NanoRocks: Design and Performance of an Experiment Studying Planet Formation on the International Space Station

In an effort to better understand the early stages of planet formation, we have developed a 1.5U payload that flew on the International Space Station (ISS) in the NanoRacks NanoLab facility between September 2014 and March 2016. This payload, named NanoRocks, ran a particle collision experiment under long-term microgravity conditions. The objectives of the experiment were (a) to observe collisions between mm-sized particles at relative velocities of $<$1~cm/s, and (b) to study the formation and disruption of particle clusters for different particle types and collision velocities. Four types of particles were used: mm-sized acrylic, glass, and copper beads, and 0.75 mm-sized JSC-1 lunar regolith simulant grains. The particles were placed in sample cells carved out of an aluminum tray. This tray was attached to one side of the payload casing with three springs. Every 60~s, the tray was agitated and the resulting collisions between the particles in the sample cells were recorded by the experiment camera. During the 18 months the payload stayed on ISS, we obtained 158 videos, thus recording a great number of collisions. The average particle velocities in the sample cells after each shaking event were around 1 cm/s. After shaking stopped, the inter-particle collisions damped the particle kinetic energy in less than 20~s, reducing the average particle velocity to below 1 mm/s, and eventually slowing them to below our detection threshold. As the particle velocity decreased, we observed the transition from bouncing to sticking collisions. We recorded the formation of particle clusters at the end of each experiment run. This paper describes the design and performance of the NanoRocks ISS payload.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure

American Peace Movement Organizations: The 1988 and 1992 Surveys

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This is the definitive description of the 1988 Survey of Groups and Organizations Working for Peace and the 1992 follow-up of the peace movement organizations which responded in 1988. We discuss American peace movement organizations and the origins and history of the research effort in Part One along with a brief review of some of the theoretical considerations underlying this process. In Part Two we explain the survey methods and procedures including details on the stratified sample selection, questionnaire development, survey procedures in 1988 and 1992 and response rates. The 1992 effort, especially, was the product of a team of colleagues and we outline that process. (Names and addresses of team members follow this summary). One aspect was collaboration on changes in the 1992 questionnaire and another was a study of nonrespondents to the 1988 survey which increased the level of confidence in the data derived from both surveys. The dimensions and operations of American peace movement organizations are presented ill Part Three. The demographic data for both segments of the sample includes founding dates, geographic distribution and focus, tax status, organizational type, constituency, governance, membership type and numbers, staff, expenditures and, for the 1992 survey, sources of income. The first part of relatively stable data are from the larger 1988 survey. Beginning with organizational type we also include 1992 data for comparison. Key findings from these data include the comparative youth of a large segment of these peace movement organizations and their relatively small budgets, their uneven disbursement throughout the U.S. with more than half located in the eastern states plus California, a major focus on local, state, and regional work, and that religious individuals and groups are the only large constituency group. Almost all of the larger groups in what is called Sample I had a form of Federal tax status, just under half of the smaller groups in Sample II which answered the question on tax status had Federal tax status. (Assuming those that did not answer did not have Federal tax status, only one third of Sample II groups were tax exempt groups which would be listed in IRS records. Therefore, the remaining two-thirds segment represents the large pool of nonprofit associations rarely studied by research based on IRS records). By about the same proportions, almost all the groups in Sample I had governing boards and somewhat over half of the groups in Sample II did. Membership size varied widely from less than ten to over 100,000. In 1988 the median membership size in Sample I was 1500 in 1988 and 1000 in 1992. The medians for Sample II were 63 and 45 members respectively. Annual expenditure ranged from a few thousand dollars to over $1 million. The medians for the two samples were$85,000 in 1988 and $110,700 in 1992 for Sample I and$6,250 in 1988 and $2,800 in 1992 for tile smaller groups in Sample II. These medians are evidence of the major decline in American peace movement organizations which took place between 1988 and 1992. From these data we can conclude that the peace movement of 1988 was extremely diverse and the overwhelming proportion was small groups with minimal resources, many less than 18 years old and a substantial portion less than seven years old in 1988. The meteoric rise of the freeze movement in the early 1980\u27s is reflected in these data, although its decline had already begun by this time. A review of the organizational characteristics and operations data support the conclusion that peace movement organizations, above the low threshold of a$30,000 annual budget, are likely to be as well organized and managed as any other nonprofit social movement organizations, as far as may be known now in the absence of similar data on a large number of other social movement organizations. This review includes the organizational structure, financial operations, and external organizational relations of these organizations in 1988 and 1992. The 1992 survey of surviving groups, after a major changes in the world political climate that reduced interest in peace movement activities, show generally small percentages and lower means on most of the operations data tallied. In light of previous writing about the peace movement we would expect that many younger organizations would disappear and that the older organizations might maintain an infrastructure for the movement as the basis for its next surge. Most social movement organizations are known to the public at large because of their goals. Part Four of this paper includes findings about the most important goals for these peace movement organizations. From a list of 21 goals, the top three for both samples in 1988 were promoting personal peace and commitment to nonviolence, promoting social justice, and eliminating nuclear weapons worldwide. In 1992 promoting social justice was among the top three most important goals in both samples. Promoting personal peace and commitment to nonviolence and reduce military expenditures were the other two top goals in Sample I in 1992. The other two goals in Sample II were reform views of other peoples or countries and changing U.S. foreign policy to eliminate unilateral intervention. This latter goal, among these very small groups, probably reflects the continued existence of many grassroots efforts focused on U.S. activities in Central America and the Caribbean. The percentages choosing many other goals and the changes from 1988 and 1992 are presented in this section, along with the new goals added to the questionnaire in the 1992 survey. An obvious change between 1988 and 1992 is the greater emphasis placed on goals relating to the environment, natural resources, and sustainable development among the 1992 respondents. The data from a bank of items on organizational values and strategies further reinforces the not surprising finding that these peace movement organizations have a commitment to nonviolence, they seek to influence U.S. foreign policy and they try to act in terms of the slogan think globally, act locally. Response to a new set of questions in 1992 show that these groups believe that significant and enduring change in national policy must be based on grassroots organizing, that the UN should play a larger role than the US in peacemaking, and that they wish to advocate change through persuasive, intellectual, appeals for rational solutions to world problems. The activities and tactics of these organizations include educational, legislative and lobbying, electoral, and direct action efforts. In both years the largest percentages of groups in both samples were engaged in educational activities and the smallest in electoral work, which is to be expected given the regulations governing tax exempt organizations which severely limit electoral activities by nonprofit organizations. From a quarter to over one third of the 1988 respondents engaged in what is called here direct action (e.g. boycotts, nonviolence training, civil disobedience). The percentages in 1992 were very similar with the exception of participation in civil disobedience among the Sample I groups which fell from 27% in 1988 to 17% in 1992. Answers to questions about activities related to recent crises show that the Persian Gulf War had a bigger impact on these peace organizations than the changes which took place in the Soviet bloc between 1988 and 1992. Approximately a third of these groups were involved in the National Gulf War demonstration in Washington, D.C. Another new section in the 1992 questionnaire asked for estimates of kind and amount of media coverage. Almost 70% of the 1992 respondents had been written about at least once in a newspaper in the preceding year. Very small percentages had weekly or more frequent newspaper coverage. Over 60% of the groups had letters to the editor published and over half were covered in TV news story. In contrast, especially among the smaller groups, large percentages were never covered by cable or local access TV or radio or TV talk shows. To complement this detailed description of the 1988 and 1992 surveys, Part Five includes summaries of the key findings of most of the analytical papers and articles written by all those involved in this effort from 1989 to date. Some of these analyses provide evidence to contradict commonly accepted ideas about the relationships between mission, organizational characteristics, and activities of social movement organizations. Several analyses are still in progress and more are planned for the future. It is our hope that the variety of these analyses will encourage other scholars to use the unique and comprehensive data base developed by these two surveys. The data and the codebooks are available from Doug Bond, Program on Nonviolent Sanctions, Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (1737 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA 02138)

The immunobiology of myiasis infections--whatever happened to vaccination?

The current state of myiasis vaccine technologies are reviewed mainly in the primary research genera of Lucilia and Hypoderma. The importance of myiasis flies as primary causes of morbidity and mortality in agricultural species and man has not diminished despite the existence of good control strategies. However, the development of vaccines against myiasis infections has been relatively quiescent for more than 10 years despite the rapid development of genomic and proteomic analysis and of skills in data interpretation. The value of vaccine research in an era of chemical primacy is analysed. In fact, recent findings of drug resistance and the impact of animal welfare concerns should mean a renewed interest in alternative controls. The reasons that this has not been true to date are explored and new possibilities discussed

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

State of the climate in 2018

In 2018, the dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—continued their increase. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth’s surface was 407.4 ± 0.1 ppm, the highest in the modern instrumental record and in ice core records dating back 800 000 years. Combined, greenhouse gases and several halogenated gases contribute just over 3 W m−2 to radiative forcing and represent a nearly 43% increase since 1990. Carbon dioxide is responsible for about 65% of this radiative forcing. With a weak La Niña in early 2018 transitioning to a weak El Niño by the year’s end, the global surface (land and ocean) temperature was the fourth highest on record, with only 2015 through 2017 being warmer. Several European countries reported record high annual temperatures. There were also more high, and fewer low, temperature extremes than in nearly all of the 68-year extremes record. Madagascar recorded a record daily temperature of 40.5°C in Morondava in March, while South Korea set its record high of 41.0°C in August in Hongcheon. Nawabshah, Pakistan, recorded its highest temperature of 50.2°C, which may be a new daily world record for April. Globally, the annual lower troposphere temperature was third to seventh highest, depending on the dataset analyzed. The lower stratospheric temperature was approximately fifth lowest. The 2018 Arctic land surface temperature was 1.2°C above the 1981–2010 average, tying for third highest in the 118-year record, following 2016 and 2017. June’s Arctic snow cover extent was almost half of what it was 35 years ago. Across Greenland, however, regional summer temperatures were generally below or near average. Additionally, a satellite survey of 47 glaciers in Greenland indicated a net increase in area for the first time since records began in 1999. Increasing permafrost temperatures were reported at most observation sites in the Arctic, with the overall increase of 0.1°–0.2°C between 2017 and 2018 being comparable to the highest rate of warming ever observed in the region. On 17 March, Arctic sea ice extent marked the second smallest annual maximum in the 38-year record, larger than only 2017. The minimum extent in 2018 was reached on 19 September and again on 23 September, tying 2008 and 2010 for the sixth lowest extent on record. The 23 September date tied 1997 as the latest sea ice minimum date on record. First-year ice now dominates the ice cover, comprising 77% of the March 2018 ice pack compared to 55% during the 1980s. Because thinner, younger ice is more vulnerable to melting out in summer, this shift in sea ice age has contributed to the decreasing trend in minimum ice extent. Regionally, Bering Sea ice extent was at record lows for almost the entire 2017/18 ice season. For the Antarctic continent as a whole, 2018 was warmer than average. On the highest points of the Antarctic Plateau, the automatic weather station Relay (74°S) broke or tied six monthly temperature records throughout the year, with August breaking its record by nearly 8°C. However, cool conditions in the western Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea sector contributed to a low melt season overall for 2017/18. High SSTs contributed to low summer sea ice extent in the Ross and Weddell Seas in 2018, underpinning the second lowest Antarctic summer minimum sea ice extent on record. Despite conducive conditions for its formation, the ozone hole at its maximum extent in September was near the 2000–18 mean, likely due to an ongoing slow decline in stratospheric chlorine monoxide concentration. Across the oceans, globally averaged SST decreased slightly since the record El Niño year of 2016 but was still far above the climatological mean. On average, SST is increasing at a rate of 0.10° ± 0.01°C decade−1 since 1950. The warming appeared largest in the tropical Indian Ocean and smallest in the North Pacific. The deeper ocean continues to warm year after year. For the seventh consecutive year, global annual mean sea level became the highest in the 26-year record, rising to 81 mm above the 1993 average. As anticipated in a warming climate, the hydrological cycle over the ocean is accelerating: dry regions are becoming drier and wet regions rainier. Closer to the equator, 95 named tropical storms were observed during 2018, well above the 1981–2010 average of 82. Eleven tropical cyclones reached Saffir–Simpson scale Category 5 intensity. North Atlantic Major Hurricane Michael’s landfall intensity of 140 kt was the fourth strongest for any continental U.S. hurricane landfall in the 168-year record. Michael caused more than 30 fatalities and $25 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages. In the western North Pacific, Super Typhoon Mangkhut led to 160 fatalities and$6 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages across the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Tropical Storm Son-Tinh was responsible for 170 fatalities in Vietnam and Laos. Nearly all the islands of Micronesia experienced at least moderate impacts from various tropical cyclones. Across land, many areas around the globe received copious precipitation, notable at different time scales. Rodrigues and Réunion Island near southern Africa each reported their third wettest year on record. In Hawaii, 1262 mm precipitation at Waipā Gardens (Kauai) on 14–15 April set a new U.S. record for 24-h precipitation. In Brazil, the city of Belo Horizonte received nearly 75 mm of rain in just 20 minutes, nearly half its monthly average. Globally, fire activity during 2018 was the lowest since the start of the record in 1997, with a combined burned area of about 500 million hectares. This reinforced the long-term downward trend in fire emissions driven by changes in land use in frequently burning savannas. However, wildfires burned 3.5 million hectares across the United States, well above the 2000–10 average of 2.7 million hectares. Combined, U.S. wildfire damages for the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons exceeded $40 billion (U.S. dollars)

Nanorocks: Design And Performance Of An Experiment Studying Planet Formation On The International Space Station

In an effort to better understand the early stages of planet formation, we have developed a 1.5U payload that flew on the International Space Station (ISS) in the NanoRacks NanoLab facility between September 2014 and March 2016. This payload, named NanoRocks, ran a particle collision experiment under long-term microgravity conditions. The objectives of the experiment were (a) to observe collisions between mm-sized particles at relative velocities of \u3c 1 cm/s and (b) to study the formation and disruption of particle clusters for different particle types and collision velocities. Four types of particles were used: mm-sized acrylic, glass, and copper beads and 0.75 mm-sized JSC-1 lunar regolith simulant grains. The particles were placed in sample cells carved out of an aluminum tray. This tray was attached to one side of the payload casing with three springs. Every 60 s, the tray was agitated, and the resulting collisions between the particles in the sample cells were recorded by the experiment camera. During the 18 months the payload stayed on ISS, we obtained 158 videos, thus recording a great number of collisions. The average particle velocities in the sample cells after each shaking event were around 1 cm/s. After shaking stopped, the inter-particle collisions damped the particle kinetic energy in less than 20 s, reducing the average particle velocity to below 1 mm/s, and eventually slowing them to below our detection threshold. As the particle velocity decreased, we observed the transition from bouncing to sticking collisions. We recorded the formation of particle clusters at the end of each experiment run. This paper describes the design and performance of the NanoRocks ISS payload

The Walking Dead: Status Report, Data Workflow and Best Practices of the oVert Thematic Collections Network

In 2017 NSF funded "oVert (openVertebrate): Open Exploration of Vertebrate Diversity in 3D," which is the first Thematic Collections Network devoted entirely to vertebrate morphological specimens. The primary goal of oVert is to generate and serve high-resolution digital three-dimensional data for internal anatomy across vertebrate diversity. oVert will CT-scan >20,000 fluid-preserved specimens representing >80% of the living genera of vertebrates, providing broad coverage for exploration and research on all major groups of vertebrates. Contrast-enhanced scans will be generated to reveal soft tissues and organs for a majority of the living vertebrate families. This collection of digital imagery and three-dimensional volumes will be open for exploration, download, and use. These new media will provide unprecedented global access to valuable morphological data of specimens in US collections.oVert is developing best practices and guidelines for high-throughput CT-scanning, including efficient workflows, preferred resolutions, and archival formats that optimize the variety of downstream applications. Using the Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio) API, we have developed a workflow where people uploading media files to MorphoSource can search for and import metadata for specimens directly from iDigBio. Via a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed from MorphoSource, Audubon Core data describing media files for a given scientific collection can be retrieved and integrated into institutional IPT and databases. Such data migration of large files requires attention to detail and the development of data workflows that ensure correct specimen mapping at all steps. The RSS feed from MorphoSource will also consolidate usage information for media files from specimens in each scientific collection for reporting. Additional goals of the project are to provide information vital to the creation of collection best practices for imaging permissions/copyright. A status report and update on best practices will be presented

Alignments

This is the nucleotide alignments used in Song et al. (in review) USYB-2018-08

Supplementary Material-USYB-2018-080-R1

This file include all Supplementary Tables S1-S3 and Supplementary Figures S1-S