THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON THE EFFICIENCY OF THE FOOD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

Marketing,

Young children's referent selection is guided by novelty for both words and actions

Young children are biased to select novel, name-unknown objects as referents of novel labels (e.g., Markman, 1990) and similarly favour novel, action-unknown objects as referents of novel actions (Riggs, Mather, Hyde & Simpson, 2015). What process underlies these common behaviors? In the case of word learning, children may be driven by a novelty bias favouring novel objects as referents (Horst, Samuelson, Kucker & McMurray, 2011). Our study investigates this bias further by investigating whether novelty also affects children’s selection of novel objects when a new action is given. In a pre-exposure session, 40, three- and four-year-olds were shown eight novel objects for one minute. In subsequent referent selection trials children were shown two pre-exposed and one super-novel object and heard either a novel name or saw a novel action. The super-novel object was selected significantly more that the pre-exposed objects on both word and action trials. Our data add to the growing literature suggesting that an endogenous attentional bias to novelty plays a role in children’s referent selection and demonstrates further parallels between word and action learning

Quantitative evaluation of polymer gel dosimeters by broadband ultrasound attenuation

Ultrasound has been examined previously as an alternative readout method for irradiated polymer gel dosimeters, with authors reporting varying dose response to ultrasound transmission measurements. In this current work we extend previous work to measure the broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) response of irradiated PAGAT gel dosimeters, using a novel ultrasound computed tomography system

WHICH RETAIL FOOD SERVICES ARE CONSUMERS WILLING TO DO WITHOUT

Consumer/Household Economics,

SELECTED ISSUES AND FEATURES OF UNDERGRADUATE INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

New measurements of the cosmic infrared background fluctuations in deep Spitzer/IRAC survey data and their cosmological implications

We extend previous measurements of cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations to ~ 1 deg using new data from the Spitzer Extended Deep Survey. Two fields, with depths of ~12 hr/pixel over 3 epochs, are analyzed at 3.6 and 4.5 mic. Maps of the fields were assembled using a self-calibration method uniquely suitable for probing faint diffuse backgrounds. Resolved sources were removed from the maps to a magnitude limit of AB mag ~ 25, as indicated by the level of the remaining shot noise. The maps were then Fourier-transformed and their power spectra were evaluated. Instrumental noise was estimated from the time-differenced data, and subtracting this isolates the spatial fluctuations of the actual sky. The power spectra of the source-subtracted fields remain identical (within the observational uncertainties) for the three epochs indicating that zodiacal light contributes negligibly to the fluctuations. Comparing to 8 mic power spectra shows that Galactic cirrus cannot account for the fluctuations. The signal appears isotropically distributed on the sky as required for an extragalactic origin. The CIB fluctuations continue to diverge to > 10 times those of known galaxy populations on angular scales out to < 1 deg. The low shot noise levels remaining in the diffuse maps indicate that the large scale fluctuations arise from the spatial clustering of faint sources well below the confusion noise. The spatial spectrum of these fluctuations is in reasonable agreement with an origin in populations clustered according to the standard cosmological model (LCDM) at epochs coinciding with the first stars era.Comment: ApJ, to be publishe

Human Sialic acid O-acetyl esterase (SIAE) – mediated changes in sensitivity to etoposide in a medulloblastoma cell line

Medulloblastoma (MB), the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour occurs in the cerebellum. Advances in molecular genomics have led to the identification of defined subgroups which are associated with distinct clinical prognoses. Despite this classification, standard therapies for all subgroups often leave children with life-long neurological deficits. New therapeutic approaches are therefore urgently needed to reduce current treatment toxicity and increase survival for patients. GD3 is a well-studied ganglioside which is known to have roles in the development of the cerebellum. Post-partum GD3 is not highly expressed in the brain. In some cancers however GD3 is highly expressed. In MB cells GD3 is largely acetylated to GD3A. GD3 is pro-apoptotic but GD3A can protect cells from apoptosis. Presence of these gangliosides has previously been shown to correlate with resistance to chemotherapy. Here we show that the GD3 acetylation pathway is dysregulated in MB and as a proof-of-principle we show that increased GD3 expression sensitises an MB cell line to etoposide

Helium Mass Spectrometer Leak Detection: A Method to Quantify Total Measurement Uncertainty

In applications where leak rates of components or systems are evaluated against a leak rate requirement, the uncertainty of the measured leak rate must be included in the reported result. However, in the helium mass spectrometer leak detection method, the sensitivity, or resolution, of the instrument is often the only component of the total measurement uncertainty noted when reporting results. To address this shortfall, a measurement uncertainty analysis method was developed that includes the leak detector unit's resolution, repeatability, hysteresis, and drift, along with the uncertainty associated with the calibration standard. In a step-wise process, the method identifies the bias and precision components of the calibration standard, the measurement correction factor (K-factor), and the leak detector unit. Together these individual contributions to error are combined and the total measurement uncertainty is determined using the root-sum-square method. It was found that the precision component contributes more to the total uncertainty than the bias component, but the bias component is not insignificant. For helium mass spectrometer leak rate tests where unit sensitivity alone is not enough, a thorough evaluation of the measurement uncertainty such as the one presented herein should be performed and reported along with the leak rate value