Interdisciplinary approaches to zoonotic disease

Zoonotic infections are on the increase worldwide, but most research into the biological, environmental and life science aspects of these infections has been conducted in separation. In this review we bring together contemporary research in these areas to suggest a new, symbiotic framework which recognises the interaction of biological, economic, psychological, and natural and built environmental drivers in zoonotic infection and transmission. In doing so, we propose that some contemporary debates in zoonotic research could be resolved using an expanded framework which explicitly takes into account the combination of motivated and habitual human behaviour, environmental and biological constraints, and their interactions

Validating performance of automotive materials at high strain rate for improved crash design

This paper investigates sources of performance variability in high velocity testing of automotive crash structures. Sources of variability, or so called noise factors, present in a testing environment, arise from uncertainty in structural properties, joints, boundary conditions and measurement system. A box structure, which is representative of a crash component, is designed and fabricated from a high strength Dual Phase sheet steel. Crush tests are conducted at low and high speed. Such tests intend to validate a component model and material strain rate sensitivity data determined from high speed tensile testing. To support experimental investigations, stochastic modeling is used to investigate the effect of noise factors on crash structure performance variability, and to identify suitable performance measures to validate a component model and material strain rate sensitivity data. The results of the project will enable the measurement of more reliable strain rate sensitivity data for improved crashworthiness predictions of automotive structures

Hybridisation:A ‘double-edged sword’ for neotropical plant diversity

Hybridization can facilitate both evolutionary diversification and extinction and has had a critical role in plant evolution, with c. 25% of species known to hybridize in some temperate floras. However, in the species-rich Neotropical flora, the role of hybridization in the evolution of diversity remains unclear. Our review examines studies of hybridization in seed plants from across the Neotropics and explores its outcomes on Neotropical plant evolution. We review studies on a per-biome basis and a spectrum of evolutionary outcomes from hybridization are evident across Neotropical biomes and taxa. These range from short-term impacts, such as the broadening of ecological amplitude in hybrid progeny with transgressive phenotypes and genetic swamping, through to long term impacts, such as the generation of new lineages. Among these studies certain themes emerge, such as the pervasive hybridization among species-rich plant radiations from the Andean páramos, suggesting a role for hybridization in rapid diversification events. Finally, we highlight that hybridization is relatively understudied in the Neotropical flora, despite its remarkable species richness. The advent of genomic techniques can facilitate the study of hybridization and its effects in understudied biomes and plant groups. The increasing availability of genomic resources will eventually allow comparisons between tropical and temperate floras and therefore shed light on the evolutionary impacts of hybridization across the latitudinal biodiversity gradient

Dynamics of a structured slug population model in the absence of seasonal variation

We develop a novel, nonlinear structured population model for the slug Deroceras reticulatum, a highly significant agricultural pest of great economic impact, in both organic and non-organic settings. In the absence of seasonal variations, we numerically explore the effect of life history traits that are dependent on an individual's size and measures of population biomass. We conduct a systematic exploration of parameter space and highlight the main mechanisms and implications of model design. A major conclusion of this work is that strong size dependent predation significantly adjusts the competitive balance, leading to non-monotonic steady state solutions and slowly decaying transients consisting of distinct generational cycles. Furthermore, we demonstrate how a simple ratio of adult to juvenile biomass can act as a useful diagnostic to distinguish between predated and non-predated environments, and may be useful in agricultural settings

Universality of electron accumulation at wurtzite c- and a-plane and zinc-blende InN surfaces

Electron accumulation is found to occur at the surface of wurtzite (112¯0), (0001), and (0001¯) and zinc-blende (001) InN using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The accumulation is shown to be a universal feature of InN surfaces. This is due to the low Г-point conduction band minimum lying significantly below the charge neutrality level

Micro-Hall Magnetometry Studies of Thermally Assisted and Pure Quantum Tunneling in Single Molecule Magnet Mn12-Acetate

We have studied the crossover between thermally assisted and pure quantum tunneling in single crystals of high spin (S=10) uniaxial single molecule magnet Mn12-acetate using micro-Hall effect magnetometry. Magnetic hysteresis experiments have been used toinvestigate the energy levels that determine the magnetization reversal as a function of magnetic field and temperature. These experiments demonstrate that the crossover occurs in a narrow (~0.1 K) or broad (~1 K) temperature interval depending on the magnitude and direction of the applied field. For low external fields applied parallel to the easy axis, the energy levels that dominate the tunneling shift abruptly with temperature. In the presence of a transverse field and/or large longitudinal field these energy levels change with temperature more gradually. A comparison of our experimental results with model calculations of this crossover suggest that there are additional mechanisms that enhance the tunneling rate of low lying energy levels and broaden the crossover for small transverse fields.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

IN-PILE INSTRUMENTATION TO SUPPORT FUEL CYCLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT - FY12 STATUS REPORT

As part of the FCRD program objective to emphasize science-based, goal-oriented research, a strategic research program is underway to develop new sensors that can be used to obtain the high fidelity, real-time, data required for characterizing the performance of new fuels during irradiation testing. The overarching goal of this initiative is to develop new test vehicles with new sensors of unprecedented accuracy and resolution that can obtain the required data. Prior laboratory testing and, as needed, irradiation testing of sensors in these capsules will be completed as part of this initiative to give sufficient confidence that the irradiation tests will yield the required data. This report documents FY12 progress in this initiative