Effect of CSLM imaging rate on biofilms of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus

Biofilms are sessile communities of bacteria that can be found in an wide range of environments. Their inhabitants are phenotypically distinct from plank- tonic bacteria and are capable of forming complex, three-dimensional structures. Biofilms are studied using confocal scanning laser microscopy, or CSLM. This technique uses lasers and Novel Fluorescent Proteins (NFPs) to measure growth and structure formation of single- and multi-species biofilms in situ in three dimensions. We investigate the effects of slow and fast rates of image acquisition on mono- and co-cultures of biofilm forming bacteria: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. After calculating growth rates and lag times, we find that fast scanning rates reduce the growth rate of P. aeruginosa in co-culture. Additionally, co-culture speeds up P. aeruginosa growth relative to monoculture when imaged at a slow rate, and fast scanning reverts co-culture growth to monoculture-like behavior. Additionally, a significant lag time is observed for P. aeruginosa grown in co-culture. The observed influence of confocal imaging rate on population dynamics should be considered in future studies to ensure accurate measurement of bacterial phenomena.Physic

Development of innovative SMA connections and dampers for frame structures under extreme loads

Issued as final reportSEISMIC Isolation Engineering Inc

Fear of a Multiracial Planet: Loving’s Children and the Genocide of the White Race

Part I analyzes the Loving decision striking down antimiscegenation laws and examines the segregationists’ justifications for antimiscegenation laws. Next, Part II explores the historical opposition of white segregationists to interracial marriages, families, and children and argues that the principle and practice of endogamy is a central feature of Jim Crow segregation. Finally, Part III examines the present ideology of white nationalism and shows that white nationalists oppose interracial unions and families for some of the same reasons that white segregationists opposed them. Specifically, white nationalists oppose interracial families because they are one of the main factors contributing to the so-called genocide of the white race

An investigation into the controls of granite plutonism in the Sierra da Freita region, Northern Portugal

The Serra da Freita region of north central Portugal was chosen for study as it displays the complex relationships between regional structure, plutonism, regional and contact metamorphism typical of this part of Iberia. The region was mapped on a scale of 1:10000. The Serra da Freita pluton, which intrudes the core of the Porto-Viseu metamorphic belt developed in the late Pre-Cambrian - Cambrian Beira Schists, is shown to lie in a sinistral transpressive shear zone, the Serra da Freita shear zone. Early structures are progressively modified over a protracted period by shear zone deformation, during which time metamorphism reached a peak and the granite was emplaced. Mapping of the intrusive contacts of the granite show that following initial intrusion of a steeply inclined sheet of magma into the zone of highest strain, magmas were injected into a region of progressively lower strain where the magma was acconunodated as a nearly flat sheet. The distal end of this mass ballooned upvards to form the small intrusion of Castanheira which has abundant biotite nodules which acted as near perfect strain markers. The main pluton is shown to intrude obliquely the core of a narrow metamorphic belt characterized by parageneses of biotite, andalusite/staurolite, sillimanite, which maps distinctly from a younger cordierite sillimanite contact aureole around an adjacent quartz diorite body. Several facies of granite within the pluton have been recognized; petrographical and structural studies allow the interpreted emplacemen~ mechanism of these units to be integrated within a more general model for the evolution of the shear zone. Geochemical analyses of major and trace elements show that certain compositional trends within these facies cannot be simply related as part of a fractionation sequence. A model is put forward in which repeated melting of a heterogeneous source is followed by sequential emplacement of discrete batches of magma as sheets and wedges wi thin the acti ve shear zone. A Rb-Sr whole rock isochron age of 324 Ma was obtained and this dates not only the emplacement age of the syn-tectonic granite, but also constrains the time of movement along the shear zone. Radiogenic and stable isotope data strongly point to the local high grade Beira Schists as being sui table source rocks for generation of magmas wi th marked S-type characteristics which now form the Serra da Freita pluton. 180 values for the granites of 10.64 ± 0.24 - 13.00 ± 0.12 overlap those of the schists which lie in the range 12.38 ± 0.24 - 14.15 ± 0.4. The whole rock Rb-Sr isochron for the granite has an initial ratio of 0.7136 ± 0.0008 (MSWD = 3.2). A regional and tectonothennal model is put forward in which end-Palaeozoic oblique strike slip collision took place in the Ibero-Armorican Arc. The resulting peturbation in continental heat flow, coupled with the possible effects of shear heating, fluid concentration and local high ductility contrasts in the heterogeneous metasediments, are invoked as being responsible for causing anatexis of the Beira Schists at a depth of 10-12 km, and the generation of granitic melts. Emplacement of these bodies gave rise to the Porto-Viseu metamorphic belt, into which later smaller higher-level melts were injected. It is argued that some of these later magmas which reached higher levels are now exposed as the constituent facies of the Serra da Freita pluton. The Serra cia Freita shear zone, active throughout metamorphism, anatexis and magma emplacement was a dominant feature of the geological history of the region

Black Holes in Elliptical and Spiral Galaxies and in Globular Clusters

Supermassive black holes have been discovered at the centers of galaxies, and also in globular clusters. The data shows correlations between the black hole mass and the elliptical galaxy mass or globular cluster mass. It is shown that this correlation is accurately predicted by a theory of gravity which includes the new dynamics of self-interacting space. In spiral galaxies this dynamics is shown to explain the so-called `dark matter' rotation-curve anomaly, and also explains the earth based bore-hole g anomaly data. Together these effects imply that the strength of the self-interaction dynamics is determined by the fine structure constant. This has major implications for fundamental physics and cosmology.Comment: Latex, 10 pages, 3 eps figures Additional section re Interpretation and Discussio