“Going Dark” – The Challenge Facing Law Enforcement in the 21st Century

The role of law enforcement on all levels is to prevent, detect, and investigate criminal activity. A fundamental function of law enforcement is to collect intelligence and evidence to combat criminal and terrorist activity. In numerous instances, intelligence and evidence of criminal activity appear in the form of communications and electronic data. To be effective, law enforcement requires the ability to intercept and access these communications and the electronic data pursuant to legal authority

Solo: An open source, customizable and inexpensive audio recorder for bioacoustic research

Audio recorders are widely used in terrestrial and marine ecology and are essential for studying many cryptic or elusive taxa. Although several commercial systems are available, they are often expensive and are rarely user-serviceable or easily customized.  Here, we present the Solo audio recorder. Units are constructed from the Raspberry Pi single board computer and run easy-to-install and freely available software. We provide an example configuration costing £167 (£83 excluding suggested memory card and battery), which records audible sound continuously for c. 40days. We also provide a video tutorial showing hardware assembly and documentation is available via a supporting website.  The Solo recorder has been extensively field tested in temperate and tropical regions, with over 50000h of audio collected to date. This highly customizable and inexpensive system could greatly increase the scale and ease of conducting bioacoustic studies

A rare mineral, vaterite, acts as a shock absorber in the eggshell of a communally nesting bird

Birds’ eggshells are primarily composed of calcite, an abundant polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). However, the eggshells of some species are coated with spherules of vaterite, a rare and thermodynamically unstable polymorph of CaCO3, the function of which remains unknown. Here we experimentally test the mechanical and physiological effects of the vaterite coating on eggshells of the Greater Ani Crotophaga major, a tropical cuckoo. Vaterite removal did not affect vapour conductance rates across the eggshell, indicating that the vaterite coating does not influence gas exchange during embryonic development. By contrast, nanoindentation revealed that the hardness and elasticity of vaterite is similar to that of calcite, and white light interferometry showed that the vaterite layer increased the total thickness of the shell cuticle by up to 10%. Furthermore, calculations of contact mechanics found that when two eggs come into contact, the depth of the surface deformation caused by the contact is far less than the thickness of the vaterite coating. These results suggest the layer of vaterite spherules may act as a ‘shock absorber’ for the underlying calcite shell, protecting it from mechanical damage caused by collision with other eggs in the nest and reducing the risk of eggshell fracture during incubation

Earthquake slip surfaces identified by biomarker thermal maturity within the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake fault zone.

Extreme slip at shallow depths on subduction zone faults is a primary contributor to tsunami generation by earthquakes. Improving earthquake and tsunami risk assessment requires understanding the material and structural conditions that favor earthquake propagation to the trench. We use new biomarker thermal maturity indicators to identify seismic faults in drill core recovered from the Japan Trench subduction zone, which hosted 50 m of shallow slip during the Mw9.1 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. Our results show that multiple faults have hosted earthquakes with displacement ≥ 10 m, and each could have hosted many great earthquakes, illustrating an extensive history of great earthquake seismicity that caused large shallow slip. We find that lithologic contrasts in frictional properties do not necessarily determine the likelihood of large shallow slip or seismic hazard

Repurposing of Meropenem and Nadifloxacin for Treatment of Burn Patients?

The escalating number of multidrug resistant pathogens has demanded the swift development of new and potent antibiotics (ref. 2). Metallo-[beta]-lactamases (MBLs) continue to evolve, rendering the latest generation of carbapenem antibiotics useless (ref. 8). SPM-1, a recently discovered MBL, was isolated from a juvenile leukemia patient residing in a hospital in San Palo, Brazil just prior to the patient succumbing to septicemia brought on by Pseudomonas aeruginosa expressing SPM-1 (ref. 8). Screening of the Johns Hopkins Compound library of 1,514 FDA or FAD approved drugs (ref. 1) identified a novel SPM-1 inhibitor that is synergistically compatible with meropenem. Using clinically achievable concentrations, meropenem coupled with nadifloxacin inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa expressing SPM-1. This shotgun approach to new drug discovery provided a prompt solution to the grave problem of antibiotic resistant pathogens that are thriving in hospitals today

Bluetongue virus infection creates light averse Culicoides vectors and serious errors in transmission risk estimates.

BackgroundPathogen manipulation of host behavior can greatly impact vector-borne disease transmission, but almost no attention has been paid to how it affects disease surveillance. Bluetongue virus (BTV), transmitted by Culicoides biting midges, is a serious disease of ruminant livestock that can cause high morbidity and mortality and significant economic losses. Worldwide, the majority of surveillance for Culicoides to assess BTV transmission risk is done using UV-light traps. Here we show that field infection rates of BTV are significantly lower in midge vectors collected using traps baited with UV light versus a host cue (CO2).MethodsWe collected Culicoides sonorensis midges in suction traps baited with CO2, UV-light, or CO2 + UV on three dairies in southern California to assess differences in the resulting estimated infection rates from these collections. Pools of midges were tested for BTV by qRT-PCR, and maximum likelihood estimates of infection rate were calculated by trap. Infection rate estimates were also calculated by trapping site within a dairy. Colonized C. sonorensis were orally infected with BTV, and infection of the structures of the compound eye was examined using structured illumination microscopy.ResultsUV traps failed entirely to detect virus both early and late in the transmission season, and underestimated virus prevalence by as much as 8.5-fold. CO2 + UV traps also had significantly lower infection rates than CO2-only traps, suggesting that light may repel infected vectors. We found very high virus levels in the eyes of infected midges, possibly causing altered vision or light perception. Collecting location also greatly impacts our perception of virus activity.ConclusionsBecause the majority of global vector surveillance for bluetongue uses only light-trapping, transmission risk estimates based on these collections are likely severely understated. Where national surveillance programs exist, alternatives to light-trapping should be considered. More broadly, disseminated infections of many arboviruses include infections in vectors' eyes and nervous tissues, and this may be causing unanticipated behavioral effects. Field demonstrations of pathogen-induced changes in vector behavior are quite rare, but should be studied in more systems to accurately predict vector-borne disease transmission

Lahars and Lyrics: Learning from Adjustments in Landscape and Culture Following prolonged Volcanic Disturbance on the Island of Montserrat

Explosive volcanic eruptions can profoundly disturb surrounding landscapes. Volcanic phenomena (e.g., pyroclastic density currents, tephra fallout) inundate the headwaters of proximal river systems with vast quantities of sediment. This perturbs the hydrology of these systems which then respond by increasing sediment and water flux to downstream reaches via lahars. These hazardous sediment-laden flows can induce dramatic, potentially destructive, and long-lived geomorphic changes within affected drainages. Most understanding of the readjustment of rivers following volcanic disturbances comes from studies following short-lived, transient eruptions. By contrast, limited research has considered responses to prolonged episodic eruptions, characterised by repeat phases of eruption and quiescence. This thesis addresses this research gap by exploring how the morphodynamics and lahar activity within the Belham Valley, Montserrat, have evolved in response to episodic disturbance by the eruption of Soufriere Hills Volcano, 1995 - present. Methods involved include novel longitudinal synthesis of a range of observational data, from ground-based photographic surveys to satellite-derived Digital Surface Models, as well as statistical analysis, and numerical modelling. I show: 1) episodic eruptions induce distinct fluvial responses, manifesting in aggradation-degradation cycles driven by evolving sediment availability, water supply, and vegetation cover; 2) lahar hazard is mediated by evolving catchment-scale conditions; 3) modelling the temporal evolution of lahar activity in such systems shows promise but remains a challenge. During a research assistantship alongside my PhD, I was heavily involved in the development of a co-created public engagement project on Montserrat, Mountain Aglow. This project sought to incorporate the lived experience of eruption in the form of arts – i.e., lyrics – into Disaster Risk Management (DRM) strategies. The final chapter of this thesis presents an evaluative study of this project. I demonstrate that incorporation of lived experience and co-creation of DRM practices is an effective and recommendable means of improving engagement with at-risk populations

antitrust and trade regulation bulletin FTC Releases Report on Intellectual Property and Antitrust

Last year the FTC and the Department of Justice jointly held hearings focused on the current balance of competition and patent law and policy. (See our December, 2001 Antitrust and Trade Regulation Bulletin at www.haledorr.com/antitrust.) The hearings spanned more than 24 days, involving more than 300 panelists and 100 separate written submissions. The first tangible by-product of those sessions came on October 28, 2003, with the release of a 266-page FTC report containing specific recommendations for changes in the existing patent system (the Patent Report)(http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/10/creport .htm). A second, joint report with DOJ, containing specific recommendations for antitrust, is promised for the future