MOTIVATION Expression Quantitative Trait Locus (eQTL) mapping tackles the problem of identifying variation in DNA sequence that have an effect on the transcriptional regulatory network. Major computational efforts are aimed at characterizing the joint effects of several eQTLs acting in concert to govern the expression of the same genes. Yet, progress toward a comprehensive prediction of such jo...

Feature models used in product line engineering often include features that crosscut other features. These features cannot be cleanly modularized using object-oriented techniques and are the source of scattering and tangling in implementation modules. This significantly complicates the traceability of features during the development and maintenance of a product line and during the instantiation...

Building on Hrushovski’s work in [5], we study definable groupoids in stable theories and their relationship with 3-uniqueness and finite internal covers. We introduce the notion of retractability of a definable groupoid (which is slightly stronger than Hrushovski’s notion of eliminability), give some criteria for when groupoids are retractable, and show how retractability relates to both 3-uni...

An autoshaping procedure, in which presentation of a retractable lever signalled food delivery, was used to assess the effects of ventral tegmental area lesions on appetitive classically conditioned responses in 28 rats. Rats with ventral tegmental area lesions did not differ from sham-lesioned rats in acquiring classically conditioned lever press responses, or in learning to withold these resp...

Current United States military chemical protective ensembles do not provide for feeding, removing body wastes, or ensuring the hygiene of troops operating in a contaminated environment. As part of a nuclear-biological-chemical life support demonstration program, systems were developed to provide these capabilities. The nutrient system consisted of foods packaged in tube dispensers and a deliver...

This work provides approaches to designing and fabricating soft fluidic elastomer robots. That is, three viable actuator morphologies composed entirely from soft silicone rubber are explored, and these morphologies are differentiated by their internal channel structure, namely, ribbed, cylindrical, and pleated. Additionally, three distinct casting-based fabrication processes are explored: lamin...

A free-wake method is used to simulate the wake from retractable, jointed wings. The method serves to complement existing experimental studies that visualise flying animal wakes. Simulated wakes are shown to be numerically convergent for a case study of the Rock Pigeon in minimum power cruising flight. The free-wake model is robust in simulating wakes for a range of wing geometries and dynamics...

Retractable targets of carbon fibres with nominal diameters of 30, 7 and 4.5 Wm have been in use at the collision point of the SLC (the SLAC Linear Collider) . The target mechanism is compatible with the Mark II detector now in place at the collision point. Beam profiles are measured in horizontal and vertical axes by using magnetic dipoles to scan the beams across the fibres . Two signal detec...