Technological Aspects: High Voltage

This paper covers the theory and technological aspects of high-voltage design for ion sources. Electric field strengths are critical to understanding high-voltage breakdown. The equations governing electric fields and the techniques to solve them are discussed. The fundamental physics of high-voltage breakdown and electrical discharges are outlined. Different types of electrical discharges are catalogued and their behaviour in environments ranging from air to vacuum are detailed. The importance of surfaces is discussed. The principles of designing electrodes and insulators are introduced. The use of high-voltage platforms and their relation to system design are discussed. The use of commercially available high-voltage technology such as connectors, feedthroughs and cables are considered. Different power supply technologies and their procurement are briefly outlined. High-voltage safety, electric shocks and system design rules are covered.Comment: 39 pages, contribution to the CAS-CERN Accelerator School: Ion Sources, Senec, Slovakia, 29 May - 8 June 2012, edited by R. Bailey, CERN-2013-00

Target enrichment of ultraconserved elements from arthropods provides a genomic perspective on relationships among Hymenoptera

Gaining a genomic perspective on phylogeny requires the collection of data from many putatively independent loci collected across the genome. Among insects, an increasingly common approach to collecting this class of data involves transcriptome sequencing, because few insects have high-quality genome sequences available; assembling new genomes remains a limiting factor; the transcribed portion of the genome is a reasonable, reduced subset of the genome to target; and the data collected from transcribed portions of the genome are similar in composition to the types of data with which biologists have traditionally worked (e.g., exons). However, molecular techniques requiring RNA as a template are limited to using very high quality source materials, which are often unavailable from a large proportion of biologically important insect samples. Recent research suggests that DNA-based target enrichment of conserved genomic elements offers another path to collecting phylogenomic data across insect taxa, provided that conserved elements are present in and can be collected from insect genomes. Here, we identify a large set (n$=$1510) of ultraconserved elements (UCE) shared among the insect order Hymenoptera. We use in silico analyses to show that these loci accurately reconstruct relationships among genome-enabled Hymenoptera, and we design a set of baits for enriching these loci that researchers can use with DNA templates extracted from a variety of sources. We use our UCE bait set to enrich an average of 721 UCE loci from 30 hymenopteran taxa, and we use these UCE loci to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships spanning very old ($\geq$220 MYA) to very young ($\leq$1 MYA) divergences among hymenopteran lineages. In contrast to a recent study addressing hymenopteran phylogeny using transcriptome data, we found ants to be sister to all remaining aculeate lineages with complete support

Finite Element Thermal Study of the Linac4 Plasma Generatora

The temperature distribution and heat flow at equilibrium of the plasma generator of the RF-powered non-cesiated Linac4 H- ion source have been studied with a finite element model. It is shown that the equilibrium temperatures obtained in the Linac4 nominal operation mode (100 kW RF power, 2 Hz, 0.4 ms pulse duration) are within material specifications except for the magnet cage, where a redesign may be necessary. To assess the upgrade of the Linac4 source for operation in the high-power operation mode of SPL, an extrapolation of the heat load towards 100 kW RF power, 50 Hz repetition rate and 0.4 ms pulse duration has been performed. The results indicate that a significant improvement of the source cooling is required to allow for operation in HP-SPL

Generation of Nucleic Acid Aptamer Candidates against a Novel Calicivirus Protein Target

Human norovirus is the leading cause of foodborne illness globally. One of the challenges in detecting noroviruses is the identification of a completely broadly reactive ligand; however, all detection ligands generated to date target the viral capsid, the outermost of which is the most variable region of the genome. The VPg is a protein covalently linked to the viral genome that is necessary for replication but hitherto remains underexplored as a target for detection or therapeutics. The purpose of this work was to generate nucleic acid aptamers against human norovirus (Norwalk) and cultivable surrogate (Tulane) VPgs for future use in detection and therapeutics. Eight rounds of positive-SELEX and two rounds of counter-SELEX were performed. Five and eight unique aptamer sequences were identified for Norwalk and Tulane VPg, respectively, all of which were predicted to be stable (∆G \u3c −5.0) and one of which occurred in both pools. All candidates displayed binding to both Tulane and Norwalk VPg (positive:negative \u3e 5.0), and all but two of the candidates displayed very strong binding (positive:negative \u3e 10.0), significantly higher than binding to the negative control protein (p \u3c 0.05). Overall, this work reports a number of aptamer candidates found to be broadly reactive and specific for in vitro-expressed VPgs across genus that could be used for future application in detection or therapeutics. Future work characterizing binding of the aptamer candidates against native VPgs and in therapeutic applications is needed to further evaluate their application

The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands

Researchers and brand managers have limited understanding of the effects social media communication has on how consumers perceive brands. We investigated 504 Facebook users in order to observe the impact of firm-created and user-generated social media communication on brand equity, brand attitude and purchase intention by using a standardized online survey throughout Poland. To test the conceptual model, we analyzed 60 brands across three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and mobile network operators. When analyzing the data, we applied the structural equation modeling technique to both investigate the interplay of firm-created and user-generated social media communication and examine industry-specific differences. The results of the empirical studies showed that user-generated social media communication had a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude, whereas firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, we assessed measurement invariance using a multi-group structural modeling equation. The findings revealed that the proposed measurement model was invariant across the researched industries. However, structural path differences were detected across the models

Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation

Songbirds (oscine passerines) are the most species-rich and cosmopolitan bird group, comprising almost half of global avian diversity. Songbirds originated in Australia, but the evolutionary trajectory from a single species in an isolated continent to worldwide proliferation is poorly understood. Here, we combine the first comprehensive genome-scale DNA sequence data set for songbirds, fossil-based time calibrations, and geologically informed biogeographic reconstructions to provide a well-supported evolutionary hypothesis for the group. We show that songbird diversification began in the Oligocene, but accelerated in the early Miocene, at approximately half the age of most previous estimates. This burst of diversification occurred coincident with extensive island formation in Wallacea, which provided the first dispersal corridor out of Australia, and resulted in independent waves of songbird expansion through Asia to the rest of the globe. Our results reconcile songbird evolution with Earth history and link a major radiation of terrestrial biodiversity to early diversification within an isolated Australian continent