phyto- and bacterioplankton) to a primary productivity gradient and evaluated how this response was mediated by dispersal intensity. Dispersal enhanced responses in all three planktonic groups, which also affected ecosystem functioning. Yet, variation partitioning analyses indicated that responses in phytoplankton and bacterial communities were not only controlled by dispersal directly but also indirectly through complex trophic interactions. Our results indicate that metacommunity patterns emerging from dispersal can cascade through the food web and generate patterns of apparent dispersal limitation in organisms at other trophic levels.

An audience analysis of KCSN-FM contributing listeners

KCSN-FM is a non-commercial public radio station located on the campus of California State University at Northridge. The station's prime coverage area is the San Fernando Valley. The Federal Communications Commission in granting a license to KCSN-FM made the provision that the station was obligated to make a continuing, diligent effort to determine the significant needs and problems of our service area. The need to provide management with a demographic profile and listening preferences was the incentive for this thesis. Three hundred and sixty five people, who contributed to the station during the period of November, 1975 through July, 1976 were mailed a pre-tested questionnaire. The responses to the questionnaire were coded, computerized and analyzed. The average KCSN-FM contributor listener is mainly over the age of thirty-six, married, well educated, lists occupation as business or professional, generally earning more than $12,000 a year and tunes into the station at least once a week. The questionnaire indicated that the contributor listener is loyal and occupies a middle class position in the community.Includes bibliographical references (pages 82-83)California State University, Northridge. Department of Mass Communication

A proposal to establish a comprehensive training program for restaurant personnel at the Table Rock Restaurant that will ultimately be utilized in every restaurant operated by the South Carolina State Park Service

This paper submits a proposal to establish a comprehensive training program for restaurant personnel at the Table Rock Restaurant that will ultimately be utilized in every restaurant operated by the South Carolina State Park Service

Insightful Problem Solving and Emulation in Brown Capuchin Monkeys

We investigated problem solving abilities of capuchin monkeys via the floating object problem, a task in which the subject must use creative problem solving to retrieve a favored food item from the bottom of a clear tube. Some great apes have solved this problem by adding water to raise the object to a level at which it can be easily grabbed. We presented seven capuchins with the task over eight trials (four dry and four wet ). None of the subjects solved the task, indicating that no capuchin demonstrated insightful problem solving under these experimental conditions. We then investigated whether capuchins would emulate a solution to the task. Seven subjects observed a human model solve the problem by pouring water from a cup into the tube, which brought the object to the top of the tube, allowing the subject to retrieve it. Subjects were then allowed to interact freely with an unfilled tube containing the object in the presence of water and objects that could be used to solve the task. While most subjects were unable to solve the task after viewing a demonstrator solve it, one subject did so, but in a unique way. Our results are consistent with some previous results in great ape species and indicate that capuchins do not spontaneously solve the floating object problem via insight

A conceptual framework for invasion in microbial communities

There is a growing interest in controlling-promoting or avoiding-the invasion of microbial communities by new community members. Resource availability and community structure have been reported as determinants of invasion success. However, most invasion studies do not adhere to a coherent and consistent terminology nor always include rigorous interpretations of the processes behind invasion. Therefore, we suggest that a consistent set of definitions and a rigorous conceptual framework are needed. We define invasion in a microbial community as the establishment of an alien microbial type in a resident community and argue how simple criteria to define aliens, residents, and alien establishment can be applied for a wide variety of communities. In addition, we suggest an adoption of the community ecology framework advanced by Vellend (2010) to clarify potential determinants of invasion. This framework identifies four fundamental processes that control community dynamics: dispersal, selection, drift and diversification. While selection has received ample attention in microbial community invasion research, the three other processes are often overlooked. Here, we elaborate on the relevance of all four processes and conclude that invasion experiments should be designed to elucidate the role of dispersal, drift and diversification, in order to obtain a complete picture of invasion as a community process

Trait-based approaches to zooplankton communities

Zooplankton are major primary consumers and predators in most aquatic ecosystems. They exhibit tremendous diversity of traits, ecological strategies and, consequently, impacts on other trophic levels and the cycling of materials and energy. An adequate representation of this diversity in community and ecosystem models is necessary to generate realistic predictions on the functioning of aquatic ecosystems but remains extremely challenging. We propose that the use of trait-based approaches is a promising way to reduce complexity while retaining realism in developing novel descriptions of zooplankton in ecosystem models. Characterizing zooplankton traits and trade-offs will also be helpful in understanding the selection pressures and diversity patterns that emerge in different ecosystems along major environmental gradients. Zooplankton traits can be characterized according to their function and type. Some traits, such as body size and motility, transcend several functions and are major determinants of zooplankton ecological strategies. Future developments of trait-based approaches to zooplankton should assemble a comprehensive matrix of key traits for diverse groups and explore it for general patterns; develop novel predictive models that explicitly incorporate traits and associated trade-offs; and utilize these traits to explain and predict zooplankton community structure and dynamics under different environmental conditions, including global change scenarios. © 2013 The Author