Electrical self-aligning connector

A self-aligning electrical connector device includes a receptacle component having a conically contoured interior and a plug component having a correspondingly contoured conical body receivable in the receptacle component. The plug component has a number of spaced conductive ring elements with a mating face and the receptacle component includes corresponding spaced conductive ring elements providing mating interface with the mating face of the ring elements of the plug component when connected to it. Each ring element of the receptacle component has several segmented portions which defect downwardly when the plug component is inserted. A biasing force is asserted against the face of the ring elements of the plug component providing positive electrical contact and connection between the ring elements of the components

Coupled aerodynamic and acoustical predictions for turboprops

To predict the noise fields for proposed turboprop airplanes, an existing turboprop noise code by Farassat has been modified to accept blade pressure inputs from a three-dimensional aerodynamic code. A Euler-type code can handle the nonlinear transonic flow of these high-speed, highly swept blades. This turbofan code was modified to allow the calculation mesh to extend to about twice the blade radius and to apply circumferential periodicity rather than solid-wall boundary conditions on the blade in the region between the blade tip and the outer shroud. Outputs were added for input to the noise prediction program and for color contour plots of various flow variables. The Farassat input subroutines were modified to read files of blade coordinates and predicted surface pressures. Aerodynamic and acoustic results are shown for the SR-3 model blade. Comparison of the acoustic predicted results with measured data show good agreement

National income inequality predicts women's preferences for masculinized faces better than health does

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2010 The Royal Society

Scale Dependence of Sex-Specific Movement in a Small-Bodied Stream Fish

Animal movement at localised scales is often modulated by competing pressures such as avoiding predators while acquiring resources and mates. The relative magnitude of these trade‐offs may affect males and females differently, often resulting in sex‐specific differences in movement. Sex‐biases in movement have been linked to mating systems (e.g. monogamy or polygamy) in birds and mammals; however, this relationship has received less attention among fishes. Using passive integrated transponder tags and a series of stationary antennas, we evaluated the movement dynamics of a small‐bodied, sexually dimorphic stream fish Fundulus olivaceus over a 30‐day period in a fourth‐order tributary to the Pascagoula River in Mississippi (U.S.A.). We documented dissimilar sex‐specific movement behaviours at different spatial scales that were likely to be facilitated by differential resource demands and competitive pressures. Females exhibited an increased propensity to engage in longer, exploratory moves (\u3e30 m); whereas most males remained active within an established territory, making few long‐distance longitudinal movements. Local activity levels (proportion of individuals moving) were positively related to density (manipulated during the study), and density was found to affect the magnitude of sex‐specific movement. In contrast to females, males increased local activity and movement distance at the reduced density, presumably to expand territory size or mate‐searching behaviours, suggesting local mate competition may suppress the movement distance of males. Despite some evidence substantiating a relationship between movement and mating system, our results suggest that the documented sex‐specific differences may be related to traits that co‐evolve with mating systems, rather than the mating system per se. Our findings also highlight the importance of spatial scale when evaluating patterns of sex‐biased movement tendencies

Intra- and interspecies interactions between prion proteins and effects of mutations and polymorphisms

Recently, crystallization of the prion protein in a dimeric form was reported. Here we show that native soluble homogenous FLAG-tagged prion proteins from hamster, man and cattle expressed in the baculovirus system are predominantly dimeric. The PrP/PrP interaction was confirmed in Semliki Forest virus-RNA transfected BHK cells co-expressing FLAG- and oligohistidine-tagged human PrP. The yeast two-hybrid system identified the octarepeat region and the C-terminal structured domain (aa90-aa230) of PrP as PrP/PrP interaction domains. Additional octarepeats identified in patients suffering from fCJD reduced (wtPrP versus PrP+90R) and completely abolished (PrP+90R versus PrP+90R) the PrP/PrP interaction in the yeast two-hybrid system. In contrast, the Met/Val polymorphism (aa129), the GSS mutation Pro102Leu and the FFI mutation Asp178Asn did not affect PrP/PrP interactions. Proof of interactions between human or sheep and bovine PrP, and sheep and human PrP, as well as lack of interactions between human or bovine PrP and hamster PrP suggest that interspecies PrP interaction studies in the yeast two-hybrid system may serve as a rapid pre-assay to investigate species barriers in prion diseases

Stability, Persistence and Habitat Associations of the Pearl Darter \u3ci\u3ePercina aurora\u3c/i\u3e in the Pascagoula River System, Southeastern USA

The southeastern United States represents one of the richest collections of aquatic biodiversity worldwide; however, many of these taxa are under an increasing threat of imperilment, local extirpation, or extinction. The pearl darter Percina aurora is a small-bodied freshwater fish endemic to the Pearl and Pascagoula river systems of Mississippi and Louisiana (USA). The last collected specimen from the Pearl River drainage was taken in 1973, and it now appears that populations in this system are likely extirpated. This reduced the historical range of this species by approximately 50%, ultimately resulting in federal protection under the US Endangered Species Act in 2017. To better understand the current distribution and general biology of extant populations, we analyzed data collected from a series of surveys conducted in the Pascagoula River drainage from 2000 to 2016. Pearl darters were captured at relatively low abundance (2.4 ± 4.0 ind. per collection) from 57% of 308 collections. We identified strong relationships between local habitat variables and occurrence and catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of pearl darters. Pearl darters were frequently encountered and in greater abundance in depositional areas characterized by low-velocity habitats and finer substrates. Patterns of occurrence and CPUE were spatiotemporally variable across years; however, repeated collections from a subset of localities collected across a decade or more indicated long-term persistence and stability, suggesting population resilience throughout the Pascagoula River drainage

Measuring fast electron spectra and laser absorption in relativistic laser-solid interactions using differential bremsstrahlung photon detectors

A photon detector suitable for the measurement of bremsstrahlung spectra generated in relativistically-intense laser-solid interactions is described. The Monte Carlo techniques used to back-out the fast electron spectrum and laser energy absorbed into fast electrons are detailed. A relativistically-intense laser-solid experiment using frequency doubled laser light is used to demonstrate the effective operation of the detector. The experimental data was interpreted using the 3-spatial-dimension Monte Carlo code MCNPX (Pelowitz 2008), and the fast electron temperature found to be 125 keV

Multi-scale records of reef development and condition provide context for contemporary changes on inshore reefs

Comparisons between historical and contemporary photographs of coral reef flats from the inshore Great Barrier Reef (GBR) have been cited by various authors and agencies as evidence of reef degradation since European settlement and have been presented as proof of widespread reef decline. The diminished condition is inferred from reduced live coral cover and structural diversity depicted in the contemporary photographs. Anthropogenic causes for this deterioration are most often proposed, usually because it is argued to have coincided with modifications to coastal catchments by European settlers. However, changes in reef condition inferred from photographic comparisons have rarely been verified against quantitative assessments of reef geomorphic state or current reef status. Photographs taken in the late 1800s of the reef flat at Stone Island, located in Edgecumbe Bay in the inshore central GBR, have been compared by others with more recent images to interpret significant reductions in coral cover and diversity over the past 120 or so years. We examined the internal structure of fringing reefs at two locations on Stone Island by collecting 14 percussion cores across the reef flats. Sedimentological analyses coupled with uranium-thorium dating allowed for the reconstruction of reef development over the past ~ 7000 years. Both reefs at Stone Island initiated prior to 7000 calendar years before present (yBP, where present is 1950 AD) and both reef flats were almost entirely emplaced by 4000 yBP. Surveys of the benthic ecology of reefs at Stone Island and at Middle Island, also in Edgecumbe Bay, indicate that coral cover and diversity across reef flats and slopes was patchy and varied spatially within each location and throughout the region. Live coral cover on the Middle Island reef flat reached an average (± 1σ standard deviation) of 63.1 ± 20.2%. This was much higher than the live coral cover on Stone Island reef flats, where only a few small living coral colonies were recorded. We evaluate the use of photographic records from Stone Island to depict regional changes in reef condition by comparing the trends in reef condition determined from photographic records with underlying reef geomorphic state reconstructed from reef cores. We conclude that inferred changes in reef condition at Stone Island are localised and should not be used as evidence of widespread regional decline on the GBR

A Rifted Margin Origin for the Crescent Basalts and Related Rocks in the Northern Coast Range Volcanic Province, Washington and British-Columbia

The remarkable early to middle Eocene volcanic sequence of the Crescent Formation exposed on the Olympic Peninsula consists predominantly of tholeiitic to minor transitional alkaline basalts with sparse sedimentary interbeds. A composite section measured in the vicinity of the Dosewallips River includes 8.4 km of pillowed to massive submarine basalts overlain by 7.8 km of subaerial flows. An upper limit of about 48 Ma on the age of the Crescent basalts is indicated by faunal assemblages in sediments interbedded with the uppermost flows in the sequence and a circa 50 Ma 40Ar/39Ar age on a leucogabbro from the presumably correlative Bremerton Igneous Complex. Stratigraphically controlled samples collected from throughout the Crescent basalt sequence show that two distinctly different chemical types exist. The lower part of the sequence originated from a relatively depleted mantle course resembling normal (N) to enriched (E)-MORB. The upper flows have a chemistry resembling E-MORB to oceanic island tholeiites. This difference could be due to either variable metasomatism of a single source domain, or influx of a separate enriched-mantle source component during the extrusion of the upper part of the sequence. Paleomagnetic measurements indicate that the Crescent basalts have not been significantly rotated, nor translated northwards since their extrusion. Paleotectonic reconstructions show that formation of the Crescent basalts and the Coast Range volcanic province as a whole coincided with a marked increase in the velocity of oblique convergence of the Kula plate with North America at about 60 Ma. Other geologic, geochemical, and paleomagnetic data are consistent with the interpretation that extrusion occurred in a basin or series of basins formed by a rift system along the continental margin of North America. Rifting might have been initiated by the influence of a hotspot, an increase in the rate of oblique convergence, or the kinematic effects of the Kula-Farallon ridge as it migrated along the margin. If extrusion is related to the passage of the triple junction, then the Coast Ranges can be considered to be an important tectonic marker for early to middle Eocene plate reconstructions