2,071 research outputs found
Direct-from-sputum rapid phenotypic drug susceptibility test for mycobacteria
The spread of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a leading global public-health challenge. Because not all biological-mechanisms of resistance are known, culture-based (phenotypic) drug-susceptibility testing (DST) provides important information that influences clinical decision-making. Current phenotypic tests typically require pre-culture to ensure bacterial loads are at a testable level (taking 2-4 weeks) followed by 10-14 days to confirm growth, or lack thereof.Includes bibliographical reference
The Grizzly, April 22, 1983
Commencement Speaker Named âą Career Strategies Revealed âą Dance Week Planned âą Xeroxing Illegal? âą Letter to the Editor âą Ursinus Night âą New Policies at Wismer âą U.C. Ugly Men âą Successful Forum âą Survivor Speaks âą Alcohol Survey Results Questioned âą Concert Soloists âą New Class Officers âą News Briefs: Dance Workshop for All; Women Plan Tour of Harbor Place; Free Bomberger Concert; Book Sale Continues at Library; Rhea Duryea Johnson Collection of Salt and Pepper Shakers âą Success Formulas Revealed in Real World 101 âą Ursinus Nine Looking Strong âą Men\u27s Lacrosse Braves Elements âą Golfers Start Well âą Women\u27s Season Nears Conclusion âą Women\u27s Lacrosse Downs Lafayette âą Women\u27s Tennis Falls Short of Potential âą Men\u27s Track Victorious âą Bozentka Leads Men\u27s Tennis to Comeback Victoryhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1099/thumbnail.jp
The Grizzly, March 23, 1984
Assault Attempt on Ursinus Female âą Speaker Gives Business Pointers âą Forced Bussing in Wismer âą New Course for Comm Arts Minor âą Letters to the Editor âą 1984 Fraternity Pledging Ends âą New Fine Arts Course Planned for Fall âą In my Opinion: Pledging Should be Banned âą Meistersingers Give Return Performance âą UC Sponsors Science Competition âą Dr. Clouser Delivers Goethe Lecture âą Lift-A-Thon Raises Funds for New Equipment âą Bear Blades Remain Undefeated âą Housing Changes Imminent âą Orchestra Presents Bach Festival âą Aquabears Conclude Best Season Ever âą Batsmen Victorious in Opener âą Men\u27s Lacrosse Optimistic âą Track Team Looking Solidhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1115/thumbnail.jp
An Assessment of the Representation of Ecosystems in Global Protected Areas Using New Maps of World Climate Regions and World Ecosystems
Representation of ecosystems in protected area networks and conservation strategies is a core principle of global conservation priority setting approaches and a commitment in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly call for the conservation of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Accurate ecosystem distribution maps are required to assess representation of ecosystems in protected areas, but standardized, high spatial resolution, and globally comprehensive ecosystem maps have heretofore been lacking. While macroscale global ecoregions maps have been used in global conservation priority setting exercises, they do not identify distinct localized ecosystems at the occurrence (patch) level, and instead describe large ecologically meaningful areas within which additional conservation planning and management are necessary. We describe a new set of maps of globally consistent climate regions and ecosystems at a much finer spatial resolution (250 m) than existing ecological regionalizations. We then describe a global gap analysis of the representation of these ecosystems in protected areas. The new map of terrestrial World Ecosystems was derived from the objective development and integration of 1) global temperature domains, 2) global moisture domains, 3) global landforms, and 4) 2015 global vegetation and land use. These new terrestrial World Ecosystems do not include either freshwater or marine ecosystems, but analog products for the freshwater and marine domains are in development. A total of 431 World Ecosystems were identified, and of these a total of 278 units were natural or semi-natural vegetation/environment combinations, including different kinds of forestlands, shrublands, grasslands, bare areas, and ice/snow regions. The remaining classes were different kinds of croplands and settlements. Of the 278 natural and semi-natural classes, 9 were not represented in global protected areas with a strict biodiversity conservation management objective (IUCN management categories I-IV), and an additional 206 were less than 8.5% protected (half way to the 17% Aichi Target 11 goal). Forty four classes were between 8.5% and 17% protected (more than half way towards the Aichi 17% target), and only 19 classes exceeded the 17% Aichi target. However, when all protected areas (IUCN management categories I-VI plus protected areas with no IUCN designation) were included in a separate global gap analysis, representation of ecosystems increases substantially, with a third of the ecosystems exceeding the 17% Aichi target, and another third between 8.5% and 17%. The overall protection (representation) of global ecosystems in protected areas is considerably less when assessed using only strictly conserved protected areas, and more if all protected areas are included in the analysis. Protected area effectiveness should be included in further evaluations of global ecosystem protection. The ecosystems with the highest representation in protected areas were often bare or sparsely vegetated and found in inhospitable environments (e.g. cold mountains, deserts), and the eight most protected ecosystems were all snow and ice ecosystems. In addition to the global gap analysis of World Ecosystems in protected areas, we report on the representation results for the ecosystems in each biogeographic realm (Neotropical, Nearctic, Afrotropical, Palearctic, Indomalayan, Australasian, and Oceania)
An Optically Dark GRB Observed by HETE-2: GRB 051022
GRB 051022 was detected at 13:07:58 on 22 October 2005 by HETE-2. The
location of GRB 051022 was determined immediately by the flight localization
system. This burst contains multiple pulses and has a rather long duration of
about 190 seconds. The detections of candidate X-ray and radio afterglows were
reported, whereas no optical afterglow was found. The optical spectroscopic
observations of the host galaxy revealed the redshift z = 0.8. Using the data
derived by HETE-2 observation of the prompt emission, we found the absorption
N_H = 8.8 -2.9/+3.1 x 10^22 cm^-2 and the visual extinction A_V = 49 -16/+17
mag in the host galaxy. If this is the case, no detection of any optical
transient would be quite reasonable. The absorption derived by the Swift XRT
observations of the afterglow is fully consistent with those obtained from the
early HETE-2 observation of the prompt emission. Our analysis implies an
interpretation that the absorbing medium could be outside external shock at R ~
10^16 cm, which may be a dusty molecular cloud.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ lette
Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial
Background
Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy
HETE-2 Observations of the X-Ray Flash XRF 040916
A long X-ray flash was detected and localized by the instruments aboard the
High Energy Transient Explorer II (HETE-2) at 00:03:30 UT on 2004 September 16.
The position was reported to the GRB Coordinates Network (GCN) approximately 2
hours after the burst. This burst consists of two peaks separated by 200 s,
with durations of 110 s and 60 s. We have analyzed the energy spectra of the
1st and 2nd peaks observed with the Wide Field X-Ray Monitor (WXM) and the
French Gamma Telescope (FREGATE). We discuss the origin of the 2nd peak in
terms of flux variabilities and timescales. We find that it is most likely part
of the prompt emission, and is explained by the long-acting engine model. This
feature is similar to some bright X-ray flares detected in the early afterglow
phase of bursts observed by the Swift satellite.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in PAS
Predicting solar cell performance from terahertz and microwave spectroscopy
Mobilities and lifetimes of photogenerated charge carriers are core properties of photovoltaic materials and can both be characterized by contactless terahertz or microwave measurements. Here, the expertise from fifteen laboratories is combined to quantitatively model the current-voltage characteristics of a solar cell from such measurements. To this end, the impact of measurement conditions, alternate interpretations, and experimental inter-laboratory variations are discussed using a (Cs,FA,MA)Pb(I,Br)3 halide perovskite thin-film as a case study. At 1 sun equivalent excitation, neither transport nor recombination is significantly affected by exciton formation or trapping. Terahertz, microwave, and photoluminescence transients for the neat material yield consistent effective lifetimes implying a resistance-free JV-curve with a potential power conversion efficiency of 24.6 %. For grainsizes above â20 nm, intra-grain charge transport is characterized by terahertz sum mobilities of â32 cm2 Vâ1 sâ1. Drift-diffusion simulations indicate that these intra-grain mobilities can slightly reduce the fill factor of perovskite solar cells to 0.82, in accordance with the best-realized devices in the literature. Beyond perovskites, this work can guide a highly predictive characterization of any emerging semiconductor for photovoltaic or photoelectrochemical energy conversion. A best practice for the interpretation of terahertz and microwave measurements on photovoltaic materials is presented
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Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will search for planets transiting bright and nearby stars. TESS has been selected by NASA for launch in 2017 as an Astrophysics Explorer mission. The spacecraft will be placed into a highly elliptical 13.7-day orbit around the Earth. During its 2-year mission, TESS will employ four wide-field optical charge-coupled device cameras to monitor at least 200,000 main-sequence dwarf stars with ICâ4â13ICâ4â13 for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. Each star will be observed for an interval ranging from 1 month to 1 year, depending mainly on the starâs ecliptic latitude. The longest observing intervals will be for stars near the ecliptic poles, which are the optimal locations for follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope. Brightness measurements of preselected target stars will be recorded every 2 min, and full frame images will be recorded every 30 min. TESS stars will be 10 to 100 times brighter than those surveyed by the pioneering Kepler mission. This will make TESS planets easier to characterize with follow-up observations. TESS is expected to find more than a thousand planets smaller than Neptune, including dozens that are comparable in size to the Earth. Public data releases will occur every 4 months, inviting immediate community-wide efforts to study the new planets. The TESS legacy will be a catalog of the nearest and brightest stars hosting transiting planets, which will endure as highly favorable targets for detailed investigations.Astronom
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