Nationwide public perceptions regarding the acceptance of using wastewater for community health monitoring in the United States

To assess the levels of infection across communities during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, researchers have measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA in feces dissolved in sewer water. This activity is colloquially known as sewer monitoring and is referred to as wastewater-based epidemiology in academic settings. Although global ethical principles have been described, sewer monitoring is unregulated for health privacy protection when used for public health surveillance in the United States. This study used Qualtrics XM, a national research panel provider, to recruit participants to answer an online survey. Respondents (N = 3,083) answered questions about their knowledge, perceptions of what is to be monitored, where monitoring should occur, and privacy concerns related to sewer monitoring as a public health surveillance tool. Furthermore, a privacy attitude questionnaire was used to assess the general privacy boundaries of respondents. Participants were more likely to support monitoring for diseases (92%), environmental toxins (92%), and terrorist threats (88%; e.g., anthrax). Two-third of the respondents endorsed no prohibition on location sampling scale (e.g., monitoring single residence to entire community was acceptable); the most common location category respondents wanted to prohibit sampling was at personal residences. Sewer monitoring is an emerging technology, and our study sheds light on perceptions that could benefit from educational programs in areas where public acceptance is comparatively lower. Respondents clearly communicated guard rails for sewer monitoring, and public opinion should inform future policy, application, and regulation measures

The Mid-Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope, V: Predicted Performance of the MIRI Coronagraphs

The imaging channel on the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is equipped with four coronagraphs that provide high contrast imaging capabilities for studying faint point sources and extended emission that would otherwise be overwhelmed by a bright point-source in its vicinity. Such bright sources might include stars that are orbited by exoplanets and circumstellar material, mass-loss envelopes around post-main-sequence stars, the near-nuclear environments in active galaxies, and the host galaxies of distant quasars. This paper describes the coronagraphic observing modes of MIRI, as well as performance estimates based on measurements of the MIRI flight model during cryo-vacuum testing. A brief outline of coronagraphic operations is also provided. Finally, simulated MIRI coronagraphic observations of a few astronomical targets are presented for illustration

Raft-dependent endocytosis of autocrine motility factor is phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-dependent in breast carcinoma cells

Autocrine motility factor (AMF) is internalized via a receptor-mediated, dynamin-dependent, cholesterol-sensitive raft pathway to the smooth endoplasmic reticulum that is negatively regulated by caveolin-1. Expression of AMF and its receptor (AMFR) is associated with tumor progression and malignancy; however, the extent to which the raft-dependent uptake of AMF is tumor cell-specific has yet to be addressed. By Western blot and cell surface fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis, AMFR expression is increased in tumorigenic MCF7 and metastatic MDA-231 and MDA-435 breast cancer cell lines relative to dysplastic MCF10A mammary epithelial cells. AMF uptake, determined by FACS measurement of protease-insensitive internalized fluorescein-conjugated AMF, was increased in MCF7 and MDA-435 cells relative to MCF-10A and caveolin-1-expressing MDA-231 cells. Uptake of fluorescein-conjugated AMF was dynamin-dependent, methyl-beta-cyclodextrin- and genistein-sensitive, reduced upon overexpression of caveolin-1 in MDA-435 cells, and increased upon short hairpin RNA reduction of caveolin-1 in MDA-231 cells. Tissue microarray analysis of invasive primary human breast carcinomas showed that AMFR expression had no impact on survival but did correlate significantly with expression of phospho-Akt. Phospho-Akt expression was increased in AMF-internalizing MCF7 and MDA-435 breast carcinoma cells. AMF uptake in these cells was reduced by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibition but not by regulators of macropinocytosis such as amiloride, phorbol ester, or actin cytoskeleton disruption by cytochalasin D. The raft-dependent endocytosis of AMF therefore follows a distinct phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent pathway that is up-regulated in more aggressive tumor cells

The effect of distance on reaction time in aiming movements

Target distance affects movement duration in aiming tasks but its effect on reaction time (RT) is poorly documented. RT is a function of both preparation and initiation. Experiment 1 pre-cued movement (allowing advanced preparation) and found no influence of distance on RT. Thus, target distance does not affect initiation time. Experiment 2 removed pre-cue information and found that preparing a movement of increased distance lengthens RT. Experiment 3 explored movements to targets of cued size at non-cued distances and found size altered peak speed and movement duration but RT was influenced by distance alone. Thus, amplitude influences preparation time (for reasons other than altered duration) but not initiation time. We hypothesise that the RT distance effect might be due to the increased number of possible trajectories associated with further targets: a hypothesis that can be tested in future experiments

The Blue Stragglers of the Old Open Cluster NGC 188

The old (7 Gyr) open cluster NGC 188 has yielded a wealth of astrophysical insight into its rich blue straggler population. Specifically, the NGC 188 blue stragglers are characterized by: A binary frequency of 80% for orbital periods less than $10^4$ days;Typical orbital periods around 1000 days;Typical secondary star masses of 0.5 M$_{\odot}$; At least some white dwarf companion stars; Modestly rapid rotation; A bimodal radial spatial distribution; Dynamical masses greater than standard stellar evolution masses (based on short-period binaries); Under-luminosity for dynamical masses (short-period binaries). Extensive $N$-body modeling of NGC 188 with empirical initial conditions reproduces the properties of the cluster, and in particular the main-sequence solar-type binary population. The current models also reproduce well the binary orbital properties of the blue stragglers, but fall well short of producing the observed number of blue stragglers. This deficit could be resolved by reducing the frequency of common-envelope evolution during Roche lobe overflow. Both the observations and the $N$-body models strongly indicate that the long-period blue-straggler binaries - which dominate the NGC 188 blue straggler population - are formed by asymptotic-giant (primarily) and red-giant mass transfer onto main sequence stars. The models suggest that the few non-velocity-variable blue stragglers formed from mergers or collisions. Several remarkable short-period double-lined binaries point to the importance of subsequent dynamical exchange encounters, and provide at least one example of a likely collisional origin for a blue straggler.Comment: Chapter 3, in Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, H.M.J. Boffin, G. Carraro & G. Beccari (Eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Library, Springe

A comparative study of Jet-quenching Schemes

The four major approximation schemes devised to study the modification of jets in dense matter are outlined. The comparisons are restricted to basic assumptions and approximations made in each case and the calculation methodology used. Emergent underlying similarities between apparently disparate methods brought about by the approximation schemes are exposed. Parameterizations of the medium in each scheme are discussed in terms of the transport coefficient $\hat{q}$. Discrepancies between the estimates obtained from the four schemes are discussed. Recent developments in the basic theory and phenomenology of energy loss are highlighted.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, latex, plenary presentation at the 19th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (QM2006), Shanghai, China Nov. 14-20, 200

Event Reconstruction in the PHENIX Central Arm Spectrometers

The central arm spectrometers for the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have been designed for the optimization of particle identification in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The spectrometers present a challenging environment for event reconstruction due to a very high track multiplicity in a complicated, focusing, magnetic field. In order to meet this challenge, nine distinct detector types are integrated for charged particle tracking, momentum reconstruction, and particle identification. The techniques which have been developed for the task of event reconstruction are described.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instrum. A. 34 pages, 23 figure

The effects of aging and dual task performance on language production

This is an electronic version of an article published in Kemper, S., Schmalzried, R., Herman, R., Leedahl, S., & Mohankumar, D. (2009). The effects of aging and dual task performance on language production. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 16, 241-259. PM#2674132. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition is available online at www.taylorandfrancis.comA digital pursuit rotor task was used to measure dual task costs of language production by young and older adults. After training on the pursuit rotor, participants were asked to track the moving target while providing a language sample. When simultaneously engaged, young adults experienced greater dual task costs to tracking, fluency, and grammatical complexity than older adults. Older adults were able to preserve their tracking performance by speaking more slowly. Individual differences in working memory, processing speed, and Stroop interference affected vulnerability to dual task costs. These results demonstrate the utility of using a digital pursuit rotor to study the effects of aging and dual task demands on language production and confirm prior findings that young and older adults use different strategies to accommodate to dual task demands

Measurements of double-helicity asymmetries in inclusive J/ψJ/\psi production in longitudinally polarized p+pp+p collisions at s=510\sqrt{s}=510 GeV

We report the double helicity asymmetry, $A_{LL}^{J/\psi}$, in inclusive $J/\psi$ production at forward rapidity as a function of transverse momentum $p_T$ and rapidity $|y|$. The data analyzed were taken during $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV longitudinally polarized $p$$+$$p$ collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in the 2013 run using the PHENIX detector. At this collision energy, $J/\psi$ particles are predominantly produced through gluon-gluon scatterings, thus $A_{LL}^{J/\psi}$ is sensitive to the gluon polarization inside the proton. We measured $A_{LL}^{J/\psi}$ by detecting the decay daughter muon pairs $\mu^+ \mu^-$ within the PHENIX muon spectrometers in the rapidity range $1.2<|y|<2.2$. In this kinematic range, we measured the $A_{LL}^{J/\psi}$ to be $0.012 \pm 0.010$~(stat)~$\pm$~$0.003$(syst). The $A_{LL}^{J/\psi}$ can be expressed to be proportional to the product of the gluon polarization distributions at two distinct ranges of Bjorken $x$: one at moderate range $x \approx 0.05$ where recent RHIC data of jet and $\pi^0$ double helicity spin asymmetries have shown evidence for significant gluon polarization, and the other one covering the poorly known small-$x$ region $x \approx 2\times 10^{-3}$. Thus our new results could be used to further constrain the gluon polarization for $x< 0.05$.Comment: 335 authors, 10 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, 2013 data. Version accepted for publication by Phys. Rev. D. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm