A Regulatory Scheme for the Dawn of Space Tourism

Today, companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have successfully launched paying customers into space, forging the future of the space tourism industry. While a growing space tourism industry promotes scientific advancement and opens an activity once reserved for trained astronauts to the public, the industry generates new issues and reveals the vulnerabilities of international space law. This Note explores the history of commercial spaceflight and the international agreements that comprise the current legal regime. It argues that space tourism presents a need for a new international agreement to address three vulnerabilities in the current international regime: environmental protections, protections for space tourists, and regulations for commercial spaceflight companies. This Note draws on the examples of the Antarctic Treaty System, the Treaty for Amazonian Cooperation, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to show how this new international agreement can successfully balance promoting the growth of commercial spaceflight while ensuring the environment and passengers are adequately protected

Optimizing collective fieldtaxis of swarming agents through reinforcement learning

Swarming of animal groups enthralls scientists in fields ranging from biology to physics to engineering. Complex swarming patterns often arise from simple interactions between individuals to the benefit of the collective whole. The existence and success of swarming, however, nontrivially depend on microscopic parameters governing the interactions. Here we show that a machine-learning technique can be employed to tune these underlying parameters and optimize the resulting performance. As a concrete example, we take an active matter model inspired by schools of golden shiners, which collectively conduct phototaxis. The problem of optimizing the phototaxis capability is then mapped to that of maximizing benefits in a continuum-armed bandit game. The latter problem accepts a simple reinforcement-learning algorithm, which can tune the continuous parameters of the model. This result suggests the utility of machine-learning methodology in swarm-robotics applications.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Canine-Assisted Therapy (CAT): A nurse-initiated program to reduce patients’ perception of pain and anxiety at a critical access hospital

Background/Purpose: The use of animals to promote or improve human health and wellbeing has a long history. However, it is yet to be recognized and accepted as either a complementary therapy or integrated into mainstream healthcare. Even though studies have reported the benefits of animal-assisted therapy, critics dispute results, citing that personal beliefs about the value of companion animals as pets are insufficient as a basis for claims about the possible psychological and physical health benefits of interacting with animals. Hospitalized patients encounter stressors that impact their experience and recovery. Studies have shown that the presence of animals has a positive effect on human physiology, including blood pressure and heart rate. The literature confirms the positive impact of ca-nine-assisted therapy (CAT) during routine inpatient admissions such as; reduction in length of stay, increased patient mobility, and increased patient satisfaction. Understanding the benefits, nurses at a rural critical access hospital decided to implement a CAT program that would foster a culture of health and benefit the patients in the community they serve. CAT has been utilized in several settings, yet no study has assessed its effectiveness on reducing pain and anxiety at a critical access setting. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of CAT on inpatients’ perception of pain and anxiety. Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental design with a pre and post intervention survey to measure symptom changes in response to CAT. Adult inpatients who met the criteria for CAT were invited to participate. The Wong-Baker Pain scale (WBPS) and Numerical Pain Scale (NPS) along with the Faces Anxiety Scale (FAS) were assessed pre and post each CAT session. Participants decided how long they wanted to spend with the therapy dog, which was as little as 5 minutes to as much as 15 minutes. Results: A total of 50 inpatients participated in the study. Paired-samples t-tests were conducted to compare their pre and post CAT perception of pain as well as pre and post CAT perception of anxiety levels. The results showed a statistically significant decrease in the pain levels pre CAT (M=2.58, SD=2.82) and post CAT (M=1.52, SD=2.17); t(49)=4.90, p=.000, cohen’s d = 0.692. The 95% CI for the difference in pain levels was 0.625 to 1.495. Additionally, the results for anxiety show a statistically significant decrease in the anxiety level pre-therapy (M=2.40, SD=1.34) and post-therapy (M=1.38, SD=0.64); t(49)=6.36, p=.000, cohen\u27s d = 0.899. The 95% CI for the difference in anxiety levels was 0.698 to 1.342. The study results strongly suggest that CAT is effective in reducing patients’ perception of pain and anxiety. Implications for Nursing: In light of increasing regulation and concern regarding the use of opioid pain medications, other interventions need to be examined and utilized to assist patients with pain and anxiety. Nurses are in a perfect position to advocate for alternative interventions. CAT provided a significant reduction in pain and anxiety and is a therapeutic intervention that rural critical access hospitals can implement. Critical access hospitals should consider incorporating CAT as an alternative modality, in addition to, current medical treatments to increase patient satisfaction while decreasing pain and anxiety

Mutations in \u3ci\u3eDMRT3\u3c/i\u3e Affect Locomotion in Horses and Spinal Circuit Function in Mice

Locomotion in mammals relies on a central pattern-generating circuitry of spinal interneurons established during development that coordinates limb movement. These networks produce left–right alternation of limbs as well as coordinated activation of flexor and extensor muscles. Here we show that a premature stop codon in the DMRT3 gene has a major effect on the pattern of locomotion in horses. The mutation is permissive for the ability to perform alternate gaits and has a favorable effect on harness racing performance. Examination of wild-type and Dmrt3-null mice demonstrates that Dmrt3 is expressed in the dI6 subdivision of spinal cord neurons, takes part in neuronal specification within this subdivision, and is critical for the normal development of a coordinated locomotor network controlling limb movements. Our discovery positions Dmrt3 in a pivotal role for configuring the spinal circuits controlling stride in vertebrates. The DMRT3 mutation has had a major effect on the diversification of the domestic horse, as the altered gait characteristics of a number of breeds apparently require this mutation

Improved reference genome for the domestic horse increases assembly contiguity and composition

Theodore Kalbfleisch et al. present an improved genome assembly for the domestic horse by combining short- and long-read data, as well as proximity ligation data. They improve contiguity of the assembly by 40-fold, with a 10-fold reduction in gaps

Improved reference genome for the domestic horse increases assembly contiguity and composition

Recent advances in genomic sequencing technology and computational assembly methods have allowed scientists to improve reference genome assemblies in terms of contiguity and composition. EquCab2, a reference genome for the domestic horse, was released in 2007. Although of equal or better quality compared to other first-generation Sanger assemblies, it had many of the shortcomings common to them. In 2014, the equine genomics research community began a project to improve the reference sequence for the horse, building upon the solid foundation of EquCab2 and incorporating new short-read data, long-read data, and proximity ligation data. Here, we present EquCab3. The count of non-N bases in the incorporated chromosomes is improved from 2.33 Gb in EquCab2 to 2.41 Gb in EquCab3. Contiguity has also been improved nearly 40-fold with a contig N50 of 4.5 Mb and scaffold contiguity enhanced to where all but one of the 32 chromosomes is comprised of a single scaffold