Direction of the Musical: Guys and Dolls Jr

This project entailed the selection, background research and documentation, musical analysis, casting, direction, and post-production analysis of Aiea Intermediate School\u27s production of Julia Rose Avilla LoPresti\u27s Guys and Dolls Jr.. Documentation included research and analysis of the play, its music and an evaluation of the musical as a production vehicle for department of Theatre Arts at Central Washington University. THe analysis also includes a discussion as the non-tradiation directorial vision of this production

CAPTCHaStar! A novel CAPTCHA based on interactive shape discovery

Over the last years, most websites on which users can register (e.g., email providers and social networks) adopted CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) as a countermeasure against automated attacks. The battle of wits between designers and attackers of CAPTCHAs led to current ones being annoying and hard to solve for users, while still being vulnerable to automated attacks. In this paper, we propose CAPTCHaStar, a new image-based CAPTCHA that relies on user interaction. This novel CAPTCHA leverages the innate human ability to recognize shapes in a confused environment. We assess the effectiveness of our proposal for the two key aspects for CAPTCHAs, i.e., usability, and resiliency to automated attacks. In particular, we evaluated the usability, carrying out a thorough user study, and we tested the resiliency of our proposal against several types of automated attacks: traditional ones; designed ad-hoc for our proposal; and based on machine learning. Compared to the state of the art, our proposal is more user friendly (e.g., only some 35% of the users prefer current solutions, such as text-based CAPTCHAs) and more resilient to automated attacks.Comment: 15 page

Blue biotechnology: oil bioremediation using hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria immobilized on biodegradable membranes

A novel bioremediation system to clean up oil contaminated water was developed combining hydrocarbon (HC) degrading bacteria immobilized and polylactic acid (PLA) or polycaprolactone (PCL) membranes prepared by electrospinning. The bioremediation efficiency was tested on crude oil using highly performant HC degrading bacterial strains isolated from marine and soil environments. The membrane morphology, the microbial adhesion and proliferation were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM analysis highlighted that the fibers of the electrospun mats were in nanoscale with a similar diameter size distribution. The electrospun membranes exhibited high oil absorption capacity (q): approximately q = 40 g/g for PLA and q = 20 g/g for PCL. The bacterial strains were able to attach to the PLA and PCL membranes after 48h, reaching high proliferation and biofilm formation within the whole structure in 5 days. The biodegradation efficiency of the bacteria-membrane systems was tested by GC-FID analysis and compared with planktonic cells after 5 and 10 days incubation. The bacterial immobilization is a promoting factor for biodegradation and a new tool to be developed for bioremediation of aquatic systems

Blue biotechnology: enhancement of bioremediation using bacterial biofilms on biodegradable scaffolds

Petroleum hydrocarbons are still the most threatening environmental pollutants. A promising non invasive and low-cost technology for the treatment of contaminated sites is based on bioremediation by biodegrading microorganism endowed with catabolic ability towards oil and derivatives. New methods are needed to enhance and optimize natural biodegradation, such as the immobilization of hydrocarbons degraders in many types of supports. We developed a scaffold-bacteria bioremediation system to clean up oil contamination based on degradable 3D scaffolds. The polycaprolactone component is biodegradable, produced in the melt, i.e. at low cost and without the use of toxic solvents. The biofilm is made of highly performing HC-degrading bacteria such as the marine hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB) (1) or solid n-alkane degrading Actinobacteria (2, 3). The bacterial biofilm is observed within the whole structure of scaffold using scanning electron microscopy. The bioremediation efficiency of such systems was tested on crude oil by GC-FID analysis and compared whit planktonic cells. The biofilms formation was a promoting factor for biodegradation showing hydrocarbon removal up to 70% and 15% more in respect to the planktonic cells. Increasing availability of the contaminants and a better interaction between the hydrophobic substrate and the bacterial cells resulted in developing the degradation rate. Biofilm-mediated bioremediation is a new tool to be developed for bioremediation of acquatic system

Leukocyte Rheology Before and After Chemotactic Activation in some Venous Diseases

AbstractObjective: to evaluate leukocyte rheology, polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) membrane fluidity and cytosolic Ca2+ concentration in subjects with post-phlebitic leg syndrome (PPS) and acute deep-venous leg thrombosis (DVT). Subjects: twenty-two subjects with leg PPS and 14 subjects with leg DVT. Methods: we evaluated the leukocyte filtration (unfractionated, mononuclear cells (MN) and PMN), the PMN membrane fluidity and the PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Subsequently, we evaluated the same PMN variables after in vitro chemotactic activation with 4-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and N -formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). Results: at baseline we observed a significant difference in the filtration variables of unfractionated and MN cells and in PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. After activation, in normal subjects and subjects with PPS and DVT, a significant variation in PMN filtration at 5 and 15 minutes was evident. In normal subjects, no variation was present in PMN membrane fluidity or cytosolic Ca2+ concentration after activation. In subjects with PPS and DVT, we found a decrease in PMN membrane fluidity and an increase in PMN cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. After PMN activation (at 5 and 15 min) Δ% of IRFR distinguished normal subjects from subjects with PPS and DVT, while no difference was found in Δ% of membrane fluidity or cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Conclusions: there is a functional alteration of leukocytes in these patients whose mechanisms are not yet clear

Use of biochar as filler for biocomposite blown films: Structure-processing-properties relationships

In this work, biocomposite blown films based on poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) as biopolymeric matrix and biochar (BC) as filler were successfully fabricated. The materials were subjected to a film-blowing process after being compounded in a twin-screw extruder. The preliminary investigations conducted on melt-mixed PBAT/BC composites allowed PBAT/BC 5% and PBAT/BC 10% to be identified as the most appropriate formulations to be processed via film blowing. The blown films exhibited mechanical performances adequate for possible application as film for packaging, agricultural, and compost bags. The addition of BC led to an improvement of the elastic modulus, still maintaining high values of deformation. Water contact angle measurements revealed an increase in the hydrophobic behavior of the biocomposite films compared to PBAT. Additionally, accelerated degradative tests monitored by tensile tests and spectroscopic analysis revealed that the filler induced a photo-oxidative resistance on PBAT by delaying the degradation phenomena

Common Host Responses in Murine Aerosol Models of Infection Caused by Highly Virulent Gram-Negative Bacteria from the Genera Burkholderia, Francisella and Yersinia

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordContent includes material subject to © Crown copyright (2019), Dstl. This material is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] virulent bacterial pathogens cause acute infections which are exceptionally difficult to treat with conventional antibiotic therapies alone. Understanding the chain of events that are triggered during an infection of a host has the potential to lead to new therapeutic strategies. For the first time, the transcriptomic responses within the lungs of Balb/C mice have been compared during an acute infection with the intracellular pathogens Burkholderia pseudomallei, Francisella tularensis and Yersinia pestis. Temporal changes were determined using RNAseq and a bioinformatics pipeline; expression of protein was also studied from the same sample. Collectively it was found that early transcriptomic responses within the infected host were associated with the (a) slowing down of critical cellular functions, (b) production of circulatory system components, (c) lung tissue integrity, and (d) intracellular regulatory processes. One common molecule was identified, Errfi1 (ErbB receptor feedback inhibitor 1); upregulated in response to all three pathogens and a potential novel marker of acute infection. Based upon the pro-inflammatory responses observed, we sought to synchronise each infection and report that 24 h p.i. of B. pseudomallei infection closely aligned with 48 h p.i. of infection with F. tularensis and Y. pestis. Post-transcriptional modulation of RANTES expression occurred across all pathogens, suggesting that these infections directly or indirectly modulate cell trafficking through chemokine expression/detection. Collectively, this unbiased NGS approach has provided an in-depth characterisation of the host transcriptome following infection with these highly virulent pathogens ultimately aiding in the development of host-directed therapies as adjuncts or alternatives to antibiotic treatment

Testing limits to airflow perturbation device (APD) measurements

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

HD 17156b: A Transiting Planet with a 21.2 Day Period and an Eccentric Orbit

We report the detection of transits by the 3.1 M_Jup companion to the V=8.17 G0V star HD 17156. The transit was observed by three independant observers on Sept. 9/10, 2007 (two in central Italy and one in the Canary Islands), who obtained detections at confidence levels of 3.0 sigma, 5.3 sigma, and 7.9 sigma, respectively. The observations were carried out under the auspices of the Transitsearch.org network, which organizes follow-up photometric transit searches of known planet-bearing stars during the time intervals when transits are expected to possibly occur. Analyses of the 7.9 sigma data set indicates a transit depth d=0.0062+/-0.0004, and a transit duration t=186+/-5 min. These values are consistent with the transit of a Jupiter-sized planet with an impact parameter b=a*cos(i)/R_star ~ 0.8. This planet occupies a unique regime among known transiting extrasolar planets, both as a result of its large orbital eccentricity (e=0.67) and long orbital period (P=21.2 d). The planet receives a 26-fold variation in insolation during the course of its orbit, which will make it a useful object for characterization of exoplanetary atmospheric dynamics.Comment: Accepted for publication to A&A, 4 pages, 2 figure