USSR Space Life Sciences Digest

Research in exobiology, life sciences technology, space biology, and space medicine and physiology, primarily using data gathered on the Salyut 6 orbital space station, is reported. Methods for predicting, diagnosing, and preventing the effects of weightlessness are discussed. Psychological factors are discussed. The effects of space flight on plants and animals are reported. Bioinstrumentation advances are noted

Measuring attitude toward theistic faith : assessing the Astley-Francis Scale among Christian, Muslim and secular youth in England

Empirical research within the social scientific study of religion in general and within the psychology of religion in particular remains very conscious of the complex nature of its subject matter. Empirical research in this field needs to take cognisance of the many forms in which religion is expressed (say, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism) and the many facets within the forms (say, beliefs, behaviours and affiliation). Working in the 1970s, Francis (1978a; 1978b) advanced the view that the attitudinal dimension of religion offered a particularly fruitful basis for coordinating empirical enquiry into the correlates, antecedents and consequences of religiosity across the life span

The type of adjuvant in whole inactivated influenza a virus vaccines impacts vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes a disease burden in the swine industry in the US and is a challenge to prevent due to substantial genetic and antigenic diversity of IAV that circulate in pig populations. Whole inactivated virus (WIV) vaccines formulated with oil-in-water (OW) adjuvant are commonly used in swine. However, WIV-OW are associated with vaccine-associated enhanced respiratory disease (VAERD) when the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase of the vaccine strain are mismatched with the challenge virus. Here, we assessed if different types of adjuvant in WIV vaccine formulations impacted VAERD outcome. WIV vaccines with a swine δ1-H1N2 were formulated with different commercial adjuvants: OW1, OW2, nano-emulsion squalene-based (NE) and gel polymer (GP). Pigs were vaccinated twice by the intramuscular route, 3 weeks apart, then challenged with an H1N1pdm09 three weeks post-boost and necropsied at 5 days post infection. All WIV vaccines elicited antibodies detected using the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay against the homologous vaccine virus, but not against the heterologous challenge virus; in contrast, all vaccinated groups had cross-reactive IgG antibody and IFN-γ responses against H1N1pdm09, with a higher magnitude observed in OW groups. Both OW groups demonstrated robust homologous HI titers and cross-reactivity against heterologous H1 viruses in the same genetic lineage. However, both OW groups had severe immunopathology consistent with VAERD after challenge when compared to NE, GP, and non-vaccinated challenge controls. None of the WIV formulations protected pigs from heterologous virus replication in the lungs or nasal cavity. Thus, although the type of adjuvant in the WIV formulation played a significant role in the magnitude of immune response to homologous and antigenically similar H1, none tested here increased the breadth of protection against the antigenically-distinct challenge virus, and some impacted immunopathology after challenge

Asynchronous displays for multi-UV search tasks

Synchronous video has long been the preferred mode for controlling remote robots with other modes such as asynchronous control only used when unavoidable as in the case of interplanetary robotics. We identify two basic problems for controlling multiple robots using synchronous displays: operator overload and information fusion. Synchronous displays from multiple robots can easily overwhelm an operator who must search video for targets. If targets are plentiful, the operator will likely miss targets that enter and leave unattended views while dealing with others that were noticed. The related fusion problem arises because robots' multiple fields of view may overlap forcing the operator to reconcile different views from different perspectives and form an awareness of the environment by "piecing them together". We have conducted a series of experiments investigating the suitability of asynchronous displays for multi-UV search. Our first experiments involved static panoramas in which operators selected locations at which robots halted and panned their camera to capture a record of what could be seen from that location. A subsequent experiment investigated the hypothesis that the relative performance of the panoramic display would improve as the number of robots was increased causing greater overload and fusion problems. In a subsequent Image Queue system we used automated path planning and also automated the selection of imagery for presentation by choosing a greedy selection of non-overlapping views. A fourth set of experiments used the SUAVE display, an asynchronous variant of the picture-in-picture technique for video from multiple UAVs. The panoramic displays which addressed only the overload problem led to performance similar to synchronous video while the Image Queue and SUAVE displays which addressed fusion as well led to improved performance on a number of measures. In this paper we will review our experiences in designing and testing asynchronous displays and discuss challenges to their use including tracking dynamic targets. © 2012 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc

Modeling the evolution of infrared luminous galaxies: the influence of the Luminosity-Temperature distribution

The evolution of the luminous infrared galaxy population is explored using a pure luminosity evolution model which incorporates the locally observed luminosity-temperature distribution for IRAS galaxies. Pure luminosity evolution models in a fixed $\Lambda$CDM cosmology are fitted to submillimeter (submm) and infrared counts, and backgrounds. It is found that the differences between the locally determined bivariate model and the single variable luminosity function (LF) do not manifest themselves in the observed counts, but rather are primarily apparent in the dust temperatures of sources in flux limited surveys. Statistically significant differences in the redshift distributions are also observed. The bivariate model is used to predict the counts, redshifts and temperature distributions of galaxies detectable by {\it Spitzer}. The best fitting model is compared to the high-redshift submm galaxy population, revealing a median redshift for the total submm population of $z=1.8^{+0.9}_{-0.4}$, in good agreement with recent spectroscopic studies of submillimeter galaxies. The temperature distribution for the submm galaxies is modeled to predict the radio/submm indices of the submm galaxies, revealing that submm galaxies exhibit a broader spread in spectral energy distributions than seen in the local IRAS galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Quality of several figures reduced due to size restriction

Quasar Microlensing at High Magnification and the Role of Dark Matter: Enhanced Fluctuations and Suppressed Saddlepoints

Contrary to naive expectation, diluting the stellar component of the lensing galaxy in a highly magnified system with smoothly distributed ``dark'' matter increases rather than decreases the microlensing fluctuations caused by the remaining stars. For a bright pair of images straddling a critical curve, the saddlepoint (of the arrival time surface) is much more strongly affected than the associated minimum. With a mass ratio of smooth matter to microlensing matter of 4:1, a saddlepoint with a macro-magnification of mu = 9.5 will spend half of its time more than a magnitude fainter than predicted. The anomalous flux ratio observed for the close pair of images in MG0414+0534 is a factor of five more likely than computed by Witt, Mao and Schechter if the smooth matter fraction is as high as 93%. The magnification probability histograms for macro-images exhibit distinctly different structure that varies with the smooth matter content, providing a handle on the smooth matter fraction. Enhanced fluctuations can manifest themselves either in the temporal variations of a lightcurve or as flux ratio anomalies in a single epoch snapshot of a multiply imaged system. While the millilensing simulations of Metcalf and Madau also give larger anomalies for saddlepoints than for minima, the effect appears to be less dramatic for extended subhalos than for point masses. Morever, microlensing is distinguishable from millilensing because it will produce noticeable changes in the magnification on a time scale of a decade or less.Comment: As accepted for publication in ApJ. 17 pages. Substantial revisions include a discussion of constant M/L models and the calculation of a "photometric" dark matter fraction for MG0414+053

Community, work and family in diverse contexts and changing times

The 8th International Community, Work and Family conference took place in Malta at the Valletta campus of the University of Malta between the 23rd to the 25th May 2019. In a pre-COVID-19 world with no traveling restrictions, the conference brought together over 100 experts, academics, and students from a broad range of countries and disciplines to focus on the theme of Community, Work and Family in Diverse Contexts and Changing Times. The research presented during the conference highlights some of the challenges that communities, organizations and families are facing in the twenty-first century across diverse and rapidly changing contexts. The topics presented spanned from broad studies that analyze the work-life interface of well-studied groups such as fathers and mothers, to other clusters that are generally less well-researched such as the police and the military, migrants, solo entrepreneurs, the LGBTIQ community, and those who work with people with special needs. The recurrent theme of the gendered division of labor and work-life measures was discussed by various researchers, as were the issues of flexible work, family policy, and the impact of technology. It was refreshing to note that various researchers focused on the issue of community as a source of support, whilst others explored how peer, supervisor and management support impacts work-life issues. Overall, the conference provided a diverse and rich range of scholarly material upon which to develop this special issue for Community, Work & Family. [...

Multiwavelength Observations of Swift J1753.5-0127

We present contemporaneous X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared observations of the black hole binary system, Swift J1753.5-0127, acquired in 2012 October. The UV observations, obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, are the first UV spectra of this system. The dereddened UV spectrum is characterized by a smooth, blue continuum and broad emission lines of CIV and HeII. The system was stable in the UV to <10% during our observations. We estimated the interstellar reddening by fitting the 2175 A absorption feature and fit the interstellar absorption profile of Ly$\alpha$ to directly measure the neutral hydrogen column density along the line of sight. By comparing the UV continuum flux to steady-state thin accretion disk models, we determined upper limits on the distance to the system as a function of black hole mass. The continuum is well fit with disk models dominated by viscous heating rather than irradiation. The broadband spectral energy distribution shows the system has declined at all wavelengths since previous broadband observations in 2005 and 2007. If we assume that the UV emission is dominated by the accretion disk the inner radius of the disk must be truncated at radii above the ISCO to be consistent with the X-ray flux, requiring significant mass loss from outflows and/or energy loss via advection into the black hole to maintain energy balance.Comment: To appear in the Ap

Monetary costs of agitation in older adults with Alzheimer's disease in the UK: prospective cohort study

While nearly half of all people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have agitation symptoms every month, little is known about the costs of agitation in AD. We calculated the monetary costs associated with agitation in older adults with AD in the UK from a National Health Service and personal social services perspective