Bacteremia causes hippocampal apoptosis in experimental pneumococcal meningitis

Bacteremia and systemic complications both play important roles in brain pathophysiological alterations and the outcome of pneumococcal meningitis. Their individual contributions to the development of brain damage, however, still remain to be defined

Managing FAIR Tribological Data Using Kadi4Mat

The ever-increasing amount of data generated from experiments and simulations in engineering sciences is relying more and more on data science applications to generate new knowledge. Comprehensive metadata descriptions and a suitable research data infrastructure are essential prerequisites for these tasks. Experimental tribology, in particular, presents some unique challenges in this regard due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field and the lack of existing standards. In this work, we demonstrate the versatility of the open source research data infrastructure Kadi4Mat by managing and producing FAIR tribological data. As a showcase example, a tribological experiment is conducted by an experimental group with a focus on comprehensiveness. The result is a FAIR data package containing all produced data as well as machine- and user-readable metadata. The close collaboration between tribologists and software developers shows a practical bottom-up approach and how such infrastructures are an essential part of our FAIR digital future

Ultra-heavy cosmic-ray science--Are r-process nuclei in the cosmic rays produced in supernovae or binary neutron star mergers?

The recent detection of 60Fe in the cosmic rays provides conclusive evidence that there is a recently synthesized component (few MY) in the GCRs (Binns et al. 2016). In addition, these nuclei must have been synthesized and accelerated in supernovae near the solar system, probably in the Sco-Cen OB association subgroups, which are about 100 pc distant from the Sun. Recent theoretical work on the production of r-process nuclei appears to indicate that it is difficult for SNe to produce the solar system abundances relative to iron of r-process elements with high atomic number (Z), including the actinides (Th, U, Np, Pu, and Cm). Instead, it is believed by many that the heaviest r-process nuclei, or perhaps even all r-process nuclei, are produced in binary neutron star mergers. Since we now know that there is at least a component of the GCRs that has been recently synthesized and accelerated, models of r-process production by SNe and BNSM can be tested by measuring the relative abundances of these ultra-heavy r-process nuclei, and especially the actinides, since they are radioactive and provide clocks that give the time interval from nucleosynthesis to detection at Earth. Since BNSM are believed to be much less frequent in our galaxy than SNe (roughly 1000 times less frequent, the ratios of the actinides, each with their own half-life, will enable a clear determination of whether the heaviest r-process nuclei are synthesized in SNe or in BNSM. In addition, the r-process nuclei for the charge range from 34 to 82 can be used to constrain models of r-process production in BNSM and SNe. Thus, GCRs become a multi-messenger component in the study of BNSM and SNe.Comment: Astro2020 Science White Pape

Quasiparticle transport in the vortex state of YBa_2Cu_3O_6.9

The effect of vortices on quasiparticle transport in cuprate superconductors was investigated by measuring the low temperature thermal conductivity of YBa_2Cu_3O_6.9 in magnetic fields up to 8 T. The residual linear term (as T \to 0) is found to increase with field, directly reflecting the occupation of extended quasiparticle states. A study for different Zn impurity concentrations reveals a good agreement with recent calculations for a d-wave superconductor, thereby shedding light on the nature of scattering by both impurities and vortices. It also provides a quantitative measure of the gap near the nodes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 included eps figures, significant new analysis wrt other experiments, to appear in Phys Rev Lett 29 March 199