Voyager mission support (2)

The Deep Space Network report on tracking and data acquisition for Voyager Project is continued. The period of August through October 1980 is covered. The use of beacons for interplanetary navigation, specifically for target related navigation, was shown to be of significant value

New Approaches to the Use of Twins in Biomedical Research

Human geneticists are often accused of being preoccupied with exotic syndromes that are of marginal relevance to the general population. Brilliant success has been achieved during the past two decades in defining the nature and function of the genetic material, the molecular pathology of a large number of metabolic diseases, the phenotype of more than 2,000 Mendelian traits, and more recently the chromosomal location of a rapidly expanding number of human gene pairs. In contrast, relatively little progress has been made in the genetic analysis of quantitative traits such as blood pressure, serum cholesterol, intelligence quotient, skin color, height, birth weight, or glucose tolerance. Traits of this type are not only of interest to society, but may also relate significantly to a variety of common diseases. With almost every continuously distributed quantitative trait, single gene defects have been identified which can profoundly alter the phenotype. For example, the single gene pairs which determine albinism and Tay-Sachs disease can profoundly alter skin color and IQ respectively. However, the causes of less extreme variation can be exceedingly complex, resulting from the cumulative effects of many gene pairs and their interactions with each other and with the environment. Nevertheless, even if the effects of individual gene pairs cannot be identified, the source of the observed variation may often be inferred from an analysis of the phenotypic correlation of relatives of various degree. Twin studies have been widely used in the past to gain insight into the inheritance of quantitative traits, and with the support of a Program Project Grant from the National Institute of Maternal and Child Health, the Department of Human Genetics at the Medical College of Virginia has become a leader in the use of twins for biomedical research

THE MIXED METHOD OF RANDOM NUMBER GENERATION: A TUTORIAL

Several motivations are recognized for user-defined random number generators in preference to built-in generators. The mixed method of random number generation is discussed) and the conditions for achieving full period with a modulus of 2^b are explained. Implementation of mixed random number generators is affected both by the computer and language used. Guidelines are presented for realizing acceptable mixed generators on several machines using the FORTRAN, PL/l and SNOBOL4 languages

The Genetic Counseling Program at MCV

The Genetic Counseling Clinic at the Medical College of Virginia, established by Drs. Peter Mamunes and R.B. Young in 1973, has been supported since its inception by a clinical service grant from the National Foundation – March of Dimes; it is one of 83 genetic counseling programs in the United States and one of three in Virginia that receive support from the Foundation. The Clinic provides counseling and diagnostic services for a variety of genetic disease and is the focus of clinical teaching and research activities of the Department of Human Genetics. The Clinic is staffed by member of the Departments of Human Genetics, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics, as well as consultants from many other clinical disciplines

IMPLEMENTATION OF FORTRAN RANDOM NUMBER GENERATORS ON COMPUTERS WITH ONE'S COMPLEMENT ARITHMETIC

No abstract available

THE OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS OF MODEL MANAGEEMENT

Model management is a technology evolving by necessity, pushed by the attempts to deal with increasingly complex systems and the perceived inadequacies of past efforts. This rapid evolution of Model Management Systems (MMS) has created different perspectives of the role of the MMS; one arising the user's interaction with a model data bank and the other view from the in the database and decision support systems research community stressing modeling community emphasizing the model development functions. These two perspectives are clarified and reconciled by relating each to the model life cycle, which leads to a more comprehensive statement of MMS requirements

Systems and Methods for the Electrodeposition of a Nickel-cobalt Alloy

Systems and methods for electrodepositing a nickel-cobalt alloy using a rotating cylinder electrode assembly with a plating surface and an electrical contact. The assembly is placed within a plating bath and rotated while running a plating cycle. Nickel-cobalt alloy deposition is selectively controlled by controlling current density distribution and/or cobalt content in the plating bath while running the plating cycle to deposit an alloy of a desired yield strength onto the plating surface in a single plating cycle. In various embodiments, the rotating cylinder may be used as an insitu monitoring method to assist in obtaining the properties desired

SIMULATION MODEL MANAGEMENT: RESOLVING THE TECHNOLOGICAL GAPS

Model management poses requirements and responsibilities that extend throughout the life cycle of a simulation model. Recent publications have identified major problems in cost and time overruns, which are traceable to deficiencies in project and sponsor management. Beginning with the division of the simulation model life cycle into seven phases, we define "model management" and develop the requirements for a Model Management System (MMS). The functional description of a MMS focuses on those phases that jointly characterize the model development effort. Recent research in simulation model development is described, and particular emphasis is given to the approach taken with the Conical Methodology

Genetic Studies of Deafness and of Retinitis Pigmentosa

In experimental animals where the generation time is short and matings can be controlled experimentally, it is a relatively simple task to determine whether a trait is genetic, how it is inherited, and where the causal gene pair is located. However, in human genetics, inferences must be drawn by pooling observations on many small families in which the trait of interest has occurred. The condition may be etiologically heterogeneous, resulting from environmental causes in some families and showing variable patterns of inheritance in others. Hereditary deafness and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) provide instructive examples of the problems involved in the genetic analysis of family data in man

Dominantly Inherited Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Motor Neuron Disease)

The term amyotrophic lateral sclerosis was first introduced by Charcot to describe cases with mixed upper and lower motor neuron signs without sensory impairment. Later the syndromes of progressive bulbar palsy (PBP) and progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) were recognized to be variations of the same pathological process, and ALS was used as an inclusive term to refer to these syndromes as well. Although some authors reserve the term ALS for the specific syndrome of mixed upper and lower motor neuron lesions and use the term “motor neuron disease” to refer to the constellation of syndromes, most of the literature on familial cases uses ALS as a generic title. We will adhere to this convention