The Eurovision St Andrews collection of photographs

This report describes the Eurovision image collection compiled for the ImageCLEF (Cross Language Evaluation Forum) evaluation exercise. The image collection consists of around 30,000 photographs from the collection provided by the University of St Andrews Library. The construction and composition of this unique image collection are described, together with the necessary information to obtain and use the image collection

Retrofitting Tractors with Rollover Protective Structures: Perspective of Equipment Dealers

This study was one of a cluster of studies that originated via requests for proposals from the NIOSH National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative. The present study design consisted of several steps: (1) formation of an advisory group, (2) development and testing of a standard paper self-responding survey instrument, (3) sample selection of farm equipment dealers, (4) administration of the survey, (5) assessment and analysis of the survey, and (6) in-person response panel of dealers (n = 80) to review results of the questionnaire for further definition and sharpening of the recommendations from the survey. A key finding is that most dealers do not currently sell or install ROPS retrofit kits. Barriers cited by dealers included (1) actual or perceived lack of farmer demand, (2) injury liability, (3) expensive freight for ordering ROPS, (4) lack of dealer awareness of the magnitude of deaths from tractor overturns and the high life-protective factor of ROPS, and (5) difficulty and incursion of non-recoverable expenses in locating and obtaining specific ROPS. Despite not currently selling or installing ROPS, dealers responded favorably about their future potential role in ROPS promotion and sales. Dealers were willing to further promote, sell, and install ROPS if there was demand from farmers. Recommendations include establishing a ROPS “clearing house” that dealers could contact to facilitate locating and obtaining ROPS orders from customers. Additional recommendations include education and social marketing targeting farm machinery dealers as well farmers, manufacturers, and policy makers

Kinematics and Metallicity of Red Giant Branch Stars in the Northeast Shelf of M31

We obtained Keck/DEIMOS spectra of 556 individual red giant branch stars in 4 spectroscopic fields spanning $13-31$ projected kpc along the Northeast (NE) shelf of M31. We present the first detection of a complete wedge pattern in the space of projected M31-centric radial distance versus line-of-sight velocity for this feature, which includes the returning stream component of the shelf. This wedge pattern agrees with expectations of a tidal shell formed in a radial merger and provides strong evidence in favor of predictions of Giant Stellar Stream (GSS) formation models in which the NE shelf originates from the second orbital wrap of the tidal debris. The observed concentric wedge patterns of the NE, West (W), and Southeast (SE) shelves corroborate this interpretation independently of the models. We do not detect a kinematical signature in the NE shelf region corresponding to an intact progenitor core, favoring GSS formation models in which the progenitor is completely disrupted. The shelf's photometric metallicity distribution implies that it is dominated by tidal material, as opposed to the phase-mixed stellar halo or the disk. The metallicity distribution ([Fe/H]$_{\rm phot}$ = $-0.42$ $\pm$ $0.01$) also matches the GSS, and consequently the W and SE shelves, further supporting a direct physical association between the tidal features.Comment: 21 pages main text, 15 figures, 5 tables (including Appendix). Submitted to A

ACCU Core Sampling/Storage Device for VOC Analysis

The Accu Core sampler system consists of alternating cylindrical clear acrylic sections and one-inch cylindrical stainless steel sections arranged in clear shrink wrap. The set of alternating acrylic and stainless steel sections in the shrink wrap are designed to fit in a Geoprobe dual-tube penetrometer for collection of continuous soil cores. The clear acrylic sections can have 1/2-inch access holes for easy soil headspace screening without violating the integrity of the adjacent stainless steel sections. The Accu Core sampler system can be used to store a soil sample collected in the stainless steel section by capping the ends of the section so it becomes a sample storage container. The sampler system can also be used to collect a subsurface soil sample in one of the sections that can be directly extruded from the section into a container for storage during shipment to the laboratory. In addition, the soil in a sampler section can be quickly sub-sampled using a coring tool and extruded into a storage container so the integrity of the soil is not disrupted and the potential for VOC loss during sub-sampling is greatly reduced. A field validation study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the Accu Core sampler to store VOC soil samples during transportation to the laboratory for analysis and to compare the performance of the Accu Core with current sampling and storage techniques, all of which require sub-sampling when the soil sample is brought to the surface. During some of the validation testing, the acrylic sections having access holes for headspace screening were included in the Accu Core sampler configuration and soil in these sections was screened to show the usefulness of the sample screening capability provided by the Accu Core system. This report presents the results of the field validation study as well as recommendations for the Accu Core sampler system

Glutamatergic dysfunction leads to a hyper-dopaminergic phenotype through deficits in short-term habituation: a mechanism for aberrant salience

Psychosis in disorders like schizophrenia is commonly associated with aberrant salience and elevated striatal dopamine. However, the underlying cause(s) of this hyper-dopaminergic state remain elusive. Various lines of evidence point to glutamatergic dysfunction and impairments in synaptic plasticity in the etiology of schizophrenia, including deficits associated with the GluA1 AMPAR subunit. GluA1 knockout (Gria1−/−) mice provide a model of impaired synaptic plasticity in schizophrenia and exhibit a selective deficit in a form of short-term memory which underlies short-term habituation. As such, these mice are unable to reduce attention to recently presented stimuli. In this study we used fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to measure phasic dopamine responses in the nucleus accumbens of Gria1−/− mice to determine whether this behavioral phenotype might be a key driver of a hyper-dopaminergic state. There was no effect of GluA1 deletion on electrically-evoked dopamine responses in anaesthetized mice, demonstrating normal endogenous release properties of dopamine neurons in Gria1−/− mice. Furthermore, dopamine signals were initially similar in Gria1−/− mice compared to controls in response to both sucrose rewards and neutral light stimuli. They were also equally sensitive to changes in the magnitude of delivered rewards. In contrast, however, these stimulus-evoked dopamine signals failed to habituate with repeated presentations in Gria1−/− mice, resulting in a task-relevant, hyper-dopaminergic phenotype. Thus, here we show that GluA1 dysfunction, resulting in impaired short-term habituation, is a key driver of enhanced striatal dopamine responses, which may be an important contributor to aberrant salience and psychosis in psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia

Production of 40Ar by an overlooked mode of 40K decay with implications for K-Ar geochronology

The decay of 40K to the stable isotopes 40Ca and 40Ar is used as a measure of time for both the K-Ca and KAr geochronometers, the latter of which is most generally utilized by the variant 40Ar/ 39Ar system. The increasing precision of geochronology has forced practitioners to deal with the systematic uncertainties rooted in all radioisotope dating methods. A major component of these systematic uncertainties for the K-Ar and 40Ar/ 39Ar techniques is imprecisely determined decay constants and an incomplete knowledge of the decay scheme of 40K. Recent geochronology studies question whether 40K can decay to 40Ar via an electron capture directly to ground state (ECground), citing the lack of experimental verification as reasoning for its omission. In this study, we (1) provide a theoretical argument in favor of the presence of this decay mode and (2) evaluate the magnitude of this decay mode by calculating the electron capture to positron ratio (ECground/β+) and comparing calculated ratios to previously published calculations, which yield ECground/β+ between 150–212. We provide support for this calculation through comparison of the experimentally verified ECground/β+ ratio of 22Na with our calculation using the theory of β decay. When combined with measured values of β + and β − decay rates, the best estimate for the calculated ECground/β+ for 40K yields a partial decay constant for 40K direct to ground-state 40Ar of 11.6±1.5×10−13 a −1 (2σ). We calculate a partial decay constant of 40K to 40Ar of 0.592 ± 0.014 × 10−10 a −1 and a total decay constant of 5.475 ± 0.107 × 10−10 a −1 (2σ), and we conclude that although omission of this decay mode can be significant for K-Ar dating, it is minor for 40Ar/ 39Ar geochronology and is therefore unlikely to have significantly biased published measurements

Fault interactions and reactivation within a normal-fault network at Milne Point, Alaska

A normal-fault network from Milne Point, Alaska, is investigated focusing on characterizing geometry, displacement, strain, and different fault interactions. The network, constrained from three-dimensional seismic reflection data, comprises two generations of faults: Cenozoic north-northeast–trending faults and Jurassic west-northwest–trending faults, which highly compartmentalize Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. The west-northwest–trending faults are influenced by a similarly oriented underlying structural grain. This influence is characterized by increases in throw on several faults, strain localization, reorientation of faults and an increase in linkage maturity.Reconstructing fault plane geometries and mapping spatial variations in throw identified key characteristic features in their interactions and reactivation of pre-existing structures. Faults are divided into isolated, abutting, and splaying faults. Isolated faults exhibit a range of displacement profiles depending on the degree of restriction at fault tips. Fault splays accommodate step-like decreases in throw along larger main faults with a throw maximum at the intersection with the main fault. Throw profiles of abutting faults are divided into two groups: early stage abutting faults with throw minima at both the isolated and abutting tips, and developed abutting faults with throw maxima near the abutting tip.Developed abutting faults accumulate throw after initial abutment, locally reactivating and transferring throw onto the pre-existing fault. Two abutting faults can link kinematically by reactivating a segment of the pre-existing fault forming a trailing fault. The motion sense of the trailing fault can be synthetic or antithetic to the reactivated pre-existing fault, producing increases or decreases in the throw of the pre-existing fault, respectivel