Communications Guidelines for Environmental Resources Engineering (ERE) Students

As an engineering professional, you need to communicate your ideas effectively to a wide variety of audiences. We have prepared these guidelines to provide you with our ideas and expectations on this important subject. We will expect you to refer to these guidelines as you practice your communications skills while a student in our program. This guide is intended to help you practice and perfect your communication. We are told by the employers of our graduates that our program generates great engineers because they have the right balance of effective communication and core engineering and critical thinking skills. To master effective communication you must practice. We expect you to practice effective communication skills throughout your four year program and beyond

Design and construction of a medium resolving, power scanning, grating spectrometer

A scanning Ebert-Fastie spectrometer was designed and built for the Optical Physics and Sensors Laboratory of the Naval Postgraduate School. Optical design was done with two commercially available optical design software packages, OSLO LT by Sinclair Optics, Inc., and Optica by Wolfram Research, Inc. Several components for the spectrometer were designed and built at the Naval Postgraduate School Physics Department machine shop to include grating mount, motor mount, entrance and exit slits, gearbox, and spacers. Electronic interfaces included the motor, motor controller, and personal computer to control the diffraction grating angle, and a detector, data logger, lock-in detection system, and personal computer to record data. Data was measured from a Fe hollow cathode source to demonstrate proper operation. The recorded spectral lines were graphed in Microsoft Excel and tentatively identified as those tabulated in the published literature. Future work includes optimization of the resolving power and of the fore optics. Upon completion, the spectrometer will prove to be a very useful instructional aid in the optics and optoelectronics classes taught at the school, and as a medium resolving power visible and near ultraviolet instrument for future student thesis researchhttp://www.archive.org/details/designconstructi00hassLieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Iron Regulation of the Major Virulence Factors in the AIDS-Associated Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans

Iron overload is known to exacerbate many infectious diseases, and conversely, iron withholding is an important defense strategy for mammalian hosts. Iron is a critical cue for Cryptococcus neoformans because the fungus senses iron to regulate elaboration of the polysaccharide capsule that is the major virulence factor during infection. Excess iron exacerbates experimental cryptococcosis and the prevalence of this disease in Sub-Saharan Africa has been associated with nutritional and genetic aspects of iron loading in the background of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We demonstrate that the iron-responsive transcription factor Cir1 in Cr. neoformans controls the regulon of genes for iron acquisition such that cir1 mutants are “blind” to changes in external iron levels. Cir1 also controls the known major virulence factors of the pathogen including the capsule, the formation of the anti-oxidant melanin in the cell wall, and the ability to grow at host body temperature. Thus, the fungus is remarkably tuned to perceive iron as part of the disease process, as confirmed by the avirulence of the cir1 mutant; this characteristic of the pathogen may provide opportunities for antifungal treatment

Abrupt shifts of productivity and sea ice regimes at the western Barents Sea slope from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Bølling-Allerød interstadial

Advanced knowledge of spatio-temporal constraints on the Barents Sea Ice Sheet during the late Weichselian glaciation overshadows relatively limited understanding of seasonal sea ice (experiencing an annual advance-retreat cycle) and primary productivity trends accompanying massive, abrupt climate changes during glacial-deglacial cycles. Such paleo-reconstructions are crucial prerequisites for improved comprehension and prediction of current and future climate change. Here, we investigate sea ice and phytoplankton biomarker distributions in a Barents Sea sediment core covering ca. 25.8–15.4 cal kyr BP to elucidate abrupt shifts of spring–summer sea ice concentrations and relative sympagic–pelagic productivity trends at the southwestern continental slope. Despite significant presence of seasonal sea ice, the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and initial shelf edge deglaciation (SEDG) at the core site are characterised by occurrence of productive coastal polynya adjacent to the maximum ice sheet extent. The onset of perennial (i.e. multi-year) ice cover and near-zero productivity during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1; ca. 18.0–16.3 cal kyr BP) accompanies significant meltwater fluxes from ice sheet debuttressing and the consequent stagnation of thermohaline circulation. Rapid sea ice retreat and unprecedented pelagic productivity observed after 16.3 cal kyr BP coincides with areal ice sheet deglaciation and is potentially linked to the release of sub-surface heat and nutrient reservoirs, together with reinvigorated deep water circulation following millennial heating of the deep ocean during HS1. We find that a multivariate fingerprinting approach involving assessment of both downcore and surface biomarker distributions is able to distinguish relative ice-algal and pelagic diatom productivity driven by sea ice dynamics

Personality and gender differences in global perspective

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Personality and gender differences in global perspective, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12265. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.© 2016 International Union of Psychological Science Men's and women's personalities appear to differ in several respects. Social role theories of development assume gender differences result primarily from perceived gender roles, gender socialization and sociostructural power differentials. As a consequence, social role theorists expect gender differences in personality to be smaller in cultures with more gender egalitarianism. Several large cross-cultural studies have generated sufficient data for evaluating these global personality predictions. Empirically, evidence suggests gender differences in most aspects of personality—Big Five traits, Dark Triad traits, self-esteem, subjective well-being, depression and values—are conspicuously larger in cultures with more egalitarian gender roles, gender socialization and sociopolitical gender equity. Similar patterns are evident when examining objectively measured attributes such as tested cognitive abilities and physical traits such as height and blood pressure. Social role theory appears inadequate for explaining some of the observed cultural variations in men's and women's personalities. Evolutionary theories regarding ecologically-evoked gender differences are described that may prove more useful in explaining global variation in human personality

Extracellular matrix formation enhances the ability of streptococcus pneumoniae to cause invasive disease

Extent: 17p.During infection, pneumococci exist mainly in sessile biofilms rather than in planktonic form, except during sepsis. However, relatively little is known about how biofilms contribute to pneumococcal pathogenesis. Here, we carried out a biofilm assay on opaque and transparent variants of a clinical serotype 19F strain WCH159. After 4 days incubation, scanning electron microscopy revealed that opaque biofilm bacteria produced an extracellular matrix, whereas the transparent variant did not. The opaque biofilm-derived bacteria translocated from the nasopharynx to the lungs and brain of mice, and showed 100- fold greater in vitro adherence to A549 cells than transparent bacteria. Microarray analysis of planktonic and sessile bacteria from transparent and opaque variants showed differential gene expression in two operons: the lic operon, which is involved in choline uptake, and in the two-component system, ciaRH. Mutants of these genes did not form an extracellular matrix, could not translocate from the nasopharynx to the lungs or the brain, and adhered poorly to A549 cells. We conclude that only the opaque phenotype is able to form extracellular matrix, and that the lic operon and ciaRH contribute to this process. We propose that during infection, extracellular matrix formation enhances the ability of pneumococci to cause invasive disease.Claudia Trappetti, Abiodun D. Ogunniyi, Marco R. Oggioni and James C. Pato