The influence of additives on the current carrying capacity of bulk YBa2Cu3OX

We studied the influence of using different powders and several additives on the shaping process and critical current density of sintered bulk YBa2Cu3OX. It was found that all additives used facilitated the shaping process. Silver and most organic additives influenced the critical current density only little, Zinc reduced it to zero, but an ethylenebisstearoylamide compound doubled the critical current density as compared to samples without additives

Polymer tensiometers with ceramic cones: direct observations of matric pressures in drying soils

Measuring soil water potentials is crucial to characterize vadose zone processes. Conventional tensiometers only measure until approximately −0.09 MPa, and indirect methods may suffer from the non-uniqueness in the relationship between matric potential and measured properties. Recently developed polymer tensiometers (POTs) are able to directly measure soil matric potentials until the theoretical wilting point (−1.6 MPa). By minimizing the volume of polymer solution inside the POT while maximizing the ceramic area in contact with that polymer solution, response times drop to acceptable ranges for laboratory and field conditions. Contact with the soil is drastically improved with the use of cone-shaped solid ceramics instead of flat ceramics. The comparison between measured potentials by polymer tensiometers and indirectly obtained potentials with time domain reflectometry highlights the risk of using the latter method at low water contents. By combining POT and time domain reflectometry readings in situ moisture retention curves can be measured over the range permitted by the measurement range of both POT and time domain reflectometry

Structural Brain Correlates of Childhood Inhibited Temperament: An ENIGMA-Anxiety Mega-analysis

Temperament involves stable behavioral and emotional tendencies that differ between individuals, which can be first observed in infancy or early childhood and relate to behavior in many contexts and over many years.1 One of the most rigorously characterized temperament classifications relates to the tendency of individuals to avoid the unfamiliar and to withdraw from unfamiliar people, objects, and unexpected events. This temperament is referred to as behavioral inhibition or inhibited temperament (IT).2 IT is a moderately heritable trait1 that can be measured in multiple species.3 In humans, levels of IT can be quantified from the first year of life through direct behavioral observations or reports by caregivers or teachers. Similar approaches as well as self-report questionnaires on current and/or retrospective levels of IT1 can be used later in life

ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries

This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors

ENIGMA-anxiety working group: Rationale for and organization of large-scale neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling but seem particularly tractable to investigation with translational neuroscience methodologies. Neuroimaging has informed our understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, but research has been limited by small sample sizes and low statistical power, as well as heterogenous imaging methodology. The ENIGMA‐Anxiety Working Group has brought together researchers from around the world, in a harmonized and coordinated effort to address these challenges and generate more robust and reproducible findings. This paper elaborates on the concepts and methods informing the work of the working group to date, and describes the initial approach of the four subgroups studying generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. At present, the ENIGMA‐Anxiety database contains information about more than 100 unique samples, from 16 countries and 59 institutes. Future directions include examining additional imaging modalities, integrating imaging and genetic data, and collaborating with other ENIGMA working groups. The ENIGMA consortium creates synergy at the intersection of global mental health and clinical neuroscience, and the ENIGMA‐Anxiety Working Group extends the promise of this approach to neuroimaging research on anxiety disorders

A Tale of Two Type Ia Supernovae: The Fast-declining Siblings SNe 2015bo and 1997cn

We thank the anonymous referee for their comments. W.B.H. acknowledges support from the Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii-Manoa, funded through NSF grant #2050710. L.G. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIN) under the 2019 Ramon y Cajal program RYC2019-027683 and from the Spanish MCIN project HOSTFLOWS PID2020-115253GA-I00. M.G.M., R.G.D., and S.M.T. were funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 839090. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory under ESO program 106.2104. The work of the CSP-II has been generously supported by the National Science Foundation under grant Nos. AST-1008343, AST-1613426, AST-1613455, and AST-1613472. The CSP-II was also supported in part by the Danish Agency for Science and Technology and Innovation through a Sapere Aude Level 2 grant. E.B. was partially supported by NASA grant No. 80NSSC20K0538 J.D.L. acknowledges support from a UK Research and Innovation Fellowship (MR/T020784/1). C.R.B. acknowledges support from NSF grant Nos. AST-1008384, AST-1613426, AST-1613455, and AST-1613472. M.S and S.H. are supported by grants from the VILLUM FONDEN (grant No. 28021) and the Independent Research Fund Denmark (IRFD; 8021-00170B).We present optical and near-infrared photometric and spectroscopic observations of the fast-declining Type Ia supernova (SN) 2015bo. SN 2015bo is underluminous (MB=−17.50 ± 0.15 mag) and has a fast-evolving light curve (Δm15(B)=1.91 ± 0.01 mag and sBV=0.48 ± 0.01). It has a unique morphology in the observed V −r color curve, where it is bluer than all other supernovae (SNe) in the comparison sample. A 56Ni mass of 0.17±0.03Me was derived from the peak bolometric luminosity, which is consistent with its location on the luminosity–width relation. Spectroscopically, SN 2015bo is a cool SN in the Branch classification scheme. The velocity evolution measured from spectral features is consistent with 1991bg-like SNe. SN 2015bo has a SN twin (similar spectra) and sibling (same host galaxy), SN 1997cn. Distance moduli of μ=34.33±0.01 (stat)± 0.11 (sys) mag and μ=34.34±0.04 (stat)±0.12 (sys) mag are derived for SN 2015bo and SN 1997cn, respectively. These distances are consistent at the 0.06σ level with each other, and they are also consistent with distances derived using surface-brightness fluctuations and redshift-corrected cosmology. This suggests that fast-declining SNe could be accurate distance indicators, which should not be excluded from future cosmological analyses.Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii-ManoaNational Science Foundation (NSF) AST-1008384 AST-1613426 AST-1613455 AST-1613472Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIN) RYC2019-027683Spanish MCIN project HOSTFLOWS PID2020-115253GA-I00European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skodowska-Curie 839090 106.2104National Science Foundation (NSF) AST-1613426 AST-1613455 AST-1613472 AST-1008343Danish Agency for Science and Technology and Innovation through a Sapere Aude Level 2 grantNational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) 80NSSC20K0538UK Research and Innovation Fellowship MR/T020784/1Villum Fonden 28021Independent Research Fund Denmark 8021-00170