Mobile neutron sources for residual stress measurement

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-157).by Micahel A. Godin.M.S

Evolution of a physical and biological front from upwelling to relaxation

© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Continental Shelf Research 108 (2015): 55-64, doi:10.1016/j.csr.2015.08.005.Fronts influence the structure and function of coastal marine ecosystems. Due to the complexity and dynamic nature of coastal environments and the small scales of frontal gradient zones, frontal research is difficult. To advance this challenging research we developed a method enabling an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to detect and track fronts, thereby providing high-resolution observations in the moving reference frame of the front itself. This novel method was applied to studying the evolution of a frontal zone in the coastal upwelling environment of Monterey Bay, California, through a period of variability in upwelling intensity. Through 23 frontal crossings in four days, the AUV detected the front using real-time analysis of vertical thermal stratification to identify water types and the front between them, and the vehicle tracked the front as it moved more than 10 km offshore. The physical front coincided with a biological front between strongly stratified phytoplankton-enriched water inshore of the front, and weakly stratified phytoplankton-poor water offshore of the front. While stratification remained a consistent identifier, conditions on both sides of the front changed rapidly as regional circulation responded to relaxation of upwelling winds. The offshore water type transitioned from relatively cold and saline upwelled water to relatively warm and fresh coastal transition zone water. The inshore water type exhibited an order of magnitude increase in chlorophyll concentrations and an associated increase in oxygen and decrease in nitrate. It also warmed and freshened near the front, consistent with the cross-frontal exchange that was detected in the high-resolution AUV data. AUV-observed cross-frontal exchanges beneath the surface manifestation of the front emphasize the importance of AUV synoptic water column surveys in the frontal zone.This work was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation

A Pharmacology-Based Enrichment Program for Undergraduates Promotes Interest in Science

There is a strong need to increase the number of undergraduate students who pursue careers in science to provide the “fuel” that will power a science and technology–driven U.S. economy. Prior research suggests that both evidence-based teaching methods and early undergraduate research experiences may help to increase retention rates in the sciences. In this study, we examined the effect of a program that included 1) a Summer enrichment 2-wk minicourse and 2) an authentic Fall research course, both of which were designed specifically to support students\u27 science motivation. Undergraduates who participated in the pharmacology-based enrichment program significantly improved their knowledge of basic biology and chemistry concepts; reported high levels of science motivation; and were likely to major in a biological, chemical, or biomedical field. Additionally, program participants who decided to major in biology or chemistry were significantly more likely to choose a pharmacology concentration than those majoring in biology or chemistry who did not participate in the enrichment program. Thus, by supporting students\u27 science motivation, we can increase the number of students who are interested in science and science careers

Targeted sampling by autonomous underwater vehicles

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zhang, Y., Ryan, J. P., Kieft, B., Hobson, B. W., McEwen, R. S., Godin, M. A., Harvey, J. B., Barone, B., Bellingham, J. G., Birch, J. M., Scholin, C. A., & Chavez, F. P. Targeted sampling by autonomous underwater vehicles. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6 (2019): 415, doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00415.In the vast ocean, many ecologically important phenomena are temporally episodic, localized in space, and move according to local currents. To effectively study these complex and evolving phenomena, methods that enable autonomous platforms to detect and respond to targeted phenomena are required. Such capabilities allow for directed sensing and water sample acquisition in the most relevant and informative locations, as compared against static grid surveys. To meet this need, we have designed algorithms for autonomous underwater vehicles that detect oceanic features in real time and direct vehicle and sampling behaviors as dictated by research objectives. These methods have successfully been applied in a series of field programs to study a range of phenomena such as harmful algal blooms, coastal upwelling fronts, and microbial processes in open-ocean eddies. In this review we highlight these applications and discuss future directions.This work was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The 2015 experiment in Monterey Bay was partially supported by NOAA Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) Grant NA11NOS4780030. The 2018 SCOPE Hawaiian Eddy Experiment was partially supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE-0962032 and OCE-1337601), Simons Foundation Grant #329108, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Grant #3777, #3794, and #2728), and the Schmidt Ocean Institute for R/V Falkor Cruise FK180310. Publication of this paper was funded by the Schmidt Ocean Institute

Customizing supercontinuum generation via on-chip adaptive temporal pulse-splitting

Modern optical systems increasingly rely on complex physical processes that require accessible control to meet target performance characteristics. In particular, advanced light sources, sought for, for example, imaging and metrology, are based on nonlinear optical dynamics whose output properties must often finely match application requirements. However, in these systems, the availability of control parameters (e.g., the optical field shape, as well as propagation medium properties) and the means to adjust them in a versatile manner are usually limited. Moreover, numerically finding the optimal parameter set for such complex dynamics is typically computationally intractable. Here, we use an actively controlled photonic chip to prepare and manipulate patterns of femtosecond optical pulses that give access to an enhanced parameter space in the framework of supercontinuum generation. Taking advantage of machine learning concepts, we exploit this tunable access and experimentally demonstrate the customization of nonlinear interactions for tailoring supercontinuum properties

Systems analysis of auxin transport in the Arabidopsis root apex

Auxin is a key regulator of plant growth and development. Within the root tip, auxin distribution plays a crucial role specifying developmental zones and coordinating tropic responses. Determining how the organ-scale auxin pattern is regulated at the cellular scale is essential to understanding how these processes are controlled. In this study, we developed an auxin transport model based on actual root cell geometries and carrier subcellular localizations. We tested model predictions using the DII-VENUS auxin sensor in conjunction with state-of-the-art segmentation tools. Our study revealed that auxin efflux carriers alone cannot create the pattern of auxin distribution at the root tip and that AUX1/LAX influx carriers are also required. We observed that AUX1 in lateral root cap (LRC) and elongating epidermal cells greatly enhance auxin’s shootward flux, with this flux being predominantly through the LRC, entering the epidermal cells only as they enter the elongation zone. We conclude that the nonpolar AUX1/LAX influx carriers control which tissues have high auxin levels, whereas the polar PIN carriers control the direction of auxin transport within these tissues

Continuous and Long-Term Volume Measurements with a Commercial Coulter Counter

We demonstrate a method to enhance the time resolution of a commercial Coulter counter and enable continuous and long-term cell size measurements for growth rate analyses essential to understanding basic cellular processes, such as cell size regulation and cell cycle progression. Our simple modifications to a commercial Coulter counter create controllable cell culture conditions within the sample compartment and combine temperature control with necessary adaptations to achieve measurement stability over several hours. We also wrote custom software, detailed here, to analyze instrument data files collected by either this continuous method or standard, periodic sampling. We use the continuous method to measure the growth rate of yeast in G1 during a prolonged arrest and, in different samples, the dependency of growth rate on cell size and cell cycle position in arrested and proliferating cells. We also quantify with high time resolution the response of mouse lymphoblast cell culture to drug treatment. This method provides a technique for continuous measurement of cell size that is applicable to a large variety of cell types and greatly expands the set of analysis tools available for the Coulter counter.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (EUREKA Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration (R01GM085457))National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (contract R21CA137695)National Cancer Institute (U.S.). Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (U54CA143874

Stratospheric AOD after the 2011 eruption of Nabro volcano measured by lidars over the Northern Hemisphere

International audienceNabro volcano (13.37°N, 41.70°E) in Eritrea erupted on 13 June 2011 generating a layer of sulfate aerosols that persisted in the stratosphere for months. For the first time we report on ground-based lidar observations of the same event from every continent in the Northern Hemisphere, taking advantage of the synergy between global lidar networks such as EARLINET, MPLNET and NDACC with independent lidar groups and satellite CALIPSO to track the evolution of the stratospheric aerosol layer in various parts of the globe. The globally averaged aerosol optical depth (AOD) due to the stratospheric volcanic aerosol layers was of the order of 0.018 ± 0.009 at 532 nm, ranging from 0.003 to 0.04. Compared to the total column AOD from the available collocated AERONET stations, the stratospheric contribution varied from 2% to 23% at 532 nm

Vaccine delivery with microneedle skin patches in nonhuman primates

Transcutaneous drug delivery from planar skin patches is effective for small-molecule drugs and skin-permeable vaccine adjuvants. However, to achieve efficient delivery of vaccines and other macromolecular therapeutics into the skin, penetration of the stratum corneum is needed. Topically applied skin patches with micron-scale projections ('microneedles') pierce the upper layers of the skin and enable vaccines that are coated on or encapsulated within the microneedles to be dispersed into the skin. Although millimeter-scale syringes have shown promise for vaccine delivery in humans and technologies, such as the Dermaroller (Dermaroller, Wolfenbüttel, Germany), exist for creating microscale punctures in the skin for delivery of solutions of therapeutics, solid microprojection microneedles coated with dry vaccine formulations offer a number of valuable features for vaccination, including reduced risk of blood-borne pathogen transmission or needle-stick injury, the potential for vaccine administration by minimally trained personnel or even self administration and the use of solid-state vaccine formulations that may reduce or eliminate cold-chain requirements in vaccine distribution. Recent studies in mice have demonstrated the ability of microneedles to effectively deliver vaccines to the skin, eliciting protective immunity to influenza, hepatitis C and West Nile virus.Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and HarvardMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyHarvard UniversityNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (AI095109)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (AI096040)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (AI095985)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (AI078526)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (AI060354)United States. Dept. of Defense (Contract W911NF-07-D-0004

Chapter 4: The LOTUS regression model

One of the primary motivations of the LOTUS effort is to attempt to reconcile the discrepancies in ozone trend results from the wealth of literature on the subject. Doing so requires investigating the various methodologies employed to derive long-term trends in ozone as well as to examine the large array of possible variables that feed into those methodologies and analyse their impacts on potential trend results. Given the limited amount of time, the LOTUS group focused on the most common methodology of multiple linear regression and performed a number of sensitivity tests with the goal of trying to establish best practices and come to a consensus on a single regression model to use for this study. This chapter discusses the details and results of the sensitivity tests before describing the components of the final single model that was chosen and the reasons for that choice