Geologic and Geochemical Investigations of the Meager Creek Geothermal System, British Columbia, Canada

Meager Creek is perhaps the most intensely explored geothermal system occurring in the Cascade and Garibaldi Volcanic Belts. This paper describes the results of new lithologic, petrographic, X-ray, isotopic, and geochemical investigations of core and cuttings from the Meager Creek wells. The data demonstrate that alteration related to the present geothermal system is superimposed on basement rocks which were metamorphosed and intruded by dioritic stocks prior to the onset of volcanism. The geothermal alteration developed mainly after emplacement of hypabyssal dikes associated with Meager Mountain volcanism and is characterized by mineral assemblages consisting primarily of sheet silicates, quartz, carbonate, hematite, iron oxides, pyrite, and minor epidote, potassium feldspar, actinolite and biotite. Permeabilities within the upper portions of the reservoir are low, reflecting filling of the fracture systems by carbonate. Petrographic observations suggest that sealing of the fractures accompanied hydrothermal brecciation and boiling of the fluids

gbpA as a Novel qPCR Target for the Species-Specific Detection of Vibrio cholerae O1, O139, Non-O1/Non-O139 in Environmental, Stool, and Historical Continuous Plankton Recorder Samples

The Vibrio cholerae N-acetyl glucosamine-binding protein A (GbpA) is a chitin-binding protein involved in V . cholerae attachment to environmental chitin surfaces and human intestinal cells. We previously investigated the distribution and genetic variations of gbpA in a large collection of V . cholerae strains and found that the gene is consistently present and highly conserved in this species. Primers and probe were designed from the gbpA sequence of V . cholerae and a new Taq-based qPCR protocol was developed for diagnostic detection and quantification of the bacterium in environmental and stool samples. In addition, the positions of primers targeting the gbpA gene region were selected to obtain a short amplified fragment of 206 bp and the protocol was optimized for the analysis of formalin-fixed samples, such as historical Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) samples. Overall, the method is sensitive (50 gene copies), highly specific for V . cholerae and failed to amplify strains of the closely-related species Vibrio mimicus . The sensitivity of the assay applied to environmental and stool samples spiked with V . cholerae ATCC 39315 was comparable to that of pure cultures and was of 10 2 genomic units/l for drinking and seawater samples, 10 1 genomic units/g for sediment and 10 2 genomic units/g for bivalve and stool samples. The method also performs well when tested on artificially formalin-fixed and degraded genomic samples and was able to amplify V . cholerae DNA in historical CPR samples, the earliest of which date back to August 1966. The detection of V . cholerae in CPR samples collected in cholera endemic areas such as the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) is of particular significance and represents a proof of concept for the possible use of the CPR technology and the developed qPCR assay in cholera studies

Functional connectome of brainstem nuclei involved in autonomic, limbic, pain and sensory processing in living humans from 7 Tesla resting state fMRI

Despite remarkable advances in mapping the functional connectivity of the cortex, the functional connectivity of subcortical regions is understudied in living humans. This is the case for brainstem nuclei that control vital processes, such as autonomic, limbic, nociceptive and sensory functions. This is because of the lack of precise brainstem nuclei localization, of adequate sensitivity and resolution in the deepest brain regions, as well as of optimized processing for the brainstem. To close the gap between the cortex and the brainstem, on 20 healthy subjects, we computed a correlation-based functional connectome of 15 brainstem nuclei involved in autonomic, limbic, nociceptive, and sensory function (superior and inferior colliculi, ventral tegmental area-parabrachial pigmented nucleus complex, microcellular tegmental nucleus-prabigeminal nucleus complex, lateral and medial parabrachial nuclei, vestibular and superior olivary complex, superior and inferior medullary reticular formation, viscerosensory motor nucleus, raphe magnus, pallidus, and obscurus, and parvicellular reticular nucleus – alpha part) with the rest of the brain. Specifically, we exploited 1.1mm isotropic resolution 7 Tesla resting-state fMRI, ad-hoc coregistration and physiological noise correction strategies, and a recently developed probabilistic template of brainstem nuclei. Further, we used 2.5mm isotropic resolution resting-state fMRI data acquired on a 3 Tesla scanner to assess the translatability of our results to conventional datasets. We report highly consistent correlation coefficients across subjects, confirming available literature on autonomic, limbic, nociceptive and sensory pathways, as well as high interconnectivity within the central autonomic network and the vestibular network. Interestingly, our results showed evidence of vestibulo-autonomic interactions in line with previous work. Comparison of 7 Tesla and 3 Tesla findings showed high translatability of results to conventional settings for brainstem-cortical connectivity and good yet weaker translatability for brainstem-brainstem connectivity. The brainstem functional connectome might bring new insight in the understanding of autonomic, limbic, nociceptive and sensory function in health and disease

Distributed Ledger for Provenance Tracking of Artificial Intelligence Assets

High availability of data is responsible for the current trends in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). However, high-grade datasets are reluctantly shared between actors because of lacking trust and fear of losing control. Provenance tracing systems are a possible measure to build trust by improving transparency. Especially the tracing of AI assets along complete AI value chains bears various challenges such as trust, privacy, confidentiality, traceability, and fair remuneration. In this paper we design a graph-based provenance model for AI assets and their relations within an AI value chain. Moreover, we propose a protocol to exchange AI assets securely to selected parties. The provenance model and exchange protocol are then combined and implemented as a smart contract on a permission-less blockchain. We show how the smart contract enables the tracing of AI assets in an existing industry use case while solving all challenges. Consequently, our smart contract helps to increase traceability and transparency, encourages trust between actors and thus fosters collaboration between them

The Effects of Fractions from Shiitake Mushroom on Composition and Cariogenicity of Dental Plaque Microcosms in an In Vitro Caries Model

The aim of the current study was to investigate the anticariogenic potential of the (sub)fractions obtained from the edible mushroom shiitake (Lentinula edodes) in in vitro caries model. We used a modified constant depth film fermentor (CDFF) with pooled saliva as the inoculum and bovine dentin as a substratum. The test compounds were low molecular weight fraction (MLMW) of the shiitake extract and subfractions 4 and 5 (SF4 and SF5) of this fraction. Chlorhexidine (CHX) and water served as a positive and a negative control, respectively. Dentin mineral loss was quantified (TMR), microbial shifts within the microcosms were determined (qPCR), and the acidogenicity of the microcosms was assessed (CIA). From the compounds tested, the SF4 of shiitake showed strong inhibiting effect on dentin demineralization and induced microbial shifts that could be associated with oral health. The acid producing potential was increased, suggesting uncoupling of the glycolysis of the microbiota by the exposure to SF4. In conclusion, the results suggest that SF4 of shiitake has an anticariogenic potential

Off-Axis Response Measurement of the Sounding of the Atmosphere Using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) Telescope

The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument is a 10-channel earth limb-viewing sensor that measures atmospheric emissions in the spectral range of 1.27 μm to 16.9 μm. SABER is part of NASA’s Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission, which was successfully launched in December 2001. Uncommon among limb-viewing sensors, SABER employs an on-axis telescope design with reimaging optics to allow for an intermediate field stop and a Lyot stop. Additional stray light protection is achieved by an innovative inner Lyot stop, which is placed conjugate to the secondary obscuration and support structure. Presented in this paper is the off-axis response of SABER as measured in the Terrestrial Black Hole off-axis scatter facility at the Space Dynamics Laboratory. The measurement was made at visible wavelengths; thus, the response is only representative of SABER’s short wavelength channels. The measurement validated the stray light design and complemented the APART software model, which predicts that mirror scatter is the dominant stray light mechanism at short wavelengths. In addition, estimates of the mirror bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) were made. The off-axis response measurement indicates that SABER is an exceptional stray light suppression telescope