Capital
Science 2008
(Participating Affiliates
listed in alphabetical order)
AAAS
DISCUSSION ON SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IN THE COURTROOM: ETHICS AND THE EXPERT
WITNESS
| Reception |
Sunday 4:00PM
Board Room 12th Floor
|
|
Science and Engineering in the Courtroom: Ethics and the Expert
WitnessSpeakers: Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, U.S. District Judge for
the Western District of Washington and Director of the Federal Judicial Center
and Mark S. Frankel, Ph.D., Director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility
and Law Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In addressing an AAAS Annual Meeting, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
observed that the law "increasingly requires access to sound science because
society is becoming more dependent for its well-being on scientifically complex
technology." A critical issue facing judges is how to distinguish between
scientific evidence that should be admitted into a legal dispute and that which
is unacceptable because of its poor scientific foundation. This session will
discuss factors that judges rely on to make those decisions, and the role of
the expert in presenting scientific and technical information in legal
proceedings. When scientists or engineers engage the legal system as experts,
they are subject to norms and practices not always familiar to them. This
raises questions about how they can act responsibly in that setting. The
session will identify ethical issues that have confronted experts recruited to
participate in litigation, and the extent to which long-standing professional
norms provide useful guidance. |
4:30PM
Board Room 12th Floor |
ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
- DC CHAPTER
| Speakers not yet available |
Sunday 11:00AM
Room 320 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
AMERICAN
METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY - DC CHAPTER
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 2:00PM
Room 110 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANT
BIOLOGISTS/BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON/VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT
SOCIETY/MARYLAND NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 9:00 AM
Room 390 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
AMERICAN
SOCIETY FOR TECHNICAL INNOVATION
| Gene Allen, MSC.Software Corporation
Simulation-supported Decision Making |
Saturday 9:00AM
Room 370 |
| Engineering provides a Knowledge Base for decision making. An
Engineering Knowledge Base is the culmination of education, training, and
experience that provides insight and understanding of how things work or don't
work. A program's Engineering Knowledge Base consists of the knowledge and
expertise of all the personnel involved over the lifecycle of a program with
all accompanying documentation. The majority of an Engineering Knowledge Base
is learned from experience in testing and operations. However, learning from
prototype testing and operational accidents/problems is both costly, time
consuming, and risky. In the past, this has been an accepted cost of adopting
new technologies, as it has been the only way we learn about what we do not
know. The unanticipated and often non-intuitive results of new technologies are
often realized in operations, and sometimes only after decades. This
uncertainty is the result of combinations of factors or characteristics, all of
which have natural ranges of variability. This variability and uncertainty has
historically been taken into account through the use of safety factors, based
on experience. The advances and availability of compute capability can be used
as a substitute for the experience-based safety factors used in design. Virtual
data can be generated by running multiple physics-based analyses of a
parameterized computer model, varying parameters across their natural ranges
with each run. This process provides an accurate simulation of reality. Results
are a cloud of points with each point being an accurate result of that specific
combination of variables. The simulation process includes as many variables as
possible. A simulation consists of 100 analysis runs, sampling all variables
using advanced Monte Carlo sampling methods. 100 analysis runs provides a
simulation resolution equivalent to the resolution of inputs. This process
minimizes the need for making initial assumptions, which are often a source of
problems as people most often do not know what they do not know at the time of
making their assumptions. Different correlation methods are used to filter the
number of variables in the simulation result to those individual variables, or
groups of variables, that are most significant. This provides information that
can be used to understand what can happen. Additionally, automatic outlier
detection can be used to quickly identify those combinations of variables what
generate anomalies. The combination of 1) correlation information and 2) the
knowledge gained through understanding outliers provides accurate input to the
Engineering Knowledge Base that can be used for Decision Making. Simulation,
using today's readily available compute capability, is being used to learn and
gain otherwise unavailable knowledge for making decisions. |
|
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
| Recent Research in Human Skeletal
Biology |
Sunday
2:00PM
Room 330 |
| |
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| Ryan W. Higgins, George Washington
University, Department of Anthropology (graduate student) Limb
Proportion Inheritance and Ancestry Determination from Fetal Crural and
Brachial Indices |
|
| Relative distal limb length is found to correlate with climate in
modern human populations. The question remains whether this trait is determined
by adaptation or epigenetic influences. Experiments on laboratory animals
support the hypothesis that cold temperature influences limb development by
reducing growth plate kinetics and/or vascular supply. Reduction in vascular
supply would theoretically have a more pronounced effect on the smaller limb
segments. Furthermore, differences in nutritional uptake between generations
(i.e., secular trends) may affect distal limb segments more than proximal
segments. Together these findings suggest intergenerational plasticity in (1)
distal limb segments and ultimately (2) brachial and crural indices.
Conversely, if upper and lower limb segment proportions are genetic traits
shaped over generations by natural selection and affected little by ambient
temperature and nutritional uptake during development, then limb segment
proportions may aid forensic scientists in determining ancestry from the
postcranial remains of immigrant populations adapted to different ancestral
climates. The present study seeks to use (1) a natural experiment, the
migration of Africans and Europeans to North America, to examine the role of
genetic and epigenetic influences on human limb proportions, and (2)
discriminant function analysis to assess the forensic value of limb proportion
data for determining ancestry in adult and fetal African Americans and European
Americans. |
|
| Marilyn R. London, MA, Lecturer, Department
of Anthropology, University of Maryland and Erica B. Jones, MA, Department of
Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution Complete fusion of the mandible to
the cranium during childhood in an Eskimo from southwestern Alaska
|
|
| A rare case of fusion between the mandible and the cranium is seen
in an individual from a cemetery in southwestern Alaska. Although the fusion
appears to have occurred in early childhood, the remains are those of an adult
female, aged 30 to 45 years at death. The effects of the fusion on the life of
the individual must have been significant. The mouth could not be opened,
although some movement prevented atrophy of the mandible. The food passage was
narrow and her food may have been softened or liquefied. Speech may have been
somewhat difficult. However, there are indications throughout the skeleton of
osteoarthritis, and both tibiae exhibit squatting facets. This suggests that
the individual lived an active life and performed routine activities. The
etiology of the fusion is discussed. |
|
| Martin C. Solano, PhD, Contractor,
Repatriation Osteology Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian
Institution Sex differences in skeletal trauma among the 19th century
working class. |
|
| Skeletal trauma is analyzed in individuals from an almshouse
cemetery skeletal sample from Albany, NY. The cemetery served as a potter's
field for almshouse decedents and unclaimed bodies from Albany County from 1826
to 1926. Marked differences in the patterns of fractures were observed with
respect to age and sex, reflecting occupational hazards and interpersonal
violence. |
|
| David R. Hunt, PhD and Deborah Hull-Walski,
MS, COllections and Archives Program, Department of Anthropology, National
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution "All That Remains"
– Multidisciplinary study of a mid-19th Century Iron Coffin and
Identification of the Individual Within |
|
| In April 2005, a cast iron coffin was discovered during
construction in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC. A
multidisciplinary study of the coffin and the contents was done to investigate
preservation of bodies in iron coffins, the historical funerary significance of
this type of burial, and, if possible, the identity of the individual inside.
The biological profile of the individual was determined, by CT scanning and
autopsy, to be an approximately 15 year old male of European ancestry. He died
of lung infection with probable complications due to a heart valve disorder.
Samples were taken and analyses performed for DNA, isotopes, and various
pathogens that might be present in the coffin and body. The analysis of the
clothing and coffin manufacture established the date of death at approximately
1851-2. After two years of extensive historical and genealogical research, the
possible identity of the boy in the coffin was narrowed to three individuals.
Smithsonian anthropologists obtained DNA from living relatives of each lineage
and an absolute match to the boy was made. William Taylor White was from
Accomack Co. Virginia, was attending Columbia College and died January of 1852.
Many of his descendents still live in the Virginia eastern shore area. "Thus is
cut off, in the morning of his days, one in whom many hopes were
centred—and who had the fairest prospects of happiness and usefulness in
life."—Excerpt from White's obituary, published Feb. 8, 1852, in the
Religious Herald (Richmond, Va.). |
|
| Lynn Snyder, PhD, Science Director, Azoria
Project, Crete; Researcher/Contractor, Department of Anthropology, National
Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Faunal and human
remains from a 2nd century BCE well in the Athenian Agora; evidence of animal
sacrifice and infanticide in Late Hellenistic Athens? |
|
| The human and animal bones recovered from Well G5:3 in the Athenian
Agora received little notice when they were first discovered in 1937/38, beyond
a short note that the well contained human remains and "over eighty-five dogs".
In 1945, J. Lawrence Angel published a short description of the human remains,
noting the presence of "about 175 infants", an adult male and an 11-year-old
child; he posited that the infants represented either deaths by exposure, or
victims of disease and/or starvation. In 1996, a thorough re-examination of the
skeletal materials from the well was begun, leading to the identification of
the remains of 450 human infants, plus more than 150 dogs. Restudy of these
remains indicate that the human infants were placed in this isolated location,
away from the more urban and public areas of the Agora, with some care, and may
represent still births and newborns who failed to thrive. References in ancient
sources on childbirth indicate that infants were not accepted as full members
of society until several weeks or months after death, and thus not afforded
full burial rites; they also suggest that the dogs may have been sacrificed in
purification rites associated with female fertility or childbirth. |
|
ASSOCIATION FOR
WOMEN IN SCIENCE. DC-METRO CHAPTER
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday
9:00AM
Room 110 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY - DC
CHAPTER
| Speakers not yet available |
Sunday 2:00PM
Room 365 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
BIOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
| W. Ronald Heyer President, Biological Society
of Washington Can long-established, narrow-niche scientific societies
such as the Biological Society of Washington survive the digital
age? |
Saturday 2:00PM
Room 365 |
| The Biological Society of Washington was formed in 1880 primarily
as a forum for the Washington based biologists to meet and discuss current
biological research, with publication of those discussions and other submitted
articles to the Society's journal, the Proceedings of the Biological Society of
Washington. A few years after formation, there was a general trend toward
emphasizing the journal over the meetings and moving from all aspects of
biology to the related topics of systematics and taxonomy. This trend
culminated in the late 1950s, with the stated purpose of the Society to be:
"For the furtherance of taxonomic study of organisms and for diffusion of
biological knowledge among interested persons." This purpose served the Society
well through the 1990s. Perhaps associated with the decline in support for
systematics and taxonomy by the US academic community, the membership of the
Society has been in slow decline since 1993. This decline, combined with
competition from the new (2001) journal Zootaxa (an electronically produced and
distributed journal dedicated to animal taxonomy), together with younger
scientists preferring pdf files of publications over hard copy, sounded an
alarm to the elected officers and Councilors of the Society. Deliberations
resulted in undertaking major changes in the management and delivery system of
the Society's publications together with activities to garner new members and
institutional subscribers. The actions taken are recent and it is too early to
assess whether they will be successful or hasten the demise of the
Society. |
|
BOTANICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON (see American Society of Plant
Biologists)
CHEMICAL
SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
| Speakers not yet available |
Sunday 11:00AM
Room 310 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
INSTITUTE OF
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS (IEEE), DC AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA
SECTIONS
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 9:00 AM
Room 310 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
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INSTITUTE OF
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERS, NATIONAL CAPITAL CHAPTER/WASHINGTON CHAPTER OF THE
INSTITUTE FOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT
SCIENCES
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 9:00AM
Room 120 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
MARIAN KOSHLAND SCIENCE MUSEUM
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
| Speakers not yet available |
Sunday 10:00AM
Room 110 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
MARYLAND
NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY (see American Society of Plant
Biologists)
NATIONAL
CAPITAL SECTION/OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA &
IEEE/LEOS
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 9:00AM
Room 330 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) - PHYSICS
DEPARTMENT
| Inside a Closed Box: Ionizing
Radiation in Imaging |
Sunday
2:00PM
Room 330 |
| |
|
| Jeff Cessna. Ionizing Radiation Division,
Physics Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology New
Paradigms in Diagnostic and Therapeutic Nuclear Medicine, New
Standards |
|
Medical procedures using unsealed radioactive sources require the
benefit of the procedure to be weighed against the possible risks to the
patient due to radiation exposure. The prescribed dosages for
radiopharmaceuticals, both
 diagnostic and therapeutic, are generally determined using "rules of
thumb" or canonical values based on patient weight or surface area. Current
research suggests that this method of prescribing dosages for some procedures
may result in overdosing in certain patient populations, most notably pediatric
and geriatric, and can lead to inadequate doses being delivered to obese
patients, requiring that the procedure be repeated. In either case, the result
is unnecessary radiation exposure. A new paradigm is currently being promoted
that seeks to optimize the dosage that a patient receives by using
patient-specific information to predict the correct dosage. While this
represents a major advance in safety and effectiveness in nuclear medicine, it
places greater demands on the accuracy and consistency of the data used to
develop the treatment plan. Perhaps the most limiting factor in the application
of this technique is the quantitation of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) images that provide the
radioactivity uptake data that form the input for the dosimetry calculations.
Additionally, the current lack of suitable standards makes it difficult to
reliably compare imaging data from different scanners and even between scans of
the same patient with the same scanner, a comparison necessary to track disease
response to treatment. A new primary standard and secondary standards are
currently being developed that will allow PET scanners to be calibrated for
activity in absolute terms and will also provide a way to check and renormalize
scanner performance between scans. |
|
| Larry Hudson, Steve Seltzer, Paul Bergstrom,
Fred Bateman, and Frank Cerra Ionizing Radiation Division, Physics Laboratory,
National Institute of Standards and Technology Standards for X-Ray and
Gamma-Ray Security Screening Systems |
|
Since the 1920's, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), now the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been a world leader
in promoting accurate and meaningful measurements, methods, and measurement
services for ionizing radiation and radioactivity. Among other things, the
institute develops, maintains, and disseminates the national standards for
ionizing radiation and radioactivity thereby providing credible and absolute
measurement traceability for the nation's medical, industrial, environmental,
defense, homeland-security, energy, and radiation-protection communities. This
experience and infrastructure, which includes fundamental research and
radiation-transport modeling, enabled NIST to respond to rapidly emerging
homeland-security needs in the area of x-ray and gamma-ray security
screening. In particular, with funding from the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), and in alliance with the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI), we report on efforts to develop of a suite of national voluntary
consensus standards that that encompasses all the nation's security systems
that screen using x-rays or gamma-rays. These include screening of carried
items at checkpoints, airline checked baggage, trucks, cargo containers, human
subjects, and abandoned objects suspected of containing bulk explosives. These
documentary standards focus primarily on imaging quality and radiation safety,
and each specifies test artifacts, test methods, and in some cases required
minimum performance levels. All modalities are treated: transmission and
backscatter geometries as well as computed tomography (CT). The goal is to
provide tools that for the first time provide governmental users and industrial
partners uniform methods to compare technical aspects related to performance
and safety, inform procurement decisions, and stimulate and quantify future
technological improvements. |
|
Svetlana Nour1,2,
Matthew Mille1,3, Kenneth Inn1,
Douglas W. Fletcher4
1Ionizing
Radiation Division, Physics Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and
Technology 2University of Maryland, 3Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 4National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda MD Population
Radiation Measurement - the Monte Carlo option |
|
In the event of a radioactive accident or incident, one of the
biggest tasks is to estimate the radiation internal dose received by people to
determine the appropriate emergency response needed. As part of these radiation
dose evaluations, accurate evaluation of the contaminated people require the
use of measurement efficiencies based on the geometry of the radiation
detectors and of the human body. This implies that a prohibitively large number
of calibration human body standards (phantoms) would be needed. A more flexible
alternative approach would be to use Monte Carlo computations of the
measurement efficiencies that have been validated against a set of standard
radionuclide phantoms. The scope of the project is to create standard human
body phantoms, to validate their estimated measurement efficiencies from Monte
Carlo computations, and to develop tools to expand the range of body shape and
sizes for Monte Carlo use for individual radioactive victims or patients. This
project begins with a Bottle Manikin Absorption (BOMAB) phantom spiked with
Ga-67 as a standard geometry. The radioactive
 BOMAB is
measured at a number of distances from HPGe detector, and the experimental
efficiency for our gamma spectrometry system is determined. The same set of
experiments is then modeled using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code
(MCNP). Each of the plastic bottles which comprise the BOMAB phantom were
individually CT scanned at the National Naval Medical Center. Using the Monte
Carlo software Scan2MCNP (White Rock Science), the resulting tomograms
underwent a process called segmentation in which materials of interest are
assigned to appropriate regions of the medical images according to their
density. Measurement efficiencies were estimated for the 5 photon energies of
Ga-67 with the greatest intensity. Agreement between the computationally
determined and experimentally measured efficiencies has been achieved to within
a few percent, and all within the estimated uncertainties. With further
optimization of the input file, it is expected that results will improve, and
we will be able to move on to more complicated geometries such as the
anthropomorphic phantom, and ultimately to CT-scanned human individuals. |
|
| Daniel S. Hussey Ionizing Radiation Division,
Physics Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Neutron Imaging: The key to understanding water management in hydrogen fuel
cells |
|
 Since
proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have high fuel efficiency and emit
only water as a byproduct, they are an attractive alternative to the internal
combustion engine. Water management in PEMFCs critically impacts fuel cell
performance, durability, and materials of construction. Neutron radiography has
been the only method able to measure, in situ, the trace amount of water
produced and stored within standard, commercially viable PEMFCs. This talk will
provide an overview of the PEFMC research performed at the NIST neutron imaging
facility, ranging from the fundamental water transport in the membrane to the
impacts of water on a fuel cell engine.byproduct, they are an attractive
alternative to the internal combustion engine. Water management in PEMFCs
critically impacts fuel cell performance, durability, and materials of
construction. Neutron radiography has been the only method able to measure, in
situ, the trace amount of water produced and stored within standard,
commercially viable PEMFCs. This talk will provide an overview of the PEFMC
research performed at the NIST neutron imaging facility, ranging from the
fundamental water transport in the membrane to the impacts of water on a fuel
cell engine. |
|
NATIONAL SCIENCE
FOUNDATION (NSF) OFFICE OF POLAR PROGRAMS PLENARY SESSION ON INTERNATIONAL
POLAR RESEARCH
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 11:00AM
12th Floor Board Room |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
NORTHERN
VIRGINIA REGIONAL PARK AUTHORITY - MEADOWLARK BOTANICAL GARDENS AND POTOMAC
OVERLOOK PARK
| Martin Ogle, Chief Naturalist, NVRPA
Birds of Prey of Virginia |
Sunday 10:00AM
Room 365 |
| This presentation will cover identification and ecology of birds of
prey regularly found in the state of Virginia. Species of hawks, falcons,
eagles, owls and also vultures will be discussed. Ecological information will
include life histories, migration patterns, behavior, sexual dimorphism, and
how these birds fit into the living system. Approximately 15 species of raptors
nest in Virginia, and a number of others regularly migrate through or to the
state. Many of these species have been adversely affected in the past by DDT
and other pesticides and habitat loss continues to be of concern for some
species. Many birds of prey are relatively easy to find and distinguish while
others are rare or secretive. All are excellent "windows" through which to
understand the natural order of Planet Earth. Places to view birds of prey and
techniques/hints for finding them will also be discussed |
|
| Keith Tomlinson, Manager Meadowlark
Botanical GardensA Floristic Natural History of the Greater Washington
DC Region in the Potomac River Basin |
Sunday 11:00AM
Room 365 |
| Forests of the greater Washington DC Region have evolved over time
on the eastern margin of the ancestral North American continent as part of the
Potomac River Basin. Plant migration and geomorphic processes are considered as
integral to modern distribution. Components of both ancient tropical and
temperate forests exist in woody taxa of the Washington region today. This
paper reviews the composition and distribution of these ancient floras and the
resulting contemporary forest diversity. |
|
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON
| Kenneth Haapala, President, Philosophical
Society of Washington |
Saturday 10:00AM
Room 320 |
| Abstract not yet available. |
|
POTOMAC CHAPTER OF THE HUMAN
FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS SOCIETY
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 2:00PM
Room 320 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING APPRENTICE PROGRAM, GEORGE WASHINGTON
UNIVERSITY
| Kelly Colas, James Madison High School Virginia Heppner, James
Madison High School Mentored by: Charlotte Lanteri, Walter Reed Army Institute
of Research, SS, MD Jacob Johnson, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, SS,
MD Assessment of 96- and 384- Well Malaria SYBR Green I- Based
Fluorescence Assay for Use in In Vitro Malaria Drug Screening |
Saturday 9:00AM-9:40AM
Room 365 |
| New methods for identifying drug candidates and monitoring drug
resistance trends are required for the devastating tropical disease, malaria.
Malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, are adapted for in vitro growth. In
vitro malaria drug assays are used for the screening of new drug candidates and
surveying the resistance of malaria within a region. An ideal in vitro assay is
time efficient, inexpensive, accurate, and reproducible. One such assay that
fulfills these important criteria is the SYBR Green I assay, developed by
Johnson et al 2007. The SYBR Green fluorescent dye binds to parasitic DNA,
which allows for the measurement of malaria growth. The Malaria SYBR Green
fluorescence (MSF) assay is used to screen compounds for anti-malarial
activity. This fluorescence based assay is also useful to identifying drug
resistant populations of parasites from clinical samples. This SYBR Green assay
is efficient, inexpensive, and has proven to be both accurate and reproducible.
In this study, we first verified the efficacy of the Johnson SYBR Green I Assay
by quantifying the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value associated with
various standard antimalarial drugs required for inhibiting P. falciparum
culture growth. The P. falciparum strain D6, a known chloroquine sensitive
strain, and the W2 strain, a chloroquine and multi-drug resistant strain, were
tested in the assay. We then micronized the 96 well assay to a 384 well assay.
Adapting the assay to a 384 well format makes the screen more time efficient
because more tests can be run at the same time with more wells; and it is less
expensive because roughly the same amount of materials are used to yield a
greater amount of results. A volume to volume scale down from the 96 well
format was used to micronize the 384 well assay. P. falciparum D6 cells were
applied to the 384 well malaria SYBR Green I MSF assay. Several factors were
taken into consideration when micronizing the assay and analyzing data; these
factors were time, edge effect, transparent versus black plates, and
background. We compared results from 72 and 96 hour long incubation periods to
examine the most effective condition for running these plates. Black and
transparent plates were tested because it was anticipated that the black plates
would yield more effective results than the transparent plates, since
fluorescent dyes (such as SYBR Green) are more likely to yield stronger signals
with the black background. Fluorescence readings of the outer most wells of the
plate sometimes are weakened based on the plate reader's capabilities, referred
to as the "edge effect." The Z' score is an effective method for assessing the
robustness of a biological assay. The results from the Z' indicate whether this
test is reproducible in a high throughput screening (HTS) capacity. Thus, all
of the assay variables were assessed using a Z' calculation. In conclusion, the
384 well MSF assay appears to be a reliable HTS for the discovery of novel
anti-malarial drug candidates in a cost and time efficient manner. |
|
| John Russo Jr., St. Vincent of Pallotti High School Mentored by:
Heather O'Brien, and Dr. Marc Litz, ARL, MD Pulse Power
Applications |
Saturday 9:40AM-10:00AM
Room 365 |
| A numerical simulation of a millisecond pulse width transmission
line was modeled in PSpice. The numerical results were compared to a
transmission line built using six capacitors each about 42 ?F. The numerical
and measured results compared well. This transmission line was used to evaluate
a single silicon-carbide (SiC) Gate Turn-Off thyristor (GTO) high-current
pulsed power switch. The results to-date indicate that these new SiC devices
can switch without damage, a 1 mSec, 350 A pulse, charged to 620 V. Further
evaluation on this new test-bed will be pursued to identify the limits of these
switches. |
|
VIRGINIA
NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY (see American Society of Plant
Biologists)
WASHINGTON
CHAPTER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES (see
Institute for Industrial Engineers)
WASHINGTON
EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEMS SOCIETY
| Speakers not yet available |
Saturday 9:00AM
Room 375
Sunday
10:00AM
Rooms 370 and 375 |
| Abstracts not yet available |
|
WASHINGTON
SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
Health and Disease
in American Public Education Movies, 1930s-1950s
A presentation of public health movies from the collections of
the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Selected and Presented by David Cantor
for The Washington Society for the History of Medicine. |
Saturday 9:00AM
Room 380 |
| This film presentation provides a selection
of rarely seen public health movies released between 1938 and 1957. The
presentation includes movies about cancer, tuberculosis, and 'quackery' aimed
at a variety of audiences, and produced by an assortment of private,
philanthropic, professional and governmental organizations. Together, they
emphasize the importance to disease control of early detection and treatment;
of seeking care from a recognized physician; and of avoiding 'quack' healers
and home remedies. They encourage the public to learn medically-approved danger
signals of disease; to go for regular medical examinations from a recognized
physician; and to involve themselves in campaigns of medical education and
outreach. Thus, they are as much about the marketing of medicine as they are
about the education of the public. As such, they provide a window onto how
orthodox American medical agencies sought to promote their own authority,
expertise and cultural legitimacy in the twentieth century. |
|
|
Introductory Messages Advertisements & Announcements
Public Health Messages from the American Dental Association
(c.1955-1959) |
|
| Main Program |
| |
Man Alive, 1952 (11:35 minutes)
American Cancer
Society Let My People Live, 1938 (13:20 minutes)
National Tuberculosis
Association Fraud Fighters, 1949 (15:50 minutes)
RKO Pathe, Inc. Men of
Medicine, 1938 (16:55 minutes)
American Medical Association March of Time
The Man on the Other Side of the Desk, 1957 (12:30 minutes) American Cancer
Society |