The Impact of Lighting Type on Consumer Behavior in the Purchase of Healthy Products

This project explored how lighting in the produce section of a supermarket can influence a consumer\u27s decision to purchase healthier options. There is research in this field that examines this idea in restaurants, however, this specific area has not been researched. For this study subjects participated in a pre survey, viewed renderings, and took a post survey all at one predetermined time. The estimated time for the completion of this was about 20 minutes, but this time varied between subjects based on how long they spent taking the surveys and viewing the models. The surveys determined correlation between lighting and consumers preferences and were used in the results section of my thesis

Characterizing the Youngest Herschel-detected Protostars I. Envelope Structure Revealed by CARMA Dust Continuum Observations

We present CARMA 2.9 mm dust continuum emission observations of a sample of 14 Herschel-detected Class 0 protostars in the Orion A and B molecular clouds, drawn from the PACS Bright Red Sources (PBRS) sample (Stutz et al.). These objects are characterized by very red 24 \micron\ to 70 \micron\ colors and prominent submillimeter emission, suggesting that they are very young Class 0 protostars embedded in dense envelopes. We detect all of the PBRS in 2.9 mm continuum emission and emission from 4 protostars and 1 starless core in the fields toward the PBRS; we also report 1 new PBRS source. The ratio of 2.9 mm luminosity to bolometric luminosity is higher by a factor of $\sim$5 on average, compared to other well-studied protostars in the Perseus and Ophiuchus clouds. The 2.9 mm visibility amplitudes for 6 of the 14 PBRS are very flat as a function of uv-distance, with more than 50\% of the source emission arising from radii $<$ 1500 AU. These flat visibility amplitudes are most consistent with spherically symmetric envelope density profiles with $\rho$~$\propto$~R$^{-2.5}$. Alternatively, there could be a massive unresolved structure like a disk or a high-density inner envelope departing from a smooth power-law. The large amount of mass on scales $<$ 1500 AU (implying high average central densities) leads us to suggest that that the PBRS with flat visibility amplitude profiles are the youngest PBRS and may be undergoing a brief phase of high mass infall/accretion and are possibly among the youngest Class 0 protostars. The PBRS with more rapidly declining visibility amplitudes still have large envelope masses, but could be slightly more evolved.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 40 pages, 9 Figures, 4 Table

Polymeric nanobiotics as a novel treatment for mycobacterial infections.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) remains a major challenge to global health, made worse by the spread of multi-drug resistance. Currently, the efficacy and safety of treatment is limited by difficulties in achieving and sustaining adequate tissue antibiotic concentrations while limiting systemic drug exposure to tolerable levels. Here we show that nanoparticles generated from a polymer-antibiotic conjugate ('nanobiotics') deliver sustained release of active drug upon hydrolysis in acidic environments, found within Mtb-infected macrophages and granulomas, and can, by encapsulation of a second antibiotic, provide a mechanism of synchronous drug delivery. Nanobiotics are avidly taken up by infected macrophages, enhance killing of intracellular Mtb, and are efficiently delivered to granulomas and extracellular mycobacterial cords in vivo in an infected zebrafish model. We demonstrate that isoniazid (INH)-derived nanobiotics, alone or with additional encapsulation of clofazimine (CFZ), enhance killing of mycobacteria in vitro and in infected zebrafish, supporting the use of nanobiotics for Mtb therapy and indicating that nanoparticles generated from polymer-small molecule conjugates might provide a more general solution to delivering co-ordinated combination chemotherapy.Rosetrees Trust Interdisciplinary Prize 2015 Wellcome Trust awards 107032/Z/15/Z and 10/H0305/55 NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre Award MRC AMR Theme award MR/N02995X/1 Marie-Curie IF CFZEBRA 75197

The timing of anthropogenic emergence in simulated climate extremes

Determining the time of emergence of climates altered from their natural state by anthropogenic influences can help inform the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change. Previous studies have examined the time of emergence of climate averages. However, at the global scale, the emergence of changes in extreme events, which have the greatest societal impacts, has not been investigated before. Based on state-of-the-art climate models, we show that temperature extremes generally emerge slightly later from their quasi-natural climate state than seasonal means, due to greater variability in extremes. Nevertheless, according to model evidence, both hot and cold extremes have already emerged across many areas. Remarkably, even precipitation extremes that have very large variability are projected to emerge in the coming decades in Northern Hemisphere winters associated with a wettening trend. Based on our findings we expect local temperature and precipitation extremes to already differ significantly from their previous quasi-natural state at many locations or to do so in the near future. Our findings have implications for climate impacts and detection and attribution studies assessing observed changes in regional climate extremes by showing whether they will likely find a fingerprint of anthropogenic climate change

On the reproducibility of extrusion-based bioprinting: round robin study on standardization in the field

The outcome of three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting heavily depends, amongst others, on the interaction between the developed bioink, the printing process, and the printing equipment. However, if this interplay is ensured, bioprinting promises unmatched possibilities in the health care area. To pave the way for comparing newly developed biomaterials, clinical studies, and medical applications (i.e. printed organs, patient-specific tissues), there is a great need for standardization of manufacturing methods in order to enable technology transfers. Despite the importance of such standardization, there is currently a tremendous lack of empirical data that examines the reproducibility and robustness of production in more than one location at a time. In this work, we present data derived from a round robin test for extrusion-based 3D printing performance comprising 12 different academic laboratories throughout Germany and analyze the respective prints using automated image analysis (IA) in three independent academic groups. The fabrication of objects from polymer solutions was standardized as much as currently possible to allow studying the comparability of results from different laboratories. This study has led to the conclusion that current standardization conditions still leave room for the intervention of operators due to missing automation of the equipment. This affects significantly the reproducibility and comparability of bioprinting experiments in multiple laboratories. Nevertheless, automated IA proved to be a suitable methodology for quality assurance as three independently developed workflows achieved similar results. Moreover, the extracted data describing geometric features showed how the function of printers affects the quality of the printed object. A significant step toward standardization of the process was made as an infrastructure for distribution of material and methods, as well as for data transfer and storage was successfully established

On the reproducibility of extrusion-based bioprinting: round robin study on standardization in the field

The outcome of three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting heavily depends, amongst others, on the interaction between the developed bioink, the printing process, and the printing equipment. However, if this interplay is ensured, bioprinting promises unmatched possibilities in the health care area. To pave the way for comparing newly developed biomaterials, clinical studies, and medical applications (i.e. printed organs, patient-specific tissues), there is a great need for standardization of manufacturing methods in order to enable technology transfers. Despite the importance of such standardization, there is currently a tremendous lack of empirical data that examines the reproducibility and robustness of production in more than one location at a time. In this work, we present data derived from a round robin test for extrusion-based 3D printing performance comprising 12 different academic laboratories throughout Germany and analyze the respective prints using automated image analysis (IA) in three independent academic groups. The fabrication of objects from polymer solutions was standardized as much as currently possible to allow studying the comparability of results from different laboratories. This study has led to the conclusion that current standardization conditions still leave room for the intervention of operators due to missing automation of the equipment. This affects significantly the reproducibility and comparability of bioprinting experiments in multiple laboratories. Nevertheless, automated IA proved to be a suitable methodology for quality assurance as three independently developed workflows achieved similar results. Moreover, the extracted data describing geometric features showed how the function of printers affects the quality of the printed object. A significant step toward standardization of the process was made as an infrastructure for distribution of material and methods, as well as for data transfer and storage was successfully established

Recognition of microbial viability via TLR8 drives TFH cell differentiation and vaccine responses

Live attenuated vaccines are generally highly efficacious and often superior to inactivated vaccines, yet the underlying mechanisms of this remain largely unclear. Here we identify recognition of microbial viability as a potent stimulus for follicular helper T cell (TFH cell) differentiation and vaccine responses. Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) distinguished viable bacteria from dead bacteria through Toll-like receptor 8 (TLR8)-dependent detection of bacterial RNA. In contrast to dead bacteria and other TLR ligands, live bacteria, bacterial RNA and synthetic TLR8 agonists induced a specific cytokine profile in human and porcine APCs, thereby promoting TFH cell differentiation. In domestic pigs, immunization with a live bacterial vaccine induced robust TFH cell and antibody responses, but immunization with its heat-killed counterpart did not. Finally, a hypermorphic TLR8 polymorphism was associated with protective immunity elicited by vaccination with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in a human cohort. We have thus identified TLR8 as an important driver of TFH cell differentiation and a promising target for TFH cell–skewing vaccine adjuvants

Transitional Disks as Signposts of Young, Multiplanet Systems

Although there has yet been no undisputed discovery of a still-forming planet embedded in a gaseous protoplanetary disk, the cleared inner holes of transitional disks may be signposts of young planets. Here we show that the subset of accreting transitional disks with wide, optically thin inner holes of 15 AU or more can only be sculpted by multiple planets orbiting inside each hole. Multiplanet systems provide two key ingredients for explaining the origins of transitional disks. First, multiple planets can clear wide inner holes where single planets open only narrow gaps. Second, the confined, non-axisymmetric accretion flows produced by multiple planets provide a way for an arbitrary amount of mass transfer to occur through an apparently optically thin hole without over-producing infrared excess flux. Rather than assuming the gas and dust in the hole are evenly and axisymmetrically distributed, one can construct an inner hole with apparently optically thin infrared fluxes by covering a macroscopic fraction of the hole's surface area with locally optically thick tidal tails. We also establish that other clearing mechanisms, such as photoevaporation, cannot explain our subset of accreting transitional disks with wide holes. Transitional disks are therefore high-value targets for observational searches for young planetary systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 22 pages, including appendix material, 5 figures and 2 table