SOFIA FORCAST Grism Study of the Mineralogy of Dust in the Winds of Proto-planetary Nebulae: RV Tauri Stars and SRd Variables

We present a SOFIA FORCAST grism spectroscopic survey to examine the mineralogy of the circumstellar dust in a sample of post-asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) yellow supergiants that are believed to be the precursors of planetary nebulae. Our mineralogical model of each star indicates the presence of both carbon-rich and oxygenrich dust species—contrary to simple dredge-up models—with a majority of the dust in the form of amorphous carbon and graphite. The oxygen-rich dust is primarily in the form of amorphous silicates. The spectra do not exhibit any prominent crystalline silicate emission features. For most of the systems, our analysis suggests that the grains are relatively large and have undergone significant processing, supporting the hypothesis that the dust is confined to a Keplerian disk and that we are viewing the heavily processed, central regions of the disk from a nearly face-on orientation. These results help to determine the physical properties of the post-AGB circumstellar environment and to constrain models of post-AGB mass loss and planetary nebula formatio

Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis

This study reports the descriptive and inferential statistical findings of a survey of academic reading format preferences and behaviors of 10,293 tertiary students worldwide. The study hypothesized that country-based differences in schooling systems, socioeconomic development, culture or other factors might have an influence on preferred formats, print or electronic, for academic reading, as well as the learning engagement behaviors of students. The main findings are that country of origin has little to no relationship with or effect on reading format preferences of university students, and that the broad majority of students worldwide prefer to read academic course materials in print. The majority of participants report better focus and retention of information presented in print formats, and more frequently prefer print for longer texts. Additional demographic and post-hoc analysis suggests that format preference has a small relationship with academic rank. The relationship between task demands, format preferences and reading comprehension are discussed. Additional outcomes and implications for the fields of education, psychology, computer science, information science and human-computer interaction are considered

Identification of Radiopure Titanium for the LZ Dark Matter Experiment and Future Rare Event Searches

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a detector containing a total of 10 tonnes of liquid xenon within a double-vessel cryostat. The large mass and proximity of the cryostat to the active detector volume demand the use of material with extremely low intrinsic radioactivity. We report on the radioassay campaign conducted to identify suitable metals, the determination of factors limiting radiopure production, and the selection of titanium for construction of the LZ cryostat and other detector components. This titanium has been measured with activities of $^{238}$U$_{e}$~$<$1.6~mBq/kg, $^{238}$U$_{l}$~$<$0.09~mBq/kg, $^{232}$Th$_{e}$~$=0.28\pm 0.03$~mBq/kg, $^{232}$Th$_{l}$~$=0.25\pm 0.02$~mBq/kg, $^{40}$K~$<$0.54~mBq/kg, and $^{60}$Co~$<$0.02~mBq/kg (68\% CL). Such low intrinsic activities, which are some of the lowest ever reported for titanium, enable its use for future dark matter and other rare event searches. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to assess the expected background contribution from the LZ cryostat with this radioactivity. In 1,000 days of WIMP search exposure of a 5.6-tonne fiducial mass, the cryostat will contribute only a mean background of $0.160\pm0.001$(stat)$\pm0.030$(sys) counts.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

VDAC1 (voltage-dependent anion channel 1)

Review on VDAC1 (voltage-dependent anion channel 1), with data on DNA, on the protein encoded, and where the gene is implicated

GenBank

GenBank® is a comprehensive database that contains publicly available nucleotide sequences for more than 300 000 organisms named at the genus level or lower, obtained primarily through submissions from individual laboratories and batch submissions from large-scale sequencing projects, including whole genome shotgun (WGS) and environmental sampling projects. Most submissions are made using the web-based BankIt or standalone Sequin programs, and accession numbers are assigned by GenBank staff upon receipt. Daily data exchange with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory Nucleotide Sequence Database in Europe and the DNA Data Bank of Japan ensures worldwide coverage. GenBank is accessible through the NCBI Entrez retrieval system, which integrates data from the major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome, mapping, protein structure and domain information, and the biomedical journal literature via PubMed. BLAST provides sequence similarity searches of GenBank and other sequence databases. Complete bi-monthly releases and daily updates of the GenBank database are available by FTP. To access GenBank and its related retrieval and analysis services, begin at the NCBI homepage: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cellulose factories : advancing bioenergy production from forest trees

Fast-growing, short-rotation forest trees, such as Populus and Eucalyptus, produce large amounts of cellulose-rich biomass that could be utilized for bioenergy and biopolymer production. Major obstacles need to be overcome before the deployment of these genera as energy crops, including the effective removal of lignin and the subsequent liberation of carbohydrate constituents from wood cell walls. However, significant opportunities exist to both select for and engineer the structure and interaction of cell wall biopolymers, which could afford a means to improve processing and product development. The molecular underpinnings and regulation of cell wall carbohydrate biosynthesis are rapidly being elucidated, and are providing tools to strategically develop and guide the targeted modification required to adapt forest trees for the emerging bioeconomy. Much insight has already been gained from the perturbation of individual genes and pathways, but it is not known to what extent the natural variation in the sequence and expression of these same genes underlies the inherent variation in wood properties of field-grown trees. The integration of data from next-generation genomic technologies applied in natural and experimental populations will enable a systems genetics approach to study cell wall carbohydrate production in trees, and should advance the development of future woody bioenergy and biopolymer crops.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1469-8137nf201

GenBank

GenBank® is a comprehensive database that contains publicly available nucleotide sequences for more than 250 000 formally described species. These sequences are obtained primarily through submissions from individual laboratories and batch submissions from large-scale sequencing projects, including whole-genome shotgun (WGS) and environmental sampling projects. Most submissions are made using the web-based BankIt or standalone Sequin programs, and accession numbers are assigned by GenBank staff upon receipt. Daily data exchange with the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) and the DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) ensures worldwide coverage. GenBank is accessible through the NCBI Entrez retrieval system, which integrates data from the major DNA and protein sequence databases along with taxonomy, genome, mapping, protein structure and domain information, and the biomedical journal literature via PubMed. BLAST provides sequence similarity searches of GenBank and other sequence databases. Complete bimonthly releases and daily updates of the GenBank database are available by FTP. To access GenBank and its related retrieval and analysis services, begin at the NCBI home page: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov