How routine sparring can cause short-term impairment to boxers’ brains

First paragraph: Thrilling the masses for millennia, boxing has evolved down the centuries – rules have changed, equipment improved, training enhanced. However, one key aspect has essentially stayed the same: incapacitating the opponent before they incapacitate youhttps://theconversation.com/how-routine-sparring-can-cause-short-term-impairment-to-boxers-brains-12382

Generating Cultural Capital? Impacts of Artists-in-Residence on Teacher Professional Learning

The introduction of the Australian Arts Curriculum and the rise of a twenty-first century creativity agenda in education signal an opportunity for teacher educators to re-examine the outcomes and potential of arts-based initiatives on teacher professional learning. This study re-visits the outcomes of the Australian Artist-in-Residence program in this context and analyses a subset of data collected for its evaluation. The study reveals that while teachers perceive an improvement in creative capital, it is important to consider questions about the capacity for such programs to generate long term changes in practice. The study illustrates how some States and Territories embedded opportunities for collective reflective activity to facilitate such change and suggests there is potential for AIR models to support pre-service and in-service professional learning in creative and critical thinking as well as the arts curriculum. With the Professional Engagement domain of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate teachers), in particular Standards 6 and 7, this is timely research

How we discovered that heading a football causes impairment of brain function

First paragraph: Heading a football may look effortless but many scientists have suspected it might actually harm the player’s brain. There could be real consequences – we know that brain injury is linked to an increased risk of dementia, for example. However, it has proven surprisingly difficult to find out the true impact of football heading, partly because mild brain injury is notoriously difficult to detect.  Access this article on The Conversation website: https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-that-heading-a-football-causes-impairment-of-brain-function-6746

City of Colton Urban Forest Management Project

As population growth continues in our urban centers, urban forest management becomes an important priority. Trees are an essential component of resilient and healthy urban communities, providing benefits including mediating the urban heat island effect, storm water management, and energy and water efficiency, carbon sequestration, and city beautification. In order to assess the current status of Colton’s urban forest, interdisciplinary teams of students and scientists from the Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) have assisted Jack Sahl & Associates with an extensive inventory of the tree resources within the City. In gathering data describing the size, distribution, age, health, and energy efficiency benefits of the city’s trees, this study seeks to provide recommendations for best management practices of Colton’s urban forest. Colton has strived to engage the public in an open dialogue about this project. Colton is the first city to deal with the task of conducting an inventory of all the trees located within the public domain, in the future the strategies used here will be improved.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cures_posters/1014/thumbnail.jp

Berry Characterisation of cv Shiraz According to Position on the Rachis

In this study, characterisation of the physical and compositional parameters of berries located in differentpositions on the rachis of Shiraz/R99 bunches was done. Berries were divided according to position onthe rachis (apical, median and basal) and berry weight, resulting in four berry weight classes, averaging0.86 g, 1.29 g, 1.74 g and 2.26 g and 0.74, 1.18, 1.59 and 2.09 cm3, respectively. The berries were analysedindividually. The fresh weight of the berries comprised approximately 4% seeds, 20% skin and 76% flesh.Different percentage distributions were found for each class of berry weight and according to position onthe rachis. From the top to the bottom rachis position, an increase in skin proportion value and a decreasein flesh and seed proportion value occurred. Skins decreased and flesh increased in proportion from thesmallest to the largest berry size. The seed maintained a relatively stable proportion, irrespective of berrysize. Larger berries had more flesh compared to skin than smaller berries. A higher level of soluble solidsoccurred in the shoulder to middle bunch area (28.7 °B and 28.6 °B, respectively) than in the bottom area(27.6 °B). It is extremely difficult to obtain uniform berry size and composition under field conditions.Continuous efforts are required to reduce variation and the potential negative impact on wine quality andconsistency of wine style

Non-invasive imaging using reporter genes altering cellular water permeability

Non-invasive imaging of gene expression in live, optically opaque animals is important for multiple applications, including monitoring of genetic circuits and tracking of cell-based therapeutics. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could enable such monitoring with high spatiotemporal resolution. However, existing MRI reporter genes based on metalloproteins or chemical exchange probes are limited by their reliance on metals or relatively low sensitivity. Here we introduce a new class of MRI reporters based on the human water channel aquaporin 1. We show that aquaporin overexpression produces contrast in diffusion-weighted MRI by increasing tissue water diffusivity without affecting viability. Low aquaporin levels or mixed populations comprising as few as 10% aquaporin-expressing cells are sufficient to produce MRI contrast. We characterize this new contrast mechanism through experiments and simulations, and demonstrate its utility in vivo by imaging gene expression in tumours. Our results establish an alternative class of sensitive, metal-free reporter genes for non-invasive imaging

Digging into NGC 6334I(N): Multiwavelength Imaging of a Massive Protostellar Cluster

We present a high-resolution, multi-wavelength study of the massive protostellar cluster NGC 6334I(N) that combines new spectral line data from the Submillimeter Array (SMA) and VLA with a reanalysis of archival VLA continuum data, 2MASS and Spitzer images. As shown previously, the brightest 1.3 mm source SMA1 contains substructure at subarcsecond resolution, and we report the first detection of SMA1b at 3.6 cm along with a new spatial component at 7 mm (SMA1d). We find SMA1 (aggregate of sources a, b, c, and d) and SMA4 to be comprised of free-free and dust components, while SMA6 shows only dust emission. Our 1.5" resolution 1.3 mm molecular line images reveal substantial hot-core line emission toward SMA1 and to a lesser degree SMA2. We find CH3OH rotation temperatures of 165\pm 9 K and 145\pm 12 K for SMA1 and SMA2, respectively. We estimate a diameter of 1400 AU for the SMA1 hot core emission, encompassing both SMA1b and SMA1d, and speculate that these sources comprise a >800 AU separation binary that may explain the previously-suggested precession of the outflow emanating from the SMA1 region. The LSR velocities of SMA1, SMA2, and SMA4 all differ by 1-2 km/s. Outflow activity from SMA1, SMA2, SMA4, and SMA6 is observed in several molecules including SiO(5--4) and IRAC 4.5 micron emission; 24 micron emission from SMA4 is also detected. Eleven water maser groups are detected, eight of which coincide with SMA1, SMA2, SMA4, and SMA6. We also detect a total of 83 Class I CH3OH 44GHz maser spots which likely result from the combined activity of many outflows. Our observations paint the portrait of multiple young hot cores in a protocluster prior to the stage where its members become visible in the near-infrared.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 24 pages, a full high resolution version is available at http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~cbrogan/ms.long.pd

Anthocyanin variation in individual 'Shiraz' berries as affected by exposure and position on the rachis

This study was done on 'Shiraz'/Richter 99 grapes with the intention to define the variation of skin anthocyanin content in a single berry. The effects of berry position (on the rachis), berry exposure, berry weight category, part of the skin of a single berry, and their interactions, were analysed. The anthocyanin concentration of externally facing berries decreased and that of the internally facing berries increased from the apical part to the basal part of the bunch. Highest values were recorded in internally facing berries and lowest values in the externally facing (exposed) berries, of the basal rachis area. Anthocyanin values of small berries seemed to decrease from the apical part of the rachis to the basal part, whereas those of the larger berries generally increased. Anthocyanin distribution in the skin of a single berry was similar for all the berry weight categories. The median concentric layer of the berry showed the highest anthocyanin concentration. The study showed significant intra-berry variation, indicating that even at full ripeness stage there is still variation in every single smaller or larger berry. The results highlighted the very complicated management challenges to grape producers to increase bunch uniformity in quantity and quality.

On the Disruption of Star Clusters in a Hierarchical Interstellar Medium

The distribution of the number of clusters as a function of mass M and age T suggests that clusters get eroded or dispersed in a regular way over time, such that the cluster number decreases inversely as an approximate power law with T within each fixed interval of M. This power law is inconsistent with standard dispersal mechanisms such as cluster evaporation and cloud collisions. In the conventional interpretation, it requires the unlikely situation where diverse mechanisms stitch together over time in a way that is independent of environment or M. Here we consider another model in which the large scale distribution of gas in each star-forming region plays an important role. We note that star clusters form with positional and temporal correlations in giant cloud complexes, and suggest that these complexes dominate the tidal force and collisional influence on a cluster during its first several hundred million years. Because the cloud complex density decreases regularly with position from the cluster birth site, the harassment and collision rates between the cluster and the cloud pieces decrease regularly with age as the cluster drifts. This decrease is typically a power law of the form required to explain the mass-age distribution. We reproduce this distribution for a variety of cases, including rapid disruption, slow erosion, combinations of these two, cluster-cloud collisions, cluster disruption by hierarchical disassembly, and partial cluster disruption. We also consider apparent cluster mass loss by fading below the surface brightness limit of a survey. In all cases, the observed log M - \log T diagram can be reproduced under reasonable assumptions.Comment: ApJ vol. 712, March 20, 2010, 33 pages 15 figure

Uncertainty with friction parameters and impact on risk analysis

Flood modelling is an essential component of risk analysis, with a greater demand for accurate and robust modelling to be undertaken at large spatial scales. Understanding of uncertainty in the modelling becomes increasingly critical not only in ensuring model results are reliable, but also in a wider context of (re)insurance regulations such as Solvency II. This research investigates how the uncertainty in the friction parameter impacts on model outputs and how this parameter influences uncertainty associated with evaluations of exposure (the estimation of damage caused by flood waters), and with evaluation of hydraulic outputs, including water depths and extents. Two basic approaches are adopted to representing friction values in a model; a uniform manning’s n value, and spatially distributed values based on underlying land type surfaces, and the use of appropriate friction values in these surfaces. The range of friction values in both approaches is based on literature values and are designed to represent the values typically used in modelling exercises, assuming a uniform distribution for this range. This uncertainty is also analysed in a wider Monte Carlo method, comparing other sources of uncertainty in flood modelling, including hydrological input uncertainty, DTM uncertainty and the uncertainty associated with the computational model used. 3 test cases, with different hydraulic properties are used to provide generic conclusions to the test cases. Two urban test cases with transcritical flow conditions and a river overtopping event in a rural/urban domain. The results from the model results are analysed with typical modelling evaluation techniques, such as binary flood extent comparison and depths comparison measures, as well as measures of exposure, here defined as the cost of damage associated with modelled water depths. The results demonstrate that modelling uncertainty is reduced by increasing the number of frictional surfaces in the modelling, indicating that through marginal pre-processing effort better representation of microscale hydraulics can be achieved, particularly in urban areas. Model results are also far more sensitive to uniform values, which also demonstrate an increased level of uncertainty, even in large scale modelling. The uncertainty associated with friction values though is shown to be relatively small compared to the uncertainty of the numerical scheme, and also displays significant parameter interaction