A Data Mining Perspective of XRF Elemental Analysis from Pueblo People’s Pottery

Hierarchical clustering was used to identify elemental signatures in artifacts attributed to the Pueblo peoples. The artifacts in this study are pottery samples found at different sites in the state of New Mexico, USA. Three methods were applied: complete, average, and Ward. Their corresponding cophenetic correlation coefficients were used to contrast the three methods. Elemental characterization was only based on X-ray fluorescence excitation from a portable spectrometer with the silver anode. The elemental correlations here disclosed by data mining techniques are expected to guide further archaeological studies and assist experts in the assessment of provenance and historical ethnographic studies. XRF elemental analysi

Comparison of Dynamics Stability Testing Techniques with Magnetic Suspension Wind Tunnel Capabilities

Dynamic stability testing techniques currently utilized at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) are conducted in multiple facilities and consists of free flight, forced oscillation, and free-to-oscillate tests. The NASA/ODU Magnetic Suspension and Balance System (MSBS) has been recommissioned to explore its utility as an additional facility to expand the dynamic stability test capabilities currently available at NASA LaRC. Simulations were created to replicate each current test facility and method as closely as possible. Data collected from the simulated environments was corrupted with replicated noise sources of the different testing environments and then compared to real data collected during tests when such data was available. The corrupted data was then passed through data reduction and System Identification (SID) to estimate the accuracy of the results with the known aerodynamic model that was utilized within the simulation to generate the original data. Magnitudes of noise were varied utilizing Monte Carlo analysis to perform sensitivity analysis of each noise source on the extracted dynamic stability coefficients. Some preliminary results will be presented

Temperature Effects in the Composition of Metal Halide Perovskite thin Films

Metal halide perovskites have shown to be a structure with great promise as an efficient photovoltaic, but at the same time it is affected by instability problems that degrade their performance. Degradation mechanisms vary with temperature, moisture, oxidation, and energy conversion during light exposure. We study performance loss due to temperature by probing diffusion of elemental composition across the thickness of films produced by spin coating and for temperatures ranging from 20 to 200°C. X-ray reflectivity was used to identify the electron density, composition, and quality of the films, aided with X-ray fluorescence and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies to obtain information about degradation of the organic phase of the films

Erratum: Author Correction: Identification of genes required for eye development by high-throughput screening of mouse knockouts.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/s42003-018-0226-0.]

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus Infection of Mallards with Homo- and Heterosubtypic Immunity Induced by Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses

The potential role of wild birds as carriers of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) subtype H5N1 is still a matter of debate. Consecutive or simultaneous infections with different subtypes of influenza viruses of low pathogenicity (LPAIV) are very common in wild duck populations. To better understand the epidemiology and pathogenesis of HPAIV H5N1 infections in natural ecosystems, we investigated the influence of prior infection of mallards with homo- (H5N2) and heterosubtypic (H4N6) LPAIV on exposure to HPAIV H5N1. In mallards with homosubtypic immunity induced by LPAIV infection, clinical disease was absent and shedding of HPAIV from respiratory and intestinal tracts was grossly reduced compared to the heterosubtypic and control groups (mean GEC/100 µl at 3 dpi: 3.0×102 vs. 2.3×104 vs. 8.7×104; p<0.05). Heterosubtypic immunity induced by an H4N6 infection mediated a similar but less pronounced effect. We conclude that the epidemiology of HPAIV H5N1 in mallards and probably other aquatic wild bird species is massively influenced by interfering immunity induced by prior homo- and heterosubtypic LPAIV infections

Use of an innovative T-tube maze assay and the proboscis extension response assay to assess sublethal effects of GM products and pesticides on learning capacity of the honey bee Apis mellifera L.

Transgenic Cry1Ac+CpTI cotton (CCRI41) is a promising cotton cultivar throughout China but side effects and especially sublethal effects of this transgenic cultivar on beneficial insects remain poorly studied. More specifically potential sublethal effects on behavioural traits of the honey bee Apis mellifera L. have not been formally assessed despite the importance of honey bees for pollination. The goal of our study was to assess potential effects of CCRI41 cotton pollen on visual and olfactory learning by honey bees. After a 7-day oral chronic exposure to honey mixed with either CCRI41 pollen, imidacloprid-treated conventional pollen (used as positive sublethal control) or conventional pollen (control), learning performance was evaluated by the classical proboscis extension reflex (PER) procedure as well as a T-tube maze test. The latter assay was designed as a new device to assess potential side effects of pesticides on visual associative learning of honey bees. These two procedures were complementary because the former focused on olfactory learning while the latter was involved in visual learning based on visual orientation ability. Oral exposure to CCRI41 pollen did not affect learning capacities of honey bees in both the T-tube maze and PER tests. However, exposure to imidacloprid resulted in reduced visual learning capacities in T-tube maze evaluation and decreased olfactory learning performances measured with PER. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of risks of transgenic CCRI41 cotton crops for honey bees

Familie und Schule: zwei Orte der Erziehung.

B

Prevalence of sexual dimorphism in mammalian phenotypic traits.

The role of sex in biomedical studies has often been overlooked, despite evidence of sexually dimorphic effects in some biological studies. Here, we used high-throughput phenotype data from 14,250 wildtype and 40,192 mutant mice (representing 2,186 knockout lines), analysed for up to 234 traits, and found a large proportion of mammalian traits both in wildtype and mutants are influenced by sex. This result has implications for interpreting disease phenotypes in animal models and humans

Identification of genes required for eye development by high-throughput screening of mouse knockouts.

Despite advances in next generation sequencing technologies, determining the genetic basis of ocular disease remains a major challenge due to the limited access and prohibitive cost of human forward genetics. Thus, less than 4,000 genes currently have available phenotype information for any organ system. Here we report the ophthalmic findings from the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, a large-scale functional genetic screen with the goal of generating and phenotyping a null mutant for every mouse gene. Of 4364 genes evaluated, 347 were identified to influence ocular phenotypes, 75% of which are entirely novel in ocular pathology. This discovery greatly increases the current number of genes known to contribute to ophthalmic disease, and it is likely that many of the genes will subsequently prove to be important in human ocular development and disease