Bacterial contamination monitor

Economical, simple, and fast method uses apparatus which detects bacteria by photography. Apparatus contains camera, film assembly, calibrated light bulb, opaque plastic plate with built-in reflecting surface and transparent window section, opaque slide, plate with chemical packages, and cover containing roller attached to handle

Medium-term prognosis of an incident cohort of parkinsonian patients compared to controls

Funding This work was supported by Parkinson's UK (grant numbers G0502, G0914), BMA Doris Hillier Award, the BUPA Foundation, NHS Grampian Endowments, RS MacDonald Trust.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Co-morbidity burden in Parkinson’s disease : Comparison with controls and its influence on prognosis

Financial support This study was funded by Parkinson’s UK, the Scottish Chief Scientist Office, NHS Grampian endowments, the BMA Doris Hillier award, RS Macdonald Trust, the BUPA Foundation, and SPRING. The funders had no involvement in the study. Acknowledgements We acknowledge funding for the PINE study from Parkinson’s UK (G-0502, G-0914, G-1302), the Scottish Chief Scientist Office(CAF/12/05), the BMA Doris Hillier award, RS Macdonald Trust, the BUPA Foundation, NHS Grampian endowments and SPRING. We thank the patients and controls for their participation and the research staff who collected data and supported the study database.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprintPublisher PD

Scottish theme towns: have new identities enhanced development?

Three small towns in southwest Scotland have recently been branded as distinct theme towns, based on books, artists and food. This is an attempt to make them more attractive to visitors and thereby improve their economy. The objective of this research is to establish whether the new identities possessed by the towns have enhanced their development. It is argued, using data reviewing the past decade, that they have all developed, albeit at different rates, in terms of the economy and culture. Moreover, it is maintained that social capital has been enhanced and is a factor whose importance has been under-appreciated by planners and observers of this type of process. The relevance of the new identity to the pre-branding identity is also seen as a factor in successful development and ideas of authenticity and heritage are brought to bear on the relationship

Simulations of a Scintillator Compton Gamma Imager for Safety and Security

We are designing an all-scintillator Compton gamma imager for use in security investigations and remediation actions involving radioactive threat material. To satisfy requirements for a rugged and portable instrument, we have chosen solid scintillator for the active volumes of both the scatter and absorber detectors. Using the BEAMnrc/EGSnrc Monte Carlo simulation package, we have constructed models using four different materials for the scatter detector: LaBr_3, NaI, CaF_2 and PVT. We have compared the detector performances using angular resolution, efficiency, and image resolution. We find that while PVT provides worse performance than that of the detectors based entirely on inorganic scintillators, all of the materials investigated for the scatter detector have the potential to provide performance adequate for our purposes.Comment: Revised text and figures, Presented at SORMA West 2008, Published in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Scienc

Improved methods for detecting gravitational waves associated with short gamma-ray bursts

In the era of second generation ground-based gravitational wave detectors, short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) will be among the most promising astrophysical events for joint electromagnetic and gravitational wave observation. A targeted search for gravitational wave compact binary merger signals in coincidence with short GRBs was developed and used to analyze data from the first generation LIGO and Virgo instruments. In this paper, we present improvements to this search that enhance our ability to detect gravitational wave counterparts to short GRBs. Specifically, we introduce an improved method for estimating the gravitational wave background to obtain the event significance required to make detections; implement a method of tiling extended sky regions, as required when searching for signals associated to poorly localized GRBs from Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor or the InterPlanetary Network; and incorporate astrophysical knowledge about the beaming of GRB emission to restrict the search parameter space. We describe the implementation of these enhancements and demonstrate how they improve the ability to observe binary merger gravitational wave signals associated with short GRBs.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Synaptic Homeostasis on the Fast Track

Synaptic homeostasis is a phenomenon that prevents the nervous system from descending into chaos. In this issue of Neuron, Frank et al. overturn the notion that synaptic homeostasis at Drosophila NMJs is a slow developmental process. They report that postsynaptic changes are offset within minutes by a homeostatic increase in neurotransmitter release that requires the presynaptic Ca2+ channel Cacophony

Hard ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) and tick-borne diseases of sheep and goats in Africa: A Review

Ticks are leading vectors of economically important pathogens that affect small ruminants due to favourable climatic conditions across different regions of the African continent. They are responsible for both direct and indirect economic losses in the livestock industry. This review focuses on the species diversity of hard ticks, their biology, tick-borne diseases of sheep and goats including non-infectious disease, and risk factors to tick infestation in Africa. Furthermore, our review provides recent updates on distribution of ticks and tick-borne pathogens of small ruminants in Africa. It was observed that several species and subspecies of hard ticks belonging to the genera Hyalomma (Hy), Rhipicephalus (Rh), Ixodes (I) and Amblyomma (Am) were found infesting small ruminants across the different regions of the continent. Of these genera, Rhipicephalus ticks accounts for the majority of the registered species, with exactly 27 different species infesting small ruminant stocks comprising of different developmental instars and adults of the tick. Rhipicephalus decolaratus, Rh. e. evertsi and Rh. appendiculatus were the three most common Rhipicephalus species reported. Both protozoal (Babesia and Theileria) and bacterial (Anaplasma, Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, Coxiella and Mycoplasma) pathogens have being reported to be amplified in several hard tick species and/or small ruminant hosts. Furthermore, tick paralysis and lameness were non-infectious conditions attributed to tick infestations. Amblyomma hebraeum and Rh. glabroscutatum may cause lameness in goats, while Hy. rufipes is responsible for the same condition in Merino sheep. Host paralysis due to a neurotoxin released by female Rh. e. evertsi and I. rubicundus has been documented within the continent. We therefore advocate for the need of integrated control measures against tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) including their arthropod vectors, to be performed simultaneously to ease the burden of vector-borne diseases in small ruminant production.<br/

Learning that physics is “not for me”: pedagogic work and the cultivation of habitus among Advanced Level physics students

Background: There is widespread agreement that participation in post-compulsory physics needs to be widened and increased, particularly among women and under-represented communities. This paper contributes to understanding of the processes that produce unequal participation, Methods: The paper undertakes a Bourdieusian analysis of longitudinal interview data from 75 interviews conducted with fifteen students, tracked from age 10-18, who studied Advanced level physics in England. Findings: The paper discusses evidence of a physics habitus that was strongly aligned with notions of intelligence/ cleverness and masculinity and identifies how young women were particularly disadvantaged by a popular notion of the “effortlessly clever physicist”, which encouraged even highly interested and high attaining young women not to continue further with the subject. We identified three main forms of pedagogic work performed by school physics (attainment-based practices of debarring and gatekeeping; curriculum practices of deferring ‘real’ physics and physics ‘lies’; and interpersonal reinforcement of doxa), which helped cultivate student habitus over time and produce inequitable patterns of participation Contribution: Analyses show that school physics contributes to reproducing inequitable (and low overall) patterns of participation. Implications are discussed for science education policy and practice to support more equitable participation