Cooled Infrared Dichroic Beamsplitters and Filters for the MIRI Spectrometer and Imager (5-29µm)

The spectral design and fabrication of cooled (7K) mid-infrared dichroic beamsplitters and bandpass filter coatings for the MIRI spectrometer and imager are described. Design methods to achieve the spectral performance and coating materials are discussed

Spectral design of temperature-invariant narrow bandpass filters for the mid-infrared

The ability of narrow bandpass filters to discriminate wavelengths between closely-separated gas absorption lines is crucial in many areas of infrared spectroscopy. As improvements to the sensitivity of infrared detectors enables operation in uncontrolled high-temperature environments, this imposes demands on the explicit bandpass design to provide temperature-invariant behavior. The unique negative temperature coefficient (dn/dT<0) of Lead-based (Pb) salts, in combination with dielectric materials enable bandpass filters with exclusive immunity to shifts in wavelength with temperature. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the interdependence between multilayer bandpass design and optical materials together with a review on invariance at elevated temperatures

Treating infants with frigg: linking disease aetiologies, medicinal plant use and careseeking behaviour in southern Morocco

Background: Although most Moroccans rely to some extent on traditional medicine, the practice of frigg to treat paediatric ailments by elderly women traditional healers known as ferraggat, has not yet been documented. We describe the role of these specialist healers, document the medicinal plants they use, and evaluate how and why their practice is changing. Methods: Ethnomedicinal and ethnobotanical data were collected using semi-structured interviews and observations of medical encounters. Information was collected from traditional healers, namely ferraggat, patients, herbalists and public health professionals. Patients’ and healers’ narratives about traditional medicine were analysed and medicinal plant lists were compiled from healers and herbalists. Plants used were collected, vouchered and deposited in herbaria. Results: Ferragat remain a key health resource to treat infant ailments in the rural High Atlas, because mothers believe only they can treat what are perceived to be illnesses with a supernatural cause. Ferragat possess baraka, or the gift of healing, and treat mainly three folk ailments, taqait, taumist and iqdi, which present symptoms similar to those of ear infections, tonsillitis and gastroenteritis. Seventy plant species were used to treat these ailments, but the emphasis on plants may be a recent substitute for treatments that used primarily wool and blood. This change in materia medica is a shift in the objects of cultural meaningfulness in response to the increasing influence of orthodox Islam and state-sponsored modernisation, including public healthcare and schooling. Conclusions: Religious and other sociocultural changes are impacting the ways in which ferraggat practice. Treatments based on no-longer accepted symbolic elements have been readily abandoned and substituted by licit remedies, namely medicinal plants, which play a legitimisation role for the practice of frigg. However, beliefs in supernatural ailment aetiologies, as well as lack or difficult access to biomedical alternatives, still underlie the need for specialist traditional healers

An ethnomedicinal survey of a Tashelhit speaking community in the High Atlas, Morocco

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Traditional knowledge about medicinal plants from a poorly studied region, the High Atlas in Morocco, is reported here for the first time; this permits consideration of efficacy and safety of current practices whilst highlighting species previously not known to have traditional medicinal use. Aim of the study: Our study aims to document local medicinal plant knowledge among Tashelhit speaking communities through ethnobotanical survey, identifying preferred species and new medicinal plant citations and illuminating the relationship between emic and etic ailment classifications. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical data were collected using standard methods and with prior informed consent obtained before all interactions, data were characterized using descriptive indices and medicinal plants and healing strategies relevant to local livelihoods were identified. Results: 151 vernacular names corresponding to 159 botanical species were found to be used to treat 36 folk ailments grouped in 14 biomedical use categories. Thirty-five (22%) are new medicinal plant records in Morocco, and 26 described as used for the first time anywhere. Fidelity levels (FL) revealed low specificity in plant use, particularly for the most commonly reported plants. Most plants are used in mixtures. Plant use is driven by local concepts of disease, including “hot” and “cold” classification and beliefs in supernatural forces. Conclusion: Local medicinal plant knowledge is rich in the High Atlas, where local populations still rely on medicinal plants for healthcare. We found experimental evidence of safe and effective use of medicinal plants in the High Atlas; but we highlight the use of eight poisonous species

Survival in Nuclear Waste, Extreme Resistance, and Potential Applications Gleaned from the Genome Sequence of Kineococcus radiotolerans SRS30216

Kineococcus radiotolerans SRS30216 was isolated from a high-level radioactive environment at the Savannah River Site (SRS) and exhibits γ-radiation resistance approaching that of Deinococcus radiodurans. The genome was sequenced by the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute which suggested the existence of three replicons, a 4.76 Mb linear chromosome, a 0.18 Mb linear plasmid, and a 12.92 Kb circular plasmid. Southern hybridization confirmed that the chromosome is linear. The K. radiotolerans genome sequence was examined to learn about the physiology of the organism with regard to ionizing radiation resistance, the potential for bioremediation of nuclear waste, and the dimorphic life cycle. K. radiotolerans may have a unique genetic toolbox for radiation protection as it lacks many of the genes known to confer radiation resistance in D. radiodurans. Additionally, genes involved in the detoxification of reactive oxygen species and the excision repair pathway are overrepresented. K. radiotolerans appears to lack degradation pathways for pervasive soil and groundwater pollutants. However, it can respire on two organic acids found in SRS high-level nuclear waste, formate and oxalate, which promote the survival of cells during prolonged periods of starvation. The dimorphic life cycle involves the production of motile zoospores. The flagellar biosynthesis genes are located on a motility island, though its regulation could not be fully discerned. These results highlight the remarkable ability of K radiotolerans to withstand environmental extremes and suggest that in situ bioremediation of organic complexants from high level radioactive waste may be feasible

Body Temperature In Captive Long-Beaked Echidnas (Zaglossus Bartoni)

The routine occurrence of both short-term (daily) and long-term torpor (hibernation) in short-beaked echidnas, but not platypus, raises questions about the third monotreme genus, New Guinea's Zaglossus. We measured body temperatures (Tb) with implanted data loggers over three and a half years in two captive Zaglossus bartoni at Taronga Zoo, Sydney. The modal Tb of both long-beaks was 31 degrees C, similar to non-hibernating short-beaked echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus, in the wild (30-32 degrees C) and to platypus (32 degrees C), suggesting that this is characteristic of normothermic monotremes. Tb cycled daily, usually over 2-4 degrees C. There were some departures from this pattern to suggest periods of inactivity but nothing to indicate the occurrence of long-term torpor. In contrast, two short-beaked echidnas monitored concurrently in the same pen showed extended periods of low Tb in the cooler months (hibernation) and short periods of torpor at any time of the year, as they do in the wild. Whether torpor or hibernation occurs in Zaglossus in the wild or in juveniles remains unknown. However, given that the environment in this study was conducive to hibernation in short-beaks, which do not easily enter torpor in captivity, and their large size, we think that torpor in wild adult Zaglossus is unlikely

Book Reviews

Book reviews of: William F. Winter and the New Mississippi: A Biography. By Charles C. Bolton Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013. Pp. vii, 368. Illustrations, map, acknowledgements, notes, index. $35.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781617037870. Born of Conviction: White Methodists and Mississippi’s Closed Society. By Joseph T. Reiff. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Acknowledgements, illustrations, map, notes, index. Pp. xxi, 384.$35 Hardcover. ISBN: 9780190246815). In Katrina’s Wake: The U.S. Coast Guard and the Gulf Coast Hurricanes of 2005. By Donald L. Canney. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010. Foreword, notes, index. Pp. xv, 228. $27.50 cloth.) Slavery, Race and Conquest in the Tropic: Lincoln, Douglas and the Future of America. By Robert E. May. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Acknowledgements, illustrations, maps, notes, index. Pp. xi, 296.$80 cloth, $26.99 paper,$22 e-book. ISBN: 9780521132527.) Rivers of Sand: Creek Indian Emigration, Relocation, and Ethnic Cleansing in the American South. By Christopher D. Haveman. (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Illustrations, preface, acknowledgments, notes on terminology, index. Pp. ix, 414. Trouble in Goshen: Plain Folk, Roosevelt, Jesus, and Marx in the Great Depression. By Fred C. Smith (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Acknowledgements, illustrations, map notes, index. Pp. xi, 214. $60.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781617039560.) Builders of a New South: Merchants, Capital, and the Remaking of Natchez, 1865-1914. By Aaron D. Anderson (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2013. Acknowledgments, illustrations, photographs, notes, graphics, index. Pp. 279.$40 cloth. ISBN: 978-1- 61703-667-5.) Adventurism and Empire: The Struggle for Mastery in the Louisiana- Florida Borderlands 1762-1803. By David Narrett. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Acknowledgements, illustrations, notes, index. Pp. xi, 365. $45 cloth,$44.99 e-book. ISBN: 978-1-4696-1833-3.) Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South. By Brian Craig Miller. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2015. Illustrations, acknowledgments, appendix, notes, index. Pp. xvi, 257. $79.95 cloth,$29.95 paper. ISBN: 0820343327.) Signposts: New Directions in Southern Legal History. By Sally E. Hadden and Patricia Hagler Minter, eds. (Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press, 2013. Acknowledgements, illustrations, index. Pp. xi, 480. $69.95 cloth,$26.95 paper, $26.95 ebook. ISBN: 978-0-8203-4499-7.) The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America. By Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012. Pp. 325.$32.50 Cloth. ISBN: 9780807835722.